funeral of the Stung Serpent. Orders were given to put none to death
on that occasion, but those who were in the hut of the deceased. A
child however had been strangled already by its father and mother,
which ransomed their lives upon the death of the Great Sun, and raised
them from the rank of Stinkards to that of Nobles. Those who were
appointed to die were conducted twice a day, and placed in two rows
before the temple, where they acted over the scene of their death,
each accompanied by eight of their own relations who were to be their
executioners, and by that office exempted themselves from dying upon
the death of any of the Suns, and likewise raised themselves to the
dignity of men of rank.
Mean while thirty warriors brought in a prisoner, who had formerly
been married to a female Sun; but, upon her death, instead of
submitting to die with her, had fled to New Orleans, and offered to
become the hunter and slave of our commander in chief. The commander
accepting his offer, and granting him his protection, he often visited
his countrymen, who, out of complaisance to the commander, never
offered to apprehend him: but that officer being now returned to
France, and the runaway appearing in the neighbourhood, he was now
apprehended, and numbered among the other victims. Finding himself
thus unexpectedly trapped, he began to cry bitterly; but three old
women, who were his relations, offering to die in his stead, he was
not only again exempted from death, but {338} raised to the dignity of
a man of rank. Upon this he afterwards became insolent, and profiting
by what he had seen and learned at New Orleans, he easily, on many
occasions, made his fellow-countrymen his dupes.
[Illustration: _Burial of the Stung Serpent_]
On the day of the interment, the wife of the deceased made a very
moving speech to the French who were present, recommending her
children, to whom she also addressed herself, to their friendship, and
advising perpetual union between {339} the two nations. Soon after the
master of the ceremonies appeared in a red-feathered crown, which half
encircled his head, having a red staff in his hand in the form of a
cross, at the end of which hung a garland of black feathers. All the
upper part of his body was painted red, excepting his arms, and from
his girdle to his knees hung a fringe of feathers, the rows of which
were alternately white and red. When he came before the hut of the
deceased, he saluted him with a great _hoo_, and then began the cry of
death, in which he was followed by the whole people. Immediately after
the Stung Serpent was brought out on his bed of state, and was placed
on a litter, which six of the guardians of the temple bore on their
shoulders. The procession then began, the master of the ceremonies
walking first, and after him the oldest warrior, holding in one hand
the pole with the rings of canes, and in the other the pipe of war, a
mark of the dignity of the deceased. Next followed the corpse, after
which came those who were to die at the interment. The whole
procession went three times round the hut of the deceased, and then
those who carried the corpse proceeded in a circular kind of march,
every turn intersecting the former, until they came to the temple. At
every turn the dead child was thrown by its parents before the bearers
of the corpse, that they might walk over it; and when the corpse was
placed in the temple the victims were immediately strangled. The Stung
Serpent and his two wives were buried in the same grave within the
temple; the other victims were interred in different parts, and after
the ceremony they burnt, according to custom, the hut of the deceased.
{340}
SECTION V.
_Of the Arts and Manufactures of the Natives._
The arts and manufactures of the natives are so insignificant, when
compared with ours, that I should not have thought of treating of
them, if some persons of distinction had not desired me to say
something of them, in order to shew the industry of those people, and
how far invention could carry them, in supplying those wants which
human nature is continually exposed to.
As they would have frequent occasion for fire, the manner of lighting
it at pleasure must have been one of the first things that they
invented. Not having those means which we use, they bethought
themselves of another ingenious method which they generally practise.
They take a dry dead stick from a tree, about the thickness of their
finger, and pressing one end against another dry piece of wood, they
turn it round as swiftly as they can till they see the smoke appear,
then blowing gently soon make the wood flame.
Cutting instruments are almost continually wanted; but as they had no
iron, which, of all metals, is the most useful in human society, they
were obliged, with infinite pains, to form hatchets out of large
flints, by sharpening their thin edge, and making a hole through them
for receiving the handle. To cut down trees with these axes would have
been almost an impracticable work; they were therefore obliged to
light fires round the roots of them, and to cut away the charcoal as
the fire eat into the tree. They supplied the want of knives for
cutting their victuals with thin splits of a hard cane, which they
could easily renew as they wore out.
They made their bows of acacia wood, which is hard and easily cleft;
and at first their bowstrings were made of the bark of the wood, but
now they make them of the thongs of hides. Their arrows are made of a
shrub that sends out long straight shoots; but they make some of small
hard reeds: those that are intended for war, or against the buffalo,
the deer, or large carp, are pointed with the sharp scale of the armed
fish, which is neatly fastened to the head of the arrow with splits of
cane and fish-glue.
{341} The skins of the beasts which they killed in hunting naturally
presented themselves for their covering; but they must be dressed
however before they could be properly used. After much practice they
at length discovered that the brain of any animal suffices to dress
its skin. To sew those skins they use the tendons of animals beat and
split into threads, and to pierce the skins they apply the bone of a
heron's leg, sharpened like an awl.
To defend themselves against the inclemencies of the weather, they
built huts of wood, which were close and strong enough to resist the
impetuosity of the wind. These huts are each a perfect square; none of
them are less than fifteen feet square, and some of them are more than
thirty feet in each of their fronts. They erect these huts in the
following manner: they bring from the woods several young
walnut-trees, about four inches in diameter, and thirteen or twenty
feet high; they plant the strongest of these in the four corners, and
the others fifteen inches from each other in straight lines, for the
sides of the building; a pole is then laid horizontally along the
sides in the inside, and all the poles are strongly fastened to it by
split canes. Then the four corner poles are bent inwards till they all
meet in the centre, where they are strongly fastened together; the
side-poles are then bent in the same direction, and bound down to the
others; after which they make a mortar of mud mixed with Spanish
beard, with which they fill up all the chinks, leaving no opening but
the door, and the mud they cover both outside and inside with mats
made of the splits of cane. The roof is thatched with turf and straw
intermixed, and over all is laid a mat of canes, which is fastened to
the tops of the walls by the creeping plant. These huts will last
twenty years without any repairs.
The natives having once built for themselves fixed habitations, would
next apply themselves to the cultivation of the ground. Accordingly,
near all their habitations, they have fields of maiz, and of another
nourishing grain called Choupichoul, which grows without culture. For
dressing their fields they invented hoes, which are formed in the
shape of an L, having the lower part flat and sharp; and to take the
husk {342} from their corn they made large wooden mortars, by
hollowing the trunks of trees with fire.
To prepare their maiz for food, and likewise their venison and game,
there was a necessity for dressing them over the fire, and for this
purpose they bethought themselves of earthen ware, which is made by
the women, who not only form the vessel, but dig up and mix the clay.
In this they are tolerable artists; they make kettles of an
extraordinary size, pitchers with a small opening, gallon bottles with
long necks, pots or pitchers for their bear oil, which will hold forty
pints; lastly, large and small plates in the French fashion: I had
some made out of curiosity upon the model of my delf-ware, which were
a very pretty red. For sifting the flour of their maiz, and for other
uses, the natives make sieves of various finenesses of the splits of
cane. To supply themselves with fish they make nets of the bark of the
limetree; but the large fish they shoot with arrows.
The beds of the natives are placed round the sides of their huts,
about a foot and a half from the ground, and are formed in this
manner. Six forked stakes support two poles, which are crossed by
three others, over which canes are laid so close as to form an even
surface, and upon these are laid several bear skins, which serve for
the bed furniture; a buffalo's skin is the coverlet, and a sack stuft
with Spanish beard is the bolster. The women sometimes add to this
furniture of the bed mats wove of canes, dyed of three colours, which
colours in the weaving are formed into various figures. These mats
render the bottom of the bed still smoother, and in hot weather they
remove the bear skins and lie upon them. Their seats or stools, which
they seldom use, are about six or seven inches high, and the seat and
feet are made of the same piece.
The women likewise make a kind of hampers to carry corn, flesh, fish,
or any other thing which they want to transport from one place to
another; they are round, deeper than broad, and of all sizes. Here, as
well as in other countries, the women take special care to lay up
securely all their trinkets and finery. They make baskets with long
lids that roll doubly over them, and in these they place their
ear-rings and pendants, their {343} bracelets, garters, their ribbands
for their hair, and their vermilion for painting themselves, if they
have any, but when they have no vermilion they boil ochre, and paint
themselves with that.
The women also make the men's girdles and garters, and the collars for
carrying their burdens. These collars are formed of two belts of the
breadth of the hand of bear's skin, dressed so as to soften it, and
these belts are joined together by long cross straps of the same
leather, that serve to tie the bundles, which are oftener carried by
the women than the men. One of the broad belts goes over their
shoulders, and the other across their forehead, so that those two
parts mutually ease each other.
The women also make several works in embroidery with the skin of the
porcupine, which is black and white, and is cut by them into thin
threads, which they dye of different colours. Their designs greatly
resemble those which we meet with on gothic architecture; they are
formed of straight lines, which when they meet always cross each
other, or turn off at square angles.
