"To the west of Africa, he says, lies a very large island, distant

many days sail from that part of our continent. Its fertile soil is

partly plain, and partly mountainous. The plain country is most sweet

and pleasant, being watered every where with rivulets, and navigable

rivers; it is beautified with many gardens, which are planted with all

kinds of trees, and the orchards particularly are watered with

pleasant streams. The villages are adorned with houses built in a

magnificent taste, having parterres ornamented with arbours covered

with flowers. Hither the inhabitants retire during the summer to enjoy

the fruits which the country furnishes them with in the greatest {282}

abundance. The mountainous part is covered with large woods, and all

manner of fruit trees, and in the vallies, which are watered with

rivulets, the inhabitants meet with every thing that can render life

agreeable. In a word, the whole island, by its fertility and the

abundance of its springs, furnishes the inhabitants not only with

every thing that may flatter their wishes, but with what may also

contribute to their health and strength of body. Hunting furnishes

them with such an infinite number of animals, that in their feasts

they have nothing to wish for in regard either to plenty or delicacy.

Besides, the sea, which surrounds the island, supplies them

plentifully with all kinds of fish, and indeed the sea in general is

very abundant. The air of this island is so temperate that the trees

bear leaves and fruit almost the whole year round. In a word, this

island is so delicious, that it seems rather the abode of the gods

than of men.

"Anciently, on account of its remote situation, it was altogether

unknown; but afterwards it was discovered by accident. It is well

known, that from the earliest ages the Phenicians undertook long

voyages in order to extend their commerce, and in consequence of those

voyages established several colonies in Africa and the western parts

of Europe. Every thing succeeding to their wish, and being become very

powerful, they attempted to pass the pillars of Hercules and enter the

ocean. They accordingly passed those pillars, and in their

neighbourhood built a city upon a peninsula of Spain, which they named

Gades. There, amongst the other buildings proper for the place, they

built a temple to Hercules, to whom they instituted splendid

sacrifices after the manner of their country. This temple is in great

veneration at this day, and several Romans who have rendered

themselves illustrious by their exploits, have performed their vows to

Hercules for the success of their enterprizes.

"The Phenicians accordingly having passed the Streights of Spain,

sailed along Africa, when by the violence of the winds they were

driven far out to sea, and the storm continuing several days, they

were at length thrown on this island. Being the first who were

acquainted with its beauty and fertility, they {283} published them to

other nations. The Tuscans, when they were masters at sea, designed to

send a colony thither, but the Carthaginians found means to prevent

them on the two following accounts; first, they were afraid lest their

citizens, tempted by the charms of that island, should pass over

hither in too great numbers, and desert their own country; next they

looked upon it as a secure asylum for themselves, if ever any terrible

disaster should befal their republic."

This description of Diodorus is very applicable in many circumstances

to America, particularly in the agreeable temperature of the climate

to Africans, the prodigious fertility of the earth, the vast forests,

the large rivers, and the multitude of rivulets and springs. The

Natchez may then justly be supposed to be descended from some

Phenicians or Carthaginians, who had been wrecked on the shores of

South America, in which case they might well be imagined to have but

little acquaintance with the arts, as those who first landed would be

obliged to apply all their thoughts to their immediate subsistence,

and consequently would soon become rude and barbarous. Their worship

of the eternal fire likewise implies their descent from the

Phenicians; for every body knows that this superstition, which first

took its rise in Egypt, was introduced by the Phenicians into all the

countries that they visited. The figurative stile, and the bold and

Syriac expressions in the language of the Natchez, is likewise another

proof of their being descended from the Phenicians. [Footnote: The

author might have mentioned a singular custom, in which both nations

agree; for it appears from _Polybius_, 1 I. c. 6. that Carthaginians

practised scalping.]

As to those whom the Natchez, long after their first establishment,

found inhabiting the western coasts of America, and whom we name

Mexicans, the arts which they possessed and cultivated with success,

obliged me to give them a different origin. Their temples, their

sacrifices, their buildings, their form of government, and their

manner of making war, all denote a people who have transmigrated in a

body, and brought with them the arts, the sciences, and the customs of

their country. Those people had the art of writing, and also of {284}

painting. Their archives consisted of cloths of cotton, whereon they

had painted or drawn all those transactions which they thought worthy

of being transmitted to posterity. It were greatly to be wished that

the first conquerors of this new world had preserved to us the figures

of those drawings; for by comparing them with the characters used by

other nations, we might perhaps have discovered the origin of the

inhabitants. The knowledge which we have of the Chinese characters,

which are rather irregular drawings than characters, would probably

have facilitated such a discovery; and perhaps those of Japan would

have been found greatly to have resembled the Mexican; for I am

strongly of opinion that the Mexicans are descended from one of those

two nations.

In fact, where is the impossibility, that some prince in one of those

countries, upon failing in an attempt to raise himself to the

sovereign power, should leave his native country with all his

partizans, and look for some new land, where, after he had established

himself, he might drop all foreign correspondence? The easy navigation

of the South Sea renders the thing probable; and the new map of the

eastern bounds of Asia, and the western of North America, lately

published by Mr. De Lisle, makes it still more likely. This map makes

it plainly appear, that between the islands of Japan, or northern

coasts of China, and those of America, there are other lands, which to

this day have remained unknown; and who will take upon him to say

there is no land, because it has never yet been discovered? I have

therefore good grounds to believe, that the Mexicans came originally

from China or Japan, especially when I consider their reserved and

uncommunicative disposition, which to this day prevails among the

people of the eastern parts of Asia. The great antiquity of the

Chinese nation likewise makes it possible that a colony might have

gone from thence to America early enough to be looked upon as _the

Ancients of the country_, by the first of the Phenicians who could be

supposed to arrive there. As a further corroboration of my

conjectures, I was informed by a man of learning in 1752, that in the

king's library there is a Chinese manuscript, which positively affirms

that America was peopled by the inhabitants of Corea.

{285} When the Natchez retired to this part of America, where I saw

them, they there found several nations, or rather the remains of

several nations, some on the east, others on the west of the

Missisippi. These are the people who are distinguished among the

natives by the name of Red Men; and their origin is so much the more

obscure, as they have not so distinct a tradition, as the Natchez, nor

arts and sciences like the Mexicans, from whence we might draw some

satisfactory inferences. All that I could learn from them was, that

they came from between the north and the sun-setting; and this account

they uniformly adhered to whenever they gave any account of their

origin. This lame tradition no ways satisfying the desire I had to be

informed on this point, I made great inquiries to know if there was

any wise old man among the neighbouring nations, who could give me

further intelligence about the origin of the natives. I was happy

enough to discover one, named Moncacht-apé among the Yazous, a nation

about forty leagues north from the Natchez. This man was remarkable

for his solid understanding and elevation of sentiments; and I may

justly compare him to those first Greeks, who travelled chiefly into

the east to examine the manners and customs of different nations, and

to communicate to their fellow-citizens, upon their return, the

knowledge which they had acquired. Moncacht-apé, indeed, never

executed so noble a plan; but he had however conceived it, and had

spared no labour and pains to effectuate it. He was by the French

called the Interpreter, because he understood several of the North

American languages; but the other name which I have mentioned was

given him by his own nation, and signifies _the killer of pain and

fatigue_. This name was indeed most justly applicable to him; for, to

satisfy his curiosity, he had made light of the most dangerous and

painful journeys, in which he had spent several years of his life. He

stayed two or three days with me; and upon my desiring him to give me

an account of his travels, he very readily complied with my request,

and spoke to the following effect:

"I had lost my wife, and all the children whom I had by her, when I

undertook my journey towards the sun-rising. I set out from my village

contrary to the inclinations of all my {286} relations, and went first

to the Chicasaws, our friends and neighbours. I continued among them

several days to inform myself whether they knew whence we all came, or

at least whence they themselves came; they, who were our elders; since

from them came the language of the country. As they could not inform

me, I proceeded on my journey. I reached the country of the

Chaouanous, and afterwards went up the Wabash or Ohio, almost to its

source, which is in the country of the Iroquois or Five Nations. I

left them however towards the north; and during the winter, which in

that country is very severe and very long, I lived in a village of the

Abenaquis, where I contracted an acquaintance with a man somewhat

older than myself, who promised to conduct me the following spring to

the Great Water. Accordingly when the snows were melted, and the

weather was settled, we proceeded eastward, and, after several days

journey, I at length saw the Great Water, which filled me with such

joy and admiration that I could not speak. Night drawing on, we took

up our lodging on a high bank above the water, which was sorely vexed

by the wind, and made so great a noise that I could not sleep. Next

day the ebbing and flowing of the water filled me with great

apprehension; but my companion quieted my fears, by assuring me that

the water observed certain bounds both in advancing and retiring.

Having satisfied our curiosity in viewing the Great Water, we returned

to the village of the Abenaquis, where I continued the following

winter; and after the snows were melted, my companion and I went and

viewed the great fall of the river St. Laurence at Niagara, which was

distant from the village several days journey. The view of this great

fall at first made my hair stand on end, and my heart almost leap out

of its place; but afterwards, before I left it, I had the courage to

walk under it. Next day we took the shortest road to the Ohio, and my

companion and I cutting down a tree on the banks of the river, we

formed it into a pettiaugre, which served to conduct me down the Ohio

and the Missisippi, after which, with much difficulty I went up our

small river; and at length arrived safe among my relations, who were

rejoiced to see me in good health.

{287} "This journey, instead of satisfying, only served to excite my

curiosity. Our old men, for several years, had told me that the

antient speech informed them that the Red Men of the north came

originally much higher and much farther than the source of the river

Missouri; and as I had longed to see, with my own eyes, the land from

whence our first fathers came, I took my precautions for my journey

westwards. Having provided a small quantity of corn, I proceeded up

along the eastern bank of the river Missisippi, till I came to the

Ohio. I went up along the bank of this last river about the fourth

part of a day's journey, that I might be able to cross it without

being carried into the Missisippi. There I formed a Cajeux or raft of

canes, by the assistance of which I passed over the river; and next

day meeting with a herd of buffaloes in the meadows, I killed a fat

one, and took from it the fillets, the bunch, and the tongue. Soon

after I arrived among the Tamaroas, a village of the nation of the

Illinois, where I rested several days, and then proceeded northwards

to the mouth of the Missouri, which, after it enters the great river,

runs for a considerable time without intermixing its muddy waters with

the clear stream of the other. Having crossed the Missisippi, I went

up the Missouri along its northern bank, and after several days

journey I arrived at the nation of the Missouris, where I staid a long

time to learn the language that is spoken beyond them. In going along

the Missouri I passed through meadows a whole day's journey in length,

which were quite covered with buffaloes.

"When the cold was past, and the snows were melted, I continued my

journey up along the Missouri till I came to the nation of the West,

or the Canzas. Afterwards, in consequence of directions from them, I

proceeded in the same course near thirty days, and at length I met

with some of the nation of the Otters, who were hunting in that

neighbourhood, and were surprised to see me alone. I continued with

the hunters two or three days, and then accompanied one of them and

his wife, who was near her time of lying-in, to their village, which

lay far off betwixt the north and west. We continued our journey along

the Missouri for nine days, and then we marched {288} directly

northwards for five days more, when we came to the Fine River, which

runs westwards in a direction contrary to that of the Missouri. We

proceeded down this river a whole day, and then arrived at the village

of the Otters, who received me with as much kindness as if I had been

of their own nation. A few days after I joined a party of the Otters,

who were going to carry a calumet of peace to a nation beyond them,

and we embarked in a pettiaugre, and went down the river for eighteen

days, landing now and then to supply ourselves with provisions. When I

arrived at the nation who were at peace with the Otters, I staid with

them till the cold was passed, that I might learn their language,

which was common to most of the nations that lived beyond them.

