In the meantime, McIlhenny lawyers were checking the title of the property and found that the sale was illegal as some of the people had title to the land, and the best thing for her to do was to petition the B.I.A. (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to pay her back and take the land in trust for the Indians. The B.I.A. hired a lawyer in Franklin named C.J. Boatner to transact the deal in which he had all the Indians sign the land over to the government, except some were not available at the time. What the ignorant Indians did not know was that this property was not a reserve any more. They were giving title to the land, and were paying taxes on their property. The then Chief who made the deal with Demerest did not have the authority to sign any deal with anyone. So the government took over some private land which is not lawful. This statement is recorded in the courthouse and can be made available anytime. These records are not in Franklin, as Franklin is twenty miles from here. PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE CHITIMACHAS Hoover, Herbert T. _The Chitimacha People._ Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series, 1975. Kniffen, Fred. _The Indians of Louisiana._ Baton Rouge: Louisiana Bureau of Educational Materials, Statistics and Research, College of Education, Louisiana State University, 1965. Orso, Ethelyn and E. Charles Plaisance. “Chitimacha Folklore,” _Louisiana Folklore Miscellany_, vol. III, no. 4 (1975 for 1973), pp. 35-41. Stouff, Faye. _The Chetimachas of Charenton._ Booklet published by Lafayette Natural History Museum, 1974. Stouff, Faye and W. Bradley Twitty. _Sacred Chitimacha Indian Beliefs._ Pompano Beach, Florida: Twitty and Twitty, Inc., 1971. Swanton, John R. _Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico._ Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnography, Bulletin 43, 1911; Reprinted 1970, Johnson Reprint Corp. Taylor, Gertrude. “Early History of the Chitimacha,” _Attakapas Gazette_, vol. XVI, no. 2 (Summer 1981), pp. 65-69. Transcriber’s Notes —Silently corrected a few typos. —Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication. —In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chitimacha Notebook, by Emile Stouff and Marcia Gaudet