artgaitines Nem tE SRS NHANES ENR TREE ORM, I sa
+
HISTORY
OF
LOUISIANA.
Wo Gok Uhm = i.
ane a
: THE
Wir S TOR © & OF ice LOUISIANA
OR OF
The WesTERN Parrs OF
VIRGINIAand CAROLINA:
4
CONTAINING A Defcription of the Countries that lye. on both Sides of the River Mifiipi : WITH An Account of the Settlements, Inhabitants,, Lee Soil, Climate, and Produéts,
‘Tranflated from the Frencny
| (lately publifhed, )
By M. Lz PAGE Du PRATZ; | WITH | .
Some Notes and OBSERVATIONS ae . h ; | relating to our CoLonNiEs, a
In Two VoLuMEs.. VEO: Lise TE LONDON,
_ Printed for T. Becker and P. A. Dr Honpt | in the Strand. mpccLxrIn, 4.
CONTENTS
Oren He
SECOND VOLUME.
BRO Os ky it TF HE Natural Hiftory of Louifiana
Page 1
CHAP. IL. Of Corn and Pulfe ib.
CHAP. Il. Of the Fruit Trees of Loui- 4 fiana | 2 “4
tS)
CHAP. UI. Of Fore? Trees 239
CHAP. IV. Of Sets arte Excrefcences 33
Vou. IL, A CHAR,
ROTI) Setar ko)
CHAP. V. Of Creeping Plants 38 CHAP. VI. Of the Quadrupedes 48 CHAP. VIL. Of Birds and flying Infos 75
CHAP. VIL. Of Fifbes and Shell-Fifh 102
ByOHO RK Ty, () F the Natives of Louifiana 109
CHAP. I. The Origin of the Americans ib.
CHAP. Il. An account of the feveral na- tions of Louifiana 131
Sic tT, ft. Ga the nations inhabiting on the eafi of the Miffifipi iis
Secr. I, Of the nations inhabiting on the weft of the Milfifips Led
CHAP.
CROTNET TI EU NICTOS
CHAP. II A defcriftion of the natives of Louifiana; of their manners and cuftoms, particularly thofe of the Natches: Of their . language, their religion, ceremonies, Rulers or Suns, feafis, marriages, &c. 160
Sect. I. A defcription of the natives; the . diferent employments of the two fexes, and their manner of bringing up their children ib,
Sect. Il Of the language, government, religion, ceremonies, and feajis of the na- tives 170
Secr. Ill. Of their marriages, and diftinc- tion of ranks 197
SecrT. IV. Of the temples, tombs, burials, and other religious ceremonies of the people of Louifiana 207
Sect. V. Of the arts and manufaftures of the natives 222
Sect. VI. Of the attire and diverfions of the natives: Of their meals and faftings 230
Seer. VIE. Of the Indian art of war 242 CHAP,
CO NTO EDN TOS,
CHAP, IV. Of the negroes of Louifiana 253 Se cT. I. Of the choice of negroes; of their
diftempers, and the manner of curing them ib.
Sect. Il, Of the manner of governing the negroes 2,60
ERRATUM:
?
P. 102, fr CHAP, VII, read CHAP. VIII.
eke ee ree
ry
LOUISIANA.
BOO K Me The Natural Hiftory of Lovtstana.
OEM AGR if Of Corn aud Pulfe.
AVING, in the former part of this work, given an account of tle na- Me ture of the foil in Lowifiana, and ob- - fesvert that fome places were proper for one kind of plants, and fome for another; and that al-
moft the whole country was capable of pro- Vou. Mf, B
ducing;
2 TH ROL Sar Oo Ree
ducing, and bringing to the utmoft maturity, all kinds of grain, I fhall now prefent the in- duftrious planter with an account of the trees and lants which may be cultivated to advantage in thofe lands. with which he is now made ac-
quainted .
During my abode in that country, where I
* myfelf have a grant of lands, and where I lived fixteen years, I have had leifure to ftudy this fabject, and have made fuch progrefs in it, that I have fent to the We/t- India Company in France no jefs than three hundred medicinal plants, found in their pofleffions, and worthy of the attention of the public. The reader may depend upon my being faithful and exact; he muft not how- ever here expe a defcription of every thing that Louifiana produces of the vegetable kind, Its prodigious fertility makes it impracticable for me to undertake fo extenfive awork. I {hall chiefly defcribe thofe plants and fruits that are moft ufeful to the inhabitants, either in re- gard to their own fubfiftence or prefervation, or in regard to their foreign commerce ; and I
~ fhall add the manner of cultivating and ma- naging the plants that are of greateft advantage
to the colony, — Louifana
)
PF olg~OHU SHANA 2
Louifiana produces feveral kinds of maiz, namely flour-maiz, which is white, witha flat,
and fhrivelled furface, and is the fofteft of all
the kinds; homeny corn, which is round, hard, and fhining ;-of this there are four forts,’ the white, the yellow, the red, and the blue: the maiz of thefe two laft colours is more common in the high lands than in the Lower Louifiana. We have befides fmall corn or {mall maiz, fo called becanfe it is fmaller than the other kinds.
_ New fettlers fow. this corn upon their firft ar-
rival, in order to have whereon to fubfit as foon as poflible ; for it rifes very faft, and ripens in fo fhort a time, that from the fame field they may have two crops of it in one year. Refides this, it has the advantage of being more agree- able to the tafte than the large kind,
Maiz, whichin France is called Turkey Corn, -(and.in Zagland Indian Gorn) is the natural pro- duct of this country; for upon our arrival we found it cultivated by the natives. It grows apona ftalk fix;feven, and eight feet high ;. the ear is large, and about two inches diameter, containing fometimes, feven hundred grains and upwards; and each ftalk bears fometimes fix or feven ears, according to the goodnefs of the ground, The black and light foil is that which B 2 agrees
a fm bOR VSR oO RY agrees beft with it; but ftrong ground is not fo favourable to it.
“This corn, it is well known, is very whole- fome, both for man and other animals, efpe- cially for poultry. The natives, that they may have change of difhes, drefs it in various ways. The beft is to make it into what is called parch- ed meat, (farine froide). As there is nobody who does not eat of this with pleafure, even tho’ not very hungry, I will give the manner of preparing it, that our provinces of France, which reap this grain, may draw the fame ad-
vantage from it.
The corn is firft parboiled in water; then drained and well dried. When it is perfectly dry, itis then roafted ina plate made for that purpofe, afhes being mixed with it to hinder it from burn- ;ng; and they keep continually ftirring it, that it may take only the red colour which they want. When it has taken that colour, they remove the afhes, rub it well, and then put it in a | mortar with the afhes of dried ftalks of kidney beans, and a little water; they then beat it gently, which quickly breaks the hufk, and turns the whole into meal. This meal, after
being pounded, is dried in the fun, and after this
OF LOUISIANA. 5
this laft operation it may be carried any where, ‘and will keep fix months, if care be taken from time to time io expofe it tothe fun. When they want to eat of it, they mix in a veffel two thirds water with one third meal, and ina few minutes the mixture {wells greatly in bulk, and is fit to eat. It is a very nourifhing food, and is anexcellent provifion for travellers, and thofe who go to any diflance to trade.
This parched meal mixed with milk and a little fugar may be ferved up at the beft tables. When mixed with milk-chocolate it makes a
very lafting nourifhment. From maiz they make a ftrong and agreeable beer; and they
likewife diftil brandy from ic.
Wheat, rye, barley, and oats grow extreme- ly well in Louifiana; but I muft add one pre- caution in regard to wheat; when it is fown by itfelf, as in France, it grows at firft wonderfully ; but when it isin flower, a great number of drops of red water may be obferved at the bot- tom of the ftalk within fix inches of the ground, which are colle¢ted there during the night, and difappear at fun-rifing. This water is of fuch an-acrid nature that in a fhort time it confumes the flalk, and the ear falls before the grain is
B 3 formed,
SSS Se re ee
SS oF?
6 Met, er Dee Oye
formed. To prevent this misfortune, which is owing to the too great richnefs of the foil, the method [ have taken, and which has fucceeded extremely well, is to mix with the wheat you intend to fow, fome rye and dry mould, in fuch a proportion that the mould fhall be equal to the rye and wheat together. “Fhis method f remember to have feen prattifed in France; and when I afked the reafon of it, the farmer told me that as the land was new, and had lately been a wood, it contained an acid that was pre- judicial to the wheat; and that asthe rye ab- forbed that acid without being hurt, it thereby preferved the ather grain. I have feen harley and oats in that country three feet high.
-
'The rice which is cultivated in that country: was brought from Carolina. It fucceeds fur-
prizingly well, and experience has there prov- ed, contrary to the common notion, that it does not want to have its foot always in the water. It has been fown in the flat country without being flooded, and the grain that was reaped was full grown, and of a very delicate tafte. The fine relifh need not furprife us; for it is fo with all plants and fruits that grow without being watered, and ata diftance from watry places. ‘Two crops may be reaped from
the
rs LG@ut SLA NA. 4 the fame plant; but the fecond is poor if it be not flooded. I know not whether they have attempted, fince I left Lewifiana, to low it Upor the fides of hills.
The firft fettlers found in the country French beans of various colours, particularly red and black, and they have been called beans of forty days, becaufe they require no longer time to’ grow and to be fit to eat green. The dpalacheaw beans are fo called becaufe we received them froma nation of the natives of thatname. They probably had them from the Engli/b of Caro~ lina, whither they had been brought from Guiney. Their ftalks {pread upon the ground to the length of four or five feet. They are like the other beans, but much finaller,. and of a brown colour, having a black ring round the eye, by which they are joined tothe thell. Thefle beans boil tender, and havea tolerable relifh, but they are fweetifh, and fomewhat infipid.
The potatoes are roots more commonly long than thick; their form is various, and their fine fkin is like that of the Tofinambous ( Irifo po- tatoes)). In their fubftance and tafte they yery much refemble fweet chefnuts. They are cul- tivated in the following manner; the earth. is 1S sp Dans, raifed:
§ THE HISTORY
raifed in little hills or high furrows about a foot and a half broad, that by draining the moifture, the roots may have a better -relith. The {mall potatoes being cut in little pieces with an eye in each, four or five of thofe pieces are planted on the head of the hills. In a fhort
time they pufh out fhoots, and thefe thoots be-’
ing cut off about the middle of Augufé within feven or eight inches of the ground, are planted double, crofs-ways, in the crown of other hills, The roots of thefe laft are the moft efteemed,
not only on account of their fine relifh, but be-
caufe they are eafier kept during the winter. {n order to preferve them during that feafon,
they dry them in the fun as foon as they are.
dug up, and then lay them up ina clofe and ary place, covering them firft with athes, over which they lay dry mould. They boil them, or bake them, or roaft them on hot coals like
chefnuts; but they have the fineft relith when
baked or roafted. They are eat dry, or cut into {mall flices in milk without fugar, for they are {weet of themfelves. Good fweetmeats are alfo made of them, and fome Frenchmen have drawn brandy from them.
The Cu/baws are’ kind of pompion.. There are two forts of them, the one round, and the A: other
rq
OF LOUISIANA. 9
other in the fhape of a hunting horn, Thefe laft are the beft, being of a more firm fubftance,
which makes them keep much better than the.
others; their fweetnefs is not fo infipid, and they have fewer feeds. They make {weet- meats of thefe laft, and ufe both kinds in foup; they make fritters of them, fry them, bake them, and roaft them on the coals, and in all ways of cooking they are good and palatable.
All kinds of melons grow admirably well in Louifiana.. Thole of Spain, of France, of Eng- land, which laft are called white melons, are there infinitely finer than in the countries from whence they have their name; but the beft of all are the water melons. As they are hardly known in France, except in Provence, where a few of the {mall kind grow, I fancy a defcrip- tion of them will not be difagreeable to the reader.
_. The flalk of this melon fpreads like ours upon
the ground, and extends to the length of ten
feet. It is fo tender, that when itis any way
bruifed by treading upon it the fruit dies; and
if it is rubbed in the leaftit grows warm The leaves are very much indented, as broad as the hand when they are fpread out, and are fome- | Bs ~ what
dj
ra meg
Se
10 TE BOL Se Oe
what of a fea-green colour. The fruit is either round like a pompion, or long. There are fome good melons of this laft kind, but the firft fort are the moft cfteemed, and defervedly fo. The weight of the largeft rarely exceeds thirty pounds, but that of the fmalleft is always above ten: pounds. Their rind is of a pale green colour, interfperfed with large white fpots. The fub- ftance that adheres to the rind is white, crude, and of a difagreeable tartnefs, and is therefore never. eaten. Lhe fpace within that is filled with a light and fparkling fubfance, that may. be called for its properties a rofe-coloured fnow.. It melts in the mouth as if it were actually fnow, and leaves a relifh like that of the water prepared for fick people from gooleberry jelly. This fruit cannot fail therefore of being very refrefhing, and is fo wholefome, that perions in all kinds of diftempers may fatisfy their appetite with it, without any apprehenfion of being the worfe for it. The water-melons of 4frica are not near fo relifhing as thofe of Louifiana.
The feeds of water-melons are placed like thofe of the French melons. Their fhape is oval and flat, being as thick at the ends as to- wards the middle; their length is about fix lines, and their breadth four, Some are black
and
OF LOUISTANA. iI
it is thofe you ought to chufe for fowing, if you would with to have good fruit; which you can- not fail of, if they are not planted in ftrong’ ground where they would degenerate and be- come red.
All kinds “of greens and roots which have been brought from Europe into that colony fuc>
be planted in a foil fuited to them ; for it is
bulbous plants fhould thrive there in a foft and watry foil, when every where elfe they require: a-dry and. light earth.
and others red ; but the black are the beft, and -
ceed better there than in France, provided they’
certainly abfurd to think that onions and other™
EyH-E .) Bel SeTc Or RAY.
CudisAeP. Of the Fruit Trees of Louifiana,
SHALL now proceed to give an account of
the fruit trees of this colony, and fhall be- gin with the Vine, which is fo common in Loui- frana, that whatever way you walk, from the fea coaft, for 500 leagues northwards, you can- not proceed an hundred fteps without meeting with one; but unlefs the vine-fhoots fhould happen to grow in an expofed place, it cannot ‘be expected that their fruit fhould ever come to ‘perfect maturity. The trees to which they twine are fo high, and fo thick of leaves, and the intervals of underwood are fo filled with reeds, that the fun cannot warm the earth or ripen the fruit of this fhrub. I will not under- take to defcribe all the kinds of grapes which this country produces; it is even impoffible to know them all; I fhall only fpeak of three
or four.
The firft fort that I fhall mention does not perhaps deferve the name of a grape, altho’ its wood and its leaf greatly refemble the vine. This fhrub bears no bunches, and you hardly ever fee upon it above two grapes together. 5 The
/
GPADGAUESTAN A. 9%
‘The grape in fubftance and colour is very like a violet damafk plum, and its ftone, which is always fingle, greatly refembles anut. Tho’ not very relifhing, it has not however that dif- agreeable fharpnefs of the grape that grows in the neighbourhood of New Orleans.
On the edge of the favannahs or meadows we meet with a grape, the thoots of which re- femble thofe of the Burgundy grape. They make from this a tolerable good wine, if they take care to expofe it to the fun in fummer, and to the cold in winter. I have made this expe- riment myfelf, and muft fay that I never could turn it into vinegar.
‘There is another kind of grape which I make no difficulty of claffing with the grapes of Co- rinth, commonly called currants. It refembles them in the wood, the leaf, the tree, the fize, and the fweetnefs. Its tartnefs is owing to its being prevented from ripening by the thick fhade of the large trees to which it twines. If it were planted and cultivated inan open field, I make not the leaft doubt but it would equal the grape of Corinth, with which I clafs it.
Mutcadine
m THE HISTOR
Moufcadine grapes, of an amber colour, of a
very good kind, and very fweet, have been found upon declivities of a geod expofure, even fo far north as the latitude of 31 degrees. There is the greateft probability that they might make excellent wine of thefe, as it cannot be doubted: but the grapes might be brought to great per- feCtion-in this country, fince in the moift foil of New Orleans, the cuttings of the grape which fome of the inhabitants of that city brought from France, have fueceeded extremely well and afforded good wine.
As a proof of the fertility of Lowfiana, 1
eannot forbear mentioning the following fact ;
an inhabitant of New Orleans having planted in’
his garden a few twigs of this Mufcadine vine,
with the view of making an arbour of them,,. one of his fons with another negro boy entered: the garden in the month of Zune, when the
grapes are ripe, and broke off all the bunches they could find. The father, after feverely
chiding the two boys, pruned the twigs that’ had been broken and bruifed; and as feveral months of fummer ftill remained, the vine pufh- ed out new fhoots, and new bunches, which:
ripened and were as good.as the former.
The
OF LOUISIANA. rg
The Perfimmon, which the French of the co- lony call Placminier, very much refembles our medlar tree-in its leaf and wood: Its flower, which is about an inch and a half broad, is white, and is compofed of five petals ; its fruit is about the. fize of a large hen’s egg; it is fhaped like our medlar, but its fubftance ig fweeter, and more delicate. This fruit is aftrin- gent ; when it is quite ripe the natives make bread of it, which they keep from year to year; and the bread has this remarkable property that it will ftop the moft violent loofenefs or dyfen-- tery; therefore it ought to be ufed with cau- tion, and only after phyfic. The natives, in order to make this bread, {queeze the fruit over fine fieves to feparate the pulp from the fkin and the kernels. Of this pulp, which is like pafte or thick pap, they make cakes about a foot and a, half long, afoot broad, and a finger’s breadth. in thicknefs: Thefe they dry in an oven; upon sridirons, or elfe in thefun; which laft method of drying gives a greater relifh to the bread. This is one of their articles of traffic with the French. :
Their plum-trees are of two forts: The beft is that which bears violet-coloured plums, quite
like ours, which are not difagreeable, and which
16" POIBY EMTISIIO UR y
which certainly would be good if they did not grow in the middle of the woods. The other kind bears plums of the colour of an unripe cherry, and thefe are fo tart that no body can eat them; but I amof opinion they might be preferved like goofeberries, efpecially if pains were taken to cultivate them in open grounds: The fmall cherries, called the Indian cherry, are frequent in this country. Their wood is very beautiful, and their leaves differ in nothing
from thofe of the cherry tree.
sed he Papaws are only to be found far up in Higher Louifiana. Thefe trees, it would feem,
do notlove heat; they do not grow fo tall as-
the plum trees; their wood is very hard and flexible; for the lower branches are fometimes fo loaded with fruit that they hang perpendi- eularly downwards; and if you unload them of their fruit in the evening, you will find them next morning in their natural ere€&t pofition.
The fruit refembles a middle fized cucumber ;_
the pulp is very agreeable and very wholefome; but the rind, which is eafily {tripped off, leaves on the fingers fo fharp an acid, that if you touch your eye with them before you wath them, it
will be immediately inflamed, and itch moft in-_
fupportably for twenty-four hours after.
The
?
OF LOUISIANA
The natives had doubtlefs got the peach trees and fig trees from the Engli/b colony of Cars- lina, before the French eftablifhed themfelves in Louifiana. The peaches are of the kind which we call alberges; are of the fize of the fift, ad- here to the ftone, and contain fo much water - that they make a kind of wine of it. The figs are either blue or white; are large and well enough tafted. Our colonifts plant the peach {tones about the end of February, and fuffer the trees to grow expofed to all weathers. In the third year they will gather from one tree at leaft two hundred peaches, and double that number for fix or feven years more, when the tree dies irrecoverably. As new trees are fo cafily pro- duced, the lofs of the old ones is not in the leaft regretted. |
The orange trees and citron trees that were brought from Cafe Frangois have fucceeded ex- tremely well; however I-have feen fo fevere a winter that thofe kinds of trees were entirely: frozen to the very trunk. In that cafe they cut the trees down to the ground, and the follow- ing fummer they produced fhoots that were - better than the former. If thefe trees have fuc- ceeded in the flat and moift foil of Mew Orleans, what may we not expect when they are planted
| in
1s PHE HIS Farry in better foil, and upon declivities of a good expolure. The oranges and citrons are as good as thofe of other countries; but. the rind of the orange in particular is very thick, which makes it the better for a fweet-meat.
