SWANTON] TNDTAN TRTBRS OF TlTK T-0\VF,R MTSSISSTPPT VALLEY 169 



luul found him so bad that lie had tied him forever, so that these other spirits 

 of the air no lon^rer did as mucli luirm. especially when one prayed to thom to 

 do nothinj;, f()r il is a relifxious custom anmn;; these people to fast and to invoke 

 the spirits nf tlu' :iii- in order to have rain or fair weather accordinj^ to their 

 nee<is. I have seen the {ji"t'i»t Sun fast for nine consecutive days, eating only 

 grains of corn without meat or tish. drinlving water only, and not approaching 

 women all that time. What he did then was to please some Frenchmen who 

 complained that it had not rained for a long time. These people, who had little 

 wisdom, did not notice that in s])ite of the lack of rain the productions of the 

 earth would not suffer because the dew is so alunidant in summer that it 

 conveniently supplies this di'fect. 



The guardian of the temitle having stated that God had formed man with his 

 own hands, I asked him if he knew how that was done. He replied that accord- 

 inir to their ancient wnrd (iod had Uiicadcd day like that of which they made 

 pottery; that he had made of it a little man, and that after having examined 

 it and found it well formed he had breathed on his work; that as soon as this 

 little man had received life he had thought, acted, walked, and had found him- 

 self a grown man very well shaped. As he did not speak to me of the woman I 

 asketl him how he thought she had been made. He told me that apparently she 

 had been made in the same manner as the man ; that their ancient word did not 

 say anything about it, and it only taught them that the man had been formed 

 first— the stronger and tlie more courageous because he was going to be the 

 chief and the stay of the woman w-ho was made to be his companion. 



I did not fail on this subject, any more than on that of the aerial spirits and 

 the prayers which they addressed to them, to rectify his ideas and to direct 

 them to the truth which our religion teaches and that the sacred books have 

 transmitted to us. He heard me with great attention and promised to teach all 

 I had said to the old men of his nation, who would certainly not forget it, 

 adding that we w-ere fortunate to be able to retain such beautiful things by 

 means of the " speaking stuff." It is thus they name papers that have been 

 written on and books. 



After this preliminary [talk] I went straight at my object, and 1 wished to 

 know of him who had taught them to build a temple, whence had come the 

 eternal tire which they preserved with so much care, and the institution of 

 their feasts. No one, said I, knows it among us, and I beg you to inform 

 me. He replied in these terms : 



" Ought you to be astonished that the French warriors are ignorant of these 

 things? They are young; see only young women with whom they amuse 

 themselves; and what can they teach them except what they themselves have 

 learned from their mothers? And wdiat do their mothers know? Nothing at all. 

 The old men who keep the ancient word (it must l)e remembered that this is 

 the tradition) never speak before the women. Even among the men they choose 

 to teach it to those wdiom they recognize as having the most intelligence." The 

 guardian of the temple by this word intelligence meant memory. In their 

 simplicity these people are unable, like oui'selves, to distinguish the one from 

 the other, not at all doubting that one can have intelligence even though he 

 lacks memory. I knew their way of thinking, so I did not interrupt, and he 

 continued in this manner : 



"The duty which I have obliges me to know all that you ask of me. I am 

 going then to relate it to you. Listen to me. A very great number of years 

 ago there appeared among us a man and his wife who had descended from the 

 Sun. It is not that we thought that he was the son of the Sun or that the 

 Sun had a wife by whom he begot children, but when both of them were seen 



