siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution

134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN' ETHNOLOGY [Bdll.103
allowed to marry a girl who belonged to his oyla, often the women were
obliged to make a long journey before seeing the two chiefs, whose villages
were frequently a considerable distance apart.
After all necessary arrangements had been made, a day was fixed for the
ceremony. Many of the man's friends and relatives accompanied him to the
girl's village, where they seem to have had what may be termed " headquarters "
of their own. As the time for the ceremony drew near, the woman with her
friends was seen some distance away. The man and his party approached and
he endeavored to catch the girl. Then ensued much sham fighting and wrestling
between the two parties, and the girl ran about apparently endeavoring
to escape, but she was finally caught by the man and his relatives and friends.
Then all proceeded to the place where the feast had been prepared, to which
both parties had contributed. Off to one side, four seats had been arranged in
a row; usually a log covered with skins served the purpose. The man and
girl then took the middle seats and on the ends sat the two male heads or
chiefs of their respective ogla. Certain questions were then asked by the
chiefs, and if all answers were satisfactory, the man and girl agreed to live
together as man and wife and were i)ermitted to do so. This closed the ceremony
and then the feasting and dancing began.
The man continued to live in his wife's village, and their children belonged
to her ogla.
By mutual agreement the two parties could separate and, in the event of so
doing, were at liberty to marry again. The man usually returned to his own
village, taking all his property with him.
If a man died in his wife's village, even though he left children, his brothers
or other members of his ogla immediately took possession of all his property
and carried it back to his native village. His children, being looked on as
members of another ogla, since they belonged to their mother's family, were
not considered as entitled to any of this property."
The following descriptions of the marriage ceremony were given
me by two of the best-informed men of the Mississippi Choctaw.
Olmon Comby stated that courting among the young people took
place principally during the dances, such dances being held when
the community happened to be together and there was plenty of food.
If a youth's advances were accepted, he carried the product of his
next hunt to the girl's mother and by that they knew that he wanted
to marry her. Very soon his father would question him on the sub-
ject, and, having learned the girl's identity, his mother was dis-
patched to the mother of the girl to obtain her consent. The latter
would inquire whether her visitor's son was a good hunter, and,
if she could truthfully say, " Yes, he is a great hunter," the reply
was sure to be favorable and the wedding day was fixed.
The youth then bought a piece of cloth, 75 or 80 feet long, which
he gave to the girl's mother, and she cut it into smaller parts to
distribute among her female relatives, indicating to each of them as
she did so that she wished her to provide a certain kind of food for a
feast to be given to her future son-in-law's kindred.
" Bushnell in Bull. 48, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 26-27,