286 TRAVELS through 



woods upon the banks of the river ; but the 

 greateft inconvenience are the Miijkitoes or Ma- 

 ringoins, a kind of gnats which are infupportable 

 in Louiftana. In order to be free from them, we 

 put gieat reeds into the ground, and bent them 

 over like arches •, we then covered them with a 

 linen cloth, and laid down a bear's (kin as a 

 matrafs. All the voyages made by people of 

 the colony are done in the fame manner by v/a- 

 ter. 



, After going on (hore to camp, the command- 

 ing officer iliould always take care to appoint a 

 -guard, and to place fentinels in the woods to 

 prevent furprifes. The officer ought always to 

 be very careful in chufmg an advantageous fitu- 

 ation for his camp, fuch as an ifle or a cape. 



If the Sieur D * * * had taken thefe precau- 

 tions, when he was fent to ih^ Illinois by M. de 

 Bienville^ in 1735, with a boat laden with gun- 

 powder, in order to carry on the war with the 

 Chickfazvs, he would not have been furprifed, as 

 he was, by a party of warriors of that nation. 

 It may be alTerted, that the ncgledl of that offi- 

 cer has been no lefs fatal to us, than the mean- 

 nefs, ignorance, and avidity of the governor of 

 the fort of the Natchcs -, this boat laden with 



powder. 