The conveniences for passing rivers would soon be suggested to them by
the floating of wood upon the water. Accordingly one of their methods
of crossing rivers is upon floats of canes, which are called by them
Cajeu, and are formed in this manner: They cut a great number of
canes, which they tie up into faggots, part of which they fasten
together side-ways, and over these they lay a row crossways, binding
all close together, and then launching it into the water. For carrying
a great number of men with their necessary baggage, they soon found it
necessary to have other conveniences; and nothing appeared so proper
for this as some of their large trees hollowed; of these they
accordingly made their pettyaugres, which as I mentioned above are
sometimes so large as to carry ten or twelve ton weight. These
pettyaugres are conducted by short oars, called Pagaies, about six
feet long, with broad points, which are not fastened to the vessel,
but managed by the rowers like shovels.
{344}
SECTION VI.
_Of the Attire and Diversions of the Natives: Of their Meals and
Fastings._
The natives of Louisiana, both men and women, wear a very thin dress
in the summer. During the heat the men wear only a little apron of
deer skin, dressed white or dyed black; but hardly any but chiefs wear
black aprons. Those who live in the neighbourhood of the French
settlements wear aprons of coarse limbourgs, a quarter of a yard
broad, and the whole breadth of the cloth, or five quarters long;
these aprons are fastened by a girdle about their waists, and tucked
up between the thighs.
I
During the heats the women wear only half a yard of limbourg stuff
about their middle, which covers them down to the knees; or in place
of that they use deer skin; and the rest of the body both in men and
women is naked.
Many of the women wear cloaks of the bark of the mulberry-tree, or of
the feathers of swans, turkies, or India ducks. The bark they take
from young mulberry shoots that rise from the roots of trees that have
been cut down; after it is dried in the sun they beat it to make all
the woody part fall off, and they give the threads that remain a
second beating, after which they bleach them by exposing them to the
dew. When they are well whitened they spin them about the coarseness
of pack-thread, and weave them in the following manner: they plant
two stakes in the ground about a yard and a half asunder, and having
stretched a cord from the one to the other, they fasten their threads
of bark double to this cord, and then interweave them in a curious
manner into a cloak of about a yard square with a wrought border round
the edges.
The young boys and girls go quite naked; but the girls at the age of
eight or ten put on a little petticoat, which is a kind of fringe made
of threads of mulberry bark. The boys do not wear any covering till
they are twelve or thirteen years of age.
Some women even in hot weather have a small cloak wrapt round like a
waistcoat; but when the cold sets in, they wear a {345} second, the
middle of which passes under the right arm, and the two ends are
fastened over the left shoulder, so that the two arms are at liberty,
and one of the breasts is covered. They wear nothing on their heads;
their hair is suffered to grow to its full length, except in the
fore-part, and it is tied in a cue behind in a kind of net made of
mulberry threads. They carefully pick out all the hairs that grow upon
any part of the body.
The shoes of the men and women are of the same fashion, but they
rarely wear any but when they travel. They are made of deer-skin, the
sole and upper-leather of the same piece, which is sewed together on
the upper part of the foot; they are cut about three inches longer
than the foot, and are folded over the toes; the quarters are about
nine inches high, and fasten round the leg like a buskin. The womens'
ear-rings are made of the center part of a large shell, called burgo,
which is about the thickness of one's little finger, and there is a
hole in the ear about that size for holding it. Their necklaces are
composed of several strings of longish or roundish kernel-stones,
somewhat resembling porcelaine; and with the smallest of these
kernel-stones they ornament their furs, garters, &c.
From their early youth the women get a streak pricked cross their
nose; some of them have a streak pricked down the middle of their
chin; others in different parts, especially the women of the nations
who have the R in their language. I have seen some who were pricked
all over the upper part of the body, not even excepting the breasts
which are extremely sensible.
In the cold weather the men cover themselves with a shirt made of two
dressed deer-skins, which is more like a fur night-gown than a shirt:
they likewise, at the same time, wear a kind of breeches, which cover
both the thighs and the legs. If the weather be very severe, they
throw over all a buffalo's skin, which is dressed with the wool on,
and this they keep next to their body to increase the warmth. In the
countries where they hunt beavers, they make robes of six skins of
those animals sewed together.
{346} The youths here are as much taken up about dress, and as fond of
vying with each other in finery as in other countries; they paint
themselves with vermilion very often; they deck themselves with
bracelets made of the ribs of deer, which are bent by the means of
boiling water, and when polished, look as fine as ivory; they wear
necklaces like the women, and sometimes have a fan in their hand; they
clip off the hair from the crown of the head, and there place a piece
of swan's skin with the down on; to a few hairs that they leave on
that part they fasten the finest white feathers that they can meet
with; a part of their hair which is suffered to grow long, they weave
into a cue, which hangs over their left ear.
They likewise have their nose pricked, but no other part till they are
warriors, and have performed some brave action, such as killing an
enemy, and bringing off his scalp. Those who have signalized
themselves by some gallant exploit, cause a tomahawk to be pricked on
their left shoulder, underneath which is also pricked the hieroglyphic
sign of the conquered nation. Whatever figure they intend to prick, is
first traced on the skin with a bit of charcoal, and having fixed six
needles in a piece of wood in two rows, in such a manner that they
only stick out about the tenth part of an inch, they prick the skin
all over the mark, and then rub charcoal dust over the part, which
enters the punctures, and leaves a mark that can never be effaced.
This pricking generally gives a fit of sickness to the patient, who is
obliged for some time to live only on boiled maiz. The warriors also
pierce the lower part of their ears, and make a hole an inch diameter,
which they fill with iron wire. Besides these ear-rings they have a
belt hung round with little bells, if they can purchase any from the
French, so that they march more like mules than men. When they can get
no bells, they fasten to their belts wild gourds with two or three
pebbles in each. The chief ornament of the sovereigns, is their crown
of feathers; this crown is composed of a black bonnet of net work,
which is fastened to a red diadem about two inches broad. The diadem
is embroidered with white kernel-stones, and surmounted with white
feathers, which in the fore-part are about eight inches long, and half
as much behind. This crown or feather hat makes a very pleasing
appearance.
{347} All nations are not equally ingenious at inventing feasts,
shews, and diversions, for employing the people agreeably, and filling
up the void of their usual employments. The natives of Louisiana have
invented but a very few diversions, and these perhaps serve their turn
as well as a greater variety would do. The warriors practise a
diversion which is called the game of _the pole_, at which only two play
together at a time. Each has a pole about eight feet long, resembling
a Roman f, and the game consists in rolling a flat round stone, about
three inches diameter and an inch thick, with the edge somewhat
sloping, and throwing the pole at the same time in such a manner, that
when the stone rests, the pole may touch it or be near it. Both
antagonists throw their poles at the same time, and he whose pole is
nearest the stone counts one, and has the right of rolling the stone.
The men fatigue themselves much at this game, as they run after their
poles at every throw; and some of them are so bewitched by it, that
they game away one piece of furniture after another. These gamesters
however are very rare, and are greatly discountenanced by the rest of
the people.
The women play with small bits of cane, about eight or nine inches
long. Three of these they hold loosely in one hand, and knock them to
the ground with another; if two of them fall with the round side
undermost, she that played counts one; but if only one, she counts
nothing. They are ashamed to be seen or found playing; and as far as I
could discover, they never played for any stake.
The young people, especially the girls, have hardly any kind of
diversion but that of the ball: this consists in tossing a ball from
one to the other with the palm of the hand, which they perform with a
tolerable address.
When the natives meet with a Frenchman whom they know, they shake
hands with him, incline their head a little, and say in their own
language, "Are you there, my friend?" If he has no serious affair to
propose to them, or if they themselves have nothing of consequence to
say, they pursue their journey.
If they happen to be going the same way with a French man, they never
go before him, unless something of consequence {348} oblige them. When
you enter into their hut, they welcome you with the word of
salutation, which signifies "Are you there, my friend?" then shake
hands with you, and pointing to a bed, desire you to sit down. A
silence of a few minutes then ensues till the stranger begins to
speak, when he is offered some victuals, and desired to eat. You must
taste of what they offer you, otherwise they will imagine that you
despise them.
When the natives converse together, however numerous the assembly be,
never more than one person speaks at once. If one of the company has
any thing to say to another, he speaks so low that none of the rest
hear him. Nobody is interrupted, even with the chiding of a child; and
if the child be stubborn, it is removed elsewhere. In the council,
when a point is deliberated upon and debated, they keep silence for a
short time, and then they speak in their turns, no one offering to
interrupt another.
The natives being habituated to their own prudent custom, it is with
the utmost difficulty they can keep from laughing, when they see
several French men or French women together, and always several of
them speaking at the same time. I had observed them for two years
stifling a laugh on those occasions, and had often asked the reason of
it, without receiving any satisfactory answer. At length I pressed one
of them so earnestly to satisfy me, that after some excuses, he told
me in their language, "Our people say, that when several Frenchmen are
together, they speak all at once, like a flock of geese."
