SWANTON] CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 219 
her ears and hair, if the husband is spiteful; either of those badges proclaim 
her to be a whore, or Hakse Kaneha, ... for the hair of their head is their 
ornament; when loose it completely reaches below their back and when tied 
it stands below the crown of the head, about 4 inches long, and 2 broad. As 
the offender cuts a comical figure among the rest of the women, by being 
trimmed so sharp, she always keeps her dark winter hot house, till by keeping 
the hair moistened with grease, it grows so long as to bear tying. Then she 
accustoms herself to the light by degrees; and soon some worthless fellow, 
according to their standard, buys her for his And; which term hath been already 
explained. 
The adulterer’s ears are flashed off close to his head, for the first act of 
adultery, because he is the chief in fault.“* If the criminal repeat the crime 
with any other married persons, their noses and upper lips are cut off. But 
the third crime of the like nature, is attended with more danger; for the law 
says, that for public heinous crimes, satisfaction should be made visible to the 
people, and adequate to the injuries of the virtuous—to set their aggrieved 
hearts at ease, and preyent others from following such a dangerous crooked 
copy. As they will not comply with their mitigated law of adultery nor be 
terrified, nor shamed from their ill course of life; that the one may not frighten 
und abuse their wives, nor the other seduce their husbands and be a lasting 
plague and shame to the whole society, they are ordered by their ruling magi 
and war chieftains, to be shot to death, which is accordingly executed; but 
this seldom happens. 
When I asked the Chikkasah the reason of the inequality of their marriage 
law, in punishing the weaker passive party, and exempting the stronger, con- 
trary to reason and justice, they told me, it had been so a considerable time— 
because their land being a continual seat of war, and the lurking enemy for- 
ever pelting them without, and the women decoying them within, if they put 
such old cross laws of marriage in force, all their beloved brisk warriors would 
soon be spoiled, and their habitations turned to a wild waste.” ... 
Romans says: 
This [Chickasaw] nation is the most imperious in their carriage towards 
their women, of any I have met with; they are very jealous of their wives, 
and adultery in them is punished by the loss of the tip of the nose, which they 
sometimes cut, but more generally bite off, but this does not deter them, for they 
are a very salacious race and the mark is pretty general.” 
The same writer adds: 
They are horribly given to sodomy, committing that crime even on the dead 
bodies of their enemies, thereby (as they say) degrading them into women.” 
The punishment for minor offenses, such as horse stealing, was 
whipping. Cushman says that afterward “ the culprit was reinstated 
to favor without any disgrace being attached to his name for his 
offense or punishment. He had violated the law, but had paid the 
penalty thereunto attached. The claims of the law were satisfied and 
therefore it was a thing of the past, to be mentioned no more, and 
it never was.” 78 
“4a The punishment of the adulterer is to be understood as enforced only by the Creeks. 
7 Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., pp. 142-148, 144-145. 
7 Romans, Nat. Hist. B. and W. Fla., p. 64, 
™Tbid:, ‘p 70: 
7 Cushman, Hist. Choc., Chick., and Natchez, p. 495. 
