Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/217

Rh or her conjugal partner should be put to death at the time of burial. To fulfill these two laws they only married stinkards.

McCulloh states that the Natchez believed mankind to be immortal, and that after death their souls went to reside in another world where they would be rewarded or punished according to their present life. They believed that such as had been faithful observers of the laws were to be conducted to a region of happiness, where their days would pass in pleasure, in the midst of feasts, of dances, and of women; but they believed that the transgressors would be cast on lands unfertile and marshy which would produce no grain. There they would be exposed naked to mosquitoes, and they never should eat but of the flesh of alligators and the worst kinds of fish.

The sun was the principal object of their veneration, and to its honor a perpetual fire was maintained in their temples. The Great Sun, supposed to be the brother of the sun, honored the appearance of his elder brother every morning by a repeated howling, and, having had his pipe lighted, he offered him the first three mouthfuls of smoke; after which he raised his hands above his head and turned from east to west, the course the sun would follow during the day. The temples of the Natchez, like the abodes of the Suns, were built upon mounds erected for the purpose. They were usually about thirty feet square and built of the heart of the cypress tree, which was supposed to be incorruptible.

Du Pratz, who lived among them eight years, relates from their traditions the following history of the institution of the perpetual fire so religiously preserved: The original Sun told them that, "in order to preserve the excellent precepts he had given them, it was necessary to build a temple into which it would be lawful for none but those of royal blood to enter to speak to the Spirit; that in the temple they should eternally preserve a fire which he would bring down from the sun, from whence he himself had descended; that the wood with which the fire was supplied should be pure wood and without bark; that eight wise men of the nation should be chosen to guard the fire night and day; and that if any of them neglected their duties they should be put to death" etc.

Though oral traditions are considered to be of little authority, and are materially perplexed in being handed down from one generation to another, we can still admit that these accounts were originally true. The historical tradition of the Natchez was this: "Before we came into this land, we lived yonder, under the sun" (here the relator pointed nearly southwest, toward Mexico). "We lived in a fine country, where the earth is always pleasant; there our Suns had their abode, and our nation maintained itself for a