siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

126 BUREAU OP AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
disposition than tlie youtlis of tlie old Mississippi Clioctaws. Tliey seldom
quarreled among themselves even in boyhood, and less, when arrived at the
state of manhood. To them in youth as well as in advanced years, as to all
of their race, the dearest of all their earthly possessions from childhood to
manhood, from manhood to old age, and from old age to the grave, was
their entire and unrestrained freedom ; and though untrammeled by moral
restraint, yet there seemed to exist in their own breasts a restraining influence,
a counteracting power, that checked the ungoverned passions of their uncultivated
natures through life, and kept them more within the bounds of prudence
and reason, than any race of uneducated people I ever knew."
He tells us also of tests of endurance which they imposed upon
themselves
Even the little Choctaw boys took delight in testing the degrees of their
manhood by various ways of inflicting pain. I have often seen the little fellows
stir up the nests of yellow jackets, bumble-bees, hornets and wasps, and
then stand over the nests of the enraged insects which soon literally covered
them, and fight them with a switch in each hand ; and he who stood and fought
longest without flinching—foreshadowed the future man—was worthy the
appellation of Mighty Warrior. But the business ends of the hornets, bees
and wasps, noted for their dispatch in all matters of this kind, universally
effected a hasty retreat of the intruder upon their domiciles, sooner or later
much to the delight of his youthful companions and acknowledged by an explosion
of yells and roars of laughter. But the discomfited embryo warrior
consoled himself by daring any one of his merrymaking companions to " brave
the lion in his den," as he had and endure longer than he did the combined
attacks of the valiant little enemy. The challenge was most sure to be
accepted, but invariably with the same result, a retreat at the expense of a
hearty laugh. From one to three minutes was the average length of a battle,
the insects holding the field invariably. I have also seen them place a hot
coal of fire on the back of the hand, wrist and arm, and let it burn for many
seconds—bearing it with calm composure and without the least manifestation
of pain, or experience the deepest sorrow without the slightest emotion."'
Simpson Tubby says that the old-time Choctaw would not take
a child to a strange country while it was asleep, but he did not
explain why. He added that they would not let children sleep
on their sides or on a pillow or doubled up. They must sleep on
their backs, and he has seen them straighten out sleeping children.
"An eel is a straight fish, yet it can double up in any way ; man should
lie straight when he sleeps for the same reason." Nor would they
let a child sleep with its head to the west. The pallet was raised
under the head in order to keep the blood from flowing thither. Indeed,
if a f)erson complained of a dead feeling in the legs and
thighs, the doctor would reduce the height of the head end of his
pallet so that the blood would not flow so much toward his feet.
When girls were growing up they were not allowed to carry
anything heavy, and a boy would be given nothing weightier than
^ Cushman, Hist. Inds., pp. 215-216. «» Ibid., p. 214.