SWANTONl INDIAN TRIBES OK THK I.OWKR MISSISSIPPI VALLFA' 159 



Tlicro is in this vilhmo m l(Mn|p|(> very iiuicii cstccMiu'd nmonp the savages on 

 ;icconiit of its frrandtMir. It may bo ."{o foot liijih and lio fathoms" sqnaro within. 

 It is rouiul on tho ontsido; tho walls aro jtorhaps 8 fathoms" thick; it is huilt 

 of walnnt (hickory) troos, as thick thronfih as tho thiiih holow. all of tho samo 

 hoijjht. Tlioy aro hont above in a somicirclo, tho onds bciiit; joiiiod tofrothor ; thon 

 they attach canos, mado and shaju'd liko onr laths, from lialf foot to half fo<tt 

 from bottom to top. Thoy wall in and till np tho empty spaces between tho latlis 

 with heavy earth and cover it with straw : then they set iu place still other latlis 

 which they bind together like the lirst at the ends above in a circle to hold in 

 place the straw which is beneath : thon they cover all with mats made of canes 

 split into four pieces. Those mats are 10 feet long and 6 broad; thoy are almost 

 like the wattles with which they cover the temple; every year they renew the 

 covering. In this temple they have a tire which is preserved continnally; it is 

 the snn which they sjiy this fire reiirosenls and which they adore. That is why 

 every morning, at snnrise. they make a tire before the door of the temple, 

 and in the evening at snnset. The wood to preserve the continual fire within 

 the temple must be of oak or walnut (probably hickory), from which the bark 

 has been removed ; the logs must not be shorter than 8 feet, cut at the beginning 

 of each moon. There are four temple guards who sleep there each during a 

 quarter and who keo]) tho perpetual fire. If, by any mischance, they should let 

 it go out. their heads would be broken with wooden mallets which always rest in 

 the temple for this excellent purpose. Every new moon presents of bread and 

 meal ai'o made at the temple, which are profitable to its guardians. In this 

 temple are interred the three first families of nobles. There is in the temple 

 the figure of a snake which they call the rattlesnake. Similar are to be seen 

 in the country, which carry a kind of rattle toward the tail, and the bite of 

 which is mortal. They also have in this temple a quantity of little stone figures 

 inclosed iu a coffer. They have similarly a necklace of fine pearls, which they 

 received from their ancestors; but they are all spoiled, because they have 

 pierced them by means of a hot fire. Two or three are placed around the necks 

 of the infant nobles when they come into the world ; they wear them to the 

 age of 10 and then they are replaced in the temple. At all the audiences of the 

 female chiefs this necklace is placed around their necks until the ceremony is 

 finished. Then they take it back to the temple. It is kept in a coffer as a 

 very precious relic. Evening and morning the grand chief and his wife, who 

 alone have a right to enter the temple, come there to worship their idols, and 

 when they come out they recount to the people who await them before the 

 door a thousand lies — whatever they happen to think of.^ 



The Natchez, besides tho general belief in metempsychosis, have had among 

 them from time immemorial a kind of temple, where they preserve a perpetual 

 fire, which a man appointed to the guardianship of the temple takes care to 

 maintain. This temple is dedicated to the sun, from which they pretend that 

 the family of their chief is descended. In it they inclose the bones of these 

 chiefs with gi'eat care and with much ceremony.*^ 



* * * The temple is very near the great chief's cabin, turned toward the 

 east, and at the end of the square. It is composed of the same materials as the 

 cabins, but its shape is different ; it is a long square, about 40 feet by 20 wide, 

 with a common roof, in shape like ours. At the two ends ther^ are what appear 

 to be two weathercocks of wood, which represent very indifferently two eagles. 



The door is in the midst of the length of the building, which has no other 

 opening. On each side there are benches of stone. The inside iierfectly corre- 



« The word used here is toise, but it would seem that some other standard than fathom 

 was in the writer's mind, as this would make the dimensions much too large. 



* P^nicaut in Margry, Decouvertes, v, 451-452. 



« The Lu^ombourg Memoire sur La Louieiane, 143. 



