SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF TITK LOWKR MISSISSIPPI VATXKV 149 



The grand iiiiistcr of cei-emonies walked first, after liiiii tlio oldost of the war 

 chiefs, who l»on' I ho polo from whioh huiiK tlio taiio links. lie hold this pole 

 in one hand and in the other a war caluniot. a mark of the dignity of the de- 

 ceased. Then eame the hody, after which marclxd the procession of those 

 who were going to die at his hurial. Together they circletl the house from 

 which they had come out three times. At the third turn they took tlie road to 

 the temple, and then the relatives of the victims placed themselves in the order 

 which I have descrihed for tlie rehearsal, but they walked very slowly, because 

 they were going straight to the temi)le, while the body circled about as it ad- 

 vanced in a manner of which I am not able to give a better idea than by the 

 mark indicated on the cut (pi. 4, 6)." At each circuit made by the body the man 

 of whom I have spoken threw his child in front of it in order that the body 

 should pass over. He took it up again by one foot to do the sanie at the other 

 circuits. 



Unally the body reached the temple, and the victims put tliemselves in their 

 places as determined in the rehearsals. The mats were stretched out. They 

 seated themselves there. The death cry was uttered. The pellets of tobacco 

 were given to them and a little water to drink after each one. After they had 

 all been taken [each victim's] head was covered with a skin on which the cord 

 was placed around the neck, two men held it in order that it should not be 

 dragged away [to one side] by the stronger party, and the cord, which had a 

 running knot, was held at each end by three men, who drew with all their 

 strength from the two opposite sides. They are so skillful in this operation that 

 it is impossible to describe it as promptly as it is done. 



The body of the Tattooed-serpent was placed in a great trench to the right 

 of the temple in the interior. His two wives were buried in the same trench. 

 La Glorieuse was buried in front of the temple to the right and the chancellor 

 on the left. The others were carried into the temples of their own villages in 

 order to be interred there. After this ceremony the cabin of the deceased was 

 burned, according to custom.'' 



Dumont's account: 



These [funeral] ceremonies are different according to the difference between 

 nations, as will be seen by what. I am going to relate. I will begin with what 

 was practiced on that occasion [i. e., a death] among the Natchez as having 

 been one of the most considerable savage nations of Louisiana, and in order to 

 give a more exact description I will make use of the relation which a French- 

 man has communicated to me, who in 1725 was a witness of the ceremonies 

 which were observed among them on the death of the Tattooed-serpeut. their 

 great chief. This savage, called in the language of the country Olabalkebiche, 

 was the son of a white woman or woman chief and brother of the great chief 

 of war '^ of the Natchez. He was very fond of the French, as will be seen 

 in the course of these memoirs, and warned them many times of the evil design 

 of his nation. Here are the exact woi'ds of the account which I have promised : 



Friday, the 1st day of ,Iuue, 1725, at 5 o'clock in the evening, returning from 

 the settlement of White Earth I passed through the great village where the 

 Tattooed-serpent 'was sick, and I asked how he was, of one named Chaumont. 

 a soldier of the fort, who was guarding him. He told me that he was very ill 



"The original faces in" Du Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, iii^ 55. This cut is at vari- 

 ance with the text in representing eight bearers instead of six. 



* Du Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, in, 2.3-57. 



" An error. He was the great war chief and his brother the great Sun. The mis- 

 understanding seems to have arisen from the fact that the great Sun allowed him almost 

 unlimited power, though he was inferior to himself in dignity. 



