S WANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 639 



rounded by a palisade made entirely of canes, 1 inch apart and 10 feet in height, 

 without a gate to close the gateway. 



I saw in the middle of the village, [a space] which is like a great parade 

 ground, two large posts, 40 feet in height, before their temple, on which two 

 scalps were elevated. There is a chief who takes care of the fire in the temple. 

 The village is composed of from 400 to 500 persons of both sexes, great and small, 

 with large huts made dome shai)ed. The fields where they raise their corn are 

 near their villages and are cultivated by means of bison bones. They pass the 

 greater part of their time playing there with great sticks, which they throw 

 after a little stone made almost round like a cannon ball. When any of their 

 people dies they carry the body 50 paces off from the village and put it on 4 

 posts, covered above and below with mats by way of coflSn, raised 4 feet above the 

 ground and thither they carry food. [Iberville says that on the walls of the 

 temple were figures of animals painted red and that] at the entrance was a 

 shed 8 feet wide and 12 feet long, held up by two great pillars, with a crosspiece 

 which served as a girder. (Margry, 1875-86, vol. 4, pp. 16^172, 259-262 ; Swan- 

 ton, 1911, pp. 275-276.) 



The same year Iberville visited the Houma village and states that : 



This village is on a hill, where there are 140 cabins ; there may be 350 men there 

 at most, and many children. All the cabins are on the edge of the hill, in a 

 double row in places, and ranged in a circle. There is a very neat square 200 

 paces across. The cornfields are in the valleys and on the other hills in the 

 neighborhood. 



They elevated the bodies of the dead upon posts like the Bayogoula. 

 Late the same year Father Gravier passed : 



The village is on the crest of a steep mountain, precipitous on all sides. There 

 are 80 cabins in it, and in the middle of the village is a fine and very level space, 

 where, from morning to night, young men exercise themselves. (Margry, 

 1875-86, vol. 4, pp. 176-177, 265-271 ; Swanton, 1911, pp. 286, 288 ; Thwaites, 1896- 

 1901, vol. 65, pp. 145-150; Shea, 1861, pp. 143-147.) 



In 1699 Fathers De Montigny and La Source visited the Tunica 

 villages on Yazoo River, and the latter says : 



The first village is 4 leagues from the Mississippi inland, on the bank of a 

 fairly pretty river; they are dispersed in little villages; they cover in all 4 

 leagues of country. . . . The village of the great chief is in a beautiful prairie. 

 (Shea, 1861, pp. 80-81; Swanton, 1911, p. 308.) 



In 1700 Gravier stopped there, ascending the Yazoo from the Missis- 

 sippi, and left his canoe 4 leagues from the latter, 



at the foot of a hill, where there are five or six cabins. The road, which is 2 

 leagues by land, is quite pretty. I found persimmon trees loaded with fruit and 

 many copal trees exuding gum. We passed in the roads canes 40 feet high and 

 as thick as your arm. The stalk of the corn, which we call Indian corn, is over 

 15 to 20 feet high, and so are the sunflowers and thick in proportion. We saw 

 five or six hamlets of a few cabins, and I was surprised that the Indians, who 

 rarely see Frenchmen, showed so little curiosity. (Shea, 1861, pp. 132-134; 

 Swanton, 1911, pp. 308-309.) 



Charlevoix visited the Tunica after they had removed to the former 

 Homna village, and therefore it is not surprising that he describes their 



