siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
could read, took the paper and slowly read the names and the office each
aspirant desired; and the voter called out the name of each candidate for
whom he wished to vote as he read; and no candidate ever manifested any
hard feelings toward those who voted against him. Here was exhibited true
liberty and free suffrage."'
The latter part of the quotation of course refers to the method of
conducting an election after the removal west of the Mississippi under
the constitution then adopted. Cushman thus speaks of the native
orators
There were many natural orators among the ancient Choctaws when living
in undisturbed prosperity and happiness east of the Mississippi river. Their
orations were very concise, animating and abounding in many beautiful
metaphors."
Cushman gives the following as the ancient formula for beginning
a speech : " 0-mish-ke ! A
numpa tillofasih ish hakloh," "Attention !
Listen you to my brief remarks." ^^
Before concluding this section I will append some notes given
me by Simpson Tubby. This must represent that form of government
maintained by the eastern Choctaw after the bulk of the tribe
had moved west. I am uncertain how far this represents a functioning
government and how far an ideal. My informant, like many of
the best native assistants in other tribes, has a tendency to give
a logical completeness to his story of former governmental and
religious conditions which very probably goes beyond the actual
realization. Whether objectively or subjectively realized, his narrative
shows the increasingly important part played by the mounds
at Nanih Waiya in the thought of the Mississippi Choctaw. This
must be taken in connection with Halbert's statement that he knew
of but one national council of the tribe held at the great mound.
Simpson's account is, in substance, as follows
Nanih Waiya was the center of the Choctaw Nation and the Choctaw came
together there in council from as far west as Yazoo City and as far east as
the Tombigbee. Close to it five streams meet to form Pearl River, the " river "
(Hahtca) of the Choctaw. One of these is Nanih Waiya itself. Two others,
Owl Creek (Opa Bok) and Bogue Chitto (Big Creek) come in from the south,
uniting a short distance before they empty into Pearl River, and the two
others, Talla Haga (Tali hikia, "Standing Stone"), and Noxapater (Naki
chiponta, "Small Shot" for a shotgun), come in in succession from the north.
At the small mound of Nanih Waiya the five captains of the five bands living
on these streams met to make laws for them which they afterwards carried
to the chief on the big mound for approval or veto, but the laws for the
nation as a whole were made at the big mound. The Choctaw originally spread
out from this place in all directions and so the region of the five river cantons
was called "my mother earth" (chashki yakni), but it was not known how
they came to hs at that place. [Simpson apparently knew nothing of a sub-
' Cushman, mst. Inds., pp. 174-175. " Ibid., p. 253. »= Ibid., p. 315.