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Descriptions of the Chiaha
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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Hawkins (1799) has the following description: "Che-au-hau [Chiaha], called by the traders Che-haws, is just below, and adjoining Oose-oo-che, on a flat of good land. Below the town the river winds round east, then west, making a neck or point of one thousand acres of canebrake, very fertile, but low, and subject to be overflowed; the land back of this is level for nearly three miles, with red, poet, and white oak, hickory, then pine forest. These people have villages on the waters of Flint River; there they have fine stocks of cattle, horses, and hogs, and they raise corn, rice, and potatoes in great plenty. "The following are the villages of this town: 1st. Au-muc-cul-le (pour upon me) is on a creek of that name, which joins on the right side of Flint River, forty-five miles below Timothy Barnard's. It is sixty feet wide, and the main branch of Kitch-o-foo-ne, which it joins three miles from the river; the village is nine miles up the creek [Note: Elsewhere he says "15 miles up the creek."]; the land is poor and flat, with limestone springs in the neighborhood; the swamp is cypress in hammocks, with some water oak and hickory; the pine land is poor with ponds and wire grass; they have sixty gun men in the village; it is in some places well fenced; they have cattle, hogs, and horses, and a toe range for them, and raise corn, rice, and potatoes in great plenty. "2d. O-tel-le-who-yau-nau (hurricane town) is six miles below Kitch-o-foo-ne, on the right bank of Flint River, with pine barren on both sides [Note: In notes taken two years earlier Hawkins mentions two towns of this name, or rather two town sites 7 miles apart on Flint River, and clearly indicates that the people had occupied them in succession.]; they have twenty families in the village, which is fenced; and they have hogs, cattle, and horses; they plant the small margins near the mouth of a little creek. This village is generally named as belonging to Che-au-hau, but they are mixed with Oose-oo-ches." [Note: The second of these branches long maintained an independent existence. It is mentioned by the Spanish officer, Manuel Garcia in 1800.] In notes taken in 1797 the same writer mentions a small Chiaha settlement on Flint River, 3 miles below "Large Creek," and 9 miles above Hotalgihuyana.3 Another Chiaha settlement is referred to in the following terms: "Che-au-hoo-che (little che-au-hau) is one mile and a half west from Hit-che-tee, in the pine forest, near Au-he-gee; a fine little creek, called at its junction with the river, Hit-che-tee; they begin to fence and have lately built a square."4 (Swanton)
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