History of Louisisana by Le Page Du Pratz

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The account he gave of Louisiana failed not to produce its good
effects. Me de la Salle, equally famous for his misfortunes and his
courage, undertook to traverse these unknown countries quite to the
sea. In Jan. 1679 he set out from Quebec with a large detachment, and
being come among the Illinois, there built the first fort France ever
had in that country, calling it Crevecaeur; and there he left a good
garrison under the command of the Chevalier de Tonti. From thence he
went down the river St. Louis, quite to its mouth; which, as has been
said, is in the Gulf of Mexico; and having made observations, and
taken the elevation in the best manner he could, returned by the same
way to Quebec, from whence he passed over to France.

After giving the particulars of his journey to M. Colbert, that great
minister, who knew of what importance it was to the state to make sure
of so fine and extensive a country, scrupled not to allow him a ship and
a small frigate, in order to find out, by the way of the gulf of Mexico,
the mouth of the river St. Louis. He set sail in 1685: but his
observations, doubtless, not having had all the justness requisite,
after arriving in the gulf, he got beyond the river, and running too far
westward, entered the bay of St. Bernard: and some misunderstanding
happening between him and the officers of the vessels, he debarqued with
the men under his command, and having settled a post in that place,
undertook to go by land in quest of {4} the great river. But after a
march of several days, some of his people, irritated on account of the
fatigue he exposed them to, availing themselves of an opportunity, when
separated from the rest of his men, basely assassinated him. The
soldiers, though deprived of their commander, still continued their
route, and, after crossing many rivers, arrived at length at the
Arkansas, where they unexpectedly found a French post lately settled.
The Chevalier de Tonti was gone down from the fort of the Illinois,
quite to the mouth of the river, about the time he judged M. de la Salle
might have arrived by sea; and not finding him, was gone up again, in
order to return to his post. And in his way entering the river of the
Arkansas, quite to the village of that nation, with whom he made an
alliance, some of his people insisted, they might be allowed to settle
there; which was agreed to, he leaving ten of them in that place; and
this small cantonment maintained its ground, not only because from time
to time encreased by some Canadians, who came down this river; but above
all, because those who formed it had the prudent precaution to live in
peace with the natives, and treat as legitimate the children they had by
the daughters of the Arkansas, with whom they matched out of necessity.

The report of the pleasantness of Louisiana spreading through Canada,
many Frenchmen of that country repaired to settle there, dispersing
themselves at pleasure along the river St. Louis, especially towards
its mouth, and even in some islands on the coast, and on the river
Mobile, which lies nearer Canada. The facility of the commerce with
St. Domingo was, undoubtedly, what invited them to the neighbourbood
of the sea, though the interior parts of the country be in all
respects far preferable. However, these scattered settlements,
incapable to maintain their ground of themselves, and too distant to
be able to afford mutual assistance, neither warranted the possession
of this country, nor could they be called a taking of possession.
Louisiana remained in this neglected state, till M. d'Hiberville, Chef
d' Escadre, having discovered, in 1698, the mouths of the river St.
Louis, and being nominated Governor General of that vast country,
carried thither the first colony in 1699. As he was a native of
Canada, the colony almost entirely consisted of Canadians, among whom
M. de Luchereau, {5} uncle of Madam d'Hiberville, particularly
distinguished himself.

The settlement was made on the river Mobile, with all the facility
that could be wished; but its progress proved slow: for these first
inhabitants had no other advantage above the natives, as to the
necessaries of life, but what their own industry, joined to some rude
tools, to give the plainest forms to timbers, afforded them.

The war which Louis IV, had at that time to maintain, and the pressing
necessities of the state, continually engrossed the attention of the
ministry, nor allowed them time to think of Louisiana. What was then
thought most advisable, was to make a grant of it to some rich person;
who, finding it his interest to improve that country, would, at the
same time that he promoted his own interest, promote that of the
state. Louisiana was thus ceded to M. Crozat. And it is to be
presumed, had M. d'Hiberville lived longer, the colony would have made
considerable progress: but that illustrious sea-officer, whose
authority was considerable, dying at the Havannah, in 1701 (after
which this settlement was deserted) a long time must intervene before
a new Governor could arrive from France. The person pitched upon to
fill that post, was M. de la Motte Cadillac, who arrived in that
country in June 1713.

The colony had but a scanty measure of commodities, and money scarcer
yet: it was rather in a state of languor, than of vigorous activity,
in one of the finest countries in the world; because impossible for it
to do the laborious works, and make the first advances, always
requisite in the best lands.

