siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution
siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution siOBX; - Smithsonian Institution
2 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 103 trading corporations or missionary societies or governmental func- tionaries back home, or such as could be used to circulate explorers' narratives. Seemingly their unique way of disposing of the dead was the only feature of their lives thought worthy of much publicity, and that is about all that is purely Choctaw which most early writers vouchsafe us. Although a certain political centralization had been attained it was not so absolute as to have become spectacular or oppressive, and therefore interesting to white men. There were no complicated re- ligious ceremonials to arrest the attention of the foreigner and the intelligence of the native, and it is the general testimony that the Choctaw were less inclined to display their superiority to other people by trying to kill them than is usual even in more civilized societies. The significant things about them are told us in a few short sentences: That they had less territory than any of their neigh- bors but raised so much corn that they sent it to some of these others in trade, that their beliefs and customs were simple, and that they seldom left their country to fight but when attacked defended themselves with dauntless bravery. In other words, the aboriginal Choctaw seem to have enjoyed the enviable position of being " just folks," uncontaminated with the idea that they existed for the sake of a political, religious, or military organization. And apparently, like the meek and the Chinese and Hindoos, they were in process of in- heriting the earth by gradual extension of their settlements because none of their neighbors could compete with them economically. Absence of pronounced native institutions made it easy for them to take up with foreign customs and usages, so that they soon distanced all other of the Five Civilized Tribes except the Cherokee, who in many ways resembled them, and became with great rapidity poor subjects for ethnological study but successful members of the Ameri- can Nation. It is generally testified that the Creeks and Seminole, who had the most highly developed native institutions, were the slowest to become assimilated into the new political and social organism which was introduced from Europe. The Chickasaw come next and the Cherokee and Choctaw adapted themselves most rapidly of all. As was said above, the story of the meek makes less exciting reading in the world to-day than the story of the aggressive, but perhaps man killing and large scale appropriation of values will not always appeal to human beings as the noblest objects of contemplation. However, the fact that human interest during the last two centuries has been of this character accounts for the relatively meager amount of material which it has been possible to collect for the present undertaking. While the French have left us two elaborate descriptions of Natchez institutions and activities and a num-
SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL. LIFE 3 ber of shorter ones, I know of but one single effort to describe the Choctaw in a similar manner, and that relatively feeble. It is con- tained in an unpublished French Relation which I have dated tenta- tively about 1755, though it is very likely that it was written some- wliat earlier. It is one of the many valuable documents in the Edward E. Ayer collection of the Newberry Library, Chicago, a photostat copy of which was obtained by Mr. F. W. Hodge for the Bureau of American Ethnology at the instance of the writer some years ago. That section dealing with the Choctaw I translated into English, and it was published in 1918 as Volume V, part 2, of the Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association. The only other French writer on this tribe worthy of mention is Bossu, who does vouchsafe us some original observations, but is much briefer than his compatriot. The next writer to pay more than incidental attention to this tribe was Bernard Romans, who traveled through the territory now constituting the States of Mississippi and Florida and some other parts of the Southeast in 1770 and 1771. Volume I of his narrative was printed in New York in 1775, but Volume II was never sent to press, apparently, probably on account of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Copies of this work are exceedingly rare, but it contains valuable information regarding the Indians of the Gulf area, particularly the Choctaw. Of a much later period and very different in character is "A History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez Indians " by the missionary, H. B. Cushman, printed in 189£^. The author presents his material in a rambling and highly emotional manner, but he had lived practically all his life in close contact with the Choctaw Indians and was nearly as well acquainted with the Chickasaw. His material is often of a kind that can not be duplicated. He is our only authority on certain phases of ancient Choctaw life and in consequence it has been necessary to quote him extensively. Mr. Bushnell's little study of the Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb, Louisiana, is the only modern attempt to give an account of any Choctaw band from an ethnographical point of view and is correspondingly valuable. Henry S. Halbert was a Clioctaw enthusiast who derived considerable important information from that section of the Choctaw Indians who remain in the State of Mississippi. On certain special aspects of Choctaw life, such as their former geographical distribution, their migration legends, and their burial customs, his work is unsurpassed. Mention should also be made of the contributions of Rev. Alfred Wright, an early Choctaw missionary, to the Missionary Herald during the years 1828 and 1829, which in particular seem to give us the key to primitive Choctaw religion. The other writers mentioned in the bibliography merely furnish us with details upon special phases of the native culture.
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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL. LIFE 3<br />
ber of shorter ones, I know of but one single effort to describe the<br />
Choctaw in a similar manner, and that relatively feeble. It is con-<br />
tained in an unpublished French Relation which I have dated tenta-<br />
tively about 1755, though it is very likely that it was written some-<br />
wliat earlier. It is one of the many valuable documents in the<br />
Edward E. Ayer collection of the Newberry Library, Chicago, a<br />
photostat copy of which was obtained by Mr. F. W. Hodge for the<br />
Bureau of American Ethnology at the instance of the writer some<br />
years ago. That section dealing with the Choctaw I translated into<br />
English, and it was published in 1918 as Volume V, part 2, of the<br />
Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association. The only<br />
other French writer on this tribe worthy of mention is Bossu, who<br />
does vouchsafe us some original observations, but is much briefer<br />
than his compatriot. The next writer to pay more than incidental<br />
attention to this tribe was Bernard Romans, who traveled through<br />
the territory now constituting the States of Mississippi and Florida<br />
and some other parts of the Southeast in 1770 and 1771. Volume I of<br />
his narrative was printed in New York in 1775, but Volume II was<br />
never sent to press, apparently, probably on account of the outbreak<br />
of the Revolutionary War. Copies of this work are exceedingly rare,<br />
but it contains valuable information regarding the Indians of the<br />
Gulf area, particularly the Choctaw. Of a much later period and<br />
very different in character is "A History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw,<br />
and Natchez Indians " by the missionary, H. B. Cushman, printed in<br />
189£^. The author presents his material in a rambling and highly<br />
emotional manner, but he had lived practically all his life in close<br />
contact with the Choctaw Indians and was nearly as well acquainted<br />
with the Chickasaw. His material is often of a kind that can not be<br />
duplicated. He is our only authority on certain phases of ancient<br />
Choctaw life and in consequence it has been necessary to quote him<br />
extensively. Mr. Bushnell's little study of the Choctaw of Bayou<br />
Lacomb, Louisiana, is the only modern attempt to give an account<br />
of any Choctaw band from an ethnographical point of view and is<br />
correspondingly valuable. Henry S. Halbert was a Clioctaw enthusiast<br />
who derived considerable important information from<br />
that section of the Choctaw Indians who remain in the State of<br />
Mississippi. On certain special aspects of Choctaw life, such as their<br />
former geographical distribution, their migration legends, and their<br />
burial customs, his work is unsurpassed. Mention should also be<br />
made of the contributions of Rev. Alfred Wright, an early Choctaw<br />
missionary, to the Missionary Herald during the years 1828 and<br />
1829, which in particular seem to give us the key to primitive Choctaw<br />
religion. The other writers mentioned in the bibliography merely<br />
furnish us with details upon special phases of the native culture.
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