Atalans to Chocorua

Atalans. An imaginary prehistoric civilized race of North America (Rafinesque, introd. to Marshall, Ky., I, 23, 1824); probably based on the Atlantis fable.

Atsina-Algo. An adjective invented by Schoolcraft (Ind. Tribes, I, 198, 1853) to describe the confederate Atsina and Siksika.

Batni (a gourd vessel in which sacred water is carried; also the name of a spring where sacrificial offerings are deposited. Fewkes). According to Stephen the site of the first pueblo built by the Snake people of the Hopi; situated in Tusayan, x. E. Ariz., but the exact location is known only to the Indians. It is held as a place of votive offerings during the ceremony of the Snake dance. Batni. Stephen in 8th Rep. B. A. E., 18, 1891.

Bayberry wax. A product of the bay-berry, or wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), the method of extracting which was learned from the Indians by the New England colonists whose descendants probably still use it. It was esteemed for the manufacture of candles and tallow on account of its fragrance. See Rasles in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d ser., viii, 252, 1819; Alice Morse Earle, Customs and Fashions of Old New England, 126, 1893. (A. F. C.)

Chinook wind. A name applied to certain winds of N. w. United States and British Columbia. According to Burrows (Yearbook Dept. Agric., 555, 1901) there are three different winds, each essentially a warm wind whose effect is most noticeable in winter, that are called chinooks. There is a wet chinook, a dry chinook, and a third wind of an intermediate sort. The term was first applied to a warm s. w. wind which blew from over the Chinook camp to the trading post established by the Hudson Bay Company at Astoria, Oreg. Under the influence of these chinook winds snow is melted with astonishing rapidity, and the weather soon becomes balmy and spring like. The name is derived from Chinook, the appellation of one of the Indian tribes of this region. (A. F. C.)

Chocorua. The legendary last survivor of a small tribe of Indians who, previous to 1766, inhabited the region about the town of Burton, N. H. He was pursued by a white hunter to the mountain which bears his name and driven over the, cliffs or shot to death. Before dying he is reported to have cursed the English and their cattle, and to this is attributed the fact that none of these animals thrive in Burton (Drake, Aboriginal Races, 285, 1880). It is possible that the chief has been conjured up to account for the name of the mountain. (A. F. C.)

Indian Tribes North of Mexico |  Indian Bands, Gens, & Clans

Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico

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Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906