Part 19

Nanih Waiya is a prominent feature in the migration legend of the Choctaws, of which there are several versions. While the versions all agree, to some extent, in their main features, as the immigration from the west or northwest, the prophet and his sacred pole, and the final settlement at Nanih Waiya, there is still much diversity in the respective narratives in regard to the details and other minutiae. The most circumstantial narrative is that of the Rev. Alfred Wright, published in an issue of the _Missionary Herald_ of 1828. The version given in Colonel Claiborne's "_Mississippi_," pages 483, 484, is a very unsatisfactory version. The writer of this paper wrote this version in 1877, and sent it to Colonel Claiborne, who inserted it in his history. It was taken down from the lips of Mr. Jack Henry, an old citizen of Okitibbeha County, he stating that he had received it in early life from an Irishman, who had once lived among the Choctaws and who had heard the legend from an old Choctaw woman. As will be seen, the legend was transmitted through several memories and mouths before being finally recorded in printer's ink. It came not direct from Choctaw lips, and no doubt, was unconsciously colored, or its details imperfectly remembered in its transmission through the memories of the two white men. The version which is given below came direct from the lips of the Rev. Peter Folsom, a Choctaw from the nation west, who was employed in 1882 by the Baptists of Mississippi to labor as a missionary among the Mississippi Choctaws. Mr. Folsom stated that soon after finishing his education in Kentucky, one day in 1833, he visited Nanih Waiya with his father and while at the mound his father related to him the migration legend of his people, which according to Mr. Folsom, runs as follows:

In ancient days the ancestors of the Choctaws and the Chickasaws lived in a far western country, under the rule of two brothers, named Chahta and Chikasa. In process of time, their population becoming very numerous, they found it difficult to procure substance in that land. Their prophets thereupon announced that far to the east was a country of fertile soil and full of game, where they could live in ease and plenty. The entire population resolved to make a journey eastward in search of that happy land. In order more easily to procure subsistence on their route, the people marched in several divisions of a day's journey apart. A great prophet marched at their head, bearing a pole, which, on camping at the close of each day, he planted erect in the earth, in front of the camp. Every morning the pole was always seen leaning in the direction they were to travel that day. After the lapse of many moons, they arrived one day at Nanih Waiya. The prophet planted his pole at the base of the mound. The next morning the pole was seen standing erect and stationary. This was interpreted as an omen from the Great Spirit that the long sought-for land was at last found. It so happened, the very day that the party camped at Nanih Waiya that a party under Chikasa crossed the creek and camped on its east side. That night a great rain fell, and it rained several days. In consequence of this all the low lands were inundated, and Nanih Waiya Creek and other tributaries of Pearl River were rendered impassable.

After the subsidence of the waters, messengers were sent across the creek to bid Chikasa's party return, as the oracular pole had proclaimed that the long sought-for land was found and the mound was the center of the land. Chikasa's party, however, regardless of the weather, had proceeded on their journey, and the rain having washed all traces of their march from off the grass, the messengers were unable to follow them up and so returned to camp. Meanwhile, the other divisions in the rear arrived at Nanih Waiya, and learned that here was the center of their new home, their long pilgrimage was at last finished. Chikasa's party, after their separation from their brethren under Chahta, moved on to the Tombigbee, and eventually became a separate nationality. In this way the Choctaws and the Chickasaws became two separate, though kindred nations.

Such is Mr. Folsom's version of the Choctaw migration legend. This national legend is now utterly forgotten by the modern Choctaws living in Mississippi. All, however, look upon Nanih Waiya as the birthplace and cradle of their race. She is "ishki chito," "the great mother." In the very center of the mound, they say, ages ago, the Great Spirit created the first Choctaws, and through a hole or cave, they crawled forth into the light of day. Some say that only one pair was created, but others say that many pairs were created. Old Hopahkitubbe (Hopakitobi), who died several years ago in Neshoba County, was wont to say that after coming forth from the mound, the freshly-made Choctaws were very wet and moist, and that the Great Spirit stacked them along on the rampart, as on a clothes line, so that the sun could dry them.

