All the Creek _towns_, viz., the more populous settlements, had laid
out a square-shaped piece of ground in or near their central part. It
contained the only public buildings of the town, the great house and
the council-house, and, as an appurtenance, the play-ground. The
square was the focus of the public and social life of the town; its
present Creek name, intchúka `láko, is taken from the "great house" as
its principal portion.
From the eighteenth century we possess three descriptions of the
square and the ceremonies enacted in it, which are entering into
copious details; that of W. Bartram, describing the square of Átasi
town (about 1775); that of C. Swan, describing that of Odshi-apófa, or
the Hickory Ground (1791), and last, but not least, the description of
the square at Kawíta, by B. Hawkins (1799). All the towns differed
somewhat in the structure of the great house and of the council-house,
but in the subsequent sketch we shall chiefly dwell upon those points
in which they all seem to agree. Public squares still exist at the
present time in some of the pure-blood towns of the Creek nation,
Indian Territory, and the busk, in its ancient, though slightly
modified form, is annually celebrated in them. The ground-plan of the
square at the Hickory Ground is represented in Schoolcraft's Indians
V, 264.
Of other buildings destined for public use I have found no mention,
except of granaries or corn-cribs, which were under the supervision of
the míko.
The _great house_, tchúku `láko, also called "town-house," "public
square," like the square in the midst of which it was placed, was
formed by four one-story buildings of equal size, facing inward, and
enclosing a square area of about thirty feet on each side.[108] They
were generally made to face the east, west, north and south.
[Footnote 108: Hawkins says: Forty by sixteen feet, eight feet
pitch, the entrance at each corner (p. 68).]
These buildings, which had the appearance of sheds, consisted of a
wooden frame, supported on posts set in the ground and covered with
slabs. They were made of the same material as their dwelling houses,
but differed by having the front facing the square open, and the walls
of the back sides had an open space of two feet or more next to the
eaves, to admit a circulation of air. Each house was divided into
three apartments, separated by low partitions of clay, making a total
of twelve partitions. These apartments, called cabins (tópa) had
three[109] seats, or rather platforms, being broad enough to sleep
upon; the first of them was about two feet from the ground, the second
eight feet above the first, and the third or back seat eight feet
above the second. Over the whole of these seats was spread a covering
of cane-mats, as large as carpets. They were provided with new
coverings every year, just before the busk; and since the old covers
were not removed, they had in the majority of the squares eight to
twelve coverings, laid one above the other. Milfort states that each
cabin could seat from forty to sixty persons (Mémoire, p. 203).
[Footnote 109: Hawkins: two seats.]
Caleb Swan, who, in his above description of the cabins in the square,
copied the original seen at Odshi-apófa or Little Talassie, where he
stopped, differs in several particulars, especially in the allotment
of the cabins to the authorities, from Hawkins, who resided in Kawíta.
Swan assigns the eastern building to the beloved men, the southern to
the warriors, the northern to the second men, etc., while the western
building served for keeping the apparatus for cooking black drink, war
physic, and to store lumber. According to Hawkins, the western
building, fronting east, contained the míkos and high-ranked people;
the northern building was the warriors'; the southern that of the
beloved men, and the eastern that of the young people and their
associates. "The cabin of the great chief faces east," says Milfort,
p. 203, "to indicate that he has to watch the interests of his nation
continually." The three cabins of the míkalgi or old men, facing west,
are the only ones painted white, and are always ornamented with
guirlands (at Kawíta). On the post, or on a plank over each cabin, are
painted the emblems of the gens to which it is allotted; thus the
buffalo gens have the buffalo painted on it.
From the roofs were dangling on the inside heterogeneous emblems of
peace and trophies of war, as eagles' feathers, swans' wings, wooden
scalping knives, war clubs, red-painted wands, bunches of hoops on
which to dry their scalps, bundles of a war-physic called snake-root
(_sínika_ in Cheroki), baskets, etc. Rude paintings of warriors' heads
with horns, horned rattlesnakes, horned alligators, etc., were visible
upon the smooth posts and timbers supporting the great house. In the
"painted squares" of some of the red or war-towns the posts and smooth
timber were painted red, with white or black edges, this being
considered as a mark of high distinction. Other privileged towns
possessed a covered square, by which term is meant a bridging over of
the entrance spaces left between the four buildings by means of canes
laid on poles.
In the centre of the area of the "great house" a perpetual fire was
burning, fed by four logs, and kept up by public ministrants
especially appointed for the purpose. The inside area is called
impaskófa, "dedicated ground."
The "square" was hung over with green boughs, in sign of mourning,
when a man died in the town; no black drink was then taken for four
days. When an Indian was killed who belonged to a town which had a
square, black drink had to be taken on the outside of the square, and
every ceremony was suspended until the outrage was atoned for. To each
great house belonged a black drink cook, and from the young warriors
two or three men were appointed to attend to those who took this
liquid every morning; they called the townspeople to this ceremony by
beating drums (C. Swan).