"The cold was hardly gone, when I again embarked on the Fine River,

and in my course I met with several nations, with whom I generally

staid but one night, till I arrived at the nation that is but one

day's journey from the Great Water on the west. This nation live in

the woods about the distance of a league from the river, from their

apprehension of bearded men, who come upon their coasts in floating

villages, and carry off their children to make slaves of them. These

men were described to be white, with long black beards that came down

to their breasts; they were thick and short, had large heads, which

were covered with cloth; they were always dressed, even in the

greatest heats; their cloaths fell down to the middle of their legs,

which with their feet were covered with red or yellow stuff. Their

arms made a great fire and a great noise; and when they saw themselves

outnumbered by Red Men, they retired on board their large pettiaugre,

their number sometimes amounting to thirty, but never more.

"Those strangers came from the sun-setting, in search of a yellow

stinking wood, which dyes a fine yellow colour; but the people of this

nation, that they might not be tempted to visit them, had destroyed

all those kind of trees. Two other nations in their neighbourhood

however, having no other wood, could not destroy the trees, and were

still visited by the strangers; and being greatly incommoded by them,

had invited their allies to assist them in making an attack upon them

the next {289} time they should return. The following summer I

accordingly joined in this expedition, and after traveling five long

days journey, we came to the place where the bearded men usually

landed, where we waited seventeen days for their arrival. The Red Men,

by my advice, placed themselves in ambuscade to surprize the

strangers, and accordingly when they landed to cut the wood, we were

so successful as to kill eleven of them, the rest immediately escaping

on board two large pettiaugres, and flying westward upon the Great

Water.

"Upon examining those whom we had killed, we found them much smaller

than ourselves, and very white; they had a large head, and in the

middle of the crown the hair was very long; their head was wrapt in a

great many folds of stuff, and their cloaths seemed to be made neither

of wool nor silk; they were very soft, and of different colours. Two

only of the eleven who were slain had fire-arms with powder and ball.

I tried their pieces, and found that they were much heavier than

yours, and did not kill at so great a distance.

"After this expedition I thought of nothing but proceeding on my

journey, and with that design I let the Red Men return home, and

joined myself to those who inhabited more westward on the coast, with

whom I travelled along the shore of the Great Water, which bends

directly betwixt the north and the sun-setting. When I arrived at the

villages of my fellow-travellers, where I found the days very long and

the night very short, I was advised by the old men to give over all

thoughts of continuing my journey. They told me that the land extended

still a long way in a direction between the north and sun-setting,

after which it ran directly west, and at length was cut by the Great

Water from north to south. One of them added, that when he was young,

he knew a very old man who had seen that distant land before it was

eat away by the Great Water, and that when the Great Water was low,

many rocks still appeared in those parts. Finding it therefore

impracticable to proceed much further, on account of the severity of

the climate, and the want of game, I returned by the same route by

which I had set out; and reducing my whole travels westward to days

journeys, I compute that they would have employed {290} me thirty-six

moons; but on account of my frequent delays, it was five years before

I returned to my relations among the Yazous."

Moncacht-apé, after giving me an account of his travels, spent four or

five days visiting among the Natchez, and then returned to take leave

of me, when I made him a present of several wares of no great value,

among which was a concave mirror about two inches and a half diameter,

which had cost me about three halfpence. As this magnified the face to

four or five times its natural size, he was wonderfully delighted with

it, and would not have exchanged it with the best mirror in France.

After expressing his regret at parting with me, he returned highly

satisfied to his own nation.

Moncacht-apé's account of the junction of America with the eastern

parts of Asia seems confirmed from the following remarkable fact. Some

years ago the skeletons of two large elephants and two small ones were

discovered in a marsh near the river Ohio; and as they were not much

consumed, it is supposed that the elephants came from Asia not many

years before. If we also consider the form of government, and the

manner of living among the northern nations of America, there will

appear a great resemblance betwixt them and the Tartars in the

north-east parts of Asia.

CHAPTER II.

_An Account of the Several Nations of_ Indians _in_ Louisiana.

SECTION I.

_Of the Nations inhabiting on the East of the_ Missisippi.

If to the history of the discoveries and conquests of the Spaniards we

join the tradition of all the nations of America, we shall be fully

persuaded, that this quarter of the world, before it was discovered by

Christopher Columbus, was very populous, not only on the continent but

also in the islands.

However, by an incomprehensible fatality, the arrival of the Spaniards

in this new world seems to have been the unhappy epoch of the

destruction of all the nations of America, {291} not only by war, but

by nature itself. As it is but too well known how many millions of

natives were destroyed by the Spanish sword, I shall not therefore

present my readers with that horrible detail; but perhaps many people

do not know that an innumerable multitude of the natives of Mexico and

Peru voluntarily put an end to their own lives, some by sacrificing

themselves to the manes of their sovereigns who had been cut off, and

whose born victims they, according to their detestable customs, looked

upon themselves to be; and others, to avoid falling under the

subjection of the Spaniards, thinking death a less evil by far than

slavery.

The same effect has been produced among the people of North America by

two or three warlike nations of the natives. The Chicasaws have not

only cut off a great many nations who were adjoining to them, but have

even carried their fury as far as New Mexico, near six hundred miles

from the place of their residence, to root out a nation that had

removed at that distance from them, in a firm expectation that their

enemies would not come so far in search of them. They were however

deceived and cut off. The Iroquois have done the same in the east

parts of Louisiana; and the Padoucas and others have acted in the same

manner to nations in the west of the colony. We may here observe, that

those nations could not succeed against their enemies without

considerable loss to themselves, and that they have therefore greatly

lessened their own numbers by their many warlike expeditions.

I mentioned that nature had contributed no less than war to the

destruction of these people. Two distempers, that are not very fatal

in other parts of the world, make dreadful ravages among them; I mean

the small-pox and a cold, which baffle all the art of their

physicians, who in other respects are very skilful. When a nation is

attacked by the small-pox, it quickly makes great havock; for as a

whole family is crowded into a small hut, which has no communications

with the external air, but by a door about two feet wide and four feet

high, the distemper, if it seizes one, is quickly communicated to all.

The aged die in consequence of their advanced years and the bad

quality of their food; and the young, if they are not {292} strictly

watched, destroy themselves, from an abhorrence of the blotches in

their skin. If they can but escape from their hut, they run out and

bathe themselves in the river, which is certain death in that

distemper. The Chatkas, being naturally not very handsome, are not so

apt to regret the loss of their beauty; consequently suffer less, and

are much more numerous than the other nations.

Colds, which are very common in the winter, likewise destroy great

numbers of the natives. In that season they keep fires in their huts

day and night; and as there is no other opening but the door, the air

within the hut is kept excessive warm without any free circulation; so

that when they have occasion to go out, the cold seizes them, and the

consequences of it are almost always fatal.

The first nations that the French were acquainted with in this part of

North America, were those on the east of the colony; for the first

settlement we made there was at Fort Louis on the river Mobile. I

shall therefore begin my account of the different nations of Indians

on this side of the colony, and proceed westwards in the same order as

they are situated.

But however zealous I may be in displaying not only the beauties, but

the riches and advantages of Louisiana, yet I am not at all inclined

to attribute to it what it does not possess; therefore I warn my

reader not to be surprised, if I make mention of a few nations in this

colony, in comparison of the great number which he may perhaps have

seen in the first maps of this country. Those maps were made from

memoirs sent by different travellers, who noted down all the names

they heard mentioned, and then fixed upon a spot for their residence;

so that a map appeared stiled with the names of nations, many of whom

were destroyed, and others were refugees among nations who had adopted

them and taken them under their protection. Thus, though the nations

on this continent were formerly both numerous and populous, they are

now so thinned and diminished, that there does not exist at present a

third part of the nations whose names are to be found in the maps.

The most eastern nation of Louisiana is that called the Apalaches,

which is a branch of the great nation of the Apalaches, {293} who

inhabited near the mountains to which they have given their name. This

great nation is divided into several branches, who take different

names. The branch in the neighbourhood of the river Mobile is but

inconsiderable, and part of it is Roman Catholic.

On the north of the Apalaches are the Alibamous, a pretty considerable

nation; they love the French, and receive the English rather out of

necessity than friendship. On the first settling of the colony we had

some commerce with them; but since the main part of the colony has

fixed on the river, we have somewhat neglected them, on account of the

great distance.

East from the Alibamous are the Caouitas, whom M. de Biainville,

governor of Louisiana, wanted to distinguish above the other nations,

by giving the title of emperor to their sovereign, who then would have

been chief of all the neighbouring nations; but those nations refused

to acknowledge him as such, and said that it was enough if each nation

obeyed its own chief; that it was improper for the chiefs themselves

to be subject to other chiefs, and that such a custom had never

prevailed among them, as they chose rather to be destroyed by a great

nation than to be subject to them. This nation is one of the most

considerable; the English trade with them, and they suffer the traders

to come among them from policy.

To, the north of the Alibamous are the Abeikas and Conchacs, who, as

far as I can learn, are the same people; yet the name of Conchac seems

appropriated to one part more than another. They are situated at a

distance from the great rivers and consequently have no large canes in

their territory. The canes that grow among them are not thicker than

one's finger, and are at the same time so very hard, that when they

are split, they cut like knives, which these people call _conchacs_. The

language of this nation is almost the same with that of the Chicasaws,

in which the word _conchac_ signifies a knife.

The Abeikas, on the east of them, have the Cherokees, divided into

several branches, and situated very near the Apalachean mountains. All

the nations whom I have mentioned {294} have been united in a general

alliance for a long time past, in order to defend themselves against the

Iroquois, or Five Nations, who, before this alliance was formed, made

continual war upon them; but have ceased to molest them since they have

seen them united. All these nations, and some small ones intermixed

among them, have always been looked upon as belonging to no colony,

excepting the Apalaches; but since the breaking out of the war with the

English in 1756, it is said they have voluntarily declared for us.

The nations in the neighbourhood of the Mobile, are first the Chatots,

a small nation consisting of about forty huts, adjoining to the river

and the sea. They are Roman Catholics, or reputed such; and are

friends to the French, whom they are always ready to serve upon being

paid for it. North from the Chatots, and very near them, is the French

settlement of Fort Louis on the Mobile.

A little north from Fort Louis are situated the Thomez, which are not

more numerous than the Chatots, and are said to be Roman Catholics.

They are our friends to to such a degree as even to teaze us with

their officiousness.

Further north live the Taensas, who are a branch of the Natchez, of

whom I shall have occasion to speak more at large. Both of these

nations keep the eternal fire with the utmost care; but they trust the

guard of it to men, from a persuasion that none of their daughters

would sacrifice their liberty for that office. The whole nation of the

Taensas consists only of about one hundred huts.

Proceeding still northwards along the bay, we meet with the nation of

the Mobiliens, near the mouth of the river Mobile, in the bay of that

name. The true name of this nation is Mouvill, which the French have

turned into Mobile, calling the river and the bay from the nation that

inhabited near them. All these small nations were living in peace upon

the arrival of the French, and still continue so; the nations on the

east of the Mobile serving as a barrier to them against the incursions

of the Iroquois. Besides, the Chicasaws look upon them as their

brethren, as both they, and their neighbours on the east of the {295}

Mobile, speak a language which is nearly the same with that of the

Chicasaws.

Returning towards the sea, on the west of the Mobile, we find the

small nation of the Pacha-Ogoulas, that is, Nation of Bread, situated

upon the bay of the same name. This nation consists only of one

village of about thirty huts. Some French Canadians have settled in

their neighbourhood, and they live together like brethren, as the

Canadians, who are naturally of a peaceable disposition, know the

character of the natives, and have the art of living with the nations

of America. But what chiefly renders the harmony betwixt them durable,

is the absence of soldiers, who never appear in this nation.

