G. Whitfield Ray - "Through Five Republics on Horseback"

Frank Norris - "A Deal in Wheat"

M. Louise Greene, Ph. D. - "The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut"

Stephen Hudson - "War time Silhouettes"

A  /  B  /  C  /  D  /  E  /   F  /  G  /  H  /  I  /  J  /   K  /  L  /  M  /  N  /  O   P  /  R  /  S  /  T  /  U  /  V  /  W  /  X  /  Y  /  Z

History of Louisisana by Le Page Du Pratz

L >> Le Page Du Pratz >> History of Louisisana




If a young man has obtained a girl's consent, and they desire to marry,
it is not their fathers, and much less their mothers, or male or female
relations who take upon them to, conclude the match; it is the heads of
the two families alone, who are usually great-grandfathers, and
sometimes more. These two old men have an interview, in which, after the
young man has formally made a demand of the girl, they examine if there
be any relation between the two parties, and if any, what degree {327}
it is; for they do not marry within the third degree. Notwithstanding
this interview, and the two parties be found not within the prohibited
degrees, yet if the proposed wife be disagreeable to the father,
grandfather, &c. of the husband, the match is never concluded. On the
other hand, ambition, avarice, and the other passions, so common with
us, never stifle in the breasts of the fathers those dictates of nature,
which make us desire to see ourselves perpetuated in our offspring, nor
influence them to thwart their children, improperly, and much less to
force their inclinations. By an admirable harmony, very worthy of our
imitation, they only marry those who love one another, and those who
love one another, are only married when their parents agree to it. It is
rare for young men to marry before they be five-and-twenty. Till they
arrive at that age they are looked upon as too weak, without
understanding and experience.

When the marriage-day is once fixed, preparations are made for it both
by the men and women; the men go a hunting, and the women prepare the
maiz, and deck out the young man's cabin to the best of their power.
On the wedding-day the old man on the part of the girl leaves his hut,
and conducts the bride to the hut of the bridegroom; his whole family
follow him in order and silence; those who are inclined to laugh or be
merry, indulging themselves only in a smile.

He finds before the other hut all the relations of the bridegroom, who
receive and salute him with their usual expression of congratulation,
namely, _hoo, hoo_, repeated several times. When he enters the hut, the
old man on the part of the bridegroom says to him in their language,
_are you there?_ to which he answers, _yes_. He is next desired to sit
down, and then not a word passes for near ten minutes, it being one of
their prudent customs to suffer a guest to rest himself a little after
his arrival, before they begin a conversation; and besides, they look
upon the time spent in compliments as thrown away.

After both the old men are fully rested, they rise, and the bridegroom
and bride appearing before them, they ask them, if they love each
other? and if they are willing to take one another for man and wife?
observing to them at the same time, {328} that they ought not to marry
unless they propose to live amicably together; that nobody forces
them, and that as they are each other's free choice, they will be
thrust out of the family if they do not live in peace. After this
remonstrance the father of the bridegroom delivers the present which
his son is to make into his hands, the bride's father at the same time
placing himself by her side. The bridegroom then addresses the bride;
"Will you have me for your husband?" she answers, "Most willingly, and
it gives me joy; love me, as well as I love you; for I love, and ever
will love none but you." At these words the bridegroom covers the head
of the bride with the present which he received from his father, and
says to her, "I love you, and have therefore taken you for my wife,
and this I give to your parents, to purchase you." He then gives the
present to the bride's father.

The husband wears a tuft of feathers fastened to his hair, which is in
the form of a cue, and hangs over his left ear, to which is fastened a
sprig of oak with the leaves on, and in his left hand he bears a bow
and arrows. The young wife bears in her left hand a small branch of
laurel, and in her right a stalk of maiz, which was delivered to her
by her mother at the time she received the present from her husband.
This stalk she presents to her husband, who takes it from her with his
right hand, and says, "I am your husband;" she answers, and "I am your
wife." They then shake hands reciprocally with each other's relations;
after which he leads her towards the bed, and says, "There is our bed,
keep it tight;" which is as much as to say, do not defile the nuptial
bed.

The marriage ceremony being thus concluded, the bridegroom and the
bride, with their friends, sit down to a repast, and in the evening
they begin their dances, which continue often till day-light.