The Spaniards, for a long time, considered Louisiana as a property
justly theirs, because it constitutes the greatest Part of Florida,
which they first discovered. The pains the French were at then to
settle there, roused their jealousy, to form the design of cramping
us, by settling at the Assinais, a nation not very distant from the
Nactchitoches, whither some Frenchmen had penetrated. There the
Spaniards met with no small difficulty to form that settlement, and
being at a loss how to accomplish it, one F. Ydalgo, a Franciscan
Friar, took it in his head to write to the French, to beg their
assistance in {6} settling a mission among the Assinais. He sent three
different copies of his letter hap-hazard three different ways to our
settlements, hoping one of them at least might fall into the hands of
the French.

Nor was he disappointed in his hope, one of them, from one post to
another, and from hand to hand, falling into the hands of M. de la
Motte. That General, incessantly taken up with the concerns of the
colony, and the means of relieving it, was not apprized of the designs
of the Spaniards in that letter; could only see therein a sure and
short method to remedy the present evils, by favouring the Spaniards,
and making a treaty of commerce with them, which might procure to the
colony what it was in want of, and what the Spaniards abounded with,
namely, horses, cattle, and money: He therefore communicated that
letter to M. de St. Denis, to whom he proposed to undertake a journey
by land to Mexico.

M. de St. Denis, for the fourteen years he was in Louisiana, had made
several excursions up and down the country; and having a general
knowledge of all the languages of the different nations which inhabit
it, gained the love and esteem of these people, so far as to be
acknowledged their Grand Chief.

This gentleman, in other respects a man of courage, prudence, and
resolution, was then the fittest person M. de la Motte could have
pitched upon, to put his design in execution.

How fatiguing soever the enterprize was, M. de St. Denis undertook it
with pleasure, and set out with twenty-five men. This small company
would have made some figure, had it continued entire; but some of them
dropped M. de St. Denis by the way, and many of them remained among
the Nactchitoches, to whose country he was come. He was therefore
obliged to set out from that place, accompanied only by ten men, with
whom he traversed upwards of an hundred and fifty leagues in a country
entirely depopulated, having on his route met with no nation, till he
came to the Presidio, or fortress of St. John Baptist, on the Rio
(river) del Norte, in New Mexico.

The Governor of this fort was Don Diego Raimond, an officer advanced
in years, who favourbly received M. de St. {7} Denis, on acquainting
him, that the motive to his journey was F. Ydalgo's letter, and that
he had orders to repair to Mexico. But as the Spaniards do not readily
allow strangers to travel through the countries of their dominion in
America, for fear the view of these fine countries should inspire
notions, the consequences of which might be greatly prejudicial to
them, D. Diego did not chuse to permit M. de St. Denis to continue his
route, without the previous consent of the Viceroy. It was therefore
necessary to dispatch a courier to Mexico, and to wait his return.

The courier, impatiently longed for, arrived at length, with the
permission granted by the Duke of Linarez, Viceroy of Mexico. Upon
which M. de St. Denis set out directly, and arrived at Mexico, June 5,
1715. The Viceroy had naturally an affection to France; M. de St.
Denis was therefore favourably received, saving some precautions,
which the Duke thought proper to take, not to give any disgust to some
officers of justice who were about him.

The affair was soon dispatched; the Duke of Linarez having promised to
make a treaty of commerce, as soon as the Spaniards should be settled
at the Assinais; which M. de St. Denis undertook to do, upon his
return to Louisiana.

CHAPTER II.

_The Return of M. de St. Denis: His settling the_ Spaniards _at the_
Assinais. _His Second Journey to_ Mexico, _and Return from thence_.

M. De St. Denis soon returned to the fort of St. John Baptist; after
which he resolved to form the caravan, which was to be settled at the
Assinais; at whose head M. de St. Denis put himself, and happily
conducted it to the place appointed. And then having, in quality of
Grand Chief, assembled the nation of the Assinais, he exhorted them to
receive and use the Spaniards well. The veneration which that people
had for him, made them submit to his will in all things; and thus the
promise he had made to the Duke of Linarez was faithfully fulfilled.

