siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

96 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
The Choctaw nation is divided into three districts, each of which has a
principal chief elected by the people ; and . . . each of these districts is divided
into many smaller portions, over each of which a headman or captain presides,
who is elected by the people of his clan.'°
Claiborne gives a more detailed description of Choctaw government
in which the three coordinate chiefs appear again:
The Choctaws, from time immemorial, were divided into three beats or
districts, each under charge of a head chief, who never exercised their authority,
in important junctures, without the counsel and consent of the sages and
warriors. . . .
The names of the chiefs in the three Choctaw districts, at the removal west,
were Ne-ta-ca-che, for the lower district ; Ma-shu-la-tubbee, for the central,
and Greenwood Le Fleur [Le Flore], for the northern.
They were independent of each other, and with the co-operation of the head
men, were supreme in authority in their respective districts. They consulted
and acted in concert only in external matters, when the whole nation
assembled to decide on peace or war. In later times the whole nation assem-
bled to receive their annuity, the goods, on the occasion, being delivered to the
chiefs or captains, and by them impartially apportioned to the people. These
captains were taken from the respective villages in which they lived.
In each of the districts, there were sub-chiefs or captains, called in the
Choctaw tongue, mingos, who were the leaders in their respective towns or
beats. Their jurisdiction and authority embraced all matters of local concern.
In the event of war, the sub-chief or mingo leads the warriors of his village
or town. The Choctaws, for a long period, had no regular wars, until Pushmataha
joined Gen. Claiborne against the Creeks or Mus-cogees. But their
hunting parties often went west of Red river and into Arkansas, and had
many bloody forages there. . . .
Occasionally, a general council of the nation, or of the district, was called.
The head chief of the district, or if it be a national council, the three chiefs,
send out runners to the subordinate chiefs, giving to each runner a bundle of
sticks, corresponding to the number of days to intervene between the time of
despatching and the day of meeting. The runner, every morning, throws away
a stick, until he reaches the chief to whom he has been sent. He then delivers
the bundle, with the remainder of the sticks, and the sub-chief throws away one
every morning, which brings him to the place appointed when the last stick
has been thrown away. This was the primitive method of transmission between
the Indians, and was long adhered to, after they had become more
civilized, out of respect to the ancient custom.
On the day appointed, the Chiefs and Mingos assembled in the square or open
space of the town, and the common i)eople made it a holiday and engaged in
ball playing or dancing.
The council square was generally central, and about 60 feet long and 40
wide. On each side were two rows of posts, the outer one filled in with mud,
about six feet high, and the whole roofed over with straw or boards. There
were two rows of wooden benches covered with matting of woven cane, or
white bark; on these benches the Chiefs and Captains take their seats and
smoke their pipes, slowly passing them from one to another. The Indians are
very deliberate, and are slow in reaching conclusions. The Speaker or Orator
of the district or nation (as the case may be) usually opens with a speech,
explaining why the assembly has been called, and discloses the views of the
'Missionary Herald, April, 1829, vol. xxv, No. 4, p. 121.