only crude forms of government
and religion, they were equal in both these respects to some peoples who
are classed as civilized.

If any feel a doubt of this, let them read what La Salle and the
intelligent priest who went with him had to say about the Indians of the
lower Mississippi, their government, agriculture, and friendliness of
disposition, and their genial and sociable manner. It is one of the
tribes of Southern Indians with which we are here concerned, the Natchez
tribe or nation, with whom La Salle had such pleasing relations.

It may be of interest to our readers to be told something more about the
customs of the Southern Indians, since they differed very greatly from
those of the North, and are little known to most readers. Let us take
the Creeks, for instance,--a powerful association made up of many tribes
of the Gulf region. They had their chiefs and their governing council,
like the Northern Indians, but the Mico, who took the place of the
Sachem of the North, had almost absolute power, and the office was
hereditary in his family. Agriculture was their principal industry, the
fields being carefully cultivated, though they were active hunters also.
The land was the property of the tribe, not of individuals, and each
family who cultivated it had to deposit a part of their products in the
public store-house. This was under the full control of the Mico, though
food was distributed to all in times of need.

Their religion was much more advanced than that of the Northern tribes.
They had the medicine man and the notions about spirits of the North,
but they also worshipped the sun as the great deity of the universe, and
had their temples, and priests, and religious ceremonies. One of their
great objects of care was the sacred fire, which was carefully
extinguished at the close of the year, and rekindled with "new fire" for
the coming year. While it was out serious calamities were feared and the
people were in a state of terror. There was nothing like this in the
North.

The most remarkable of the United States Indians were the Natchez, of
whom we have above spoken. Not only La Salle, but later French writers
have told us about them. They had a different language and were
different in other ways from the neighboring Indians. They worshipped
the sun as their great deity, and had a complete system of temples,
priests, idols, religious festivals, sacred objects and the like, the
people being deeply superstitio