716 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY I Bull. 137 



and when tlie}^ were about to be delivered. Before returning to the 

 house they always bathed. A prospective mother could not leave this 

 hut until after her child was born, and while she was pregnant her 

 husband remained aloof from all gatherings. She remained away 

 from the rest of the family for some time after delivery — Speck says 

 2 months — and ate no fresh meat, while her husband abstained from 

 work for about a month and was avoided by other men. Twins w^ere 

 considered supernatural, though favorable, manifestations of the 

 higher powers, but children were allowed to eat nothing of a double 

 nature. Children were nursed for a long time, and boys were laid 

 upon panther skins while girls were laid down upon skins of fawns 

 or bison calves. They were not allowed to sleep with old people, and 

 boys were never whipped by their own parents but corrected by an old 

 man, probably the oldest uncle of the clan or family group, who, as 

 with the Creeks, was much venerated. Adair reports one such case 

 of whipping from personal observation. Besides being forced to plunge 

 into water at the coldest season, boys were given herbs to make them 

 strong. Children were often affianced in childhood but were not mar- 

 ried till they were fairly mature. In infancy the head of a Chickasaw 

 child was flattened by means of a block of wood covered with buckskin 

 or a bag of sand fastened tight over the forehead. Labor was divided 

 between the sexes almost exactly as among the Creeks. To cultivate the 

 corn and gather nuts, they frequently had to go 2 or 3 miles from home 

 (Swanton, 1928 c, pp. 220-221, 228). 



The women of the Choctaw, like those of the Creeks and Chickasaw, 

 retired to a small cabin apart every month and when they were about 

 to give birth to a child. While his wife was in travail a man took food 

 only after sunset, and if a girl was born, he continued this 8 days 

 longer. He also abstained from pork and salt. The woman herself 

 also had to submit to many taboos. One of our early informants states 

 that the woman in childbed had no assistance, but in later times at 

 least there was an old woman to help her. An eelskin was tied about 

 her belly to keep it from protruding. Right after birth the child was 

 washed, and it was placed in the cradle with a bag of earth or sand 

 tied over the forehead to flatten it. Weaning is said to have taken 

 place at the pleasure of the child, and after it was removed from the 

 cradle it was made to sleep straiglit out wdth its head to the east. Very 

 3^oung children were not allowed to carry anything heavy. Adoption 

 of children was common. The mother w^as not permitted to strike her 

 boys but they were sometimes scratched with nettles, presumably by 

 the oldest, or rather the ablest, maternal uncle who was their teacher. 

 They were assembled morning and evening to listen to the legends 

 of their people, learned to handle the bow and arrow early in life, 

 and engaged in archery contests in which the best shot was suitably 