{8} The Assinais are fifty leagues distant from the Nactchitoches. The
Spaniards, finding themselves still at too great a distance from us,
availed themselves of that first settlement, in order to form a second
among the Adaies, a nation which is ten leagues from our post of the
Nactchitoches: whereby they confine us on the west within the
neighbourhood of the river St. Louis; and from that time it was not
their fault, that they had not cramped us to the north, as I shall
mention in its place.

To this anecdote of their history I shall, in a word or two, add that
of their settlement at Pensacola, on the coast of Florida, three
months after M. d'Hiberville had carried the first inhabitants to
Louisiana, that country having continued to be inhabited by Europeans,
ever since the garrison left there by Dominique de Gourges; which
either perished, or deserted, for want of being supported.[Footnote:
They returned to France. See p. 3.]

To return to M. de la Motte and M. de St. Denis: the former, ever
attentive to the project of having a treaty of commerce concluded with
the Spaniards, and pleased with the success of M. de St. Denis's
journey to Mexico, proposed his return thither again, not doubting but
the Duke of Linarez would be as good as his word, as the French had
already been. M. de St. Denis, ever ready to obey, accepted the
commission of his General. But this second journey was not to be
undertaken as the first; it was proper to carry some goods, in order
to execute that treaty, as soon as it should be concluded, and to
indemnify himself for the expences he was to be at. Though the
store-houses of M. Crozat were full, it was no easy matter to get the
goods. The factors refused to give any on credit; nay, refused M. de
la Motte's security; and there was no money to be had to pay them. The
Governor was therefore obliged to form a company of the most
responsible men of the colony: and to this company only the factors
determined to advance the goods. This expedient was far from being
agreeable to M. de St. Denis, who opened his mind to M. de la Motte on
that head, and told him, that some or all of his partners would
accompany the goods they had engaged to be security for; and that,
although it was absolutely necessary the effects should appear to be
his {9} property alone, they would not fail to discover they
themselves were the proprietors; which would be sufficient to cause
their confiscation, the commerce between the two nations not being
open. M. de la Motte saw the solidity of these reasons; but the
impossibility of acting otherwise constrained him to supersede them:
and, as M. de St. Denis had foreseen, it accordingly happened.

He set out from Mobile, August 13, 1716, escorted, as he all along
apprehended, by some of those concerned; and being come to the
Assinais, he there passed the winter. On the 19th of March, the year
following, setting out on his journey, he soon arrived at the Presidio
of St. John Baptist. M. de St. Denis declared these goods to be his
own property, in order to obviate their confiscation, which was
otherwise unavoidable; and wanted to shew some acts of bounty and
generosity, in order to gain the friendship of the Spaniards. But the
untractableness, the avarice, and indiscretion of the parties
concerned, broke through all his measures; and to prevent the entire
disconcerting of them, he hastened his departure for Mexico, where he
arrived May 14, 1717. The Duke of Linarez was yet there, but sick, and
on his death-bed. M. de St. Denis had, however, time to see him, who
knew him again: and that Nobleman took care to have him recommended to
the Viceroy his successor; namely, the Marquis of Balero, a man as
much against the French as the Duke was for them.

M. de St. Denis did not long solicit the Marquis of Balero for
concluding the treaty of commerce; he soon had other business to mind.
F. Olivarez, who, on the representation of P. Ydalgo, as a person of a
jealous, turbulent, and dangerous disposition, had been excluded from
the mission to the Assinais, being then at the court of the Viceroy,
saw with an evil eye the Person who had settled F. Ydalgo in that
mission, and resolved to be avenged on him for the vexation caused by
that disappointment. He joined himself to an officer, named Don Martin
de Alaron, a person peculiarly protected by the Marquis of Balero: and
they succeeded so well with that nobleman that in the time M. de St.
Denis least expected, he found himself arrested, and clapt in a
dungeon; from which he was not discharged {10} till December 20 of
this year, by an order of the Sovereign Council of Mexico, to which he
found means to present several petitions. The Viceroy, constrained to
enlarge him, allotted the town for his place of confinement.

The business of the treaty of commerce being now at an end, M. de St.
Denis's attention was only engaged how to make the most of the goods,
of which Don Diego Raymond had sent as large a quantity as he could,
to the town of Mexico; where they were seized by D. Martin de Alaron,
as contraband; he being one of the emissaries of his protector,
appointed to persecute such strangers as did not dearly purchase the
permission to sell their goods. M. de St. Denis could make only enough
of his pillaged and damaged effects just to defray certain expences of
suit, which, in a country that abounds with nothing else but gold and
silver, are enormous.

