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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMOlsriAL LIFE 57
A late name given to the eastern Choctaw division was Ahepat
okla, " Potato-eating People," or Haiyip atokolo, " Second Lake,"
or " Two Lakes." The first was obtained by Halbert from an old
Choctaw. The second was the only one known to mj^ own inform-
ants. I am inclined to think that my informants were right, because
Haiyip atokolo was also the name of a minor group within the eastern
division, and both of the terms Sixtown and Long People were also
applied to smaller bands or cantons.
The Sixtown Indians were regarded with some show of contempt
by the other Choctaw and their speech was made a subject of
ridicule, but they seem to have contributed their full share, if not
somewhat more than their full share, to the political and intellectual
development of the tribe. Milfort's unfavorable comments on the
southern Choctaw as compared with the northern section of the
nation ^^ may be attributed in great measure to this internal atti-
tude on the part of the Choctaw themselves and in part to superficial
nonconformities with the usages of neighboring tribes, such as a
difference in their mode of wearing the hair. Anciently all Choctaw
men, as well as the women, allowed their hair to grow long and
hence the tribe were often known as "Long Hairs" (Pa°s falaya).*^^
As late as 1771 Romans tells us that both sexes still wore their hair
in this manner " except some young fellows who began to imitate
the Chickasaw fashion.^'' Between twenty and thirty years later,
however, Milfort found the northern Choctaw had their hair cut in
the Creek manner,^^ which would be practically identical with that
of the Chickasaw. Wholly peculiar to the Sixtowns seems to
have been the custom of tattooing blue marks at the corners of the
mouth, from which circumstance they acquired the name of " Bluemouth
" (or "Blewmouth ") Indians used by some early writers.
Certain Choctaw say that the Haiyip atokolo were distinguished
by the use of earrings, but others simply state that the eastern and
western sections were marked off from the others by the manner in
which they wore their ornaments.
These divisions played a great part in the civil war which broke
out in the first half of the eighteenth century, instigated by British
and French emissaries. The eastern or Little Party was that principally
devoted to the French while the western or Big Party was
largely committed to the English, Red Shoes (Shulush Homa), their
principal leader, belonging to the western town of Kastasha. In a
letter dated January 12, 1751, Governor Vaudreuil states that the
eastern division was the weakest but that, with the help of the
"Appendix, p. 264; Milfort, M6m., p. 288.
«s Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 3 92.
«« B. Romans, Nat. Hist. E. and W. Fla., p. 82.
«^ Appendix, p. 264; Milfort, op. cit., p. 288.
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