102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bill. 43 



tliey retire, and they retire walldng backward. When they meet them they 

 must stop and range tlioniselves on botli sides of the way, and malie the same 

 cries till they are gone past. Their subjects are also obliged to carry them the 

 best of their harvest, and of their hunting and fishing. Lastly, no person, not 

 even their nearest relations, and those who are of noble families, when they 

 have the honor to eat with them, have a right to put their hands to the same 

 dish, or to drink out of the same vessel. 



The daughters of the noble families can marry none but obscure persons; but 

 they have a right to turn away their husbands when they please, and to take 

 others, provided there is no relationship between them. 



If their husbands are unfaithful to them they can order them to be knocked 

 on the head, but they are not subject to the same laws themselves. They may 

 have besides as many gallants as they think fit, and the husband is not to take it 

 amiss. This is a privilege belonging to the blood of the great chief. The hus- 

 band of any one of these must stand in the presence of his wife in a respectful 

 posture; he does not eat with her; he salutes her in the same tone as her do- 

 mestics. The only privilege which such a burdensome alliance procures him is 

 to be exempt from labor and to have authority over those who serve his wife. 



The Natchez have two war chiefs, two masters of the ceremonies for the tem- 

 ple, two ofticers to regulate what is done in treaties of peace or war; one that 

 has the inspection of works, and four others who are employed to order every- 

 thing in the public feasts. It is the great chief who appoints persons to these 

 offices, and those who hold them are respected and obeyed as he would be him- 

 self.» 



From Le Petit : 



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

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

 pears 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 converse 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 i)resence the rishig of 

 his elder brother, and salutes him with many bowlings 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; afterward 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. 



There are in this cabin a number of beds on the left hand at entering: but on 

 the right is only the bed of the great chief, ornamented with different painted 

 figures. This bed consists of nothing but a mattress of canes and reeds, very 

 hard, with a square log of wood which serves for a pillow. In the middle of the 

 cabin is seen a small stone, and no one should approach the bed until he has made 

 a circuit of this stone. Those who enter salute by a howl, and advance even 

 to the bottom of the cabin without looking at the right side where the chief is. 

 Then they give a new salute by raising their arms above the head and howling 

 three times. If it be anyone whom the chief holds in consideration he answers 

 by a slight sigh and makes a sign to him to be seated. He thanks him for his 

 politeness by a new howl. At every question which the chief puts to him he 

 howls once before he answers, and when he takes his leave he prolongs a single 

 howl until he is out of his presence. 



" CMiiii-h'voix in Fruneli, llisl. CuW. I,;;., I(y2--i (\:\, KJ.''), IS.ll. 



