Lower Ohio and Wabash Rivers:
Beyond the Makakai city at the mouth of the Ohio which was called Chomisaya, the Meeting of the Waters, the west-flowing great river Ohio broke into another tributary flowing north, the Wabash. On the north bank of the Ohio between the Wabash and the Misasip further west lay a range of hills. The river valley itself was still fertile, but much narrower on the northern bank before it rose into the hills.
Here there was excellent limestone for the quarrying, which was becoming a desirable building material as Makakai material culture advanced, and the People began to send highly-ornamented envoys escorted by large warbands with copper- and obsidian-tipped spears among the local tribal clans to persuade them of the evident superiority of the People's culture and of the desirability of bringing their people under the hegemony of Makakai.
"I hear your words, Warchief Hekeya," the chieftain of the Wabash replied. "The People-Who-Live-In-Stone-Houses have been friends to the Free People, and provided our first seed corn. But the Wabash have always been our own people. What you say disturbs my heart that the Makakai and the Wabash may not continue each in the ways of our forefathers.
"We are the Wabash: the free people," he continued, "but we are not numerous like the Makakai, who are as many as the grasses of the field. If I say to you that we will not be numbered with your people, what then will become of us?"
Hekeya considered this. The Wabash chieftain was right; in his place, he would be feeling equally pinched by this offer of Makakai hegemony. The Makakai were a numerous people and could overrun the Wabash by sheer numbers, if it came to that. But the Makakai were farmers first and warriors second, and many young men of the People would not live to see another Corn Mother dance if it came to war. And without the young men, who would plough the fields?
"Chieftain Walaki," Hekeya replied, "Your words are the wisdom of your people. I say to you that if you choose to be numbered with the Makakai, you will be equal and brother to any who live in the City. Your leader will be Hokam (city-king) among you, the equal of any Hokam of the Makakai, and your gods will remain your own, and will be ours also. Is not your goddess Mora the same as our Earth Mother Lapita?"
Walaki looked around at his council of elders. Several of them were nodding thoughtfully. The words of this warchief were not those of an arrogant ruler. Perhaps his claims of equal treatment were true.
"I hear the words of Hekeya Warchief of the Makakai," he said at last. "My people will be as one with yours. We will number ourselves with the Makakai."
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