considerable fidelity and courage in the late war against the Creeks, under the command of general Jackson. After the Iroquois, we are not acquainted with any nation of the aborigines of North America, who have been so restless and enterprising as the Chicasaws, and who have better maintained their ground against every species of hostility. They have not only, says Du Pratz, cut off a great many nations who were adjoining them, but have even carried their love of war and vengeance as far as New Mexico, near 600 miles from the place of their residence, to exterminate a nation that had removed to that distance from them. In this enterprise they were, however, deceived and cut off. The Choctaws, still equally numerous, reckoned, in the time of Du Pratz, 25,000 warriors. We know but little of them more than a few detached customs, and the tradition, that they had made a sudden arrival in the country which they now occupy. There is a small village of them in the vicinity of the town of Arkansas, but made up principally of those, who had rendered themselves obnoxious to the rest of the nation, who, probably, as well as the Cherokees and Creeks, have found the necessity of introducing corporeal and general punishments, for the benefit and security of society. As we cannot discover any mention of them by the historian of De Soto, they were perhaps, at that period, included amongst the Chicasaws. And, from the extinction [294] of the Mobilians and other nations, met with by that adventurer, we are inclined to believe them the modern usurpers of the country which they now possess. Many of them live on the borders of the Yazoo, and other parts of the Mississippi and Louisiana territories. It is certain, as we have had already occasion to notice, that they made war against the Chicasaws, in aid of the French, and that, though they professed to aid the cause of the Natchez, yet that afterwards, through mere jealousy, they had joined with the French against them. The Choctaws, till very late years, had a practice, not indeed peculiar, of exposing their dead upon scaffolds till such time as the flesh decayed, which was then separated from the bones by a set of old men, who devoted themselves to this custom, and were called "bone-pickers," after which, the bones were interred in some place set apart for the purpose. This custom unquestionably arose out of a veneration for the deceased, and an attachment to their remains, which, among a wandering and unsettled people, were thus conveniently removed. A circumstance of this kind is related by Charlevoix,"" where the Indians on removing their village, carried with them also the bones of their dead. 270 Historical Journal, p. 334. (Ed. Lond.). — NUTTALL. Highways of America "We cannot thoroughly understand our own his- HIS SERIES will be completed next month by the publication of the final volume comprising the Analytical Index. This set contains much original matter accessible in no other form, gathered from manuscript sources both in this country and in London. It was published in an edition of one thousand sets only, and no more can be issued. "Historic Highways of America" is not an ordinary publisher's enterprise. It meets the requirements of discriminating readers and serious students; without the support of these and of our College and Public Libraries the publication of such source works would not be possible. we "An experienced worker in his chosen field, Orders may be sent directly to the publishers The Arthur H. Clark Company CLEVELAND, OHIO |