SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 167

 All the peoples of Louisiana have temples, which are more or less well cared
for according to the ability of the nation, and all, as I have said, put their
dead in the earth, or in tombs within the temples or very near them, or in the
neighborhood. Many of these nations have only very simple temples, which
one would often take for private cabins. However, when one comes to know
he distinguishes them by means of two wooden posts at the door made like
boundary posts with a human head, which hold the swinging door with a
fragment of wood planted in the earth at each end, so that the children may not
be able to open the door and go into the temple to play. In this way the door
can be raised only above these posts, which are at least 3 feet high, and it
requires a strong man to lift it. These are the little nations which have these
temples that one would confound with cabins. The latter have in truth posts
and a similar door, but the posts are smooth, and these doors open sideways,
because there is no fragment of wood at the end. A woman or a child is able
to open these doors from the outside or inside, and at night one closes them
and fastens them inside to keep the dogs from coming into the cabins. The
cabins of the Natchez Suns have, in truth, posts like those of the temples, but
their temple was very easy to recognize in accordance with the description I
have given of it. Besides, near these little temples some distinctive marks are
always to be seen, which are either small elevations of earth or some little
dishes which announce that in this place there are bodies interred, or one
perceives some raised tombs, if the nation has this custom.a
 The Mobile, however, in spite of an erroneous impression of
Charlevoix, did not have a true temple, and none was found among
the Quapaw. To the westward the Chitimacha had sacred houses
resembling temples in many ways, but nothing of the kind is re-
corded among the Atakapa. They may, therefore, be said to have
been confined to tribes on or near the Mississippi from the Yazoo
to the Gulf and as far east as Pascagoula river.
 For an understanding of the position of the temple in Natchez
religious life we are almost entirely dependent on the narrative of
Le Page du Pratz. His information was obtained from the chief
of the guardians of the temple and the great Sun, those undoubtedly
best fitted to inform him, and there is no reason to believe that he has
willfully misrepresented their statements. At the same time Euro-
peans in general knew too little of Indian modes of thought, and
Du Pratz himself was bound to be the victim of too many preconcep-
tions for us to hope that the account we have received from him is an
exact one. However, by tempering his narrative with what our pres-
ent information teaches us to expect from Indian sources, we can
probably reconstruct a fairly satisfactory outline of Natchez beliefs.
 The only lengthy attempts to treat of these are by Du Pratz. Be-
fore his own work was written he furnished a shorter statement to
Dumont, which is as follows:
 They agree that there is a supreme being, author of all things, whom they
name Coyocop-Chill. The word Coyocop signifies in general a spirit, but that of
Chill can not be well rendered in our language. To enable it to be understood
I will make use of a comparison. Fire, for example, is called oiia by the sav-
 SDu Pratz, Hist. de La Louisiane, ill, 21-23.