The nation of the Natchez is composed of nobility and common people.
The common people are named in their language _Miche-Miche-Quipy_, that
is, _Stinkards_; a name however which gives them great offense, and
which it is proper to avoid pronouncing before them, as it would not
fail to put them into a very bad humour. The common people are to the
{329} last degree submissive to the nobility, who are divided into
Suns, nobles, and men of rank.

The Suns are the descendants of the man and woman who pretended to
have come down from the sun. Among the other laws they gave to the
Natchez, they ordained that their race should always be distinguished
from the bulk of the nation, and that none of them should ever be put
to death upon any account. They established likewise another usage
which is found among no other people, except a nation of Scythians
mentioned by Herodotus. They ordained that nobility should only be
transmitted by the women. Their male and female children were equally
named Suns, and regarded as such, but with this difference, that the
males enjoyed this privilege only in their own person, and during
their own lives. Their children had only the title of nobles, and the
male children of those nobles were only men of rank. Those men of
rank, however, if they distinguished themselves by their war-like
exploits, might raise themselves again to the rank of nobles; but
their children became only men of rank, and the children of those men
of rank, as well as of the others, were confounded with the common
people, and classed among the Stinkards. Thus as these people are very
long-lived, and frequently see the fourth generation, it often happens
that a Sun sees some of his posterity among the Stinkards; but they
are at great pains to conceal this degradation of their race,
especially from strangers, and almost totally disown those great-grand
children; for when they speak of them they only say, they are dear to
them. It is otherwise with the female posterity of the Suns, for they
continue through all generations to enjoy their rank. The descendants
of the Suns being pretty numerous, it might be expected that those who
are out of the prohibited degrees might intermarry, rather than ally
with the Stinkards; but a most barbarous custom obliges them to their
mis-alliances. When any of the Suns, either male or female, die, their
law ordains that the husband or wife of the Sun shall be put to death
on the day of the interment of the deceased: now as another law
prohibits the issue of the Suns from being put to death, it is
therefore impossible for the descendants of the Suns to match with
each other.

{330} Whether it be that they are tired of this law, or that they with
their Suns descended of French blood, I shall not determine; but the
wife of the Great Sun came one day to visit me so early in the morning
that I was not got out of bed. She was accompanied with her only
daughter, a girl between fourteen and fifteen years of age, handsome
and well shaped; but she only sent in her own name by my slave; so
that without getting up, I made no scruple of desiring her to come in.
When her daughter appeared I was not a little surprized; but I shook
hands with them both, and desired them to sit down. The daughter sat
down on the foot of my bed, and kept her eyes continually fixed on me,
while the mother addressed herself to me in the most serious and
pathetic tone. After some compliments to me, and commendations of our
customs and manners, she condemned the barbarous usages that prevailed
among themselves, and ended with proposing me as a husband for her
daughter, that I might have it in my power to civilize their nation by
abolishing their inhuman customs, and introducing those of the French.
As I foresaw the danger of such an alliance, which would be opposed by
the whole nation of the Natchez, and at the same time was sensible
that the resentment of a slighted woman is very formidable, I returned
her such an answer as might shew my great respect for her daughter,
and prevent her from making the same application to some brainless
Frenchman, who, by accepting the offer, might expose the French
settlement to some disastrous event. I told her that her daughter was
handsome, and pleased me much, as she had a good heart, and a well
turned mind; but the laws we received from the Great Spirit, forbad us
to marry women who did not pray; and that those Frenchmen who lived
with their daughters took them only for a time; but it was not proper
that the daughter of the Great Sun should be disposed of in that
manner. The mother acquiesced in my reasons; but when they took their
leave I perceived plainly that the daughter was far from being
satisfied. I never saw her from that day forwards; and I heard she was
soon after married to another.

From this relation the reader may perceive that there needs nothing
but prudence and good sense to persuade those people {331} to what is
reasonable, and to preserve their friendship without interruption. We
may safely affirm that the differences we have had with them have been
more owing to the French than to them. When they are treated
insolently or oppressively, they have no less sensibility of injuries
than others. If those who have occasion to live among them, will but
have sentiments of humanity, they will in them meet with men.




SECTION IV.

_Of the Temples, Tombs, Burials, and other religious Ceremonies of the
People of_ Louisiana.


