282 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



of their life there Peiiicaut records several interesting matters eon- 

 cei'ning the ethnology of the people. He says: 



The NassitocheKS are liandsomer and better formed than the Colapissas, 

 because the latter, as well men as women, have the body entirely tattooed. 

 They tattoo themselves almost all over the body with needles, aiid rub these 

 punctures with charcoal from the willow crushed very fine, which does not 

 poison the puncture. Tlie women and sirls of tlie Colapissas have the arms and 

 face thus tattooed, which disfigures them villainously; but the Nassitoches, as 

 well men as women and girls, do not provide themselves with these tattooings, 

 which they hate. This is why the women are more beautiful, besides the fact 

 that they are naturally lighter. 



With regard to their religion they (the Acolapissa) have a round temple, 

 before which they present themselves evening and morning, rubbing their bodies 

 with white earth and raising their arms on high ; they mutter some words in 

 a very low voice during a quarter of an hour. There are at the door of the 

 tem])le wooden figures of birds; there are in the temple a quantity of little 

 idols, as well of wood as of stone, which represent dragons, serpents, and 

 varieties of frogs, which they keep inclosed in three coffers which are in the 

 temple, and of which the great chief has the key. 



When a savage dies tliey prepare a kind of tomb, oi- rather scaffold, raised 2 

 feet from the ground, on which they place the dead body. They cover it well 

 with rich earth and jiut over it the bark of trees, for fear of the animals and 

 birds of prey; then, underneath, they place a little pitcher filled with water, 

 with a dish full of meal. Every evening and morning they light a fire there 

 l)eside it and go to weep there. The richer hire women to perform this latter 

 oliice. At the end of six months they unwrap the body of the dead; if it is 

 consumed, they put the l)ones into a basket and carry them to their temple; 

 if it is not consununl, they remove the bones and bury the flesh. 



They are quite neat iproprcs) in their eating. They have particular pots for 

 each thing they are going to cook — that is to say, the pot which is for meat is 

 not used for fish; they dress all their food with bear fat, which is white in 

 winter, when it is coagulated, like hog's lard, and in sunnner it is like olive oil. 

 It has no bad taste; they eat it with salad, make of it pastry, fried dishes, and 

 all that that suits them generally. 



With regard to fruits, few are fomul. They have, howevei', i)eaclies in the 

 season which are even larger than in France and moic sugai-y; strawberries, 

 plums, and a grap(> which is rather small (maigrc) and not at all as large as 

 that of France. There are also nuts which they crush, of which they make flour 

 in order to make ))orridge for their children with water; they also make of 

 them hominy, or bread, by mixing it with cornmi'al. 



These savages have no other hairs than those of the head. They pull them 

 out as well from the face as elsewhere; they take off the hair by means of the 

 ashes of shells and hot water, as one would do to a sucking pig. as well flic 

 men as the women and girls. 



They have an extraordinary manner of lighting .-i fire. They take a little piece 

 of cedar wofxl as large as the finger and a little piece of nuilberry (murrt ?) 

 wood, which is \ cry hai-d; they put one against the other between their hands 

 and by turning them together as if they were going to stii- chocolate, there 

 comes out from the cedar wood a little piece of moss |oi' ])erhaps a little dustl, 

 wiiich takes fii'e. That is done in an instant. 



When they go to hunt they are dressed in skins of deer with their horns, and 

 when they see one of these animals at a distance in the woods they make the 

 same gestures as it does, which, as soon as it i)erceives them, runs up, and when 