Further northwards, near the river Pacha-Ogoulas, is situated the

great nation of the Chatkas, or Flat-heads. I call them the great

nation, for I have not known or heard of any other near so numerous.

They reckon in this nation twenty-five thousand warriors. There may

perhaps be such a number of men among them, who take that name; but I

am far from thinking that all these have a title to the character of

warriors.

According to the tradition of the natives, this nation arrived so

suddenly, and passed so rapidly through the territories of others,

that when I asked them, whence came the Chatkas? they answered me,

that they sprung out of the ground; by which they meant to express

their great surprize at seeing them appear so suddenly. Their great

numbers awed the natives near whom they passed; their character being

but little inclined to war, did not inspire them with the fury of

conquest; thus they at length arrived in an uninhabited country which

nobody disputed with them. They have since lived without any disputes

with their neighbours; who on the other hand have never dared to try

whether they were brave or not. It is doubtless owing to this that

they have increased to their present numbers.

They are called Flat-heads; but I do not know why that name has been

given to them more than to others, since all the nations of Louisiana

have their heads as flat, or nearly so. They are situated about two

hundred and fifty miles north {296} from the sea, and extend more from

east to west than from south to north.

[Illustration: _Indian Buffalo Hunt on foot_]

Those who travel from the Chatkas to the Chicasaws, seldom go by the

shortest road, which extends about one hundred and eighty miles, and

is very woody and mountainous. They choose rather to go along the

river Mobile, which is both the easiest and most pleasant route. The

nation of the Chicasaws is very warlike. The men have very regular

features, {297} are large, well-shaped, and neatly dressed; they are

fierce, and have a high opinion of themselves. They seem to be the

remains of a populous nation, whose warlike disposition had prompted

them to invade several nations, whom they have indeed destroyed, but

not without diminishing their own numbers by those expeditions. What

induces me to believe that this nation has been formerly very

considerable, is that the nations who border upon them, and whom I

have just mentioned, speak the Chicasaw language, though somewhat

corrupted, and those who speak it best value themselves upon it.

I ought perhaps to except out of this number the Taensas, who being a

branch of the Natchez, have still preserved their peculiar language;

but even these speak, in general, the corrupted Chicasaw language,

which our French settlers call the Mobilian language. As to the

Chatkas, I suppose, that being very numerous, they have been able to

preserve their own language in a great measure; and have only adopted

some words of the Chicasaw language. They always spoke to me in the

Chicasaw tongue.

In returning towards the coast next the river Missisippi, we meet with

a small nation of about twenty huts, named Aquelou-Pissas, that is,

_Men who understand and see_. This nation formerly lived within three of

four miles of the place where New Orleans is built; but they are

further north at present, and not far from the lake St. Lewis, or

Pontchartrain. They speak a language somewhat approaching to that of

the Chicasaws. We have never had great dealings with them.

Being now arrived at the river Missisippi, I shall proceed upwards

along its banks as far as to the most distant nations that are known

to us.

The first nation that I meet with is the Oumas, which signifies the

Red Nation. They are situated about twenty leagues from New Orleans,

where I saw some of them upon my arrival in this province. Upon the

first establishment of the colony, some French went and settled near

them; and they have been very fatal neighbours, by furnishing them

with brandy, which they drink to great excess.

{298} Crossing the Red River, and proceeding still upwards, we find

the remains of the nation of the Tonicas, who have always been very

much attached to the French, and have even been our auxiliaries in

war. The Chief of this nation was our very zealous friend; and as he

was full of courage, and always ready to make war on the enemies of

the French, the king sent him a brevet of brigadier of the red armies,

and a blue ribbon, from whence hung a silver medal, which on one side

represented the marriage of the king, and on the reverse had the city

of Paris. He likewise sent him a gold-headed cane; and the Indian

Chief was not a little proud of wearing those honourable distinctions,

which were certainly well bestowed. This nation speaks a language so

far different from that of their neighbours, in that they pronounce

the letter R, which the others have not. They have likewise different

customs.

The Natchez in former times appear to have been one of the most

respectable nations in the colony, not only from their own tradition,

but from that of the other nations, in whom their greatness and

civilized customs raised no less jealousy than admiration. I could

fill a volume with what relates to this people alone; but as I am now

giving a concise account of the people of Louisiana, I shall speak of

them as of the rest, only enlarging a little upon some important

transactions concerning them.

When I arrived in 1720 among the Natchez, that nation was situated

upon a small river of the same name; the chief village where the Great

Sun resided was built along the banks of the river, and the other

villages were planted round it. They were two leagues above the

confluence of the river, which joins the Missisippi at the foot of the

great precipices of the Natchez. From thence are four leagues to its

source, and as many to Rosalie, and they were situated within a league

of the fort.

Two small nations lived as refugees among the Natchez. The most

ancient of these adopted nations were the Grigras, who seem to have

received that name from the French, because when talking with one

another they often pronounce those two syllables, which makes them be

remarked as strangers among the Natchez, who, as well as the

Chicasaws, and all the nations {299} that speak the Chicasaw language,

cannot pronounce the letter R.

The other small nation adopted by the Natchez, are the Thioux, who

have also the letter R in their language. These were the weak remains

of the Thioux nation, formerly one of the strongest in the country.

However, according to the account of the other nations, being of a

turbulent disposition, they drew upon themselves the resentment of the

Chicasaws, which was the occasion of their ruin; for by their many

engagements they were at length so weakened that they durst not face

their enemy, and consequently were obliged to take refuge among the

Natchez.

The Natchez, the Grigras, and the Thioux, may together raise about

twelve hundred warriors; which is but a small force in comparison of

what the Natchez could formerly have raised alone; for according to

their traditions they were the most powerful nation of all North

America, and were looked upon by the other nations as their superiors,

and on that account respected by them. To give an idea of their power,

I shall only mention, that formerly they extended from the river

Manchac, or Iberville, which is about fifty leagues from the sea, to

the river Wabash, which is distant from the sea about four hundred and

sixty leagues; and that they had about five hundred Suns or princes.

From these facts we may judge how populous this nation formerly has

been; but the pride of their Great Suns, or sovereigns, and likewise

of their inferior Suns, joined to the prejudices of the people, has

made greater havock among them, and contributed more to their

destruction, than long and bloody wars would have done.

As their sovereigns were despotic, they had for a long time past

established the following inhuman and impolitic custom, that when any

of them died, a great number of their subjects, both men and women,

should likewise be put to death. A proportionable number of subjects

were likewise killed upon the death of any of the inferior Suns; and

the people on the other hand had imbibed a belief that all those who

followed their princes into the other world, to serve them there,

would be eternally happy. It is easy to conceive how ruinous such an

{300} inhuman custom would be among a nation who had so many princes

as the Natchez.

It would seem that some of the Suns, more humane than the rest, had

disapproved of this barbarous custom, and had therefore retired to

places at a remote distance from the centre of their nation. For we

have two branches of this great nation settled in other parts of the

colony, who have preserved the greatest part of the customs of the

Natchez. One of these branches is the nation of the Taensas on the

banks of the Mobile, who preserve the eternal fire, and several other

usages of the nation from whom they are descended. The other branch is

the nation of the Chitimachas, whom the Natchez have always looked

upon as their brethren.

Forty leagues north from the Natchez is the river Yasous, which runs

into the Missisippi, and is so called from a nation of the same name

who had about a hundred huts on its banks.

Near the Yazous, on the same river, lived the Coroas, a nation

consisting of about forty huts. These two nations pronounce the letter

R.

Upon the same river likewise lived the Chacchi-Oumas, a name which

signifies _red Cray-fish_. These people had not above fifty huts.

Near the same river dwelt the Ouse-Ogoulas, or the Nation of the Dog,

which might have about sixty huts.

The Tapoussas likewise inhabited upon the banks of this river, and had

not above twenty-five huts. These three last nations do not pronounce

the letter R, and seem to be branches of the Chicasaws, especially as

they speak their language. Since the massacre of the French settlers

at the Natchez, these five small nations, who had joined in the

conspiracy against us, have all retired among the Chicasaws, and make

now but one nation with them.

To the north of the Ohio, not far from the banks of the Missisippi,

inhabit the Illinois, who have given their name to the river on the

banks of which they have settled. They are divided into several

villages, such as the Tamaroas, the Caskaquias, {301} the Caouquias,

the Pimiteouis, and some others. Near the village of the Tamaroas is a

French post, where several French Canadians have settled.

This is one of the most considerable posts in all Louisiana, which

will appear not at all surprising, when we consider that the Illinois

were one of the first nations whom we discovered in the colony, and

that they have always remained most faithful allies of the French; an

advantage which is in a great measure owing to the proper manner of

living with the natives of America, which the Canadians have always

observed. It is not their want of courage that renders them so

peaceable, for their valour is well known. The letter R is pronounced

by the Illinois.

Proceeding further northwards we meet with a pretty large nation,

known by the name of the Foxes, with whom we have been at war near

these forty years past, yet I have not heard that we have had any

blows with them for a long time.

From the Foxes to the fall of St. Anthony, we meet with no nation, nor

any above the Fall for near an hundred leagues. About that distance

north of the Fall, the Sioux are settled, and are said to inhabit

several scattered villages both on the east and west of the

Missisippi.

SECTION II.

_Of the Nations inhabiting on the West of the_ Missisippi.

Having described as exactly as possible all the nations on the east of

the Missisippi, as well those who are included within the bounds of

the colony, as those who are adjoining to it, and have some connection

with the others; I shall now proceed to give an account of those who

inhabit on the west of the river, from the sea northwards.

Between the river Missisippi, and those lakes which are filled by its

waters upon their overflowing, is a small nation named Chaouchas, or

Ouachas, who inhabit some little villages, but are of so little

consequences that they are no otherwise known to our colonists but by

their name.

{302} In the neighbourhood of the lakes abovementioned live the

Chitimachas. These are the remains of a nation which was formerly

pretty considerable; but we have destroyed part of them by exciting

our allies to attack them. I have already observed that they were a

branch of the Natchez, and upon my first settling among these, I found

several Chitimachas, who had taken refuge among them to avoid the

calamities of the war which had been made upon them near the lakes.

Since the peace that was concluded with them in 1719, they have not

only remained quiet, but kept themselves so prudently retired, that,

rather than have any intercourse with the French, or traffic with them

for what they look upon as superfluities, they choose to live in the

manner they did an hundred years ago.

Along the west coast, not far from the sea, inhabit the nation named

Atacapas, that is, Man-eaters, being so called by the other nations on

account of their detestable custom of eating their enemies, or such as

they believe to be their enemies. In this vast country there are no

other cannibals to be met with besides the Atacapas; and since the

French have gone among them, they have raised in them so great an

horror of that abominable practice of devouring creatures of their own

species, that they have promised to leave it off; and accordingly for

a long time past we have heard of no such barbarity among them.

The Bayouc-Ogoulas were formerly situated in the country that still

bears their name. This nation is now confounded with the others to

whom it is joined.

The Oque-Loussas are a small nation situated north-west from the Cut

Point. They live on the banks of two small lakes, the waters of which

appear black by reason of the great number of leaves which cover the

bottom of them, and have given name to the nation, Oque-Loussas in

their language signifying Black Water.

