The Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians

Excerpt from Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians: 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 religious 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 neighbors 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 them selves with dauntless bravery. In other words, the aboriginal Choctaw seem to have enjoyed the enviable