138 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ntLL. 43 



chief a lid explains to liiin the rensmis for their arrival. The latter j^raiils or 

 refuses what is asked of him. according as he jud.i^es it expedient, hut what- 

 ever be )ils repl.v the presents are always well received and the calumet, such 

 as I have descrihed it. remains as a pledge with the chief. Only the pipe is 

 taken away, which serves for other similar ceremonies. Then nothing else is 

 thonjrht of but to treat the strangers well, who are immediately served from 

 different dishes prepared exjjressly for them by the savage women of the village. 

 The rest of this ceremony differs in nothing from another which the Natchez 

 formerly celebrated, * * * which our French people have called " the tun 

 of importance" iionnc dc ralcui-)." 



None of these narratives mentions the temple as having played 

 any part in the ceremonies of peace making, but that it did so is 

 shown in De Montigny's description of the ceremonies Avhen peace 

 Avas concluded between the Natchez and the Taensa. A short time 

 after the Natchez had promised they would conclude peace w:th the 

 Taensa their deputies arrived. 



A magnificent reception was accorded them, after which they were conducted 

 to the door of the temple where the chiefs of the nation were assembled. There 

 the accustomed ceremonies were gone through with. Then the presents of the 

 Natchez deputies were brought into the temple. This offering consist cmI of six 

 muskrat blankets very well worked. And the peace was concluded. In order 

 to close the ceremony the old man who had the care of the temple ascended 

 a slight elevation and addressed his words sometimes to the spirit, sometimes 

 to those present, exhorting the two nations to forget the past and live in an 

 inviolate peace.'' 



FUNERAL CERE:M0NIES 



Ceremonies attending the obsequies of a Sun were so nuiBerous, 

 so striking, and so sanguinary, that nearly all of our authorities 

 have confined their descriptions to them, leaving us much in the dark 

 regarding the manner of disposing of the bodies of common people. 

 The only statements wdiich seem to be intended as of general appli- 

 cation are the following: 



Mourning among these savages consists in cutting off their hair, and in not 

 l»aintiiig their faces, and in absenting themselves from public assemblies; 

 but I do not know how long it lasts. I know not, either, whether they cele- 

 brate the grand festival of the dead, which I have before described. It seems 

 as if in this nation, where everybody is in some sort the slave of those who 

 command, all the honors of the dead are for those who do so, especially for the 

 gi'eat chief and the woman chief. '' 



When one of these savages (li(>s his relatives come to niourn his death 

 during an entire day. Then they array liiiu in his most beautiful dresses, 

 they paint his face and his hair and ornament him with plumes, after which 

 they carry him to the grave iireiiared for him, placing by his side his arms, a 

 k(>ttl(\ and some jn-ovislons. For tlu^ sjiace of a month his relatives come at the 

 dawn of day and at the beginning of the night to weep for half an hour at his 



" numont, M^m. Hist, siir La Louisinno, i. 1!)0-10.T. Sop al.so pp. 11S-12L 

 "Gossclin, on the authority of I »(■ Moiil i^iiy. in Conipfc Itciulii Coiij;. Internat. dos Amor., 

 intli .sess., I, 44—45. 



<• Charlovoix in Froncli. Hist. Coll. La.. KJS, IS'.l. 



