_The Author put in Possession of his Territory. His Resolution to go
and settle among the_ Natchez.
Being arrived at the Creek Choupic the Sicur Lavigne, a Canadian, lodged
me in a cabin of the Aquelou-Pissas, whose village he had bought. He
gave others to my workmen for their lodging; and we were all happy to
find, upon our arrival, that we were under shelter, in a place that was
uninhabited. A few days after my arrival I bought an Indian female slave
of one of the inhabitants, in order to have a person who could dress our
victuals, as I perceived the inhabitants did all they could to entice
away our labourers, and to gain them by fair promises. As for my slave
and me, we did not understand one another's language; but I made myself
to be understood by signs, which these natives comprehend very easily:
she was of the nation of the Chitimachas, with whom the French had been
at war for some years.
I went to view a spot on St. John's Creek, about half a league distant
from the place where the capital was to be founded, which was yet only
marked out by a hut, covered with palmetto-leaves, and which the
commandant had caused to be built for his own lodging; and after him
for M. Paillou, whom he left commandant of that post. I had chosen
that place preferably to any others, with a view to dispose more
easily of my goods and provisions, and that I might not have them to
transport to a great distance. I told M. Paillou of my choice, who
came and put me in possession, in the name of the West-India company.
I built a hut upon my settlement, about forty yards from the creek of
St. John, till I could build my house, and lodging {19} for my people.
As my hut was composed of very combustible materials, I caused a fire
to be made at a distance, about half way from the creek, to avoid
accidents: which occasioned an adventure, that put me in mind of the
prejudices they have in Europe, from the relations that are commonly
current. The account I am going to give of it, may have upon those who
think as I did then, the same effect that it had upon me.
It was almost night, when my slave perceived, within two yards of the
fire, a young alligator, five feet long, which beheld the fire without
moving. I was in the garden hard by, when she made me repeated signs
to come to her; I ran with speed, and upon my arrival she shewed me
the crocodile, without speaking to me; the little time that I examined
it, I could see, its eyes were so fixed on the fire, that all our
motions could not take them off. I ran to my cabin to look for my gun,
as I am a pretty good marksman: but what was my surprize, when I came
out, and saw the girl with a great stick in her hand attacking the
monster! Seeing me arrive, she began to smile, and said many things,
which I did not comprehend. But she made me understand, by signs, that
there was no occasion for a gun to kill such a beast; for the stick
she shewed me was sufficient for the purpose.
The next day the former master of my slave came to ask me for some
salad-plants; for I was the only one who had any garden-stuff, having
taken care to preserve the seeds I had brought over with me. As he
understood the language of the natives, I begged him to ask the girl,
why she had killed the alligator so rashly. He began to laugh, and
told me, that all new comers were afraid of those creatures, although
they have no reason to be so: and that I ought not to be surprized at
what the girl had done, because her nation inhabited the borders of a
lake, which was full of those creatures; that the children, when they
saw the young ones come on land, pursued them, and killed them, by the
assistance of the people of the cabin, who made good cheer of them.
I was pleased with my habitation, and I had good reasons, which I have
already related, to make me prefer it to others; notwithstanding I had
room to believe, that the situation was {20} none of the healthiest,
the country about it being very damp. But this cause of an unwholesome
air does not exist at present, since they have cleared the ground, and
made a bank before the town. The quality of that land is very good,
for what I had sown came up very well. Having found in the spring some
peach-stones which began to sprout, I planted them; and the following
autumn they had made shoots, four feet high, with branches in
proportion.
Notwithstanding these advantages, I took a resolution to quit this
settlement, in order to make another one, about a hundred leagues
higher up; and I shall give the reasons, which, in my opinion, will
appear sufficient to have made me take that step.
My surgeon came to take his leave of me, letting me know, he could be
of no service to me, near such a town as was forming; where there was
a much abler surgeon than himself; and that they had talked to him so
favourably of the post of the Natchez, that he was very desirous to go
there, and the more so, as that place, being unprovided with a
surgeon, might be more to his advantage. To satisfy me of the truth of
what he told me, he went immediately and brought one of the old
inhabitants, of whom I had bought my slave, who confirmed the account
he had given me of the fineness of the country of the Natchez. The
account of the old man, joined to many other advantages, to be found
there, had made him think of abandoning the place where we were, to
settle there; and he reckoned to be abundantly repaid for it in a
little time.
My slave heard the discourse that I have related, and as she began to
understand French, and I the language of the country, she addressed
herself to me thus: "Thou art going, then, to that country; the sky is
much finer there; game is in much greater plenty; and as I have
relations, who retired there in the war which we had with the French,
they will bring us every thing we want: they tell me that country is
very fine, that they live well in it, and to a good old age."
Two days afterwards I told M. Hubert what I had heard of the country
of the Natchez. He made answer, that he was {21} so persuaded of the
goodness of that part of the country, that he was making ready to go
there himself, to take up his grant, and to establish a large
settlement for the company: and, continued he, "I shall be very glad,
if you do the same: we shall be Company to one another, and you will
unquestionably do your business better there than here."