There is plenty of wild apples in Lousiana, like thofe in Europe; and the inhabitants have got many kind of fruit trees from France, fuch as apples, pears, plums, cherries, &c. which im the low grounds run more into wood than fruit; the fewI had at the Watches, proved that high ground is much more fuited to them than: the low.
The blue whortle berry is a fhrub fomewhat taller than our largeft goofeberry buthes, which. are left to grow as they pleafe. Its berries are of the fhape of a goofeberry, grow fingle, and are of a blue colour: they tafte like a fweetifh goofeberry, and when infufed in brandy it makes a good dram. They attribute feveral virtues to it, which, as 1 never experienced, I eannot anfwer for. It loves a poor gravelly foil.
Louifiana produces no black mulberries: but:
fcom. the fea to the Arkanfas, which is an ex- tent
y
OTreroursysr AN A. ra) tent of navigation upon the river of 200 leagues, we meet very frequently with three kinds of mulberries ; one a bright red, another perfeCtly white, and a third white and fweetifh. The firft of thefe kinds is very common, but the two laft are morerare. Of the red mulberries they make excellent vinegar, which keeps a - long time, provided they take care in the mak- ing of it to keep it in the fhade in a veflel well flopped, contrary to the practice in France. They make vinegar alfo of bramble berries, but this is not fo good as the former. E donot doubt but. the colonifts at prefent ap~ ply themfelves ferioufly to the cultivation of mulberries, to. feed filk-worms, efpecially as the countries adjoining to France, and which fupplied us with filk, have now made the ex- portation of it difficult.
The olive-trees in this colony are furprifing- ly beautiful. The trunk is fometimes a foot and an half diameter, and thirty feet high be- fore it fpreads out into branches. ‘The Pro- vencals fettled in the colony affirm, ‘that its. olives would afford as good an oil as thofe of their country. Some of the olives that were prepared to be eat green were as good as thofe of Provence. Ihave reafon to think, that if
they:
20 THE HISTORY
they were planted on the coafts, the olives would have a finer relish.
They have great numbers and a variety of kinds of walnut-trees in this country. There is a very large kind, the wood of which is almoft as black as ebony, but very porous. The fruit, with the outer fhell, is of the fize of a large hen’s egg: the fhell has no cleft, is very rough, and fo hard as to require a hammer to break it. Tho’ the fruit be very relifhing, yet it is covered with fuch a thick film, thaz
few can beftow the pains of feparating the one ©
from the other. The natives make bread of it, by throwing the frnit into water, and rub- bing it till the film and oil be feparated from it. If thofe trees were engrafted with the French walnut, their fruit would probably be improved,
Other walnut-trees have a very white and flexible wood. Of this wood the natives make their crooked {pades for houghing their fields, The nut is fmaller than ours, and the fhell more tender; but the fruit is fo bitter that none but perroquets can put up with it.
in The
OF LOUISIANA. a1
The Hicori bears a very fmall kind of nut, which at firft fight one would take for filberts, | as they have the fame thape and colour, and | their fhell is as tender, but within they are formed like walnuts. They have fuch an ex- cellent relifh, that the French make fried cakes of them as good as thofe of almonds.
_ Louifiana produces but a few filberts, as the
_ filbert requires a poor gravelly foil, which is
mot to be met with in this province, except in
the neighbourhood of the fea, efpecially near the river Mobile.
The large chefnuts are not to be met with but at the diftance of 100 leagues from the fea, and far from rivers in the heart of the woods, be- tween the country of the Chaétaws and that of the Chicafaws. The common chefnuts fucceed beft upon high declivities, and their fruit is like the chefnuts that grow in our woods. | There is another kind of chefnuts, which are called the acorn chefnuts, as they are fhaped like an acorn, and grow in fucha cup. But | they have the colour and tafte of a chefnut; and I have often thought, that thofe were the acorns which the firft of men were faid to. have lived upon,
The
22 IAP). SETEL ES oy OD) Rug
The Sweet-Gum, or Liquid- Ambar (Copan) is not only extremely common, but it affords a balm, the virtues of which are infaite. . Its bark is black and hard, and its wood fo tender and fupple, that when the tree is felled you may draw from the middle of it.rods of five or fix feet in length. It cannot be employed in building or furniture, as it warps continually ; nor is it fit for burning on account of its flrong — {mell; but a little of it in a fire yields an | agreeable perfume. Its leaf is indented with five points like a flar.
I RS eo eS OR nT NR a
T fhall not undertake to particularize all the wirtues of this Sweet-Gum or Liquid- Ambar, not having learned all of them from ihe natives of the country, who would be no lefs furprifed to find that we ufed it only asa varnith, than they were to fee our furgeons bleed their pa- | tients. ‘This balm, according to them, is an — excellent febrifuge ; they take ten or a dozen “drops of. it-in gruel fafting, and before their meals ; and.if they fhould take a little more, | they have no reafon to apprehend any danger. q
_ The phyficians among the natives purge their | patients before they give it them. It cures | wounds in two days without any bad confe- | quences : it is equally fovereign for all kinds of |
2 ulcers,
BY sg
%
OF LOUISIANA. 23
ulcers, after having applied to them for fome days a plafter of bruifed ground-ivy. It cures -confumptions, opens obftructions; it affords relief in the cholic and all internal ‘dileaicue it comforts the heart; in fhort, it contains fo ma- ny virtues, that they are every day difcovering fome new property that it has. :
Ltd) vee, ok. Of Foreft Trees.
FAVING defcribed the moft remarkable _
~of their fruit trees, I thall now proceed to give an account of their foreft trees.. White and red cedars are very common upon the coaik. The incorruptibility of the wood, and many other excellent properties which are well known, induced the firft French fettlers to build their houfes of it; which were but very low.
Next to the cedar the cyprefs tree is the moft valuable wood. Some reckon it incor- ruptible; and if it be not, it is at jeaft a great many years in rotting. The tree that was found twenty feet deep in the earth near New Orleans was a cyprefs, and was uncor- rupted,
4 THELHIS TORY
rupted. Now if the lands of Lower Louifiana © are augmented two leagues every century, this tree muft have been buried at leaft twelve cen- turies. The cyprefs grows very firaight and tall, with a proportionable thicknefs. They commonly make their Pettyaugres of a fingle trunk of this tree, which will carry three or four thoufand weight, and fometimes more. Of one of thofe trees a carpenter offered to make two pettyaugres, one of which carried fixteen ton, andthe other fourteen. There isacyprefs
AIO lS et ct RMR PPB LAL AME ae cat Sead dehy wi F
+ age
“tithe canine me oe . ek teteere reermatt meer tee re te J , ~~ * we
ee) eee tos Aenea
at Baton Rouge, a French fettlement twenty- fix leagues above New Orleans, which mea- fures twelve yards round, and is of a prodi- gious height. The cyprefs has few branches, and its leaf is long and narrow, The trunk tlofe by the ground fometimes fends off two or three ftems, which enter the earth oblique- ly, and ferve for buttrefles to the tree. Its wood is of a beautiful colour, fomewhat red- dith ; it is foft, light, and fmooth; its grain is ftraight, and its pores very clofe. It is eafily fplit by wedges, and tho” ufed green it never warps. It renews itfelf in a very extraordina- ry manner: a fhort time after it is cut down, a fhoot is obferved to grow from one of its ; roots exattly in the form of a fugar-loaf, and — this fometimes rifes ten feet high before any leaf 4
Saal eape mene
i
erg et
q
OF LOUISIANA. 25
_Teaf appears: the branches at length arife from the head of this conical fhoot *,
The Cypreffes were formerly very common in /Louifiana ; but they have wafted them fo im- prudently, that they are now fomewhat rare. They felled them for the fake of their bark, with which they covered their houfes, and they fawed the wood into planks which they ex- ported to different places. The price of the
wood now is three times as much as it was for- _merily.
The Pine-tree, which loves a barren foil, is to be found in great abundance on the fea- coafts, where it grows very high and very beau- (ful. The iflands upon the coaft, which are formed wholly of fhining fand, bear no other tees, and I am perfuaded that as fine mats
might be made of them as of the firs of Sweden,
All the fouth parts of Louifana abound with the Wild Laurel, which grows in the woods without any cultivation: the fame may be faid of the ftone laurel; but if a perfon is not upon his guard he may take for the laurel a tree na-
* This is a miftake, according to Gharlevoin
Vou. I. Cc tural
6 TAD USO ©
tural to the country, which would communi- cate its bad {mell to every thing it is applied to. Among the laurels the preference ought to be given to the tulip-laurel (magnolia) which is not known in Europe. This tree is of the height and bulk of one of our common walnut trees. Its head is naturally very round, and fo thick of leaves that neither the fun nor rain can penetrate it. Its leaves are full four inches long, near three inches broad, and very thick, of a beautiful fea-green on the upper-fide, and refembling white velvet on the under-fide : its bark is f{mooth and of a grey colour ; its wood is white, foft, and flexible, and the grain inter- woven. It owes its name to the form of its great white flowers, which are at leaft two snches broad. Thefe appearing in the {pring amid{t the glofly verdure of the leaves, have a moft beautiful effect. As the top is naturally round, and the leaves are ever-green, avenues of this tree would doubtlefs be worthy of a royal garden. After it has fhed its leaves, its fruit appears in the form of a pine apple, and upon the firft approach of the cold its grain ‘turns into a lively red. Its kernel is very bitter, and ’tis faid to be a {pecific againft fevers.
The
OF LOUITSIAN A. 27
The Saffafras, the name of which is familiar to botanifts on account of its medicinal quali- ties, is a large and tall tree. Its bark is thick, and cracked here and there; its wood is fome- what of the colour of cinamon, and has an agreeable finell. It will not burn in the fire without the mixture of other wood, and even in the fire, if it fhould be feparated from the flaming wood, it is immediately extinguithed, as
if it were dipped in water.
The Maple grows upon declivities in cold climates, and is much more plentiful in the northern than fouthern parts of the colony. By boring it they draw from it a fweet fyrup which
I have drunk of, and which they ated ge is an excellent ftomachic.
The Myrtle Wax-tree is one of the greateft | bleflings with which nature has enriched Louifia- na, as in this country the bees lodge their ho- ney in the earth to fave it from the ravages of the bears, who are very fond of it, and don’t _ value their ftings. One would be apt to take it, at firft fight, both from its bark and its height, for that kind of laurel ufed in the kit- chens. It rifes in feveral ftems from the root ; its leaf is like that of the laurel, but not fo C2 | thick
SRE EER a Hs
i. ee ee
28 THE HISTORY
thick nor of fuch a lively green. It bears its
fruit in bunches like a nofegay, rifing from the
fame place in various ftalks about two inches
long: at the end of each of thofe flalks is a
little pea, containing a kernel in a nut, which
laft is wholly covered with wax. The fruit,
which is very plentiful, is eafily gathered, as the
fhrub is very flexible. The tree thrives as well in the fhade of other trees as in the open air, 1n_ watry places and cold countries, as well as in
dry grounds and hot climates; for I have been told that fome of them have been found in Ca- nada, a country as cold as Denmark.
This tree yields two kinds of wax, one a whitifh yellow, and the other green, It wasa long time before they learned to feparate them, and they prepared the wax at firft in the follow- ing manner. {talks into a large kettle of boiling water, and when the wax was detached from them, they
{cummed off the grains. When the water cooled
the wax floated in a cake at the top, and being cut fmall, bleached ina fhorter time than bees wax. They now prepare it in this manner ; they throw boiling water upon the ftalks and grains till they are entirely floated, and when
they have ftood thusa few minutes, they pour of
They threw the grains and the —
F g
pt
OF LOUISIANA. 29 off the water, which carries the fineft wax with it. This wax when cold is of a pale yellow colour, and may be bleached in fix or feven days. Having feparated the beft wax, they pour the water again upon the ftalks and grains, and boil all together till they think they have fe- parated all the wax. Both kinds are exported to our fugar iflands, where the firft is fold for ~ ico fols the pound, and the fecond for 4o.
This wax is fo brittle and dry that if it falls: it breaks into feveral pieces; on this account however it lafts longer than that of France, and is preferred to it in our fugar iflands, where the latter is foftened by the great heats, and
confumes like tallow. I would advife thofe who prepare this wax to feparate the grain from the fhort ftalk before they boil it, as the ftalk is greener than the grain, and feems to part eafily with its colour, The water which ferves to melt and feparate the wax is far from being ufelefs, The fruit communicates to it fuch an aftringent virtue, as to harden the tallow that is melted in it to fuch a degree, that the can- dles made of that tallow are as firm.as the wax candles of France. This aftringent quality likewife renders it an admirable fpecific againft a dyfentery or loofenefs, From what I have
ake faid
30 THE HISTORY
{aid of the myrtle wax tree, it may well be believed that the French of Louifiana cultivate it carefully, and make plantations of it.
The Cotton-tree (a poplar) is a large tree which no wife deferves the name it bears, un- lefs for fome beards that it throws out. Its fruit which contains the grain is about the fize of a walnut, and of no ufe; its wood is yel- low, {mooth, fomewhat hard, of a fine grain, and very proper for cabinet work. The bark of its root is a fovereign remedy for cuts» and fo red that it may even ferve to dye that
colour,
The Acacia (Locuft) is the fame in Louif- ana as in France, much more common, and lefs ftreight. The natives call it by a name that fignifies bard wood, and they make their bows of it becaufe itis very ftiff. They look upon it as an incorruptible wood, which in- duced the French fettlers to build their houfes ‘of it. The pofts fixed in the earth muft be - entirely {tripped of their bark, for notwith- ftanding their hardnefs, if the leaft bark be left upon them they will take root.
The Helm-oak grows to a farprifing bulk and height in this country; I have feen of — | them
Sp cCoOVIS TAINA 3b
them a foot and a half diameter, and about 30 feet from the ground to the loweft branches.
The Mangrove is very common all over 4-. merica. It grows in Louifiana near the fea, even to the bounds of low-water mark. It is more prejudicial than ufeful, inafmuch as it occupies a great deal_of good land, prevents failors from landing, and affords a fhelter to the fifh from the fifhermen,
Oak-trees abound in Louifiana; there are fome red, fome white, and fome ever-green. A fhip-builder of St. Maloes affured me that the red is as good as the ever-green upon which we fet fo high a value in France. The ever~ green oak is moft common toward the fea-coalts, and near the banks of rivers, confequently may be tranfported with great eafe, and become a great refource for the navy of France*. 1 for- got to mention a fourth kind of oak, namely
* Eleven leagues above the mouth of the Miffippi, on the weft fide, there is- great plenty of ever-green oaks, the wood of which is very proper for the timbers of fhips, as it does not rotin water, Dumont, 1. & 50.
Accordingly the bet fhips built in America are well known to be thofe that have their timbers of ever-green oak, and their plank of cedar, of both which there are great plenty on all the coafts of Lowifiana. |
C4 the
2 THE HISTORY
the black oak, fo called from the colour of its bark. Its wood is very hard, and of a deep red. It grows upon the declivities of hills and in the Savannahs. Happening after a fhower of rain to examine one of thefe which I cut down, I obferved fome water to come from it as red as blood, which made me think that it might be ufed for dying.
The 4/b is very common in this country ; but more and better upon the fea-coafts than in the inland parts. As it is eafy to be had, and is harder than the elm, the wheel-wrights make ufe of it for wheels, which it is needlefs to ring with iron ina country where there are neither {tones nor gravel.
The Eln, Beech, Lime, Hernbeam, are ex- actly the fame in Louifiana as in France; the Jaft of thefe trees is very common here. The bark of the Lime tree of this country is equal- ly proper for the making of ropes, as the bark of the common Lime; but its leaf is twice as large, and fhaped like an oblong Trefoil leaf with the point cut off.
The white woods are the A/pen, Willow, Ak der and Liart. This laft grows very large, its wood
-
OF LOUISIANA. 33
wood is white and light, and its fibres are in- terwoven ; it is very flexible and is eafily cut, on which account they make their large Petzy- augres of it.
SA Pastin: Of Shrubs and Excrefcences.
HE 4yac or Stinking wood, is ufually a:
{mall tree, feldom exceeding the thick- nefs of a man’s leg; its leaf is of a yellowifh: green, gloffy, and of an oval form, being about: three inches in length. The wood is yellow,. and yields a water of the fame colour, when it is cut in thefap: but both the wood and the water that comes fromit have a: difagreeable- {mell. The natives ufe the wood for dying ; they cut it into {mall bits, pound them, and then boil them in water. Having ftrained this. water, they dip the feathers and hair into it,. which it is their cuftom to dye firft. yellow and, then red. When they intend to ufe it for the yellow dye, they take care to cut the wood ins the winter, but if they want only a flight COs _ tour they never mind the feafon of cutting it..
ake 5 . The:
34 rT te etd Sy oe Ogee
The Machonchi, or Vinegar tree, is a fhrub with leaves, fomewhat refembling thofe of the afh ; but the foot-ftalk from which the leaves hang is much longer. When the leaves are dry the natives mix them with their tobacco to — weaken ita little, for they don’t love ftrong tobacco for {moaking. ‘The wood is of an af- tringent nature, and if put into vinegar makes it ftronger.
The Caffine, or Yapon, is a fhrub which ne- yer grows higher than 15 feet; its bark is very {mooth, and the wood flexible. Its leaf is very much indented, and when ufed as tea is reck- oned good for the ftomach. The natives make an intoxicating liquor from it, by boiling it in water till great part of the liquor evapo-
rate.
The Toothach-tree does not grow higher than 10 or 12 feet. ‘The trunk, which is not very large, is wholly covered over with fhort
thick prickles, which are eafily rubbed > off. The pith of this fhrub is almoft as large as that of the elder, and the form of the leaf is al- moft the fame in both. It has two barks, the euter almoft black, and the inner white, with fomewhat of a pale reddifh hue. ‘This inner
| bark
OF LOUISIANA. ° 35
bark has the property of curing the toothach. The patient rolls it up to the fize of a bean, puts it upon the aching tooth, and chews it till the pain ceafes. Sailors and other fuch people powder it, and ufe it as pepper.
The Paffion thorn does not rife above the height of a fhrub; but its trunk 1s rather thick for its height. This fhrub is in great efteem among the Natches ; but I never could learn for what reafon. Its leaf refembles that of the black thorn; and its wood while it is green is not very hard. Its prickles are at leaft two inches long, and are very hard and pierc- ing ; within half an inch of their root two other fmall prickles grow out from them fo as to form a crofs. The whoie trunk is covered with thefe prickles, fo that you muft be very wary how you approach it, or cut it.
The Elder tree is exactly like that of France, only that its leaf is a littlke moreindented. The juice of its leaves mixed with hog’s lard is a {pe- cific againft the hemorrhoids. - !
The Palmetto has its leaves in the form of in open fan, {colloped at the end of each of its
folds. Its bark is more rough and Knotty than C 6. that
36 THE HISTORY
that of the palm tree. Altho’ itis lefs than that of the Zaft Indies, it may however ferve to the fame purpofes. Its wood is not harder than. that of a cabbage, and its trunk is fo foft that the leaft wind overturns it, fo that I never faw any but what were lying along on the ground. It is very common in Lower Louifiana, where there are no wild oxen; for thofe animals who love it dearly, and are greatly fattened by it, devour it wherever they can find it. ‘The Sfa- ni/b women make hats of its leaves that do not weigh an ounce, riding hoods, and other cu- rious works.
The Birch tree is the fame with that o France. Inthe north they make canoes of its bark large enough to hold eight perfons. When the fap rifes they ftrip off the bark from the tree in one piece with wedges, .after which they few up the two ends of it to ferve for {tem and ftern, and anoint the whole with gum.
make not the leatt doubt but that there are. great numbers of other trees in the forefts of Louvifiana that deferve to be particularly de- {cribed ; but I know of none, nor have I heard of any, but what I have already fpokea of. For
cur teavellers, from whom alone we can get any
),
OF LOUISIANA. 37
any intelligence of thofe things, are more in- tent upon difcovering game which they ftand in need of for their fubfiftence, than in ob- ferving the productions of nature in the vege- table kingdom. ‘To what I have faid of trees, I fhall only add, from my own knowledge, an account of two fingular excrefcences.
