Maturin Le Petit Explained

Maturin Le Petit (1693–1739)^[1] was a Jesuit priest sent among the Choctaws in 1726^[2] and to observe the Natchez in 1730^[3] in an area of what became part of Mississippi. He was also in New Orleans.^[4] He wrote of the Natchez that, "The sun is the principal object of veneration to these people" and that "they cannot conceive of anything which can be above this heavenly body."^[5] The French were fascinated by accounts of the Natchez as they had been ruled by their own Sun King, Louis XIV (le Roi Soleil).^[6]

Notes and References

1. Margaret Mead, Ruth Leah Bunzel [The golden age of American anthropology] 1960 - 630 pages
2. Web site: Colonial Mobile: An Historical Study, Largely from Original Sources, of the Alabama-Tombigbee Basin from the Discovery of Mobile Bay in 1519 Until the Demolition of Fort Charlotte in 1821. Hamilton. Peter Joseph. 1897.
3. Robert Wright [The evolution of God] - 2009 - 567 pages
4. Web site: Colonial Mobile: An Historical Study, Largely from Original Sources, of the Alabama-Tombigbee Basin from the Discovery of Mobile Bay in 1519 Until the Demolition of Fort Charlotte in 1821. Hamilton. Peter Joseph. 1897.
5. Peter Farb [Man's rise to civilization as shown by the Indians of North...] 1971 - 332 pages
6. Man's rise to civilization: the cultural ascent of the Indians of North America Peter Farb Dutton, Mar 9, 1978 314 pages