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History of Louisisana

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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.

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