The firft is a kind of Agaric or Mufbroom, which grows from the root of the walnut-tree, efpecially when it is felled.. The natives, who are very careful in the choice of their food, gather it with great attention, boil it in water, and eat it with their gruel. I had the curiofity to tafte of ir, and found it very delicate, but
rather infipid, which might eafily be corrected with a little feafoning.
’ The other excrefcence is commonly found upon trees near the banks of rivers and lakes. It is called Sfani/b beard, which name was. given it by the natives, who, when the Sfa- niards firft appeared in their country about 2.40: years ago, were greatly furprifed at their muf- tachios and beards. ‘This excrefcence appears like a bunch of hair hanging from the large branches of trees, and might at firft be eafily miftaken for an old perruque, efpecially when
8. it
ge) ° THE HIST ORY
itis dancing with the wind, As the firft fet- tlers of Louifiana ufed only mud walls for their houfes, they commonly mixed it with the mud for ftrengthening the building. When gather- ed itis of a grey colour, but when it is dry its bark falls off; and difcovers black filaments as Jong and as ftrong as the hairs of a horfe’s tail. I dreffed fome of it for ftuffing a mattrafs, by firft laying it up ina heap to make it part with the bark, and afterwards beating it to take off fome fmall branches that refemble fo many lit- tle hooks. It is affirmed by fome to be incor- ruptible: I myfelf have feen of it under old _ Kotten trees that was perfectly frefh and ftrong.
SB Be hy advil Of Creeping Plants.
HE great fertility of Louifiana renders the
| creeping plants extremely common, which,
exclufive of the Ivy, are all different from thofe
which we have in France. 1 hall only mention the moft remarkable.
The Bearded-creeper is fo called from hav- ing its whole ftalk covered with a beard about an
OF LOUISIANA. 39
an inch long, hooked at the end, and fomewhat thicker than a horfe’s hair. There is no tree which it loves to cling to fo much as to the Sweet Gum; and fo great is its fympathy, if I may be allowed the expreflion, for that tree, that if it grow between it and any other tree, it turns folely towards the Sweet Gum, altho’ it thould be at the greateft diftance from it, This is likewife the tree upon which it thrives beft. It has the fame virtue with its balm of being a febrifuge, and this I affirm after a great number of preofs. The phyficians among the natives ufe this fimple in the following manner. They takea piece of it, above the length of the finger, which they {plit into as many threads as poffible ; thefe they boil in a quart of water, ‘till one third of the decoétion evaporate, and the remainder is ftrained clear. They then purge the patient, and the next day, upon the approach of the fit, they give a third of the decoction to drink. If the patient be not cured with the firft dofe, he is again purged and drinks another third, which feldom fails of having the wifhed-for effet. This medicine is indeed very bitter, but it ftrengthens the {tomach; a fingular advantage it has over the Fefuits bark, which is acculed of having a con- trary effect. fase: . , There
e 2
40 THE HISTORY
There is another Creeper very like Salfapa- rilla, only that it bears its leaves by threes. It bears a fruit {mooth on one fide like a filbert, and on the other as rough as the little fhells which ferve for money on the Guiney coaft. I fhall not {peak of its properties; they are but too well known by the women of Louifiana, efpecially the girls, who very often have recourfe to it. |
Another Creeper is called by the native phy.
ficians the remedy againft poifoned arrows. Tt
is large and very beautiful; its leaves are pret- ty long, and the pods it bears are narrow, about
_ aninch broad, and eight inches long.
“The Salfaparilla grows naturally in Louifana, and it is not inferior in its qualities to that of Mexico. It is fo well known that ’tis needlefs to enlarge upon it.
The E/quine partly refembles a creeper and partly a bramble. It is furnifhed with hard {pikes like prickles, and its oblong leaves are
like thofe of the common Creeper (Liane Pe: its
ftalk is ftraight, long, fhining, and hard, and it runs up along the reeds: its root is {pungy, and fometimes as large as one’s head, but more long
OF GOUISTAINA. “de
long than round. Befides the fudorific virtue which the E/guine poffeffes in common with the Salfaparilla, ithas the property of making the hair grow, and the women among the natives ufe it fuccesfully with this view. They cut the root into {mall bits, boil them in water, and wafh their heads with the decoction. I have feen feveral of them whofe hair came down be- low their knees, and one particularly whofe hair came lower than the ankle bones.
Hops grow naturally in the gullies in the high lands.
Maiden-hair grows in Louwifiana more beauti-
ful, at leaft as good as that of Canada, which isin fo great repute. It grows in gullies upon the fides of hills, in places that are abfolutely impenetrable to the moft ardent rays of the fun. It feldom rifes above a foot, and it bears a thick fhaggy head. The native phyficians: know more of its virtues than we do in France.
The Canes or Reeds which I have mentioned fo often may be divided into two kinds. One. kind grows in moift places to the height of - eighteen feet, and the thicknefs of the wrift. The natives make matts, fieves, {mall boxes, and
f other
42 Tne Ha S POR Y other works of it. Thofe that grow in dry places are neither fo high nor fo thick, but are fo hard, that before the arrival of the French, the natives ufed fplits of thofe canes to cut their victuals with. After a certain number of years, the large canes bear a great abundance of grain,
which is fomewhat like oats, but about three
times as large. The natives carefully gather thefe grains and make bread or gruel of them. This flour fwells as much as that of wheat. When the reeds have yielded the grain they die, and none appear for a long time after in the
fame place, efpecially if fire has been fet to —
the old ones.
The Flat-Root receives itsname from the form of its root, which is thin, flat, pretty often in- ‘dented, and fometimes even pierced thro’: it is a line or fometimes two lines in thicknefs, and its breadth is commonly a foot and a half. From this large root hang feveral other {mall ftraight roots, which draw the nourifhment from the earth. This plant, which grows in meadows ‘that are not very rich, fends up from the fame root feveral ftraight {talks about eighteen inches high, which are as hard as wood, and on the top of the ftalks it bears {mall purplifh flowers, in their figure greatly refembling thofe of
heath; ,
OF LOUISIANA. 43
heath ; its feed is contained in a deep cup clofed at the head, and in a manner crowned. Its leaves are about an inch broad, and about two long, without any indenting, of a dark green, inclining to a brown. It is fo {trong a fudori- fic, that the natives never ufe any other for promoting fweating, altho’ they are perfectly acquainted with /afafras, fa Yaparilla, the ef-
guine and others.
The Rattle-fnake-herb has a bulbous root, like that of the tuberofe, but twice as large. The leaves of both have the fame fhape and the fame colour, and en the under fide have fome flame-coloured fpots; but thofe of the rattle- {nake plant are twice as large as the others, end in
avery firm point, and are armed with very hard prickles on both fides. Its flalk grows to the height of about three feet, and from the head. rife five or fix f{prigs in different directions, each of which bears a purple flower an inch ‘broad, with. five leaves in the form of a cup. After thefe leaves are fhed there remains a head about the fize of a fmall nut, but fhaped like the head ofa poppy. This head is feparated into four divifions, each of which contains four black feeds, equally thick throughout, and about the fize of large lentil, When the head
is
Fens MERE A ten Nips LE ea ata hn PS
44 THE HISTORY
is ripe, it will, when fhaken, give the fame found
as the tail of a rattle-{nake, which feems to in-
dicate the property of the plant; for it is the fpe-
cific remedy again{t the bite of that dangerous: |
reptile. The perfon who has been bit ought
‘mediately to take a root, bite off part of it,
chew it for fome time, and apply it to the wound. In five or fix hours it will extra the whole poifon, and no bad. confequences need: be apprehended.
Ground-ivy is faid by the natives to poffefs many more virtues than are known to our bo-
tanifts. It is faid to eafe women in Jabour’ when drank in a decoétion; to cure ulcers, if.
bruifed and laid upon the ulcered part; to be
a fovereign remedy for the head-ach; a confi- derable quantity of its leaves bruifed, and laid asa cataplafm upon the head, quickly removes. the pain. As this is an inconvenient applica- tion to a perfon that wears his hair, I thought. of taking the falts of the plant, and I gave fome of them in vulnerary water toa friend of mine who was often attacked with the head-ach, ad- vifing him likewife to draw up fome drops by the nofe: he feldom practifed this but he was relieved a few moments after.
The
OF LOUISIANA. 4r
The Achechy is only to be found in the fhade ofa wood, and never grows higher than fix _or feven inches. It has a fmall ftalk, and its _ leaves are not above three lines long. Its root _ confifts of a great many fprigs a line in diame- ter, full of red juice like chickens blood. Hav- ing tranfplanted this plant from an overfha- dowed place into my garden, I expected to fee it greatly improved; but it was not above an _ inch taller, and its head was only a little bufhier than ufual. It is with the juice of this plant that the natives dye their red colour. Having firft dyed their feathers or hair yellow or a beautiful citron colour with the ayac woed, they boil the roots of the achechy in water, then fqueeze them with all their force, and the ex- _ prefled liquor ferves for the red dye. That which was naturally white before it was dyed yellow, takes a beautiful {carlet; that which was brown, fuch as buffalos hair, which is of a che{nut colour, becomes a reddith brown.
I fhall not enlarge upon the ftrawberries, which are of an excellent flavour, and fo plen- tiful, that from the beginning of ri! the fa- _vannahs or meadows appear quite red with them.’ I fhall alfo only juft mention the tobacco, which I referve for the article of agriculture ;
| ) but
gat He SAT SRO Ww
but I ought not to omit to take notice, that | hemp grows naturally on the lands adjoining to the lakes on the weft of the Mifi/ippi. The ftalks are as thick as one’s finger, and about fix feet long. They are quite like ours both in the wood, the leaf, and the rind. The flax which was fown in this country rofe three feet high.
I cannot affirm from my own knowledge that the foil in this province produces ei- ther white mufhrooms or truffles. But morelles in their feafon are to be found in the greateft abundance, and round mufhrooms ia theautumn.
When I confider the mild temperature of this climate, I am perfuaded that all our flowers would fucceed extremely well in it. The eoun- try has flowers peculiar to itfelf, and in fuch abundance, that from the month of May till the end of fummer, you can hardly fee the grafs in the meadows; and of fuch various hues that one is at a lofs which to admire moft and de- clare to be the moft beautiful. The number
and diverfity of thofe fowers quite enchant the
fight. Iwill not however attempt to give a par- ticular account of them, asIam not qualified on this head to {fatisfy the defires of the curious,
from my having neglected to confider the va- | 5 rious
\
OF LOUISIANA. 4
rious flowers themfelves. I have feen fingle and fmall rofes without any {mell ; and another kind of rofe with four white petals, which in
its fmell, chives, and pointal, differed in nothing
from our damafk rofes. But of all the flowers of this country that which ftruck me moft, as itis both very common and lafts a long time, is
/
-the flower called Lion’s Mouth. The flowers
which decorate its ftalk, its fhady colours, its _ blowing for more than three months, juftly en- title it to the preference before all other flowers,
It forms of itfelf an agreeable nofe-gay ; and in
my opinion it deferves to be ranked with the - fineft fowers, and to be cultivated with atten- _ tion in the gardens of our kings. -
As to cotton and indigo I defer fpeaking of them till I come to the chapter of agriculture.
THE HISTORY
CELA Ps VE. Of the Quadrupedes.
EFORE I fpeak of the animals which the firft fettlers found in Louifiana, it is pro- . per to obferve, that all thofe which were brought hither from France, or from New Shain and Carolina, fuch as horfes, oxen, fheep, goats, dogs, cats, and others, have multiplied and thriven perfectly well. However it ought to be remarked, that in Lower Louifiana, where the ground is moift and much covered with wood, they can neither be fo good nor fo beautiful asin Higher Lowifiana, where the foil is dry, where there are moft extenfive meadows, and where the fun warms the earth to a much greater depree. ;
The Bujals is about the fize of one of our largeft oxen, but he appears rather bigger, on / account of his long curled wool, which makes him appear to the eye much larger than he 4 really is. [his wool is very fine and very thick, _ - _. and is of a dark chefnut colour, as are likewife _ his brifily hairs, which are alfo curled, and {fo b long, that the bufh between his horns often falls
over fe
OF VOUCLSTAR A. “a
| over his eyes and hinders him from feeing be- fere him; but his fenfe of hearing and fmelling is fo exquifite as in fome meafure to fupply the _ want of the other. A pretty large bunch rifes on his fhoulders in the place where they join to the neck. His horns are thick, fhort, and black; and his hoof is alfo black. The cows of this {pecies have fmall udders like thofe of a mare,
This bufalo is the chief food of the natives, and of the French alfo for a long time paft ; the befk piece is the bunch on the fhoulders, the -tafte of which is extremely delicate. They hunt _this animal ia the winter ; for which purpofe
they leave Lower Louifiana, and the river Mi/- Sfii, as he cannot penetrate thither on ac- count of the thicknefs of the woods and be- fides loves to feed on long grafs, which is only _ to be found in the meadows of the high lands, In order to get near enough to fire upon him, they go againft the wind, and they take aim at the hollow of the fhoulder, that they nay bring him to the ground at once, for if he is only ‘Tlightly wounded, he runs againft his enemy. The natives when hunting feldom chufe to kill any but the cows, having experienced that the fiefh of the male fmells rank; but this they
VOL. II, D might
Pe TERE T'S TO RY
might eafily prevent, if they but cut off the tefticles from the beaft as foon as he is dead, as they do from flags and wild boars. By killing | the males there is lefs hazard of diminifhing the |
es than by killing the females ; and. befides, llow, and their fkins. |
{peci the males have much more ta
are the largeft and beft,
Thefe fkins are an object of no {mall confi- | The natives drefs them with their | tofuch great perfection, as to render | them more pliable than our buff. They dye | them different colours, and cloath themfelves |
therewith. To the French they fupply the place |
deration. wool on,
|
of the beft blankets, being at the fame time very | warm and very light. | i
- The ftag is entirely the fame with that of. France, only he is a little larger. They are. only to be found in Upper Louifiana, where the woods are much thinner than in Lower Lout-. fiana, and the chefnuts which the ftag greatly
Joves are very common,
Bee Sh ‘, The deer is very frequent in this province, notwithftanding the great numbers of them that are killed by the natives. ‘According to the
punters, he partly refembles the flag, the rain- f deer, oe
OF LOUISIANA. gy
deer, and the roe-buck. As to myfelf I can ‘only fay what I have feen, that he is abeut four feet high, has large horns bending forwards, and decorated with feveral antlers, the ends of which are formed fomewhat like a rofe; that lhis fleth is dry like that of ours, and when he is fat taftes like mutton. They feed in herds, ‘and are not in the leaft of a fierce nature. They are exceilively capricious, hardly remain a mo- iment in one place, but are coming and going continually. The natives drefs the fkin ex- ‘tremely well, like buff, and afterwards paint it. ‘Thofe fkins that are brought to France ate often called does fkins.
_ The natives hunt the deer -fometimes in companies, and fometimes alone, ‘The hunter who goes out alone furnithes himfelf with the Gried head of a deer, with part of the fkin’ of the neck faftened to it, and this fkin is flretched out with feveral hoops made of {plit cane, Which are kept in their places by other [plits placed along the infide of the fin, fo that the hands and arms may be eafily put within the neck.. Being thus provided, he goes in queft of the deer, and takes all neceflary precau- ‘lions not to be difcovered by that animal : When he fees one, he approaches it as ie ay D2
as
gently
%
52 THE HIS TORY as poffible, hiding himfelf behind a bufh which
he carries in his hand, till he be within fhot of
+t. But if, before he can come near enough, the
buck fhakes its head, which is a fign that it is
going to make fome capers and run away, the hunter immediately counterfeits the cries of thofe animals when they call each other, in | which cafe the buck frequently comes up to- | wards him. He then fhews the head which he | holds in his hand, and by lowering and lifting | his arm by turns, it makes the appearance of a | buck feeding, and lifting his head from time | to time to gaze. The hunter ftill keeps him: | {elf behind the buhh, till the buck comes near | enough to him, and the moment he turns his fide he fires at the hollow of his fhoulder, and \
lays him dead.
When the natives want to make the dance of the deer; or if they want to exercife them. ; {elves merrily ; or if it fhould happen that the Great Sun inclines to {uch fport, they go about : an hundred of them in a company to the hunting of this animal, which they muft bring home: alive. As it is a diverting exercife, many young: men are generally of the party, who difperfe themfelves in the meadows among the thickets.
qn order to difcover the deer. They no fooner' perceive
|
OF-LOUISTAIN A, 59
perceive one than they advance towards him
in a wide crefcent, one point of which may be
about a quarter of a league from the other. Part of the crefcent draws near to him, which frightens him away to another point; that part
likewife advancing, he immediately flies back to the other fide. He is kept thus running from
_ one fide to another aconfiderable time, on pur-
pofe to exercife the young men, and afford di- verfion to the Great Sun, or to another Little
~ Sun, who is nominated to fupply his place. The
deer fometimes attempts to get out and efcape
| by the openings of the crefcent, in which cafe
thofe who are at the points run forwards, and
_ oblige him to go back. The crefcent then gra-
dually forms a circle; and when they perceive
_the deer beginning tobe tired, part of them
{toop almoft to the ground, and remain in that pofture till he approaches them, when they rife and fhout: he inftantly flies off to the other fide, where they do the fame; by which means he is at length fo exhaufted, that he is no longer able to ftand on his legs, and fuffers him- felf to be taken like a lamb. Sometimes how- ever he defends himfelf on the ground with his antlers and fore-feet; they thérefore ufe the precaution to feize upon him behind, and even in that cafe they are fometimes wounded.
WES The
84 hr Be SoTe OUR
The hunters having feized the deer prefent it > to the Great Sun, or in his abfence to the per-.
| fon whom he fent to reprefent him. If he fays, well, the roeebuck is immediately opened, and |, its four quarters carried to the hut of the Great Sun, who gives portions of them to the chief men among the hunters.
i
The wolfis not above fifteen inches high, and of a proportionable length. Heis not fo brown as our wolves, nor fo fierce and dangerous; he is therefore more like a dog than a wolf, efpe- | cially the dog of the natives, who differs from _ him in nothing, but that he barks. The wolf is very common in the hunting countries; and when the hunter makes a hut for himfelf in the evening upon the bank of a river, if he fees the _ wolf, he may be confident that the bufalosare _ notatavery great diflance. It is faid, that | | animal, not daring to attack the bufalo when in
a herd, will come and give notice to the hontele that he may kill him, in hopes of coming in for the offals. The wolves are actually fo fa-_ _miliar, that they come and go on all fides when looking for fomething to eat, without minding. in the leaft whether they be near or ata di-_ ftance from the habitations of men.
In |
GPF L6 US LAN: A. be
In my time two very large black wolves were feen in Louifiana. The oldeft inhabitants, and thofe who travel to the remoteft parts of the co- Jony, declared that they had never before feen any fach ; from whence it was concluded, that they were foreign wolves which had loft their way. Fortunately they killed them both; for one of them was a fhe-wolf big with young.