Soon after the creation, the Great Spirit divided the Choctaws into two "iksa," the "Kashapa Okla," and the "Okla in Holahta," or "Hattak in Holahta." Stationing one iksa on the north and the other on the west side of the sacred mound, the Great Spirit then gave them the law of marriage which they were forever to keep inviolate. This law was that children were to belong to the iksa of their mother, and that one must always marry into the opposite iksa. By this law a man belonging to the Kashapa Okla must marry a woman of the Okla in Holahta. The children of this marriage belong, of course, to the iksa of their mother, and whenever they marry it must be into the opposite iksa. In like manner a man belonging to the Okla in Holahta must marry a woman of the Kashapa Okla, and the children of this marriage from Kashapa Okla must marry into the Okla in Holahta. Such was the Choctaw law of marriage, given, they say, by Divine authority at Nanih Waiya just after the creation of their race. The iksa lived promiscuously throughout the nation, but as every one knew to which iksa he belonged, no matrimonial mistake could possibly occur. This iksa division of the Choctaws still exists in Mississippi, but is slowly dying out under the influence of Christianity, education, and other results of contact with the white race.

The Choctaws, after their creation lived for a long time upon the spontaneous productions of the earth until at last maize was discovered, as they say, on the south side of Bogue Chito, a few miles distant from Nanih Waiya. There are several versions of the corn-finding myth, in all of which a crow and a child are main factors. Some of the versions state particularly that the crow came from the south, "Oka mahli imma minti tok." Other versions are silent on this point. The version here given is a translation by the writer of a version which was written down for him in the Choctaw language by Ilaishtubbee (Ilaishtobi), a Six Towns Indian. It is as follows:

A long time ago it thus happened. In the very beginning a crow got a single grain of corn from across the great water, brought it to this country and gave it to an orphan child, who was playing in the yard. The child named it _tauchi_, (corn). He planted it in the yard. When the corn was growing up, the child's elders merely had it swept around. But the child, wishing to have his own way, hoed it, hilled it, and laid it by. When this single grain of corn grew up and matured, it made two ears of corn. And in this way the ancestors of the Choctaws discovered corn.

"The great water" referred to in the above myth is the Gulf of Mexico. "Okachito," "great water," is the term invariably applied by the Mississippi Choctaws to the Gulf. If there are any traces of historic truth in the myth, we may infer that it contains a tradition of the introduction of corn into the Choctaw country across the Gulf of Mexico, from South America or from the West Indies. Professor J. W. Harshberger, in his monograph on the nativity and distribution of maize concludes that its earliest home was in Central America, whence it spread north and south over the continents of America. In his map in which he gives the lines of travel by which maize was distributed, he has two lines in South America. One of these lines extends southward between the Andes and the Pacific as far down as Chili. The second line, after leaving the Isthmus of Panama, goes eastward along the north coast of South America until it enters Venezuela. From Venezuela, it goes to the West Indies and from the West Indies to Florida. This line of maize distribution harmonizes with the Choctaw tradition embodied in the myth that maize came into the Choctaw country from across "the great water," that is, from across the Gulf of Mexico. We learn from the early Spanish writers that there was intercommunication between the natives of Cuba and those of Florida. This being the case, corn could have been introduced among the pre-historic peoples of the Gulf states, across the Gulf, directly or indirectly from South America. To add completeness to the matter, according to Professor Harshberger's map, maize was introduced among the ancient peoples of the States lying north of the Gulf States by a line of distribution running from northern Mexico. It may be still further added that maize was certainly introduced into the Gulf States and into the Mississippi Valley before the beginning of the mound-building era, for only a sedentary agricultural people were capable of building the mounds.

Returning from this digression, the question may be asked, when was Nanih Waiya built, who were its builders, and how long was it in building? As to the last question, it would be a moderate estimate to say that it would take two Irishmen, equipped with spades and wheelbarrows, full ten years of constant toil to build Nanih Waiya and its rampart. The evidence shows that the earth used in making the mound was carried at least one hundred yards--an additional amount of toil that must be taken into consideration in making an estimate of the time consumed in building Nanih Waiya. Furthermore, it can be safely stated that the two supposed Irishmen could accomplish as much in one hour in the way of dirt-piling as three pre-historic natives with their rude tools of wood and stone, and baskets or skins for carrying the earth, could accomplish in one day. Nanih Waiya then must have been a long time in building. There must have been frequent interruptions of work to allow its builders time to raise crops, or in some manner to procure their supplies of food. The probabilities are, that while the work of building the rampart and the towers was carried on continuously until they were completed, so as to have the people of the place well protected from their foes, the work of building the mound was a gradual one. A small or moderate sized mound may first have been built for the cacique and his attendants. In course of time, perhaps by his successor, the mound may have been made larger and higher, each succeeding cacique adding to its size until it attained its present dimensions. In short, the mound may have been the successive work of two or three generations.