All the nations whom I have known, and who inhabit from the sea as far
as the Illinois, and even farther, which is a space of about fifteen
hundred miles, carefully cultivate the maiz corn, which they make
their principal subsistence. They make bread of it baked in cakes,
another kind baked among the ashes, and another kind in water; they
make of it also cold meal, roasted meal, gruel, which in this country
is called Sagamity. This and the cold meal in my opinion are the two
best dishes that are made of it; the others are only for a change.
They eat the Sagamity as we eat soup, with a spoon made of a buffalo's
horn. When they eat flesh or fish they use bread. They likewise use
two kinds of millet, which they shell in the manner {349} of rice; one
of these is called Choupichoul, and the other Widlogouil, and they
both grow almost without any cultivation.
In a scarcity of these kinds of corn, they have recourse to
earth-nuts, which they find in the woods; but they never use these or
chestnuts but when necessity obliges them.
The flesh-meats they usually eat are the buffalo, the deer, the bear,
and the dog: they eat of all kind of water-fowl and fish; but they
have no other way of dressing their meat but by roasting or boiling.
The following is their manner of roasting their meat when they are in
the fields hunting: they plant a stake in the ground sloping towards
the fire, and on the point of this stake they spit their meat, which
they turn from time to time. To preserve what they do not use, they
cut it into thin pieces, which they dry, or rather half-roast, upon a
grate made of canes placed cross-ways. They never eat raw flesh, as so
many people have falsely imagined, and they limit themselves to no set
hours for their meals, but eat whenever they are hungry; so that we
seldom see several of them eating at once, unless at their feasts,
when they all eat off the same plate, except the women, the boys, and
the young girls, who have each a plate to themselves.
When the natives are sick, they neither eat flesh nor fish, but take
Sagamity boiled in the broth of meat. When a man falls sick, his wife
sleeps with the woman in the next bed to him, and the husband of that
woman goes elsewhere. The natives, when they eat with Frenchmen, taste
of nothing but of pure roast and boiled: they eat no sallad, and
nothing raw but fruit. Their drink is pure water or pure brandy, but
they dislike wine and all made liquors.
Having mentioned their manner of feeding, I shall say a word or two of
their manner of fasting. When they want rain, or when they desire hot
weather for ripening their corn, they address themselves to the old
man who has the greatest character for living wisely, and they intreat
him to invoke the aerial spirits, in order to obtain what they demand.
This old man, who never refuses his countrymen's request, prepares to
fast for nine days together. He orders his wife to withdraw, and {350}
during the whole time he eats nothing but a dish of gruel boiled in
water, without salt, which is brought him once a day by his wife after
sun-set. They never will accept of any reward for this service, that
the spirits may not be angry with them.
SECTION VII.
_Of the_ Indian _Art of War._
I will now present the reader with their manner of making war, which
is uniformly the same among all the nations. When one nation intends
to make war upon another in all the forms, they hold a council of war,
which is composed of the oldest and bravest warriors. It is to be
supposed that this nation has been insulted, that the other has
committed some hostilities against it, or that they have disturbed
them in their hunting country, coming thither to steal their game, as
they call it. There is always some pretence for declaring war; and
this pretence, whether true or false, is explained by the war-chief,
who omits no circumstance that may excite his nation to take up arms.
After he has explained the reasons for the war, the old men debate the
question in presence of the great chief or sovereign of the nation.
This sovereign and the great chief of war are only witnesses of the
debate; for the opinion of the old men always prevails, and the two
chiefs voluntarily agree to it, from their respect and their great
regard for the experience and wisdom of those venerable counsellors.
If it is resolved to demand from the other nation the reason of the
hostilities committed by them, they name one of their bravest and most
eloquent warriors, as a second to their speech-maker or chancellor,
who is to carry the pipe of peace, and address that nation. These two
are accompanied by a troop of the bravest warriors, so that the
embassy has the appearance of a warlike expedition; and, if
satisfaction is not given, sometimes ends in one. The ambassadors
carry no presents with them, to shew that they do not intend to
supplicate or beg a peace: they take with them only the pipe of peace,
{351} as a proof that they come as friends. The embassy is always well
received, entertained in the best manner, and kept as long as
possible; and if the other nation is not inclined to begin a war, they
make very large presents to the ambassadors, and all their retinue, to
make up for the losses which their nation complains of.
[Illustration: _Bringing the Pipe of Peace_]
If a nation begins actual hostilities without any formalities, the
nation invaded is generally assisted by several allies, {352} keeps
itself on the defensive, gives orders to those who live at a great
distance to join the main body of the nation, prepares logs for
building a fort, and every morning sends some warriors out upon the
scout, choosing for that purpose those who trust more to their heels
than their heart.
The assistance of the allies is generally solicited by the pipe of
peace, the stalk of which is about four feet and a half long, and is
covered all over with the skin of a duck's neck, the feathers of which
are glossy and of various colours. To this pipe is fastened a fan made
of the feathers of white eagles, the ends of which are black, and are
ornamented with a tuft dyed a beautiful red.
When the allies are assembled a general council is held in presence of
the sovereign, and is composed of the great war-chief, the war-chiefs
of the allies, and all the old warriors. The great war-chief opens the
assembly with a speech, in which he exhorts them to take vengeance of
the insults they have received; and after the point is debated, and
the war agreed upon, all the warriors go a hunting to procure game for
the war-feast, which, as well as the war-dance, lasts three days.
The natives distinguish the warriors into three classes, namely, true
warriors, who have always given proofs of their courage; common
warriors, and apprentice-warriors. They likewise divide our military
men into the two classes of true warriors and young warriors. By the
former they mean the settlers, of whom the greatest part, upon their
arrival, were soldiers, who being now perfectly acquainted with the
tricks and wiles of the natives, practice them upon their enemy, whom
they do not greatly fear. The young warriors are the soldiers of the
regular troops, as the companies are generally composed of young men,
who are ignorant of the stratagems used by the natives in time of war.
When the war-feast is ready the warriors repair to it, painted from
head to foot with stripes of different colours. They have nothing on
but their belt, from whence hangs their apron, their bells, or their
rattling gourds, and their tomahawk. In their right hand they have a
bow, and those of the {353} north in their left carry a buckler formed
of two round pieces of buffalo's hide sewed together.
The feast is kept in a meadow, the grass of which is mowed to a great
extent; there the dishes, which are of hollow wood, are placed round
in circles of about twelve or fifteen feet diameter, and the number of
those circular tables is proportioned to the largeness of the
assembly, in the midst of whom is placed the pipe of war upon the end
of a pole seven or eight feet high. At the foot of this pole, in the
middle of a circle is placed the chief dish of all, which is a large
dog roasted whole; the other plates are ranged circularly by threes;
one of these contains maiz boiled in broth like gruel, another roasted
deer's flesh, and the other boiled. They all begin with eating of the
dog, to denote their fidelity and attachment to their chief; but
before they taste of any thing, an old warrior, who, on account of his
great age, is not able to accompany the rest to the war, makes an
harangue to the warriors, and by recounting his own exploits, excites
them to act with bravery against the enemy. All the warriors then,
according to their rank, smoke in the pipe of war, after which they
begin their repast; but while they eat, they keep walking continually,
to signify that a warrior ought to be always in action and upon his
guard.
While they are thus employed, one of the young men goes behind a bush
about two hundred paces off, and raises the cry of death. Instantly
all the warriors seize their arms, and run to the place whence the cry
comes; and when they are near it the young warrior shews himself
again, raises the cry of death, and is answered by all the rest, who
then return to the feast, and take up the victuals which in their
hurry they had thrown upon the ground. The same alarm is given two
other times, and the warriors each time act as at first. The war drink
then goes round, which is a heady liquor drawn from the leaves of the
Cassine after they have been a long while boiled. The feast being
finished, they all assemble about fifty paces from a large post, which
represents the enemy; and this each of them in his turn runs up to,
and strikes with his tomahawk, recounting at the same time all his
former brave exploits, and sometimes boasting of valorous deeds that
he never performed. But {354} they have the complaisance to each other
to pardon this gasconading.
All of them having successively struck the post, they begin the dance
of war with their arms in their hands; and this dance and the
war-feast are celebrated for three days together, after which they set
out for the war. The women some time before are employed in preparing
victuals for their husbands, and the old men in engraving upon bark
the hieroglyphic sign of the nation that attacks, and of their number
of warriors.
Their manner of making war is to attack by surprize; accordingly, when
they draw near to any of the enemy's villages, they march only in the
night; and that they may not be discovered, raise up the grass over
which they trod. One half of the warriors watch, while the other half
sleep in the thickest and most unfrequented part of the wood.
If any of their scouts can discover a hut of the enemy detached from
the rest, they all surround it about day-break, and some of the
warriors entering, endeavor to knock the people on the head as they
awake, or take some man prisoner. Having scalped the dead, they carry
off the women and children prisoners, and place against a tree near
the hut the hieroglyphic picture, before which they plant two arrows
with their points crossing each other. Instantly they retreat into the
woods, and make great turnings to conceal their route.