Our prisoner having nothing further to engross his attention in
Mexico, but the safety of his person, seriously bethought himself how
to secure it; as he had ever just grounds to apprehend some bad
treatment at the bands of his three avowed enemies. Having therefore
planned the means of his flight, on September 25, 1718, as the night
came on, he quitted Mexico, and placing himself in ambush at a certain
distance from the town, waited till his good fortune should afford the
means of travelling otherwise than on foot. About nine at night, a
horseman, well-mounted, cast up. To rush of a sudden upon him,
dismount him, mount his horse, turn the bridle, and set up a gallop,
was the work of a moment only for St. Denis. He rode on at a good pace
till day, then quitted the common road, to repose him: a precaution he
observed all along, till he came near to the Presidio of St. John
Baptist. From thence he continued his journey on foot; and at length,
on April 2, 1719, arrived at the French colony, where he found
considerable alterations.

From the departure of M. de St. Denis from Mexico, to his return
again, almost three years had elapsed. In that long time, the grant of
Louisiana was transferred from M. Crozat to the West India Company; M.
de la Motte Cadillac was dead, and M. de Biainville, brother to M.
d'Hiberville, succeeded as {11} governor general. The capital place of
the colony was no longer at Mobile, nor even at Old Biloxi, whither it
had been removed: New Orleans, now begun to be built, was become the
capital of the country, whither he repaired to give M. de Biainville
an account of his journey; after which he retired to his settlement.
The king afterwards conferred upon him the cross of St. Louis, in
acknowledgement and recompence of his services.

The West India Company, building great hopes of commerce on Louisiana,
made efforts to people that country, sufficient to accomplish their
end. Thither, for the first time, they sent, in 1718, a colony of
eight hundred: men some of which settled at New Orleans, others formed
the settlements of the Natchez. It was with this embarkation I passed
over to Louisiana.

CHAPTER III.

_Embarkation of eight hundred Men by the_ West India Company _to_
Louisiana. _Arrival and Stay at _Cape Francois. _Arrival at_ Isle
Dauphine. _Description of that Island_.

The embarkation was made at Rochelle on three different vessels, on
one of which I embarked. For the first days of our voyage we had the
wind contrary, but no high sea. On the eighth the wind turned more
favourable. I observed nothing interesting till we came to the Tropick
of Cancer, where the ceremony of baptizing was performed on those who
had never been a voyage: after passing the Tropick, the Commodore
steered too much to the south, our captain observed. In effect, after
several days sailing, we were obliged to bear off to the north: we
afterwards discovered the isle of St. Juan de Porto Rico, which
belongs to the Spaniards. Losing sight of that, we discovered the
island of St. Domingo; and a little after, as we bore on, we saw the
Grange, which is a rock, overtopping the steep coast, which is almost
perpendicular to the edge of the water. This rock, seen at a distance,
seems to have the figure of a grange, or barn. A few hours after we
{12} arrived at Cape Francois, distant from that rock only twelve
leagues.

We were two months in this passage to Cape Francois; both on account
of the contrary winds, we had on setting out, and of the calms, which
are frequent in those seas: our vessel, besides, being clumsy and
heavy, had some difficulty to keep up with the others; which, not to
leave us behind, carried only their four greater sails, while we had
out between seventeen and eighteen.

It is in those seas we meet with the Tradewinds; which though weak, a
great deal of way might be made, did they blow constantly, because
their course is from east to west without varying: storms are never
observed in these seas, but the calms often prove a great hindrance;
and then it is necessary to wait some days, till a _grain_, or squall,
brings back the wind: a _grain_ is a small spot seen in the air, which
spreads very fast, and forms a cloud, that gives a wind, which is
brisk at first, but not lasting, though enough to make way with.
Nothing besides remarkable is here seen, but the chace of the
_flying-fish_ by the Bonitas.

The Bonita is a fish, which is sometimes two feet long; extremely fond
of the _flying-fish_; which is the reason it always keeps to the places
where these fish are found: its flesh is extremely delicate and of a
good flavour.

