344


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY


[BULL. 43


 Co'ktangi ha'ne hetci'nc (" pond-lily worship house'") on the south side of
Graine A VolEe inlet, Grand Lake 3-4 miles northwest of Charenton in a low,
swampy tract of land said to be occupied by the plantation of Mr. Rodriguez.
There was an Indian cemetery here and Gatschet states that it was the site of
their central house for religious dances, but the writer was informed that each
town had a separate dance house.
 Ne'kun tsi'snis (" Round island "), a town opposite lie aux Oiseaux, in the
Lac de la Fausse Pointe.
 Hi'pinimtc na'mu (" Prairie-landing village"), on the western part of Grand
Lake, at the Fausse Pointe, near Bayou Gosselin. Another place so named is
said to have been on Lac d'Autre Rive, between Charenton and St. Martinsville.
 Na'mu ka'tsi [Gatschet has Na'mu ka'tsup, which is said to be erroneous:
ka'tsi signifies bones or, as in this case, the framework of the houses, the
frames having stood after the houses were abandoned], Bayou Chene village,
St. Martin's parish.
 Ku'cux na'mu (cottonwood village), on Lake Mingaluak, near Bayou Chene.
 Ka'me nakc tcit na'mu, at Bayou du Plomb, a large Indian town, near Bayou
Chine, 18 miles north of Charenton.
 Tsa'xtsincup na'nmu, on Bayou des Plaquemines, near Grand river, 42-43
 miles north of Charenton, the Plaquemine village.
 Grosse Tete na'mu (Indian name not remembered), 2 miles from the Plaque-
 mine village.
 Ce'ti na'mu, west of Plaquemine, on Grand river, the name of which was
 C('ti (Gatschet gives Tce'ti), 20 miles east of Charenton.
 Tca'ti Kuti'ngi na'mu, at junction of Bayou Teche with Bayou Atchafalaya.
 The two remaining villages given by Gatschet are located by him
 on the site of Donaldsonville, at the upper end of Bayou la Fourche,
 and at the place where this bayou enters the sea. He seems to have
 assumed the first of these because it is supposed that the missionary
 St. Cosme was there murdered, but this, as all accounts agree, was
 done at a distance from the Chitimacha villages, and there is no
 other evidence for the existence of a Chitimacha village at that
 point. Nor does Gatschet cite any authority for the existence of the
 second village, which seems equally unauthenticated in any other
 quarter. On the other hand, the writer was told of several villages
 not mentioned by Gatschet. These were near Baldwin, at Jeanerette
 (C-tcnic)," at "' Bitlarouges (?), at the shell bank on the shore of
 Grand lake close to Charenton, at a place called Okfi'nkiskin," and
 at Irish Bend near Franklin (Wai't'inimc).c The last of these was
 a very large one.
 The material culture of this tribe was similar in most respects to
 that of the Indians along the lower Mississippi. It was distinguished
 from them principally by the increased importance of food obtained
 from the waters and the decreased importance of food from land
 animals. If we may trust early French writers, the Chitimacha
 a Ct'tcnic means empty-place," because the site was not occupied until after the
 civil war.
 b Olfi'nkiskin=" Deep-shoulder," probably because the bayou turns short there like a
 man's shoulder.
 C Wait'i-landing-place," see p. 351.