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History of Louisisana by Le Page Du Pratz

L >> Le Page Du Pratz >> History of Louisisana




Moncacht-ape, after giving me an account of his travels, spent four or
five days visiting among the Natchez, and then returned to take leave
of me, when I made him a present of several wares of no great value,
among which was a concave mirror about two inches and a half diameter,
which had cost me about three halfpence. As this magnified the face to
four or five times its natural size, he was wonderfully delighted with
it, and would not have exchanged it with the best mirror in France.
After expressing his regret at parting with me, he returned highly
satisfied to his own nation.

Moncacht-ape's account of the junction of America with the eastern
parts of Asia seems confirmed from the following remarkable fact. Some
years ago the skeletons of two large elephants and two small ones were
discovered in a marsh near the river Ohio; and as they were not much
consumed, it is supposed that the elephants came from Asia not many
years before. If we also consider the form of government, and the
manner of living among the northern nations of America, there will
appear a great resemblance betwixt them and the Tartars in the
north-east parts of Asia.




CHAPTER II.

_An Account of the Several Nations of_ Indians _in_ Louisiana.




SECTION I.

_Of the Nations inhabiting on the East of the_ Missisippi.


If to the history of the discoveries and conquests of the Spaniards we
join the tradition of all the nations of America, we shall be fully
persuaded, that this quarter of the world, before it was discovered by
Christopher Columbus, was very populous, not only on the continent but
also in the islands.

However, by an incomprehensible fatality, the arrival of the Spaniards
in this new world seems to have been the unhappy epoch of the
destruction of all the nations of America, {291} not only by war, but
by nature itself. As it is but too well known how many millions of
natives were destroyed by the Spanish sword, I shall not therefore
present my readers with that horrible detail; but perhaps many people
do not know that an innumerable multitude of the natives of Mexico and
Peru voluntarily put an end to their own lives, some by sacrificing
themselves to the manes of their sovereigns who had been cut off, and
whose born victims they, according to their detestable customs, looked
upon themselves to be; and others, to avoid falling under the
subjection of the Spaniards, thinking death a less evil by far than
slavery.

The same effect has been produced among the people of North America by
two or three warlike nations of the natives. The Chicasaws have not
only cut off a great many nations who were adjoining to them, but have
even carried their fury as far as New Mexico, near six hundred miles
from the place of their residence, to root out a nation that had
removed at that distance from them, in a firm expectation that their
enemies would not come so far in search of them. They were however
deceived and cut off. The Iroquois have done the same in the east
parts of Louisiana; and the Padoucas and others have acted in the same
manner to nations in the west of the colony. We may here observe, that
those nations could not succeed against their enemies without
considerable loss to themselves, and that they have therefore greatly
lessened their own numbers by their many warlike expeditions.

I mentioned that nature had contributed no less than war to the
destruction of these people. Two distempers, that are not very fatal
in other parts of the world, make dreadful ravages among them; I mean
the small-pox and a cold, which baffle all the art of their
physicians, who in other respects are very skilful. When a nation is
attacked by the small-pox, it quickly makes great havock; for as a
whole family is crowded into a small hut, which has no communications
with the external air, but by a door about two feet wide and four feet
high, the distemper, if it seizes one, is quickly communicated to all.
The aged die in consequence of their advanced years and the bad
quality of their food; and the young, if they are not {292} strictly
watched, destroy themselves, from an abhorrence of the blotches in
their skin. If they can but escape from their hut, they run out and
bathe themselves in the river, which is certain death in that
distemper. The Chatkas, being naturally not very handsome, are not so
apt to regret the loss of their beauty; consequently suffer less, and
are much more numerous than the other nations.

Colds, which are very common in the winter, likewise destroy great
numbers of the natives. In that season they keep fires in their huts
day and night; and as there is no other opening but the door, the air
within the hut is kept excessive warm without any free circulation; so
that when they have occasion to go out, the cold seizes them, and the
consequences of it are almost always fatal.

