148 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



French, because we also loved you much, although I have never eaten with 

 them, because I am a woman. But I am able to eat with them now, because I 

 am going to the country of the spirits. Let them, then, bring us food to eat, so 

 that I may eat with the French chiefs." 



Immediately some dishes were brought, we seated ourselves, and we took the 

 meal with her. She then rose, and followed by her company, she returned to 

 the cabin of her husband with a firmness altogether suri)rising. 



I have reported these speeches and the bearing of this favorite, who could 

 be only of the common people, being the wife of a Sun, in order to show the 

 skill with which she preserved the friendship of the French for her children, 

 how much intelligence this nation has, and that it is not at all that which one 

 ordinarily understands by the word savage, which the majority of people bestow 

 on it very unsuitably. 



I have said elsewhere that the temple, the house of the great chief, and that 

 of the Tattooed-serpent wei-e on the square; that that of the great Sun was 

 built on a mound of earth carried to a height of about 8 feet. It was on this 

 mound that we placed ourselves at the side of the dwelling of the great Sun, 

 who had shut himself in in order to see nothing. His wife, who was also there, 

 was able to hear us, but we had no fear that she would reveal what we might 

 say against such a cruel custom. This law did not please her enough for her 

 to find fault with those who spoke ill of it. As for the great Sun, he was on 

 the other side and was not able to hear our remarks. From this place, without 

 disturbing the ceremony, we were able to see everything, even into the interior 

 of the temple, the door of which faced us. 



At the appointed hour the master of ceremonies arrived, adorned with i"ed 

 feathers in a half crown on his head. He had his red baton, in the shape of 

 a cross, at the end of wliich hung a cluster of black feathers. He had all the 

 upper portion of liis body reddened, with the exception of his arms, in order to 

 let it be seen that he did not dip his hands in the blood. His belt, which girded 

 him above his hips, was ornamented with feathers, of which one row was black 

 and the following was red, and afterward alternately as far as the knees. 

 His legs were of their natural color. 



He entered the house of the great Sun in this dress to ask him, without 

 doubt, for' permission to start the funeral procession. We were not able to 

 hear what reply was made to him, because this sovereign ordinarily spoke in a 

 very low althougli serious tone. But we heard very distinctly the salutation 

 which the master of ceremonies afterward made him, who went out instantly 

 to proclaim the departure of the funeral procession. * * * 



As soon as the master of ceremonies went to the door of the deceased he 

 saluted him, without entering, with a great hou. Then he made the death cry, 

 to which the people on the square replied in the same manner. The entire nation 

 did the same thing and the echoes repeated it from afar. The body of the 

 strangled infant was near the door by which the body of the dead man was to 

 be brought out. Its father and its mother were behind it, leaning against the 

 wall, their feet on some Spanish moss, esteeming themselves unworthy to walk 

 on the earth until the body of the deceased had passed over it. As- soon as 

 the body appeared they laid their infant down, then raised it when it was out- 

 side, in order to exi)ose it at each circle which it made until it had reached the 

 temple. 



The Tattooed-serpent, having come out of his cabin in his state bed, as I 

 have pictured it, was placed on a litter with two poles, which four men carried. 

 Another pole was placed underneath toward the middle and crosswise, which 

 two other men held, in order to sustain the body. These six men who carried 

 it were guardians of the temple. 



