SwANTON] INDIAKS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 637 



but which have been mostly burnt down in the last War. Here the first Chief 

 climbs up every Morning at the Time of the Work in the Field, & calls the 

 People with a loud voice together. (Williams, 1928, p. 260.) 



The only descriptions of Chickasaw towns include an account of 

 the location of the entire nation and its subdivisions (Adair, 1775, 

 pp. 252-253; Swanton, 1922, p. 417). Romans thus speaks of them: 



They live near the center of a very large and somewhat uneven savannah, 

 of a diameter of above three miles; this savannah at all times has but a bar- 

 ren look, the earth is very Nitrous, and the savages get their water out of 

 holes or wells dug near the town ; in any drought the ground will gape in fis- 

 sures of about six or seven inches wide, and again, two or three days rain will 

 cause an inundation; the water is always nitrous, and this field abounds, with 

 flint, marl, and those kinds of anomalous fossils mistaken for oyster shells, 

 which cannot be burnt into lime; yet this produces a grass of which cattle are 

 so fond as to leave the richest cane brakes for it; and notwithstanding the 

 soil appears barren and burnt up, they thrive to admiration; it also affords a 

 vast, or even immense store of the salubrious Fra^/arm, vulgarly known by the 

 name of wood strawberry. 



They have in this field what might be called one town, or rather an as- 

 semblage of huts, of the length of about one mile and a half, and very narrow 

 and irregular ; this however they divide into seven . . . 



The nearest running water, is about one mile and a half off, to the south 

 of the town, in the edge of the field, but it is of no note : the next is four miles 

 off; and at high times, canoes might come up here cut of the river TomhecliM', 

 this place is a ford, which often proves difficult, and on this account is called 

 Nahoola Inalcliuhha (i. e.) the white mens hard labour. (Romans, 1775, pp. 

 62-63.) 



From Du Roullet's journal we can perhaps get our best idea of 

 ancient Choctaw towns. It will be seen that they were groups of 

 villages and single houses with farms surrounding them. There were 

 undoubtedly buildings used for general gatherings, ceremonials, etc. 

 but these were not as conspicuous as the corresponding ones among 

 the Creeks. 



The village of Boukfouka is one of those of the Choctaw Nation the Huts of 

 which are the most widely separated from one another; this village is divided 

 into three hamlets, each hamlet a quarter of a league from the others, and all 

 three surrounded by Bayous: lastly this village is at leatt twenty leagues in 

 circumference . . . [an incredible figure it would teem even granting the con- 

 ditions]. 



The village of Castachas is one of the finest of the nation ; it is situated in 

 a large plain, in the middle of which there is a small hill and from its top 

 one can see all the Indian huts placed on the plain and the (gardens?) around 

 the Huts of each savage. . . . 



The village of Jachou (Yazoo) is situated in a great plain which lies on a 

 height ; the savages have their fields in this plain and a large part of their huts 

 are around the plain. The plain of Jachou is not so vast as that of Castachas, 

 but it is of about two leagues circumference at the least. . . . 



The village of Jachene atchoukima (Yakni achukma) is situated en a little 

 elevation or height. The huts are well separated from one anothei . 



The village of Crouetchitou (Kowi chito) or the Great Village is situated 



