Emile Stouff was Chief of the Chitimachas of Charenton, Louisiana, from 1948 to 1968. After Chief Stouff died in 1978, his widow, Faye Roger Stouff, discovered two notebooks in which he had recorded some of the things about the Chitimachas that he had learned from oral tradition. The two manuscripts were written in Emile Stouff’s handwriting. Though Chief Stouff had no formal education, Mrs. Stouff, who is not a Native American, taught him to read and write after they were married and she came to live with him on the Chitimacha land.

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