From the Oque-Loussas to the Red River, we meet with no other nation;

but upon the banks of this river, a little above the Rapid, is seated

the small nation of the Avoyels. These are the people who bring to our

settlers horses, oxen, and cows. {303} I know not in what fair they

buy them, nor with what money they pay for them; but the truth is,

they sell them to us for about seventeen shillings a-piece. The

Spaniards of New-Spain have such numbers of them that they do not know

what to do with them, and are obliged to those who will take them off

their hands. At present the French have a greater number of them than

they want, especially of horses.

About fifty leagues higher up the Red River, live the Nachitoches,

near a French post of the same name. They are a pretty considerable

nation, having about two hundred huts. They have always been greatly

attached to the French; but never were friends to the Spaniards. There

are some branches of this nation situated further westward; but the

huts are not numerous.

Three hundred miles west from the Missisippi, upon the Red River, we

find the great nation of the Cadodaquioux. It is divided into several

branches which extend very widely. This people, as well as the

Nachitoches, have a peculiar language; however, there is not a village

in either of the nations, nor indeed in any nation of Louisiana, where

there are not some who can speak the Chicasaw language, which is

called the vulgar tongue, and is the same here as the Lingua Franca is

in the Levant.

Between the Red River and the Arkansas there is at present no nation.

Formerly the Ouachites lived upon the Black River, and gave their name

to it; but at this time there are no remains of that nation; the

Chicasaws having destroyed great part of them, and the rest took

refuge among the Cadodaquioux, where their enemies durst not molest

them. The Taensas lived formerly in this neighbourhood upon a river of

their name; but they took refuge on the banks of the Mobile near the

allies of the Chicasaws, who leave them undisturbed.

The nation of the Arkansas have given their name to the river on which

they are situated, about four leagues from its confluence with the

Missisippi. This nation is pretty considerable, and its men are no

less distinguished for being good hunters than stout warriors. The

Chicasaws, who are of a {304} restless disposition, have more than

once wanted to make trial of the bravery of the Arkansas; but they

were opposed with such firmness, that they have now laid aside all

thoughts of attacking them, especially since they have been joined by

the Kappas, the Michigamias, and a part of the Illinois, who have

settled among them. Accordingly there is no longer any mention either

of the Kappas or Michigamias, who are now all adopted by the Arkansas.

The reader may have already observed in this account of the natives of

Louisiana, that several nations of those people had joined themselves

to others, either because they could no longer resist their enemies,

or because they hoped to improve their condition by intermixing with

another nation. I am glad to have this occasion of observing that

those people respect the rights of hospitality, and that those rights

always prevail, notwithstanding any superiority that one nation may

have over another with whom they are at war, or even over those people

among whom their enemies take refuge. For example, a nation of two

thousand warriors makes war upon, and violently pursues another nation

of five hundred warriors, who retire among a nation in alliance with

their enemies. If this last nation adopt the five hundred, the first

nation, though two thousand in number, immediately lay down their

arms, and instead of continuing hostilities, reckon the adopted nation

among the number of their allies.

Besides the Arkansas, some authors place other nations upon their

river. I cannot take upon me to say that there never were any; but I

can positively affirm, from my own observation upon the spot, that no

other nation is to be met with at present on this river, or even as

far as the Missouri.

Not far from the river Missouri is situated the nation of the Osages,

upon a small river of the same name. This nation is said to have been

pretty considerable formerly, but at present they can neither be said

to be great nor small.

The nation of the Missouris is very considerable, and has given its

name to the large river that empties itself into the Missisippi. It is

the first nation we meet with from the confluence {305} of the two

rivers, and yet it is situated above forty leagues up the Missouri.

The French had a settlement pretty near this nation, at the time when

M. de Bourgmont was commandant in those parts; but soon after he left

them, the inhabitants massacred the French garrison.

The Spaniards, as well as our other neighbours, being continually

jealous of our superiority over them, formed a design of establishing

themselves among the Missouris, about forty leagues from the Illinois,

in order to limit our boundaries westward. They judged it necessary,

for the security of their colony, entirely to cut off the Missouris,

and for that purpose they courted the friendship of the Osages, whose

assistance they thought would be of service to them in their

enterprize, and who were generally at enmity with the Missouris. A

company of Spaniards, men, women, and soldiers, accordingly set out

from Santa Fe, having a Dominican for their chaplain, and an engineer

for their guide and commander. The caravan was furnished with horses,

and all other kinds of beasts necessary; for it is one of their

prudent maxims, to send off all those things together. By a fatal

mistake the Spaniards arrived first among the Missouris, whom they

mistook for the Osages, and imprudently discovering their hostile

intentions, they were themselves surprised and cut off by those whom

they intended for destruction. The Missouris some time afterwards

dressed themselves with the ornaments of the chapel; and carried them

in a kind of triumphant procession to the French commandant among the

Illinois. Along with the ornaments they brought a Spanish map, which

seemed to me to be a better draught of the west part of our colony,

towards them, than of the countries we are most concerned with. From

this map it appears, that we ought to bend the Red River, and that of

the Arkansas, somewhat more, and place the source of the Missisippi

more westerly than our geographers do.

The principal nations who inhabit upon the banks, or in the

neighbourhood of the Missouri, are, besides those already mentioned,

the Canzas, the Othoues, the White Panis, the Black Panis, the

Panimachas, the Aiouez, and the Padoucas. The most numerous of all

those nations are the Padoucas, the smallest {306} are the Aiouez, the

Othoues, and the Osages; the others are pretty considerable.

To the north of all those nations, and near the river Missisippi, it

is pretended that a part of the nation of the Sioux have their

residence. Some affirm that they inhabit now on one side of the river,

now on another. From what I could learn from travellers, I am inclined

to think, that they occupy at the same time both sides of the

Missisippi, and their settlements, as I have elsewhere observed, are

more than an hundred leagues above the Fall of St. Anthony. But we

need not yet disquiet ourselves about the advantages which might

result to us from those very remote countries. Many ages must pass

before we can penetrate into the northern parts of Louisiana.

CHAPTER III.

_A Description of the natives of_ Louisiana; _of their manners and

customs, particularly those of the_ Natchez: _of their language, their

religion, ceremonies_, Rulers _or_ Suns, _feasts, marriages, &c._

SECTION I.

_A description of the natives; the different employments of the two

sexes; and their manner of bringing up their children._

In the concise history which I have given of the people of Louisiana,

and in several other places where I have happened to mention them, the

reader may have observed that these nations have not all the same

character, altho' they live adjoining to each other. He therefore

ought not to expect a perfect uniformity in their manners, or that I

should describe all the different usages that prevail in different

parts, which would create a disagreeable medley, and tend only to

confound his ideas which cannot be too clear. My design is only to

shew in general, from the character of those people, what course we

ought to observe, in order to draw advantage from our intercourse with

them. I shall however be more full in speaking of the Natchez, a

populous nation, among whom I lived the space of eight years, and

whose sovereign, the chief of war, and the chief of the keepers of the

temple, were among my most intimate {307} friends. Besides, their

manners were more civilized, their manner of thinking more just and

fuller of sentiment, their customs more reasonable, and their

ceremonies more natural and serious; on all which accounts they were

eminently distinguished above the other nations.

All the natives of America in general are extremely well made; very

few of them are to be seen under five feet and a half, and very many

of them above that; their leg seems as if it was fashioned in a mould;

it is nervous, and the calf is firm; they are long waisted; their head

is upright and somewhat flat in the upper part, and their features are

regular; they have black eyes, and thick black hair without curls. If

we see none that are extremely fat and pursy, neither do we meet with

any that are so lean as if they were in a consumption. The men in

general are better made than the women; they are more nervous, and the

women more plump and fleshy; the men are almost all large, and the

women of a middle size. I have always been inclined to think, that the

care they take of their children in their infancy contributes greatly

to their fine shapes, tho' the climate has also its share in that, for

the French born in Louisiana are all large, well shaped, and of good

flesh and blood.

When any of the women of the natives is delivered, she goes

immediately to the water and washes herself and the infant; she then

comes home and lies down, after having disposed her infant in the

cradle, which is about two feet and a half long, nine inches broad,

and half a foot deep, being formed of straight pieces of cane bent up

at one end, to serve for a foot or stay. Betwixt the canes and the

infant is a kind of matrass of the tufted herb called Spanish Beard,

and under its head is a little skin cushion, stuffed with the same

herb. The infant is laid on its back in the cradle, and fastened to it

by the shoulders, the arms, the legs, the thighs, and the hips; and

over its forehead are laid two bands of deer-skin which keeps its head

to the cushion, and renders that part flat. As the cradle does not

weigh much above two pounds, it generally lies on the mother's bed,

who suckles the infant occasionally. The infant is rocked not

side-ways but end-ways, and when it is a {308} month old they put

under its knees garters made of buffalo's wool which is very soft, and

above the ankle bones they bind the legs with threads of the same wool

for the breadth of three or four inches. And these ligatures the child

wears till it be four or five years old.

The infants of the natives are white when they are born, but they soon

turn brown, as they are rubbed with bear's oil and exposed to the sun.

They rub them with oil, both to render their nerves more flexible, and

also to prevent the flies from stinging them, as they suffer them to

roll about naked upon all fours, before they are able to walk upright.

They never put them upon their legs till they are a year old, and they

suffer them to suck as long as they please, unless the mother prove

with child, in which case she ceases to suckle.

When the boys are about twelve years of age, they give them a bow and

arrows proportioned to their strength, and in order to exercise them

they tie some hay, about twice as large as the fist, to the end of a

pole about ten feet high. He who brings down the hay receives the

prize from an old man who is always present: the best shooter is

called the young warrior, the next best is called the apprentice

warrior, and so on of the others, who are prompted to excel more by

sentiments of honour than by blows.

As they are threatened from their most tender infancy with the

resentment of the old man, if they are any ways refractory or do any

mischievous tricks, which is very rare, they fear and respect him above

every one else. This old man is frequently the great-grandfather, or

the great-great-grand-father of the family, for those natives live to a

very great age. I have seen some of them not able to walk, without

having any other distemper or infirmity than old age, so that when the

necessities of nature required it, or they wanted to take the air, they

were obliged to be carried out of their hut, an assistance which is

always readily offered to the old men. The respect paid to them by

their family is so great, that they are looked upon as the judges of

all differences, and their counsels are decrees. An old man who is the

head of a family is called father, even by his grand-children, and

great-grand-children, {309} who to distinguish their immediate father

call him their true father.

If any of their young people happen to fight, which I never saw nor

heard of during the whole time I resided in their neighbourhood, they

threaten to put them in a hut at a great distance from their nation,

as persons unworthy to live among others; and this is repeated to them

so often, that if they happen to have had a battle, they take care

never to have another. I have already observed that I studied them a

considerable number of years; and I never could learn that there ever

were any disputes or boxing matches among either their boys or men.

As the children grow up, the fathers and mothers take care each to

accustom those of their own sex to the labours and exercises suited to

them, and they have no great trouble to keep them employed; but it

must be confessed that the girls and the women work more than the men

and the boys. These last go a hunting and fishing, cut the wood, the

smallest bits of which are carried home by the women; they clear the

fields for corn, and hoe it; and on days when they cannot go abroad

they amuse themselves with making, after their fashion, pickaxes,

oars, paddles, and other instruments, which once made last a long

while. The women on the other hand have their children to bring up,

have to pound the maiz for the subsistence of the family, have to keep

up the fire, and to make a great many utensils, which require a good

deal of work, and last but a short time, such as their earthen ware,

their matts, their clothes, and a thousand other things of that kind.

When the children are about ten or twelve years of age they accustom

them by degrees to carry small loads, which they increase with their

years. The boys are from time to time exercised in running; but they

never suffer them to exhaust themselves by the length of the race,

lest they should overheat themselves. The more nimble at that exercise

sometimes sportfully challenges those who are more slow and heavy; but

the old man who presides hinders the raillery from being carried to

any excess, carefully avoiding all subjects of quarrel and dispute, on

which account doubtless it is that they will never suffer them to

wrestle.