The first nations that the French were acquainted with in this part of
North America, were those on the east of the colony; for the first
settlement we made there was at Fort Louis on the river Mobile. I
shall therefore begin my account of the different nations of Indians
on this side of the colony, and proceed westwards in the same order as
they are situated.

But however zealous I may be in displaying not only the beauties, but
the riches and advantages of Louisiana, yet I am not at all inclined
to attribute to it what it does not possess; therefore I warn my
reader not to be surprised, if I make mention of a few nations in this
colony, in comparison of the great number which he may perhaps have
seen in the first maps of this country. Those maps were made from
memoirs sent by different travellers, who noted down all the names
they heard mentioned, and then fixed upon a spot for their residence;
so that a map appeared stiled with the names of nations, many of whom
were destroyed, and others were refugees among nations who had adopted
them and taken them under their protection. Thus, though the nations
on this continent were formerly both numerous and populous, they are
now so thinned and diminished, that there does not exist at present a
third part of the nations whose names are to be found in the maps.

The most eastern nation of Louisiana is that called the Apalaches,
which is a branch of the great nation of the Apalaches, {293} who
inhabited near the mountains to which they have given their name. This
great nation is divided into several branches, who take different
names. The branch in the neighbourhood of the river Mobile is but
inconsiderable, and part of it is Roman Catholic.

On the north of the Apalaches are the Alibamous, a pretty considerable
nation; they love the French, and receive the English rather out of
necessity than friendship. On the first settling of the colony we had
some commerce with them; but since the main part of the colony has
fixed on the river, we have somewhat neglected them, on account of the
great distance.

East from the Alibamous are the Caouitas, whom M. de Biainville,
governor of Louisiana, wanted to distinguish above the other nations,
by giving the title of emperor to their sovereign, who then would have
been chief of all the neighbouring nations; but those nations refused
to acknowledge him as such, and said that it was enough if each nation
obeyed its own chief; that it was improper for the chiefs themselves
to be subject to other chiefs, and that such a custom had never
prevailed among them, as they chose rather to be destroyed by a great
nation than to be subject to them. This nation is one of the most
considerable; the English trade with them, and they suffer the traders
to come among them from policy.

To, the north of the Alibamous are the Abeikas and Conchacs, who, as
far as I can learn, are the same people; yet the name of Conchac seems
appropriated to one part more than another. They are situated at a
distance from the great rivers and consequently have no large canes in
their territory. The canes that grow among them are not thicker than
one's finger, and are at the same time so very hard, that when they
are split, they cut like knives, which these people call _conchacs_. The
language of this nation is almost the same with that of the Chicasaws,
in which the word _conchac_ signifies a knife.

The Abeikas, on the east of them, have the Cherokees, divided into
several branches, and situated very near the Apalachean mountains. All
the nations whom I have mentioned {294} have been united in a general
alliance for a long time past, in order to defend themselves against the
Iroquois, or Five Nations, who, before this alliance was formed, made
continual war upon them; but have ceased to molest them since they have
seen them united. All these nations, and some small ones intermixed
among them, have always been looked upon as belonging to no colony,
excepting the Apalaches; but since the breaking out of the war with the
English in 1756, it is said they have voluntarily declared for us.

The nations in the neighbourhood of the Mobile, are first the Chatots,
a small nation consisting of about forty huts, adjoining to the river
and the sea. They are Roman Catholics, or reputed such; and are
friends to the French, whom they are always ready to serve upon being
paid for it. North from the Chatots, and very near them, is the French
settlement of Fort Louis on the Mobile.

A little north from Fort Louis are situated the Thomez, which are not
more numerous than the Chatots, and are said to be Roman Catholics.
They are our friends to to such a degree as even to teaze us with
their officiousness.

Further north live the Taensas, who are a branch of the Natchez, of
whom I shall have occasion to speak more at large. Both of these
nations keep the eternal fire with the utmost care; but they trust the
guard of it to men, from a persuasion that none of their daughters
would sacrifice their liberty for that office. The whole nation of the
Taensas consists only of about one hundred huts.

