SWANTON] SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 199 
of Chickasaw institutions, there has been a confusion between clan 
and moiety endogamy, each clan having been endogamous merely as 
regards some of the other clans. In the case of the Raccoon it is said 
that it would not intermarry with other clans, yet I was told specifi- 
eally that it was exceptional in that it married into both moieties. 
It seems pretty clear that clans and house groups were ordinarily 
exogamous and moieties endogamous. It is also clear that marriage 
with blood relations was studiously avoided. Certain of my inform- 
ants likened the clan institution to masonry, something for mutual 
aid. The antiquity of certain of the beliefs regarding clans given in 
these stories is questionable, but they at least furnish an interesting 
study in the association of ideas. With sundry unessential parts 
eliminated, the stories are as follows: 
STORY OF THE RACCOON CLAN (CAWI IKSA) 
These people dressed differently from others but in most of their customs 
they were similar. They had a certain habit, however, in which they were 
unique and that was that they would kill one another. Their taste in the matter 
of food was also peculiar. They liked to dance as well as any other people and 
would rather dance the Raccoon dance than eat. When they were going to 
have a dance they would send out a messenger to announce the fact, and after- 
ward the old men and old women would dance all night. When they were 
preparing for a dance they would boil certain roots to make a kind of tea which 
they considered stimulating. They could dance all night without feeling any 
ill effects. The foods of which they were fondest were fish and all kinds of 
fruits such as grapes. When fruit was plentiful they liked that best which 
ripens early in the winter. In the spring they ate every kind of thing that was 
eatable. In the fall they hung bunches of grapes up to dry and then stored 
them away for winter’s use. In summer they dried green corn for the winter. 
Some made shuck (or blue) bread, some made cold flour, and some laid away 
meal out of which porridge is made. Such foods would last as long as they 
desired. 
These people were very cunning. They knew just what to do and how to do 
it and could not be cheated by others, except for the younger people, who were 
easily deceived. They would not undertake anything of which they were not 
sure in advance. They would not let other clans intermarry with theirs. 
They had clever ways of finding out what they wanted to know, and they 
depended very much upon a conjurer (apoloma’), who could excel in the game 
of hiding-the-bullet, in horse racing, and in the ball game. Sometimes the 
conjurer was called a wizard (icta holo’). They had great faith in him and 
he was not afraid of undertaking any task assigned to him, yet he was not as 
good as a doctor (alektci). He could imitate any sort of animal or bird, but 
he could work only among his own people, or near his own side, fearing lest 
the opponents would kill him. The others did not know what he might do. 
Whatever the conjurer chose to do was considered right, but some conjurers 
were afraid to do as they ought by their own side lest the opponents should 
injure them afterwards. The conjurer foretold what was going to happen to 
the ball players and those that heeded his advice did not get into trouble, 
but some would forget and suffer injuries and be sorry that they had not been 