{310} Both boys and girls are early accustomed to bathe every morning,

in order to strengthen the nerves, and harden them against cold and

fatigue, and likewise to teach them to swim, that they may avoid or

pursue an enemy, even across a river. The boys and girls, from the

time they are three years of age, are called out every morning by an

old man, to go to the river; and here is some more employment for the

mothers who accompany them thither to teach them to swim. Those who

can swim tolerably well, make a great noise in winter by beating the

water in order to frighten away the crocodiles, and keep themselves

warm.

The reader will have observed that most of the labour and fatigue

falls to the share of the women; but I can declare that I never heard

them complain of their fatigues, unless of the trouble their children

gave them, which complaint arose as much from maternal affection, as

from any attention that the children required. The girls from their

infancy have it instilled into them, that if they are sluttish or

unhandy they will have none but a dull aukward fellow for their

husband; I observed in all the nations I visited, that this

threatening was never lost upon the young girls.

I would not have it thought however, that the young men are altogether

idle. Their occupations indeed are not of such a long continuance; but

they are much more laborious. As the men have occasion for more

strength, reason requires that they should not exhaust themselves in

their youth; but at the same time they are not exempted from those

exercises that fit them for war and hunting. The children are educated

without blows; and the body is left at full liberty to grow, and to

form and strengthen itself with their years. The youths accompany the

men in hunting, in order to learn the wiles and tricks necessary to be

practised in the field, and accustom themselves to suffering and

patience. When they are full grown men, they dress the field or waste

land, and prepare it to receive the seed; they go to war or hunting,

dress the skins, cut the wood, make their bows and arrows, and assist

each other in building their huts.

They have still I allow a great deal of more spare time than the

women; but this is not all thrown away. As these {311} people have not

the assistance of writing, they are obliged to have recourse to

tradition, in order to preserve the remembrance of any remarkable

transactions; and this tradition cannot be learned but by frequent

repetitions, consequently many of the youths are often employed in

hearing the old men narrate the history of their ancestors, which is

thus transmitted from generation to generation. In order to preserve

their traditions pure and uncorrupt, they are careful not to deliver

them indifferently to all their young people, but teach them only to

those young men of whom they have the best opinion.

SECTION II.

_Of the language, government, religion, ceremonies, and feasts of the

natives._

During my residence among the Natchez I contracted an intimate

friendship, not only with the chiefs or guardians of the temple, but

with the Great Sun, or the sovereign of the nation, and his brother

the Stung Serpent, the chief of the warriors; and by my great intimacy

with them, and the respect I acquired among the people, I easily

learned the peculiar language of the nation.

This language is easy in the pronunciation, and expressive in the

terms. The natives, like the Orientals, speak much in a figurative

stile, the Natchez in particular more than any other people of

Louisiana. They have two languages, that of the nobles and that of the

people, and both are very copious. I will give two or three examples

to shew the difference of these two languages. When I call one of the

common people, I say to him _aquenan_, that is, hark ye: if, on the

other hand, I want to speak to a Sun, or one of their nobles, I say to

him, _magani_, which signifies, hark ye. If one of the common people

call at my house, I say to him, _tachte-cabanacte, are you there_, or I

am glad to see you, which is equivalent to our goodmorrow. I express

the same thing to a Sun by the word _apapegouaiché_. Again, according to

their custom, I say to one of the common people, _petchi, sit you down_;

but to a Sun, when I desire him to sit down, I say, _caham_. The two

languages are {312} nearly the same in all other respects; for the

difference of expression seems only to take place in matters relating

to the persons of the Suns and nobles, in distinction from those of

the people.

Tho' the women speak the same language with the men, yet, in their

manner of pronunciation, they soften and smooth the words, whereas the

speech of the men is more grave and serious. The French, by chiefly

frequenting the women, contracted their manner of speaking, which was

ridiculed as an effeminacy by the women, as well as the men, among the

natives.

From my conversations with the chief of the guardians of the temple, I

discovered that they acknowledged a supreme being, whom they called

_Coyococop-Chill_, or _Great Spirit_. The _Spirit infinitely great_, or

the _Spirit_ by way of excellence. The word _chill_, in their language,

signifies the most superlative degree of perfection, and is added by

them to the word which signifies _fire_, when they want to mention the

Sun; thus _Oua_ is _fire_, and _Oua-chill_ is the _supreme fire_, or the

_Sun_; therefore, by the word _Coyocop-Chill_ they mean a spirit that

surpasses other spirits as much as the sun does common fire.

"God," according to the definition of the guardian of the temple, "was

so great and powerful, that, in comparison with him, all other things

were as nothing; he had made all that we see, all that we can see, and

all that we cannot see; he was so good, that he could not do ill to

any one, even if he had a mind to it. They believe that God had made

all things by his will; that nevertheless the little spirits, who are

his servants, might, by his orders, have made many excellent works in

the universe, which we admire; but that God himself had formed man

with his own hands."

The guardian added, that they named those little spirits,

_Coyocop-techou_, that is, a _free servant_, but as submissive and as

respectful as a slave; that those spirits were always present before

God, ready to execute his pleasure with an extreme diligence; that the

air was filled with other spirits, some good some wicked; and that the

latter had a chief, who was more {313} wicked than them all; that God

had found him so wicked, that he had bound him for ever, so that the

other spirits of the air no longer did so much harm, especially when

they were by prayers entreated not to do it; for it is one of the

religious customs of those people to invoke the spirits of the air for

rain or fine weather, according as each is needed. I have seen the

Great Sun fast for nine days together, eating nothing but maiz-corn,

without meat or fish, drinking nothing but water, and abstaining from

the company of his wives during the whole time. He underwent this

rigorous fast out of complaisance to some Frenchmen, who had been

complaining that it had not rained for a long time. Those

inconsiderate people had not remarked, that notwithstanding the want

of rain, the fruits of the earth had not suffered, as the dew is so

plentiful in summer as fully to supply that deficiency.

The guardian of the temple having told me that God had made man with

his own hands, I asked him if he knew how that was done. He answered,

"that God had kneaded some clay, such as that which potters use, and

had made it into a little man; and that after examining it, and

finding it well formed, he blew up his work, and forthwith that little

man had life, grew, acted, walked, and found himself a man perfectly

well shaped." As he made no mention of the woman, I asked him how he

believed she was made; he told me, "that probably in the same manner

as the man; that their _antient speech_ made no mention of any

difference, only told them that the man was made first, and was the

strongest and most courageous, because he was to be the head and

support of the woman, who was made to be his companion."

Here I did not omit to rectify his notions on the subjects we had been

talking about, and to give him those just ideas which religion teaches

us, and the sacred writings have transmitted to us. He hearkened to me

with great attention, and promised to repeat all that I had told him

to the old men of his nation, who certainly would not forget it;

adding, that we were very happy in being able to retain the knowledge

of such fine things by means of the speaking cloth, so they name books

and manuscripts.

{314} I next proceeded to ask him, who had taught them to build a

temple; whence had they their eternal fire, which they preserved with

so much care; and who was the person that first instituted their

feasts? He replied, "The charge I am entrusted with obliges me to know

all these things you ask of me; I will therefore satisfy you: hearken

to me. A great number of years ago there appeared among us a man and

his wife, who came down from the sun. Not that we believe that the sun

had a wife who bore him children, or that these were the descendants

of the sun; but when they first appeared among us they were so bright

and luminous that we had no difficulty to believe that they came down

from the sun. This man told us, that having seen from on high that we

did not govern ourselves well; that we had no master; that each of us

had presumption enough to think himself capable of governing others,

while he could not even conduct himself; he had thought fit to come

down among us to teach us to live better.

"He moreover told us, that in order to live in peace among ourselves,

and to please the supreme Spirit, we must indispensably observe the

following points; we must never kill any one but in defence of our own

lives; we must never know any other woman besides our own; we must

never take any thing that belongs to another; we must never lye nor

get drunk; we must not be avaricious, but must give liberally, and

with joy, part of what we have to others who are in want, and

generously share our subsistence with those who are in need of it."

"The words of this man deeply affected us, for he spoke them with

authority, and he procured the respect even of the old men themselves,

tho' he reprehended them as freely as the rest. Next day we offered to

acknowledge him as our sovereign. He at first refused, saying that he

should not be obeyed, and that the disobedient would infallibly die;

but at length he accepted the offer that was made him on the following

condition:

"That we would go and inhabit another country, better than that in

which we were, which he would shew us; that we would afterwards live

conformable to the instructions he had given us; that we would promise

never to acknowledge any {315} other sovereigns but him and his

descendants; that the nobility should be perpetuated by the women

after this manner; if I, said he, have male and female children, they

being brothers and sisters cannot marry together; the eldest boy may

chuse a wife from among the people, but his sons shall be only nobles;

the children of the eldest girl, on the other hand, shall be princes

and princesses, and her eldest son be sovereign; but her eldest

daughter be the mother of the next sovereign, even tho' she should

marry one of the common people; and, in defect of the eldest daughter,

the next female relation to the person reigning shall be the mother of

the future sovereign; the sons of the sovereign and princes shall lose

their rank, but the daughters shall preserve theirs."

"He then told us, that in order to preserve the excellent precepts he

had given us, it was necessary to build a temple, into which it should

be lawful for none but the princes and princesses to enter, to speak

to the Spirit. That in the temple they should eternally preserve a

fire, which he would bring down from the sun, from whence he himself

had descended, that the wood with which the fire was supplied should

be pure wood without bark; that eight wise men of the nation should be

chosen for guarding the fire night and day; that those eight men

should have a chief, who should see them do their duty, and that if

any of them failed in it he should be put to death. He likewise

ordered another temple to be built in a distant part of our nation,

which was then very populous, and the eternal fire to be kept there

also, that in case it should be extinguished in the one it might be

brought from the other; in which case, till it was again lighted, the

nation would be afflicted with a great mortality."

"Our nation having consented to these conditions, he agreed to be our

sovereign; and in presence of all the people he brought down the fire

from the sun, upon some wood of the walnut-tree which he had prepared,

which fire was deposited in both the temples. He lived a long time,

and saw his children's children. To conclude, he instituted our feasts

such as you see them."

The Natchez have neither sacrifices, libations, nor offerings: their

whole worship consists in preserving the eternal {316} fire, and this

the Great Sun watches over with a peculiar attention. The Sun, who

reigned when I was in the country, was extremely solicitous about it,

and visited the temple every day. His vigilance had been awakened by a

terrible hurricane which some years before had happened in the

country, and was looked upon as an extraordinary event, the air being

generally clear and serene in that climate. If to that calamity should

be joined the extinction of the eternal fire, he was apprehensive

their whole nation would be destroyed.

One day, when the Great Sun called upon me, he gave me an account of a

dreadful calamity that had formerly befallen the nation of the

Natchez, in consequence, as he believed, of the extinction of the

eternal fire. He introduced his account in the following manner: "Our

nation was formerly very numerous and very powerful; it extended more

than twelve days journey from east to west, and more than fifteen from

south to north. We reckoned then 500 Suns, and you may judge by that

what was the number of the nobles, of the people of rank, and the

common people. Now in times past it happened, that one of the two

guardians, who were upon duty in the temple, left it on some business,

and the other fell asleep, and suffered the fire to go out. When he

awaked and saw that he had incurred the penalty of death, he went and

got some profane fire, as tho' he had been going to light his pipe,

and with that he renewed the eternal fire. His transgression was by

that means concealed; but a dreadful mortality immediately ensued, and

raged for four years, during which many Suns and an infinite number of

the people died.

