530 THE MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 
tells us that there was but little difference in the religion, manners, 
clothing, and houses of the nations inhabiting this region,* it seems 
fair to conclude that the others were not behind the favored few in all 
that contributed to the physical comfort and well-being of a people. 
Their men cleared the ground, and aided in the work of the fields ;t 
and among the Tensas, they had so far anticipated modern methods, 
that in one “clearing,” called by them “ the field of the spirit,” they 
are said to have wor ed to the music of the drum.{ The labor of the 
fields was done in common, though each family had its own particular 
plot of ground.§ The harvest was gathered separately by each family, 
and was stored in magazines, or in large baskets made of cane, or in 
gourds as large as half barrels.|| In other respects, too, individual 
rights seem to have been respected.{] Slavery existed among the Tensas 
and other tribes who are said to have had the same customs.** They 
had more or less traffic with other tribes, especially in bows, in the 
manufacture of which the Caddoes are said to have excelled. tt 
Ascending the Mississippi, we find among the Algonquin tribes of 
the Northwest a condition of affairs very similar to that which has been 
described as existing among their kindred and neighbors to the east- 
ward. At the date of the arrival of the French, say in the beginning 
of the last quarter of the seventeenth century, the Miamis, Kickapoos, 
Winnebagoes, Outagamis or Foxes, and other tribes, were living in 
Wisconsin and the northern part of Illinois, #} whilst all south of that, 
extending as far as the mouth of the Ohio, was held by the Hlinois and 
their allies, among whom were a few villages of Shawnees. These lat- 
ter came later, having established themselves here upon the invitation 
of La Salle, §§ though the home of their tribe is said to have been, at 
this ne, seme thirty ae Jou to the east-southeast, in what is 
one Jour a Us Conppalols 52: Tonti, L c= PP: 1. 62, 63. 
tTonti and Joutel, l. c., pp. 63-149. Father Gravier, in Shea’s Larly Voyages, p. 
134: Albany, 1861. ‘‘Men among Tonicas employed solely on their fields.” St. 
Cosme, 1. c., p. 81. 
tTonti, J. c., p. 62. Adair, 1. ¢., p. 407, speaking of the Creeks, says that some- 
times when at work in the fields, ‘‘ one of their orators cheers them with jests and 
humorous old tales, and sings several of their most agreeable wild tunes, beating 
also with a stick in his right hand on the top of an earthen pot covered with a wet 
and well-stretched deerskin.” Compare also Lawson, Carolina, p. 175; London, 
1718. 
§Joutel, Journal, l. c., p. 149. Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, vol. 111, pp. 21, 22. 
|| Zemoir of the Sieur de Tonti, U. c., p. 61. Narrative of Father Marquette, p. 48. 
q In their cottages ‘“‘they have nothing in common besides the fire.” Joutel, p. 148. 
** Narrative of Father Membré, pp. 171-182. In his Memoir, Tonti, p. 61, speaks of 
the ‘‘maitre d’hotel” to the chief of the Tensas. See also Joutel, Journal, p. 160, 
and La Harpe in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, part 111, p. 68. 
tt Tonti, p. 73. 
tt Narrative of Father Marquette, pp. 13-22 
§§ Memoir of Tonti, p. 66. Narrative of Father Membré, I. ¢., p. 163. 
