siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BoLUlOS
of the grave, and with his own hands parted his shirt over his heart. Four
of his male friends stood near with their hands on his shoulders and legs, to
keep his body erect after death. His female relatives were on each side,
and all were singing loudly. Soon he announced that he was ready. A
relative of the murdered man advanced and, pressing the muzzle of a rifle
against the murderer's chest, fired.
As provided for, the body was held in an upright position and immediately
a piece of cloth was inserted into the wound to stop the flow of blood. Late
that afternoon the remains were placed in the grave, which was filled with
earth without ceremony."
The few notes which I myself obtained on this subject simply
confirm the main points in the foregoing narratives. I was told that
a man might sometimes obtain a sufficient suspension of his sentence
to raise a crop. Simpson Tubby thought that the death sentence
was carried out by about 12 men of the murderer's own family, but
ordinarily it was a relative of the man he had killed who acted as
executioner.
Romans tells us that one who had committed suicide was classed
as an enemy, the bodies of both being buried in the earth as quickly
as possible, but this attitude can not have been invariable. Besides
the cases just mentioned, we are told by the French officer Du Roullet
of several in which no such onus seems to have been placed upon
the dead. He expresses the opinion that in these instances the
idea of suicide had been derived from Negroes at New Orleans, but
the case of the last Mobile warrior to survive in the battle between
his people and De Soto's men in 1540 proves that the custom was
native. That aboriginal American hero hung himself by means of
his bowstring. Romans himself says that it was not uncommon for
an unsuccessful gambler to end his life with a gun.^o
Witchcraft was punished with death no less than murder, but the
two seem to have been closely associated in the native mind, the
former being regarded with even more horror on account of the uncanny
nature of the offense and the underground methods employed
in connection with it.
The general attitude of the Choctaw toward sexual offenses is
best given by Romans in the following words
Fornication is among them thought to be a natural accident, therefore a
girl is not worse looked on for ten or a dozen slips ;^ but although they
are not over jealous of their wives, they punish adultery in the woman,
unless she happens to belong to a stronger or more noted and numerous family
than the husband ; in which case he scarce ventures even to put her away
but if she is doomed to suffer, her punishment is to be at a publick place
(for that purpose set apart at every town) carnally known by all who choose
" Bull. 48, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 25.
=*' See p. 155 (under games).
=^ Claiborne says that seduction was less common than adultery, but he is probably
incorrect (Hist, of Miss., i, p. 521).