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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL, AND CEREMONIAL LIFE 163
weep he will never be received and would pass as a woman, and unworthy of
being admitted into the body of warriors. When they hold these ceremonial
dances, each wears on his head a crown made of a piece of otter skin to which
are fastened as many broken white feathers as they have killed men in their
lives. Each family has its quarterings tattooed on the stomach and on the
arms [of its warrior members]. They also put them on the handles of their
war clubs, and when they wish to meet in the woods they make a mark on the
trees, where they put their arms, by which the one who has made the mark is
known, the trail he has taken, and where he has gone.
When they capture any young people—girls, women, or young boys—alive,
they carry them to their villages and make slaves of them. There are nations
which adopt them as their dogs ;
then they make them perform all the functions
of a dog, guard the doors, growl when anyone enters or goes out, eat the leavings
of the dishes, and gnaw the bones. When they are able to bring home prisoners,
they have them burned at their villages, and it is a great joy to them
when that happens.^"
Bossu's account is nearly as old
The Chactas love war and have some good methods of making it. They never
fight standing fixedly in one place ; they flit about ; they heap contempt upon
their enemies without at the same time being braggarts, for when they come
to grips they fight with much coolness. Some women are so fond of their husbands
that they follow them to war. They keep by their sides in combat hold-
ing a quiver of arrows and encourage them by crying out continually that they
must not fear their enemies but die like true men.
The Chactas are extremely superstitious. When they are about to go to war
they consult their Manitou, which is carried by the chief. They always exhibit
it on that side where they are going to march toward the enemy, the warriors
standing guard about. They have so much veneration for it that they never
eat until the chief has given it the first portion.
As long as the war lasts the chief is scrupulously obeyed, but after they have
returned they have consideration for him only proportionate to his liberality
with his possessions.
It is an established usage among them that, when the chief of a war party
has taken booty from the enemy, he must divide it among the warriors, and
the relatives of those who have been killed in combat, in order, say they, to
wipe away their tears. The chief retains nothing for himself except the honor
of being the restorer of the nation. . , .
If the chief of a Chacta party does not succeed in the war he loses all his
credit ; no one has confidence in his leadership any longer, and he must descend
to the rank of a common warrior. However, consider the varying views of
different nations ! Among these warlike peoples it is no shame to desert. They
attribute the desertion to a bad dream. If the chief of a big party himself, hav-
ing dreamed the night before that he would lose some of his people, assures his
warriors that he has had a bad dream, they turn back immediately to their
village. After they have returned, they make medicine, for they use it on all
kinds of occasions. Then they return toward the enemies. If they encounter
any of them on their way, they kill five or six and then go home as well
pleased as if they had subjugated a great empire.
A general who should win a victory with the loss of many people would be
eery badly received by his nation, because these people consider a victory of
1° Appendix, pp. 252-253 ; Mem. Am. Anth. Ass'n, v, No. 2, pp. 65-67. The compulsiou
to imitate dogs may safely be set down as folklore.