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SWAN'TOx] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AST) CEREMO:S"IAL, LIFE 29
chiefs, disagreed in regard to some national question, and, as Abraham suggested
to Lot the propriety of separation, so did Chiljasah propose to Chahtah
but not with that unselfishness that Abraham manifested to Lot; since Chika-
sah, instead of giving to Chahtah the choice of directions, proposed that they
should leave it to a game of chance, to which Chahtah readily acquiesced.
Thus it was played : They stood facing each other, one to the east and the
other to the west, holding a straight pole, ten or fifteen feet in length, in an
erect position between them with one end resting on the ground; and both
were to let go of the pole at the same instant by a pre-arranged signal, and the
direction in which it fell was to decide the direction which Chikasah was to
take. If it fell to the north, Chikasah and his adherents were to occupy the
northern portion of the country, and Chahtah and his adherents, the southern;
but if it fell to the south, then Chikasah, with his followers, was to possess the
southern portion of the country, and Chahtah with his, the northern. The
game was played, and the pole decreed that Chikasah should take the northern
part of their then vast and magnificent territory. Thus they were divided and
became two separate and distinct tribes, each of whom assumed and ever
afterwards I'etained the name of their respective chiefs, Chahtah and
Chikasah." ~
This writer also believed he discerned traditions of an earlier migration
into America by way of Bering Strait, based probably upon
references to the crossing of bodies of water in some versions of the
old migration story. Farther on he gives us another account taken,
he says, from papers of Rev, Israel Folsom, a native Choctaw mis-
sionary.
The name Choctaw, or Chahtah, is derived from a prophet warrior who
flourished at a time too remote for fixing any date, as it is only handed down
by tradition from one generation to another.
Headed by him, tradition informs us, the people in one grand division
migrated to the East from a country far toward the setting sun, following the
Cherokees and Muscogees, who had moved on, four years previous, in search
of a suitable spot for a permanent location. He is said to have been possessed
of all the characteristics essential to the carrying out of such an enterprise
to a successful termination. His benevolence and many other virtues are still
cherished and held in sacred remembrance by his people. The country whence
they migrated, or the causes which induced them to seek another place of
habitation, are wrapt in mysterious oblivion, as their tradition begins abruptly
with the epoch of migration. In moving from place to place, Chahtah is said
to have carried a high staff or pole which, on encamping, was immediately
placed in front of his wigwam, where it remained until they broke up encamj)-
ment. His wigwam is represented to have been placed in the van of all the
tribe. When the pole inclined forward—a power which it was believed to
IKJssess—the people prepared to march. . . . After many years of wander-
ings, during which they, in common with those who have ever engaged in
similar enterprises, suffered many trials and privations, they at length arrived
at a certain place, where the staff stood stiU and, instead of bending forward,
inclined backward, which was regarded as a sign they were at their journey's
end. To this place where the staff stood still, Chahtah gave the name
of Nun-nih Wai-ya. The exact period of the termination of their wanderings
is unknown. So soon as they got in some degree settled, Chahtah called the
*» Cushman, Hist. Choc, Chick., and Natchez Inds., pp. 62-66.