1. Nachés;2. Pochougoula; "pond-lily people," from Cha'hta pántchipond lily.3. Ousagoucoulas; "hickory people," from Cha'hta û′ssak, óssakhickory.4. Cogoucoulas; "swan people," from ókokswan.5. Yatanocas;6. Ymacachas; almost homonymous with the Arkansas village Imahao, mentioned above.7. Thoucoue; probably identical with Théloël (cf. above) and the Thioux of later authors.8. Tougoulas; "woodorforest people" from itiwood.9. Achougoulas; "pipe people," from ashungapipe, literally, "the thing they smoke from;" cf. shúngaliI smoke from.
1. Nachés;
2. Pochougoula; "pond-lily people," from Cha'hta pántchipond lily.
3. Ousagoucoulas; "hickory people," from Cha'hta û′ssak, óssakhickory.
4. Cogoucoulas; "swan people," from ókokswan.
5. Yatanocas;
6. Ymacachas; almost homonymous with the Arkansas village Imahao, mentioned above.
7. Thoucoue; probably identical with Théloël (cf. above) and the Thioux of later authors.
8. Tougoulas; "woodorforest people" from itiwood.
9. Achougoulas; "pipe people," from ashungapipe, literally, "the thing they smoke from;" cf. shúngaliI smoke from.
Although these names are considerably frenchified in their orthography, the meaning of some admits of no doubt. When I visited Natchez city in January 1882, I was informed that the White Apple village, called Apilua (Vpelois) and mentioned by Le Page du Pratz, is supposed to have existed twelve to fifteen miles southeast of the city. The White Earth village and the village of the Meal were other settlements of theirs. Owing to incessant rains, I could not explore the sites to their full extent, but found a flat mound south of St. Catharine's creek, with a diameter of thirty-two feet and perfectly circular, which lay at the same distance from the Mississippi as given above for the residence of the Sun. Col. J. F. H. Claiborne'sHistory of Mississippi, vol. I, 40-47, gives valuable extracts from French archives, pointing to the real sites of the Naktche habitations. The colossal mound of Seltzer-town stands but a short distance from the creek alluded to, and is fourteen miles from Natchez city to the northeast.
The settlement of the French on the heights of Natchez, the growing animosity of the natives against the intruders, the three successive wars, the massacre of the colonistsin November, 1729, and the final dispersion of the tribe in February 1730, are well-known historic facts and need not be repeated in this volume. The disorganized warriors retreated with their families to different parts of the country. One party fled across Mississippi river to some locality near Trinity City, La., where they entrenched themselves, but were attacked, defeated and partly captured by a body of French troops two years later. Another party reached the Chicasa country and was granted a home and protection by that tribe; but the revengeful French colonists declared war upon the hospitable Chicasa for sheltering their mortal enemies, and invaded their lands by way of the Yazoo river in 1736, but were compelled to retreat after suffering considerable loss. Fort Tombigbee, constructed in 1735, served as a second base for the French operations. Further French-Chicasa wars occurred in 1739-40 and in 1748.[28]
Later on, we find their remnants among the Creeks, who had provided them with seats on Upper Coosa river, and incorporated them into their confederacy. They built a village called Naktche, and a part of them went to reside in the neighboring Abikúdshi town. Naktche town lay, in B. Hawkins' time (1799), on a creek of the same name, joining Coosa river sixty miles above its confluence with Tallapoosa river, and harbored from fifty to one hundred warriors (Hawkins, p. 42). A number of Naktche families, speaking their paternal language, now live in the hilly parts of the Cheroki Nation, Indian Territory.
A body of Indians, called by French and English writers Thioux and Grigras, remained in the vicinity of the Natchez colony after the departure of the Naktche Indians, who had been the ruling tribe of the confederacy. It is doubtful whether these two divisions were of foreign or of Naktche origin, though the latter seems improbable. The Grigraswere called so on account of a peculiarity in their pronunciation; it probably referred to what the French callgrasseyer, and the Canadian Frenchparler gras.[29]Eleven Sháwano were once brought to the villages as captives, and were known there as "Stinkards," "Puants," terms which served to interpret the Naktche term métsmetskopmiserable,bad,wretched,inferior.
The scanty vocabularies which we possess of the Naktche language contain a sprinkling of foreign terms adopted from the Chicasa or Mobilian. Two languages at least were spoken before 1730 in the Naktche villages; the Naktche by the ruling class or tribe; the other, the Chicasa or trade language by the "low people;" and hence the mixture referred to. Du Pratz gives specimens of both. Naktche is a vocalic language, rich in verbal forms, and, to judge from a few specimens, polysynthetic to a considerable degree in its affixes.
Migratory dispositions seem to have inhered to the Tonica or Tunica tribe in a higher degree than to their southern neighbors, for in the short lapse of two centuries we see them stationed at more than three places.
In a letter addressed by Commander Lemoyne d'Iberville to the Minister of the French Navy, dated from Bayogoulas, February 26th, 1700, he states that an English fur-trader and Indian slave-jobber had just visited the Tonica, who are on a river emptying into the Mississippi, twenty leagues abovethe Taensa Indians, at some distance from the Chicasa, and 170 leagues from the Gulf of Mexico. When d'Iberville ascended the Yazoo river in the same year, he found a village of this tribe on its right (or western) bank, four days' travel from the Natchez landing. Seven villages were seen upon this river, which is navigable for sixty leagues. The Tonica village, the lowest of them, was two days' travel from Thysia, the uppermost (Margry IV, 180. 362. 398; V, 401). La Harpe mentions the establishment of a mission house among the Tonica on Yazoo river.[30]
In 1706, when expecting to become involved in a conflict with the Chicasa and Alibamu Indians, the Tonica tribe, or a part of it, fled southward to the towns of the Huma, and massacred a number of these near the site where New Orleans was built afterwards (French, Hist. Coll. of La., III, 35). The "Tunica Old Fields" lay in Tunica county, Mississippi State, opposite Helena, Arkansas. Cf. Cha'hta.
They subsequently lived at the Tonica Bluffs, on the east shore of the Mississippi river, two leagues below the influx of the Red river. T. Jefferys, who in 1761 gave a description of their village and chief's house, states that they had settled on a hill near the "River of the Tunicas," which comes from the Lake of the Tunicas, and that in close vicinity two other villages were existing (Hist. of French Dominions, I, 145-146).[31]Th. Hutchins, Louisiana and West Florida, Phila., 1784, p. 44, locates them a few miles below that spot, opposite Pointe Coupée and ten miles below the Pascagoulas, on Mississippi river. So does also Baudry de Lozières in 1802, who speaks of a population of one hundred and twenty men.
