SWANTON] CHILDBIRTH AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN DPA 
or go near them, or walk anywhere within the circle of their retreats; and are 
in fear of thereby spoiling the supposed purity and power of their holy ark, 
which they always carry to war; yet the enemy believe they can so cleanse 
themselves with the consecrated herbs, roots, ete., which the chieftain carries in 
the beloved war-ark, as to secure them in this point from bodily danger, because 
it was done against their enemies. 
The nonobservance of this separation, a breach of the marriage law, and 
murder, they esteem the most capital crimes. When the time of the women’s 
separation is ended, they always purify themselves in deep running water, return 
home, dress, and anoint themselves. They ascribe these monthly periods to the 
female structure, not to the anger of Ishtohoollo Aba.* 
Romans has the following: 
These savages are the only ones I ever heard of who make their females 
observe a separation at the time of their menses (some ancient almost extirpated 
tribes to the northward only excepted, and these used to avoid their own dwell- 
ing houses). The women then retire into a small hut set apart for that purpose, 
of which there are from two to six round each habitation, and by them called 
“moon houses.” © 
Romans is correct as to the custom, but, of course, in error in 
considering it so nearly confined to the Chickasaw. It was, as has 
been abundantly proved elsewhere, a custom common to both the 
Creeks and the Choctaw. 
A young girl’s first menstrual experiences (hiilabe) [says Speck] are not 
accompanied by any ceremony or shamanistic rites, but she is not allowed to 
ride a horse or come in contact with any male children.“ 
Regarding the subsequent menstrual periods, he says: 
During her periods of menstruation the Chickasaw woman is strictly segre- 
gated from her family, remaining for three days in a brush shelter near the 
house. Her husband also refrains from mingling freely with his friends at these 
times, in the hunt or in social gatherings.” 
My own informants stated that, at the time of their monthly 
periods, women were confined in small houses apart and could not 
leave them until their clothes had been thoroughly washed. This 
purification took about a week. In the meantime men would not 
go anywhere near them lest they suffer misfortune in hunting, war, 
and so on. The procedure at the time of the first menstrual period 
was in no way different from that on subsequent occasions. 
CHILDBIRTH AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 
Our earliest authority is, as usual, Adair, who gives the following 
details : , 
Correspondent to the Mosaic law of women’s purification after travail, the 
Indian women absent themselves from their husbands and all public company 
§ Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., pp. 123-124. 
86 Romans, Nat. Hist. E. and W. Fla., p. 64. 
87 Speck in Jour. Am, Folk-Lore Soc., vol. xx, p. 57. 
§8Tpid., pp. 56—57. 
