SWANTOxl TXDTAX THTRK!^ OF TTIF, T,0\VFR MTSSTSSTPPT VALLF.Y 181 



and their fhastiseiiu'iil in tlic iiriviilioii of ovory iilcasiiit'. 'I'ims they tliiiiic 

 that those who liave iiceii tlie taitliCiil oiisi'i'vcrs of their laws will lie coiKliuled 

 into a re;,'ion of iih-asures, wlicn> all kinds of ex(|uisito viands will Ix" fnrnished 

 them in abundance, that their dolifjhlful and tranquil days will How on in the 

 midst of festivals, dances, and women; in short, they will revel in all iniaKi- 

 n.Mble i»loasures. On the contrary, the violators of their laws will he east upon 

 lands unfruitful and <>ntirely covered with water, wliere liii'v will not have anj 

 kind of corn, but will be exiiosed enlirely naked to the shari) bites of the 

 ino.s(iuitoes. that .-ill nations will ni;ike war upon them, that they will never 

 eat meat, and have no nourishment but the llesli of crocodiles (allijrators) . 

 spoiled tish, and shell lish." 



However, these savage peoples almost all agree that after this life they will 

 go into a much better and more abounding country than this, that there th«y 

 will never lack anything, that they will have bisim and game there in abun- 

 dance, and that they will there enjoy all kinds of jileasures. But one may say 

 that almost all their religion is confined to that, without this idea of a future 

 life intluencing their manners and their conduct.'' 



All Ihe savages believe in the innnortality of the soul and above all in 

 nietemi»sychosi.s. Some imagine thjit their souls are going to pass into the 

 bodies of certain animaLs, and they therefore respect that species; others that 

 they are going to revive if they have been brave and good i)eople in a happier 

 nation where hunting never fails, or in a miserable nation and in ;i country 

 where only alligators are eaten if they have lived badly.*^ 



Farther on the same author adds that the soids of the Suns among 

 the Natchez "were supposed to go to the hnninarv from Avhich they 

 originally came. The reference to metempsychosis is unexpected 

 and may be due to a misunderstanding of some totemic notions. 



ORIGIN OF THE TRIBE 



The identification of Natchez as a Muskhogean dialect '' goes far to 

 aid us in assigning the people their true position among the tribt's of 

 the Gulf region. Although language is no certain clue to blood 

 relationship, it nuiy be aflirmed that it is a safe guide to the affinities 

 of that core about which the tribe has been built, and the next ques- 

 tions in order are what section of the nation represented this Musk- 

 hogean core and whence were the accretions drawn. Here, however, 

 we shall have to depend rather on probabilities than on solid argu- 

 ments. If we may judge of the remote past by later occurrences, we 

 might conclude from the fact that the Natchez comprised two subject 

 tribes of the Tunica group, the Grigras and the Tioux, that this group 

 had furnished the lower orders to an aristocratic body of Muskhogeans 

 represented by the nobility. At the same time the position of the 

 two tribes in question seems to have been exceptional, and there is 

 every evidence that the bulk of Stinkards was, to all appearances, of 



«Le Tetit in Jes. Rel., Lxvili, 128-131. 

 * Dumont, M^m. Hist, sur La Louisiane, i, 166. 

 ■^ The Luxemboiirj;, M^moire sur La Louisiane, 142. 



■'See Ainer. Aiithroi>., ix, n. s., 51H-528. A more complete discussion is reserved for 

 future pubUcation. 