As to the builders of Nanih Waiya, all the evidence shows that they were Choctaws. There is no evidence that any race preceded the Choctaws in the occupancy of Central Mississippi. And it is not at all probable that the Choctaws would have held this mound in such excessive reverence if it had been built by an unknown or alien·race.

During the decadence of the mound-building custom, the mounds were gradually made smaller and many of these small mounds reveal relics of European manufacture, thus giving indisputable evidence of their modern age. From these facts it can be safely assumed that the larger the mound, the greater, presumably, is its antiquity. Nanih Waiya then, being the largest mound in Central Mississippi, may possibly date back to about fifteen hundred years ago, as the fifth century is given by the archæologists as the beginning of the mound-building age, which age lasted about one thousand years. It may be sufficient to say that Nanih Waiya is very old and was built by the Choctaws themselves, or possibly, granting it a very remote antiquity, by the primordial stock, from which, by subsequent differentiation, the various branches of the Choctaw-Muscogee family were formed.

In regard to the modern history of the mound, one event may be placed on record. At some time in 1828, at the instance by Colonel Greenwood Leflore, a great national council of the Choctaws convened at Nanih Waiya. The object of this council was the making of new laws so as to place the Choctaws more in harmony with the requirements of modern civilization. On this occasion severe laws were enacted against drunkenness and against the practice of executing women as witches. This assembly is remarkable as being the only known national Indian council held at Nanih Waiya within the historic period. How many Indian councils similar to this the mound may have witnessed in the pre-historic past can never be known.

This imperfect sketch of the Choctaw sacred mound is brought to a close with a hope, that, as long as Mississippi stands, so long may Nanih Waiya stand, steadfast and immovable, the greatest of Mississippi's pre-historic monuments.

INDEX

PAGE

Aberdeen$1 $20

Aberdeen Cathedral, 85n

Abou Ben Adhem, 30

Abraham, 70

Adams, 49

Adams County, 142, 170, 176, 177, 207, 218

Adams, George, 152, 153, 161

Adams, Daniel, 162n

Adams, Wirt, 162n

Addison, 19

Affleck, 202

Africa, 86

Agricultural & Mechanical College, 124

Alabama, 72, 113, 127, 131, 148, 151n, 152n, 168, 185

Alabama Historical Society, 157

Alabama History: Brewer's, 151n, 153 Colonial Mobile, 158n Memorial Record, 152n Picket's, 151n

Alabama River, 158

Alcorn, Gov. J. L., 121, 196, 197

Alexandria, 176

Allan-Bane, 71

Allan, James Lane, 8

"Alone," a poem, 33

Alston's Lake, 163

Altamaha, 127, 128

America, 113, 125, 126

American, 17, 20, 159, 212, 219

American fiction, Library of, 66

American Historical Association, Publication of, 94n

American Historical Review, 159n, 219

American Philosophical Society, 93, 95, 105, see _Transaction_

Ames, Gov. Adelbert, 122, 189, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199

