SWANTON] INDFAX TRIBES OF TlIK LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 93 



These are the usages between persons of nearly the same laiilv. l)iit 

 in the Natchez nation the idea of nobility was so hi<2;hly developed 

 that a special eticjnette was employed toward one of the npj)er classes, 

 especially the great Sun, and he was approached with the most slavish 

 obeisances. 



When the groat Sun speaks to anyone \ot the common pooplol he (the hit- 

 ter) is obliged to salute him with three Itoii.s as soon as he has finished speak- 

 ing. If a simple Sun is s[)i)ken to he is saluted with one hoii only, but il is 

 necessary that this be out of the presence of the sovereign. The Suns them- 

 selves salute him every (iiiie he speaks to them and every morning they go 

 to pay their respects to him with this salutation of a single hou. P^ven his 

 brother (tlie head war chief) was not exempt, but he did it in a very low tone, 

 which sutlieed for the rest of the day." 



Says De Montigny: 



They spoke to him (the great Sun) always with great respect. A woman 

 or a child never dared to enter his cabin; only the old men and the most im- 

 jiortant of the nation could enter there; everything in his words as in liis 

 maintenance witness to the great respect in which he was held. No one would 

 be permitteil to sit on his bed, to make use of his goblet, to pass between him 

 and a cane torch or flambeau which was lighted every evening in order to illu- 

 minate his cabin. ^ 



And St. Cosme savs: 



For nothing in the world would one wish to contradict them (the Suns) or 

 ■give them pain. If they fell ill, infants were usually immolated to appease 

 the spirit, and when they came to die great persons were killed who came to 

 offer themselves, showing great joy over it." 



Custom is so powerftd in matters such as this that the great Sun 

 expressed the greatest surprise on one occasion that a certain French- 

 man would not be willing to die with him.'' 



This reverence is perfectly understandable, however, when it is 

 considered that the Suns were held to be descendants of the supreme 

 deity and in realitj^ deities themselves, the chiefs being regarded as 

 spirits that it was important to be careful of and respect. They had 

 in their hands abundance, health, and life, as well as poverty, diseases, 

 and death.*' Not that they brought these things about directly, but 

 by intercession Avith their ancestor, who was of the blood of the 

 supreme being, and sent the diseases and the mortality on account 

 of the small respect which in later times the peoj^le had had for his 

 descendants.'' 



" Du Pratz, Hist, do La Louisiane, iii, .54. 



* De Montigny, letter of Aug. 25, 1699, in Compte Rendu Cong. Intt-rnat. des Amer., 

 l.")tli scss., r, 42. 



•^ St. Cosme, letter of Jan. 8, 1706, in ibid. 



<* De Montigny. letter of Aug. 2.5, 1699, in ibid., 49. 



« St. Cosme, Jan. R. 1706, in ibid., 41. 



f Gosselin, on authority of St, Cosme, in ibid., 40. 



