SWANTON] INDIAN'S OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 707 



her female relatives, at the same time suggesting what part of the mar- 

 riage feast she expected each to provide. Just before the marriage 

 ritual the girl was pursued and caught in a ceremonial race by her 

 intended, each assisted by the respective relatives, and this gave the 

 woman an opportunity to change her mind if she so desired. Usually, 

 however, she allowed herself to be caught after an exhibition of formal 

 reluctance, and was seated on the ground with her intended groom 

 near at hand. The friends of the latter now brought property and 

 laid it upon the girl's head, from which it was immediately snatched 

 by her over-eager female relatives. According to one informant, there 

 was a property contest between the families, one placing property on 

 the head of the girl, the other on that of the man. Symbolic acts con- 

 sisting in the deposit of a bag of bread near the girl and a bag of meat 

 near the man were also performed. The male, and sometimes female, 

 relatives of the bride now approached the groom and called him 

 by the new term of relationship created between them, after which 

 they did the same to his male relatives. Now followed the wed- 

 ding feast in which it is sometimes said that each side feasted the 

 other. At this time the chief formerly made a long speech in which he 

 instructed the young people regarding their duties and managed to 

 admonish the youths of the tribe generally on the side. Anciently, 

 weddings were arranged in the afternoon, so that the feast would fol- 

 low and all be concluded by an all-night dance. It was customary for 

 a man, on the death of his first wife, to espouse one of her sisters, or he 

 might espouse one or more of them at the same time. Polygynous 

 marriages, either with several sisters, or with unrelated women, were 

 fairly common. We are told that several wives who were sisters might 

 live in the same yard but not in the same house, but those who were not 

 sisters would not live even in the same yard. Divorce was easy, the 

 children going with the mother. Marriage with too close relatives 

 was opposed and it was claimed as a reason that if they married per- 

 sons already connected by blood, they would not know how to name 

 their relatives. Mother-in-law avoidance was practiced to the same 

 extent as by the Creeks and Chickasaw, and a woman would not men- 

 tion her husband by name but would designate him by the name of 

 their child or as the father of their son or daughter. As we have seen, 

 there were two exogamous moieties in the Choctaw nation and in gen- 

 eral within those moieties residence was matrilocal (S wanton, 1931 a, 

 pp. 127-138). 



If we may trust our authorities, Natchez girls were not only al- 

 lowed sexual freedom before marriage but encouraged in the exer- 

 cise of it. On the other hand, it is said that infidelity after mar- 

 riage was uncommon, divorce rare and repudiation of the wife not 

 allowed after a child was born. Wives were, however, often lent 