In 1817, a portion of the tribe, if not the whole, had gone up the Red river and settled at Avoyelles, ninety miles aboveits confluence with the Mississippi. A group of these Indians is now in Calcasieu county, Louisiana, in the neighborhood of Lake Charles City.
A separate chapter has been devoted to this tribe, because there is a strong probability that their language differed entirely from the rest of the Southern tongues. Le Page du Pratz, l.l., in confirming this statement, testifies to the existence of the sound R in their language, which occurs neither in Naktche nor in the Maskoki dialects or Shetimasha (II, 220-221). We possess no vocabulary of it, and even the tribal name belongs to Chicasa: túnnigpost,pillar,support, probably post of territorial demarcation of their lands on the Yazoo river. The only direct intimation which I possess on that tongue is a correspondence of Alphonse L. Pinart, who saw some Tonica individuals, and inferred from their terms that theymightbelong to the great Pani stock of the Western plains.
Of this small and obscure Indian community mention is made much earlier than of all the other tribes hitherto spoken of in this volume, for Cabeça de Vaca, in hisNaufragios, mentions them among the inland tribes as Atayos. In the list of eight Caddo villages, given by a Taensa guide to L. d'Iberville on his expedition up the Red river (March 1699), they figure as the Natao (Margry IV, 178).
The Adái, Atá-i, Háta-i, Adayes (incorrectly calledAdaize) seem to have persisted at their ancient home, where they formed a tribe belonging to the Caddo confederacy. Charlevoix (Hist. de la Nouvelle France, ed. Shea VI, p. 24) relates that a Spanish mission was founded among the Adaes in 1715. A Spanish fort existed there, seven leagues west of Natchitoches, as late as the commencement of the nineteenth century. Baudry de Lozières puts their population at one hundred men (1802), and Morse (1822) at thirty, who thenpassed their days in idleness on the Bayou Pierre of Red river. Even at the present time they are remembered as a former division of the Caddo confederacy, and called Háta-i by the Caddo, who are settled in the southeastern part of the Indian Territory.
A list of about 300 Adái words was gathered in 1802 by Martin Duralde, which proves it to be a vocalic language independent of any other, though a few affinities are traceable with the Pani dialects. The orthography of that vocabulary cannot, however, be fully relied on. The original is in the library of the American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia. Rob. G. Latham, in his "Opuscula; Essays, chiefly philological," etc., London 1860; pp. 402-404, has compared Adahi words with the corresponding terms of other North American languages, but without arriving at a definite result.
The great family of Pani Indians has, in historic times, extended from the Platte river southward to the Gulf of Mexico. From the main stock, the Sanish or Arikari have wandered on their hunting trips north to the Middle Missouri river, while the Pani, in four divisions, had the Platte and its tributaries for their headquarters. The southern tribes are the Witchita, the Towákone or Three Canes, who speak the Witchita dialect, the Kichai and the originally Texan tribes of the Caddo and Waco (Wéko, in Spanish: Hueco.)[32]
The Pani family was too remote from the Maskoki tribes to enter in direct connection with them. Some of the southern septs had intercourse with them, mainly through the French colonists. Fights between Caddos and Cha'hta are recorded for the eighteenth century. The Pani family is mentioned here simply because the legendary caves from which the Creek nation is said to have sprung lay on Redriver, within the limits of the territory held by some of the southern Pani nations.
When L. d'Iberville ascended the western branch of the Red river, now called Red river (the eastern branch being Washita or Black river), in March 1699, he saw and visited eight villages of the Caddo connection. His Taensa guide named them as follows:
Yataché; called Yátassi by Americans.Nactythos; they are the Natchitoches.Yesito;Natao; the Adái above.Cachaymons;Cadodaquis; full form, Cado-hadatcho or "chief tribe."Natachés;Natsytos.
Yataché; called Yátassi by Americans.
Nactythos; they are the Natchitoches.
Yesito;
Natao; the Adái above.
Cachaymons;
Cadodaquis; full form, Cado-hadatcho or "chief tribe."
Natachés;
Natsytos.
The Cachaymons and the Cadodaquis had been previously visited by Cavelier de la Salle, when returning from the Cenys, in the central parts of Texas.[33]
The Caddo confederacy consists of the following divisions or tribes, as given me by a Caddo Indian in 1882:
Kado proper; kádo meanschief,principal.Anadáko, Anadāku; also Nandako.Ainai, Ayenai; also Hini, Inies upon an affluent of Sabine river; identical with the Tachies (Sibley). From this tribal name is derivedTexas, anciently Tachus, Taxus.Natchidosh, Nashédosh; the Natchitoches.Yátassi.Anabaidaítcho, Nabádatsu; the Nabedatches, who are nearly extinct now.Nátassi; identical with the Natachés above.Nakúhĕdōtch, Nakohodótse; the Nagogdoches.Assine, Assíni; the Asinays of French explorers.Hadaí; the Adái, Adáye, q. v.Yowā′ni, now in Texas.A′-ish; a few of these are now living in Texas, called Alish, Eyish by former writers.
Kado proper; kádo meanschief,principal.
Anadáko, Anadāku; also Nandako.
Ainai, Ayenai; also Hini, Inies upon an affluent of Sabine river; identical with the Tachies (Sibley). From this tribal name is derivedTexas, anciently Tachus, Taxus.
Natchidosh, Nashédosh; the Natchitoches.
Yátassi.
Anabaidaítcho, Nabádatsu; the Nabedatches, who are nearly extinct now.
Nátassi; identical with the Natachés above.
Nakúhĕdōtch, Nakohodótse; the Nagogdoches.
Assine, Assíni; the Asinays of French explorers.
Hadaí; the Adái, Adáye, q. v.
Yowā′ni, now in Texas.
A′-ish; a few of these are now living in Texas, called Alish, Eyish by former writers.
The Caddo relate, as being the mythical origin of their nation, that they came from a water-sink in Louisiana, went westward, shoved up earth by means of arrow-heads, and thus made a mountain. The totems of their gentes once were, as far as remembered,bearná-ustse,pantherkö′she,wolftá-isha,snakekíka,wild-catwadó,owlnéa, ó-ush.
When Milfort passed through the Red river country about 1780, the Caddo, whom he describes as fallacious in trading, were at war with the Cha'hta (Mémoire, p. 95).
