SWANT...V1 ixoTAx ri;ir.F..s of tttk i.owF.r? mississiptm v.m-t.kv 189 



,i:r:i\»'. l^.-icli niic iiiiiiics liis (lc;,'rcf of i-cl:ili<iiislii|(. If lie wcri' tlic I'atlifr (if a 

 family tlu' wife cries. " My dear liiishand. ah 1 Imw 1 I'cL'rrt y<iii :" 'I'lic cliildiUMi 

 cry. ".My dear father I" The others, "My iniclr ! " ".My cniisiii ! " etc. The 

 nearest rehitives eontiinie this eereiiioiiy for three uioiitlis; tliey cut off their 

 hair in siirii of jrrief : they ahstain from paintiiiK the hody, and are never fouiul 

 at any .issemlily fur f(>stivily." 



All tlie people of Ihe universe have always had .creat resiiorf for the dead, 

 and liislor.v even leadies us of (h-eds wliicji prove llial certain nations have 

 jaished thi'ir superstitions in this particular to the point of extravaf,'ance. 

 Those of my readers who rej;ard the natives of Louisiana as savages jx'rhaps 

 can not imasine that they are capahle of erectinj; other toml)s to the dead than 

 the stomachs of the nearest relations. 



Of all the people of which 1 have hitherto spoken, how«'ver, tiiere is not 

 one which does not p;iy much reliicious altcniiou to the dead All. indeed, have 

 their part icul.ii- uiauuer on these occasions, liul all cither liury tlieni or i)lace 

 them iu tomhs and carefull.v carry food to them foi- some time, a custom which 

 they have without (h)nht jireserved from their orifjcinal country — I mean the 

 Orient. P.<>sides. one ought not to he astonislied tliat tliey take care of the 

 dead, since they have temples which are sijrns that they liave a kind of re- 

 ligion, and all the peoides wlio have a little relijiion liave never failed t.o 

 render tht> last duti<'s to the dead, and everywhere those who did not do it 

 liave been reirarded as had relatives, and those to whom seinilcher was not 

 .iri\<'n wi're esteemed unhappy and in fact were punished by this dishonor.'' 



The followino; (loscri]itions of the mortuary coremonios over the 

 bodies of Suns have been I'ecorded. The first was given to Gravier 

 hy tlie Freneh youth whom Iberville left in 1700 to learn th(> Natchez 

 languaofe. and the second details the obsequies of a gTand chief tainess 

 of which the autlior Penicaut claims to have been a witness in 1704. 

 The accounts from Charlevoix and Le Petit also record the fimeral 

 rites of a female Sun. and ahhough they were written later, seem to 

 refer to the same funeral. Tlie two last describe the rites observed 

 at the death of the Tattooed-serpent,^ great war chief of the Natchez 

 and brother of the great Sun. Through some strange error, strange 

 in a man who must have met the Tattooed-serpent personally, Dnmont 

 describes him as the great Sun and his brother as the head war chief. 

 Du Pratz is supported in this, however, b}^ the Memoir of De Riche- 

 bourg.'' Nevertheless, the mistake has been copied b}' many subse- 

 quent writers. 



* * * The Frenchman whom M. d'lherville left there to learn the lan.cuage 

 told me that on the death of the last chief they put to death two women, 

 three men. and three children. They strangled them with a howstrin.g. and this 

 cruel ceremony was ]ierformed with great pomp, these wretched victims deem- 

 ing themselves greatly honored to accompany their chief by a violent death. 

 There were only seven for the .great chief who died some months before.' His 



" Le Petit in .7es. Rol.. lxviii. ir>7. 



'' Dii Pr.itz. Hist, de La Louisiano, in, 20-21. 



•"Tlie French form of his name, i^crpcnl Piqur. is iisiinll.v mistranslalod Stunjj Sorppnt. 



" Soe p. 1!)!). 



'Tills would seom to have been tho chief referred to in De Montigny's letter of .Vusust 

 25, inO'.i. for whom he then says .".0 persons were put to death. — Compto Kondu Cong. 

 Internat. des Araer., 15th sess. i, 49. 