"The guardian at length sickened, and found himself dying, upon which

he sent for the Great Sun, and confessed the heinous crime he had been

guilty of. The old men were immediately assembled, and, by their

advice, fire being snatched from the other temple, and brought into

this, the mortality quickly ceased." Upon my asking him what he meant

by "snatching the fire," he replied, "that it must always be brought

away by violence, and that some blood must be shed, unless some tree

on the road was set on fire by lightning, and {317} then the fire

might be brought from thence; but that the fire of the sun was always

preferable."

It is impossible to express his astonishment when I told him, that it

was a trifling matter to bring down fire from the sun, and that I had it

in my power to do it whenever I pleased. As he was extremely desirous to

see me perform that seeming miracle, I took the smallest of two burning

glasses which I had brought from France, and placing some dry punk (or

agaric) upon a chip of wood, I drew the focus of the glass upon it, and

with a tone of authority pronounced the word _Caheuch_, that is, _come_,

as tho' I had been commanding the fire to come down. The punk

immediately smoking, I blew a little and made it flame to the utter

astonishment of the Great Sun and his whole retinue, some of whom stood

trembling with amazement and religious awe. The prince himself could not

help exclaiming, "Ah, what an extraordinary thing is here!" I confirmed

him in his idea, by telling him, that I greatly loved and esteemed that

useful instrument, as it was most valuable, and was given to me by my

grandfather, who was a very learned man.

Upon his asking me, if another man could do the same thing with that

instrument that he had seen me do, I told him that every man might do

it, and I encouraged him to make the experiment himself. I accordingly

put the glass in his hand, and leading it with mine over another piece

of agaric, I desired him to pronounce the word _Caheuch_, which he did,

but with a very faint and diffident tone; nevertheless, to his great

amazement, he saw the agaric begin to smoke, which so confounded him

that he dropt both the chip on which it was laid and the glass out of

his hands, crying out, "Ah, what a miracle!"

Their curiosity being now fully raised, they held a consultation in my

yard, and resolved to purchase at any rate my wonderful glass, which

would prevent any future mortality in their nation, in consequence of

the extinction of the eternal fire. I, in the mean time, had gone out

to my field, as if about some business; but in reality to have a

hearty laugh at the comical scene which I had just occasioned. Upon my

return the Great Sun entered my apartment with me, and laying his hand

upon mine, told me, that tho' he loved all the French, he {318} was

more my friend than of any of the rest, because most of the French

carried all their understanding upon their tongue, but that I carried

mine in my whole head and my whole body. After this preamble he

offered to bargain for my glass, and desired me to set what value I

pleased upon it, adding that he would not only cause the price to be

paid by all the families of the nation, but would declare to them that

they lay under an obligation to me for giving up to them a thing which

saved them from a general mortality. I replied, that tho' I bore his

whole nation in my heart, yet nothing made me part with my glass, but

my affection for him and his brother; that, besides, I asked nothing

in return but things necessary for my subsistence, such as corn,

fowls, game, and fish, when they brought him any of these. He offered

me twenty barrels of maiz, of 150 pounds each, twenty fowls, twenty

turkies, and told me that he would send me game and fish every time

his warriors brought him any, and his promise was punctually

fulfilled. He engaged likewise not to speak any thing about it to the

Frenchmen, lest they should be angry with me for parting with an

instrument of so great a value. Next day the glass was tried before a

general assembly of all the Suns, both men and women, the nobles, and

the men of rank, who all met together at the temple; and the same

effect being produced as the day before, the bargain was ratified; but

it was resolved not to mention the affair to the common people, who,

from their curiosity to know the secrets of their court, were

assembled in great numbers not far from the temple, but only to tell

them, that the whole nation of the Natchez were under great

obligations to me.

The Natchez are brought up in a most perfect submission to their

sovereign; the authority which their princes exercise over them is

absolutely despotic, and can be compared to nothing but that of the

first Ottoman emperors. Like these, the Great Sun is absolute master

of the lives and estates of his subjects, which he disposes of at his

pleasure, his will being the only law; but he has this singular

advantage over the Ottoman princes, that he has no occasion to fear

any seditious tumults, or any conspiracy against his person. If he

orders a man guilty of a capital crime to be put to death, the

criminal {319} neither supplicates, nor procures intercession to be

made for his life, nor attempts to run away. The order of the

sovereign is executed on the spot, and nobody murmurs. But however

absolute the authority of the Great Sun may be, and although a number

of warriors and others attach themselves to him, to serve him, to

follow him wherever he goes, and to hunt for him, yet he raises no

stated impositions; and what he receives from those people appears

given, not so much as a right due, as a voluntary homage, and a

testimony of their love and gratitude.

The Natchez begin their year in the month of March, as was the

practice a long time in Europe, and divide it into thirteen moons. At

every new moon they celebrate a feast, which takes its name from the

principal fruits reaped in the preceding moon, or from animals that

are then usually hunted. I shall give an account of one or two of

these feasts as concisely as I can.

The first moon is called that of the Deer, and begins their new year,

which is celebrated by them with universal joy, and is at the same

time an anniversary memorial of one of the most interesting events in

their history. In former times a Great Sun, upon hearing a sudden

tumult in his village, had left his hut in a great hurry, in order to

appease it, and fell into the hands of his enemies; but was quickly

after rescued by his warriors, who repulsed the invaders, and put them

to flight.

In order to preserve the remembrance of this honourable exploit, the

warriors divide themselves into two bodies, distinguished from each

other by the colour of their feathers. One of these bodies represents

the invaders, and after raising loud shouts and cries, seize the Great

Sun, who comes out of his hut undressed, and rubbing his eyes, as

though he were just awake. The Great Sun defends himself intrepidly

with a wooden tomahawk, and lays a great many of his enemies upon the

ground, without however giving them a single blow, for he only seems

to touch them with his weapon. In the mean time the other party come

out of their ambuscade, attack the invaders, and, after fighting with

them for some time, rescue their prince, and drive them into a wood,

which is represented by an arbour {320} made of canes. During the

whole time of the skirmish, the parties keep up the war-cry, or the

cry of terror, as each of them seem to be victors or vanquished. The

Great Sun is brought back to his hut in a triumphant manner; and the

old men, women, and children, who were spectators of the engagement,

rend the sky with their joyful acclamations. The Great Sun continues

in his hut about half an hour, to repose himself after his great

fatigues, which are such that an actor of thirty years of age would

with difficulty have supported them, and he however, when I saw this

feast, was above ninety. He then makes his appearance again to the

people, who salute him with loud acclamations, which cease upon his

proceeding towards the temple. When he is arrived in the middle of the

court before the temple, he makes several gesticulations, then

stretches out his arms horizontally, and remains in that posture

motionless as a statute for half an hour. He is then relieved by the

master of the ceremonies, who places himself in the same attitude, and

half an hour after is relieved by the great chief of war, who remains

as long in the same posture. When this ceremony is over, the Great

Sun, who, when he was relieved, had returned to his hut, appears again

before the people in the ornaments of his dignity, is placed upon his

throne, which is a large stool with four feet cut out of one piece of

wood, has a fine buffalo's skin thrown over his shoulders, and several

furs laid upon his feet, and receives various presents from the women,

who all the while continue to express their joy by their shouts and

acclamations. Strangers are then invited to dine with the Great Sun,

and in the evening there is a dance in his hut, which is about thirty

feet square, and twenty feet high, and like the temple is built upon a

mount of earth, about eight feet high, and sixty feet over on the

surface.

The second moon, which answers to our April, is called the Strawberry

moon, as that fruit abounds then in great quantities.

The third moon is that of the Small Corn. This moon is often

impatiently looked for, their crop of large corn never sufficing to

nourish them from one harvest to another.

{321} The fourth is that of Water-melons, and answers to our June.

The fifth moon is that of the Fishes: in this month also they gather

grapes, if the birds have suffered them to ripen.

The sixth, which answers to our August, is that of the Mulberries. At

this feast they likewise carry fowls to the Great Sun.

The seventh, which is that of Maiz, or Great Corn. This feast is

beyond dispute the most solemn of all. It principally consists in

eating in common, and in a religious manner, of new corn, which had

been sown expressly with that design, with suitable ceremonies. This

corn is sown upon a spot of ground never before cultivated; which

ground is dressed and prepared by the warriors alone, who also are the

only persons that sow the corn, weed it, reap it, and gather it. When

this corn is near ripe, the warriors fix on a place proper for the

general feast, and close adjoining to that they form a round granary,

the bottom and sides of which are of cane; this they fill, with the

corn, and when they have finished the harvest, and covered the

granary, they acquaint the Great Sun, who appoints the day for the

general feast. Some days before the feast, they build huts for the

Great Sun, and for all the other families, round the granary, that of

the Great Sun being raised upon a mount of earth about two feet high.

On the feast-day the whole nation set out from their village at

sun-rising, leaving behind only the aged and infirm that are not able

to travel, and a few warriors, who are to carry the Great Sun on a

litter upon their shoulders. The seat of this litter is covered with

several deer skins, and to its four sides are fastened four bars which

cross each other, and are supported by eight men, who at every hundred

paces transfer their burden to eight other men, and thus successively

transport it to the place where the feast is celebrated, which may be

near two miles from the village. About nine o'clock the Great Sun

comes out of his hut dressed in the ornaments of his dignity, and

being placed in his litter, which has a canopy at the head formed of

flowers, he is carried in a few minutes to the sacred granary, shouts

of {322} joy re-echoing on all sides. Before he alights he makes the

tour of the whole place deliberately, and when he comes before the

corn, he salutes it thrice with the words, _hoo, hoo, hoo_, lengthened

and pronounced respectfully. The salutation is repeated by the whole

nation, who pronounce the word _hoo_ nine times distinctly, and at the

ninth time he alights and places himself on his throne.

Immediately after they light a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood

violently against each other, and when every thing is prepared for

dressing the corn, the chief of war, accompanied by the warriors

belonging to each family, presents himself before the throne, and

addresses the Sun in these words, "speak, for I hear thee." The

sovereign then rises up, bows towards the four quarters of the world,

and advancing to the granary, lifts his eyes and hands to heaven, and

says, "Give us corn:" upon which the great chief of war, the princes

and princesses, and all the men, thank him separately, by pronouncing

the word _hoo_. The corn is then distributed, first to the female Suns,

and then to all the women, who run with it to their huts, and dress it

with the utmost dispatch. When the corn is dressed in all the huts, a

plate of it is put into the hands of the Great Sun, who presents it to

the four quarters of the world, and then says to the chief of war,

_eat_; upon this signal the warriors begin to eat in all the huts; after

them the boys of whatever age, excepting those who are on the breast;

and last of all the women. When the warriors have finished their

repast, they form themselves into two choirs before the huts, and sing

war songs for half an hour; after which the chief of war, and all the

warriors in succession, recount their brave exploits, and mention, in

a boasting manner, the number of enemies they have slain. The youths

are next allowed to harangue, and each tells in the best manner he

can, not what he has done, but what he intends to do; and if his

discourse merits approbation, he is answered by a general _hoo_; if not,

the warriors hang down their heads and are silent.

This great solemnity is concluded with a general dance by torch-light.

Upwards of two hundred torches of dried canes, each of the thickness

of a child, are lighted round the place, {323} where the men and women

often continue dancing till day-light; and the following is the

disposition of their dance. A man places himself on the ground with a

pot covered with a deer-skin, in the manner of a drum, to beat time to

the dances; round him the women form themselves into a circle, not

joining hands, but at some distance from each other; and they are

inclosed by the men in another circle, who have in each hand a

chichicois, or calabash, with a stick thrust through it to serve for a

handle. When the dance begins, the women move round {324} the men in

the centre, from left to right, and the men contrariwise from right to

left, and they sometimes narrow and sometimes widen their circles. In

this manner the dance continues without intermission the whole night,

new performers successively taking the place of those who are wearied

and fatigued.