The bear appears in Lovifiana in winter, as the fnows, which then cover the northern cli- mates, hinder him from procuring a fubfiftence there, and force him fouthwards. If fome few are feen in the fummer time, they are only the flow young bears, that have not been ftrong enough to follow the herd northwards. The bear lives upon roots and fruits, particularly acorns; but his moft delicate food is honey and milk. When he meets with either of thefe laft, he will rather fuffer himfelf to be killed than quite his prize. Our colonifts have fome- times diverted themfelves by burying a {mall pail with fome milk in it almoft up ‘to the edge in the ground, and fetting two young bears ta it. Phe conteft then was which of the two fhould hinder the other from tafting the milk,
and both of them fo tore the earth with their
paws, and pulled at the pail, that they gene-
D 4 rally
56 THE HEIESTORY rally overturned the milk, before either of them had tafted of it.
In oppofition to the general opinion, which fuppofes the bear a carnivorous animal, I af- firm, with all the inhabitants of this colony, and the neighbouring countries, that he never feeds upon flefh. It is indeed to be lamented that the firft travellers had the impudence to publith to the world-.a thoufand falfe ftories, which were. eafily believed becaufe they were new. ' People, {o far from wifhing to be undeceived, have even ‘been offended with thofe who attempted to de- tect the general errors; butit is my duty to fpeak the truth, for the fake of thofe who are willing to hear it. What I maintain here is nota mere conjectural fuppofition, but a known fact over _ | all North America, which may be attefted by Pa the evidence of a great number of people who 3 have lived there, and by the traders who are going and coming continually. There 1s not one inftance can be given of their having de-/ voured men, notwithftanding their great mul-. : titudes, and the extreme hunger which they) | muft fometimes have fuffered ; for even in that |
abide OS
cafe they never fo much as touch the butchers:
* meat which they meet with. ‘i | The
>
a
The bears feldom quit the banks of the Mz/- fiibi, asit is there that they can beft procure a fubfiftence; but when I lived at the Watches there happened fo fevere a winter, that thofe animals came from the north in fuch num- bers that they flarved each other, and were very lean. Their great hunger obliged them to quit the woods which line the banks of the
river; they were feen at night running among:
the fettlements; and they fometimes even en- tered thofe court yards that were not well fhut ; they there found butchers meat expofed to the open air, but they never touched it, and eat only the corn or roots they could meet with. Certainly on fuch an occafion as this, and in fuch a preffing want, they would have proved - earnivorous, if it had been in the lealk degree their natural difpofition.
But perhaps one will fay, ‘ It is true they é¢ never touch dead flefh ; itis only living flefh ¢¢ that they devour.” That is being very de- licate indeed, and what I can by no means allow them; for if they were flefh-eaters, I greatly » fufpect that, in the fevere famine which I have {poken of, they would have made a hearty meal
of the butchers meat which they found inthe =~
court yards; or at leaft would have devoured 1 ag feveral
«
a eye LOW PS SAE A. oy
i aa 2
em STE WLS TORY
feveral perfons who fell in their way, which they never did. The following fact however will be a more compleat anfwer to this ob-
jection.
Two Canadians, who were on a journey, landed on a fand-bank, when they perceived a. bear croffing the river. As he appeared fat, and. confequently would yield a great deal of oil, one. of the travellers ran forwards.and fired at him. | Unhappily however he only flightly wounded: | kim; andas the bears in that cafe always turn | upon their enemy, the hunter was immediate~ ly feized by the wounded bear,, who in a few moments fqueezed him to death, without: wounding him in the leaft with his teeth, al-~ tho’ his muzzle was againft his face, and he muft certainly have been exafperated. The | other Canadian,, who was not above three hun-_ died paces diflance, ran to fave his comrade: with the utmoft {peed, but he was dead-before he- came up to him ;. and the bear efcaped into the
- -—--weod.. Upon examining: the eorpfe he found the place, where the bear had {queezedit,. prefled in, ad ae more than the reft of the breath.
a Some: perhaps may Mull add, that the mildnols;
of the climate of Lowi/iana may haye an. effodti vgom
OF Liggu' rs TiANeA- 59 wpon the difpofition of the bears, and prevent them from being fo voracious as thofe of our continent; but I affirm that carnivorous ani- mals retain the fame difpofition in all countries. The wolves of Louifiana are carnivorous as well as thofe of Europe, altho’ they differ in other particulars, “The tigers of 4frica, and thofe of America, are equally mifchievous animals, The wild-cats of America, tho” very different from
thofe of Europe, have however the fame ap-
petite for mice when they are tamed. It is the fame with other fpecies, naturally inclined to live upon other animals; and the bears of America, if flefh-eaters, would not quit the countries covered with fnow, where they would find men and other animals in abundance, to. come fo far in fearch of fruits and roots ; which Kind of nourifhment carniverous animals refufe to tafte *..
Bears are feen very frequently in Louifiana in the winter time, and they are fo little dreaded, that the people fometimes make it a diverfion! |
* Since L.wrote the above account of the bears, Ehave been certainly informed,.that in the mountains of Suvoy there gre two forts of bears. THe one black like that of Lovi- fana, and not carnivorous 5 the other red, and no lefs carni- vorous than the wolves. Both forts turn upon. their enemy when wounded. .
D © to
\
6% THE HIS a ORY 24 to hunt them. When they are fat, that is about the end of December, they cannot run for | faftas aman; therefore the hunters are in no danger if they fhould turn uponthem. The fhe-bears are tolerably fat when they are big. | with young; but after they have littered they |
quickly become lean,
\
The bears ufually arrive in Louifana towards: the end of autumn; and then they are very lean, as they do not leave the north till the | earth be wholly covered with fnow, and find: often but a very fcanty fubfiftence in their way fouthwards. I faid above, that thofe animals. feldom go to any great diftance from the river ;. and on both banks travellers meet with fuch a beaten path in winter, that to thofe who are not acquainted with it, it appears like the track of men. I myfelf, the firft time I obferved it, was deceived by it. I was then near 200 miles. _. from any human dwelling, yet the path at firft appeared tome as if it had been made by thou- is fands of men, who. had walked that way bare- | footed. Upon anarrower infpection however, I obferved, that the prints of the feet were > ‘fhorter than that of a man, and that there was the impreffion of a claw at the end of each.toe. it is proper to obferve that in thofe paths the bear
OF LOUISIANA. 61 bear does not pique himfelf upon politenefs, and will yield the way to nobody; therefore it
is prudent in a traveller not to fall out with him for fuch a trifling affair.
The bears, after they have been a fhort time in the country, and found abundance of fruits, turn fat and lazy, and itis then the natives go out to hunt them. The bear, when he is fat, huts himfelf, that is, retires into the hollow trunk of fome rotten tree that has died on end. The natives, when they meet with any of thofe trees, which they fufpect contains a bear in it, give two or three ftrong blows againft the trunk, and immediately run behind the next tree oppofite to the loweft breach. If there be a bear within, he appears in a few minutes at the breach, to look out and {py the occafion of the difturbance ; but upon obferving nothing likely
to annoy him, he goes down agaia to the bot- tom of his caftle.
The natives having once feen their prey, ga- ther a heap of dried canes, which they bruife with their feet, that they may burn the eafier,. and one of them mounting upon a tree adjoin- ing to that in which the bear is, fets fire to the seeds , and darts them one after another into the breach 5
x
62 THE HiS-FTORY
breach, the other hunters having planted them felves in ambufcade upon other trees. The bear is quickly burned out of his habitation,, and he no fooner appears on the outfide than they let fly their arrows at him, and often kilk him before he gets to the bottom of the tree.
He is no fooner dead than fome of the hun- ters are difpatched to look for a deer, and they feldom fail of bringing in one or two. When a deer is brought they cut off the head, and- then take of the fkin whole, beginning, at the neck, and rolling it down, as they cut it, like a
-ftocking. ‘The legs they cut off at the knee- joints, and having cleaned and wafhed the fkin,. they {top all the holes except the neck, with ae kind of pafte made of the fat of the deer mixed: with afhes, over which they tie feveral bindings with the bark of the lime-tree. Having thus provided a kind of cafk, they fill it with the oil of the bear, which they prepare by boiling: the flefh and fat together. This deer of cil, as’ “it is called, they fell to the French for a gun, a ° yard of cloth, or any other thing of that value. "The French, before they ule it, purify it, by q
putting it into a large kettle, with a, handful of laurel leaves; and fprinkling it when it be- gins to be hot with fome water, in which the hav
|
OF LOUISIANA. 63
have diffolved a large quantity of falt. The fmoke that rifes upon this fprinkling carries off with it any bad {mell the fat may have; they next pour it off into a veffel, and eight days af- ter there is found on the top of it a clear oil which ferves all the purpofes of olive oil; what remains below is a fine kind of lard, proper for- the kitchen, and a fovereign remedy for all kinds of pains. I myfelf was cured of the rheumatifm in.my fhoulder by it.
The Tiger is not above a foot and a half high, and long in proportion: his hair is fome- what of a bright bay colour, and. he is brifk.as all tigers naturally are. His flefh when boiled __ taftes like veal, only it is not fo infipid. There
are very few of them to be feen; I never faw. but two near my fettlement; and I have great reafon to. think that it was the fame beaft I faw “ both times. The firft time he laid hold of my dog who barked and howled; but. upon my running towards him, the tiger left him. The ‘hext time he feized a pig ; but this I likewife refcued, and his‘claws had: gone no deeper than the fat. This animal is not more carnivorous than fearful; he flies at the fight of a man, and makes off with greater {peed, if you fhout and. halloo as.he runs, |
The
64 THE HISTORY. The Cat-a-mount is akind of wild cat, as high as the tiger, but not fo thick, and_ his {kin is extremely beautiful. He is a great de-,
_ ftroyer of poultry, but fortunately his {pecies
is rare.
Foxes arefo numerous, that upon the woody heights you frequently fee nothing but their holes. As the woods afford them plenty of game, they do not moleft the poultry,. which are always allowed to run at large. The foxes are | exactly fhaped like ours, but their fkin is much | more beautiful. Their hair is fine and thick, of a deep brown colour, and over this rife fe-
veral long filvered-coloured hairs, which have a |
fine effect.
The wild cat has been improperly fo called “py the firft French fettlers in Louifiana ; for it’ has nothing of the cat but its nimble activity, | and rather refembles a monkey. It is not above @ight or ten inches high, and about — * Jong. Its head is like that of a fox; it has Jong toes, but. very fhort claws, not made for feizing game ; accordingly it lives upon fruit,
bread, and other fuch things. This animal - gay be tamed, and then becomes very frolick- | * fome and fullof tricks. The hair of thofe that,
OF TOUESIANA. 6%
are tame is grey; but of the wild is reddith ;
neither of them is fo beautiful as that of the fox; it grows very fat, and its flefh is good ta
eat. I fhall not defcribe the real wild cat, as
it is entirely like ours.
The Rabbit is extremely common over all Louifiana ; it is particular in this, that its pile is like that of the hare, and it never burrows. Its fleth is white and delicate, and has the ufual tafte, without any ranknefs. There is no other
Kind of Rabbit or Hare, if you pleafe to call it, in all the colony, than that abeve defcribed.
The Woed-Rat has the. head and tail of a
common rat, but has the bulk and length of a
cat. Its legs are fhort, its paws long, and its toes are armed with claws; its tail is almoft without hair, and ferves for hooking itfelf to.
any thing’; for when you take hold of it by that
part, it immediately twifts itfelf round your finger. Its pile is grey, and tho’ very fine, yet is never {mooth. The women among the na- tives {pin itand dye it red. it hunts by night, and makes war upon the poultry, only fucking their blood and leaving their flefh. It is very. rare to fee any creature walk fo flow; and Ihave.
often catched them when walking my ordinary.
paces,
fe OP EL Oe A OOO IRON
pace. When he fees himfelf upon the point of being caught, inftinét prompts him to counter- feit being dead; and in this he perfeveres with fuch conftancy, that tho? laid on a hot gridiron he will not make the leaft fign of life. He ne- ver moves unlefs the perfon go to a diftance or hide himfelf, in which cafe he endeavours as faft as poffible to efcape into fome hole er
bufh.
When the fhe-one is about to litter, fhe chiles a place i in the thick bufhes at the foot of a tree, after which fhe and the male crop a great deal ofl fine dry grafs, which is loaded upon her belly, and then the male drags her and her burden by the tail tothe littering place. She never quits her young — a moment; but when fhe is obliged to change | her lodging carries them with her in a pouch or double fkin that wraps round her belly, and | there they may fleep or fuck at their eafe. T nag two fides of this pouch lap fo clofe that the join- ing can hardly be obferved; nor can they be | parated without tearing the fkin, If the thee | one be caught carrying her young thus with her,” fhe will fuffer her fel ta be roafted alive, witha out the leaft fign of life, rather than open i | pouch and aa her young ones, The fle of this animal is very good, and taftes {omewhat
ig 2 ce aang freaes
OF DVOUWISTANA. ‘&
like that of a fucking pig, when it is firft broil- ed, and afterwards roafted on the fpit.
The Pole-cat or Skunk is about the fize of a kitten eight monthsold. The male is of a beau- ful black, but the female has rings of white in- termixed with the black. Its ear and its paw are like that of a moufe, and it has a very lively eye. I fuppofe it lives upon fruits and feeds, It is moft juftly called the /rinking beaft, for its odour is fo ftrong, that it may be purfued upon the track twenty-four hours after it has paffed. It goes very flow, and when the hunter ap- proaches it, it fquirts out far and wide fuch a ftinking urine, that neither man nor beaft can hardly approach it. A drop of this creature’s blood, and probably fome of its urine, having one day fallen upon my coat when I was hunt- ing, I was obliged as faft as poflible to go home and change my cloaths; and before I could ufe my coat it was fcoured and expofed for feveral days to the dew. :
The Squirrels of Lowifiana are like thofe of | France, excepting ene kind, which are called _ Flying-Squirrels, becaufe they leap from one tree to another, tho’ the diftance between them be twenty-five or thirty feet. It is about the
| {ize
6s eDHE HI sor ok ¥
fize of a rat, and of a deep afh-colour. Its two fore-legs are joined to its two hind-legs by
two membranes, fo that when it leaps it feems
to fly, tho’ it always leaps fomewhat down-
wards. This animal may be very eafily tamed ;
but even then it is beft to chain it. There is
another fort, not much bigger thana moufe, and
of a bright bay-colour. Thefe are fo familiar | that they will come out of the woods, will en- | ter the houfes, and fit within two yards of the people of the houfe, if they do not make-any motion; and there they will feed on any maiz | within their reach. I never was fo well divert- ed in my life with the frolics of any animal, as | I have been with the vivacity and attitudes of this little fquirrel. |
}
The Porcupine is large and fine of his kind; — but as he lives only upon fruit, and loves cold, | is moft common about the river Jdinois, where the climate is fomewhat cold, and there is plenty - of wild fruits. ‘The fkin, when ftripped of the ) quills, is white and brown. The natives dye | part of the white, yellow and red, and the: ' brown they dye* black. They have likewife™’ ‘the art of fpliting the fkin, and applying it to many curious works, particularly to trim the edges a |
/ na
OF LOUISIANA.
69 edges of their deer-fkins, and to line fall bark- boxes, which are very neat.
The Hedge-Hog of Louifiana is in every re- —fpe& the fame with that of Europe.
I thall not enlarge upon the Beavers, which are univerfally known, from the many deicriptions - we have of them.
The Otters are the fame with thofe of France, and there are but very few of them to be feen.
Some Turtle ate feen in this country; but ve- ry rarely. In the many hundred leagues of country that I have paffed over, I have hardly ever feen above a hundred.
Frogs are very common, efpecially in Lower Louifiana, notwithftanding the great number of fnakes that deftroy them. There are fome that. grow very large, fometimes above a foot and an half long, and aftonifh ftrangers at firft by their
croaking, efpecially if they ‘are in a hollow tree.
The Crocodile is very common in the river Mififipi. Altho’ this amphibious animal be almoft as well known as thofe I have juft men-
Ae ( tioned,
§
7 THE HISTORY
tioned, I cannot however omit taking fome na*
tice of it. Without troubling the reader with
a defcription of it, which he will meet with every where, I fhall obferve that it fhuns the banks of the river frequented by men. It lays its eggs in the month of May, when the funis already hot in that country, and it depofits them in the moft concealed place it can find among grafs expofed to the heats of the fouth. The eggs are about the fize of thofe of a goofe,
but longer in proportion. Upon breaking them _
you will find hardly any thing but white, the
yolk being about the fize of that of a youne |
hen. I never faw any that were new hatched. The fmalleft I ever met with, which I conclud-
ed to be about three months old, was as long _ as a middle-fized eel, and an inch anda half '
thick. I have killed one nineteen feet long, and three feet and a half in its greateft breadth. A friend of mine killed one twenty-two feet long;
~and the legs of both of thefe, which on land :
feemed to move with great difficulty, were not -above a foot in Jength. But however nog
they be on land, in the water they m move with © 4
eo agility.
Tl his animal has his body always covered | with flime, which i is the cafe with all fithes that j
live.
a
i
OF LOUISIANA 71
live in muddy waters. When he comes on fhore his track is covered with that flime, as his belly-trails on the ground, and this renders the earth very flippery in that part, efpecially as he returns by the fame path to the water. He never hunts the fifh upon which he fubfifts ; but places himfelf in ambufcade, and ‘catches them as they pafs. For that purpofe he digs a hole in the bank of the river, below the furface . of the water, where the current is {trong, hav- ing a {mall entrance, but large enough within to turn himfelf round in. The fifh, which are
fatigued with the ftrong current, are glad to get
into the fmooth water in that corner, and there they are immediately feized by the Crocodile.
- I thall not contradict the accounts of venera- ble antiquity about the Crocodiles of the Mie, who fall upon men and devour them; who crofs the roads, and make a flippery path upon them to trip paffengers, and make them flide into the river; who counterfeit the voice of an infant, to draw ehildren into their {nares ; neither fhall I con- tradi€&t the travellers who have confirmed thofe {tories from mere hearfays. But as 1 profefs to {peak the truth, and to advance nothing but what I am certain of from my own knowledge, I may fafely affirm that the Crocodiles of Loui/-
ang
a OTE ALS eR y
ana are doubtlefs of another fpecies than thofe : of other countries. In fact, I never heard them imitate the cries of an infant, nor is it at all,
probable that they can counterfeitthem. Their voice is as ftrongas that of a bull. It is true they attack men in the water, but never on land, where they are not at all formidable. Befides, there are nations that in great part fubs | fift upon this animal, which is hunted out by
the fathers and mothers, and killed by the chil- | dren. What can we then believe of thofe fo» | ries that have been told us of the Crocodile? |
I myfelf killed all that ever 1 met of them; and they are fo much the lefs to be dreaded,
in that they. can neither run nor rife up againft
4 man. - In the water indeed, which is their
{
favourite element, they are dangerous; but in that cafe itis eafy to guard again{ft them.
The largeft of all the reptiles of Louifiana is
the Rattle-Snake: fome of them have been feen
&ifteen inches thick, and long in proportion ; b this {pecies is naturally fhorter in proportion | their thicknefs than the other kinds of ferpent
"This ferpent gets its name from feveral hollow |
knots at its tail, very thin and dry, which arattling noife. Thefe knots, tho’ inferted -¢o each other, are yet quite detached, and
OF LOUISIANA. 73
the firft of them is faftened to the fkin. The number of the knots, it is faid, marks the age of the ferpent, and I am much inclined to be- lieve it; for as I have killed a great number of them, I always obferved, that the longer and thicker the {perpent was, it had the more knots. Its fkin is almoft black; but the lower part of its belly is ftriped black and white.
_ As foon as it hears or fees a man it roufes it- felf by fhaking its tail, which makes a rattling noife that may be heard at feveral paces dif- tance, and gives warning to the traveller to be upon his guard. It is much to be dreaded when it coils itfelf up in a fpiral line, for then it may eafily dart upon a man. It fhuns the habitations of men, and by a fingular provi- dence, wherever it retires to, there the herb which cures its bite, is likewife to be found.