In 1705 some Colapissa from the Talcatcha river, four leagues from Lake Pontchartrain, settled upon the northern bank of this lake at Castembayouque (now Bayou Castin, at Mandeville), and were joined, six months after, by a party of "Nassitoches," whom famine had driven from their homes on Red river.[34]
These natives once dwelt in numerous settlements clustering around Bayou Lafourche, Grand river (or Bayou Atchafalaya), and chiefly around Grand Lake or Lake of the Shetimasha. All that is left of them—about fifty-five Indians, of a parentage strongly mixed with white blood, reside at Charenton, St. Mary's Parish, on the southwestern side of the lake, though a few are scattered through the forests on Grand river. They call themselvesPántch pínunkansh, "men altogether red." The name Shetimasha, by which they are generally known, is of Cha'hta origin, and means "they possess (imásha) cooking vessels (tchúti)." Their central place of worship was three miles north of Charenton, on a small inlet of Grand Lake. They worshiped there, by dances and exhaustive fasting, their principal deity, Kút-Nähänsh, the "mid-day sun."
They were not warlike, and never figured prominently in colonial history. When a portion of the tribe, settled on Bayou Lafourche, had murdered Mr. Saint-Cosme, a Naktche missionary descending the Mississippi river in 1703, they were attacked by the colonists and their Indian allies. The war ended with a speedy submission of the savages. They called the Naktche Indians their brothers, and their myths related that their "Great Spirit" created them in the country of that people, and gave them laws, women and tobacco. The Cha'hta tribes, who attempted to deprive them of their native land, made continual forays upon them during the eighteenth century.
These Indians were strict monogamists. The chieftaincy was a life-long office among them. The chiefs lived in lodges larger than those of the common people, and their tobacco pipes were larger than those of the warriors. The foreheads of the children were subjected to the flattening process.[35]
Their language is extremely polysynthetic as far as derivation by suffixes is concerned, and there are also a number of prefixes. For the pronounsthouandyea common and a reverential form are in use. The faculty for forming compound words is considerable, and the numerals show the decimal form of computation.
To close the list of the linguistic families encircling the Maskoki stock, we mention the Atákapa, a language which has been studied but very imperfectly. This tribe once existed upon the upper Bayou Tèche northwest and west of the Shetimasha, north and northwest of the Opelousa Indians, and from the Tèche extended beyond Vermilion river, perhaps down to the sea coast. The Atákapa of old were a well-made race of excellent hunters, but had, as their nameindicates, the reputation of being anthropophagists (Cha'hta: hátak, hattakperson, ápato eat). At first, they suffered no intrusion of the colonists into their territory and cut off expeditions attempting to penetrate into their seats. During the nineteenth century they retreated toward the Sabine river. The name by which they call themselves is unknown; perhaps it is Skunnemoke, which was the name of one of their villages on Vermilion river, six leagues west of New Iberia. Cf. Th. Hutchins (Phila., 1784).
The scanty vocabulary of their language, taken in 1802, shows clusters of consonants, especially at the end of words, but with its queer, half-Spanish orthography does not appear to form a reliable basis for linguistic conclusions. A few words agree with Tónkawē, the language of a small Texan tribe; and according to tradition, the Karánkawas, once the giant people of Matagorda bay, on the Texan Coast, spoke a dialect of Atákapa. These three tribes were, like all other Texan tribes, reputed to be anthropophagists. In extenuation of this charge, Milfort asserts that they "do not eat men, but roast them only, on account of the cruelties first enacted against their ancestors by the Spaniards" (p. 90). This remark refers to a tribe, also called Atákapas, which he met at a distance of five days' travel west of St. Bernard bay.
We have but few notices of expeditions sent by French colonists to explore the unknown interior of what forms now the State of Louisiana. One of these, consisting of three Frenchmen, was in 1703 directed to explore the tribes about the river de la Madeleine, now Bayou Tèche. The two men who returned reported to have met seven "nations" there; the man they lost was eaten by the natives, and this misfortune prompted them to a speedy departure. The location seems to point to the territory of the Atákapa.[36]
The enumeration of the southern linguistic stocks winds up with the Atákapa; but it comprises only the families the existence of which is proved by vocabularies. Tonica and the recently-discovered Taensa furnish the proof that the Gulf States may have harbored, or still harbor, allophylic tribes speaking languages unknown to us. The areas of the southern languages being usually small, they could easily escape discovery, insomuch as the attention of the explorers and colonists was directed more toward ethnography than toward aboriginal linguistics.
The southern tribes whichI suspectof speaking or having spoken allophylic languages, are the Bidai, the Koroa, the Westo and Stono Indians.
Rev. Morse, in his Report to the Government (1822), states that their home is on the western or right side of Trinity river, Texas, sixty-five miles above its mouth, and that they count one hundred and twenty people. In 1850 a small settlement of five or six Bidai families existed on Lower Sabine River.
The Opelousas of Louisiana and the Cances of Texas spoke languages differing from all others around them.[37]
The earliest home of this tribe, which figures extensively in French colonial history, is a mountainous tract on the western shore of Mississippi river, eight leagues above the Natchez landing. They were visited there, early in 1682, by the explorer, C. de la Salle, who noticed the compression of their skulls (Margry I, 558. 566). They were a warlike and determined people of hunters. In 1705 a party of them, hired by the French priest Foucault to convey him by water to the Yazoos, murderously dispatched him with two other Frenchmen (Pénicaut, in Margry V, 458). A companion of C. de la Salle (in 1682) noticed that the "language of theCoroa differed from that of the Tinsa and Natché," but that in his opinion their manners and customs were the same (Margry I, 558).
Koroas afterward figure as one of the tribes settled on Yazoo river, formerly called also River of the Chicasa, and are mentioned there by D. Coxe, Carolana (1742), p. 10, as Kourouas. They were then the allies of the Chicasa, but afterward merged in the Cha'hta people, who call them Kólwa, Kúlua. Allen Wright, descended from a grandfather of this tribe, states that the term is neither Cha'hta nor Chicasa, and that the Koroa spoke a language differing entirely from Cha'hta.[38]A place Kolua is now in Coahoma county, probably far distant from the ancient home of this tribe. The origin of the name is unknown; the Cha'hta word: káⁿlostrong,powerful, presents some analogy in sound.
lived in the vicinity of the English colony at Charleston, South Carolina. Their predatory habits made them particularly troublesome in 1669-1671 and in 1674, when they had to be repulsed by an army of volunteers. The Stonos must have lived north of the colony, or on the upper course of some river, for, in 1674, they are described as "coming down" (Hewat, Histor. Account of S. C. and Ga., London 1779; I, 51. 77). Stono Inlet is the name of a cove near Charleston. Both tribes also met with disastrous reverses at the hands of the Savannah Indians, probably the Yámassi (Archdale). They are both mentioned as having belonged to the Kataba confederacy, but this does not by any means prove that they spoke Kataba or a dialect of it. As to the name, the Westo Indians may be identified with the Oustacs of Lederer (who are reported as being at war with the Usherees), and with the Hostaqua of René de Laudonnière, whomentions them as forming a confederacy under a paracusi in the northern parts of the "Floridian" territory. Possibly the Creek word ō′stafour, in the sense of "four allied tribes," has given origin to this tribal name (ostáka in Alibamu).