[Illustration: _Dance of the Natchez indians_ (on p. 323)]

Next morning no person is seen abroad before the Great Sun comes out

of his hut, which is generally about nine o'clock, and then upon

signal made by the drum, the warriors make their appearance

distinguished into two troops, by the feathers which they wear on

their heads. One of these troops is headed by the Great Sun, and the

other by the chief of war, who begin a new diversion by tossing a ball

of deer-skin stuffed with Spanish beard from the one to the other. The

warriors quickly take part in the sport, and a violent contest ensues

which of the two parties shall drive the ball to the hut of the

opposite chief. The diversion generally lasts two hours, and the

victors are allowed to wear the feathers of superiority till the

following year, or till the next time they play at the ball. After

this the warriors perform the war dance; and last of all they go and

bathe; an exercise which they are very fond of when they are heated or

fatigued.

The rest of that day is employed as the preceding; for the feasts

holds as long as any of the corn remains. When it is all eat up, the

Great Sun is carried back in his litter, and they all return to the

village, after which he sends the warriors to hunt both for themselves

and him.

The eighth moon is that of Turkies, and answers to our October.

The ninth moon is that of the Buffalo; and it is then they go to hunt

that animal. Having discovered whereabouts the herd feeds, they go out

in a body to hunt them. Young and old, girls and married women, except

those who are with child, are all of the party, for there is generally

work for them all. Some nations are a little later in going out to

this hunting, that they may find the cows fatter, and the herds more

numerous.

The tenth moon is that of Bears; at this time of hunting the feasts

are not so grand and solemn, because great part of the nations are

accompanying the hunters in their expeditions.

{325} The eleventh answers to our January, and is named as Cold-meal

Moon. The twelfth is that of Chesnuts. That fruit has been gathered

long before, nevertheless it gives its name to this moon.

Lastly, the thirteenth is that of Walnuts, and it is added to compleat

the year. It is then they break the nuts to make bread of them by

mixing with them the flour of Maiz.

The feasts which I saw celebrated in the chief village of the Natchez,

which is the residence of the Great Sun, are celebrated in the same

manner in all the villages of the nation, which are each governed by a

Sun, who is subordinate to the Great Sun, and acknowledge his absolute

authority.

It is not to be conceived how exact these people are in assigning the

pre-eminence to the men. In every assembly, whether of the whole

nation in general, or of several families together, or of one family,

the youngest boys have the preference to the women of the most

advanced age; and at their meals, when their food is distributed, none

is presented to the women, till all the males have received their

share, so that a boy of two years old is served before his mother.

The women being always employed, without ever being diverted from

their duty, or seduced by the gallantries of lovers, never think of

objecting to the propriety of a custom, in which they have been

constantly brought up. Never having seen any example that contradicted

it, they have not the least idea of varying from it. Thus being

submissive from the habit, as well as from reason, they, by their

docility, maintain that peace in their families, which they find

established upon entering them.

{326}

SECTION III.

_Of their Marriages, and Distinction of Ranks._

Paternal authority, as I have elsewhere observed, is not less sacred

and inviolable than the pre-eminence of the men. It still subsists

among the Natchez, such as it was in the first ages of the world. The

children belong to the father, and while he lives they are under his

power. They live with him, they, their wives, and their children; the

same hut contains the whole family. The old man alone commands there,

and nothing but death puts an end to his empire. As these people have

seldom or rather never any differences among them, the paternal

authority appears in nothing more conspicuous than in the marriages.

When the boys and girls arrive at the perfect age of puberty, they

visit each other familiarly, and are suffered so to do. The girls,

sensible that they will be no longer mistresses of their heart, when

once they are married, know how to dispose of it to advantage, and

form their wardrobe by the sale of their favours; for there, as well

as in other countries, nothing for nothing. The lover, far from having

any thing to object to this, on the contrary, rates the merit of his

future spouse, in proportion to the fruits she has produced. But when

they are married they have no longer any intrigues, neither the

husband nor the wife, because their heart is no longer their own. They

may divorce their wives; it is, however, so rare to see the man and

wife part, that during the eight years I lived in their neighbourhood,

I knew but one example of it, and then each took with them the

children of their own sex.

If a young man has obtained a girl's consent, and they desire to marry,

it is not their fathers, and much less their mothers, or male or female

relations who take upon them to, conclude the match; it is the heads of

the two families alone, who are usually great-grandfathers, and

sometimes more. These two old men have an interview, in which, after the

young man has formally made a demand of the girl, they examine if there

be any relation between the two parties, and if any, what degree {327}

it is; for they do not marry within the third degree. Notwithstanding

this interview, and the two parties be found not within the prohibited

degrees, yet if the proposed wife be disagreeable to the father,

grandfather, &c. of the husband, the match is never concluded. On the

other hand, ambition, avarice, and the other passions, so common with

us, never stifle in the breasts of the fathers those dictates of nature,

which make us desire to see ourselves perpetuated in our offspring, nor

influence them to thwart their children, improperly, and much less to

force their inclinations. By an admirable harmony, very worthy of our

imitation, they only marry those who love one another, and those who

love one another, are only married when their parents agree to it. It is

rare for young men to marry before they be five-and-twenty. Till they

arrive at that age they are looked upon as too weak, without

understanding and experience.

When the marriage-day is once fixed, preparations are made for it both

by the men and women; the men go a hunting, and the women prepare the

maiz, and deck out the young man's cabin to the best of their power.

On the wedding-day the old man on the part of the girl leaves his hut,

and conducts the bride to the hut of the bridegroom; his whole family

follow him in order and silence; those who are inclined to laugh or be

merry, indulging themselves only in a smile.

He finds before the other hut all the relations of the bridegroom, who

receive and salute him with their usual expression of congratulation,

namely, _hoo, hoo_, repeated several times. When he enters the hut, the

old man on the part of the bridegroom says to him in their language,

_are you there?_ to which he answers, _yes_. He is next desired to sit

down, and then not a word passes for near ten minutes, it being one of

their prudent customs to suffer a guest to rest himself a little after

his arrival, before they begin a conversation; and besides, they look

upon the time spent in compliments as thrown away.

After both the old men are fully rested, they rise, and the bridegroom

and bride appearing before them, they ask them, if they love each

other? and if they are willing to take one another for man and wife?

observing to them at the same time, {328} that they ought not to marry

unless they propose to live amicably together; that nobody forces

them, and that as they are each other's free choice, they will be

thrust out of the family if they do not live in peace. After this

remonstrance the father of the bridegroom delivers the present which

his son is to make into his hands, the bride's father at the same time

placing himself by her side. The bridegroom then addresses the bride;

"Will you have me for your husband?" she answers, "Most willingly, and

it gives me joy; love me, as well as I love you; for I love, and ever

will love none but you." At these words the bridegroom covers the head

of the bride with the present which he received from his father, and

says to her, "I love you, and have therefore taken you for my wife,

and this I give to your parents, to purchase you." He then gives the

present to the bride's father.

The husband wears a tuft of feathers fastened to his hair, which is in

the form of a cue, and hangs over his left ear, to which is fastened a

sprig of oak with the leaves on, and in his left hand he bears a bow

and arrows. The young wife bears in her left hand a small branch of

laurel, and in her right a stalk of maiz, which was delivered to her

by her mother at the time she received the present from her husband.

This stalk she presents to her husband, who takes it from her with his

right hand, and says, "I am your husband;" she answers, and "I am your

wife." They then shake hands reciprocally with each other's relations;

after which he leads her towards the bed, and says, "There is our bed,

keep it tight;" which is as much as to say, do not defile the nuptial

bed.

The marriage ceremony being thus concluded, the bridegroom and the

bride, with their friends, sit down to a repast, and in the evening

they begin their dances, which continue often till day-light.

The nation of the Natchez is composed of nobility and common people.

The common people are named in their language _Miche-Miche-Quipy_, that

is, _Stinkards_; a name however which gives them great offense, and

which it is proper to avoid pronouncing before them, as it would not

fail to put them into a very bad humour. The common people are to the

{329} last degree submissive to the nobility, who are divided into

Suns, nobles, and men of rank.

The Suns are the descendants of the man and woman who pretended to

have come down from the sun. Among the other laws they gave to the

Natchez, they ordained that their race should always be distinguished

from the bulk of the nation, and that none of them should ever be put

to death upon any account. They established likewise another usage

which is found among no other people, except a nation of Scythians

mentioned by Herodotus. They ordained that nobility should only be

transmitted by the women. Their male and female children were equally

named Suns, and regarded as such, but with this difference, that the

males enjoyed this privilege only in their own person, and during

their own lives. Their children had only the title of nobles, and the

male children of those nobles were only men of rank. Those men of

rank, however, if they distinguished themselves by their war-like

exploits, might raise themselves again to the rank of nobles; but

their children became only men of rank, and the children of those men

of rank, as well as of the others, were confounded with the common

people, and classed among the Stinkards. Thus as these people are very

long-lived, and frequently see the fourth generation, it often happens

that a Sun sees some of his posterity among the Stinkards; but they

are at great pains to conceal this degradation of their race,

especially from strangers, and almost totally disown those great-grand

children; for when they speak of them they only say, they are dear to

them. It is otherwise with the female posterity of the Suns, for they

continue through all generations to enjoy their rank. The descendants

of the Suns being pretty numerous, it might be expected that those who

are out of the prohibited degrees might intermarry, rather than ally

with the Stinkards; but a most barbarous custom obliges them to their

mis-alliances. When any of the Suns, either male or female, die, their

law ordains that the husband or wife of the Sun shall be put to death

on the day of the interment of the deceased: now as another law

prohibits the issue of the Suns from being put to death, it is

therefore impossible for the descendants of the Suns to match with

each other.

{330} Whether it be that they are tired of this law, or that they with

their Suns descended of French blood, I shall not determine; but the

wife of the Great Sun came one day to visit me so early in the morning

that I was not got out of bed. She was accompanied with her only

daughter, a girl between fourteen and fifteen years of age, handsome

and well shaped; but she only sent in her own name by my slave; so

that without getting up, I made no scruple of desiring her to come in.

When her daughter appeared I was not a little surprized; but I shook

hands with them both, and desired them to sit down. The daughter sat

down on the foot of my bed, and kept her eyes continually fixed on me,

while the mother addressed herself to me in the most serious and

pathetic tone. After some compliments to me, and commendations of our

customs and manners, she condemned the barbarous usages that prevailed

among themselves, and ended with proposing me as a husband for her

daughter, that I might have it in my power to civilize their nation by

abolishing their inhuman customs, and introducing those of the French.

As I foresaw the danger of such an alliance, which would be opposed by

the whole nation of the Natchez, and at the same time was sensible

that the resentment of a slighted woman is very formidable, I returned

her such an answer as might shew my great respect for her daughter,

and prevent her from making the same application to some brainless

Frenchman, who, by accepting the offer, might expose the French

settlement to some disastrous event. I told her that her daughter was

handsome, and pleased me much, as she had a good heart, and a well

turned mind; but the laws we received from the Great Spirit, forbad us

to marry women who did not pray; and that those Frenchmen who lived

with their daughters took them only for a time; but it was not proper

that the daughter of the Great Sun should be disposed of in that

manner. The mother acquiesced in my reasons; but when they took their

leave I perceived plainly that the daughter was far from being

satisfied. I never saw her from that day forwards; and I heard she was

soon after married to another.

