140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



brief description of the Houma in 1758, and we know that they re- 

 mained in approximately the same position until 1776, when two Creoles 

 purchased 96 arpents of land from them. Either this did not include 

 all of their territory, or they continued in the neighborhood, for we 

 hear of them in reports by Sibley (1805) and Gallatin (1836). Both 

 inform us that a part had intermarried with the Atakapa and were 

 living in the territory of that tribe. Some time later, though just 

 when is uncertain, the mixed-blood descendants of those on the Missis- 

 sippi moved south and settled along the Gulf coast in the present 

 parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne. They have lost their language 

 and most of their aboriginal customs but seem to be increasing in 

 numbers. 



Plates 23, 24, and 25 show some of the Houma Indians and their 

 habitations as they appeared in 1907. Plate 23, figure 1, shows Bob 

 Verret, the leading man in this group, and an old man called Bap- 

 tiste Billiout. The originals of plate 23, figure 2, and plate 24, figure 

 1, were taken on lower Bayou Lafourche. Plate 24, figure 2, shows 

 some Houma on Little Barataria Bayou, and plate 25, an ancient 

 Houma woman and an old Houma house at Point au Chien. 



Houma population, — In 1699 our authorities tell us there were 140 

 cabins in the tribe, 350 warriors, and a total population of between 

 600 and 700. In 1700 Gravier gives two estimates of the number of 

 cabins, one of 70 and one of 80. In 1718 La Harpe reported 60 cabins 

 and 200 warriors. In 1739 we are told that there were 90-100 warriors 

 and 270-300 adults of both sexes among the Houma, Acolapissa, and 

 Bayogoula. In 1758 De Kerlerec reported only 60 warriors in the 

 united tribes, and Hutchins in 1784 but 25. In 1803 Jefferson estimated 

 that the population of the same group was 60, but since then the 

 mixed-blood Indian population that goes by the name has increased 

 very markedly. In 1910, 125 Indians were returned from Terrebonne ; 

 in 1920, 639 ; and in 1930, 936 ; besides 11 in Lafourche. Speck raises 

 this to 2,000. Mooney estimated that there were about 1,000 Houma in 

 1650; my own estimate was at first (1911) somewhat larger, but I am 

 now inclined to accept Mooney's figure. 



IBITOUPA 



A small tribe on Yazoo Kiver, Miss., which seems to have lived at 

 the opening of the eighteenth century between Abyache and Chicopa 

 Creeks. Before 1722 the greater part of them moved higher up the 

 Yazoo, beyond the mouth of the Yalobusha and 3 leagues above the 

 Chakchiuma town where Tippo Bayou apparently preserves the name. 

 A small tribe known as Choula (q. v.) perhaps represented a band 

 left behind in the removal. All of the Ibitoupa probably united with 

 the Chakchiuma in the end and followed their fortunes. They may 



