that the march was down the Chattal thee from its
extreme head springs in the mountains, and that the Chiaha of the narrative was
the Lower Creek town of the same name, more pommonly known as Chehaw, for-
merly on this river in the neighborh I of the modern city of Columbus, Georgia,
while Coste, in the narrative the next adjacent town, was Kasi'ta, "r Cusseta, of the
same group of villages. The falls at this point mark the geologic break line where
the river changes from a clear, swift current to a broad, slow-moving stream ol the
lower country. Attracted by the fisheries and the fertile bottom lands the Lower
Creeks established here their settlement nucleus, and here, up to the ln-ginning of
the present century, they had within easy distance of each other on bothsides of
the river some fifteen towns, among which were Chiaha (Chehaw . I hiahudshi
(Little Chehaw), and Kasi'ta (Cusseta). Most of these settlements were within
what are now Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties, Georgia, and Lee and Russell
counties, Alabama (see town list and map in Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend).
Large mounds and other earthworks on both sides of the river in the vicinity of
Columbus attest the importance of tin- site in ancient days, while the general appear-
ance indicates that at times the adjacent low grounds were submerged or cut off by
Overflows from the main stream. A principal trail crossed here from the I Icniulgee,
pa — in- I iy Tuskegee to the Upper Creek towns about the junction of the Coosa and
Talla] sa in Alabama. \t the beginning of the present century this