There are feveral other kinds of ferpents to be feen here, fome of which refemble thofe of France, and attempt to flip into the hen- -houfes_ to devour the eggs and new-hatched chickens, Others are green, about two feet long, and not thicker than a goofe-quill ; they frequent
the meadows, and may be feen running over Vou, I, ts the -
\
Re
_« CUE WLS HORT the {pires of grafs, fuch is their lightnefs and -nimbleneds. en
Vipers are very rare in Lower Louifiana, a8 that reptile loves {toney grounds. In the high- |, lands they are now-and-then to be met with, and there they quite refemble ours. 4
Lizards are very common: there is a {mall kind of thefe that are called Cameleons, becaufe they change their colour according to that of
the place they pafs over™.
|
Among the fpiders of Louifiana there is one | kind that will appear very extraordinary. It is | as large, but rather longer than a pigeon’s egg, | black, with gold-coloured fpecks. Its claws are. pierced thro’ above the joints. It does not €ar-_, but enclofes. them in a
ry its eggs like the reft, in kind of cup covered with its filk. It lodges’
«tfelf in a kind of nut made of the fame filk, and hung to the branches of the trees. «.F he | web which this infect weaves is fo ftrong, that.
ye yi “ sf
ee
‘ ee) a angty a nerve rifes archwife froma throat ; and the kin which —
remain red whatever colour ?
# When the Cameleon is his mouth to the middle of his covers itis fo ftretched as to ‘the reft of the body be. He never does any hurt, and al-
sways runs away when obferved. . a
OF‘LOUISIANA. 95° it not only ftops birds, but cannot even be
‘broken by men without a confiderable effort.
|
I never faw any Moles in Louifiana, nor heard of any being feen by others.
BAP, VII. Of Birds, and flying Lnfetis.
IRDS are fo very numerous in. Lowifiana, that if all the different kinds of them ‘were known, which is far from being the cafe at prefent, the defcription of them alone would require an entire volume. I only undertake ‘the defcriptioa of all thofe, which have come within my knowledge, the number of which,
Iam perfuaded, will be hes eb to fatisfy the curious reader.
| The Eagle, the king of birds, is fialler ‘than the Eagle of the Abs; but he is much more beautiful, being entirely white, except- ing only the tips of his wings which are black. Ashe is alfo very rare, this is another reafon for heightening his value to the natives, who ‘purchale at a great price the large feathers of | E2
i]
76 THE SHILS Te RI: his wings, with which they ornament the Calu- s met or {ymbol of peace, as I have elfewhere de- i |, {eribed. | al
When {peaking of the king of birds, L. thall take notice of the Wren, called by the French | Roitelet (petty King) which is the fame in Lowi- fiana as in France. The reafon of its name in French will plainly enough appear from the following hiftory. A magiftrate, no lels re- fpectable for his probity than for the rank he | holds in the law, affured me that, when he was_ | at Sables @Olonne in Poitou, on account of an eftate which he had in the neigbourhood of | that city, he had the curiofity to go and feea ' white Eagle which was then brought from Ame~ rica. After. he had entered the houfe a Wren was brought, and let fly in the hall where the: Eagle was feeding. The Wren perched upon a beam, and was no fooner perceived by the Ett | gle than he left off feeding, flew into a corner, and hung down his head. The little bird, on :. the other hand, began to chirp and appear ans gry, and a moment after flew upon the neck of —
the Eagle, and pecked him with the greatelt
fury, the Eagle all the while hanging his head
in a cowardly manner, between his feet | 1 he
ie M
GE £0 GIS MAINA... - 77
Wren, after fatisfying its animofity, returned to the beam,
The Falcon, the Hawk, and the Tafel are
‘the fame as in France; but the Falcons are
much more beautiful than ours.
The Carrion-Crow, or Turky-Buftard, is of
| the fize and thape of a Turky-coch; his head is ‘covered with red flefh, and his plumage is
black : he hasa hooked beak, but his toes are armed with very fmall talons, and are therefore
|
very improper for feizing live game, which in-
deed he does not chufe to attack, as his want of agility prevents him from dar ting upon it
with the rapidity of a bird of prey. Accord- ingly he lives only upon the dead beats that he happens to meet with, and yet notwithftand- ing this kind of food he {mells of mufk. — Seve- ral people maintain, that the Carrion-Crow, or
‘Carancro, is the fame with our Vulture. The
Spaniards forbid the killing of it under pain of corporal punifhment; for as they do not ufe the whole carcafe of the bufaloes which they kill, thofe birds eat what they leave, which otherwile by rotting on the ground, would, ac- cording to them, infect the air,
78 TWEE) HTS TORY
The Cormorant is fhaped very much like.a duck, but its plumage is different and much more beautiful. This bird frequents the fhores of the fea and of lakes, but rarely appears in rivers. Its ufual food is fifth; but as it is very voracious, it likewife eats dead flefh; and this | it can tear to pieces by means of a notch in its | bill, which is about the fize of that of a duck.
The Swans of Louifiana are like thofle of France, only they are larger. However, not- withftanding their bulk and their weight, they | often rife fo high in the air, that they cannot | be diftinguithed but by their fhrill cry. Their fleth is very good to eat, and ther | fat is a fpecific againft cold humours. The natives fet a great value upon the feathers of - the Swan. Of the large ones they make the diadems of their fovereigns, hats, and other ornaments; and they weave the {mall ones ; the peruke-makers weave hair, and make co: verings of them for their noble women, The - young people of both fexes make tippets of the fkin, without faipping it of its down. 7
4 The Canada-Goofe is a water- fowl, of the fhape of a Goofe; but twice as large and heavy,
Its plumage is afh-coloured; its eyes are cover-
ed ” b i 4 i
OF LOUIS TAN A. 79 ved with a black fpot; its cries are different from thofe of a goofe and fhriller; its’ ficfh is excellent. : .
The Pelican is fo called from its large head; its large bill, and above all for its large pouch, which hangs from its neck, and has neither feathers nor down. It fills this pouch with fith, which it afterwards difgorges for the nou- rifhment of its young. It never removes from the fhores of the fea, and is often killed by failors for the fake of the pouch, which when dried ferves them as a purfe for their tobacco.
|
i
The Geefe are the fame with the Wild Geefe of France. They abound upon the fhores of
the fea and of lakes, but are rarely feen in rivers.
In this country there are three kinds of Ducks;
“firft, the Indian Ducks, fo called becaufe they
came originally from that country. Thefe are almoft entirely white, having but a very few grey feathers. On each fide of their head they have flefh of a more lively red than that of the Turky-cock, and they are larger than aur
tame Ducks. They are as tame as thofe of
Europe, and their fleth when young is delicate,
-and of a fine flavour. The Wild Ducks are
E 4 ; fa tter
io. THES HIS TORY
fatter, more delicate, and of better tafte than thofe of France; but in other refpects they are en- tirely the fame. For one you fee in France you may here count a thoufand. . The Perch- | ing-Ducks or Carolina Summer-Ducks, are fome- | what larger than our 7ea/s. Their plumage is- quite beautiful, and fo changeable that no-paint- ing can imitate it. Upon their head they have a beautiful tuft of the moft lively colours, and } their red eyes appear like flames. The nar tives ornament their calumets or pipes with the fkin of their neck. Their flefh is very good, but when itis too fat it taftes oily. Thefe Ducks are. to be met with the whole year round; they perch upon the branches of trees, which ‘the others do not, and itis from this they have
their name.
K f x
The Zeal are found in every foafshe and they differ nothing from thofe of France but i in |
having a finer relifh. . 4
. The Divers of Lowifiana are the fame with
thofe of France: they no fooner fee the fire in the pan, than they dive fo fuddenly that the fhot cannot touch them, and they are therefore |
called Lead-Eaters.
|
i | The
OEY ROWLRS LAN A. 81
The Saw-bill has the infide of its beak in- dented like the edge of a faw: it is faid to live
wholly upon fhrips, the fhells of which it can -eafily break, ~
‘The Crane is a very common water-fowl; it is larger than a Turhky, very lean, and of an
excellent tafte. It eats fomewhat like beef, and makes very good foup.
good,
|
its bill, which is about feven or eight inches long, an inch broad towards the head, and two inches and a half towards the extremity; it is not quite fo large asa Wild Goofe; its thighs and legs are about the height ef thofe of a. Turky. Its plumage is rofe-coloured, the wings being brighter than any other part. This is a water-fowl, and its fleth is very good,
ferent from that of Euroge.
i ~
Es
The
The Flamingo has only a little down upon — its head; its plumage is grey, and its Aeth
The Sfatula has its name from the form of
. e ; ° a? The Heron of Louifiana is not in the laf dif. _
* 82 THE (RID PAQRYWo The Egret, or White Heron, is fo called from tufts of feathers upon the wings near the body which hinder it from flying high; itis a wa- ter-fowl with white plumage; but its fle taftes very oily. |
The Bee-croche, or Crook-bill, has indeed a- | crooked bill, with which it feizes the cray-fiy | upon which it fubfifts. Its flefh has that tafte, | and isred. Its plumageis a whitifh grey ; and it is about the fize of a capon. + ay
The Indian Water-Hen, and the Green-Foot,
are the fame as in France.
The Hatchet-Bill is fo called on account of 4! sts bill, which is red, and formed like the edge of an ax. Its feet are alfo of a beautiful red, and “t is therefore often called Red-Foot. AAs it lives
ll-fith it never removes from the fea-
upon fhe cAcm | coaft, but upon the approach of aftorm, which ©
is always fure to follow its retiring into the in-
land parts. |
+ 4 a :
J
a
‘ee “The King-Fifber excelg-ours in nothing but _ in the beauty of its plumage, which is as va- rious as the rain-bow. This bird, it is well known, goes always againft the wind ; but per-i | haps)
OF LOUISIANA. 83 haps few people know that it preferves the | fame property when it is dead. Imyfelf hung a dead one bya filk thread directly over a fea-
_compafs, and I can declare it as a fact that the bill was always turned towards the wind.
The Sea-Lark and Sea-Snige never quit the fea; their flefh may be eat, as it has very little of the oily: tafte.
The Frigate-Bird is a large bird, which in the day-time keeps itfelf in the air above the fhore of the fea. It often rifes very high, pro- _bably for exercife; for it feeds upon fifth, and every night- retires to the coaft. It appears larger than it really is, as it is covered with a great many feathers of a grey colour. Its wings are very long, its tail forked, and it cuts
the air with great fwiftnefs.
_ ‘The Draught-Bird is a large bird, not much unlike the Frigate-Bird, as light, but not fo {wift. The under-part of its plumage is chequered brown and white, but the upper- part is of greyifh brown.
The Fool is of a yellowifh colour, and about the fize of a hen; it is fo called, becaufe it E : E 6 will
apie. x
Guy Te HB 1 GTA ORY,
\
will fuffer a man to approach it fo near as to. feize it with his hand: but even then it is too foon to cry vittory;-for if the perfon who. {eizes it does not take the greateft precaution, it will {nap off his finger at one bite.
When thofe three laft birds are obferved to hover very low over the fhore, we may moft. certainly expect an approaching ftorm, On the
other hand, when the failors fee the Hascyons
behind their veflel, they expect and generally meet with fine weather for fome days.
“Since I have mentioned the Halcyon, 1 {hall here defcribe it. Itis a {mall bird, about the fize of a Swallow, but its beak is longer, and ~ irs plumage is violet-coloured. It has two fireaks of a yellowifh brown at the end of the feathers of its wings, which when it fits appear. upon its back. When we left Lousiana near ‘
an hundred Halcyons followed our veffel for
near three days: they kept at the diftance of about a ftone-caft, and -feemed to fwim, yet L . could never difcover that their feet were webbed, and was therefore greatly furprifed. They probably live upon the {mall infects that drop from the out-fide of the veffel when failing; for — they now-and-then dived and came up in the |
fame
OPMLGUISIANA ay;
fame place. I have fome fufpicion that, by
keeping in the wake of the fhip, they float af- ter it without fwiming; for when they happen-
ed to be out of the wake of the fhip they were
obliged to fly in order to come up with the fhip again. This bird is faid to build its neft of the glutinous froth of the fea clofe upon the fhore, and to launch it when a land breeze arifes, raifing one of its wings in the form of a fail, which receiving the wind helps to carry it out to fea,
I fhall now proceed to fpeak of the fowls which frequent the woods, and fhall begin with the Wild-Turky, which is very common all over thecolony. Itis finer, larger, and better than that in France. © The feathers of the Turky are of, a dufkifh grey, edged with a ftreak of gold colour, near half an inch broad. In the {mall feathers the gold-coloured ftreak is not above one tenth of an inch broad. The natives make fans of the tail, and of four tails joined together the French make an umbrella. |The women among the natives weave the feathers as our peruke-makers weave their hair, and faften them to an old covering of bark, which they likewife line with*them, fo that it has down.on both fides. Its fleth is more delicate, fatter, and more juicy than that of ours, They.
@ £9
<) : ¢ . 86 THE HISTORY
g0 in flocks, and with a dog one may killa great many of them. I never could procure any of the Turky’s eggs, to try to hatch them, and difcover whether they were as difficult to bring up in this country as in France, fince the climate of both countries is almoft the fame. | My flave told me that in his nation they brought up the young Turkies as eafily as we do chick- ens. 3
The Pheafant is the moft beautiful bird that | can be painted, and in every refpeét entirely like that of Europe. ‘Their rarity in my opi- nion makes them more efteemed than they de- ferve. I would at any time prefer a flice off | the fillet of a Bufalo to any Pheafant. y
The Partridges of Louifiana are not larger ' than a Woed-pigeon. Their plumage is exattly _ the fame with that of our grey Partridges 3 they have alfo the horfe-fhoe upon the breaft;
_ they perch upon trees, and are feldom feen ia
flocks. ‘Their cry confifts only of two ftrong’ | notes, fomewhat refembling thename giventhem by the natives who call them Ho-ouy. Their
fieth is white and delicate, but, like all the other — game in this country, it has no mene and on- | ly excels in the fine tafte, ‘a
ours, which is owing to the plenty and ual
in Loujfiana; 1 have fometimes heard it, but
did,
refpect does not in the leaft refemble it.
very common. Its plumage is varied with fe-
ps ae
OF LOUISIANA. 8%
The Woodcock is very rare, becaufe it is on- ly to be met with in inhabited countries. It is like that of France; its flefh is white, but rather plumper and more delicate than that of
nefs of its fruit.
The Snipe is much more common than the Woodcock, and in this country is far from be- ing fhy. Its flefh is white, and of a much better relifh than that of ours.
Lam of opinion that the Quail is very rare never faw it, nor know any Frenchman that ever Some of our colonifts have thought proper
to give the name of Ortolan to a {mall bird which has the fame plumage, but in every other
The Corbijeau is as large as the Woodcock, and
veral fhady colours, and is different from that of the Woodcock; its feet and beak are alfo long-
er, which laft is crooked and of a reddifh yellow
ek
THE HISTORY
;
likewife firmer and better}
8. ia | all th tt at] a bee
~ s =
——
—_ aoe Se A —— se | beak, and fades off into green towards the body * -
; > a a ae See even them it rarely practies if, racmouns im iinw inn seated Steeweitel wer aS ae ttle tus © fhanves wmemecres, Wo ipeax ite, => 7 . 2 _— _ — — — > Ss <---> - As 2 filent Parret would nev maxe its iGr-| = << * + 7 vu 2. Aa boys a taine 2inone Our 6rence DE
this account that we fee fo few of thefe
France.
4 oo = > cr = &B . of =7 . a a _ - Lhe Htc ié GWE is ine i2me 9 if Hera 7% ; : # Se ee Eurepe, but 1c¢W OF them are cen Pere. t ry, ae eek! P a mrastnee see | De i 5O5-F ifl/Sens 2Fe€ 1€Sen if ite PrOGi2z10ags® |: — — = +h - I 4 or es 7 owatocrs-cts — \ HneMoDSes, tat GO BROt tear iO CESSES af, Wied | —- - ell re : - = ad tr ; *--—-*+ => va = -. = - - > \ I afirm that they fometimes cloud the fan,
One day on the banks of the 4i/7/$7 1 met witht; a flock of them which was fo large, that before they all paffed I had Jeifure to fire with the: fame piece four times at them. But the rapie. dity of their fight was fo great, that tho’ T|
co
OF LOUISIANA. a
iJ, with my four fhots I brought
Theie birds come to Lzuifia ina only in the Winter, and remain in Cznada during the fum- mer, where they devour the com, as they eat the 2coms in Lowifiana. The Canadians have ufed every art to hinder them from doing fo much mif-
me fucceis.
$ in the manner that views done, they ould jafenibly deftroy them. When they walk among the high foreft trees, they ought to remark under what trees the largeft dung isto be feen. Thofe trees | difcovered, the hunters ought to go out when # begins to 0% dark, and carry with Sa 2 quantity of brimftone which they fire to in fo many earthen plates
~ _ —
co:
Jar diftances under the tr time they will hear a fhower falling to the. ground, which, bj
>
fome dried canes, they may a into facks, 2s foon as the brimflone is extinguithed.
I fail here give an inflance that proves not only the prodigious number of thofe birds, but alio their fingular inftin®&. In one of my jour-
Des
+
6 THE HISTORY
-neys at land, when I happened to be upon the } -bank of the river, I heard a confufed noife, which feemed to come along the river froma confiderable diftance below us. As the found } continued uniformly I embarked, as faft as 1} could, on board the pettiaugre, with four other men, and fteered down the river, keeping in the | middle, that I might go to any fide that beft | fuited me. But how great was my furprife! when I approached the place from whence the | noife came, and obferved it to proceed from | a thick fhort pillar on the bank of the river. When I drew ftill nearer to it, I perceived that | it was formed by a legion of wood-pigeons, | whe kept continually flying up and down fuc- ceffively among the branches of an ever-green ' oak, in order to beat down the acorns with their wings. Every now-and-then fome alight. ' ed to eat the acorns which they themfelves or : the others had beat down ; for they all ated in| common, and eat in common ; no avarice nor pri- | vate intereft appearing among them, but each labouring as much for the reft as for himfelf.
+
Crows are common in Louifiana, and as they eat no carrion their fleth is better tafted than that of the crows of France. Whatever their
appetite
OF LOUISIANA. ol
appetite may be, they dare not for the carrion
crow approach any carca{s.
_ [never faw any Ravens in this country, and if there be any they mutt be very rare.
The Owls are larger and whiter than in | France, and their cry is much more frightful. The Little Owl is the fame with ours, but much "more rare. Thefe two birds are more common
in Lower Louifiana than in the higher.
The Magpye refembles thofe of Europe in nothing but itscry; it is more delicate, is quite ‘black, has a different manner of flying, and chiefly frequents the coafts. |
The Blackbirds are black all over, not ex- _cepting their bills nor their feet, and are almoft as large again as ours. Their notes are differ- ent, and their flefh is hard.
There are two forts of Starlings in this coun- try one grey and fpotted, and the other black. In both the tip of the fhoulder is of a bright red. They are only to be feen in winter; and then they are fo numerous, that upwards of 900 of them have been taken at once in a net.
ii A
92. . THE) 1's HoRy
A beaten path is made near a wood, and after | it is cleaned and fmoothed, it is ftrewed with | rice. On each fide of this path is ftretched | ~ a long narrow filken net, with very {mall | mefhes, and made to turn over at once by ftrings | faftened to the ftick that ftretches the end of it. | The ftarlings no fooner alight to pick up the | grain, than the fowler, who lies concealed with | the ftrings in his hand, pulls the net over them. |
i |}
The Woeod-becker is much the fame as in | France; but here there are two kinds of them; - one has grey feathers fpotted with black; the | other has the head and the neck of a bright - red, and the reft of the body as the former, This bird lives upon the worms which it finds — in rotten wood, and not upon ants, asa modern © author would have us believe, for want of hav- , ing confidered the nature of the things which he relates. The bird, when looking for its food, examines the trunks of trees that have lof | their bark’; it clafps by its feet with its belly clofe to the tree, and hearkens if it can hear a - worm eating the wood; in this manner it leaps _ from place to place upon the trunk till it hears : a worm, then it pierces the wood in that part, ‘ pricks the worm with its hard and pointed tongue, and draws it out. The arms which, | i nature
OF LOUISIANA. 93
nature has furnifhed it with are very proper for this kind of hunting; its claws are hard and very fharp; its beak is formed like a little ax, and is very hard; its neck is long and flexible
jto give proper play to its beak; and its hard tongue, which it can extend three or four inches,
asa moft fharp point, with feveral beards that help to hold the prey.
_ The Swallows of this country have that part
yellow which ours have white, and they, as well as the martins, live in the woods.
