.MTA1Mw.NzA2MTk

388 and 38 penciled at top of page

history. it has been the custom for one of the relatives of the deceased to go to the Town house, cleanse it and then unite with the people of the town in a dance, the more perfectly to obliterate all remembrance of the deceased from their minds. This is said to be practiced by the Creeks at the present time. Among the Creeks, when a person dies all in the house are supposed to be unclean. The corpse is buried in the ground, directly under where the bed stood on which the person expired except when a person dies from home & then the corpse is taken to his, or her own house, and buried under where the bed of the deceased stood. But when a priest or head man dies he is buried under his seat in the council house. After burial, all concerned go to the stream & bathe as among the Cherokees, and afterward drink and rub themselves with the water of purification (of the small willow roots) and are clean.