YARROW. | BURIAL SACRIFICE—NATCHEZ. 187 
SACRIFICE. 
Some examples of human sacrifice have already been given in con- 
nection with another subject, but it is thought others might prove inter- 
esting. The first relates to the Natchez of Louisiana.* 
When their sovereign died he was accompanied in the grave by his wives and by 
several of his subjects. The lesser Suns took care to follow the same custom. The 
law likewise condemned every Natchez to death who had married a girl of the blood 
of the Suns as soon as she was expired. On this occasion I must tell you the history 
of an Indian who was noways willing to submit to this law. His name was Elteacteal; 
he contracted an alliance with the Suns, but the consequences which this honor 
brought along with it had like to have proved very unfortunate to him. His wife fell 
sick; as soou as he saw her at the point of death he fled, embarked in a piragua 
on the Mississippi, and came to New Orleans. He put himself under the protection of 
M. de Bienyille, the then governor, and offered to be his huntsman. The governor 
accepted his services, and interested himself for him with the Natchez, who declared 
that he had nothing more to fear, because the ceremony was past, and he was accord- 
ingly no longer a lawful prize. 
Llteacteal, being thus assured, ventured to return to his nation, and, without set- 
tling among them, he made several voyages thither. He happened to be there when 
the Sun called the Stung Serpent, brother to the Great Sun, died. He was a relative 
of the late wife of Elteacteal, and they resolved to make him pay his debt. M. de 
Bienville had been recalled to France, and the sovereign of the Natchez thought that 
the protector’s absence had annulled the reprieve granted to the protected person, 
and accordingly he caused him to be arrested. As soon as the poor fellow found him- 
self in the hut of the grand chief of war, together with the other victims destined to 
be sacrificed to the Stung Serpent, he gave vent to the excess of his grief. The favor- 
ite wife of the late Sun, who was likewise to be sacrificed, and who saw the prepara- 
tions for her death with firmness, and seemed impatient to rejoin her husband, hear- 
ing Lleacteal’s complaints and groans, said to him: “Art thou no warrior?” He 
answered, ‘‘ Yes; I am one.” ‘‘Howeyer,” said she, ‘thou cryest; life is dear to 
thee, and as that is the case, it is not good that thou shouldst go along with us; go 
with the women.” JZlteacteal replied: ‘‘ True; life is dearto me. It would be well if 
I walked yet on earth till to the death of the Great Sun, and I would die with him.” 
“Go thy way,” said the favorite, ‘‘it is not fit thou shouldst go with us, and that thy 
heart should remain behind on earth. Once more, get away, and let me see thee no 
more,” 
Elteacteal did not stay to hear this orderrepeated to him; he disappeared like light- 
ning; three old women, two of which werehis relatives, offered to pay his debt; their 
age and their infirmities had disgusted them of life; none of them had been able to 
use their legs for a great while. The hair of the twothat were related to Elteacteal 
was no more gray than those of women of fifty-five years in France. The other old 
woman was a hundred and twenty years old, and had very white hair, which is a 
very uncommon thing among the Indians. None of the three had a quite wrinkled 
skin. They were dispatched in the evening, one at the door of the Stung Serpent, 
and the other two upou the place before the temple. * * * A cord is fastened 
round their necks with a slip-knot, and eight men of their relations strangle them by 
drawing, four one way and four the other. So many are not necessary, but as they 
acquire nobility by such executions, there are always more than are wanting, and the 
operation is performed in an instant. The generosity of these women gave LIteacteal 
* Bossu’s Travels (Forster’s translation), 1771, p. 38. 
