Mrs. Stouff said that her husband told her he had learned most of the legends, stories, and myths that he knew from an aunt who would sit him down and beat him with a cane to make him listen. She would tell him, “You’ve got to learn this.” Learning the history, religious beliefs, legends, and traditions of the tribe was apparently a very important part of the education and development of the Chitimachas. There are two separate notebooks with writings by Emile Stouff. One begins with the story of creation and deals with the beliefs of the Chitimachas. The other deals more with the history since the white man came. Previous publications about the Chitimachas have presented parts of the legend about the cypress tree in Lake Dauterive and the legend about the little bird of the Chitimachas. Since Chief Stouff’s version of the history is from the perspective of the Chitimachas, it differs somewhat from previously published accounts. This is particularly evident in a comparison of the Chitimacha account of the murder of St. Cosme with accounts that rely on French historical sources. Chief Stouff’s notebooks give an account of the Chitimacha beliefs and history as they were passed down by oral tradition. He recognized that this tradition would perhaps not be maintained, and he attempted to record some of his knowledge of the people and their culture. As such, his writings are of value and interest to anyone who would like to know more about the Chitimachas. In editing the notebooks, I have made as few changes as possible in order to maintain the style and tone of Chief Stouff’s writing. The changes from his original manuscript have been mainly to standardize spelling and punctuation for clarity. For example, Chief Stouff spelled Chitimacha several different ways (Chetamacha, Chetimacha, Chitamacha) in his writing, and he usually used no punctuation at all. Thus, he was writing just as he would have told these stories orally to the next generation of Chitimachas. Marcia Gaudet [Illustration: Chitimacha Group with finished Chitimacha baskets. Pictured left to right are Delphine Darden Stouff, the child—Constance Marie Stouff (died at age 13), Clara Darden, and Octave Stouff, Sr. They are, respectively, Emile Stouff’s mother, sister, great-aunt, and father. (M.R. Harrington, 1908. Photo courtesy of Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation)] MANUSCRIPT OF EMILE STOUFF Last Chief of the Chitimachas THE STORY OF CREATION