542 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
and other southern tribes; and here the old men of the village were 
accustomed to meet every evening to talk over public affairs; and here 
also took place many of their feasts and dances when the weather pre- 
cluded the use of the open square in front.* Women were no longer 
shut out from its sacred precincts, but were permitted under certain 
conditions to take a subordinate part in the ceremonies, except, perhaps, 
among the Creeks, among whom, according to Bartram, it was still 
deemed an offense worthy of death for a woman to enter this rotunda.t 
He also tells us that it was within this building that the new fire was 
kindled on the occasion of the feast of first fruits, and it was here that, 
under guard of the priests, ‘‘ they seem to keep up the eternal fire.”t 
This however had lost its original form, and was now spiral in 
shape.§ Its sacred character too was gone, for the houseless pauper 
could now bask in its warmth undisturbed by priest or prophet; and 
when the evening dance or the council was over, he might find a night’s 
lodging within the precincts of the temple itself. 
Another very interesting rite was that of annually putting out all the 
fires of the tribe, and kindling them anew from sacred fire produced by 
friction. This ceremony took place at the Feast of the Busk or offering 
of first fruits, which seems to have been very general throughout this 
region.§[ Indeed, Schoolcraft tells us that it also prevailed among the 
Huron and Algonquin families north of the Ohio, and that it extended 
e — 
*Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p. 72. Adair, p. 18. Bartram, Travels 
through Florida, pp. 369 and 516. Schoolcraft, vol. v, p. 265. Timberlake, Memoirs 
relating to the Cherokees, p. 32. 
t Bartram, MSS. quoted in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. 11, p. 138: 
Washington, 1851. 
{ Ibid., p. 188. ‘‘Muscogulges pay a kind of homage to the Sun, Moon, and Plan- 
ets:” Bartram, MSS. quoted in Serpent Symbol, p.69: New York, 1851. ‘‘Cherokees 
adore Sun and Moon:” Payne, MSS. quoted in same, p. 68. Indians of Southern 
States appear to have been “originally worshipers of the Sun. The Chahta, when 
he has greatly misbehaved, utters these ejaculations: when the Sun forsakes a man 
he will do things he never thought to do. The Sun is turned against me, therefore 
have I come to this:” Pitchlynn, quoted by Buckingham Smith in Notes to his 
Translation of the Relation of Cabeca de Vaca, p. 171: New York, 1871. 
§ Bartram MSS., /. c., p. 188. Hawkins, p. 71. The latter author says: ‘‘In the 
center of the room, on a small rise, the fire is made of dry cane or old pine slabs, 
split fine, and laid in a spiral circle.” See also Lawson, Carolina, p. 38: London, 
1718. In this connection it is interesting to note that the Abenaquis, of New Eng- 
land, were in the habit of practicing divination by the manner in which the fire 
would “‘run” in a carefully prepared powder made from cedar. Lafitau, vol. 1, p. 
387, gives an account of it, also the argument by which an Indian woman justified 
the practice. 
|| Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, p.72.  Schooleraft, Indian Tribes of the 
United States, vol. v, p. 265. 
4] Joutel, Journal in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, part 1, p.151. Father Le Petit in 
Same, part 111, note on p.144. Nuttall, Travels in the Arkansa Territory, p. 96. 
Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 150: New York, 1876. Du Pratz, Louisiana, 
vol. u, p.189. Timeerlake, Memoirs relating to the Cherokees, p. 65: London, 1765. 
