There are, or at least
were formerly, several dialects spoken in different
sections; these, however, differed so little that they have
not been considered worthy of special mention. The small
Muskhogean tribes known as Mobilian,
Tohome or Tomez, Tawasa, Mugulasha, Acolapissa, Huma, and Conshac (q.
v.), on the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama, are sometimes
called Choctaw, but the Choctaw proper had their villages inland, on
the upper courses of the Chickasawhay, Pearl, and Big Black Rivers,
and the west affluent of the Tombigbee. At least in later times they
were distinguished into three sections, each under its mingo or chief.
The western division was called Oklafalaya, 'the long people,' and
consisted of small, scattered villages; the northeastern, Ahepatokla (Oypatukla),
'potato-eating people,' and the southeastern district came to be
called Oklahannali, 'Sixtowns,' from the name of the dominant
subdivision. The people of these two latter districts lived in large
towns for mutual defense against their constant enemies the Creeks.
Gatschet gives Cobb Indians as the name of those Choctaw settled west
of Pearl River.
Source: Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge,
1906, Bureau of Ethnology, Government Printing Office.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
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