Upon this flat
they erected the great mound for their temple of the Sun, and the
depository of the holy fire, so sacred in their worship. At each point
of the compass they erected smaller mounds for the residences of their
chief, or child of the Sun, and his ministers of state. In the great
temple upon the principal mound they deposited the fire of holiness,
which they had borne unextinguished from the deserted temple in Mexico,
and began to build their village. Parties went forth to establish other
villages, and before a great while they were located in happy homes in
a land of abundance. They formed treaties of amity with their powerful
but peaceable neighbors, the Choctaws, and ere long with the Chickasaws
and other minor tribes, east, and below them, on the river, the
Tunicas, Houmas, and others; for the country abounded with little
bands, insignificant and powerless.
These Indians revered, as more than mortal, their great chief, whom
they called the child of the Sun. They had a tradition that when they
were a great nation, in Mexico, they were divided into parties by feuds
among their chiefs, and all their power to resist the aggressions of
their enemies was lost; consequently they had fallen under the power of
the Aztecs, who dominated them, and destroyed many of their people.
Pages:
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524