166 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



He adds that these howlings were of the same kind as those uttered 

 when they passed before the great chief or the woman chief, or when 

 they gave them food or drink or presented them with a pipe to smoke. 

 Regarding the offering to the temple, Charlevoix and Le Petit make 

 the following statements : 



The fathers of families never fail to bring to the temple the first fruits of 

 everything they gather; and they do the same by all the presents that are 

 made to the nation. They exiiose them at the door of the temple, the keeper 

 of which, after having presented them to the spirits, carries them to the great 

 chief, who distributes them to whom he pleases. The seeds are in like manner 

 offered before the temiile with great ceremony, but the offerings which are made 

 there of bread and llonr every new moon are for the use of the keepers of the 

 temple." 



The fathers of families do not fail to carry to the temple the first of their 

 fruits, their corn and vegetables. It is the same even with presents which are 

 made to this nation; they are immediately offered at the door of the temple, 

 when the guardian, after having displayed and presented them to the spirits, 

 carries them to the house of the great chief, who makes a distribution of them 

 as he judges best, without any person testifying the least discontent. 



They never plant their fields without having first presented the seed in the 

 temple with the accustomed ceremonies. As soon as these people approach the 

 temple, they raise their arms by way of respect and utter three howls, after 

 which they place their hands on the earth and raise themselves again three 

 times with as many reiterated howls. When anyone has merely to pass before 

 the temple, he only pauses to salute it by his downcast eyes and raised arms. 

 If a father or mother see their son fail in the performance of this ceremony, 

 they will punish him immediately with repeated blows of a stick.^ 



De Montign}^ learned that — 



when strangers made * * * a present of some consequence, they (the 

 recipients) did not take it at once in their harids, but had it carried to the 

 temple. There they thaidied the Spirit for it. Turning toward the temple, 

 they uttered certain words, raising their hands to heaven and then placing 

 them on their heads. They com])leted this ceremony by turning toward the 

 four quarters of the world. 



When savages of another nation came to a village, they repaired ordinarily 

 to the temple, in order to make some presents there, which they placed before 

 the door and which were shared afterward by all the members of the tribe. ^■ 



The temple was a characteristic feature of lower Mississippi 

 culture. Specific references are made to temples among the Natchez, 

 Taensa, Quinipissa, Mugul;isha, Acolapissa, Pnscagoula and Biloxi, 

 Houma, Grigra, and Tunica, but the smaller tribes had them also. 

 Charlevoix says, " The greater part of the nations of Louisiana had 

 formerly their temples, as well as the Natchez, and in all these 

 temples there was a perpetual fire," '' while Du Pratz enlarges upon 

 the subject thus: 



« Charlevoix in French, Hist. Coll. La., 166, IS.^l. 

 "Le Petit in Jes. Rel., lxviii, 138-141. 



" Gosselin on the authority of De Montiyny, in Compte Rendu Cong. Inlernat. des 

 Am6r., 15th sess., i, 48. 



<* Charlevoix in French, Hist. Coll. La., 170, 1851. 



