SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 145

Then he uttered the death cry, which was repeated by all those in the cabin.
They replied in the village, and from voice to voice the same cry passed in
an instant into the other villages of the nation, who all together made the air
reverberate with their doleful cries.
 The company in the cabin was composed of the favorite wife of the defunct,
of a second wife, whom he kept in another village, to visit when his favorite
wife was pregnant, his chancellor, his doctor, his head servant (loud), his pipe
bearer, and some old women, all of whom were going to be strangled at his
burial.
 To the number of the victims there joined herself a Noble woman, whom the
friendship that she had for the Tattooed-serpent led to join him in the country
of the spirits. The French called her La Glorieuse, because of her ma-
jestic bearing and her proud air and because she was intimate only with
distinguished Frenchmen. I regretted her so much the more that, possessing
a deep knowledge of simples, she had saved the lives of many of our sick,
and I myself had drawn good lessons from her. These things filling us with
sadness, the favorite wife, who perceived it, rose from her place, came to
us with a smiling air, and spoke to us in these terms: French chiefs and
nobles, I see that you regret my husband's death very much. It is true that
his death is very grievous, as well for the French as for our nation, because he
carried both in his heart. His ears were always full of the words of the French
chiefs. He has always traveled by the same road as the French, and he loved
them more than himself. But what does it matter? He is in the country of
the spirits, and in two days I will go to join him and will tell him that I have
seen your hearts shake at the sight of his dead body. Do not grieve. We will
be friends for a much longer time in the country of the spirits than in this,
because one does not die there again. It is always fine weather, one is never
hungry, because nothing is wanting to live better than in this country. Men do
not make war there any more, because they make only one nation. I am going
and leave my children without any father or mother. When you see them,
Frenchmen, remember that you have loved the father and that you ought not
to repulse the children of the one who has always been the true friend of the
French." After this speech she went back to her place. *
 [After the Frenchmen had prevailed upon the great Sun not to kill himself,]
the fire of the great Sun being relighted, the signal was given to relight all the
others.
 A few moments afterwards the young Sun came to tell me that
orders had been given (as he had promised, although feignedly) to have only
those die who were in the cabin of the deceased, because they were his food;
that besides there would be put to death a bad woman, if she had not already
been killed, and an infant which had already been strangled by its father and
mother, a forfeit which purchased their lives at the death of the great Sun,
ennobled them, and raised them from the grade of Stinkards.a
 A few moments later the grand master of ceremonies appeared at the door
of the dead man's house with the ornaments which were proper to his rank and
which I have described. He uttered two words and the people in the cabin
came out. These persons were the favorite wife and his other wife, his
chancellor, his doctor, his head servant, his pipe bearer, and some old women.
Each of these victims was accompanied by eight male relations, who were going
to put him to death. One bore the war club raised as if to strike, and often

 a According to the marriage laws it would seem that the wife might have belonged to
some grade of the nobility already, but evidently Stinkards were permitted to marry each
other.
 83220-Bull. 43-10--10