The affinity of the extinct Congaree Indians, on Congaree river, is doubtful also; Lawson relates that they did not understand the speech of the Waterees and Chicarees. Cf. Kataba. Owing to the inactivity of the local historians, our ethnographic information on the North and South Carolina Indians is extremely meagre and unsatisfactory.
The linguistic map added to this volume is an attempt to locate, in a general way, the settlements pertaining to the Indians of each of the linguistic stocks of the Gulf States, as far as traceable in the eighteenth century. Some of them, as the Timucua and Yámassi settlements, are taken from dates somewhat earlier, while the location of the Atákapa tribe is known to us only from the first decennium of the nineteenth century. The marking of the linguistic areas by dots, pointing to the tribal settlements, answers much better the purpose than the coloring of large areas, which conveys the erroneous impression that the population was scattered all over a certain country. This will do very well for densely populated countries, or for tracts inhabited by roving, erratic Indians, whom we meet only on the west side of the Mississippi river. The Gulf States' Indians were no longer in the condition of pure hunting tribes; they had settled in stationary villages, and derived the main part of their sustenance from agriculture and fishing.
The location of the Chicasa, Cheroki, Seminole and Caddo (Pani) tribes were not indicated with that completeness which the subject requires. The northwest corner of the map shows the tracts occupied at present in the Indian Territory by tribes of Maskoki lineage.
Among the various nationalities of the Gulf territories the Maskoki family of tribes occupied a central and commanding position. Not only the large extent of territory held by them, but also their numbers, their prowess in war, and a certain degree of mental culture and self-esteem made of the Maskoki one of the most important groups in Indian history. From their ethnologic condition of later times, we infer that these tribes have extended for many centuries back in time, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and beyond that river, and from the Apalachian ridge to the Gulf of Mexico. With short intermissions they kept up warfare with all the circumjacent Indian communities, and also among each other. All the various dispositions of the human mind are represented in the Maskoki tribes. We have the cruel and lurking Chicasa, the powerful and ingenious but treacherous and corruptible Cha'hta, the magnanimous and hospitable, proud and revengeful Creek, the aggressive Alibamu, the quarrelsome Yámassi, and the self-willed, independent Seminole, jealous of the enjoyment of his savage freedom in the swamps and everglades of the semi-tropical peninsula.
The irresolute and egotistic policy of these tribes often caused serious difficulties to the government of the English and French colonies, and some of them constantly wavered in their adhesion between the French and the English cause. The American government overcame their opposition easily whenever a conflict presented itself (the Seminole war forms an exception), because, like all the Indians, they never knew how to unite against a common foe.
The two main branches of the stock, the Creek and the Cha'hta Indians, were constantly at war, and the remembrance of their deadly conflicts has now passed to their descendants in the form of folklore. The two differ anthropologically in their exterior, the people of the western or Cha'hta branch being thick-set and heavy, that of the easternor Creek connection more lithe and tall. Prognathism is not frequent among them, and the complexion of both is a rather dark cinnamon, with the southern olive tinge. The general intelligence of this gifted race renders it susceptible for civilization, endows it with eloquence, but does not always restrain it from the outbursts of the wildest passion.
Among the tribes of the Maskoki family, we notice the following ethnographic practices: the use of the red and white colors as symbols of war and peace, an extensive system of totemic gentes, the use of the Ilex cassine for the manufacture of the black drink, the erection of artificial mounds, the belief in a deity called "Master of Life," and original sun-worship. The eastern tribes all had an annual festival in the town square, called afast(púskita in Creek), and some traces of it may be found also among the western connection. In the eastern and western branch (also among the Naktche people) the children belong to the gens of the mother, a custom which differs from that of the Yuchi and dates from high antiquity. No instances of anthropophagy are recorded, but the custom of scalping seems to have been indigenous among them. The early Timucua scalped their enemies and dried the scalps over their camp-fires. The artificial flattening of the foreheads of male infants seems to have prevailed in the western branch only, but some kind of skull deformation could be observed throughout the Gulf territories. The re-interment of dead bodies, after cleaning their bones from the adhering muscles several months after death, is recorded more especially for the western branch, but was probably observed among all tribes in various modifications.
None of the customs just enumerated was peculiar to the Maskoki tribes, but common throughout the south, many of them being found in the north also. They were mentioned here only, to givein their totalitya fair ethnographic picture of the Maskoki nationality.
The genealogy of the Maskoki tribes cannot be establishedon anthropological, that is racial, characteristics; these Indians formerly incorporated so many alien elements into their towns, and have become so largely mixed with half-castes in the nineteenth century, that a division on racial grounds has become almost impossible.
Hence, the only characteristic by which a subdivision of the family can be attempted, is that oflanguage. Following their ancient topographic location from east to west, we obtain the following synopsis:
First branch, or Maskoki proper.The Creek, Maskokálgi or Maskoki proper, settled on Coosa, Tallapoosa, Upper and Middle Chatahuchi rivers. From these branched off by segmentation the Creek portion of the Seminoles, of the Yámassi and of the little Yamacraw community.
Second, or Apalachian branch.This southeastern division, which may be called alsoa parte potiorithe Hitchiti connection, anciently comprised the tribes on the Lower Chatahuchi river and, east from there, the extinct Apalachi, the Mikasuki, and the Hitchiti portion of the Seminoles, Yámassi and Yamacraws.
Third, or Alibamu branchcomprised the Alibamu villages on the river of that name; to them belonged the Koassáti and Witumka on Coosa river, its northern affluent.
Fourth, Western or Cha'hta branch.From the main people, the Cha'hta, settled in the middle portions of the State of Mississippi, the Chicasa, Pascagoula, Biloxi, Huma and other tribes once became separated through segmentation.
The strongest evidence for a community of origin of the Maskoki tribes is furnished by the fact thattheir dialects belong to one linguistic family. The numerous incorporations of foreign elements have not been able to alter the purity of their language; the number of intrusive words is very small, and the grammar has repelled every foreign intrusion. This is the inference we draw from their best studied dialects, forwith some of them, as with Ábika, we are not acquainted at all, and with others very imperfectly. The principal dialects of the family greatly differ from each other; Cha'hta, for instance, is unintelligible to the Creek, Koassáti and Hitchiti people, and the speech of each of these three tribes is not understood by the two others. When Albert Gallatin published his vocabularies of Cha'hta and Creek, he was uncertain at first whether they were related to each other or not. On the other side, the difference between Cha'hta and Chicasa, and between Creek and Seminole, is so insignificant that these dialects may be considered as practically identical. The degree of dialectic difference points approximately to the date of the separation of the respective communities, and untold centuries must have elapsed since the two main branches of the family were torn asunder, for Cha'hta differs about as much from Creek as the literary German does from Icelandic.
