INDIAN CONCEPTS OF THE SUN — STIRLING 397 



upon it, while, as head of the Sim people, the great chief was the 

 representative of the deity on earth and was to be treated accordingly. 



In other words, the Natchez state was a theocracy. The Supreme 

 Being resided in the Sun. The son or near relative of the Supreme 

 Being, having come to earth, taught men religious customs, estab- 

 lished the government, then retired into a stone which continued to 

 dwell with the people in the innermost sanctuary of the temple, and 

 his descendants ruled in his place. The great chief, supreme ruler of 

 the Natchez, lived in the temple and was revered as a demi-god. 



Charlevoix, who lived among the Natchez, gives us this description : 



Every morning as soon as the Sun appears, the great chief comes to the door 

 of his cabin, turns himself to the east, and howls three times, bowing down to 

 the earth. Then they bring him a calumet, which serves only for this purpose. 

 He smokes, and blows the smoke of his tobacco toward the Sun; then he does 

 the same thing toward the other three parts of his world. He acknowledges no 

 superior but the Sun, from which he pretends to derive his origin. He exercises 

 an unlimited power over his subjects, can dispose of their goods and lives, and 

 for whatever labors he requires of them they can not demand any recompense. 



Le Petit gives us a similar account. 



The sun is the principal object of veneration to these people ; as they cannot 

 conceive of anything which can be above this heavenly body, nothing else appears 

 to them more worthy of their homage. It is for the same reason that the great 

 chief of this nation, who knows nothing on the earth more dignified than himself, 

 takes the title of Brother of the Sun, and the credulity of the people maintains 

 him in the despotic authority which he claims. To enable them better to con- 

 verse together they raise a mound of artificial soil on which they build his cabin, 

 which is of the same construction as the temple. The door fronts the east, and 

 every morning the great chief honors by his presence the rising of his elder 

 brother, and salutes him with many howlings as soon as he appears above the 

 horizon. Then he gives orders that they shall light his calumet ; he makes him an 

 offering of the first three puffs which he draws ; afterwards raising his hand above 

 his head and turning from the east to the west, he shows him the direction which 

 he must take in his course. 



Next to the sacred stone, the holiest object in the temple was the 

 eternal fire, which was supposed to be derived directly from the sun. 

 The tender of this fire had one of the most responsible duties in the 

 nation since, if it were allowed to go out, the very nation itself would 

 be extinguished. (Swanton, 1911.) 



The Southeastern tribes in general had similar ideas of the sun and 

 of the relationship between the sun and fire. Adair, an early traveler 

 among the Creeks, records an interesting episode that he witnessed at 

 a Creek ceremony. A Creek having become intoxicated, reeled into 

 the fire and roared, foamed, and spoke the worst things against the sun 

 that their language could express. He upbraided him with ingrati- 

 tude for having treated him so barbarously in return for his religious 

 offerings, affirming he had always sacrificed to him the first young 

 buck he had killed in the New Year; he had always offered him when 



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