"While the pole was in an unsettled condition, a part of their tribe moved on east, and got with the Creek Indians, but so soon as the majority of the tribe settled at the Old Fields, they sent for the party that had gone east, who answered that they were very tired, and would rest where they were awhile. This clan was called Cush-eh-tah. They have never joined the parent tribe, but they always remained as friends until they had intercourse with the whites; then they became a separate nation."
"The great dog was lost in the Mississippi, and they always believed that the dog had got into a large sink-hole and there remained; the Chickasaws said they could hear the dog howl just before the evening came. Whenever any of their warriors get scalps, they give them to the boys to go and throw them into the sink where the dog was. After throwing the scalps, the boys would run off in great fright, and if one should fall in running, the Chickasaws were certain he would be killed or taken prisoner by their enemies. Some of the half-breeds, and nearly all of the full-bloods now believe it."
"In traveling from the West to the Promised Land in the East, they have no recollection of crossing any large watercourse except the Mississippi river; they had to fight their way through enemies on all sides, but cannot now remember the names of them. When they left the West, they were informed that they might look for whites and that they would come from the East; that they should be on their guard to avoid them, lest they should bring all manner of vice among them."
The end of this relation looks rather suspicious for its antiquity, or may be a later addition. The throwing of the scalps into the sink has to be considered as a sort of sacrifice, although it is difficult to say which power of nature the dog represented. The howling of the dog before evening and the direction of the pole seem to indicate the state of the weather and the moisture of the ground, which could give origin to fevers. That the passage: "the dog was lost in the Mississippi," should read: "the dog was lost in the State of Mississippi," is plainly shown by the sentences following the statement.
The migration legends now current among the Alibamu and the Hitchiti are but short in form and have been referred to under the respective headings.
MIGRATION LEGENDS OF THE CREEK TRIBES.
The following legends of the Creek Indians are the only ones I have been able to obtain, although it may be taken for certain, that every one of the larger centres of the Creek nation had its own story about this. The legend in Urlsperger and in Hawkins are both from Kasi'hta. Milfort's was probably given to him at Odshi-apófa, and a fragment of the Tukabatchi legend is inserted under Tukabatchi, p. [147].
Migration Legend as recounted to Col. Benj. Hawkins by Taskáya Miko, of Apatá-i, a branch village of Kasi'hta. "Sketch" of B. Hawkins, pp. 81-83.
"There are in the forks (akfáski) of Red River or U-i tcháti, west of Mississippi River, U-i ukúfki, two mounds of earth. At this place the Kasiχta, Kawita and Chicasa found themselves, and were at a loss for fire. They were here visited by the hayoyálgi, four men who came from the corners of the world. One of them asked the Indians, where they would have their fire (tútka). They pointed to a spot; it was made and they sat down around it. The hayoyálgi directed that they should pay particular attention to the fire, that it would preserve them and let Isákita imíssi, the holder of breath, know their wants. One of the visitors took them to show them the pā′ssa, another showed them the míko huyanī′dsha, then the cedar or átchina and the sweet-bay or tóla. (One or two plants were not recollected, and each of these seven plants was to belong to a particular tribe, imaläíkita.[141]) After this, the four visitors disappeared in a cloud, going in the direction whence they came.