Amite River, 86, 165

Anderson, Mrs. Albert, 67

Anderson, Thomas D., 153

Animalculæ, Account of, 98

Annalen of Physics, 98

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 86n

Archer, Judge Stevenson, 149, 162

Archives, 94

Aristotle, 16

Arkansas River, 105

"Arlington," 216

Arthur's Home Journal, 31

Ashly, 160

Asia, 101

Astronomy, 26

Atlantic Monthly, 38, 67

"Attala," 207

Attorneys, Federal in Mississippi, 153, 154

"Auburn," 216

Augustan Age of literature, 15, 16

Austin, Mississippi, 66

Bailey, 86

Bailiff, J. S., 196

Bance River, 158

Banks, Sir Joseph, 102

Banks, Sulton, 179, 183

Bantam River, 25

Baptist, 160, 228

"Bard of the Quarters," 20

Barksdale, E., 121n, 194

Barksdale, W. R., 196, 197

Burnet, Daniel, 166

Barton, Dr. Benjamin Smith, 99

Barton, 'Squire, 65

Bartram, 91, 101, 110, 226

Baton Rouge, 86, 87, 88, 100, 211

Bayou Tunica, 162, 163

Beacon Hill, 49

Beaver Creek, 165

Beauvoir, 72

Beechers, The, 24, 25

Beers, Prof., 17

Bedford's Magazine, 75

Bell, Mrs. Helen D., 5, 201

"Bellman," The of, '76 27

Benbroke, Dr., 204

"Bench and Bar of Mississippi," 147n, 150n, 151n, 152n, 153n

Benjamin, Judah P., 73

Benoist, Gabriel, 160

Benson, 77

Berkeley, Governor, 12

Bernard, Joseph, 160

Beverly Farm, 39

Bienville, 209

Big Bayou Sara, 165

Bingaman, Adam L., 217

Black Creek, 166

Bledsoe, Oscar F., 154

Blount, I. T., 196

"Blue and the Gray," The, 32, 38

Blythe, Andrew K., 154

Bogue Chito, 165, 230

Boileau, 16

Bondurant, Prof., A. L., 5, 43

Bonner, Dr. Charles, 43, 44, 45

Bonner, Ruth Martin, 45

Bonner, Samuel Wilson, 45

Bonner, Sherwood, 43-68

Borneo, 101

Boston, 48, 49, 51, 52, 56, 174

Boston Courier, 66, 67

Boston Ploughman, 47

Boundary line (31 degree), 92, 93, 111, 125, 157, 168, 212

Bourbon County, 128

Boyer, Captain John, 160

Boyd, 43

Boyd, Miss Anna W., 176

Boyd, S. S., 217

Brabston, Miss Martha B., 177

Branch, Miss Virginia, 202

Brandon, Gerard, Esq., 5, 207

Brandon, Gov. Gerard C., 210

"Brandon-Hall," 216

Breazeale, D. W., 179

"Breer Rabbit," 45

Brewer's History of Alabama, 151n, 153n

Briant, John W., 170

Briggs, 107

Bristol, 21

Broome, Mrs. Dr., 202

"Brotherhood for the Diffusion of Light," 83

Brough, Prof. C. H., 3, 5, 113

Brown, Gov. A. G., 214

Browne, 107

Bruin, Judge Peter Bryan, 148, 149, 150

Bryant, W. C., 17

Buckatanne River, 158

Bunker Hill, 174

Burnet, Daniel, 179, 180

Burns, Robert, 9, 16

"Burning Casque," a poem, 37

Burr, Aaron, 151n, 214

Burruss, Rev. John C., 172, 174

Bush, 82

Butterworth, Samuel F., 153

Byron, 16, 39, 41, 70

Cable, George W., 8, 55

Calhoun, John C., 24

California, 152n, 175

Calusa, California, 152n

Calvit, Thomas, 179

Campbell, Anthony, 154

Campbell, Judge David, 149, 152

Cane, Account of, 96, 97

Capen, Nahum, 47, 48

Carolinas, The, 211

Carolinians, 24, 126

Carondelet, Baron de, 159, 163

Carpet-bag government, 121, 122, 189, 192, 196

Cartwright, Dr., 217

"Case of Eliza Blelock," The, a sketch, 57

Cashell, Miss Julia, 202

Catchings T. C., 196

Catholicism, 211

Cavalier, 24

Centennial Hymn, 32

Chahta, 228, 229

Chalmers, George, 86

Chalmer, 194

Chalmette, 12

Chapman, 18

Charles I, 126

Charles II, 126

Charles III, 159

Charles IV, 159

Charleston, South Carolina, 18, 19, 204

Charlotte County, 87

Chase, C. K., 195

Chateaubriand, 207

Chattahoochee, 125, 130, 159, 167, 168

Chatterton, Thomas, 16, 17, 21

Chaucer, 9, 11

Chester, Gov. Peter, 86, 87

Chew, Miss Sarah R., 176

Chickianoce river, 159

Chickasawhay, 115, 166

Chikasa, 228, 229

Chinese History, 81

Chipola river, 167

Choctaws, see _Indians_.

Choctaw River, 167

Choctawhatchee, 167

Chopart, 209

Christmas, 29

"Christmas Night at the Quarters," 9

Civil War, 13, 20, 118, 190

Claiborne, Wm. C. C., 179, 217

Claiborne, Col. J. F. H., 86n, 89, 91, 177, 209, 210, 215, 217, 228

Claiborne's "Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State," 86n, 87n, 88n, 89n, 147n, 148n, 150n, 151n, 152n

Clarke, Doctor, 83

Clarke, Gov. Charles, 194

Clarke, Daniel, 94, 160

Clarke, Justice, 142

Clarksville, 162

Clayton, Judge A. M., 147n, 150, 153

Clinton, 195

Cloud, Parson, 212

Coenecuh, 167

Coleridge, 16, 17

Coles Creek, 214

"Colonel Dunwoddie, Millionaire," 55

Colonial Mobile, 158n, 165n

Columbian Exposition, 23

Columbus, 26, 28

"Come to the South," a poem, 31

Comite, 165

Commissioner, American, 93

Commissioner, Spanish, 213

Common School Fund, 123

Companies, Land, 128, 129

Comus, Queen of, 71

"Concord," 216

Conant, 53

Confederacy, Daughter of, 69, 84

Confederacy, Taxation in, 113

Confederate currency, 120

Confederate government, 150

Confederate soldiers, 119

Confederate treasury notes, 119

Congress, 91, 105, 107, 113, 125, 129, 148, 149, 179, 183, 185, 187, 213

Congress, Library of, 86n, 87n

Connecticut, 24, 36, 42

Constitutional Conventions, 118n, 120, 121n, 214

Cook, Rev. Valentine, 174

Cosby, Miss Martha, 176

Corn-finding Myth of the Choctaws, 230, 231

"Cotter's Saturday Night," a poem, 9

Cotton bale, 88, 111

Cotton culture, 88

Cotton press, 88, 89, 111

Cotton-seed oil, 89

Cotton tree, account of, 96

County indigent fund, 119

"Coventry," 216

Covington, Alexander, 170

Dabney, Thomas, 45

Darlings' Creek, 165

"David Copperfield," 11

Davis, 160

Davis, Fielding, 155

Davis, Jefferson, 72, 75, 153n, 190, 214

Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, 69n, 70, 71, 75, 81

Davis, Mrs. M. E. M., 12

Davis, "Miss Winnie," 69-84

Dearborn, 106, 107

Debtor's prison, 136

Decameron, 51

Delaware, 151

Demarcation, Line of, 92, 93, 95n, 111, 125

Democrat, 29

Democratic Campaign of 1875 in Mississippi, 194, 195

Democratic Party, 202, 216

Derblay, Philippe, 78

"De Soto and his Men in the Land of Florida," 12

De Soto's expedition, 224, 225, 226

"Devereux," 216

"Devil's Punch Bowls," 208

Dexter, Colonel, 64

"Dialect Tales," 57n

Dickens, 11, 19, 39

Dinsmore, 107

Dickson, Samuel W., 154

Direct Taxes, 120

District of Columbia, 160

Dixon, Roger, 160

Dodo, 77

Dolland, 161

Doric, 10

Dow, Lorenzo, 214

Drake, Rev. B. M., 172

Drake, Mrs. B. M., 177

Dryden, 15, 16

"Dukesborough Tales," 10

Dunbar family, 85n

Dunbar, Sir Archibald 85

Dunbar, Sir William, 85-111, 161, 162, 163, 165, 180, 183, 213, 216

Dubuisson, C. S., 201, 204

Duncan, Dr., 217

Dupratz, 96, 225

Durale, Martin, 102

"Dying Year," The, a poem, 35

East Florida, 128

Education in Mississippi, 179, 180

Education, Female, in Mississippi, 169, 170, 177

"Egean," The, a poem, 27

Eggleston, 56

Egypt, 56, 102

Elizabeth Female Academy, 169-178, 214

Elgin Cathedral, 85

Ellicott, Andrew, 93, 94, 95-98, 159, 163, 165-168, 212, 214

