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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEEEMONIAL LIFE 55
Simpson speaks of Choctaw woodcraft in much the same terms as
does Cushman. When in a strange country the leader of a band of
Indians would break twigs to mark the course his followers were to
take, or a pole was pointed in that direction and a number of twigs
laid at its base to indicate how many miles they were to go.
A fish diet was thought highly of by the ancient Choctaw.
Nanih Waiya was the principal fish stream in the Choctaw coun-
try but it is claimed that the Indians did not fish in it until the
white people brought fishhooks into the country. This was largely
because it never goes dry and forms pools that may be poisoned or
dragged. Wlien they poisoned a pool with buckeye they cut down
trees and bushes and piled them up about it so as to keep the stock
away and cautioned their people not to drink from it. For this
purpose they also used winter berries and devil's shoestring. The
latter is so weak that a great quantity is required, but winter
berries (see p. 43) falling into a stream naturally will drive fish
away. Ordinarily the Choctaw did not allow anyone to poison the
pools but dragged them with a drag made of brush fastened to-
gether with creepers. When the water was deep, ponies and oxen
were secured to the drag at intervals and men sat upon it to keep it
down. The fish caught were trout, jacks, perch, suckers, and sometimes
catfish. Regarding the sucker, the claim is made that it can
be driven ashore by the simple expedient of throwing objects just
behind it one after the other. In poisoning and dragging they were
allowed to keep only enough for their families; any surplus must
be sent to one of the other bands. If this were not done the credit
reposed in the stingy band was destroyed.
They did not allow fish to be shot in the streams but it was
permitted in the lakes and rivers at certain seasons.
Big flakes of salt used to appear on the ground at Blue Licks in
Noxubee County, and the people resorted to that place in winter
to collect them.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Geographical Divisions and Towns
(See PI. 3)
When Europeans came to know this tribe intimately, and from
that time on, three geographical divisions were recognized, but a
careful examination shows that we must treat them as four in
order to introduce any order into the several town classifications
which have come down to us. It seems pretty clear that the Sixtown
Indians (Okla Hannali) and their immediate neighbors, who lived
in the southern part of the old Choctaw territory, wore early differentiated
from the rest, the separation being partly linguistic and
partly cultural. Sometimes this division is limited absolutely to