The Nightingale differs in nothing from ours
an refpect to its fhape or plumage, unlefs that
it has the bill a little longer. But in this it is particular that it is not fhy, and fings thro’ the Whole year, tho’ rarely. It is very ealy to en- tice them to your roof, where it is impoffible for
the cats to reach them, by laying fomething for them to eat upon a lath, with a piece of the Whell of a gourd which ferves to hold their neft.
You may in that cafe depend upon their not changing their habitation.
The Pofe is a bird that has a red and black
plumage. It has got that name perhaps be-
caule its colowr makes it look fomewhat old,
and
PRUs, Se aaa pa BN
ee i's
gg PAE ATS POR and none but old ‘men are promoted to that dig-| nity; or becaufe its notes are foft, feeble, and} rare; ot laftly, becaufe they wanted a bird of} that name in the colony, having two other kinds): * gamed cardinals and bifhops. |
The Cardinal owes its name to the bright red} of the feathers, and to a little cowl on the hind} part of the head, which refembles that of the} bifhop’s ornament, called a Camail. It is as large} asa black-bird but not fo long. Its bill and! toes are large, ftrong, and black. Its notes are fo ftrong and piercing that they are only: agreeable in the woods. It is remar kable for laying up its winter provifion in the fum- mer, and near a Paris bufhel of maiz has been found in its retreat, artfully covered, firft with
ne Teawes, Ree then with fmall branches, with only a little opening for the bird itfelf to enter.
The Bi/bop is a bird fmaller than the Lined its plumage is a violet-coloured blue, and its wings, which ferve it for a cope, are entirely violet colour. Its notes are fo fweet, fo variable, and tender, that thofe who have once heard it,
are apt to abateiin their praifes of the nightin- gale. I had fuch great pleafure in hearing this charming bird, that I left an oak ftanding ver) a. ae nea
fT OW OG WISIAN A. “9s
gear my apartment, upon which he ufed to ‘come and perch, tho’ I very well knew, that the tree, which ftood fingle, might be over- turned by a blaft of wind, and fall upon my /houfe to my great lofs.
The Humming Bird is not larger even with its feathers than a large beetle. The colour of its feathers is variable according to the light \ they are expofed in ; in the fun they appear like
enamel upon a gold ground, which delights the eyes. The longeft feathers of the wings of this bird are not much more than half an inch long, its bill is about the fame length, and pointed jlike an awl; and-its tongue refembles a fowing ‘needle; its feet are like thofe of a large fly. Motwithftanding its little fize, its flight is fo rapid, that it is always heard before it be feen, JAltho’ like the bee it fucks the flowers, it never jrelts upon them, but fupports itfelf upon its wings, and paffes from one flower -to another with the rapidity of lightening. It isa rare “thing to catch a humming bird alive; one of my friends however had the happinefs to catch jone. He had obferved it enter the flower of a con- volvulus, and as it had quite buried itfelf to get at the bottom, he run forwards, fhut the flower, cut it from the ftalk, and carried off the bird a | | prifoner.
96 RAE HIS HORM
prifoner. He could not however prevail upon it} is toeat, andit died four days after.
| i \
"The Troniou is a fmall bird about the fize of al {parrow ; its plumage is likewife the fame; but] its beak is flenderer. Its notes feem to exprefs
its name.
%
The French fettlers raife in this province tur-|
; kies of the fame kind with thofe of France, fowls, capons, &c. of an excellent tate. Th pidgeons for their fine flavour and delicacy are preferred by Europeans to thofe of any other country. The Guiney Fowl is here delicious. |
In Louifiana we have two kinds of Silk Worms;
one was brought from France, the other is na:
tural to the country. I fhallenlarge upon ther under the article of agriculture. a
_ The Tobacco Worm is a caterpillar of the fiz and figure of a fk worm. It is of a fine fea green colour, with rings of filver colour ; on it rump it has a fting near a quarter of an incl Jong. Thefe infe€&ts quickly do a great dealo mifchief, therefore care is taken every day whil the tobacco is rifing, to pick them off and. kil
re
them.
OF TL OUISIAMA: oy,
In fummer Caterpillars are fometimes found upon the plants, but thefe infects are very rare in the colony. Glow-worms are here the fame as in France.
/ | i
Butterflies are not near fo common as in France; the confequence of there being fewer. caterpillars; but they are of incomparable beau- ‘ty, and have the moft brilliant colours. In the | meadows are to be feen black grafhoppers, which jalmoft always walk, rarely leap, and ftill fel- domer fly. They are about the fize of the fin- }ger or thumb, and their head is fhaped fome- what like that of a horfe. Their four fmall wings are of a moft beautiful purple. Cats are - fond of grathoppers.
Fa The Bees of Louifiana lodge in the earth to fe- jcure their honey from the ravages of the bears, Some few indeed build their combs in the trunks
lof trees as in Europe; but by far the sreatelt ‘umber in the earth in the lofty forefts, where
the act feldom go.
"The Flies are of two kinds, one a yellowith grown, as in France, and the other black.
ig. VOU al; EF ‘The
i
Qs THE HiSTORY™
| The Wa/ps in this country take up their abode near the houfes where they-fmell vi¢tuals. | Several French fettlers endeavoured to root them out of their neighbourhood ; but I aéted other- wife ; for reflecting, that no flies are to be feen where the wafps frequent, I invited them by | hanging up a piece of flefh in the air.
The Suick Stinger is along and yellowifh fly, and it receives its name from its ftinging | the moment it lights. The common flies of | France are very common alfo in Lowifana.
The Cantharides, or Spani/o Flies, are Very | numerots, and larger than in Europe; they are of fuch an acidfiature, that if they but flightly touch the fkin as they pafs, a pretty large blifter inftantly rifes. Thefe flies live upon the leaves |
of the oak. re %
The Green Flies appear only every other yeary and the natives fuperftitioufly look upon their appearance asa prefage of a good crop. Itis | a pity that the cattle are fo greatly molefted by | them, that they cannot remain in the fields 4
“for they are extremely beautiful, and twice as
large as bees. Bi
OF LOUISIANA. og
fire Flies are very commons when the night is ferene they are fo very numerous, that if the light they dart out were conftant, one might fee as clearly.as in fine moonfhine.
The Fly Ants, which we fee, attach them- felves to the flower of the acacia, and which difappear when that flower is gone, do not pro- ceed from the common ants. The fly-ants, tho’ fhaped like the other kind, are however longer
and larger. They have a fquare head; their.
colour is a brownifh red bordered with black;
they have four red and grey wings, and fly like.
common flies, which the other ants do not eveg when they have wings.
The Dragon Flies are pretty numerous ; they do not want to deftroy them becaufe they feed upon Mofhites, which is one of the moft troubie= fome kind of infects,
The Mofbitos are famous all over Ameriaa, for their multitude, the troublefomenefs of their buzzing, and the venom of their ftliags, which
oceafien an infupportable itching, and often
form fo many {mall ulcers, if the perfon tung does not immediately put fome fpittle on the wound. In open places they are lefs torment- e 2 Ing $
mS
eo: oP ETH SITS RD
ing; but ftill they are troublefome; and the beft way of driving them out of the houfes is to burn a little brimftone in the mornings and evenings. The fmoke of this infallibly kills them, and the fmell keeps others away for fe- veral days. An hour after the brimftone has been burnt, the apartments may be fafely entered into by men. :
By the fame means we may rid ourfelves of the ‘flies and mofkites, whofe fting is fo painful and fo | frequent during the fhort time they fly about; | for they do not rife till about fun-fet, and they retire at night. This is not the cafe with the Burning Fly. Thefe, tho’ not much larger than the point of a pin, are infupportable to the people who labour in the fields. They fy from fun-rifing to fun-fetting, and the wounds they
give burn like fire.
The Lavert isan infet about an inch and a quarter long, a little more than a quarter broad ; and but the tenth part of an inch thick. It enters the houfes by the fmalleft crevices, and in the night time it falls upon difhes that are. even peesare with a plate, which renders it. very troublefome to thofe whofe houfes are only
built of wood. But they are fo relifhing to the | cats,
OF LOWISIAN A. tot
cats, that thefe laft quit every thing to fall upon them wherever they perceive them. When _ anew fettler has once cleared the ground about his houfe, and is at fome Nance from the woods, he is quickly freed from them. ‘ In Louifiana there are white ants, which feera
to love dead wood. Perfons who have been in the Eaft Indies have affured me, that they are | quite like thofe which in that country are called
~Cancarla, and that they would eat thro’ glafs, which I never had the experience of. There
} are in Lowi ifiana, as in France, red, black, and |
#yiDg ants.
$
a
102’ (“THE HISTORY
CHAP. Vil. Of Fifbes and Shell-Fih.
SHO’ there is an incredible quantity of | H fithes in this country, I fhall however be | very concife in my account of them; becaufe during my abode in the country they were not fufficiently known; and the people were not experienced enough j in the art of catching them. | The moft of the rivers being very deep, and the Mififipi, as Thave mentioned, being between © thirty-eight and forty fathoms, from its mouth | to the fall of St. 4ntheny, it may be eafily con- ceived that the inftruments ufed for fifhing in France, cannot be of any ufe in Louifiana, be- caufe they cannot go to the bottom of the ri< vers, or at leaft fo deep as to prevent the fil from efcaping. The line therefore can be only ufed, andit is with it they catch all the fifh that - are eaten by the fettlers upon the river. I pros ceed to an account of thofe fh.
Age £ hy
The Barbel is of two forts, the large and the - {mall. The firft is about four feet long, and ‘the {malle& of this fort that is ever feen is two | feet long, the young ones doubtlefs keeping at | the bottom of the water. “This Kind b has a very |
ry OF LOUISIANA. 109
farge head, and a round body, which gradually _Jeflens towards the tail, The fith has no fcales,
nor any bones, excepting that of the middle:
its eth is very good and delicate, but in a {mall _ degree very infipid, which is eafily remedied ; in
other refpects it eats very like the freth cod of
the country.
The fmall is from a foot to two feet in
} length. Its head is fhaped like that of the other kind; butits body is not fo round nor fo point-
ed at the tail,
The Carp of the river Mifi/ipi is. srontitous.
None are feen under two feet long ; and many
are met with three and four feet in length. The
carps are not fo very good in the lower part of ‘the river; but the higher one goes the finer they are, on account of the plenty of fand in “thofe parts. A great number of carps ate car- ried into the lakes that are filled by the over-
flowing of the river, and in thofe lakes they are found of all fizes, in great abundance, and of a better relifh than thofe of the river.
‘The Burgo-Breaker is an excellent fith ; it is
| ufvally a foot and a foot and a half long: it is | round with gold-coloured fcales. In its throat
PKR E-4 it
iog 4TyHyE HS TOR ky
it has two bones with a furface like that of a file to break the fhell-fifh named Burgo. Tho’ de- licate itis neverthelefs very firm. It is beft when not much boiled. :
rv
The Ring-Skate is found in the river up as far as New Orleans, butno higher. It is very good, and no way tough. In other refpects it | is exactly like that of France.
a)
The Spatula is fo called, becaufe from its fnout a fubftance extends about a foot in length in the form of an apothecary’s fpatula. This fifh, which is about two feet in length, is nei- | ther round or flat, but fquare, having at its fides and in the under part bones that form an angle like thofe of the back.
h
No Pikes are caught above a foot and a half long. As this is a voracious fifth, perhaps the armed-fifh purfues it, both from jealoufy and ap- | petite, The pike befides being fmall is very rare.
F ( Fe
The Choupic is a very beautiful fifh; many people miftake it for the trout, as it takes a fly | in the fame manner. But it is very cite trom the trout, as it prefers muddy and dead wae ter to a clear ftream, and its flefh is fo foft. that
it is only good when fried. ea
ratchet LEN i oan as rae epee Rha ee ASHP
i
OF LOUISIANA. nog
The Sardine or fmall Pilchard of the river. Mififipi, is about three or four fingers im breadth, and between fix and feven inches long;. it is good and delicate. One year I falted about the quantity of forty pints of them, and all the. French who eat of them acknowledged them to be /ardines from their flefh, their bones, and their tafte. They appear only for a fhort feafon, and are caught by the natives, when {wimming’ again{t the ftrongeft current, with nets made for that purpofe only.
The Pataffa, fo called by the natives for its
fiatnefs, is the roach or frefh-water mullet of this country..
The 4rmed-Fi/h has. its name from its arms, and its fcaly mail. Its arms are its very fharp. teeth about the tenth of an inch in diameter,, and as much diftant from each other, and near half an inch long. The interval. of the larger: teeth is filled with fhorter teeth. Thefe arms are a proof of its voracity. Its mail is nothing but its {cales, which are white, as hard as ivory): and about the, tenth of an inch im thicknefgo They, are near an inch long, about half as muely in breadth, end in a point, and have two.cutting. fides, - There are two ranges of them down the get fhaped exactly. like the head of a fpon!
a F 5 toon,.
106 THE HISTORY toon, aud oppofite to the point the fcale has a little thank, about three tenths of an inch long, which the natives infert into the end of their arrows, making the fcale ferve for a head. The fleth of this fifh is hard and not relifhing.
¢ ¥ | }
There area great number of Hels in the river Mififipi, and very large ones are found in all the rivers and creeks. | : ye
“The whole lower part of the river abounds. 7 in Crayfifb. Upon my firft arrival in the colony the ground was covered with litle hillocs,. about fix or feven inches high, which the Grays” jib had made for taking the air out of the wa= ter ; but fince dikes have been raifed for keep~ — ing off the river from the low grounds, they. « ‘no longer fhew themfelves. Whenever they are wanted they fith for them with the leg ofa, frog, and in afew moments they will catch a | large dith of them. ftper sted ‘| |
i
The Shrimps are diminutive Grayfi/h; they are ufually about three inches long, and of the fize | of the little finger. Altho’ in other countries — they are generally found in the fea only, yet in | Louifiana you will meet with great numbers of | them more than an hundred leagues up the rivers > Amthe lake SA Louis, about two leagues from. | a | New
" a | KA
aie
[
OF LOUTSITANA. 167 New Orleans, the waters. of which having a com- munication with the fea, are fomewhat brackifh, are found feveral forts both of fea fifh, and freth water fifh. As the bottom of the lake is very level, they fifh in it with large nets lately brought’ from France. |
Near the Jake when we pafs by the outlets to: the fea, and continue along the coafts, we meet with {mall cyfters in great abundance, that are’ very well tafted. On the other hand, when we quit the lake by another lake that communicates- with one of the mouths of the river, we meet with oyfters four.or five inches: broad, and fix. or feven long. Thefe large oyfters eat beft: fried, having hardly any faltnefs, but in other refpects are large and delicate.
Having fpoken of the oyfters of Louifiana, 1! fhall take fome notice of the oyfters that are: found on the trees at St. Domingo. When I arrived at the harbour of Cafe Francois in my way to Louzfiana, I was:much furprized to fee oyfters hanging to the branches of fome fhrubs ;° but M. Chanieau, who was our fecond captain, explained the phenomenon tome. According” to him, the twigs of the firubs are bent down high water to the very bottom of the fhore, when-- ever the-fea is any ways agitated, The-oyfters-
| F: 6 in:
_— i FO
z
robe! See. Bo Ee icSe Th Ge: Rak
in that place no fooner feel the twigs than they _ lay hold of them, and when the fea retires they appear fufpended upon them.
Towards the mouths of the river we meet with muffels no falter than the large oyfters above-mentioned ; and this is owing to the wa- ter being only brackifh in thofe parts, as the ris | ver there empties itfelf by three large mouths, and five other fmall ones, befides feveral fhort — creeks, which all together throw at once an im- menfe quantity of water into the fea; the whole _ marfhy ground occupies an extent of ten or twelve leagues. .
There are likewife excellent muffels upon the northern fhore of the lake St. Louis, efpecially i in the river of Pearls; they may be about fix or feven inches long, and fometimes contain pretty
large pearls, but of no great value.
‘
--. "The largeft of the fhell-fifh on the coaft is the. Burgo, well known in France. There is another: 4th much fmaller and of a different fhape. Its. hollow fhell is {trong and beautiful, and the flat one is generally black ; {ome blue ones are found and are much efteemed. Thefe fhells have long. | been in requelt for tobacco-boxes. 7
| | Tae Ea a
a iene aoe ei aeetied = ~ " See eee eat
i 109 J
HISTORY
Pours Ts Ns:
BOOK Tv.
a
PEAS. oul. The origin of the Americans.
HE remarkable difference I obferved be~ TT tween the Watches, including in thar name the nations whom they treat as brethren,. and the other people of Louifiana, made me ex- _ tremely defirous to know whence both of them might originally come. We had not then that
full information which we have fince regnived from the voyages and difcoveries of M. De Li/le iB
bie
Wenner ares ae Vian so gait gc ann gly aa ee ec
5
ee SOE NSF ORY
in the eaftern parts of the Ruffian empire. t-| therefore applied myfelf one day to put the keeper of the temple in good humour, and hav- | ing fucceeded in that without much difficulty,. | I. then told him, that from the little refemblance’ | Lobferved between the Natches and the neigh-- | bouring nations, I was inclined to believe that: | they were not originally of the country which. | they then inhabited‘; and tivat if the ancient: | fpeech taught him any thing on that fabject, he: | would do me agreat pleafure to inform me of it. | At thefe words he leaned his Head on his two | ‘hands, with which he covered his. eyes, and having remained in that pofture about a quar-. ter of an hour, as if to-recollect himfelf,. he ~ anfwered to-the following effect. .
‘© Before we came. into shis-lamal“tee lived‘ yonder under the fun, (pointing with his finger: : nearly fouth weft, by which I underftood that he meant: Mexico); we lived in a fine country: | where the earth is always pleafant;.there our: Suns had their abode, and our nation maintain- | ed itfelf for a long time againft the ancients of | the country, who conquered fome of our villages: : in the plains, but never could force us from the mountains. Our nation extended itfelf along the preat water where this large river lofes. ite |
rs , . 4 ete
OF LOUISIANA tre "elf ; but as our enemies were become very nu- “merous, and very wicked, our Suns fent {ome of their fubjeéts who lived near this river, to: ‘examine whether we could retire into the coun- try thro’ which it flowed. The country on the: eaft fide of the river being found extremely pleafant, the Great Sun, upon the return of | thofe who had examined it, ordered all his fub- } je&ts who lived in the plains, and who ftill de- | fended themfelves againft the antients of the | country, to remove into this land, here to. | build a temple, and to preferve the eternal fire...
« A great part of our nation accordingly fettled here, where they lived in peace and | abundance for feveral generations.. The Great Sun, and thofe who had remained with him, ne-- |-ver thought of joining us, being tempted to : _ continue where they were by the pleafantnefs of | the country, which was very warm, and by the _ weaknefs of their enemies who had fallen into” civil diffentions, in confequence of the ambition of one of their chiefs, who wanted to raife him- fel from a ftate of equality with the other chiefs of the villages, and to treat all the people of his nation as flaves, During thofe difcords among our enemies, fome of them even entered into an alliance with the Great Sun, who ftill remained
= She
im
ale ‘
a2: ae EO ce Tele CL ab EE
the Great Suns came and joined us in this coun-|
é Sears —— ee er oe sng Be.
12 THE HIS FOR ¥-
in our old country, that he might conveniently} affift our other brethren who had fettled on the}. { banks of the great water to the eaft of the large river, and extended themfelves fo far on the} coaftand among the ifles, that theGreat Sun did |, not hear of them fometimes for five or fix. years | together.. PA. |
‘« Tt was not till after many generations that |
try, where, from the fine climate, and the peace | we had enjoyed, we had multiplied like the, leaves of the trees. Warriors of fire who made the earth to tremble, had arrived in our old’. country, and having entered into an alliance: with our brethren, comquered our ancient ene- mies; but attempting afterwards to make flaves of our Suns, they, rather than fubmit to them,
Teft our brethren who refufed to follow Gor t and came hither attended only with their faves.”
