CHICKASAWS, a nation of Indians occupying a section of the Indian territory, embracing 6,840 sq.m. on the left bank of the Red river. According to their traditions and the evidence of philology, they are closely connected with the Creeks and Choctaws; and they believe that they emigrated with those tribes from the west, crossed the Missis sippi, and settled in the district now forming the n.e. part of the state of Mississippi. Here De Soto visited them in 1540. From the first they were hostile to the French, and were frequently at war with them; but with the English they were generally friendly. In 17S6, they made a treaty with the States, and in 1793, they aided the whites in the war against the Creek Indians. In the early years of the present century, part of their territory was ceded for certain annuities, and a portion of the tribe migrated to Arkansas; and in 1832-34, the remainder, about 3,600 in number, surrendered to the federal government the 6,642,000 acres of which they were still the owners, and entered into a treaty with the Choctaws for incorporation into that tribe. This union was after wards dissolved and by paying the Choctaws $150,000 they secured full possession of their present territory. In the civil war they assisted the confederates, but their rights were restored by the Union government in 1866. The next year they surrendered 7,000,000 acres of land at 41 cents per acre, the money ($300,000) to go to their late slaves unless, within two years, they adopted them as members of the tribe. In Jan., 1873, they con cluded to adopt the nemroes. The nation has a printed constitution prefaced by a declaration of rights, which asserts that all political power inheres in the people; that all men should be free to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, and not be compelled to attend, erect, or support any religious ministry against their con sent; that there should be freedom of speech; that there should be security from unreasonable searches of property or person; that every person accused of crime should have a speedy trial. All free males 19 years old or over who are Chickasaws by birth or
adoption, may vote, unless idiotic, insane, or convicted of infamous crime. There are a senate and house of representatives, the latter of 18 members elected annually by the voters of the counties or districts. A. representative must be 21 years old. There are 12 senators elected for two years from the four districts of the state. A senator must be 30 years old, a Chickasaw by birth or adoption, and a resident of his district six months. The governor must have all the qualifications of a senator; he is chosen for two years by popular vote, and has about the same powers and functions as a governor of one of the states. There is a supreme court consisting of a chief and two assistant justices elected to the legislature for four years. There are also circuit and county courts. The nation has in the custody of the federal government $1,200,000 in bonds on which inter est is paid. In 1873, the number of Chickasaws was about 6,000. One newspaper is published at Tanlequah.
a contagious febrile disease, chiefly of children, and bearing some resemblance to a very mild form of small-pox (q.v.). C. is distinguished by an eruption of vesicles or blebs, which rarely become pustular or yellow, and leave only a very slight incrustation, which falls off in a few days, without any permanent mark or pit, as in small-pox. From its vesicular character, it has been called the crystal pock. It has been argued that C. is, in fact, only small-pox modified by previous vaccination; but this opinion, though maintained on good authority, is not generally received by medical men. It is a disease of little or no danger, the fever being often hardly percep tible, and never lasting long.