[Illustration: _Indian in summer time_]
This determined me to follow his advice: I quitted my settlement, and
took lodgings in the town, till I should find an {22} opportunity to
depart, and receive some negroes whom I expected in a short time.
[Footnote: Chap. VIII.] My stay at New Orleans appeared long, before I
heard of the arrival of the negroes. Some days after the news of their
arrival, M. Hubert brought me two good ones, which had fallen to me by
lot. One was a young negro about twenty, with his wife of the same
age; which cost me both together 1320 livres, or L. sterling.
Two days after that I set off with them alone in a pettyaugre (a large
canoe,) because I was told we should make much better speed in such a
vessel, than in the boats that went with us; and that I had only to
take powder and ball with me, to provide my whole company with game
sufficient to maintain us; for which purpose it was necessary to make
use of a paddle, instead of oars, which make too much noise for the
game. I had a barrel of powder, with fifteen pounds of shot, which I
thought would be sufficient for the voyage: but I found by experience,
that this was not sufficient for the vast plenty of game that is to be
met with upon that river, without ever going out of your way. I had
not gone above twenty-eight leagues, to the grant of M. Paris du
Vernai, when I was obliged to borrow of him fifteen pounds of shot
more. Upon this I took care of my ammunition, and shot nothing but
what was fit for our provision; such as wild ducks, summer ducks,
teal, and saw-bills. Among the rest I killed a carancro, wild geese,
cranes, and flamingo's; I likewise often killed young alligators; the
tail of which was a feast for the slaves, as well as for the French
and Canadian rowers.
Among other things I cannot omit to give an account of a monstrous
large alligator I killed with a musquet ball, as it lay upon the bank,
about ten feet above the edge of the water. We measured it, and found
it to be nineteen feet long, its head three feet and a half long,
above two feet nine inches broad, and the other parts in proportion:
at the belly it was two feet two inches thick; and it infected the
whole air with the odor of musk. M. Mehane told me, he had killed one
twenty-two feet long.
{23} After several days navigation, we arrived at Tonicas on Christmas
eve; where we heard mass from M. d' Avion, of the foreign missions,
with whom we passed the rest of the holy days, on account of the good
reception and kind invitation he gave us. I asked him, if his great
zeal for the salvation of the natives was attended with any success;
he answered me, that notwithstanding the profound respect the people
shewed him, it was with the greatest difficulty he could get leave to
baptize a few children at the point of death; that those of an
advanced age excused themselves from embracing our holy religion
because they are too old, say they, to accustom themselves to rules,
that are so difficult to be observed; that the chief, who had killed
the physician, that attended his only son in a distemper of which he
died, had taken a resolution to fast every Friday while he lived, in
remorse for his inhumanity with which he had been so sharply
reproached by him. This grand chief attended both morning and evening
prayers; the women and children likewise assisted regularly at them;
but the men, who did not come very often, took more pleasure in
ringing the bell. In other respects, they did not suffer this zealous
pastor to want for any thing, but furnished him with whatever he
desired.
We were yet twenty-five leagues to the end of our journey to the
Natchez, and we left the Tonicas, where we saw nothing interesting, if
it were not several steep hills, which stand together; among which
there is one that they name the White Hill, because they find in it
several veins of an earth, that is white, greasy, and very fine, with
which I have seen very good potters ware made. On the same hill there
are veins of ochre, of which the Natchez had just taken some to stain
their earthen Ware, which looked well enough; when it was besmeared
with ochre, it became red on burning.
At last we arrived at the Natchez, after a voyage of twenty-four
leagues; and we put on shore at a landing-place, which is at the foot
of a hill two hundred feet high, upon the top of which Fort Rosalie
[Footnote: Fort Rosalie, in the country of the Natchez, was at first
pitched upon for the metropolis of this colony. But though it be
necessary to begin by a settlement near the sea; yet if ever Louisiana
comes to be in a flourishing condition, as it may very well be, it
appears to me, that the capital of it cannot be better situated than
in this place. It is not subject to inundations of the river; the air
is pure; the country very extensive; the land fit for every thing, and
well watered; it is not at too great a distance from the sea, and
nothing hinders vessels to go up to it. In fine, it is within reach of
every place intended to be settled. Charlevoix, Hist. de la N. France,
III. 415.
This is on the east side of the Missisippi, and appears to be the
first post on that river which we ought to secure.] is built,
surrounded only with pallisadoes. {24} About the middle of the hill
stands the magazine, nigh to some houses of the inhabitants, who are
settled there, because the ascent is not so steep in that place; and
it is for the same reason that the magazine is built there. When you
are upon the top of this hill, you discover the whole country, which
is an extensive beautiful plain, with several little hills
interspersed here and there, upon which the inhabitants have built and
made their settlements. The prospect of it is charming.
On our arrival at the Natchez I was very well received by M. Loire de
Flaucourt, storekeeper of this post, who regaled us with the game that
abounds in this place; and after two days I hired a house near the
fort, for M. Hubert and his family, on their arrival, till he could
build upon his own plantation. He likewise desired me to choose two
convenient parcels of land, whereon to settle two considerable
plantations, one for the company, and the other for himself. I went to
them in two or three days after my arrival, with an old inhabitant for
my guide, and to shew me the proper places, and at the same time to
choose a spot of ground for myself; this last I pitched upon the first
day, because it is more easy to choose for one's self than for others.
