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History of Louisisana

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[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.

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