110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Ibull. 71 



THE CREEKS 



The Creeks had customs resembling those of the Chickasaw, and, 

 in some instances, deposited the remains of their dead beneath the 

 floors of their habitations. To quote from Bartram : 



" The Muscogulges bury their deceased in the earth. They dig a 

 four-square deep pit under the cabin or couch which the deceased 

 hxy on, in his house, lining the grave with Cypress bark, where they 

 place the corpse in a sitting posture, as if it were alive; depositing 

 Avith him his gun, tomahawk, pipe, and such other matters as he had 

 the greatest value for in his life time." (Bartram, (l),pp. 513-514.) 



And when Eomans referred to the same people, he said: "The 

 dead are buried in a sitting posture, and they are furnished with a 

 musket, powder and ball, a hatchet, pipe, some tobacco, a club, a bow 

 and arrow^s, a looking glass, some vermillion and other trinkets, in 

 order to come well provided in the land of spirits." (Eomans, (1), 

 pp. 98-99.) 



Another traveler a few years later, in 1791, left a brief account of 

 the customs of the Creeks, and said in part : " Upon the Decease of 

 an Adult of either Sex, the Friends and Eelations of the Decedent 

 religiously collect whatever he or she held most dear in Life, and 

 inter them close by and sometimes in their Owner's Grave. This 

 pious Tribute to their Dead includes Horses, Cows, Hogs, and Dogs, 

 as well as Things manimate." (Pope, (1), p. 58.) And the same 

 writer mentioned the Creek's belief in ghosts, wdiich tends to recall 

 the somewhat similar belief prevalent among the Choctaw. He told 

 how " The Creeks in approaching the Frontiers of Georgia^ always 

 encamp on the right Hand side of the Eoad or Path, assigning the 

 left, as ominous, to the Larvce or Ghosts of their departed Heroes 

 who have either unfortunately lost their Scalps, or remain unburied. 

 The Ghost of any Hero in either Predicament, is refused Admittance 

 into the Mansions of Bliss, and sentenced to take up its invisible and 

 darksom Abode, in the dreary Caverns of the Wilderness; until the 

 Indignity shall be retaliated on the Enemy, by some of his surviving 

 Friends." (Pp. 63-G4.) 



About the time of the preparation of the preceding account an 

 even more interesting record was made by an officer in the army, 

 Maj. C. Swan, who visited the Creek nation during the autumn of 

 1790, and returned to Philadelphia March 13, 1791. After referring 

 to various customs of the people with whom he had been he said : 



" When one of a family dies, the relations bury the corpse about 

 four feet deep, in a round hole dug directly under the cabin or rock 

 whereon he died. The corpse is placed in the hole in a sitting pos- 

 ture, with a blanket wrapped about it, and the legs bent under it and 

 tied together. If a warrior, he is painted, and his pipe, ornaments. 