I shall now proceed to give some account of the customs that prevail
in general among all the nations of North America; and these have a
great resemblance to each other, as there is hardly any difference in
the manner of thinking and acting among the several nations. These
people have no religion expressed by any external worship. The
strongest evidences that we discover of their having any religion at
all, are their temples, and the eternal fire therein kept up by some
of them. Some of them indeed do not keep up the eternal fire, and have
turned their temples into charnel-houses.

However, all those people, without exception, acknowledge a supreme
Being, but they never on any account address their prayers to him,
from their fixt belief that God, whom they call the Great Spirit, is
so good, that he cannot do evil, whatever provocation he may have.
They believe the existence of two Great Spirits, a good and a bad.
They do not, as I have said, invoke the Good Spirit; but they pray to
the bad, in order to avert from their persons and possessions the
evils which he might inflict upon them. They pray to the evil spirit,
not because they think him almighty; for it is the Good Spirit whom
they believe so; but because, according to them, he governs the air,
the seasons, the rain, the fine weather, and all that may benefit or
hurt the productions of the earth.

They are very superstitious in respect to the flight of birds, and the
passage of some animals that are seldom seen in their country. They
are much inclined to hear and believe {332} diviners, especially in
regard to discovering things to come; and they are kept in their
errors by the Jongleurs, who find their account in them.

The natives have all the same manner of bringing up their children,
and are in general well shaped, and their limbs are justly
proportioned. The Chicasaws are the most fierce and arrogant, which
they undoubtedly owe to their frequent intercourse with the English of
Carolina. They are brave; a disposition they may have inherited as the
remains of that martial spirit that prompted them to invade their
neighbouring nations, by which they themselves were at length greatly
weakened. All the nations on the north of the colony are likewise
brave, but they are more humane than the Chicasaws, and have not their
high-spirited pride. All these nations of the north, and all those of
Louisiana, have been inviolably attached to us ever since our
establishment in this colony. The misfortune of the Natchez, who,
without dispute, were the finest of all those nations, and who loved
us, ought not in the least to lessen our sentiments of those people,
who are in general distinguished for their natural goodness of
character. All those nations are prudent, and speak little; they are
sober in their diet, but they are passionately fond of brandy, though
they are singular in never tasting any wine, and neither know nor care
to learn any composition of liquors. In their meals they content
themselves with maiz prepared various ways, and sometimes they use
fish and flesh. The meat that they eat is chiefly recommended to them
for being wholesome; and therefore I have conjectured that dog's
flesh, for which we have such an aversion, must however be as good as
it is beautiful, since they rate it so highly as to use it by way of
preference in their feasts of ceremony. They eat no young game, as
they find plenty of the largest size, and do not think delicacy of
taste alone any recommendation; and therefore, in general, they would
not taste our ragouts, but, condemning them as unwholesome, prefer to
them gruel made of maiz, called in the colony Sagamity.

The Chactaws are the only ugly people among all the nations in
Louisiana; which is chiefly owing to the fat with which {333} they rub
their skin and their hair, and to their manner of defending themselves
against the moskitos, which they keep off by lighting fires of
fir-wood, and standing in the smoke.

Although all the people of Louisiana have nearly the same usages and
customs, yet as any nation is more or less populous, it has
proportionally more or fewer ceremonies. Thus when the French first
arrived in the colony, several nations kept up the eternal fire, and
observed other religious ceremonies, which they have now disused,
since their numbers have been greatly diminished. Many of them still
continue to have temples, but the common people never enter these, nor
strangers, unless peculiarly favoured by the nation. As I was an
intimate friend of the sovereign of the Natchez, he shewed me their
temple, which is about thirty feet square, and stands upon an
artificial mount about eight feet high, by the side of a small river.
The mount slopes insensibly from the main front, which is northwards,
but on the other sides it is somewhat steeper. The four corners of the
temple consist of four posts, about a foot and an half diameter, and
ten feet high, each made of the heart of the cypress tree, which is
incorruptible. The side-posts are of the same wood, but only about a
foot square; and the walls are of mud, about nine inches thick; so
that in the inside there is a hollow between every post. The inner
space is divided from east to west into two apartments one of which is
twice as large as the other. In the largest apartment the eternal fire
is kept, and there is likewise a table or altar in it, about four feet
high, six long, and two broad. Upon this table lie the bones of the
late Great Sun in a coffin of canes very neatly made. In the inner
apartment, which is very dark, as it receives no light but from the
door of communication, I could meet with nothing but two boards, on
which were placed some things like small toys, which I had not light
to peruse. The roof is in the form of a pavilion, and very neat both
within and without, and on the top of it are placed three wooden
birds, twice as large as a goose, with their heads turned towards the
east. The corner and side-posts, as has been mentioned, rise above the
earth ten feet high, and it is said they are as much sunk under
ground; it cannot therefore but appear surprising how the natives
could transport such large beams, fashion them, and raise them {334}
upright, when we know of no machines they had for that purpose.
Besides the eight guardians of the temple, two of whom are always on
watch, and the chief of those guardians, there also belongs to the
service of the temple a master of the ceremonies, who is also master
of the mysteries; since, according to them, he converses very
familiarly with the Spirit. Above all these persons is the Great Sun,
who is at the same time chief priest and sovereign of the nation. The
temples of some of the nations of Louisiana are very mean, and one
would often be apt to mistake them for the huts of private persons,
but to those who are acquainted with their manners, they are easily
distinguishable, as they have always before the door two posts formed
like the ancient Termini, that is, having the upper part cut into the
shape of a man's head. The door of the temple, which is pretty
weighty, is placed between the wall and those two posts, so that
children may not be able to remove it, to go and play in the temple.
The private huts have also posts before their doors, but these are
never formed like Termini.