Ellicott's Journal, 93, 94n, 159n, 160, 161, 165n

Ellicott's Springs, 183, 214

Ellis, John, 179, 180

Ellis, Roger, 44, 64

Ellis, Powhatan, 152

Elmscourt, 216

Elvas, Knight of, 225

Ely, Prof., 118

Emancipation in Mississippi, Law regulating, 141

Emerald Mound, 203, 204, 207

Emerson, 10, 47, 49

Emmet, Robert, 74

England, 8, 9, 17, 18, 75, 113, 126, 136, 148, 151n, 159, 215

English, The, 16, 19, 70, 210, 212

English poetry, 13, 16, 17

English Romantic Movement, 21

Epidemic, yellow fever, 39

Episcopal clergyman, 26, 30, 212

Escambia River, 167

"Essay on Self-Reliance," 10

Europe, 56, 98, 103, 144

Eurycleia, 57

Evacuation of Natchez by the Spaniards, 160, 213, 214

Everett, Alexander, 96

Exemption from taxation, 119, 120

"Experiment in Chinese Money," An, 81

Exposition, at New Orleans, 71

"Exposition on one of the Commandments," An, 47

Farrar, Thomas, 204

Featherston, Gen. W. S., 190, 193, 194, 196, 197

"Federal Courts, Judges, Attorneys and Marshals in Mississippi," 147, 155

Ferrell, Prof. C. C., 5, 69

Ferrer, Jose Joaquin de, 98

Fewell, John W., 196

Fielding, 19

"Fight of Coilantogle Ford," 71

Fisk, Alvarez, 217

Fiske, Dr. Wilbur, 174

Fitts, Judge Oliver, 149, 152

Fitts, James Harris, 152n

Fitz, Gideon, 152n

Fletcher, Thomas, 155, 204

Flint River, 167

Florida, 131, 161, 167, 168

Floridas, 211

"Flowers of the South," A, 47

"Flush Times," 43

Folsom, Rev. Peter, 228

"Forest," The, 88, 98, 100, 109, 110, 216

"Forge Master," The, 77

Foreman, Miss Sarah M., 176

Forshey, Prof., 204

Fort Adams, 107

Fort Confederation, 158

Fort Panmure, see _Panmure_.

Fort Rosalie, see _Rosalie_.

Fort St. Stephens, 158

Fort Sumpter, 191

Foster, James, 183

Foster, John, 183

Fox, John, Jr., 8, 12

Fox, Miss Eliza A., 176

France, 51, 128, 131

Frank Leslie's Journal, 47

Frazee, Rev. Bradford, 172

Freedman's' Savings Bank, 122

Freedman, John D., 152n

French, 9, 16, 71, 90, 209

French and Indian War, 127, 210

French Revolution, 11, 159

Fretwell, Miss May A., 176

"From '60 to '65," 56

"Frosted Pane," The, a poem, 38

Fulton, Chancellor R. B., 3

Gaillard, Isaac, 160

Gaines, Richard M., 153, 154

Galileo, 104

Galloway, Bishop Charles B., 5, 169

Galvez, 87, 158, 211

Garcilaso de la Vega, 226

Garrison, William Lloyd, 49

Gayoso, Governor, 91, 92n, 159, 160, 162, 163, 166, 212, 213, 216

George II, 126

George III, 128

George, Sen. J. Z., 190, 194

Georgia, 72, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 151, 152, 160, 211, 213

"Georgia Scenes," 10

Goethe, 16, 78

German, 50, 98

Germany, 71, 75

"Gettysburg" a poem, 32, 33

Gholson, Judge Samuel J., 150, 153

Gibson, Randall, 183

Gilbert's "Annalen of Physics," 98

Gillespie, David, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 167

Gilmer's Georgians, 151n

Glasgow, 86

"Glimpses of the Past," 201-206

"Globe Trotter," The, 82

"Gloster," 216

Godoy, 159

Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi, 147n, 151n, 152n, 153n

Gordon, General, 72