SwANax)N] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 759 



when the gifts are offered, who announce after the ceremony what every one 

 has given, just as notaries might do in Europe. Each one is thus stimulated 

 by a spirit of rivalry to outdo his neighbor. From sunrise till evening the 

 people dance round this statue, clapping tl^eir hands, and when nightfall has 

 barely set in, the image and the pole on which it was fixed are carried away 

 and thrown into the sea, if the country is on the coast, or into the river, if it 

 is along a river's bank. Nothing more is seen of it, and each year a new statue 

 is made. 



The natives celebrate a third festival, during which, after exhuming a long- 

 buried skeleton, they erect a black tent out in the country, leaving one end 

 open so that the sky is visible; upon a blanket placed in the center of the 

 tent they then spread out the bones. Only women surround the tent, all of 

 them weeping, and each of them offers such gifts as she can afford. The 

 following day the bones are carried to the tomb and are henceforth considered 

 sacred. As soon as they are buried, or everything is ready for thfe burial, 

 the chief priest addresses the surrounding people from the summit of a mound, 

 upon which he fulfills the function of orator. Ordinarily he pronounces a eulogy 

 on the deceased, or on the immortality of the soul, or the future life. He says 

 that souls originally came from the icy regions of the north, where perpetual 

 snow prevails. They therefore expiate their sins under the master of that 

 region who is called Mateczungua, but they return to the southern regions, 

 where another great sovereign, Quexuga, governs. Quexuga is lame and is of 

 a sweet and generous disposition. He surrounds the newly arrived souls with 

 numberless attentions, and with him they enjoy a thousand delights; young 

 girls sing and dance, parents are reunited to children, and everything one 

 formerly loved is enjoyed. The old grow young and everybody is of the same 

 age, occupied only in giving himself up to joy and pleasure. 



Such are the verbal traditions handed down to them from their ancestors. 

 They are regarded as sacred and considered authentic. Whoever dared to 

 believe differently would be ostracised. These natives also believe that we live 

 under the vault of heaven ; they do not suspect the existence of the antipodes. 

 They think the sea has its gods, and believe quite as many foolish things about 

 them as Greece, the friend of lies, talked about Nereids and other marine gods — 

 Glaucus, Phorcus, and the rest of them. 



When the priest has finished his speech he inhales the smoke of certain 

 herbs, puflSng it in and out, pretending to thus purge and absolve the people 

 from their sins. After this ceremony the natives return home, convinced that 

 the inventions of this impostor not only soothe the spirits, but contribute to 

 the health of their bodies. (Anghierra, 1912, pp. 262-267; Swanton, 1922, pp. 

 43-45.) 



Besides the few notes bearing on mythology contained in the above 

 quotation, the following material from Lawson gives practically all 

 the information we possess : 



As I told you before, the priests make their orations at every feast, or other 

 great meeting of the Indians. I happened to be at one of these great meetings, 

 which was at the funeral of a Tuskeruro Indian, that was slain with lightning 

 at a feast the day before, where I was amongst the rest. It was in July, and 

 a very fair day, where, in the afternoon, about six or seven o'clock, as they 

 were dealing out their victuals, there appeared a little black cloud to the 

 northwest ; so we went out from the place where we were all at victuals, and 

 went down to the cabins where I left the Indians and went to lie in my canoe, 

 which was convenient enough to keep me dry. The lightning came so terrible 



