siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

4 BIJKEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
Even more than in my previous papers, I have pursued the policy
in this bulletin of constructing a source book for the tribe under dis-
cussion. On account of the rapid disappearance of the ancient
customs, little can be gathered at the present day that has not already
been recorded in a much more complete form. I have, however,
added some notes obtained from one of the eastern Choctaw Indians
named Olmon Comby and a considerable body of material from an-
other eastern Choctaw, Simpson Tubby, for many years a preacher
in the Methodist Church.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
The history of the Choctaw people since they first came to the
knowledge of Europeans may be illustrated from many documentary
sources and is capable of elaborate treatment. A few salient points
are all that the present work calls for.
Halbert has j^ointed out that the "Apafalaya" chief and river and
the " Pafallaya " province mentioned by the De Soto chroniclers
Ranjel and Elvas, respectively, evidently refer to the Choctaw, or a
part of them, since the Choctaw were laiown to other tribes as Pa°s-
falaya or " Long Hairs." They were then, it would seem, approximately
in the territory in southeastern Mississippi which they occu-
pied when they were again visited by Europeans. There are notices
of them in some Spanish documents dating from toward the close of
the seventeenth century, and they immediately took a prominent
position in the politics of colonizing nations when the French began
settling Louisiana in 1699. Like the Creeks and Chickasaw, they
were subjected to pressure from the Spaniards, English, and
French, especially the two latter nations, each of whom enjoyed the
support of a faction. These internal differences eventuated in civil
war during which the Sixtowns, Chickasawhay and Coosa Choctaw
supported the French interest and were finally successful, peace
being made in 1750. The ascendency of the English east of the
Mississippi, secured by the peace of 1763, soon tended to allay all remaining
internal difficulties. With the passage of the Louisiana Ter-
ritory into the hands of the United States an end was put to that
intriguing by the representatives of rival European governments of
which the Choctaw had been victims.
The Choctaw were never at war with the Americans. A few were
induced by Tecumseh to ally themselves with the hostile Creeks, but
the Nation as a whole was kept out of anti-American alliances by the
influence of Apushmataha, greatest of all Choctaw chiefs. (PL 1.)
However, white settlers began pouring into the region so rapidly that
the Mississippi Territory was erected in 1798 and Mississippi became
a State in 1817. Friction of course developed between the white col-