The _flying-fish_ is of the length of a herring, but rounder. From its
sides, instead of fins, issue out two wings, each about four inches in
length, by two in breadth at the extremity; they fold together and
open out like a fan, and are round at the end; consisting of a very
fine membrane, pierced with a vast many little holes, which keep the
water, when the fish is out of it: in order to avoid the pursuit of
the Bonita, it darts into the air, spreads out its wings, goes
straight on, without being able to turn to the right or left; which is
the reason, that as soon as the toilets, or little sheets of water,
which fill up the small holes of its wings, are dried up, it falls
down again; and the same Bonita, which pursued it in the water, still
following it with his eye in the air, catches it when fallen into the
water; it sometimes falls on board ships. The Bonita, in his turn,
{13} becomes the prey of the seamen, by means of little puppets, in
the form of _flying-fish_, which it swallows, and by that means is
taken.

We stayed fifteen days at Cape Francois, to take in wood and water,
and to refresh. It is situate on the north part of the island of St.
Domingo, which part the French are in possession of, as the Spaniards
are of the other. The fruits and sweet-meats of the country are
excellent, but the meat good for nothing, hard, dry, and tough. This
country being scorched, grass is very scarce, and animals therein
languish and droop. Six weeks before our arrival, fifteen hundred
persons died of an epidemic distemper, called the Siam distemper.

We sailed from Cape Francois, with the same wind, and the finest
weather imaginable. We then passed between the islands of Tortuga and
St. Domingo, where we espied Port de Paix, which is over-against
Tortuga: we afterwards found ourselves between the extremities of St.
Domingo and Cuba which belongs to the Spaniards: we then steered along
the south coast of this last, leaving to the left Jamaica, and the
great and little Kayemans, which are subject to the English. We at
length quitted Cuba at Cape Anthony, steering for Louisiana a north
west course. We espied land in coming towards it, but so flat, though
distant but a league from us, that we had great difficulty to
distinguish it, though we had then but four fathom water. We put out
the boat to examine the land, which we found to be Candlemas island
(la Chandeleur.) We directly set sail for the island of Massacre,
since called Isle Dauphine, situated three leagues to the south of
that continent, which forms the Gulf of Mexico to the north, at about
27 deg. 35' North latitude, and 288 deg. of longitude. A little after we
discovered the Isle Dauphine, and cast anchor before the harbour, in
the road, because the harbour itself was choaked up. To make this
passage we took three months, and arrived only August 25th. We had a
prosperous voyage all along, and the more so, as no one died, or was
even dangerously ill the whole time, for which we caused _Te Deum_
solemnly to be sung.

We were then put on shore with all our effects. The company had
undertaken to transport us with our servants and {14} effects, at
their expence, and to lodge, maintain and convey us to our several
concessions, or grants.

This gulf abounds with delicious fish; as the _sarde_ (pilchard) red
fish, cod, sturgeon, ringed thornback, and many other sorts, the best
in their kind. The _sarde_ is a large fish; its flesh is delicate, and
of a fine flavour, the scales grey, and of a moderate size. The red
fish is so called, from its red scales, of the size of a crown piece.
The cod, fished for on this coast, is of the middling sort, and very
delicate. The thornback is the same as in France. Before we quit this
island, it will not, perhaps, be improper to mention some things about
it.

The Isle Massacre was so called by the first Frenchman who landed
there, because on the shore of this island they found a small rising
ground, or eminence, which appeared the more extraordinary in an
island altogether flat, and seemingly formed only by the sand, thrown
in by some high gusts of wind. As the whole coast of the gulf is very
flat, and along the continent lies a chain of such islands, which seem
to be mutually joined by their points, and to form a line parallel
with the continent, this small eminence appeared to them
extraordinary: it was more narrowly examined, and in different parts
thereof they found dead mens bones, just appearing above the little
earth that covered them. Then their curiosity led them to rake off the
earth in several places; but finding nothing underneath, but a heap of
bones, they cried out with horror, _Ah! what a Massacre!_ They
afterwards understood by the natives, who are at no great distance
off, that a nation adjoining to that island, being at war with another
much more powerful, was constrained to quit the continent, which is
only three leagues off, and to remove to this island, there to live in
peace the rest of their days; but that their enemies, justly confiding
in their superiority, pursued them to this their feeble retreat, and
entirely destroyed them; and after raising this inhuman trophy of
their victorious barbarity, retired again. I myself saw this fatal
monument, which made me imagine this unhappy nation must have been
even numerous toward its period, as only the bones of their warriors,
and aged men must have lain there, their custom being to make slaves
of their {15} young people. Such is the origin of the first name of
this island, which, on our arrival, was changed to that of Isle
Dauphine: an act of prudence, it should-seem, to discontinue an
appellation, so odious, of a place that was the cradle of the colony;
as Mobile was its birth-place.

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