SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 705 



particular surveillance of her deceased husband's sister and the hitter 

 might take pity on her by giving her in marriage to another 

 brother. Probably the Creek and Chickasaw customs were the same 

 in this particular, and Adair avers that if the deceased husband's 

 elder brother took the widow or even lay with her one night, she 

 was freed from the penalty of her widowhood. Stiggins says that 

 any of the brothers could relieve her by taking her in marriage, or 

 the clan of her husband might shorten the period voluntarily. At the 

 end of the 4 years, in any case, she was formally released. Some- 

 times a man was offered her from the clan of her former husband 

 and she was at liberty to accept or refuse him. In either case the 

 claims of her husband's clan were satisfied and they had no more 

 control of her. The regulations governing the behavior of a widower 

 were almost the same except that he was allowed to remarry in 4 

 months time. In all this the clan claim to the woman or the man 

 is apparent but the right was evidentlj^ based on a thought of the 

 woman or man as property which the clan had acquired. No idea 

 of collective marriage is involved. Prohibition of speech between 

 mother-in-law and son-in-law, "mother-in-law avoidance," was well 

 developed. A man and woman guilty of adultery who could elude 

 pursuit until after the next succeeding busk were free from punish- 

 ment. Complaints of indolence, a quarrelsome disposition, inatten- 

 tion, and disobedience on the part of a wife are given by Stiggins 

 as additional grounds for divorce. Bossu says that in cases of adul- 

 tery, the man was free to remarry immediately but the woman only 

 after the expiration of a year. However, elopement and escape until 

 the next busk would shorten this term. On separation of a couple 

 with children, the mother took the children but the father contributed 

 to their support. Child betrothal existed, at least in the case of a 

 man who already had adult wives (Swanton, 1928, pp. 368-384). 



We have no account of marriage customs among the Timucua, 

 except in the ceremonial by which a woman was united to a chief 

 (pi. 85), but we know that certain ceremonies Vrcre undergone by 

 widows, and they are represented by Le Moyne as coming to the chief 

 weeping to induce him to revenge their loss (Le Moyne, 1875, pp. 

 13-14, 37-38; Swanton, 1922, p. 372). 



Chickasaw customs seem to have resembled those of the Creeks 

 very closely. Child betrothals and temporary unions are noted. 

 The prospective groom sent a bundle of clothing to the parents of 

 his intended. If they accepted the offer, they handed it to the girl 

 herself, and her acceptance paved the way for the final ceremonies. 

 Adair mentions a more direct address on the part of a would-be 

 husband. 



464735—46 46 