~
Upon my afking him who thofe warriors. of fire were, he replied, that they were bearded. white men, fomewhat of a brownifh colour, who carried arms that darted out fire with great noife, and killed at a great diftance ; that they had likewife heavy arms which killed a great many men at once, and like thunder mz
OF LOUISIANA. 173
the earth tremble; and that they came from the fun-rifing in floating villages.
The antients of the country he faid were very ‘numerous, and inhabited from the weftern coaft of the great water to the northern coun- ‘tries on this fide the fun, and very far upon the fame coaft beyond the fun. They had a great ‘number of large and fmall villages, which were all built of ftone, and in which there were
| honfes large enough to lodge a whole village.
‘Their temples were built with great labour and art, and they made beautiful works of all kinds
1 of materials.
But ye yourfelves, {aid I, whence are ye come? The ancient fpeech, he replied, does not fay from what land we came ; all that we know is, that our fathers, to come hither, followed the fun, and came with him from the place where
he rifes; that they were a long time on their
journey, were all on the point of perifhing, and were brought into this country without feek- ing it. ;
To this account of the keeper of the temple,
-which was afterwards confirmed to me by the Great Sun, I fhall add the following paffage of
Diodorus
2g THE BIST ORR TH] Diodorus Siculus, which feems to confirm the, opinion of thofe who think the eaftern Ameri ' cans are defcended from the Ewropeans, who may}
have been driven by the winds upon the coal, of Guiana or Brafi. i, |
** To the weft of Africa, he ri lies a Ve large ifand, diftant many days {ail from that part of our continent. Its fertile {oil is partly plain: and partly mountainous. The plain country is: moft fweet and pleafant, being watered every. where with rivulets, and navigable rivers ;: =i beautified with many gardens which are plant! ed with all kinds of tees, and the orchards particularly are watered with pleafant ftreams.' ‘The villages are adorned with houfes built in a magnificent tafte, having parterres ornamented: with arbours covered with flowers. Hither the inhabitants retire during the fummer to enjoy: the fruits which the country furnifhes them with in the greateft abundance. ‘The moun: tainous part is covered with large woods, and. all manner of fruit trees, and in the. vallies, which are watered with rivulets, the. inhabi-’
tants meet with every thing that can render life agreeable, In aword, the whole ifland, by its fertility and: the abundance of its fprings, fur-' aifhes the inhabitants not only with every thing
| that
| |
OF LOUISIANA. rg
that may flatter their wifhes, but with what may alfo contribute to their health and firength of body. Hunting furnifhes them with fuch an infinite number of animals, that in their feafts they have nothing to with for in regard either to plenty or delicacy. Befides, the fea, which furrounds the ifland, fupplies them plen- tifully with all kinds of fifh, and indeed the fea in general is very abundant. The air of this ifland is fo temperate that the trees bear leaves
jand fruit almoft the whole year round. Ina word, this ifland is fo delicious, that it {eems \rather the abode of the gods than of men.
_« Anciently, on account of its remote fitua- , tion, it was altogether unknown; but afterwards | it was difcovered by accident. It is well known that from the earlieft ages the Phenicians un- dertook long voyages in order to extend their
commerce, and in confequence of thofe voyages
eftablifhed feveral colonies in dfrica and the weftern parts of Europe. Every thing facceed-
|) ing to their with, and being become very
powerful, they attempted to pals the pillars of
Hercules and enter the ocean. They acccord- | ingly paffed thofe pillars, and in their neigh-
bourhood builta city upon a peninfula of Spain,
owhich they named Gades. There, amongft the
other
1
+
we STV EHS YO ROY || other buildings proper for the place, they buil| a temple to Hercules, to whom they inftitute/ iplendid facrifices after the manner of oil country. This temple is in great veneration al this day, and feveral Romans who have renderel | themfelves illuftrious by their exploits, havl ‘performed their vows to Hercules for the fue cefs of their enterprizes. |
H 1
if
Mi) hl fi |
a
4 The Phenicians accordingly having pallec
the Streights of Spain, failed along 4frica, wher by the violence of the winds they were driver far out to fea, and the form continuing fere. ral days, they were at length thrown on thi: ifland. Being the firft who were acquaintec, with its beauty and fertility, they publifhec them to other nations. The Tu/cans, when “they were matters at fea, defi ened to fend a colony thither, but the Carthaginians found means to prevent them on the two following | accounts ; firft, they were afraid left their citi- zens, tempted by the charms of that ifland, fhould pals over thither in too great numbers, and defert their own country; next they looked upon it as afecure afylum for themfelves, if ever any.
terrible difafter fhould befal their republic.”* af
Pad a
- This!
a -¥i
OF LOUISIANA. 117:
| This defcription of Diedorus is very applicable i, many circumftances to America, particularly i. the agreeable temperature of the climate to fricans, the prodigious fertility of the earth, ae vaft forefts, the large rivers, and the mul- tude of rivulets and fprings. The Natches / hay then juftly be fuppofed to be defcended om fome Phenicians or Carthaginians, who ad been wrecked on the fhores of South Ame- ica, in which cafe they might well be imagin- i to have but little acquaintance with the arts, |; thofe who firft landed would be obliged to Jpply all their thoughts to their immediate fub-
bi
|ftence, and confequently would foon become ade and barbarous. Their worfhip of the eter-. al fire likewife implies their defcent from the, ‘henicians ; for every body knows that this fu- erftition, which firft took its rife in Egy#t, ras introduced by the Phenicians into all the ountries that they vifited. The figurative ‘ile, and the bold and Syriac expreffions in the inguage of the Watches, is likewife another roof of their being defcended from the Phe- Juians *.
* The author might have mentioned a fingular cuftom, in ‘hich both nations agree 3 for it appears from Polybias, 1,1, . 6, that the Carthaginians practifed {calping.
i
As
eR eae epe R Saeiie snen ener eae
318) THE HIST oO HY
“Asto thofe whom the Natches, long afte] their firft eftablithment, found inhabiting thi! weftern coafts of America, and whom we nam/ Mexicans, the arts which they poffeffed an(’ cultivated with fuccefs, oblige me to give then! a different origin. Their temples, their facil fices; their buildings, their form of government and their manner of making war, all denote? people who have tranfmigrated in a body, ant brought with them the arts, the fciences, ant the cuftoms of their country. Thofe pede had the art of writing, and alfo of painting’ Their archives <onfifted of cloths of cotton’ whereon they had painted or drawn all thof tranfactions which they thought worthy of be ing tranfmitted to pufterity. It were greatl to be wifhed that the firft conquerors of thi new world had preferved to us. the figures c thofe drawings; for by comparing them wit’ the characters ufed by other nations, we migh perhaps have difcovered the origin of the inka’ bitants. ‘The knowledge which we have of th’ Chinefe charaters, which are rather irregule drawings than characters, would probably hav’ facilitated fuch a difcovery ; and perhaps tho!’ of Japan would have been found greatly to hav refembled the Mexican; for I am io oe opinion that the Mexicans are defcended op
Gne of thofe two nations. A
ty
|
: ] u
|
; | ri ‘
OF LOUISIANA. tig
In fa&t; where is the impoffibility, that fome wince in one of thofe countries, upon failing
jn an attempt to raife himfelf to the fovereion Pp g
vower, fhould leave his native country with all lis partizans, and look for fome new land, vhere, after he had eftablifhed -himfelf, he aight drop all foreign correfpondence? The
jafy navigation of the South-Sea renders the
hing probable; and the new map of the eaft-
rn bounds of 4fa, and the weftern of North \4merica,. \ately publithed by Mr. De Lifle, Jnakes it ftill more likely. This map makes it
plainly appear, that between the iflands of 7a- ‘an, or northern coafts of China, and thofe of
merica, there are other lands which to this
lay have remained unknown; and who will jakeupon him to fay there is no land, becaufe
t has never yet been difcovered ? I have there- ore good grounds to believe, that the Mexicans tame originally from China or Fapan, efpecially when I confider their referved and uncommuni- rative difpofition, which to this day prevails umong the people of the eaftern parts of fa. The great antiquity of the Chine/e nation like-
wife makes it poffible that a colony might have gone from thence to America early enough to be looked upon as the Antients of the country, _by the firft of the Phenicians who could be fup-
poled
Pa
wa ATIVE A EST Rs
pofed to arrive there. Asa further corrobora tion of my conjectures, I was informed by al’ man of learning in 1752, that in the king's library there is a C/inefe manufcript, which po-| fitively affirms that America was peopled by the inhabitants of Corea.
When the Watches retired to this part 0 0! America, where I faw them, they there Fontnal i feveral nations, or rather the remains of ce nations, fome on the eaft, others on the weft of the Mififiti. Thefe are the people who are! diftinguifhed among the natives by the name off Red Men; and their origin is fo much the more obfcure, as they have not fo diftin@ a tradition’
as the Natches, nor arts and {ciences like the Mexicans, from whence we might draw fome'
- fatisfactory inferences, All that I could learn’
from them was, that they came from between’
the north and the fun-fetting; and this account they uniformly adhered to whenever they gave any account of their origin. This lame tra- dition no ways fatisfying the defire I had to be informed on this point, I made great inquiries to know if there was any wife old man among. the neighbouring nations, who could give me’
further intelligence about the origin of the na-,
tives. I was happy enough to difcover one, 5 named
q
OF LOUISIANA. rat
: named Moncacht-afé among the Yazous,a nation about forty leagues north from the Matches. ‘This man was remarkable for his folid under- ‘Nanding and elevation of fentiments; and F
(may juftly compare him to thofe firft Greehy, | who travelled chiefly into the eaft to examine
the manners and cuftoms of different nations, and to communicate to their fellow-citizens ‘upon their return the knowledge which they had acquired. Moncacht-apé indeed, never exe- cuted fo noblea plan; but he had however
|conceived it, and had fpared no labour and
pains to effeCtuate it. He was by the French
\called the Interpreter, becaufe he underftood jfeveral of the North American languages; but jthe other name which I have mentioned was
given him by his own nation, and fignifies the killer of pain and fatigue, ‘This name was in- deed moft juftly applicable to him; for, to fa- isfy his curiofity, he had made light of the moft dangerous and painful journeys, in which he had fpent feveral years of his life. He flay- ed two or three days with me; and upon my defiring him to give me an account of his tra-
/vels, he very readily complied with my requeit,
and {poke to the following effect ;
=
Vou. Ul. G «
ex
was TRE Has TOR TY oes « [had loft my wife, and all the children | whom I had by her, when I undertook my | H ie journey towards the fun-rifing. I fet out from my village contrary to the inclination of all my. relations, and went firft to the Chicafaws, our: i friends and neighbours. I continued among ! them feveral days toinform myfelf whether ne | | knew whence we all came, or at leaft whence - they themfelves came ; they, who were our eld- ers ; fince from them came the language of the l country. As they could not inform me, I pr O- |: ceeded on my journey. I reached the country of the Chaouanous, and afterwards went up the. Wabafb or Ohio, almoft to its fource, which is in the country of the Jroquois or Five Nations. 1 left them however towards the north; and during the winter, which in that country is. very fevere and very long, I lived in a village of the Abenaguis, where I contracted an ace t eas with a man fomewhat older than . ' myfelf, who promifed to conduét me the fol- lowing fpring to the Great Water. Accordingly 4 2 when the faows were melted, and the weather was fettled, we proceeded eaftward, and, after feveral days journey, I at length faw the Great. Water, which filled me with fuch joy and 4 miration that I could: not fpeak. Night draw:
-- 4pg on, we took up our lodging ona high bank abov |
; it | |
w OF LO@ISIANA. 193
above the water, which was forely vexed by the wind, and made fo great a noife that I
_ could not fleep. Next day the ebbing and flow-
ing of the water filled me with great appre- ‘henfion; but my companion quieted my fears, by affuring me that the water obferved certain bounds both in advancing and retiring. Hav- ing fatisfied our curiofity in viewing the great wa- ter, we returned to the village of the Abenaquis, where I continued the following winter; and after the {nows were melted, my companion and I went and viewed the great fall of the river St. Laurence at Niagara, which was diftant from the village feveral days journey. The view of this great fall at firft made my hair ftand on end, and my heart almoft leap out of its place; but afterwards, before I left it, I had the courage to walk under it. Next day we took the fhorteft road to the Osi, and my com- panion and I cutting down a tree on the banks of the river, we formed it into a pettiaugre,
}) which ferved to conduét me down the Ohio and the Mififipi, after which, with much difficulty, |
Twent up our {mall river ; and at length arrived fafe among my relations, whe were rejoiced to fee me in good health.”
re 2 “This
yak Tee a SOE ORY < This journey, inftead of fatisfying, only ferved to excite my curiofity. Our old men, for feveral years, had told me that the antient fpeech informed them that the Red, Men of the
north came originally much higher and much | farther than the fource of the river Miffouri ; and as I had longed to fee, with my own eyes, the land from whence our firft fathers came, I took my precautions for my journey weftwards. Having provided a {mall quantity of corn, I roceeded up along the eaftern bank of the ri- ver Mifisipi, till I came to the Ohio. 1 went up along the bank of this laft river about the fourth part of a day’s journey, that I might be able to crofs it without being carried into the
Miffifipt. There I formed a Cajeux or raft of s ‘canes, by the affiftance of which I patled over next day meeting with a herd of
the river; and bufaloes in the meadows, I killed a fat one, and took from it the fillets, the bunch, and the, tongue. Soon after! arrived among the Zama- roas, a village of the nation of the Jnas, where Lrefted feveral days, and then proceed- ed northwards to the mouth of the Mifouri, which, after it,enters the great river, fuls|)) for a confiderable time without intermixing ifs muddy waters with the clear ftream of the other.
Having, crofled the Miffi/ip:, I went up the Mi- foure
OF LOUISIANA. 125
furi along its northern bank, and after feveral
days journey I arrived at the nation of the Mi/- fouris, where I ftaid a long time to learn the Janguage that is fpoken beyond them. In go- ing along the Miffouri 1 paffed thro’ meadows a whole day’s journey in length, which were quite covered with bufaloes.
«¢ When the cold was paft, and the fnows were melted, I continued my journey up along the Mifouri till I came to the nation of the Weft, or the Canzas. Afterwards, in confe- quence of direftions from them, I proceeded in the fame courfe near thirty days, and at length I met with fome of the nation of the Otters, *who were hunting in that neighbour- hood, and were furprifed to fee me alone. 1 continued with the hunters two or three days, and then accompanied one of them and his wife, who was near her time of lying in, to
their village, which lay far off betwixt the north
and weft, We continued our journey along the Miffouri for nine days, and then we marched directly northwards for five days more, when
“we came to the Fine River, which runs welt-
wards in a direCtion contrary to that of the Miffouri. We proceeded down this river a whole day, and then arrived at the village of
G 3 the
Pics Sr
ra :
= Sa a A AA a a
136 OT RE HISTORY
the Otters, who received me with as much i kindnefs as if I had been of their own nation, A few days after I joined a party of the Otters, — who were going to carry a calumet of peace to _ @nation beyond them, and we embarked in a pettiangre, and went down the river for eigh- teen days, landing now and then to fupply our- {elves with provifions. When I arrived at the © mation who were at peace with the Ofters, I ftaid with them till the cold was paffed, that I might learn their language, which was com- snon to moft of the nations that lived beyond them.
« The cold was hardly gonc when I again em- barked on the Fine River, and in my courfe I a met with feveral nations, with whom I gene- rally ftaid but one night, till I arrived at the ~ nation that is but one day’s journey from the Great Water on the weft. This nation live in the woods about the diftance of a league from the river, from their apprehenfion of bearded men, who come upon their coafts in floating vil- lages, and carry off their children to make flaves_ |
~of them. Thefe men were defcribed to be |
white, with long black beards that came down — to their breafts; they were thick and fhort, — had large heads, which were covered with cloth; © they
OFOLOUESTANA. “127
‘they were always dreffed, even in the greateft heats; their cloaths fell down to the middle of their legs, which with their feet were covered - with red or yellow ftuff. Their arms made a great fire anda great noife; and when they _faw themfelves out-numbered by Red Men, they retired on board their large pettiaugre, their number fometimes amounting to thirty, but never more.
Thofe ftrangers came from the fun-fetting, in fearch of a yellow ftinking wood, which dyes a fine yellow colour ; but the people of this na- tion, that they might not be tempted to vifit them, had deftroyed all thofe kind of trees. Two other nations in their neighbourhood however, having no other wood, could not deftroy the trees, and were ftill vifited by the {trangers; and being greatly incommoded by them, had invited their allies to aflift them in making an attack upon them the next time they fhould return. The following fummer 1 ac- cordingly joined in this expedition, and after travelling five long days journey, we came to the place where the bearded men ufually land-. ed, where we waited feventeen days for their arrival. The Red Men, by my advice, placed themfelves in ambufcade to furprife the ftran- - G4 gers,
THE Vani Ry gers, and accordingly when they landed to cut
_ the wood, we. were fo fuccefsful as to kill _ eleven of them, the reft unmediately efcaping on board two large pettiaugres, and flying weft- ward upon the Great Water.
128
“Upon examining thofe whom we had killed, we found them much {fmaller than ourfelves, and very white; they had a large head, and in the middle of the crown the hair was very Jong; their head was wrapt in a great many folds of ftuff, and their cloaths feemed to be made neither of wool nar filk ; they were very foft, and of different colours. Two only of the eleven who were flain had fire-arms with pow- der and ball. Itried their pieces, and found that they were much heavier than yours, and did not kill at fo great a diftance,
“* After this expedition I ‘thought of nb- thing but proceeding on my journey, and with that defign I let the Red Men return home, and
_ joined myfelf to thofe who inhabited more weft- ward on the coaft, with whom I travelled along i the fhore of the Great Water, which bends di- rectly betwixt the north and the fun-ftting, When I arrived at the villages of my fellow- travellers, where I found the days very long
and
OF L-OUTSLAN A. 129
and the nights very fhort, I was advifed by the old men to give over all thoughts of continu- ‘ing my journey. They told me that the land extended fill a long way in:a direCtion between the north and fun-fetting, after which it ran direétly weft, and at length was cut by the Great Water from-north to fouth. One of them added, that when he was young, he knew
-avery-old man who had feen that diftant land _hefere it was eat away by the Great Water, and that when the Great Water was low, many rocks } ftill appeared in thofe parts. Finding it there-
fore impracticable to proceed much further, on
account of the feveriry of the climate, .and the _want of game, I returned by the fame route | by which I had fetout ; and reducing-my whole travels weftward to days journeys, i-compute that they would have employed me -thirty-fix _moons; but on acconnt of my frequent delays, | it was five years before I-returned to my rela- _ tions among the Yazous.”
his travels, {pent four or five days vifiting among the Natches, and then returned to take leave of me, when I made him a prefent of feveral wares of no great value, among which was a concave mirror about two inches and a half di-
Ge aS Se eal Ae Mae hs ameter,
Moncacht-apé, after giving me an account of
SSRN nase onsen meine acim Seam Na
[oA ATE NEON RE LOOT TI
Da ee er ene oe eer eae SN ae
1 andor ha cecenorrectetneeneia sh Septet nates
yo THE HISTORY
ameter, which had coft me about three half- pence. As this magnified the face to four or five time its natural fize, he was wonderfully delighted with it, and would not have ex- | changed it with the beft mirror in France. Af- | ter expreffing his regret at parting with me, he
returned highly fatisfied to his own nation. — 4
aa
Moncacht-afé’s account of the junction of America with the eaftern parts of fia feems confirmed from the following remarkable fact. Some years ago the fkeletons of two large ele- phants and two {mall ones were difcovered in a marth near the river Ohio; and as they were not much confumed, it is fuppofed that the ele- phants came from 4fa not many years before. , If we alfo confider the form of government, and the manner of living among the northern na- tions of America, there will appear a great re- , femblance betwixt them and the Tartars in the | north-eaft partsof dfia. - :
| before it was difcovered by Chriftopher Colume-
| nent, but alfo in the iflands.
OF LOUISIANA.
< © Ti 8) P.. I.