The women and children whom they take prisoners are made slaves. But
if they take a man prisoner the joy is universal, and the glory of
their nation is at its height. The warriors, when they draw near to
their own villages after an expedition, raise the cry of war three
times successively; and if they have a man prisoner with them,
immediately go and look for three poles to torture him upon; which,
however weary or hungry they be, must be provided before they take any
refreshment. When they have provided those poles, and tied the
prisoner to them, they may then go and take some victuals. The poles
are about ten feet long; two of them are planted upright in the ground
at a proper distance, and the other is cut through in the middle, and
the two pieces are fastened crossways {355} to the other two, so that
they form a square about five feet every way. The prisoner being first
scalped by the person who took him, is tied to this square, his hands
to the upper part, and his feet to the lower, in such a manner that he
forms the figure of a St. Andrew's cross. The young men in the mean
time having prepared several bundles of canes, set fire to them; and
several of the warriors taking those flaming canes, burn the prisoner
in different parts of his body, while others burn him in other parts
with their tobacco-pipes. The patience of prisoners in those miserable
circumstances is altogether astonishing. No cries or lamentations
proceed from them; and some have been known to suffer tortures, and
sing for three days and nights without intermission. Sometimes it
happens that a young woman who has lost her husband in the war, asks
the prisoner to supply the room of the deceased, and her request is
immediately granted.
[Illustration: _Torture of Prisoners_--INSET: _Plan of Fort_]
I mentioned above that when one nation declares war against another,
they leave a picture near one of their villages. That picture is
designed in the following manner. On the top towards the right hand is
the hieroglyphic sign of the nation that declares war; next is a naked
man with a tomahawk in his hand; and then an arrow pointed against a
woman, who is flying away, her hair floating behind her in the air;
immediately {356} before this woman is the proper emblem of the nation
against whom the war is declared. All this is on one line; and below
is drawn the figure of the moon, which is followed by one I, or more;
and a man is here represented, before whom is a number of arrows which
seem to pierce a woman who is running away. By this is denoted, when
such a moon is so many days old, they will come in great numbers and
attack such a nation; but this lower part of the picture does not
always carry true intelligence. The nation that has offered the
insult, or commenced hostilities wrongfully, rarely finds any allies
even among those nations who call them brothers.
In carrying on a war they have no such thing as pitched battles, or
carrying on of sieges; all the mischief they do each other, is by
surprise and skirmishing, and in this their courage and address
consists. Among them flight is no ways shameful; their bravery lies
often in their legs; and to kill a man asleep or at unawares, is quite
as honourable among them, as to gain a signal victory after a stout
battle.
When a nation is too weak to defend itself in the field, they
endeavour to protect themselves by a fort. This fort is built
circularly of two rows of large logs of wood, the logs of the inner
row being opposite to the joining of the logs of the outer row. These
logs are about fifteen feet long, five feet of which are sunk in the
ground. The outer logs are about two feet thick, and the inner about
half as much. At every forty paces along the wall a circular tower
jets out; and at the entrance of the fort, which is always next to the
river, the two ends of the wall pass beyond each other, and leave a
side opening. In the middle of the fort stands a tree with its
branches lopt off within six or eight inches of the trunk, and this
serves for a watch-tower. Round this tree are some huts, for the
protection of the women and children from random arrows; but
notwithstanding all these precautions for defense, if the besieged are
but hindered from coming out to water, they are soon obliged to
retire.
When a nation finds itself no longer able to oppose its enemy, the
chiefs send a pipe of peace to a neutral nation, and solicit their
mediation, which is generally successful, the vanquished {357} nation
sheltering themselves under the name of the mediators, and for the
future making but one nation with them.
Here it may be observed that when they go to attack others, it
sometimes happens that they lose some of their own warriors. In that
case, they immediately, if possible, scalp their dead friends, to
hinder the enemy from having that subject of triumph. Moreover, when
they return home, whether as victors or otherwise, the great warchief
pays to the respective families for those whom he does, not bring back
with him; which renders the chiefs very careful of the lives of their
warriors.
CHAPTER IV.
_Of the Negroes of_ Louisiana.
SECTION I.
_Of the Choice of Negroes; of their Distemper, and the Manner of curing
them._
Having finished my account of the natives of Louisiana, I shall
conclude this treatise with some observations relating to the negroes;
who, in the lower part of the province especially, perform all the
labours of agriculture. On that account I have thought proper to give
some instructions concerning them, for the benefit of those who are
inclined to settle in that province.
The negroes must be governed differently from the Europeans; not
because they are black, nor because they are slaves; but because they
think differently from the white men.
First, they imbibe a prejudice from their infancy, that the white men
buy them for no other purpose but to drink their blood; which is owing
to this, that when the first negroes saw the Europeans drink claret,
they imagined it was blood, as that wine is of a deep red colour; so
that nothing but the actual experience of the contrary can eradicate
the false opinion. But as none of those slaves who have had that
experience ever return to their own country, the same prejudice
continues to subsist on the coast of Guinea where we purchase them.
Some {358} who are strangers to the manner of thinking that prevails
among the negroes, may perhaps think that the above remark is of no
consequence, in respect to those slaves who are already sold to the
French. There have been instances however of bad consequences flowing
from this prejudice; especially if the negroes found no old slave of
their own country upon their first arrival in our colonies. Some of
them have killed or drowned themselves, several of them have deserted
(which they call making themselves Marons) and all this from an
apprehension that the white men were going to drink their blood. When
they desert they believe they can get back to their own country by
going round the sea, and may live in the woods upon the fruits, which
they imagine are as common every where as with them.
They are very superstitious, and are much attached to their
prejudices, and little toys which they call _gris, gris_. It would be
improper therefore to take them from them, or even speak of them to
them; for they would believe themselves undone, if they were stripped
of those trinkets. The old negroes soon make them lose conceit of
them.
The first thing you ought to do when you purchase negroes, is to cause
them to be examined by a skilful surgeon and an honest man, to
discover if they have the venereal or any other distemper. When they
are viewed, both men and women are stripped naked as the hand, and are
carefully examined from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet,
then between the toes and between the fingers, in the mouth, in the
ears, not excepting even the parts naturally concealed, though then
exposed to view. You must ask your examining surgeon if he is
acquainted with the distemper of the yaws, which is the virus of
Guinea, and incurable by a great many French surgeons, though very
skilful in the management of European distempers. Be careful not to be
deceived in this point; for your surgeon may be deceived himself;
therefore attend at the examination yourself, and observe carefully
over all the body of the negro, whether you can discover any parts of
the skin, which though black like the rest, are however as smooth as a
looking-glass, without any tumor or rising. Such spots may be easily
discovered; {359} for the skin of a person who goes naked is usually
all over wrinkles. Wherefore if you see such marks you must reject the
negro, whether man or woman. There are always experienced surgeons at
the sale of new negroes, who purchase them; and many of those surgeons
have made fortunes by that means; but they generally keep their secret
to themselves.
Another mortal distemper with which many negroes from Guinea are
attacked, is the scurvy. It discovers itself by the gums, but
sometimes it is so inveterate as to appear outwardly, in which case it
is generally fatal. If any of my readers shall have the misfortune to
have a negro attacked with one of those distempers, I will now teach
him how to save him, by putting him in a way of being radically cured
by the surgeons; for I have no inclination to fall out with those
gentlemen. I learned this secret from a negro physician, who was upon
the king's plantation, when I took the superintendence of it.
You must never put an iron instrument into the yaw; such an
application would be certain death. In order to open the yaw, you take
iron rust reduced to an impalpable powder, and passed through a fine
search; you afterwards mix that powder with citron juice till it be of
the consistence of an ointment, which you spread upon a linen cloth
greased with hog's grease, or fresh lard without salt, for want of a
better. You lay the plastier upon the yaw, and renew it evening and
morning, which will open the yaw in a very short time without any
incision.
The opening being once made, you take about the bulk of a goose's egg
of hog's lard without salt, in which you incorporate about an ounce of
good terebinthine; after which take a quantity of powdered verdigris,
and soak it half a day in good vinegar, which you must then pour off
gently with all the scum that floats at top. Drop a cloth all over
with the verdigris that remains, and upon that apply your last
ointment. All these operations are performed without the assistance of
fire. The whole ointment being well mixed with a spatula, you dress
the yaw with it; after that put your negro into a copious sweat, and
he will be cured. Take special care that your surgeon uses no
mercurial medicine, as I have seen; for that will occasion the death
of the patient.