From this relation the reader may perceive that there needs nothing

but prudence and good sense to persuade those people {331} to what is

reasonable, and to preserve their friendship without interruption. We

may safely affirm that the differences we have had with them have been

more owing to the French than to them. When they are treated

insolently or oppressively, they have no less sensibility of injuries

than others. If those who have occasion to live among them, will but

have sentiments of humanity, they will in them meet with men.

SECTION IV.

_Of the Temples, Tombs, Burials, and other religious Ceremonies of the

People of_ Louisiana.

I shall now proceed to give some account of the customs that prevail

in general among all the nations of North America; and these have a

great resemblance to each other, as there is hardly any difference in

the manner of thinking and acting among the several nations. These

people have no religion expressed by any external worship. The

strongest evidences that we discover of their having any religion at

all, are their temples, and the eternal fire therein kept up by some

of them. Some of them indeed do not keep up the eternal fire, and have

turned their temples into charnel-houses.

However, all those people, without exception, acknowledge a supreme

Being, but they never on any account address their prayers to him,

from their fixt belief that God, whom they call the Great Spirit, is

so good, that he cannot do evil, whatever provocation he may have.

They believe the existence of two Great Spirits, a good and a bad.

They do not, as I have said, invoke the Good Spirit; but they pray to

the bad, in order to avert from their persons and possessions the

evils which he might inflict upon them. They pray to the evil spirit,

not because they think him almighty; for it is the Good Spirit whom

they believe so; but because, according to them, he governs the air,

the seasons, the rain, the fine weather, and all that may benefit or

hurt the productions of the earth.

They are very superstitious in respect to the flight of birds, and the

passage of some animals that are seldom seen in their country. They

are much inclined to hear and believe {332} diviners, especially in

regard to discovering things to come; and they are kept in their

errors by the Jongleurs, who find their account in them.

The natives have all the same manner of bringing up their children,

and are in general well shaped, and their limbs are justly

proportioned. The Chicasaws are the most fierce and arrogant, which

they undoubtedly owe to their frequent intercourse with the English of

Carolina. They are brave; a disposition they may have inherited as the

remains of that martial spirit that prompted them to invade their

neighbouring nations, by which they themselves were at length greatly

weakened. All the nations on the north of the colony are likewise

brave, but they are more humane than the Chicasaws, and have not their

high-spirited pride. All these nations of the north, and all those of

Louisiana, have been inviolably attached to us ever since our

establishment in this colony. The misfortune of the Natchez, who,

without dispute, were the finest of all those nations, and who loved

us, ought not in the least to lessen our sentiments of those people,

who are in general distinguished for their natural goodness of

character. All those nations are prudent, and speak little; they are

sober in their diet, but they are passionately fond of brandy, though

they are singular in never tasting any wine, and neither know nor care

to learn any composition of liquors. In their meals they content

themselves with maiz prepared various ways, and sometimes they use

fish and flesh. The meat that they eat is chiefly recommended to them

for being wholesome; and therefore I have conjectured that dog's

flesh, for which we have such an aversion, must however be as good as

it is beautiful, since they rate it so highly as to use it by way of

preference in their feasts of ceremony. They eat no young game, as

they find plenty of the largest size, and do not think delicacy of

taste alone any recommendation; and therefore, in general, they would

not taste our ragouts, but, condemning them as unwholesome, prefer to

them gruel made of maiz, called in the colony Sagamity.

The Chactaws are the only ugly people among all the nations in

Louisiana; which is chiefly owing to the fat with which {333} they rub

their skin and their hair, and to their manner of defending themselves

against the moskitos, which they keep off by lighting fires of

fir-wood, and standing in the smoke.

Although all the people of Louisiana have nearly the same usages and

customs, yet as any nation is more or less populous, it has

proportionally more or fewer ceremonies. Thus when the French first

arrived in the colony, several nations kept up the eternal fire, and

observed other religious ceremonies, which they have now disused,

since their numbers have been greatly diminished. Many of them still

continue to have temples, but the common people never enter these, nor

strangers, unless peculiarly favoured by the nation. As I was an

intimate friend of the sovereign of the Natchez, he shewed me their

temple, which is about thirty feet square, and stands upon an

artificial mount about eight feet high, by the side of a small river.

The mount slopes insensibly from the main front, which is northwards,

but on the other sides it is somewhat steeper. The four corners of the

temple consist of four posts, about a foot and an half diameter, and

ten feet high, each made of the heart of the cypress tree, which is

incorruptible. The side-posts are of the same wood, but only about a

foot square; and the walls are of mud, about nine inches thick; so

that in the inside there is a hollow between every post. The inner

space is divided from east to west into two apartments one of which is

twice as large as the other. In the largest apartment the eternal fire

is kept, and there is likewise a table or altar in it, about four feet

high, six long, and two broad. Upon this table lie the bones of the

late Great Sun in a coffin of canes very neatly made. In the inner

apartment, which is very dark, as it receives no light but from the

door of communication, I could meet with nothing but two boards, on

which were placed some things like small toys, which I had not light

to peruse. The roof is in the form of a pavilion, and very neat both

within and without, and on the top of it are placed three wooden

birds, twice as large as a goose, with their heads turned towards the

east. The corner and side-posts, as has been mentioned, rise above the

earth ten feet high, and it is said they are as much sunk under

ground; it cannot therefore but appear surprising how the natives

could transport such large beams, fashion them, and raise them {334}

upright, when we know of no machines they had for that purpose.

Besides the eight guardians of the temple, two of whom are always on

watch, and the chief of those guardians, there also belongs to the

service of the temple a master of the ceremonies, who is also master

of the mysteries; since, according to them, he converses very

familiarly with the Spirit. Above all these persons is the Great Sun,

who is at the same time chief priest and sovereign of the nation. The

temples of some of the nations of Louisiana are very mean, and one

would often be apt to mistake them for the huts of private persons,

but to those who are acquainted with their manners, they are easily

distinguishable, as they have always before the door two posts formed

like the ancient Termini, that is, having the upper part cut into the

shape of a man's head. The door of the temple, which is pretty

weighty, is placed between the wall and those two posts, so that

children may not be able to remove it, to go and play in the temple.

The private huts have also posts before their doors, but these are

never formed like Termini.

None of the nations of Louisiana are acquainted with the custom of

burning their dead, which was practised by the Greeks and Romans; nor

with that of the Egyptians, who studied to preserve them to

perpetuity. The different American nations have a most religious

attention for their dead, and each have some peculiar customs in

respect to them; but all of them either inter them, or place them in

tombs, and carefully carry victuals to them for some time. These tombs

are either within their temples, or close adjoining to them, or in

their neighbourhood. They are raised about three feet above the earth,

and rest upon four pillars, which are forked stakes fixed fast in the

ground. The tomb, or rather bier, is about eight feet long, and a foot

and a half broad; and after the body is placed upon it, a kind of

basket-work of twigs is wove round it, and covered with mud, an

opening being left at the head for placing the victuals that are

presented to the dead person. When the body is all rotted but the

bones, these are taken out of the tomb, and placed in a box of canes,

which is deposited in the temple. They usually weep and lament for

their dead three days; but for those who are killed in war, they make

a much longer and more grievous lamentation.

{335} Among the Natchez the death of any of their Suns, as I have

before observed, is a most fatal event; for it is sure to be attended

with the destruction of a great number of people of both sexes. Early

in the spring 1725, the Stung Serpent, who was the brother of the

Great Sun, and my intimate friend, was seized with a mortal distemper,

which filled the whole nation of the Natchez with the greatest

consternation and terror; for the two brothers had mutually engaged to

follow each other to the land of spirits; and if the Great Sun should

kill himself for the sake of his brother, very many people would

likewise be put to death. When the Stung Serpent was despaired of, the

chief of the guardians of the temple came to me in the greatest

confusion, and acquainting me with the mutual engagements of the two

brothers, begged of me to interest myself in preserving the Great Sun,

and consequently a great part of the nation. He made the same request

to the commander of the fort. Accordingly we were no sooner informed

of the death of the Stung Serpent, than the commander, some of the

principal Frenchmen, and I, went in a body to the hut of the Great

Sun. We found him in despair; but, after some time, he seemed to be

influenced by the arguments I used to dissuade him from putting

himself to death. The death of the Stung Serpent was published by the

firing of two muskets, which were answered by the other villages, and

immediately cries and lamentations were heard on all sides. The Great

Sun, in the mean time, remained inconsolable, and sat bent forwards,

with his eyes towards the ground. In the evening, while we were still

in his hut, he made a sign to his favourite wife; who in consequence

of that threw a pailful of water on the fire, and extinguished it.

This was a signal for extinguishing all the fires of the nation, and

filled every one with terrible alarms, as it denoted that the Great

Sun was still resolved to put himself to death. I gently chided him

for altering his former resolution, but he assured me he had not, and

desired us to go and sleep securely. We accordingly left him,

pretending to rely on the assurance he had given us; but we took up

our lodging in the hut of his chief servants, and stationed a soldier

at the door of his hut, whom we ordered to give us notice of whatever

happened. There was no need to fear our being betrayed by the wife of

{336} the Great Sun, or any others about him; for none of them had the

least inclination to die, if they could help it. On the contrary, they

all expressed the greatest thankfulness and gratitude to us for our

endeavors to avert the threatened calamity from their nation.

Before we went to our lodgings we entered the hut of the deceased, and

found him on his bed of state, dressed in his finest cloaths, his face

painted with vermilion, shod as if for a journey, with his

feather-crown on his head. To his bed were fastened his arms, which

consisted of a double-barreled gun, a pistol, a bow, a quiver full of

arrows, and a tomahawk. Round his bed were placed all the calumets of

peace he had received during his life, and on a pole, planted in the

ground near it, hung a chain of forty-six rings of cane painted red,

to express the number of enemies he had slain. All his domesticks were

round him, and they presented victuals to him at the usual hours, as

if he were alive. The company in his hut were composed of his

favourite wife, of a second wife, which he kept in another village,

and visited when his favourite was with child; of his chancellor, his

physician, his chief domestic, his pipe-bearer, and some old women,

who were all to be strangled at his interment. To these victims a

noble woman voluntarily joined herself, resolving, from her friendship

to the Stung Serpent, to go and live with him in the country of

spirits. I regretted her on many accounts, but particularly as she was

intimately acquainted with the virtues of simples, had by her skill

saved many of our people's lives, and given me many useful

instructions. After we had satisfied our curiosity in the hut of the

deceased, we retired to our hut, where we spent the night. But at

day-break we were suddenly awaked, and told that it was with

difficulty the Great Sun was kept from killing himself. We hastened to

his hut, and upon entering it I remarked dismay and terror painted

upon the countenances of all who were present. The Great Sun held his

gun by the butt-end, and seemed enraged that the other Suns had seized

upon it, to prevent him from executing his purpose. I addressed myself

to him, and after opening the pan of the lock, to let the priming fall

out, I chided him gently for his not acting according to his former

resolution. He pretended at first {337} not to see me; but, after some

time, he let go his hold of the musket, and shook hands with me

without speaking a word. I then went towards his wife, who all this

while had appeared in the utmost agony and terror, and I asked her if

she was ill. She answered me, "Yes, very ill," and added, "if you

leave us, my husband is a dead man, and all the Natchez will die; stay

then, for he opens his ears only to your words, which have the

sharpness and strength of arrows. You are his true friend, and do not

laugh when you speak, like most of the Frenchmen." The Great Sun at

length consented to order his fire to be again lighted, which was the

signal for lighting the other fires of the nation, and dispelled all

their apprehensions.