Proceeding still northwards along the bay, we meet with the nation of
the Mobiliens, near the mouth of the river Mobile, in the bay of that
name. The true name of this nation is Mouvill, which the French have
turned into Mobile, calling the river and the bay from the nation that
inhabited near them. All these small nations were living in peace upon
the arrival of the French, and still continue so; the nations on the
east of the Mobile serving as a barrier to them against the incursions
of the Iroquois. Besides, the Chicasaws look upon them as their
brethren, as both they, and their neighbours on the east of the {295}
Mobile, speak a language which is nearly the same with that of the
Chicasaws.

Returning towards the sea, on the west of the Mobile, we find the
small nation of the Pacha-Ogoulas, that is, Nation of Bread, situated
upon the bay of the same name. This nation consists only of one
village of about thirty huts. Some French Canadians have settled in
their neighbourhood, and they live together like brethren, as the
Canadians, who are naturally of a peaceable disposition, know the
character of the natives, and have the art of living with the nations
of America. But what chiefly renders the harmony betwixt them durable,
is the absence of soldiers, who never appear in this nation.

Further northwards, near the river Pacha-Ogoulas, is situated the
great nation of the Chatkas, or Flat-heads. I call them the great
nation, for I have not known or heard of any other near so numerous.
They reckon in this nation twenty-five thousand warriors. There may
perhaps be such a number of men among them, who take that name; but I
am far from thinking that all these have a title to the character of
warriors.

According to the tradition of the natives, this nation arrived so
suddenly, and passed so rapidly through the territories of others,
that when I asked them, whence came the Chatkas? they answered me,
that they sprung out of the ground; by which they meant to express
their great surprize at seeing them appear so suddenly. Their great
numbers awed the natives near whom they passed; their character being
but little inclined to war, did not inspire them with the fury of
conquest; thus they at length arrived in an uninhabited country which
nobody disputed with them. They have since lived without any disputes
with their neighbours; who on the other hand have never dared to try
whether they were brave or not. It is doubtless owing to this that
they have increased to their present numbers.

They are called Flat-heads; but I do not know why that name has been
given to them more than to others, since all the nations of Louisiana
have their heads as flat, or nearly so. They are situated about two
hundred and fifty miles north {296} from the sea, and extend more from
east to west than from south to north.

[Illustration: _Indian Buffalo Hunt on foot_]

Those who travel from the Chatkas to the Chicasaws, seldom go by the
shortest road, which extends about one hundred and eighty miles, and
is very woody and mountainous. They choose rather to go along the
river Mobile, which is both the easiest and most pleasant route. The
nation of the Chicasaws is very warlike. The men have very regular
features, {297} are large, well-shaped, and neatly dressed; they are
fierce, and have a high opinion of themselves. They seem to be the
remains of a populous nation, whose warlike disposition had prompted
them to invade several nations, whom they have indeed destroyed, but
not without diminishing their own numbers by those expeditions. What
induces me to believe that this nation has been formerly very
considerable, is that the nations who border upon them, and whom I
have just mentioned, speak the Chicasaw language, though somewhat
corrupted, and those who speak it best value themselves upon it.

I ought perhaps to except out of this number the Taensas, who being a
branch of the Natchez, have still preserved their peculiar language;
but even these speak, in general, the corrupted Chicasaw language,
which our French settlers call the Mobilian language. As to the
Chatkas, I suppose, that being very numerous, they have been able to
preserve their own language in a great measure; and have only adopted
some words of the Chicasaw language. They always spoke to me in the
Chicasaw tongue.

In returning towards the coast next the river Missisippi, we meet with
a small nation of about twenty huts, named Aquelou-Pissas, that is,
_Men who understand and see_. This nation formerly lived within three of
four miles of the place where New Orleans is built; but they are
further north at present, and not far from the lake St. Lewis, or
Pontchartrain. They speak a language somewhat approaching to that of
the Chicasaws. We have never had great dealings with them.

Being now arrived at the river Missisippi, I shall proceed upwards
along its banks as far as to the most distant nations that are known
to us.