{360} The scurvy is no less to be dreaded than the yaws; nevertheless
you may get the better of it, by adhering exactly to the following
prescription: take some scurvy-grass, if you have any plants of it,
some ground-ivy, called by some St. John's wort, water-cresses from a
spring or brook, and for want of that, wild cresses; take these three
herbs, or the two last, if you have no scurvy-grass; pound them, and
mix them with citron-juice, to make of them a soft paste, which the
patient must keep upon both his gums till they be clean, at all times
but when he is eating. In the mean while he must be suffered to drink
nothing but an infusion of the herbs above named. You pound two
handfuls of them, roots and all, after washing off any earth that may
be upon the roots or leaves; to these you join a fresh citron, cut
into slices. Having pounded all together, you then steep them in an
earthen pan in a pint of pure water of the measure of Paris; after
that you add about the size of a walnut of powdered and purified
saltpetre, and to make it a little relishing to the negro, you add
some powder sugar. After the water has stood one night, you squeeze
out the herbs pretty strongly. The whole is performed cold, or without
fire. Such is the dose for a bottle of water Paris measure; but as the
patient ought to drink two pints a day, you may make several pints at
a time in the above proportion.
In these two distempers the patients must be supported with good
nourishment, and made to sweat copiously. It would be a mistake to
think that they ought to be kept to a spare diet; you must give them
nourishing food, but a little at a time. A negro can no more than any
other person support remedies upon bad food, and still less upon a
spare diet; but the quantity must be proportioned to the state of the
patient, and the nature of the distemper. Besides, good food makes the
best part of the remedy to those who in common are but poorly fed. The
negro who taught me these two remedies, observing the great care I
took of both the negro men and negro women, taught me likewise the
cure of all the distempers to which the women are subject; for the
negro women are as liable to diseases as the white women.
{361}
SECTION II.
_Of the Manner of governing the Negroes._
When a negro man or woman comes home to you, it is proper to caress
them, to give them something good to eat, with a glass of brandy; it
is best to dress them the same day, to give them something to sleep
on, and a covering. I suppose the others have been treated in the same
manner; for those marks of humanity flatter them, and attach them to
their masters. If they are fatigued or weakened by a journey, or by
any distempers, make them work little; but keep them always busy as
long as they are able to do any thing, never suffering them to be
idle, but when they are at their meals. Take care of them when they
are sick, and give attention both to their remedies and their food,
which last ought then to be more nourishing than what they usually
subsist upon. It is your interest so to do, both for their
preservation, and to attach them more closely to you; for though many
Frenchmen say that negroes are ungrateful, I have experienced that it
is very easy to render them much attached to you by good treatment,
and by doing them justice, as I shall mention afterwards.
If a negro woman lies-in, cause her to be taken care of in every thing
that her condition makes necessary, and let your wife, if you have
one, not disdain to take the immediate care of her herself, or at
least have an eye over her.
A Christian ought to take care that the children be baptised and
instructed, since they have an immortal soul. The mother ought then to
receive half a ration more than usual, and a quart of milk a day, to
assist her to nurse her child.
Prudence requires that your negroes be lodged at a proper distance, to
prevent them from being troublesome or offensive; but at the same time
near enough for your conveniently observing what passes among them.
When I say that they ought not to be placed so near your habitation as
to be offensive, I mean by that the smell which is natural to some
nations of negroes, such as the Congos, the Angolas, the Aradas, and
others. On this account it is proper to have in their camp a bathing
place formed by thick planks, buried in the earth about a foot or a
{362} foot and a half at most, and never more water in it than about
that depth, for fear lest the children should drown themselves in it;
it ought likewise to have an edge, that the little children may not
have access to it, and there ought to be a pond without the camp to
supply it with water and keep fish. The negro camp ought to be
inclosed all round with palisades, and to have a door to shut with a
lock and key. The huts ought to be detached from each other, for fear
of fire, and to be built in direct lines, both for the sake of
neatness, and in order to know easily the hut of each negro. But that
you may be as little incommoded as possible with their natural smell,
you must have the precaution to place the negro camp to the north or
north-east of your house, as the winds that blow from these quarters
are not so warm as the others, and it is only when the negroes are
warm that they send forth a disagreeable smell.
The negroes that have the worst smell are those that are the least
black; and what I have said of their bad smell, ought to warn you to
keep always on the windward side of them when you visit them at their
work; never to suffer them to come near your children, who, exclusive
of the bad smell, can learn nothing good from them, either as to
morals, education, or language.
From what I have said, I conclude that a French father and his wife
are great enemies to their posterity when they give their children
such nurses. For the milk being the purest blood of the woman, one
must be a step-mother indeed to give her child to a negro nurse in
such a country as Louisiana, where the mother has all conveniences of
being served, of accommodating and carrying their children, who by
that means may be always under their eyes. The mother then has nothing
else to do but to give the breast to her child.
I have no inclination to employ my pen in censuring the over-delicacy
and selfishness of the women, who thus sacrifice their children; it
may, without further illustration, be easily perceived how much
society is interested in this affair. I shall only say, that for any
kind of service whatever about the house, I would advise no other kind
of negroes, either young or old, but Senegals, called among themselves
Diolaufs, because of all {363} the negroes I have known, these have
the purest blood; they have more fidelity and a better understanding
than the rest, and are consequently fitter for learning a trade, or
for menial services. It is true they are not so strong as the others
for the labours of the field, and for bearing the great heats.
The Senegals however are the blackest, and I never saw any who had a
bad smell. They are very grateful; and when one knows how to attach
them to him, they have been found to sacrifice their own life to save
that of their master. They are good commanders over other negroes,
both on account of their fidelity and gratitude, and because they seem
to be born for commanding. As they are high-minded, they may be easily
encouraged to learn a trade, or to serve in the house, by the
distinction they will thereby acquire over the other negroes, and the
neatness of dress which that condition will entitle them to.
When a settler wants to make a fortune, and manage his plantation with
oeconomy, he ought to prefer his interest to his pleasure, and only
take the last by snatches. He ought to be the first up and the last
a-bed, that he may have an eye over every thing that passes in his
plantation. It is certainly his interest that his negroes labour a
good deal: but it ought to be an equal and moderate labour, for
violent and continual labours would soon exhaust and ruin them;
whereas by keeping them always moderately employed, they neither
exhaust their strength nor ruin their constitution. By this they are
kept in good health, and labour longer, and with more good will:
besides it must be allowed that the day is long enough for an
assiduous labourer to deserve the repose of the evening.
To accustom them to labour in this manner I observed the following
method: I took care to provide one piece of work for them before
another was done, and I informed their commander or driver in their
presence, that they might not lose time, some in coming to ask what
they were to do, and others in waiting for an answer. Besides I went
several times a day to view them, by roads which they did not expect,
pretending to be going a hunting or coming from it. If I observed them
idle, I reprimanded them, and if when they saw me coming, they wrought
too hard, I told them that they fatigued themselves, {364} and that
they could not continue at such hard labour during the whole day,
without being harassed, which I did not want.
When I surprised them singing at their work, and perceived that they
had discovered me, I said to them chearfully, Courage, my boys, I love
to see you merry at your work; but do not sing so loud, that you may
not fatigue yourselves, and at night you shall have a cup of Tafia (or
rum) to give you strength and spirits. One cannot believe the effect
such a discourse would have upon their spirits, which was easily
discernible from the chearfulness upon their countenances, and their
ardour at work.
If it be necessary not to pass over any essential fault in the
negroes, it is no less necessary never to punish them but when they
have deserved it, after a serious enquiry and examination supported by
an absolute certainty, unless you happen to catch them in the fact.
But when you are fully convinced of the crime, by no means pardon them
upon any assurances or protestations of theirs, or upon the
solicitations of others; but punish them in proportion to the fault
they have done, yet always with humanity, that they may themselves be
brought to confess that they have deserved the punishment they have
received. A Christian is unworthy of that name when he punishes with
cruelty, as is done to my knowledge in a certain colony, to such a
degree that they entertain their guests with such spectacles, which
have more of barbarity than humanity in them. When a negro comes from
being whipped, cause the sore parts to be washed with vinegar mixed
with salt, Jamaica pepper, which grows in the garden, and even a
little gun-powder.
As we know from experience that most men of a low extraction, and
without education, are subject to thieving in their necessities, it is
not at all surprising to see negroes thieves, when they are in want of
every thing, as I have seen many badly fed, badly cloathed, and having
nothing to lie upon but the ground. I shall make but one reflection.
If they are slaves, it is also true that they are men, and capable of
becoming Christians: besides, it is your intention to draw advantage
from them, is it not therefore reasonable to take all the care of
{365} them that you can? We see all those who understand the
government of horses give an extraordinary attention to them, whether
they be intended for the saddle or the draught. In the cold season
they are well covered and kept in warm stables. In the summer they
have a cloth thrown over them, to keep them from the dust, and at all
times good litter to lie upon. Every morning their dung is carried
away, and they are well curried and combed. If you ask those masters,
why they bestow so much pains upon beasts? they will tell you, that,
to make a horse serviceable to you, you must take a good deal of care
of him, and that it is for the interest of the person to whom a horse
belongs, so to do. After this example, can one hope for labour from
negroes, who very often are in want of necessaries? Can one expect
fidelity from a man, who is denied what he stands most in need of?