An account of the feveral nations of Tn- dians iz Louifiana.
ee
| Bib OC, Bop
Of the nations inbabiting on the eaf a | ‘the Miffifipi. -
| WF tothe hiftory of the difcoveries and con-
] quefts of the Spaniards we join the tradi- tion of all the nations of America, we thall be fully perfuaded, that this quarter of theworld, | ~
bus, was very populous, not only on the conti-
ALE
However, by an incomprehenfible fatality, the arrival of the Shaniards in this new world feems to have been the unhappy epoch of the , deftruétion of all the nations of America, not
only by war, but a nature itfelf, As it is but “GO” too
{2 “THE HISTORY too. well known, how many millions of natives |. were deftroyed by the Spani/b fword, I fhall |
not therefore prefent my readers with that |.
horrible detail; but perhaps many people do | not Know that an innumerable multitude of the |
natives of Mexico and Pers voluntarily put an : end to their own lives, fome by facrificing |; themfelves to the manes of their fovereigns } who had been cut off, and whofe born victims they, according to their deteftable cuftoms, looked upon themfelves to be; and others, to ®, avoid falling under the fubjection of the Spa- ! -niards, thinking death a lefs evil by far than flavery. 2 | |
Mi Ny
]
_ The fame effet has been produced among |
the people of North America by two or three) warlike nations of the natives. The Chica-,
faws have not only cut off a great many na-
' tions who were adjoining to them, but have, even carried their fury as far as New Mexico, ; near 600 miles from the place of their refi- | dence, to root out a nation that had removed | -at that diftance from them, in a firm expecta: , tion that their enemies would not come fo far in fearch of them. They were however de- ceived and cutoff. The Iroquois have done the, fame.
~e |
OF LOUISIANA. 133
‘fame in the eaft parts of Louifiana; and the
Padoucas and others have acted in the fame manner to the nations in the weft of the colo- ny. We may here obferve that thofe nations could not fucceed againft their enemies without confiderable lofs to themfelves, and that they have therefore greatly lefflened their own num- bers by their many warlike expeditions,
‘J mentioned that nature-had contributed ne jefs than war to the deftruétion of thefe peo- ple. Two diftempers that are not very fatal in-other parts.of the world make dreadful ra- vages among them ; I mefta the {mall-pox and a cold, which baffle all the art of their phyfi- cians, who in other refpects are very fkilful, When a nation is attacked by the fmall-pox, it quickly makes great havock; for as a whole fa-
_mily is crowded into a fmall hut, which has no
communication with the external air, but by a door about two feet wide and four feet high, the diftemper, if it feizes one, is quickly com- municated to all, The aged die in confequence of their advanced years and the ‘bad quality of their food; and the young, if they are not ftri€tly watched, deftroy themfelves, from an abhorrence of the blotches in their fkin. IE they
14 ME MLS DOR eee
being naturally not very handfome, are not fo apt to regret the lofs of their beauty; confe-
rous than the other nations.
ter, likewife deftroy great numbers of the na- tives. In that feafon they keep fires in their huts day and night; and as there is no other a opening but the door, the air within the hut is kept exceflive warm without any free circula-
the cold feizes them, and the confequences of it are almoft always fatal.
The firft nations that the French were ac- quainted with in this part of North America, were thofe on the eaft of the colony; for. the
account of the different nations of Jndians on. this fide of the colony, and proceed weftwards in the fame order as they are fituated.
_
5 “a if
‘But
they can but efcape from their hut, they run out and bathe themfelves in the river, which is | certain death in that diftemper. The Chatkas, |
quently fuffer lefs, and are much more nume- |
Colds, which are very common in the win- |
tion; fo that when they have occafion to go out, .
firft fettlement we made there was at Fort Louis on the river Mobile. fhall therefore begin my —
OF LOUISIANA. 135
‘But however zealous I may be in difplaying not only the beauties, but the riches and ad- vantages of Lowi/iana, yet I am not at all in- clined to attribute to it what it does not polefs ; therefore I warn my reader not to be furprifed, if I make mention of a few nations in this colo- ny, in comparifon of the great number which
this country. Thofe maps were made from memoirs fent by different traveilers, who noted down all the names they heard mentioned, and then fixed upon a fpot for their refidence ; fo
| nations, many of whom were deftroyed, and | others were refugees among nations who had adopted them and taken them under their pro- tection. Thus, tho’ the nations on this conti- nent were formerly both numerous and popu- lous, they are now fo thinned and diminifhed, that there does not exift at prefent a third part of the nations whofe names are to be found in the maps. ,
4
The moft eaftern nation of Louifiana is that called the 4palaches, which is a branch of the great nation of the Apalaches, who inhabited near the mountains to which they have given
) their
he may perhaps have feen in the firft maps of
that a map appeared filled with the names of
SN eS RRR RR ag NE Lr SREP
THE HISTORY.
their name. This great nation is divided imto |, feveral branches, who take different names. |, The branch in the neighbourhood of the river Mobile is but inconfiderable, and - pant of it is | Roman Catholic.
136
On the north of the 4falaches are the Al- |, bamous, a pretty confiderable nation ; they ; love the French, and receive the Engh/b rather | out of neceffity than friendfhip. On the firft | fettling of the colony we had fome commerce | | with them; ‘but fince the main part of the co- | ie Jony has fixed on the river, we have fomewhat | : neglected them, on account of the great dif tance. |
eee || 1?
Eaft from the Alibamous are the Caouitas, whom M. Biainville, governor of Louifiana, wanted to diftinguith above the other nations, by giving the title of emperor to their fovereign, who then would have been chief of all the neighbouring nations; but thofe nations re- | fufed to acknowledge him as fuch, and faid , that it was enough if each nation obeyed its own chief; that it was improper for the chiefs . themfelves to be fubject to other chiefs, and | that fuch a cuftom had never prevailed among them,
19 lehman Ea I IN A SGA HVE OE Fe a oe ee
pa seeibasi
orem iadciegrenienatinion
OF LOUISIANA. 137 them, as they chofe rather to be deftroyed by a
| great nation than to be fubject to them, ‘This
‘nation is one of the moft confiderable; the
| Englifh trade with them, and they fuffer the _ traders to come among them from policy.
"To the north of the 4zbamous afte the Aber
Ras and Conchacs, who, as far as I can learn, are the fame people; yet the name of Conchac _ feems appropriated to one part more than ano- | ther. They are fituated at a diftance from the
| preat rivers, and confequently have no large | canes in their territory. The canes that grow -among them are not thicker than one’s finger, vand are at the fame time fo very hard, that when they are fplit they cut like knives, which
thefe people call Conchacs. The language of this nation is almoft the fame with that of the
Chicafaws, in which the word conchae fignifies _aknife.
The Abcikas, on the eaftof them, have the Cherokees, divided into feveral branches, and fi- ‘uated very mear the falachean mountains. All the nations whom I have mentioned have
‘been united in a general alliance for a long time paft, in order to defend themfelves againft
the
SOREL ESA NEP alr ca ns ARP rasa
Le na RA ALORS ANI EN NTT RN
i198 APH Eo DP SyPio Rey
the Iroquois or Five Nations, who, before th alliance was formed, made continual war upol' them; but have ceafed to moleft them find, they have feen them united. All thefe nation); and fome {mall ones intermixed among them have always been looked upon as belonging | no colony, excepting the /palaches; but find, the breaking out of the war with the Engli/p ij 1756, itis faid they have voluntarily declare) for us. |
The nations in the neighbourhood of th Mobile are firft the Chafots, a {mall nation cot, fitting of about forty huts, adjoining to th river and the fea. They are Roman Catholic. or reputed fuch; and are friends to the Frente whom they are always ready to ferve we, ing paid for it. North from the Chatots, a ' very near them, is the French fettlement ¢ Fort Louis on the Mobile. ‘ i
A little north from Fort Louis are fituated tt, Thomez, which are not more numerous than th Chatots, and are faid to be Roman Cathalick, They are our friends to fuch a degree as even | teize us with their officioufnefs. i
Furth! |
7
OF LOUISIANA. 139
| Further north live the Taenfas, who are a
‘ranch of the Natches, of whom I fhall have \ecafion to {peak more at large. Both of thefe
ations keep the eternal fire with the utmoft are; but they truft the guard of it to men, rom a perfuafion that none of their daughters vould facrifice their liberty for that office. The vhole nation of the Taenfas confifts only of
) bout roo huts.
Proceeding ftill northwards along the bay,
ve meet with the nation of the Mobiliens, near
he mouth of the river Mobile, in the bay of
‘hat name. The true name of this nation is
Vouvill, which the French have turned into
| Mobile, calling the river and the bay from the
ation that inhabited near them. All thefe -
“imal nations were living in peace upon the ar- ) ival of the French, and ftill continue fo; the ‘nations on the eaft of the Mobile ferving asa oarrier to them againft the incurfions of the “Iroquois. Befides, the Chicafaws look upon “them as their brethren, as both they, and their ‘neighbours on the eaft of the Mobile, fpeak a anguage which is nearly the fame with that of the Chicafaws.
| Returning
wo THE HISTORY
Returning towards the fea, on the wet the Mobile, we find the fmall nation of | Pacha-Ogoulas, that is, nation of bread, {|| ated upon the bay of the fame name, | nation confifts only of one village of ab thirty huts. Some French Canadians have || tled in their neighbourhood, and they live} gether like brethren, as the Canadians, are naturally of a peaceable difpofition, kt -the character of the natives, and have the’ of living with the nations of America. || what cuedy renders the harmony betwixt tH durable, is the abfence of foldiers, who n appear in this nation,
Further northwards, near the river Pas Ogoulas, is fituated the great nation of } Chatkas, or Flat-heads. 1 call them the g'! nation, for I have not known or heard of ‘other near fo numerous, ‘They reckon in ™ nation 25,000 warriors. ‘There may perl’ ‘be fuch a number ef men among them, wv take that name; but 1 am far from thin! that all thefe have a title to the charaéte: Watriors.. t
| /
According to the tradition of the native i| mation arrived fo fuddenly, and paffed fo rat
if Wind have never dared to try whether they
‘\re brave or not. It is doubtlefs owing to this ‘Jat they have increafed to their prefent numbers.
OF LOUISIANA. rat
‘|thro’ the territories of others, that when f ed them, whence came the Chatkas ? they anf- 1 red me, that they fprung out of the ground; 4 which they meant to exprefs their great fur- ze at fecing them appear fofuddenly. Their at numbers awed the natives near whom they fled ; their character, being but little inclined Hjwar, did not infpire them with the fury of goquefts ; thus they at length arrived in an un- pabited country which nobody difputed with
em. They have fince lived without any dif-
! | They are called Flat-heads ; but I do not ow why that name has been given to them
tes with their neighbours ; who on the other
jare than to others, fince all the nations of
uifiana have their heads as flat, or nearly fo. aes
ghey are fituated about 250 miles north from je fea, and extend mere from eaft to weft than
yom fouth to north.
Y
Thofe who travel from the Chatkas to the icafaws, feldom go by the fhorteft road,
hich extends about 180 miles, and is very iloody and mountainous. They choofe rather
to
142 THE HISTORY
to go along the river Mobile, which is both ti eafieft and moft pleafant route. The nation |) the Chicafaws is very warlike. ‘The men ha | very regular features, are large, well fhape}, and neatly dreffed; they are fierce, and have) high opinion of themfelves. They feem tol I the remains of a populous nation, whofe wa; | like difpofition had prompted them to invade {, veral nations, whom they have indeed deftro)| ed, but not without diminifhing their ov numbers by thofe expeditions, What indu me to believe that this nation has been former very confiderable, is that the nations who be der upon them, and whom I have jot me tioned, {peak the Chicafaw language, tho’ fom what corrupted, and thofe who {peak it bi
value themfelves upon it. : |
yi
I ought perhaps to except out of this nu! ber the Taenfas, who being a branch of f! Natches, have fill preferved their peculiar || guage; but even.thefe fpeak, in general, corrupted Chicafaw language, which our Fren fettlers call the Mobilian language. As tot Chatkas, 1 fuppofe, that being very numeror: they have been able to preferve their own Ia guage in a great meafure; and have only adoy
5
LP ORL OUI SIAM A. 143 | d fome words of the Chica/aw language. They ft ways {poke to me in the Chica/aw tongue.
_In returning towards the coaft next the river Wififipi, we meet with a fmall nation of about ‘wenty huts, named Aquelou-piffas, that is, men “vho underftand and fee. This nation formerly ved within three or four miles of the place vhere New Orleans is built; but they are fur- her north at prefent, and not far from the lake ase. Lewis or Pontchartrain. They {peak a lan- jruage fomewhat approaching to that of the \hicafaws. We have never had great dealings wvith them.
_ Being now arrived at the river Mifh/ipi, I hall proceed upwards along its banks, as far as jo the moft diftant nations that are knownto us.
The firft nation that I meet with is the Ou- nas, which fignifies the red nation. They are ituated about twenty leagues from New Orleans, where 1 faw fome of them upon my arrival in iS province. Upon the firft eftablithment of the colony, fome french went and fettled near them ; ; and they have been very fatal neigh- oours, by furnifhing them with brandy, which they drink to great excels.
RE nena soot oreithonty coca ees nap nein
Crofling
A STE PM AEOESL PEE T EAT
Wii PRE HVS TORY Croffing the Red River, and proceeding ftitt|
| ef Hl |
upwards, we find the remains of the nation of the Tonicas, who have always been very much} -attached to the French, and have even been our : aiixiliaries in war. The Chief of this nation). was our very zealous friend ; and as he was | fall of courage, and always ready to make war on!’ the enemies of the French, the king fent him al brevet of brigadier of the red armies, and a blue! ribbon, from whence hung a filver medal, which on one fide reprefented the marriage of the king, and on the reverfe had the city of Paris.’ He likewife fent him a gold-headed cane ; and. the Indian Chief was nota little proud of wear-. ing thofe honourable diftin¢étions, which were certainly well beftowed, ‘This nation {peaks a language fo far different from that of their, neighbours, in that they pronounce the letter’ R, which the others have not.. They have like-
wife different cuftoms.
The Natches in former times appear to have been one of the moft refpectable nations in the
_ colony, not only from their own tradition, but from that of the other nations, in whom their’ greatnefs and civilized cuftoms raifed no lefs jealoufy than admiration. I could fill a volume
with what relates to this people alone ; but as Tam
t
wal id Eu: Reb ntenacnrn piace agape epi ts ns
a
OF LOUISIANA. [45
| Tam now giving a concile account of the people-
of Louifiana, 1 fhall {peak of them as of the reft, only enlarging a little upon fome impor-
tant tranfaCtions concerning them.
When I arrived in1720 among the Natcdes,
that nation was fituated upon a fimall river of ‘the fame name; the chief village where the Great Sun refided was built along the banks of
“the river, and the other villages were planted
|
i i
yound it. They were two leagues above the
‘confluence of the river, which joins the Ali/-
| f fbi at the foot of the great precipices of the
Natches. From thence are four leagues to its fource, andas many to Fort Ro/alie, and they were fituated within a league of the fort.
- Two finall nations lived as- refugees among the Natches. The moft ancient of thefe ad- opted nations were the Grigras, who feem to have received that name from the French, be-
caufe when talking with one another they often
pronounce thofe two fyllables, which makes them be remarked as ftrangers among the Natches, who, as well as the Chica/aws, and all the nations that fpeak the Chica/aw language, cannot pronounce the letter 2, :
Vou. Il. H The
= iciiiiptash cian ae tO ee
LE SLATE IESE RSE OLLI RELL NH AG
oT ILE HUST ORLY
_ The other fmall nation adopted by the Natches, are the Thioux, who have alfo the let- ter R in their language. ‘Thefe were the weak remains of the Thioux nation, formerly one of the ftrongeft in the country. However, accord= ing to the account of the other nations, being of a turbulent difpofition, they drew upon them- felves the refentment of the Chicafaws, which was the occafion of their ruin; for by their many engagements they were at length fo weak-. ened that they durft not face their enemy, and confequently were obliged to take refuge among ~ the Natches. ||
~~
The Natches, the Grigras, and the Thioux, may together raife about 1200 warriors ; which is but a fmall force in comparifon of what the Natches could formerly have raifed alone; for according to their traditions they were the moft powerful nation of all North America, and were looked upon by the other nations as their fa- * periors, andon that account refpected by them. — To pive an idea of their power, I fhall only mention, that formerly they extended from the river Manchac or Iberville, which is about 50 Jeagues from the fea, to the river Waba/b, which is diflant from the fea about 460 leagues;
and that ale had about five hundred Suns or princes.
OF LOUISIANA... 147
j ices. From thefe faéts we may judge how ‘vulous this nation formerly has been; but ! pride of their Great Suns, or fovereigns, and | wile of their inferior Suns, joined to the pre- j ices of the people, has made greater havoc j ng them, and contributed more to their de-
tion, than long and bloody wars would |e done.
As their fovereigns were defpotic, they had
i\a long time paft eftablifhed the following in-
(nan and impolitic cuftom, that when any of ijn died, a great number of their fubjects,
[a men and women, fhould likewife be put
}eath. A proportionable number of fubjects
e likewife killed upon the death of any of the
i rior Suns ; and the people on the other hand
i imbibed a belief that all thofe who fol-
| ed their princes into the other world, to ferve
t n there, would be eternally happy. It is
¢ toconceive how ruinous fuch an inhuman
¢jom would be among a nation who had fo | ly princes as the Natches.
: ‘would feem that fome of the Suns, more hu- ethan the reft, had difapproved of this bar- ) us cuftom, and had therefore retired to places | remote diftance from the center of their na-
5 H 2 tion.
aS een er Emma abt ey Ser
' defcended. The other branch is the nation o1
ge" TOR Ps ee ee
tion. For we have two branches of this oa nation fettled in other parts of the colony, whc} have preferved the greateft part of the cuftome of the Watches. One of thefe branches is the’ nation of the Taenfas on the banks of the Mo i bile, who preferve the eternal fire, and fevera |
other ufages of the nation from whom they are
the Chitimachas, whom the Natches have alu ways looked upon as their brethren. q Forty leagues north from the Natches is the
river Yazous which runs into the Mifi/ipi, and is fo called from a nation of the fame name whi
had about a hundred hats on its banks. ; t
u ;
Near the Yazous on the fame river ihe th’ Coroas, a nation confifting of about forty huts "Thefe two nations pronounce the letter #. i
Upon the fame river likewife lived the Chaechi Oumas, a name which fignifies red Cray ff Thefe people had not above fifty huts. |
|
Near ats fame river dwelt the Oufe Ocaulas or the nation of the dog, which might | 4
about fixty huts. ne
OF LOUISIANA. 149
| The Tapoufas likewife inhabited upon the banks of this river, and had not above twenty- five huts. Thefe three laft nations do not pro- pounce the letter R, and feem to be branches of the Chicafaws, efpecially as they {peak their lan- guage. Since the maffacre of the French fettlers at the Natches, thefe five {mall nations who had joined in the confpiracy againft us, have all re- tired among the Chica/aws, and make now but one nation with them,
To the north of the Ohio, not far from the ‘banks of the Mifi/ipi, inhabit the Illinois, who ret
have given their name to the river on the banks
a
} of which they have fettled. They are divided into feveral villages, fach as the Tamaroas, the
SS Se eed SS RTE oT cP ay
—
Cafkaquias, the Caouquias, the Pimiteouis, and } fome others. Near the village of the Zamaroas js a French poft, where feveral French Canadians
have fettled.
<a ~
as
This is one of the moft confiderable pofts in
all Louifiana, which will appear not at all fur- prizing, when we confider that the Illinois were one of the firft nations whom we difcovered in the colony, and that they have always remained ‘mott faithful allies of the French; an advantage - which is in a great meafure owing to the pro- | y oe per
150 ae 2 HOTS) TL Oe
per manner of living with the natives of An
rica, which the Canadians have always obfer| |
ed. Itis not their want of courage that re}
ders them fo peaceable, for their valour is we
known. The letter R is pronounced by tl] Illinois.
§ |
Proceeding further northwards we meet wit] a pretty large nation, known