LOUISIANA. 223 



manner. They went to the banks of fonie ri- 

 vers, which are very numerous in this vaft re- 

 gion, and which by their rapidity tear up by 

 the roots the trees which ftand on their banks. 

 They took their dimenfions for length and 

 breadth, and accordingly chofe fuch a tree as 

 they wanted v after which they fet fire to it, and 

 as the tree burnt on they fcraped away the live 

 coals with a flint or an arrow ; and having fuffi- 

 ciently hollowed it out, they fet it afloat. They 

 are very well flcilled in conducing thefe little 

 veflels upon their lakes and rivers. They em- 

 ploy them in time of war, and likewife load 

 them with the furs and dried flefh which they 

 bring back from their hunts. 



Their inftruments and their weapons were 

 made in the following manner : they chofe a 

 young tree for that purpofe, in which they 

 made an incifion with a flint, or pebble as 

 (harp as a razor, and they put a Hone cut in 

 form of a hatchet into the incifion ; therefore, 

 as the tree grew up, it enchafed the fl:one, which 

 by that means became infeparable from it, and 

 they afterwards cut it off in order to make ufe 

 of it •, their lances and their darts were made in 

 the lame manner. They had clubs of a very 

 hard wood. 



As 