The first nation that I meet with is the Oumas, which signifies the
Red Nation. They are situated about twenty leagues from New Orleans,
where I saw some of them upon my arrival in this province. Upon the
first establishment of the colony, some French went and settled near
them; and they have been very fatal neighbours, by furnishing them
with brandy, which they drink to great excess.

{298} Crossing the Red River, and proceeding still upwards, we find
the remains of the nation of the Tonicas, who have always been very
much attached to the French, and have even been our auxiliaries in
war. The Chief of this nation was our very zealous friend; and as he
was full of courage, and always ready to make war on the enemies of
the French, the king sent him a brevet of brigadier of the red armies,
and a blue ribbon, from whence hung a silver medal, which on one side
represented the marriage of the king, and on the reverse had the city
of Paris. He likewise sent him a gold-headed cane; and the Indian
Chief was not a little proud of wearing those honourable distinctions,
which were certainly well bestowed. This nation speaks a language so
far different from that of their neighbours, in that they pronounce
the letter R, which the others have not. They have likewise different
customs.

The Natchez in former times appear to have been one of the most
respectable nations in the colony, not only from their own tradition,
but from that of the other nations, in whom their greatness and
civilized customs raised no less jealousy than admiration. I could
fill a volume with what relates to this people alone; but as I am now
giving a concise account of the people of Louisiana, I shall speak of
them as of the rest, only enlarging a little upon some important
transactions concerning them.

When I arrived in 1720 among the Natchez, that nation was situated
upon a small river of the same name; the chief village where the Great
Sun resided was built along the banks of the river, and the other
villages were planted round it. They were two leagues above the
confluence of the river, which joins the Missisippi at the foot of the
great precipices of the Natchez. From thence are four leagues to its
source, and as many to Rosalie, and they were situated within a league
of the fort.

Two small nations lived as refugees among the Natchez. The most
ancient of these adopted nations were the Grigras, who seem to have
received that name from the French, because when talking with one
another they often pronounce those two syllables, which makes them be
remarked as strangers among the Natchez, who, as well as the
Chicasaws, and all the nations {299} that speak the Chicasaw language,
cannot pronounce the letter R.

The other small nation adopted by the Natchez, are the Thioux, who
have also the letter R in their language. These were the weak remains
of the Thioux nation, formerly one of the strongest in the country.
However, according to the account of the other nations, being of a
turbulent disposition, they drew upon themselves the resentment of the
Chicasaws, which was the occasion of their ruin; for by their many
engagements they were at length so weakened that they durst not face
their enemy, and consequently were obliged to take refuge among the
Natchez.

The Natchez, the Grigras, and the Thioux, may together raise about
twelve hundred warriors; which is but a small force in comparison of
what the Natchez could formerly have raised alone; for according to
their traditions they were the most powerful nation of all North
America, and were looked upon by the other nations as their superiors,
and on that account respected by them. To give an idea of their power,
I shall only mention, that formerly they extended from the river
Manchac, or Iberville, which is about fifty leagues from the sea, to
the river Wabash, which is distant from the sea about four hundred and
sixty leagues; and that they had about five hundred Suns or princes.
From these facts we may judge how populous this nation formerly has
been; but the pride of their Great Suns, or sovereigns, and likewise
of their inferior Suns, joined to the prejudices of the people, has
made greater havock among them, and contributed more to their
destruction, than long and bloody wars would have done.

As their sovereigns were despotic, they had for a long time past
established the following inhuman and impolitic custom, that when any
of them died, a great number of their subjects, both men and women,
should likewise be put to death. A proportionable number of subjects
were likewise killed upon the death of any of the inferior Suns; and
the people on the other hand had imbibed a belief that all those who
followed their princes into the other world, to serve them there,
would be eternally happy. It is easy to conceive how ruinous such an
{300} inhuman custom would be among a nation who had so many princes
as the Natchez.