When one sees a negro, who labours hard and with much assiduity, it is
common to say to him, by way of encouragement, that they are well
pleased with him, and that he is a good negro. But when any of them,
who understand our language, are so complimented, they very properly
reply, _Masser, when negre be much fed, negre work much; when negre has
good masser, negre be good._
If I advise the planters to take great care of their negroes, I at the
same time shew them that their interest is connected in that with
their humanity. But I do no less advise them always to distrust them,
without seeming to fear them, because it is as dangerous to shew a
concealed enemy that you fear him, as to do him an injury.
Therefore make it your constant custom to shut your doors securely,
and not to suffer any negro to sleep in the house with you, and have
it in their power to open your door. Visit your negroes from time to
time, at night and on days and hours when they least expect you, in
order to keep them always in fear of being found absent from their
huts. Endeavour to assign each of them a wife, to keep clear of
debauchery and its bad consequences. It is necessary that the negroes
have wives, and you ought to know that nothing attaches them so much
to a plantation as children. But above all do not suffer any of them
to abandon his wife, when he has once made choice of one {366} in your
presence. Prohibit all fighting under pain of the lash, otherwise the
women will often raise squabbles among the men.
Do not suffer your negroes to carry their children to the field with
them, when they begin to walk, as they only spoil the plants and take
off the mothers from their work. If you have a few negro children, it
is better to employ an old negro woman to keep them in the camp, with
whom the mothers may leave something for their children to eat. This
you will find to be the most profitable way. Above all do not suffer
the mothers ever to carry them to the edge of the water, where there
is too much to be feared.
For the better subsistence of your negroes, you ought every week to
give them a small quantity of salt and of herbs of your garden, to
give a better relish to their Couscou, which is a dish made of the
meal of rice or maiz soaked in broth.
If you have any old negro, or one in weak health, employ him in
fishing both for yourself and your negroes. His labour will be well
worth his subsistence.
It is moreover for your own interest to give your negroes a small
piece of waste ground to improve at the end of your own, and to engage
them to cultivate it for their own profit, that they may be able to
dress a little better, by selling the produce of it, which you ought
to buy from them upon fair and just terms. It were better that they
should employ themselves in cultivating that field on Sundays, when
they are not Christians, than do worse. In a word, nothing is more to
be dreaded than to see the negroes assemble together on Sundays,
since, under pretence of Calinda or the dance, they sometimes get
together to the number of three or four hundred, and make a kind of
Sabbath, which it is always prudent to avoid; for it is in those
tumultuous meetings that they sell what they have stolen to one
another, and commit many crimes. In these likewise they plot their
rebellions.
To conclude, one may, by attention and humanity, easily manage
negroes; and, as an inducement, one has the satisfaction to draw great
advantage from their labours.
[THE END]
INDEX
Index
Abeikas Indians--293
Acacia Tree--222
Achechy--237
Adaies Indians--9;
Post of, 54
Agriculture, Indian--341
Aiaouez Indians--59, 62; 63; 66; 305
Alaron, Martin de--9, 10
Algonquins--93
Alder--226
Alibamous Indians--293
Alibamous River--135
Alligator--
slave girl kills, 19;
author kills large one, 22;
description of, 253-255
Amite River--113
Ants--272; 273
Aplaches Indians--293
Apples, wild--212
Aquelou-Pissas Indians--18; 297
Arkansas--
German colonists there, 29; 88
Arkansas Indians--
mate with Canadians, 4; 57; 303
Arkansas River--
reached by Tonti, 4; 112; 113; 153-154
Armed-fish--276-277
Ascension Bay--114; 139
Ash--226
Aspen--226
Assinais Indians--5-9
Attakapas Indians--
cannibals, 302
Avoyelles Indians--149;
home of, 302-303
Ayac Shrub--226
Balers, Marquis of--9
Barataria--145
Barbel, description of--274
Barley--203
Baton Rouge--52;
named after a cypress tree, 217
Bay of St. Bernard--3
Bay of St. Esprit--2
Bay of St. Louis--16; 17; 114;
lands around, 138
Bayou Choupic--17; 18
Bayou Goula--141
Bayou-Ogoulas Indians--52; 302
Bayou St. John--17; 18; 49; 52
Beans--
cultivation in La., 204
Bears--132; 133;
description of, 245-249;
feast of, 324
Beavers--
description of, 127-131
Bec-croche--261
Bees--271
Bienville--
becomes Gov. Gen. of La., 10-11;
founds New Orleans, 15;
breeds hogs, 16; 28; 38;
defeats Natchez Indians, 39; 42; 49; 71; 87; 88; 92; 93;
war against Chicasaws, 94-95; 109;
returns to La., 186
Biloxi--11; 16;
not suitable for settlement, 28;
distress of German colonists, 29;
country back of, 30; 47;
settlement destroyed, 137.
Birch Tree--231
Bishop (Bird)--270
Blackbirds--268
Black River--113;
land around it, 148;
lands along, 151-154
Bon Homme--195
Bois-Briant--58
Bonita Fish--12
Bourgrnont, Commander de--
voyage to Missouri and Kansas, 59-68;
his journal, 69; 160; 305
Bows--
how made, 340
Buffalo--64;
hunt by author, 122; 132; 134; 146; 147; 152;
hunt in New Mexico, 155;
hides and tallow, 155-156; 162, 178;
description of, 240;
Indian hunt, 240;
feast of, 324
Burgo-Breaker (fish)--275
Burial customs--333-337
Butterflies--271
Buzzard--
deseciption of, 258
Caouquias Indians--301
Caouitas Indians--293
Caddo Indians--151; 303
Cadillac, de la Motte--
arrives in La., 5; 6; 8; 9;
death of, 10;
his mine, 163
Calendar of Natchez--319
Calumet (Pipe of Peace)--35;
feathers for, 258
Campeachy wood--183
Canadians--
early voyagers to La., 4;
at Dauphin Island, 16;
at Mobile, 46; 58; 59;
get salt, 157;
Route to La., 161-163
Candlemas Islands--138
Cannes Brulee's--52
Canoe--
how made, 69
Cantharadies--272
Canzas (see Kansas)
Cape Anthony--13
Cape Francois--11-13; 182
Capuchins--51
Caranco--22
Cardinal--269
Carolina--
population, IX; 47
Carp--17; 146; 274
Carrion-Crow--258
Carthaginians--
practised scalping, 283
Caskaquias (see Kaskasia)
Cassine Shrub--228
Castin Bayou--113
Castine Mine--133
Catamounts--134; 144
Caterpillars--271
Catfish--
description of, 274
Cat Island--16; 138
Cedar Trees--215; 225
Celoron, Capt. de--93; 94
Chacchi-Oumas Indians--300
Chactaw Indians (see Choctaws)
Chaineau, M.--278
Chameleons--257
Champmelin, Commander--
captures Pensacola XXIV; 104; 105
Chandeleur Islands--13
Chaouachas Indians--140; 301
Chaouanous River--162
Charleville, M. de--109; 110
Charlevoix--I; III; IV; XXV; XXVI; 24; 30
Chateauguier--101
Chatkas Indians--295;
language, 297
Chatots Indians--294
Cherokees--293
Cherokee River--162
Chestnut Trees--214
Chicasaw Cliffs--133
Chicasaw Indians--46;
murder French, 56-57;
war with, 87-90;
make peace, 94;
country of, 137;
destructive wars, 291;
language, 297;
destroy other tribes, 303-304;
fierce and arrogant, 332.
