Along the Yazoo river existed a series of towns which seem to have
been independent at the time of their discovery, but at a late period,
about 1836, were incorporated into the Chicasa people. Some were
inhabited by powerful and influential tribes, but it is uncertain
whether any of them were of Maskoki lineage and language or not.[60]
During the third Naktche-French war, the Yazoo tribes suffered
considerably from attacks directed upon them by the Arkansas Indians.
The countries along Yazoo river are low and swampy grounds, subject to
inundations, especially the narrow strip of land extending between
that river and the Mississippi.
[Footnote 60: I have treated of some of these tribes (Tonica,
Koroa) in separate articles. Moncachtape said to du Pratz, that
the Yazoo Indians regarded the Chicasa as their elders, "since
from them came the language of the country."]
The Taensa guide who accompanied Lemoyne d'Iberville, up the Yazoo
river in March 1699, enumerated the villages seen on its low banks in
their succession from southwest to northeast, as follows (Margry IV,
180):
1. Tonica, four days' travel from the Naktche and two days'
travel from the uppermost town, Thysia. Cf. Tonica, p. 39 sqq.