None of the nations of Louisiana are acquainted with the custom of
burning their dead, which was practised by the Greeks and Romans; nor
with that of the Egyptians, who studied to preserve them to
perpetuity. The different American nations have a most religious
attention for their dead, and each have some peculiar customs in
respect to them; but all of them either inter them, or place them in
tombs, and carefully carry victuals to them for some time. These tombs
are either within their temples, or close adjoining to them, or in
their neighbourhood. They are raised about three feet above the earth,
and rest upon four pillars, which are forked stakes fixed fast in the
ground. The tomb, or rather bier, is about eight feet long, and a foot
and a half broad; and after the body is placed upon it, a kind of
basket-work of twigs is wove round it, and covered with mud, an
opening being left at the head for placing the victuals that are
presented to the dead person. When the body is all rotted but the
bones, these are taken out of the tomb, and placed in a box of canes,
which is deposited in the temple. They usually weep and lament for
their dead three days; but for those who are killed in war, they make
a much longer and more grievous lamentation.

{335} Among the Natchez the death of any of their Suns, as I have
before observed, is a most fatal event; for it is sure to be attended
with the destruction of a great number of people of both sexes. Early
in the spring 1725, the Stung Serpent, who was the brother of the
Great Sun, and my intimate friend, was seized with a mortal distemper,
which filled the whole nation of the Natchez with the greatest
consternation and terror; for the two brothers had mutually engaged to
follow each other to the land of spirits; and if the Great Sun should
kill himself for the sake of his brother, very many people would
likewise be put to death. When the Stung Serpent was despaired of, the
chief of the guardians of the temple came to me in the greatest
confusion, and acquainting me with the mutual engagements of the two
brothers, begged of me to interest myself in preserving the Great Sun,
and consequently a great part of the nation. He made the same request
to the commander of the fort. Accordingly we were no sooner informed
of the death of the Stung Serpent, than the commander, some of the
principal Frenchmen, and I, went in a body to the hut of the Great
Sun. We found him in despair; but, after some time, he seemed to be
influenced by the arguments I used to dissuade him from putting
himself to death. The death of the Stung Serpent was published by the
firing of two muskets, which were answered by the other villages, and
immediately cries and lamentations were heard on all sides. The Great
Sun, in the mean time, remained inconsolable, and sat bent forwards,
with his eyes towards the ground. In the evening, while we were still
in his hut, he made a sign to his favourite wife; who in consequence
of that threw a pailful of water on the fire, and extinguished it.
This was a signal for extinguishing all the fires of the nation, and
filled every one with terrible alarms, as it denoted that the Great
Sun was still resolved to put himself to death. I gently chided him
for altering his former resolution, but he assured me he had not, and
desired us to go and sleep securely. We accordingly left him,
pretending to rely on the assurance he had given us; but we took up
our lodging in the hut of his chief servants, and stationed a soldier
at the door of his hut, whom we ordered to give us notice of whatever
happened. There was no need to fear our being betrayed by the wife of
{336} the Great Sun, or any others about him; for none of them had the
least inclination to die, if they could help it. On the contrary, they
all expressed the greatest thankfulness and gratitude to us for our
endeavors to avert the threatened calamity from their nation.

