Nobility : - 



SWANTUN] INDIAN TKir.KS OK TllK LOWICH M!SSISSIP1»I V.MJ.F.V 107 



I'ontlii'fs ;irr ;iri:in;:(Ml in ;i ciirvcd liiic. At (lie end nl" llicsc I'c.itliri-s is ;i I lift 

 (if li;iir [linuiit lie iiiiil \ iiiKJ ;il)<)\i' ;i liltlc li;iii\v Ijissi'l (((////■(■/(• lie ciiit). ail 

 bi'iii;: only aii inch aiiil :i lialf \<>u-j: and dyed a very boauliful red. This cruwu 

 or featiuT liat is an object very [tloasinK lo tlio sijib(." 



Xe\XTtheloss, tlio Sun also had a council to advise him, and somc- 

 tinios his authority ^Yas considorahly curtailed by it, as well as by the 

 more prominent and ener<ietic village chiefs, a fact which comes out 

 clearly in the course of the last Natchez war. De la Vente seems to 

 have (he Natchez in miiul when he speaks of a council composed of 

 the principal warriors in wdiich the more ancient always occupied the 

 highest places. " They are listened to like oracles," he writes, •' and 

 the young people make it a point of honor to follow their opinions 

 to the point of veneration." '' It appears that the great Sun and the 

 great war chief coidd also be controlled by them — a very important 

 fact (see pp. 245-240). 



The essence of the Natchez system, so far as it is revealed to us by 

 French writers, may be shown diagrammatically as follows: 



Siuis: Children of Sun mothers and Stinkard fathers. 

 Nobles: Children of Noble mothers and Stinkard fathers, 



or of Sun fathers and Stinkard mothers. 

 Honored People: Children of Honored women and 

 Stinkard fathers, or of Noble fathers and Stinkard 

 mothers. 



Stinkards: Children of Stinkard mothers and Honored men, or of 

 Stinkard fathers and Stinkard mothers. 



The Sims were a purely hereditary body, and, as might be inferred 

 from this diagram, were the smallest of all classes. La Harpe states 

 that in 1700 there were 17 Suns,'^ but it is not clear whether he 

 includes only those in the Grand Village or the entire number, and 

 whether the Suns of both sexes are referred to. Le Petit (1780) 

 gives 11 Suns.'' The intermarriage of Stinkards is nowhere di- 

 rectly mentioned, but it must be assumed, for otherwise Stinkards 

 Avould in time become as few as Suns, whereas it is evident that they 

 constituted the largest part of the population. War chieftainships, 

 and probably most of the secondary offices, were open to the second 

 rank of Nobles.' 



After settling among the Creeks and the Cherokee, totem ic divisions 

 made their appearance, if they were not already in existence, and 

 the writer was told of the following seven clans : na'pi o'wats, ' wind 



" Dii Pratz, Hist, de La Louislane, ii, 201 ; by error In oriKinal, 191. 



* De la Ventp, letter of July 4, 1708, in Compte Rendu Cong. Intornat. des Amer., 

 15tli sess., I, 42. 



•= La llarpc, Jour. Hist., 28, 1831. 

 <* Le Petit in Jos. Rel., Lxviii, 135. 

 <^ La Ilarpc, Jour. Hist., 2"J. 