I found upon the main road that leads from the chief village of the
Natchez to the fort, about an hundred paces from this last, a cabin of
the natives upon the road side, surrounded with a spot of cleared
ground, the whole of which I bought by means of an interpreter. I made
this purchase with the more pleasure, as I had upon the spot,
wherewithal to lodge me and my people, with all my effects: the
cleared ground was about six acres, which would form a garden and a
plantation for {25} tobacco, which was then the only commodity
cultivated by the inhabitants. I had water convenient for my house,
and all my land was very good. On one side stood a rising ground with
a gentle declivity, covered with a thick field of canes, which always
grow upon the rich lands; behind that was a great meadow, and on the
other side was a forest of white walnuts (Hiecories) of nigh fifty
acres, covered with grass knee deep. All this piece of ground was in
general good, and contained about four hundred acres of a measure
greater than that of Paris: the soil is black and light.
The other two pieces of land, which M. Hubert had ordered me to look
for, I took up on the border of the little river of the Natchez, each
of them half a league from the great village of that nation, and a
league from the fort; and my plantation stood between these two and
the fort, bounding the two others. After this I took up my lodging
upon my own plantation, in the hut I had bought of the Indian, and put
my people in another, which they built for themselves at the side of
mine; so that I was lodged pretty much like our wood-cutters in
France, when they are at work in the woods.
As soon as I was put in possession of my habitation, I went with an
interpreter to see the other fields, which the Indians had cleared
upon my land, and bought them all, except one, which an Indian would
never sell to me: it was situated very convenient for me, I had a mind
for it, and would have given him a good price; but I could never make
him agree to my proposals. He gave me to understand, that without
selling it, he would give it up to me, as soon as I should clear my
ground to his; and that while he stayed on his own ground near me, I
should always find him ready to serve me, and that he would go
a-hunting and fishing for me. This answer satisfied me, because I must
have had twenty negroes, before I could have been able to have reached
him; they assured me likewise, that he was an honest man; and far from
having any occasion to complain of him as a neighbour, his stay there
was extremely serviceable to me.
I had not been settled at the Natchez six months, when I found a pain
in my thigh, which, however, did not hinder me {26} to go about my
business. I consulted our surgeon about it, who caused me to be
bleeded; on which the humour fell upon the other thigh, and fixed
there with such violence, that I could not walk without extreme pain.
I consulted the physicians and surgeons of New Orleans, who advised me
to use aromatic baths; and if they proved of no service, I must go to
France, to drink the waters, and to bathe in them. This answer
satisfied me so much the less, as I was neither certain of my cure by
that means, nor would my present situation allow me to go to France.
This cruel distemper, I believe, proceeded from the rains, with which
I was wet, during our whole voyage; and might be some effects of the
fatigues I had undergone in war, during several campaigns I had made
in Germany.
As I could not go out of my hut, several neighbours were so good as to
come and see me, and every day we were no less than twelve at table
from the time of our arrival, which was on the fifth of January, 1720.
Among the rest F. de Ville, who waited there, in his journey to the
Illinois, till the ice, which began to come down from the north, was
gone. His conversation afforded me great satisfaction in my
confinement, and allayed the vexation I was under from my two negroes
being run away. In the mean time my distemper did not abate, which
made me resolve to apply to one of the Indian conjurers, who are both
surgeons, divines, and sorcerers; and who told me he would cure me by
sucking the place where I felt my pain. He made several scarifications
upon the part with a sharp flint, each of them about as large as the
prick of a lancet, and in such a form, that he could suck them all at
once, which gave me extreme pain for the space of half an hour. The
next day I found myself a little better, and walked about into my
field, where they advised me to put myself in the hands of some of the
Natchez, who, they said, did surprising cures, of which they told me
many instances, confirmed by creditable people. In such a situation a
man will do any thing for a cure, especially as the remedy, which they
told me of, was very simple: it was only a poultice, which they put
upon the part affected, and in eight days time I was able to walk to
the fort, finding myself perfectly cured, as I have felt no return of
my pain since that {27} time. This was, without doubt, a great
satisfaction to a young man, who found himself otherwise in good
health, but had been confined to the house for four months and a half,
without being able to go out a moment; and gave me as much joy as I
could well have, after the loss of a good negro, who died of a
defluxion on the breast, which he catched by running away into the
woods, where his youth and want of experience made him believe he
might live without the toils of slavery; but being found by the
Tonicas, constant friends of the French, who live about twenty leagues
from the Nàtchez, they carried him to their village, where he and
his wife were given to a Frenchman, for whom they worked, and by that
means got their livelihood; till M. de Montplaisir sent them home to
me.
This M. de Montplaisir, one of the most agreeable gentlemen in the
colony, was sent by the company from Clerac in Gascony, to manage
their plantation at the Natchez, to make tobacco upon it, and to shew
the people the way of cultivating and curing it; the company having
learned, that this place produced excellent tobacco, and that the
people of Clerac were perfectly well acquainted with the culture and
way of managing it.