SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTEBN UNITED STATES 703 



In succession to the chieftainship Algonquians preferred the female 

 side to the male side though there is no evidence of a totemic system, 

 and from the above it appears that the residence was patrilocal. 



Lawson, whose information was drawn particularly from the 

 Siouan peoples, states that unmarried girls were free to bestow 

 their favors on whomsoever they chose and he adds that they gen- 

 erally chose to exact payment for the same. There was also a reg- 

 ular class of prostitutes, distinguished by the cut of their hair, whose 

 activities were a matter of concern to their families or, in case of 

 relations with men of other tribes or white traders, to the chief of 

 the town himself. This commercialization of sex was of a piece 

 with the general commercial tendencies in the region. Marriages, 

 like temporary relations, were debated by the kindred on both sides 

 and sometimes by the head men and chiefs, but the woman's consent 

 was necessary. Property was paid for the wife as well as for the 

 temporary companion, and wives were passed from hand to hand freely 

 on payment of the original purchase price. In cases of adultery the 

 man alone was punished and the second husband or lover of a 

 widow might be called upon to pay all of her first husband's debts. 

 A man might marry two sisters, and he was expected to espouse the 

 widow of his brother, but incest was punished severely, and sodomy is 

 said to have been unknown. Divorce appears to have been fairly 

 common, the children going with the mother. Among the northern 

 Siouan tribes at least there were tribal subdivisions similar to clans 

 (Lawson, 1860, pp. 299-307). 



Creek girls had the same freedom to dispose of their bodies as they 

 saw fit, previous to marriage, as did those of the Siouan tribes, and they 

 usually did so to their pecuniary advantage. There was also a class 

 of prostitutes consisting of adulteresses repudiated by their hus- 

 bands or of outcasts who indicated their calling by a peculiar man- 

 ner of painting the face. Temporary alliances were often con- 

 tracted with such women by the men. Marriage itself, however, was 

 a very serious affair, in which the woman was "bound" to her hus- 

 band by a payment to the relatives of the bride and also by presents 

 to her and by assistance given her in taking care of her cornfields. Ac- 

 cording to some this had to be done annually, especially where a man 

 had taken a number of wives who were living in different places 

 and whom he did not visit often. An offer of marriage seems to 

 have emanated sometimes from a youth, sometimes from the people 

 of the youth's clan, and sometimes from the people of the girl's 

 clan. The father and his people had nothing to do with it. Certain 

 writers inform us that the couple themselves were not consulted, but 

 opportunities for vetoing the arrangements of the elders were prob- 

 ably not wanting. In fact Hitchcock states that at an appointed 