After the close of their council-meeting in the council-house, the
míko, his councillors and warriors repaired to the chief's cabin in
the "great house." They met there every day, drank the ássi or black
drink, continued deliberations on public and domestic affairs,
attended to complaints and redressed them; then conversed about news
while smoking, or amused themselves at playing "roll the bullet" in a
sort of ten-pin alley. The name of this game is `li-i tchallítchka.
Bartram, p. 453, states that the chief's cabin at Átasi was of a
different construction from the three other buildings.
But besides being the central point of the town for all meetings of a
public character, the great house was the festive place for the annual
busk and the daily dance; it occasionally served as a sleeping place
for Indians passing through the town on their travels. The special
locations allotted to the persons in authority and the gentes on the
cabin-sheds are described under the heading: The annual busk.
The _council-house_ or tchukófa `láko stood on a circular mound or
eminence, in close contiguity to the northeast corner of the "great
house." It is variously called by travelers: hot-house, sudatory,
assembly-room, winter council-house, mountain-house,[110] or, from its
circular shape, rotunda. Its appearance is generally described as that
of a huge cone placed on an octagonal frame about twelve feet high,
and covered with tufts of bark. Its diameter was from twenty-five to
thirty feet, and in the larger towns the building could accommodate
many hundred persons.[111] Its perpendicular walls were made of thick
posts, daubed with clay on the outside. Contiguous to the walls, one
broad circular seat, made of cane-mats, was going around the structure
on the inside, and in the centre the fire was burning on a small
elevation of the ground. The fuel consisted of dry cane or dry pine
slabs split fine; and, as if it were to give a concrete image of the
warming rays of the sun, these split canes were disposed in a spiral
line which exhibited several revolutions around the centre. No opening
was provided for the escape of the smoke or the admission of fresh
air, and the building soon became intolerably hot; but at dance-feasts
the natives danced around the fire in the terrible heat and dust,
without the least apparent inconvenience.[112]
[Footnote 110: Adair, History, p. 421.]
[Footnote 111: Hawkins, Sketch, p. 71, Bartram, Travels, p. 448
sqq.]
[Footnote 112: Bartram states that the Creek rotundas were of
the same architecture as those of the Cheroki, but of much
larger dimensions: Travels, p. 449.]
The council-house served, to some extent, the same purposes as the
"great house," but was more resorted to in the inclement season than
in summer. Every night during winter the old and young visited it for
conversation or dance, and in very cold weather the old and destitute
went there to sleep. In all seasons it was the assembly-room of the
míko and his counsellors for deliberations of a private character;
there they decided upon punishments to be inflicted, as whipping etc.,
and entrusted the Great Warrior with the execution of the sentences.
Previous to a war-expedition the young men visited the hot-house for
four days, prepared and drank their war-physic, and sang their war-
and charm-songs under the leadership of conjurers.[113] Milfort was
installed into the charge of "Great Warrior of the Nation" in the
Kawíta council-house by solemn orations, the smoking of the pipe, the
drinking of the ássi-decoct and other ceremonies,[114] and then
conducted to the "great house."
[Footnote 113: Hawkins, Sketch, p. 79.]
[Footnote 114: Milfort, Mémoire, p. 211.]
When the natives gathered in this structure for sweating, either for
promoting their health or as a religious ceremony, they developed
steam by throwing water on heated stones, then danced around the fire,
and went to plunge into the chilling waves of the river flowing past
their town.
The _play-ground_ occupied the northwestern angle of the public
square, and formed an oblong segment of it, of rather irregular shape.
It was made distinct from the rest of the square by one or two low
embankments or terraces; in its centre stood, on a low circular mound,
a four-sided pole or pillar, sometimes forty feet high. A mark
fastened on its top served at appointed times as a target to shoot at
with rifles or arrows. Around the pole the floor of the yard was
beaten solid.
The play-ground, tă′dshu in Creek, was called by the white
traders chunkey-yard, chunk-yard, from the principal game played in
it. This game, the chunkey- or tchungke-game, consisted in throwing a
pole after the _chunke_, a rounded stone which was set rolling upon
its edge. Cf. Adair, Hist., p. 401. 402. There was also a sort of ball
play in use among the Creeks and many other Indian tribes, by which a
ball (púku) was aimed at an object suspended on the top of a high
pole, or, as it is played now, at the top of two twin poles (puk-ábi),
called sometimes "maypoles." In summer time dances were also performed
in this yard, and Bartram saw "at the corner of each farther end a
slave-post or strong stake, where the captives that are burnt alive
are bound."[115]
[Footnote 115: Travels, p. 518.]