BWANTONl INDIAN TRIBES OF TTTF. TX)\VF,rt ^TTSSTSSTPPI VATJ.KY 105 



In tlio iniior siiiu-tuiiiv Dii Prat/ could iiiaUc out iiotliin<i^ twcopt 

 "two ])lanks worked by liaiid on which are many minute carviii«5s/' 

 It is to be suspected, howevci-, tiial these were only accessories to a 

 more important inhabitant of the inner sanctuary, and that this was 

 no other than the stone statue, referred to by St. Cosme, into which 

 the founder of the rites of the Natchez nation and the progenitor of 

 its royal family had metam()ri)hosed himself. This was without 

 doubt the ])rincij)al treasure of the temple, and the real object of its 

 existence." 



Charlevoix states that all the nations of Louisiana were oblijrt'd 

 to rekindle their sacred fires at the temple of the Mobilians,'' but the 

 position here assigned to them seems strange in view of the distance 

 of that tribe from the Natchez, their comparative insignificance, 

 and Penicaut's statement that they had no temple.'' Charlevoix 

 was probably led to his conclusion by the prominent position 

 occupied by them in the De Soto chronicles and still more by 

 the use of their language as a common medium of connnunication. 

 Du Pratz quotes the Natchez tradition to the effect that anciently 

 they had had two temples,*^ so that if the fire went out in one they 

 could relight it from the other, but he does not indicate where the 

 second was located in his day or, if it no longer existed, what supplied 

 its place. One is tempted to think that the fire would have been 

 brought from the Taensa temple, the Taensa being an offshoot of the 

 Natchez, or possibly from that of the Chitimacha, who, according 

 to Du Pratz, were called " brothers " bj^ the Natchez. That we have 

 no direct statement regarding fire being brought from the Taensa 

 ma}' be partly explained by the fact that their temple was destroyed 

 in the earliest period of European intercourse. However, the posi- 

 tive statement of Father Poisson would seem to be better than any 

 conjecture, however plausible, and he says " they know' by tradition 

 that, if it (the fire) happen to be extinguished, they must go to the 

 Tonicas to relight it."'' The full possible significance of this does 

 not appear until one remembers that the Tunica and their neighbors 

 seem to represent the pre-Muskhogean culture of the Mississippi 

 valley. 



Of the respect shown to their temple by the Natchez, Gravier says: 



All llic nioii who pass before the temple lay down what they carry and 

 extend their arms toward the temple with loud howliniis. and if they have 

 small children they take them up in their arms and, turning toward the temple, 

 they make them touch the ground three times with the forehead.^ 



" Soe p. 172. 



"Charlevoix in Frencli, Hist. Coll. La., 170. 1851. 



<■ Margry, Decouvertes, v, 427. 



" See pp. 170-171. 



* Poisson in .Tes. Rel., i.xvii, 312-,S13. 



'Gravier in Shea's Early Voy. Miss., 141, and .Tes. Rel., lxv, 143. 