It would seem that some of the Suns, more humane than the rest, had
disapproved of this barbarous custom, and had therefore retired to
places at a remote distance from the centre of their nation. For we
have two branches of this great nation settled in other parts of the
colony, who have preserved the greatest part of the customs of the
Natchez. One of these branches is the nation of the Taensas on the
banks of the Mobile, who preserve the eternal fire, and several other
usages of the nation from whom they are descended. The other branch is
the nation of the Chitimachas, whom the Natchez have always looked
upon as their brethren.

Forty leagues north from the Natchez is the river Yasous, which runs
into the Missisippi, and is so called from a nation of the same name
who had about a hundred huts on its banks.

Near the Yazous, on the same river, lived the Coroas, a nation
consisting of about forty huts. These two nations pronounce the letter
R.

Upon the same river likewise lived the Chacchi-Oumas, a name which
signifies _red Cray-fish_. These people had not above fifty huts.

Near the same river dwelt the Ouse-Ogoulas, or the Nation of the Dog,
which might have about sixty huts.

The Tapoussas likewise inhabited upon the banks of this river, and had
not above twenty-five huts. These three last nations do not pronounce
the letter R, and seem to be branches of the Chicasaws, especially as
they speak their language. Since the massacre of the French settlers
at the Natchez, these five small nations, who had joined in the
conspiracy against us, have all retired among the Chicasaws, and make
now but one nation with them.

To the north of the Ohio, not far from the banks of the Missisippi,
inhabit the Illinois, who have given their name to the river on the
banks of which they have settled. They are divided into several
villages, such as the Tamaroas, the Caskaquias, {301} the Caouquias,
the Pimiteouis, and some others. Near the village of the Tamaroas is a
French post, where several French Canadians have settled.

This is one of the most considerable posts in all Louisiana, which
will appear not at all surprising, when we consider that the Illinois
were one of the first nations whom we discovered in the colony, and
that they have always remained most faithful allies of the French; an
advantage which is in a great measure owing to the proper manner of
living with the natives of America, which the Canadians have always
observed. It is not their want of courage that renders them so
peaceable, for their valour is well known. The letter R is pronounced
by the Illinois.

Proceeding further northwards we meet with a pretty large nation,
known by the name of the Foxes, with whom we have been at war near
these forty years past, yet I have not heard that we have had any
blows with them for a long time.

From the Foxes to the fall of St. Anthony, we meet with no nation, nor
any above the Fall for near an hundred leagues. About that distance
north of the Fall, the Sioux are settled, and are said to inhabit
several scattered villages both on the east and west of the
Missisippi.




SECTION II.

_Of the Nations inhabiting on the West of the_ Missisippi.


Having described as exactly as possible all the nations on the east of
the Missisippi, as well those who are included within the bounds of
the colony, as those who are adjoining to it, and have some connection
with the others; I shall now proceed to give an account of those who
inhabit on the west of the river, from the sea northwards.

Between the river Missisippi, and those lakes which are filled by its
waters upon their overflowing, is a small nation named Chaouchas, or
Ouachas, who inhabit some little villages, but are of so little
consequences that they are no otherwise known to our colonists but by
their name.

{302} In the neighbourhood of the lakes abovementioned live the
Chitimachas. These are the remains of a nation which was formerly
pretty considerable; but we have destroyed part of them by exciting
our allies to attack them. I have already observed that they were a
branch of the Natchez, and upon my first settling among these, I found
several Chitimachas, who had taken refuge among them to avoid the
calamities of the war which had been made upon them near the lakes.

Since the peace that was concluded with them in 1719, they have not
only remained quiet, but kept themselves so prudently retired, that,
rather than have any intercourse with the French, or traffic with them
for what they look upon as superfluities, they choose to live in the
manner they did an hundred years ago.

Along the west coast, not far from the sea, inhabit the nation named
Atacapas, that is, Man-eaters, being so called by the other nations on
account of their detestable custom of eating their enemies, or such as
they believe to be their enemies. In this vast country there are no
other cannibals to be met with besides the Atacapas; and since the
French have gone among them, they have raised in them so great an
horror of that abominable practice of devouring creatures of their own
species, that they have promised to leave it off; and accordingly for
a long time past we have heard of no such barbarity among them.

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Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

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