Chitimachas Indians--18;
war with, 71; 300;
home of, 302
Choctaws--46; 80; 84; 85; 113
Chopart, de--73; his death, 82
Choupic--276
Choupichoul (buck wheat)-156-157
Clerac (Gascony)-27
Climate--
of Gulf Coast, III; VIII;
severe weather, 36;
at Mobile, 46;
of the Miss. Valley, 57;
of La., 107-108
Clothing of Indians--344-346
Cochineal--183
Cockle-Island--17, 138
Codfish--14
Cola-Pissas--18
Colbert--3
Coligni, Admiral de--2
Conchac Indians--293
Copper Mines--30, 145
Corbijeau--266
Cormorant, 259
Coroas Indians--300
Cooking, Indian--342
Corn--
description of, 164-165;
importance of.185;
its cultivation in La., 202;
feast of, 321-322; 347
Cotton--145; 158;
how cultivated, 174-175;
for export, 181
Cotton Tree--222
Coxe--
account of Carolina, VI; XIII; 47
Cranes--22; 126;
description of, 261
Crayfish--277
Creeper, bearded--232
Crocodile--253-255
Crows--268
Crozat--
La. ceded to, 5;
full store-houses, 8;
transfers to West India Co., 10; 107
Cuba--13
Cushaws--
cultivation in La., 206
Cypress Tree--IV;
at Baton Rouge, 52; 216; 217
d'Artaguette--28; 52; 88; 92
Dauphin Isle--13; 15; 45; 46; 49; 101; 103
d'Avion--23
Deer--64;
white, 124; 132; 134; 144; 152;
hunt, 242-244; feast of, 319
Deer Oil--249
DeLaet--2
De Lisle--279
de Meuse--
grant, 54
de Soto--2
de Ville, Father--26
Diodorus Siculus--
his description of lands west of Africa, 281-282
Diseases--
fatal to Indians--291;
of Negroes, 359-360
Dove--266
Dragon flies--272
Draught (Bird)--263
Ducks--126;
description of, 259-261
du Crenet--84
du Haye--198
Dumont (Historian)--I; V; VII; XXV; 46; 56; 66; 113; 135;
historical memoirs, 187; 225
Du Pratz--1eaves La., 187
du Tiffenet--88; 89
du Vernai, Paris--52
Eagles--257
Eels--277
Egret--261
Elder Tree--231
Elephant--
skeletons found in Ohio--290
Elk--64, 132, 134, 144
Elm--226
English--
extent of American possessions, XIV;
shipping, XVII;
at English Turn, 47-51;
on the Yazoo, 56; 57;
on the Miss. River, 140;
tobacco trade, 199
English Turn (Reach)--47; 51;
why its name, 139-140
Epidemic--13
Episingles Indians--93
Esquine--181, 233
Eye Inflammation--
treatment for, 43
Exports--
from La. to Islands, 182
Falcon--258
Feast of War--352-353
Feasts of Indians--320-322
Ferns--
Maiden hair, 234-235
Fig Trees--210-211
Filberts--213
Fire, how made--340
Fireflies--272
Fish--
plentiful in La., 274
Five Nations--294
Flamingo--22; 126;
description of, 261
Flat root--235
Flaucourt, Loire de, 24
Flax--145
Fleury, Cardinal--187
Flies--271
Florida--
French settle there, 2;
Spanish attack them, 2;
French later attack Spanish, 2
Flowers--239
Flying Fish--12
Food of Indians--348-350
Fool--
description of, 263
Forant, M. de--85
Fort Assumption--57; 93; 95
Fort Balise--47; 48; 116; 118;
where built, 139
Fort Carolin (Fla.)--2
Fort Chartres--58
Fort Crevecoeur--3
Fort Louis--46; 294
Fort Mobile--88; 92
Fort Orleans--59; 61; 62; 69; 160
Fort Rosalie--23-24; 33; 34; 35
Fort St. Francis--92; 95
Fort St. John Baptist--6; 7; 9; 10
Fort St. Louis--136
Fox Indians--
home of, 301
Foxes--251
French--
shipping, XVII;
in Fla., 2, 18;
at Natchez, 32-33;
bad influence, 41;
massacre at Natchez, 82-83;
commerce with La., 177-182
Frigate (Bird)--263
Frogs--253
Fur trade--178
Gar fish--
description of, 276-277
Gaillard--61-63; 65
Games--
Indian, 347
Geese--
wild, 127; 259
Gentilly--52
Germans--
in La., 29
Gold--145; plentiful in Mexico, 150
Gourges, Dominque de--2; 8
Grapes--208-209
Grass Point--17
Great Sun--40; 42-43
burial, 333-336
Green flies--272
Grigas Indians--298
Guenot--34
Gulf of Mexico Coast--1;
northern boundary, 13;
description of land bordering, 135-137
Gypsum--124
Habitations of Indians--341
Hakluyt (Fla.)--2
Halcyon--
description of, 263-264
Hatchet-bill--262
Havana--102
Hawks--258
Hedge-hog--253
Hennepin, Father--3
Herons--126; 261
Hemp--
cultivation, 180; 238
Hickory Trees--213
Horn Island--16
Hornbean Trees--226
Hops--177; 234
Howard, John--58
Hubert--
planter, 20; 22; 24; 25
Hubert, Mme.--136; 167
Humming Bird--270
Hurons--93
Hurricane--30; 31; 32
Huts--
how made, 341
Iapy, Commander--104
Iberville--
made Gov. Gen. of La., 4;
his death, 5; 8; 10
Iberville River--113
Illinois--
visited by Hennepin and LaSalle, 3;
hurricane, 30; 57; 58; 88; 162; 163
Illinois Indians--66;
home of, 300-301
Illinois River--110
Indians--
travel, 60-61;
how to fight, 99-100;
origin of, 279;
descended from Europeans, 281
Indigo--
cultivation and processing, 168-171;
for export, 181;
Dumont's method of making, 191-193
Iron--145
Iroquois--93;
destructive wars of, 291
Ivy--
ground, 237
Jamaica--13
Jesuits--51; 58
Kappas Indians--304
Kansas Indians--59; 60; 61; 62; 66; 68; 69; 305
Kansas River--63; 64; 110;
description of, 159
Kayemans--13
Kaskasia--58
Kaskasia Indians--301
King-fisher--
description of, 263
la Chaise, Director Gen.--44; 45
Lake Borgne--17; 138
Lake Erie--111; 161
Lake Maurepas--17; 113
Lake Pontchartrain--17
Lake St. Louis--17; 46; 49; 52; 113; 135
Lafourche (the Fork)--141
Language of Natchez--311
LaSalle--
travels from Canada to the Gulf, 3;
is killed on second trip, 4; 116
Lavert--273
Laudonviere, René de--2
Laurel Trees--217
Laval, Father--XXIII; XXV
Lavigne, Sieur--18
Law, John--29
Lead--132; 145; 158; 163
LeBlanc--
grant, 56; 88
LeSueur--83
LeSueur, Bayou--116
Levans--29
Liart Trees--226
Lime Trees--226
Linarez, Duke of--7-9
Lion's Mouth (flower) 239
Lizards--257
Locust Tree--222
Longevity of Indians--329
L'Orient--29
Loubois, Lieut. de--83; 84
Louis XIV--3; 5; 107
Louisiana--
poor colonization, XXVI;
named after Louis XIV, 3;
names, 15;
boundary of, 107;
description of soil, 117-118;
a fine country, 185;
fertility of, 197
Luchereau, M. de--4
Magnolia Trees--218-219
Magpie--268
Maize--163-165; 202-203
Manchac River--111; 114
Mangrove--223
Maple Trees--220
Marameg Mine--158
Marameg River--58
Margat River--57; 93
Marriage customs--326-328
Massacre Island--
Now Dauphin Isle, 13;
how it was named, 14
Massacre of French at Natchez--73; 82
Medicines--44; 45; 181; 215
Medicine, Indian--26; 27; 43; 44
Mehane--22
Mexicans--
descent from Chinese or Japanese, 284
Mexico--6; 7; 10;
home of ancient Natchez tribe, 279;
natives kill themselves, 291
Mezieres, Marquis de--52
Miami River--111; 161; 162; 163
Michigamias Indians--304
Mines in Illinois--163;
in La., 195-196
Miragouine, Sieur--103
Mississippi River--
lands of lower basin, VI; VII;
commands continent, IX;
navigation of, XI-XII;
mouths of, XIII;
reached by Hennepin, 3; 15; 18; 24;
hurricane, 30; 47; 48; 49; 51;
inhabitants along, 52; 53; 55; 58; 59; 63; 107;
As names, 109;
attempts to find source, 109;
mouths of, 114-115;
the passes, 117; 133;
soil at mouth, 138-139;
on east bank, 141-142;
lands west of, 145; 161; 162; 163;
voyage to source by Indian, 289-290
Mississippi Scheme--II; 58
Missionary--23
Missouri Indians--59; 60; 66;
home of, 304-305
Missouri River--
navigation of, XII; 60; 63; 69; 110;
description of, 159
Mobile--
barren lands, XX; 9; 11;
birth place of La., 15; 45; 49; 89;
native of land, 135-136;
fertility of animals and women, 136
Mobile Bay--114
Mobile Indians--294
Mobile River--
Canadians settle on, 4-5; 46; 135
Moingona River--110
Moncacht-apé, old wise man of Yazoo tribe--
his voyages, 285-290
Montplaisir, M. de--27
Montreal--59
Mosquitoes--
description of, 272-273;
how Indians fight, 333
Mulberry Trees--145; 158;
for silk growing, 167-168; 212;
feast of, 321
Muscadine Grapes--209
Mushroom--231
Myrtle Wax-tree--220
Narvaez--1
