Next in authority after the council is the body of the hinihálgi, old men and advisers, presided over by the híniha `láko. They are in charge of public buildings, supervise the erection of houses for new settlers, direct the agricultural pursuits and prepare the black drink. They are the "masters of ceremonies," and the name híniha, íniha, which is no longer understood by the present generation, is said to signify "self-adorner," in the sense of "warrior embellished with body paint." Hiniha `láko, abbreviated into Nia`láko, is now in use as a personal name, and recalls the name of the celebrated Seminole chief Neamáthla (híniha imá`la). In the Hitchiti towns they were comprised among the class of the beloved men. Before the broken days, níta χátska, they consulted about the time of the busk, and during the busk directed the performances.
Beloved men or isti-tchákalgi follow next in rank after the above. They are the men who have distinguished themselves by long public service, especially as war leaders, and the majority of them were advanced in age. C. Swan states that the beloved men were formerly called míkalgi in white towns.
Then follows the common people. For the tustĕnúggi `láko or Great Warrior, cf. "Warrior Class" and "Creek Confederacy."
Since Indian character expresses itself in the most pronounced, self-willed independence, the power of the authorities was more of a persuasive than of a constraining or commanding nature. This will appear still better when we speak of the warrior class; and it may be appropriate to remember that no man felt himself bound by decrees of a popular assembly, by edicts of chiefs and their counsellors, or by treaties concluded by these with alien tribes or governments. The law exercised by the gens was more powerful than all these temporary rulings, and, in fact, was the real motive power in the Indian community.
The distinction between red and white towns is not clearly remembered now, and there are very few Creeks living who are able to tell whether such or such a town was red or white. As soon as the agricultural interests began to prevail over the military, through the approach of the colonial settlements, this feature had to disappear, and the social order also changed from the gens or φύλη into that of civitas. Adair, Hist., p. 159, seems inclined to identify the white (or "ancient, holy, old beloved, peaceable towns") with the "towns of refuge," one of which was Kúsa.
THE WARRIOR CLASS.
The geographic position of the Creeks in the midst of warlike and aggressive nations was a powerful stimulant for making "invincibles" of their male offspring. The ruling passion was that of war; second to it was that of hunting. A peculiar incentive was the possession of war-titles, and the rage for these was as strong among the younger men as that for plunder among the older. The surest means of ascending the ladder of honor was the capture of scalps from the enemy, and the policy of the red or bloody towns was that of fostering the warlike spirit by frequent raids and expeditions. In some towns young men were treated as menials before they had performed some daring deeds on the battle-field or acquired a war title.[96] To become a warrior every young man had to pass through a severe ordeal of privations called fast, púskita, from the fifteenth to the seventeenth year of his age. This initiation into manhood usually lasted from four to eight months, but in certain rare instances could be abridged to twelve days.
A distinction of a material, not only honorific character was the election of a warrior to actual command as pakā′dsha or tustĕnúggi `láko.
THE CHARGES OF COMMANDERS.
After the young man had passed through the hardships of his initiation, the career of distinction stood open before him, for he was now a tassikáya or brave.[97] According to Hawkins' Sketch, the three degrees of advancement in command were as follows: