part verbatim, with occasional additions of a kind which seem to
indicate that he had taken part in the expedition. The _Relation de la
Découverte_, though written in the third person, is the official report
of the discovery made by La Salle, or perhaps for him by Membré.
[232] Called by Membré the Ouabache (Wabash).
[233] La Salle, _Relation de la Découverte de l'Embouchure, etc._;
Thomassy, 10. Membré gives the same date; but the _Procès Verbal_ makes
it the twenty-sixth.
[234] Gravier, in his letter of 16 Feb., 1701, says that he encamped
near a "great bluff of stone, called Fort Prudhomme, because M. de La
Salle, going on his discovery, intrenched himself here with his party,
fearing that Prudhomme, who had lost himself in the woods, had been
killed by the Indians, and that he himself would be attacked."
[235] La Salle, _Relation_; Thomassy, 11.
[236] _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession du Pays des Arkansas, 14
Mars, 1682._
[237] The nation of the Akanseas, Alkansas, or Arkansas, dwelt on the
west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Arkansas. They were
divided into four tribes, living for the most part in separate villages.
Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas, or Quapaws, a remnant
of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, or Tongengas; the
Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to Charlevoix, who
saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and best-formed
Indians in America, and were known as _les Beaux Hommes_. Gravier says
that they once lived on the Ohio.
[238] In Tensas County, Louisiana. Tonty's estimates of distance are
here much too low. They seem to be founded on observations of latitude,
without reckoning the windings of the river. It may interest sportsmen
to know that the party killed several large alligators, on their way.
Membré is much astonished that such monsters should be born of eggs like
chickens.
[239] Tonty, 1684, 1693. In the spurious narrative, published in Tonty's
name, the account is embellished and exaggerated. Compare Membré in Le
Clerc, ii. 227. La Salle's statements in the _Relation_ of 1682
(Thomassy, 12) sustain those of Tonty.
[240] Membré in Le Clerc, ii. 232.
[241] The Natchez and the Taensas, whose habits and customs were
similar, did not, in their social organization, differ radically from
other Indians. The same principle of clanship, or _totemship_, so widely
spread, existed in full force among them, combined with their religious
ideas, and developed into forms of which no other example, equally
distinct, is to be found. (For Indian clanship, see "The Jesuits in
North America," _Introduction_.) Among the Natchez and Taensas, the
principal clan formed a ruling caste; and its chiefs had the attributes
of demi-gods. As descent was through the female, the chief's son never
succeeded him, but the son of one of his sisters; and as she, by the
usual totemic law, was forced to marry in another clan,--that is, to
marry a common mortal,--her husband, though the destined father of a
demi-god, was treated by her as little better than a slave. She might
kill him, if he proved unfaithful; but he was forced to submit to her
infidelities in silence.
The customs of the Natchez have been described by Du Pratz, Le Petit,
Penecaut, and others. Charlevoix visited their temple in 1721, and found
it in a somewhat shabby condition. At this time, the Taensas were
extinct. In 1729 the Natchez, enraged by the arbitrary conduct of a
French commandant, massacred the neighboring settlers, and were in
consequence expelled from their country and nearly destroyed. A few
still survive, incorporated with the Creeks; but they have lost their
peculiar customs.
[242] In St. Charles County, on the left bank, not far above New
Orleans.
[243] Hennepin uses this incident, as well as most of those which have
preceded it, in making up the story of his pretended voyage to the Gulf.
[244] In the passages omitted above, for the sake of brevity, the Ohio
is mentioned as being called also the _Olighin_-(Alleghany) _Sipou_, and
_Chukagoua_; and La Salle declares that he takes possession of the
country with the consent of the nations dwelling in it, of whom he names
the Chaouanons (Shawanoes), Kious, or Nadouessious (Sioux), Chikachas
(Chickasaws), Motantees (?), Illinois, Mitchigamias, Arkansas, Natchez,
and Koroas. This alleged consent is, of course, mere farce. If there
could be any doubt as to the meaning of the words of La Salle, as
recorded in the _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la
Louisiane_, it would be set at rest by Le Clerc, who says: "Le Sieur de
la Salle prit au nom de sa Majesté possession de ce fleuve, _de toutes
les rivières qui y entrent, et de tous les pays qu'elles arrosent_."
These words are borrowed from the report of La Salle (see Thomassy, 14).
A copy of the original _Procès Verbal_ is before me. It bears the name
of Jacques de la Metairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the
party.