Natchez--
goodness of the country, 20-21;
commandment, 27-28;
terrible storm, 30-32;
settlement at, 38-39; 55-56
Natchez Indians--
DuPratz arrives among, 23-27;
first war with French, 32-36;
second war, 38-39; 55; 69;
council of war, 76-77; 84;
destroyed by French, 86-87; 153;
grow grain, 156;
origin of, 279-280; 297;
home of, 298;
power of, 299;
description of social habits--
birth and rearing children, 306-311;
language, government, religion, 311-320
Natchitoches--
French settle, 5;
St. Denis at, 6;
Spanish settle near, 8; 54;
quality of land, 148;
silver there, 195
Natchitoches Indians--112;
home of, 303
Negroes--
revolt, 71;
choice of for slaves, 357;
how to handle, 361;
odors of, 362
Nesunez, Pamphilo--1
New Orleans--V;
health good, IX;
settlement of, 11;
founded, 15; 17; 18; 22;
physicians and surgeons of, 26; 30; 45; 46;
forts below, 48;
description of, 49-52;
harbor of, 52; 58; 71;
climate, 108; 136;
nature of soil, 141;
distance from Canada, 162
New Mexico--6; 54; 55; 112;
nature of land, 147;
hunting there, 155
Niagara Falls--286
Nightingale--269
Nobility--
Natchez, 328
North America--
extent of, XV;
its products, XVI
Oak Trees--IV; V; 223-225
Oats--203
Ohio River--
navigation of, XII; 58; 111; 161; 162; 163;
skeleton of elephants found, 290
Ochre--23
Olivarez, Friar--9
Olive Trees--213
Orange Trees--212
Opelousas Indians--302
Opossum (wood-rat)--251
Orignaux--162
Osage Indians--59-60; 66; 304; 305
Osage River--159
Othouez Indians--59; 60; 61; 62; 66; 305
Otters--253
Otter Indians--287-288
Ouachas Indians--140
Ouchitas Indains--
former home of, 303
Ouachita River--113
Oumas Indians--52; 80; home of, 297
Ouse-Ogoulas Indians--300
Owls--268
Oysters--
in La., 277;
on trees in St. Domingo, 278
Paducah Indians--59; 61; 62; 63; 65;
Customs and manners, 66-68
destructive wars of, 291; 305
Paillou, Major General--
at N. O., 15; 18; 39
Parroquets--266
Palmetto--231
Panimahas Indians--59; 63; 66; 305
Panis Indians--305
Partridges--144; 265
Paseagoulas River--114; 136
Pasca-Ogoulas Indians--15; 46; 295
Patassa (fish)--276
Pawpaws--158; 210
Peach Trees--210-211
Pearl River--114
Pelican--
description of, 259
Pensacola--
description of, XXIII; 2;
Spanish settle, 8;
captured by French, 100-105
Perdido River--104; 116; 135
Perrier--
Gov. of La., 71; 73; 83; 85;
defeats Natchez Indians, 86-87; 153;
leaves La., 186
Perrier de Salvert--72; 86
Persimmons--209
Peru--
natives killed themselves, 291
Petits Ecores--52; 53
Pheasant--264
Phoenicians--
ancestors of Natchez Indians, 283
Phenomenon--
alarming, 30;
at Natchez, 36-38;
extraordinary, 70
Pigeons--
description of, 266-267
Pike--276
Pilchard--14; description of, 276
Pimiteouis Indians--301
Pin--IV;
for tar, 193-194; 217
Pipe of Peace--59; 60; 63; 65; 258
Pitch--
how to make, 194
Plaquemine Bayou--114
Plums--210
Pointe Coupeé--52; 53; 54
Pole Cat--252
Pope (Bird)--269
Poplar--222
Porcupine--253
Port de Paix--13
Puerto Rico--11
Potatoes (sweet)--
cultivation in La., 204-205
Pottery--
how made, 342
Provencals--
in La., 29
Prud'homme Cliffs--93
Prud'homme River--57
Pumpkins--206
Quail--266
Quebec--3; 111
Rabbits--251
Raimond, Diego--6; 10
Rattle snake--
cure for bite, 237;
description of, 255
Rattle-snake herb--235-237
Red fish--14
Red River--54; 55; 112;
nature of land, 148; 151
Red Shoe, Prince of Chactaws--95
Religion of Natchez--312
Rice--
how grown, 165;
how eaten, 166;
in La., 204-205
Richebourg, Captain--101; 102
Ring-skate (fish)--276
Rio del Norte--6
Rochelle--
author leaves, 11;
returns to, 187
Rye--
in Illinois, 162; 203
Saffron--180
Sagamity--348; 349
St. Anthony's Falls--109; 110
St. Augustin, Fla.--2
St. Bernard's Bay--116
St. Catherine's Creek--33; 34; 35; 38
St. Come--
Missionary, 71
St. Croix River--110
St. Denis--
journey to Mexico, 6-11; 54; 104;
popular with natives, 150
St. Domingo--4; 11; 13;
oysters on trees, 277
St. Francis River--57;
lands around, 157-158; 112
St. Hilaire, Surgeon--42
St. Laurent--93; 94
St. Lawrence River--111; 161; 286
St. Louis Church--51
St. Louis River--3; 4; 8
St. Rose Isle--101; 102
St. Peter River--110
Sallee--58
Salmont, Com. Gen.--85
Salt--
in lower La., 147;
spring near Natchitoches, 149;
mines, 153
Salt petre--147; 180
Samba--72
Santa Fé--112
Sarde (fish)--14
Sardine--276
Sarsaparilla--233
Sassafras--181; 220
Saw Bill--261
Scalping--283
Scotland--
tobacco trade, 199
Scurvy--
how to cure--360
Sea-Lark--263
Sea Snipe--263
Ship Island--16; 28
Shrimp--277
Siam distemper--13
Silk--
growing experiments, 167-168
cultivation possible, 176;
worms, 271
Silver--145; 151; 158; 163; 195
Sioux Indians--109;
home of, 301-306
Skunk--252
Smallpox--
fatal to Indians, 291
Snipe--266
Spanish--
claim La., 5; 54; 55;
on west of La., colony, 146;
near Natchitoches, 150;
how they hunt in Mexico, 155;
commerce with La., 183-184;
attempt to settle Missouri, 305
Starlings--268
Stag--242
Spatula--
description of, 261; 276
Spiders--
description of, 257
Squirrels--252
Stink Wood Tree--226
Strawberries--238;
feast of, 320
Stung Arm--79; 80; 81
Stung Serpent--35; 40;
death of, 335-336
Sturgeon--14
Sun of the Apple Village--
negotiates with the French, 73-78
Swallows--269
Swans--127; 162; 259
Sweet gum--181; 215
Tamarouas Indians--58; 162; 300; 301
Tangipahoa River--113
Tar--
how to make--193-194
Tassel--258
Tattooing--346
Tchefuncte River--113; 136
Teal--261
Temple, Indian--
description of, 333
Tensas Indians--
near Mobile, 294;
language, 297; 300;
former home of, 303
Tensas River--
lands along, 152
Termites--273
Thioux Indians--299
Thomez Indians--294
Thorn, Passion--229-230
Thornback (fish)--14
Tigers--134;
description of, 249-250
Timber--
for shipbuilding, 179
Tobacco--
trade, XVII;
plantation, 25; 145; 158;
in Illinois, 163;
how cultivated, 171-174;
for export, 181;
DuMont's description of cultivation, 187-191;
advantages of La. cultivation, 197-198;
British imports and exports, 199;
worm, 271
Tombigbee--46; 89
Tonicas Indians--23; 27; 44; 80; 84; 85;
language of, 298
Tonti, Chevalier de--3; 4
Topoussas Indians--300
Torture, Indian--354-355
Tortuga--13
Tooth-ache Tree--228
Tradewinds--12
Troniou--270
Turkeys, wild--120; 144;
description of, 264;
feast of, 324
Turkey Buzzard--258
Turtles--253
Ursuline Nuns--51
Vanilla--184
Vasquez de Aillon, Lucas--1
Vauban--46
Vaudreuil, Gov.--95; 96
Vinegar Tree--227
Virginia--58
Wabash River--110; 111; 161; 162; 163
Walnut Tree--158; 213
War--
with Natchez Indians, 32-36; 38-39;
causes of Indian wars, 96-97;
how they fight, 350;
war feast, 352-353
Wasps--271
Water-hen--262
Water Melons--
how grown, 166;
cultivation of in La., 206-207;
feast of, 321
Wax--
from Wax Tree, 220-222
Wax Tree--176; 220-222
West India Company--
Takes over La., 10;
sends colonists, 11; 18; 32; 44;
gives up colony, 85
Wheat--145;
in Illinois, 162;
in La., 203
White Apple Village--33; 39;
demanded by French, 73
Whortle-berries--212
Wild Cat--251
Wild Geese--22; 259
Wild Turkey--
description of, 264
(see turkey)
Willow Tree--226
Wolves--134; 144;
kill buffaloes, 156;
description of, 244-245
Women--
"fruitful" in La., 185
Woodcock--266
Wood-pecker--
description of, 268-269
Wood-Rat--251
Wren--258
Yapon Shrub--228
Yaws--359
Yazoo Indians--56;
kill the garrison at their Post, 83; 300
Yazoo River--56; 112
Ydalgo, Friar--5; 7; 9
[Illustration: A Map of Louisiana]
[Illustration: THE GULPH OF MEXICO]
End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Louisiana, by Le Page Du Pratz