CONNUBIAL CUSTOMS. 271 
after the marriage of her daughter, the mother 
is Ce to look upon her son-in-law. 
Though they converse together, he must be 
hidden from her by a wall, a tent, a curtain, or, 
when nothing else offers, by covering the eyes. 
During their emigration, it is said these poor su- 
perstitious matrons were put to infinite trouble 
so as not to infract this custom. While tra- 
velling, or in camp often without tents, the 
mother-in-law was afraid to raise her head or 
open her eyes, lest they should meet the in- 
terdicted object. 
It is another peculiarity, which they have in 
common with some of the more northern tri 
that the Choctaw wife, of the ‘old school, can 
never call her husband by name. But if they 
have offspring—she “my son’s fa- 
ther ;” or, more commonly using the child’s 
name, when, if Ok-le-no-wa, for instance, she 
calls the husband “ Ok-le-no-wa’s father.”. And 
yet another oddity regarding names: the igno- 
rant Choctaw seems to have a superstitious 
aversion to telling his own name: indeed it 
appears impossible to get it from him, unless 
he have an acquaintance present, whom he 
customs of the whites, but the ruder classes 
still preserve their aboriginal usages. Accord- 
to these, a painted pole with a flag is stuck 
up at the grave, which usually remains three 
months. During this period they have regular 
mourning exercises every morning and even- 
ing; andarealways prompt to avail themselves, 