Before we went to our lodgings we entered the hut of the deceased, and
found him on his bed of state, dressed in his finest cloaths, his face
painted with vermilion, shod as if for a journey, with his
feather-crown on his head. To his bed were fastened his arms, which
consisted of a double-barreled gun, a pistol, a bow, a quiver full of
arrows, and a tomahawk. Round his bed were placed all the calumets of
peace he had received during his life, and on a pole, planted in the
ground near it, hung a chain of forty-six rings of cane painted red,
to express the number of enemies he had slain. All his domesticks were
round him, and they presented victuals to him at the usual hours, as
if he were alive. The company in his hut were composed of his
favourite wife, of a second wife, which he kept in another village,
and visited when his favourite was with child; of his chancellor, his
physician, his chief domestic, his pipe-bearer, and some old women,
who were all to be strangled at his interment. To these victims a
noble woman voluntarily joined herself, resolving, from her friendship
to the Stung Serpent, to go and live with him in the country of
spirits. I regretted her on many accounts, but particularly as she was
intimately acquainted with the virtues of simples, had by her skill
saved many of our people's lives, and given me many useful
instructions. After we had satisfied our curiosity in the hut of the
deceased, we retired to our hut, where we spent the night. But at
day-break we were suddenly awaked, and told that it was with
difficulty the Great Sun was kept from killing himself. We hastened to
his hut, and upon entering it I remarked dismay and terror painted
upon the countenances of all who were present. The Great Sun held his
gun by the butt-end, and seemed enraged that the other Suns had seized
upon it, to prevent him from executing his purpose. I addressed myself
to him, and after opening the pan of the lock, to let the priming fall
out, I chided him gently for his not acting according to his former
resolution. He pretended at first {337} not to see me; but, after some
time, he let go his hold of the musket, and shook hands with me
without speaking a word. I then went towards his wife, who all this
while had appeared in the utmost agony and terror, and I asked her if
she was ill. She answered me, "Yes, very ill," and added, "if you
leave us, my husband is a dead man, and all the Natchez will die; stay
then, for he opens his ears only to your words, which have the
sharpness and strength of arrows. You are his true friend, and do not
laugh when you speak, like most of the Frenchmen." The Great Sun at
length consented to order his fire to be again lighted, which was the
signal for lighting the other fires of the nation, and dispelled all
their apprehensions.

Soon after the natives begun the dance of death, and prepared for the
funeral of the Stung Serpent. Orders were given to put none to death
on that occasion, but those who were in the hut of the deceased. A
child however had been strangled already by its father and mother,
which ransomed their lives upon the death of the Great Sun, and raised
them from the rank of Stinkards to that of Nobles. Those who were
appointed to die were conducted twice a day, and placed in two rows
before the temple, where they acted over the scene of their death,
each accompanied by eight of their own relations who were to be their
executioners, and by that office exempted themselves from dying upon
the death of any of the Suns, and likewise raised themselves to the
dignity of men of rank.

Mean while thirty warriors brought in a prisoner, who had formerly
been married to a female Sun; but, upon her death, instead of
submitting to die with her, had fled to New Orleans, and offered to
become the hunter and slave of our commander in chief. The commander
accepting his offer, and granting him his protection, he often visited
his countrymen, who, out of complaisance to the commander, never
offered to apprehend him: but that officer being now returned to
France, and the runaway appearing in the neighbourhood, he was now
apprehended, and numbered among the other victims. Finding himself
thus unexpectedly trapped, he began to cry bitterly; but three old
women, who were his relations, offering to die in his stead, he was
not only again exempted from death, but {338} raised to the dignity of
a man of rank. Upon this he afterwards became insolent, and profiting
by what he had seen and learned at New Orleans, he easily, on many
occasions, made his fellow-countrymen his dupes.

Stephen King fan publishes Shining's Jack Torrance's novel
Three Women was first heard as a radio drama and then published as a poem. Robert Shaw explains his desire to stage the piece as it was intended

Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet regains citizenship
Nonagenarian Diana Athill, Irish writer Sebastian Barry and first book winner Sadie Jones talk about their books and their writing after the awards were announced last night

Book borrowing boosts author's self-esteem

Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds