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166 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103
greater experience in order to enforce his counsel ;
should be pretend to order,
desertion would at least be his punishment, if not death."
"When they prepare for war, and when they return they use exorcisms, they
call them all physic though only bare words or actions; and if they prove
unsuccessful, they say the physic was not strong enough ; it is no small diversion
to see a Chactaw during this preparation act all his strange gestures, and
the day before his departure painted scarlet and black almost naked and with
swan wings to his arms run like a bacchant up and down through the place of
his abode ; not drunk either as rum is by them avoided like poison during this
preparation."
Adair knew of the Choctaw only as bitter enemies of the English
and allied Chickasaw and estimates their character very differently
from Komans. Nevertheless the few items which he furnishes con-
firm in many particulars what the latter writer tells us. Thus, regarding
the effect of their wars with the Chickasaw and Creeks on
the massing of the Choctaw population, he says
The barrier towns, which are next to the Muskohge and Chikkasah countries,
are compactly settled for social defence, according to the general method of
other savage nations ; but the rest, both in the center, and toward the Missisi-
sippi, are only scattered plantations, as best suits a separate easy way of living.
A stranger might be in the middle of one of their populous extensive towns,
without seeing half a dozen of their houses, in the direct course of his path."
He gives the following information regarding their war customs,
which for the most part evidently closely resembled those of the
Chickasaw and Creeks. Incidentally it will be noticed that he con-
firms what Romans tells us regarding their disinclination to offensive
warfare but bravery when attacked at home.
The Choktah being employed by the French, together with their other red
confederates, against the English Chikkasah, they had no opportunity of inuring
themselves to the long-winded chace, among a great chain of steep craggy
mountains. They are amazingly artful however in deceiving an enemy; they
will fasten the paws and trotters of panthers, bears, and buffaloes, to their
feet and hands, and wind about like the circlings of such animals, in the lands
they usually frequent. They also will mimick the different notes of wild fowl,
and thus often outwit the savages they have disputes with. Their enemies say,
that when at war, it is impossible to discover their tracks, unless they should
be so lucky as to see their persons. They act very timorously against the
enemy abroad, but behave as desperate veterans when attacked in their own
country. . .
." **
Scalps taken in war were painted red," and were treated with con-
siderable ceremony, as the following account derived from Adair's
own personal experience shows:
I proceeded, and met several parties of the same main company, several miles
distant from each other, carrying small pieces of a scalp, singing the triumphal
song, and sounding the shrill death-whoop, as if they had killed hundreds. On
15 Romans, Nat. Hist. E. and W. Fla., p. 76. " Ibid., p. 309.
"Ibid., p. 78. "Ibid., p. 302.
"Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 282.