Plaquemine was composed of a church, two stores, as many drinking-shops,
and about fifty cabins, one of which was the court-house. Here lived a
multitude of Catalans, Acadians, negroes, and Indians. When Suzanne and
Maggie, accompanied by my father and John Gordon, went ashore, I declined
to follow, preferring to stay aboard with Joseph and Alix. It was at
Plaquemine that we bade adieu to the old Mississippi. Here our flatboat
made a détour and entered Bayou Plaquemine.[12]
Hardly had we started when our men saw and were frightened by the force of
the current. The enormous flatboat, that Suzanne had likened to a giant
tortoise, darted now like an arrow, dragged by the current. The people of
Plaquemine had forewarned our men and recommended the greatest prudence.
"Do everything possible to hold back your boat, for if you strike any of
those tree-trunks of which the bayou is full it would easily sink you."
Think how reassuring all this was, and the more when they informed us that
this was the first time a flatboat had ventured into the bayou!
Mario, swearing in all the known languages, sought to reassure us, and,
aided by his two associates, changed the manoeuvring, and with watchful
eye found ways to avoid the great uprooted trees in which the lakes and
bayous of Attakapas abound. But how clouded was Carpentier's brow! And my
father? Ah! he repented enough. Then he realized that gold is not always
the vanquisher of every obstacle. At last, thanks to Heaven, our flatboat
came off victor over the snags, and after some hours we arrived at the
Indian village of which you have heard me tell.
If I was afraid at sight of a dozen savages among the Spaniards of
Plaquemine, what was to become of me now? The bank was entirely covered
with men, their faces painted, their heads full of feathers, moccasins on
their feet, and bows on shoulder--Indians indeed, with women simply
wrapped in blankets, and children without the shadow of a garment; and all
these Indians running, calling to one another, making signs to us, and
addressing us in incomprehensible language. Suzanne, standing up on the
bow of the flatboat, replied to their signs and called with all the force
of her lungs every Indian word that--God knows where--she had learned:
"Chacounam finnan! O Choctaw! Conno Poposso!" And the Indians clapped
their hands, laughing with pleasure and increasing yet more their gestures
and cries.
The village, about fifty huts, lay along the edge of the water. The
unfortunates were not timid. Presently several came close to the flatboat
and showed us two deer and some wild turkeys and ducks, the spoils of
their hunting. Then came the women laden with sacks made of bark and full
of blackberries, vegetables, and a great quantity of baskets; showing all,
motioning us to come down, and repeating in French and Spanish, "Money,
money!"
It was decided that Mario and Gordon should stay on board and that all the
rest of the joyous band should go ashore. My father, M. Carpentier, and
'Tino loaded their pistols and put them into their belts. Suzanne did
likewise, while Maggie called Tom, her bulldog, to follow her. Celeste
declined to go, because of her children. As to Alix and me, a terrible
contest was raging in us between fright and curiosity, but the latter
conquered. Suzanne and papa laughed so about our fears that Alix, less
cowardly than I, yielded first, and joined the others. This was too much.
Grasping my father's arm and begging him not to leave me for an instant, I
let him conduct me, while Alix followed me, taking her husband's arm in
both her hands. In front marched 'Tino, his gun on his shoulder; after him
went Maggie, followed by Tom; and then Suzanne and little Patrick,
inseparable friends.
Hardly had we gone a few steps when we were surrounded by a human wall,
and I realized with a shiver how easy it would be for these savages to get
rid of us and take all our possessions. But the poor devils certainly
never thought of it: they showed us their game, of which papa bought the
greater part, as well as several sacks of berries, and also vegetables.
But the baskets! They were veritable wonders. As several of those that I
bought that day are still in your possession, I will not lose much time
telling of them. How those half-savage people could make things so well
contrived and ornamented with such brilliant colors is still a problem to
us. Papa bought for mamma thirty-two little baskets fitting into one
another, the largest about as tall as a child of five years, and the
smallest just large enough to receive a thimble. When he asked the price I
expected to hear the seller say at least thirty dollars, but his humble
reply was five dollars. For a deer he asked one dollar; for a wild turkey,
twenty-five cents. Despite the advice of papa, who asked us how we were
going to carry our purchases home, Suzanne and I bought, between us, more
than forty baskets, great and small. To papa's question, Suzanne replied
with an arch smile:
"God will provide."
Maggie and Alix also bought several; and Alix, who never forgot any one,
bought two charming little baskets that she carried to Celeste. Each of
us, even Maggie, secured a broad parti-colored mat to use on the deck as
a couch _à la Turque_. Our last purchases were two Indian bows painted red
and blue and adorned with feathers; the first bought by Celestino Carlo,
and the other by Suzanne for her chevalier, Patrick Gordon.
An Indian woman who spoke a little French asked if we would not like to
visit the queen. We assented, and in a few moments she led us into a hut
thatched with palmetto leaves and in all respects like the others. Its
interior was disgustingly unclean. The queen was a woman quite or nearly a
hundred years old. She sat on a mat upon the earth, her arms crossed on
her breast, her eyes half closed, muttering between her teeth something
resembling a prayer. She paid no attention to us, and after a moment we
went out. We entered two or three other huts and found the same poverty
and squalor. The men did not follow us about, but the women--the whole
tribe, I think--marched step by step behind us, touching our dresses, our
_capuches_, our jewelry, and asking for everything; and I felt well
content when, standing on our deck, I could make them our last signs of
adieu.
Our flatboat moved ever onward. Day by day, hour by hour, every minute it
advanced--slowly it is true, in the diminished current, but it advanced. I
no longer knew where I was. We came at times where I thought we were lost;
and then I thought of mamma and my dear sisters and my two pretty little
brothers, whom I might never see again, and I was swallowed up. Then
Suzanne would make fun of me and Alix would caress me, and that did me
good. There were many bayous,--a labyrinth, as papa said,--and Mario had
his map at hand showing the way. Sometimes it seemed impracticable, and it
was only by great efforts of our men ["no zomme," says the original] that
we could pass on. One thing is sure--those who traverse those same lakes
and bayous to-day have not the faintest idea of what they were [il zété]
in 1795.
Great vines hung down from lofty trees that shaded the banks and crossed
one another a hundred--a thousand--ways to prevent the boat's passage and
retard its progress, as if the devil himself was mixed in it; and,
frankly, I believe that he had something to do with us in that cavern.
Often our emigrants were forced to take their axes and hatchets in hand to
open a road. At other times tree-trunks, heaped upon one another,
completely closed a bayou. Then think what trouble there was to unbar that
gate and pass through. And, to make all complete, troops of hungry
alligators clambered upon the sides of our flatboat with jaws open to
devour us. There was much outcry; I fled, Alix fled with me, Suzanne
laughed. But our men were always ready for them with their guns.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Flowing, not into, but out of, the Mississippi, and, like it, towards
the Gulf.--Translator.