L O U I S I A N A. 26 



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I muft previoufly inform you, that, in my lafl: 

 voyage, I brought with me from France enamelled 

 «yes, which perfedtly imitated the natural eyes ; 

 a thing wh-ich the Indians here had never feen ; 

 i faftened them with the refm of firs, in the 

 place of thofe which were wanting in tKe flcin, 

 into which I afterwards put and confined a li- 

 ving fquirrel, with its head towards the neck of 

 the tyger-cat -, a foldier whom I had inftrudled 

 was quite ready with a club ; every thing being 

 thus prepared, I opened the door of the cabin, 

 and the Indians advanced, with the jucrgler or 

 quack dodor at their head. I held the cat in 

 my arms, and the fquirrel jumped about in it, 

 which immediately furprifed my pretended ma- 

 gician j he cried out that I was a true fhyftcian 

 or forcerer, becaufe I had brought to life, rcflo- 

 ■red to fight, and made dead cats walk. When 

 the other Indians had well confidered it in my 

 arms, I let it go on the ground, pricking the 

 fquirrel with a pin, which made it run with the 

 cat's fkin towards the fpe^tators, who thought 

 it would devour them ; they went backv/ards, 

 and the women, through a natural fear, ran 

 from my boat, declaring that I was a forcerer. 

 I then ran to my tyger-cat, feeming to be ve- 

 ry angry with it, I quickly took out the fquirrel 

 and the glafs-eyes, then prefTing the teeth in the 

 S 4 cat's 



