LOUISIANA. 39 



ckmned every Natchez to death, who had mar- 

 ried a girl of the blood of the Suns, as foon as 

 Ihe was expired. On this occafion, I muft tell 

 you the hiftory of an I-ndian, who was no ways 

 willing to fubmit to this law : his name was Et- 

 tea^eal \ he contracted an alliance with the 

 Suns \ but the confequences which this honour 

 brought along with it, had like to have proved 

 v<ery unfortunate to him. His wife fell fick ; as 

 foon as he faw her at the point of death, he fled, 

 embarked on a piragua on the MiJJi/ippi^ and 

 came to New Orleans, He put himfelf under 

 the protedion of M. de Bienville, the then go- 

 vernor, and offered to be his huntfman. The 

 Governor accepted his fervices, and - interefted 

 himfeif for him with the Natches, who declared 

 that he had nothing more to fear, becaufe the 

 ceremony was paft, and he was accordingly no 

 longer a lawful prize. 



Ettea^eal, being thus aflured, ventured to 

 return to his nation ; and, without fettling 

 among them, he made feveral voyages thither : 

 he happened to be there when the Sun, called 

 the Stung Serpent, brother to the great Sun, 

 died ; he was a relation of the late wife of Et- 

 teaEieal, and they refolved to make him pay his 

 debt. M. de Bienville had been recalled to 

 France, and the fovereign of the Natches 

 D 4 , thought 