Although the dialects of Maskoki do not now diverge from each other more than did the Semitic dialects two thousand years ago, the time when they all had a common language, or, in other words, the time preceding the separation into four divisions must lie further back than eight or ten thousand years. We cannot expect to reconstruct the parent Maskoki language spoken at that time but very imperfectly, since the oldest text known to exist in any of the dialects dates from A. D. 1688 only. An approach to its reconstruction could be attempted by carefully comparing the lexicon and grammatic forms of the dialects presently spoken, and an individual acquainted with them all, or at least with their four representatives, might also composea comparative grammarof these dialects as spoken at the present epoch of their development, which would reveal many points concerning the ancient or historic shape of the language once common to all these tribes.
What the Maskoki dialects presently spoken,as far aspublished, have in common, may be stated in a general way in the following outlines:
Phonetics.—The dialects possess the sound f and the palatalized l (`l), but lack th, v and r, while nasalization of the vocalic element is more peculiar to the western than to the eastern divisions. There is a tendency to pronounce themutesor checks by applying the tongue to the alveolar part of the palate. The phonetic system is as follows:
EXPLOSIVES:BREATHS:Not aspiratedAspirated.Spirants.Nasals.Trills.GutturalskgχhPalatalstch, tsdsh, dsyń`lLingualsk´g´shlDentalstdsnLabialspbfwmVowels:—i, e, ā, a, o, u; with their long and nasalized sounds.
The syllable is quite simple in its structure; it consists either of a vowel only, or begins with one consonant (in the eastern division with one or two), and ends in a vowel. Deviations from this rule must be explained by phonetic alteration, elision, etc. The frequent occurrence of homonymous terms forms a peculiar difficulty in the study of the dialects.
Morphology.—No thorough distinction exists between the different parts of speech, none especially between the nominal and the verbal element. The fact that all adjectives can be verbified, could be better expressed as follows: The adjectives used attributively are participles of attributive verbs and inflected for number like these, their so-called plural being the plural form of a verb. This we observe in Iroquois, Taensa and many other American languages; it also explains the position of the adjectiveafterthe noun qualified. Some forms of the finite verb represent true verbs, while others, like the Creek forms, with tcha-, tchi-, pu-, etc., prefixed, which is the possessive pronoun, are nominal forms, and representnomina agentisandnomina actionis. The three cases of the noun are not accurately distinguished from eachother in their functions; substantives form diminutives in -odshi, -osi, -usi, etc. The distinction between animate and inanimate gender is not made in this language family; much less that between the male and the female sex. The possessive pronoun of the third person singular and plural (im-, in-, i-) is prefixed in the same manner to substantives to indicate possession, as it is to verbs to show that an act is performed in the interest or to the detriment of the verbal subject or object. The Cha'hta alone distinguishes between the inclusive and the exclusive pronounswe,our,ours. A dual exists neither in the noun nor in the pronoun, but in most of the intransitive verbs. The numerals are built upon the quinary system, the numeral system most frequent in North America. The verb forms a considerable number of tenses and incorporates the prefixed object-pronoun, the interrogative and the negative particle; it has a form for the passive and one for the reflective voice. By a sort of reduplication a distributive form is produced in the verb, adjective and some numerals, which often has a frequentative and iterative function. The lack of a true relative pronoun and of a true substantive verb is supplied in different ways by the various dialects; the former, for instance, by the frequent use of the verbal in -t. Derivatives are formed by prefixation and suffixation, many of the derivational being identical with inflectional affixes in these dialects.
Although Maskoki speech, taken as a whole, belongs to the agglutinative type of languages, some forms of it, especially the predicative inflection of the verb and the vocalic changes in the radicals, strongly remind us of the inflective languages. Words, phrases and sentences are sometimes composed by syncope, a process which is more characteristic of the agglutinative than of the inflective type, and is by no means confined to the languages of America.
In the followingcomparative tableI have gathered some terms of Maskoki which coincide in two or more of the dialects. The table may be helpful for giving a general idea of the lexical differences existing between the dialects explored:
Cha'hta.Chicasa.Alibamu.Koassáti.Creek.Seminole.Hitchiti.Apalachi.Mikasuki.Warriortáskatáskatastenukíhatastanókitaskáyataskáyahú′li-tipitaskaiatasikiá'hliWomanohóyoehó, ihótéyihóktihóktitäígitaikiFootíyiiyii-pát'hai-pát'haíliilii-paláshiia, yaili-palasiVillage, towntámahaóklaólaólatálofatálofaóklitófun (obj. case)ókliChiefmíngomínkomíkomíkumikomikomikimikiHousetchúkatchúkaisháísatchú'kutchûkutchíkitchíkatchíkiKnifebáshpobushpoisláfkaislátkaiskalafkiiskalafkiCanoepínipínipi`lúdshipi`lódshi(dim)pi`lótsi, pi`lipi`lódshi (dim)FirelúaklúakítitigbatútkatútkaítiítiWateróka, uk'haókaókiókio-íwa, u-íwao-íwaókiókiEarth, landyákniyák'neihániihániíkanaíkanayákniyákniStone, rocktálitáletálitálitchátotchátotálitaleWoodítiitiituítuituítuahía`liSunháshihashéhasiehásihásihásihásihasiMoonháshihashé nenakáhasi-nissini′la hásihás-'lisihas-ótalihitok (month)has-otaliThunderhilóhahilóhatonokóχhawinei'hkátinítkitinítkitonuká'htchitonokatchiPinetíaktíaktchúyetchùyetchólitchoyiMaizeántchitántchitchasiétchásiádshi, átchiádshiáspiáspiGrassháshukháshukássipáhipáhipáhipáhiBearnítanitaníktaniktanok'húsinokosenoχū'sinókosiDeerissiíssiítchuidshuítchuítchoitchiitchiBirdhúshifushéfósifosifúsuafosua, fúswafosifusiFishnanínanné'lá`lu'lá`lu'lá`lu'la`lu'lá`li'lá`liGoodatchúkmaatchúkmakanóasukáheno, kánuhi`lihi`lihí`lihí`liWhiteháta, tóbitohobihátkahátgahátkihátkihátgihatkiRedhúmmahómmahúmmahúmmatchátitchátikitistchikitiskiBlacklúsalósalótchalúdsalástilástilódshilútchiAllmómaoklunháwayamúluwayiliomálgaomálgalápkiámali, ilúngtalápkiOneatcháfatcháffatchafákatchafákahámginhámgin`lámin'láminTwotúklotókolotokolótúglohokólinhokólintúklantóklanThreetutchínatotchénatut'tchínatutchínantut'tchínintut'tchinintutchínantusatot'tchínanFourúshtaoshtáostákaostákanóshtinóshtinsitákintchitákinFiveta`lápita`lápeta`lápitsahupágatcha'hkípintcha'hki′pintchákgipantcha′hkípinSixhanálihannálehánaliahanna′linipákinipákinipaginipákinSevenuntúkloontoklóhontók'lohontóklunkolapákinkolapákinkolapákinkolapákinEightuntotchínaontutchénahontot'tchinaundetsínantchinapákintchinapákintusnapákintosnapákinNinetchakálitchakáleibitchá'hkalipitchakálinostapàkinostapákinustapakinostapákinTenpokólipokólepokólipokólepálinpálinpokólinpokólinTo seepisapíssahitchashitchushídshitahidshitahitchígipitchahidshíki
The Chicasa of this comparative table is from a vocabulary taken by G. Gibbs (1866); the Seminole and the Mikasuki from Buckingham Smith's vocabularies printed in the Historical Magazine (Morrisania, N. Y.) for August, 1866, and in W. W. Beach's: Indian Miscellany, Albany 1877, p. 120-126. The latter differs but little from the Mikasuki of G. Gibbs, in the linguistic collection of the Bureau of Ethnology in Washington. The few words of Apalachi were drawn from the missive sent, A. D. 1688, to the king of Spain, to be mentioned under "Apalachi"; the Koassáti terms I obtained in part at the Indian training school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, partly from Gen. Alb. Pike's vocabularies, which also furnished the Alibamu terms.
