20 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Sun was seated. They afterward gave a second salute by lifting 

 their arms above their heads and howling three times. If they 

 were persons whom the Great Sun respected, he answered by a 

 faint sigh and made them a sign to be seated ; he was thanked for 

 his courtesy by a new howl, and at every question the Sun made 

 they howled once before returning an answer. When they took 

 their leave they drew out one continued howl until they retired 

 from his presence." 



From the history of De Soto's invasion it is evident that not 

 only the Great Sun, but all the caciques of Florida, were attended 

 with some rude state. The chief of Cosa, when he visited De Soto, 

 was carried in a litter, wearing on his head a diadem made of 

 feathers, while around him attendants "sang and played upon 

 instruments." 



The government of the Natchez is what especially distin- 

 guished them from the other tribes of North America. Du Pratz 

 says : " The authority which their princes exercise over them is 

 absolutely despotic, and can be compared to nothing but that of 

 the first Ottoman emperors. Like them, the Great Sun is absolute 

 master of the lives and estates of his subjects, which he disposes 

 of at pleasure," etc. As soon as the presumptive heir of the Great 

 Sun was born, every family in which there was a child at the 

 breast gave that child for his service. When the chief died, all 

 these individuals were put to death, to serve their master in the 

 world of spirits. 



The Natchez were divided into nobles and common people, 

 which last, with an arrogance not peculiar to savages alone, were 

 designated " stinkards." 



The nobles themselves were divided into Suns, nobles, and men 

 of rank. The Suns, according to tradition, were descended from 

 a man and woman who came down from the sun to teach them 

 how to live and govern themselves. They enjoyed immunity 

 from punishment by death, and their nobility was transmitted 

 only through the female line. Although the children, both male 

 and female, bore the name of Suns, the males enjoyed this honor 

 in their own persons alone. Their male children were only no- 

 bles ; the next generation were men of rank, and the third low- 

 ered them to plain stinkards, although distinguished actions 

 might retard the deterioration of the blood. But the case was 

 very different with the female posterity. They enjoyed through 

 all generations the privileges of their rank. Laudoniere speaks 

 of a queen " who was much reverenced by her subjects when he 

 visited Florida." 



The nobility never intermarried. As we have already noticed, 

 one of their laws prohibited their being put to death for any rea- 

 son whatsoever. Another law decreed that when a Sun died, his 



