240 BELIEFS AND USAGES OF CHICKASAW [ETH, ANN, 44 
HUNTING 
In contradistinction to the Choctaw, who were more inclined 
toward agriculture, the Chickasaw were very fond of hunting. In 
this particular they resembled the Creeks, and both tribes had very 
wide hunting grounds, those of the Chickasaw extending to the Ten- 
nessee River and as far down that stream as its junction with the 
Ohio. On the south the Oktibbeha separated their territories from 
those of the Choctaw, but Romans states that “these two nations are 
by no means jealous of each other in this respect, and hunt in each 
others’ grounds without let or hindrance from either side.” He adds 
that “although their country abounds in beaver, they kill none, leav- 
ing that to the white men; they think this kind of hunting beneath 
them, saying anybody can kill beaver, but men only deer; this is 
exactly the reverse of the northern Indians.” He then proceeds to 
describe the well-known method of stalking deer by the use of a 
prepared deer’s head.*t Unlike most of the Choctaw, this author 
reports that they were all good swimmers, “notwithstanding they 
live so far from waters, but they learn [!] their children to swim in 
clay holes, that are filled in wet seasons by rain.” * 
Romans has the following to say about their skill as trackers: 
They are the most expert of any perhaps in America in tracking what they 
are in pursuit of, and they will follow their flying enemy on a long gallop over 
any kind of ground without mistaking. 
Since I am on this subject, I can not forbear taking notice of one thing related 
by many writers on America, which is the knowledge the savages have by the 
track of what kind of people they pursue. This is very true, and this sagacious 
particular deserved admiration, but the wonder must cease when I tell my 
reader that I have found in it much of a juggle, for instead of knowing it by 
the footsteps (which they pretend to measure very ceremoniously with their 
hands) they know it by the strokes of the hatchets in the trees and branches 
as they go along, which no two savage nations agree in, be it in the height 
from the ground or in the slope of the cut. They can also distinguish the 
different ways of making camps and fires; for instance, a Choctaw war camp 
is circular, with a fire in the center, and each man has a crutched branch at his 
head to hang his powder and shot upon and to set his gun against, and the feet 
of all to the fire; a Cherokee war camp is a long line of fire, against which they 
also lay their feet; a Choctaw makes his camp in traveling in form of a sugar 
loaf; a Chickasaw makes it in form of our arbors; a Creek like to our sheds, 
or piazzas, to a timber house. In this manner every nation has some distin- 
guishing way.” 
T was told personally that when a party intended to go hunting 
they camped by themselves and took medicine for four days under 
the supervision of a doctor, who also went with them. The medicine 
was made by this doctor and after they had taken it, he made them 
“ Romans, Nat. Hist. E. and W. Fla., p. 66. 
“Tbid., pp. 64-65. 
48Tbid., p. 65. 