Readers will perceive at the first glance that Cha'hta is practically the same language as Chicasa, Creek as Seminole and Hitchiti as Mikasuki. Alibamu forms a dialect for itself, leaning more toward Cha'hta than Creek. The southeastern group holds a middle position between Cha'hta and Creek. As far as the queer and inaccurate Spanish orthography of Apalachi enables us to judge, this dialect again differs somewhat from Hitchiti and Mikasuki. It will be well to remember that in Indian and all illiterate languages the sounds of the same organ-class areinterchangeable; thus, a word may becorrectlypronounced and written in six, ten, or twelve different ways. Tchátorock,stonecan be pronounced tchátu, tchádo, tchádu, tsáto, tsátu, tsádo, tsádu, etc. This explains many of the apparent discrepancies observed in the comparative table, and in our texts printed below.
A comparative study of the existing Maskoki vocabularies would be very fruitful for the ethnographic history of the tribes, and likely to disclose the relative epochs of their settlement, if those that we have now could be thoroughly relied on. In the comparative table subjoined I have received only such terms that answer to this requisite.
There are terms which occur in all dialects in the same ornearly the same form, as hásisun, ítchu, íssideer, ófi, ífadog, the terms forchief,black,yellow,bird,snake,buffalo,turtle,fox(also in Cheroki: tsu'hlá), the numerals and the personal pronouns; they must, therefore, have been once the common property of the still undivided, primordial tribe. The fact that the words forchief(míki, míngo, míko), for holá'hta, and forwarrior(táska, taskáya), agree in all dialects, points to the fact that when the tribes separated they lived under similar social conditions which they have kept up ever since. The terms formaizedisagree but apparently, and seem to be reducible to one radix, atch or ash; the terms fordogagree in all dialects—hence, the Maskoki tribes planted maize and kept dogs before, probably many centuries before they separated; and the term ífa went over from them to the Timucua. The word forbuffalo, yánase, is the same in all dialects, and was probably obtained from the North, since the term occurs in Cheroki also (yá'hsa in Eastern Cheroki). The name forsalt, hápi, a mineral which had a sacrificial importance, is found also in Yuchi in the form tápi, but Creek has ók-tchanua, Hitchiti: ok-tcháhane. The term fortobaccoagrees in all divisions of the stock (haktchúmma), except in the Creek branch, where it is called hítchi, hídshi. This weed is said to have received its Maskoki names from a similarity of the top of the green plant with the phallus, which is called in Alibamu and Hitchiti: óktchi or áktchi.
Maskóki, Maskógi, isti Maskóki, designates a single person of the Creek tribe, and forms, as a collective plural, Maskokálgi, the Creek community, the Creek people, the Creek Indians. English authors write this name Muscogee, Muskhogee, and its plural Muscogulgee. The first syllable, as pronounced by the Creek Indians, contains a clear, short a, and that the name was written Muscogee and not Mascogee, is not to be wondered at, for the English language, with itssurd, indistinct and strongly modified vocalization, will convert the clearest a into a u. Whether the name Maskoki was given to the Creeks before or after the incorporation of the towns speaking other languages than theirs, we are unable to tell, but the name figures in some of the oldest documents on this people. The accent is usually laid on the middle syllable: Maskóki, Maskógi. None of the tribes are able to explain the name from their own language.
The Cheroki call a Creek Indian Kúsa, the nation Ani-kúsa, probably because Kúsa was the first Creek town they met, when coming from their country along Coosa river, Alabama. But why did the English colonists call themCreekIndians? Because, when the English traders entered the Maskoki country from Charleston or Savannah, they had to cross a number of streams and creeks, especially between the Chatahuchi and Savannah rivers. Gallatin thought it probable that the inhabitants of the country adjacent to Savannah river were called Creeks from an early time (Synopsis, p. 94). The French settlers rendered the term Lower Creeks by "Basses-Rivières."
The Wendát or Hurons call the Creek people Ku-û′sha, having obtained the name from the Cheroki. The Foxes or Utagami call one Creek man U'mashgo ánene-u, the people U′mashgohak. B. S. Barton, New Views (1798), Appendix p. 8, states that the Delawares call the Creeks Masquachki: "swampland."
Caleb Swan, who wrote a report on the Creek people in 1791, mentions (Schoolcraft V, 259) a tradition current among them, that they incorporated the Alibamu first, then the Koassáti, then the Naktche, and finally the Sháwano. In his time the Sháwano had four towns on the Tallapoosa river, and other Sháwano (from the northwest) increased their population every year by large numbers. One of these towns was called Sawanógi, another Kanhatki. A Muscogee creek is near Columbus, running into Chatahuchi river fromthe east. "Muskhogans" inhabited the tract north of Pensacola.
The term is not derived from any known Maskoki word. If okiwaterformed a component part of it, it would stand first, as in the Hitchiti geographic terms Okĕlákni "yellow water," Okifenóke "wavering,shaking waters," Okmúlgi "bubbling water," Okitchóbi "river," lit. "large river." We are therefore entitled to look out for a Sháwano origin of the tribal name, and remember the fact that the Creek Indians called the Sháwano and the Lenápe (Delawares) their grandfathers. It will be appropriate to consult also the other Algonkin languages for proper names comparable with the one which occupies our attention.
