114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



The feast day being fixed, the necessary arrangements for this ceremony are 

 made some days before. The cabin of the great chief is l)nilt opposite the 

 granary and that of the great war chief at the side of this granary. That of 

 the sovereign is on an elevation of earth about 2 feet high, which has been 

 brought hither. It is made by the warriors of grass and leaves. At the same 

 time the warriors of each family come to make a cabin for all their relations. 



The feast day having at last arrived, the entire nation begins to prepare 

 itself at daybreak. The old men, the young people, the women, and the chil- 

 dren leave at sunrise. Each one brings the utensils necessary for preparing 

 the grain, and as soon as they arrive they collect wood to make a fire at the 

 proper time. The old warriors prepare the litter on which the great Sun is 

 going to be brought (pi. 3, «). This litter is composed of four red bars which 

 cross each other at the four corners of the seat, which has a depth of about 

 li feet. The entire seat is garnished inside with common deerskins, because 

 it Is not seen. Those which hang outside are painted with designs according 

 to their taste and of different colors. They conceal the seat so well that the 

 substance of which it is composed can not be seen. The back part of this 

 seat is covered like the equipages we call chaises (soufflets). It is covered out- 

 side and in with leaves of the tulip laurel. The outside border is garnished 

 with three strings {cordons) of flowers. That which extends the fai'thest out- 

 side is red. It is accompanied on each side by a string of white flowers. 



Those who prepare this conveyance are the first and the oldest warriors of 

 the nation. They place it on the shoulders of the S who are the only ones to 

 take it out of the village. In this way there remain only 3G of them there, 

 because all of the others have gone, a little after sunrise, with their great 

 chief [of war! and those who command the warriors under his orders. He 

 disperses them a hundred paces apart and places 8 in each relay. For this 

 purpose he chooses those of his warriors who are the strongest and the most 

 vigorous. The others wait at the open space with him to receive the great Sun. 



These dispositions made and the warriors' post having been reddened and 

 planted by themselves in the middle of the space, with ceremony (for the 

 great war chief has to hold it while the warriors make it firm), the great Sun, 

 when the sun is a quarter of the way up, goes forth from his cabin adorned with 

 his diadem and the other ornaments which indicate his dignity. On the 

 instant, the warriors who have remained to carry him utter many redoubled 

 cries in succession and with so much strength that those who hear them may 

 be assured that these men are not consumptives. As the warriors of the relays 

 are not more than a hundred paces apart, they hear the first cries and repeat 

 them on the spot, so that in a minute they are informed at the open space, 

 although it is half a league distant. 



The great Sun seats himself in the litter, adorned with the ornaments suit- 

 able to the supreme rank, for good sense alone has enabled tliese people to 

 know that tliese ornaments are the marks of sovereignty, and in the ceremonies 

 their princes always wear them, if not all, at least a part. Then the 8 oldest 

 warriors place him in this state on the shoulders of those who are going to 

 carry him. The cries are continued from his departure from his cabin until 

 he is l)eyond the village. At most this is a matter of two minutes. Those who 

 carry him and those who receive him do it with so much quickness and skill 

 that a good horse would be able to follow them only at a canter, for those 

 who await him at each relay lift him from the shoulders of those who arrive 

 with so much agility that he does not stop at all and does not cease to go with 

 the same rai)idity, so that that journey, I believe, la^ts only six or seven min- 

 utes at most. 