The Sháwano call a Creek person Humásko, the Creek people Humaskógi. Here the hu- is the predicative prefix:he is,she is,they are, and appears often as ho-, hui-, ku-. Thus Humaskógi means "they are Masko", the suffix -gi, -ki being the plural ending of the animate order of substantives in Sháwano. A word masko is not traceable at present in that language, but muskiégui meanslake,pond, m'skiegu-pki or muskiégu-pkitimbered swamp, musk'hánui nepíthe water(nepí)rises up to,surrounds, but does not cover up. Miskekopke in Caleb Atwater's vocabulary (Archæol. Americ. I, p. 290), signifieswet ground,swamp. Rev. Lacombe's Cree or Knisteno Dictionary gives: maskekmarsh,swamp,trembling groundunsafe to walk upon; Maskekowiyiniwthe MaskegonsorBogmen, a tribe of Crees, also called Maskekowok, who were formerly Odshibwē Indians, but left Lake Superior to join the Crees; their name forms a striking parallel to our southern Maskoki. Rev. Watkins' Cree Dictionary, with its English, unscientific orthography, has muskāg, muskākswamp,marsh; MuskāgooSwampy Indian,Maskegon; Muskāgoowewhe is a Swampy Indian. Here the predicative suffix -wew is placed after the noun, while hu- of Sháwano stands before it. The Odshibwē Dictionary ofBishop Baraga has máshkig, plur. máskigonswamp,marsh; Mashki sibiBad River; a corrupt form standing for Mashkigi sibiSwamp River. In Abnáki we have meguä'kfresh water marsh, maskehegatfetid water.
The Sháwano word forcreek,brook,branch of riveris methtékui; Sháwano often has th where the northern dialects have s (thípiriver, in Potawat. and Sauk: sibe, in Odshibwē: sibi) and hence the radix meth- is probably identical with mas- in maskek.
The country inhabited by the Maskoki proper abounds in creek bottoms overflowed in the rainy season, as the country around Opelíka "swamp-site" (from Creek: opílua, apíluaswamp, läíkitato be stretched out), Opil-`láko "great swamp," west of the above (Hawkins, p. 50) and many other places rendered uninhabitable by the moisture of the ground. The countries of the Cha'hta and Chicasa also formed a succession of swamps, low grounds and marshes. In view of the fact that no other general name for the whole Creek nation was known to exist save Maskoki, and that the legend and the chroniclers of de Soto's expedition speak of single tribes only, we are entitled to assume this foreign origin for the name until a better one is presented. Another instance of an Algonkin name of an Indian nationality adopted by the Maskoki is that of isti Natuági, or the "enemies creeping up stealthily," lit., "snake-men," by which the Iroquois, or Five Nations, are meant.[39]
In this publication I call the Maskoki proper by the name of Creeks only, and have used their name on account of thecentrallocation and commanding position of the Maskoki proper, to whom this appellation properly belongs, to designatethe whole Cha'hta-Maskoki family of Indians.
It will also be remembered that several of the larger communities of American Indians are known to the white populationexclusively through names borrowed from other languages than their own, as, for instance, the Kalapúya of Oregon, who call themselves Amē′nmei, Kalapúya (anciently Kalapúyua) being of Chinook origin, and the Pani, whose name is, according to J. H. Trumbull, taken from an Algonkin dialect, and meanslungy,not bellicose,inferior, while their own name is Tsaríksi tsáriks "men of men."[40]Foreign names have also been given to the smaller tribes of the Shetimasha and Atákapa, names which are of Cha'hta origin; v. supra. The Patagonian and Argentinian tribes are mostly known to us under Chilian names, and the Aimboré or Nkrä′kmun of Brazil we know only under the Portuguese name Botocudos.
As early as the latter half of the sixteenth century, a tribe speaking a Maskoki language was settled on the shores of the Atlantic ocean, on lands included at present in the State of South Carolina, and from these shores they extended to some distance inland. In that country René de Laudonnière in 1564 established a fortification in Port Royal Bay, called Charlefort, and the terms transmitted by him, being all of Creek origin, leave no doubt about the affinity of the natives, yatiquiinterpreter, tolalaurel, Olataraca, viz.: holá'hta `láko, nom. pr. "the great leader." Shortly after, the Spanish captain Juan Pardo led an expedition (1566-67) through the countries along Savannah river, and the local names found in the report made of it by Juan de la Vandera (1569) also point to the presence of a people speaking Creek established on both sides of that river:[41]Ahoya "two going"; IssaCr. ídshu "deer"; Solameco, Cr. súli miko "buzzard chief"; Canosi, Cr. ikanō′dshi "graves are there"—the name of Cannouchee river, Georgia.
After the lapse of a century, when British colonists began to settle in larger numbers in these parts, a tribe called Yámassi (Yemasee, Yamasee, Yemmassaws, etc.) appears in the colonial documents as settled there, and in the maritime tracts of Georgia and Eastern Florida. Thus G. R. Fairbanks, History of St. Augustine (1858), p. 125, mentions the following dates from Spanish annals: "The Yemasees, always peaceful and manageable, had a principal town, Macarisqui, near St. Augustine. In 1680 they revolted, because the Spaniards had executed one of their principal chiefs at St. Augustine; and in 1686 they made a general attack on the Spaniards, and became their mortal enemies."
The inroads of the Yámassi, in Cr. Yamassálgi, made in 1687 and 1706 upon the christianized Timucua have been alluded to under "Timucua" (p. 12).
The English surveyor Lawson, who traveled through these parts in 1701, calls them Savannah Indians, stating that they are "a famous, warlike, friendly nation of Indians, living at the south end of Ashley river." (Reprint of 1860, p. 75.) Governor Archdale also calls themSavannahs[42]in 1695; hence they were named like the Yuchi, either from the Savannah river, or from the savanas or prairies of the southern parts of South Carolina. The Yuchi probably lived northwest of them. A few miles north of Savannah city there is a town and railroad crossing, Yemassee, which perpetuates their tribal name. Another ancient authority locates some between the Combahee and the Savannah river, and there stood their largesttown, Pocotaligo.[43]Hewat (1779) states that they possessed a large territory lying backward from Port Royal Island, in his time called Indian Land (Hist. Acc., I, 213). Cf. Westo and Stono Indians, p.48.
They had been the staunchest Indian supporters of the new British colony, and had sent 28 men of auxiliary troops to Colonel Barnwell, to defeat the Tuscarora insurrection on the coast of North Carolina (1712-13), when they suddenly revolted on April 15th, 1715, committed the most atrocious deeds against helpless colonists, and showed themselves to be quite the reverse of what their name indicates (yámasi, yámassi, the Creek term formild,gentle,peaceable[44]). Among their confederates in the unprovoked insurrection were Kataba, Cheroki and Congari Indians. Wholesale massacres of colonists occurred around Pocotaligo, on Port Royal Island and at Stono, and the number of victims was estimated at four hundred. A force of volunteers, commanded by Governor Craven, defeated them at Saltketchers, on Upper Combahee river, southern branch, and drove them over Savannah river, but for a while they continued their depredations from their places of refuge (Hewat, Histor. Acc., I, 213-222).
Names of Yámassi Indians mentioned at that period also testify to their Creek provenience. The name of a man called Sanute is explained by Cr. sanódshäsI encamp near, orwith somebody; that of Ishiagaska (Tchiagaska?) by íka akáskahis scrapedorshaved head; or issi akáskahis hair(on body)removed. At a public council held at Savannah, in May 1733, a Lower Creek chief from Kawíta expressed the hope that the Yámassi may be in timereunited to his people; a fact which fully proves the ethnic affinity of the two national bodies.[45]
In Thomas Jeffery's Map of Florida, which stands opposite the title-page of John Bartram, Descr. of East Florida, London, 1769, 4to, a tract on the northeast shore of Pensacola bay is marked "Yamase Land."
A tradition is current among the Creeks, that the Yámassi were reduced and exterminated by them, but it is difficult to trace the date of that event. W. Bartram, Travels, p. 137, speaks of the "sepulchres or tumuli of the Yamasees who were here slain in the last decisive battle, the Creeks having driven them to this point, between the doubling of the river (St. Juan, Florida), where few of them escaped the fury of the conquerors.... There were nearly thirty of these cemeteries of the dead," etc.; cf.ibid., p. 183. 516. Forty or fifty of them fled to St. Augustine and other coast fortresses, and were protected by the Spanish authorities; p. 55. 485. 390.
After the middle of the eighteenth century the name Yámassi disappears from the annals as that of a distinct tribe. They were now merged into the Seminoles; they continued long to exist as one of theirbandswest of the Savannah river, and it is reported "that the Yemasi band of Creeks refused to fight in the British-American war of 1813."
All the above dates permit us to conclude that, ethnographically, the Yámassi were for the main part of Creek origin, but that some foreign admixture, either Kataba or Yuchi, had taken place, which will account for the presence of their local names of foreign origin. The Apalachian or Hitchiti branch of the Maskoki family must have also furnished elements to those Yámassi who were settled southwest of Savannah city, for that was the country in which the Apalachian branch was established.
This small tribe is known only through its connection with the young British colony of Savannah and the protection which its chief, Tomochichi, extended over it. This chief, from some unknown reason, had separated from his mothertribe of Apalatchúkla town, and went to reside upon a river bluff four miles above the site of Savannah city. He subsequently visited England and its court with Esquire Oglethorpe (in 1733), and died, about ninety-seven years old, in 1739, highly respected by his Indians and the colonists. The Yamacraw Indians, who had followed him to the Savannah river, consisted mainly of disaffected Lower Creek and of some Yámassi Indians.
The Creeks cannot give any account of the name Yamacraw, and the R, which is a component sound of it, does not occur in any of the Maskoki dialects nor in Yuchi. Cf. Chas. C. Jones, Historical Sketch of Tomo-chi-chi, mico of the Yamacraws. Albany, 1868, 8vo.
The term semanóle, or isti simanóle, signifiesseparatistorrunaway, and as a tribal name points to the Indians who left the Creek, especially the Lower Creek settlements, for Florida, to live, hunt and fish there in entire independence. The term does not meanwild,savage, as frequently stated; if applied now in this sense to animals, it is because of its original meaning, "what has become a runaway": pínua simanólewild turkey(cf. pín-apúigadomesticated turkey), tchu-áta semanóli,antelope, literally, "goat turned runaway, wild," from tchu-áta, ítchu hátagoat, lit., "bleating deer."[46]The present Seminoles of Florida call themselves Ikaniú-ksalgi or "Peninsula-People" (from íkanaland, niúksa, for in-yúksaits point,its promontory, -algi: collective ending); another name for them is Tallaháski, from their town Tallahassie, now capital of the State of Florida. The Wendát or Hurons call them Ungiayó-rono, "Peninsula-People," from ungiáyopeninsula. In Creek, the Florida peninsula is called also Ikan-fáski, the "Pointed Land," the Seminoles: Ikanafáskalgi"people of the pointed land." The name most commonly given to the Seminoles in the Indian Territory by the Creeks is Simanō′lalgi, by the Hitchiti: Simanō′la'li.
Indians speaking the Creek language lived in the south of the peninsula as early as the sixteenth century. This fact is fully proved by the local names and by other terms used in these parts transmitted by Fontanedo (in 1559, cf. Calusa): seletega! "run hither!" now pronounced silítiga, silítka, abbrev. from isilítka; isilítkäsI run away, lit., I carry myself away, off; lítkäsI am running. Silítiga is now used as a personal name among the Creeks.
We have seen that a portion of Fontanedo's local names of the Calusa country are of Creek origin, and that another portion is probably Timucua. The rest of them, like Yagua and others, seem to be of Caribbean origin, and a transient or stationary population of Caribs is mentioned by Hervas,Catalogo de las lenguasI, p. 386 as having lived in the Apalachi country.[47]
The hostile encounter between Creeks and Calusa, mentioned by Romans (cf. Calusa), probably took place about A. D. 1700, but the name Seminole does not appear as early as that. Previous to that event the Creeks seem to have held only the coast line and the north part of what is now the area of Florida State. A further accession resulted from the arrival of the Yámassi, whom Governor Craven had driven into Georgia and into the arms of their enemies, the Spaniards of Florida, after suppressing the revolt of 1715 in which they had participated.
The Seminoles of modern times are a people compounded of the following elements: separatists from the Lower Creek and Hitchiti towns; remnants of tribes partly civilized by the Spaniards; Yámassi Indians and some negroes. According to Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1799), pp. 25. 26, they had emigrated from Okóni, Sáwokli, Yufála,Tamá`la, Apalatchúkla and Hitchiti (all of which are Lower Creek towns), being invited to Florida by the plenty of game, the mildness of the climate and the productiveness of the soil. The Seminoles mentioned by him inhabited the whole peninsula, from Apalachicola river to the "Florida Point," and had the following seven towns: Semanóle Talahássi, Mikasuki, Witchotúkmi, Alachua, Oklawáha `láko, Talua-tchápk-apópka, Kalusa-hátchi. Some of the larger immigrations from the Creek towns into those parts occurred: in 1750, after the end of the Revolutionary war, in 1808 and after the revolt of the Upper Creeks in 1814.