254 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
had so often prayed, and the same sod covered him that 
drank his heart’s blood. 
According to Indian custom, all that he possessed, 
as well as those articles appropriated to his use, were 
buried with him in his grave. His little crucifix re- 
posed upon his breast, and he was remembered as one 
who had mysteriously come, and as’ mysteriously passed 
away. 
A few years after the events we have detailed, a 
Jesuit missionary, who understood the Choctaw lan- 
guage, announced his mission to the tribe, and was by 
them kindly received. His presence revived the recollec- 
tions of Rousseau, and the story of his having been among 
them was told. The priest explained to them his office, 
and these wild people, in a short time, erected over the 
remains of Rousseau a rude chapel; his spirit was called 
upon as their patron saint, and Chechoula was the first 
to renounce the superstitions of her tribe, and receive 
the Holy Sacrament of Baptism. 
In the year 1829, a small brass cross was picked out 
of the banks of the Mississippi, near Natchez, at the 
depth of several feet from the surface. The crucifix was 
in tolerable preservation, and was exposed by one of 
those cavings of the soil so peculiar to the Mississippi. 
The speculations which the finding of this cross called 
forth, revived the almost forgotten traditions of-the story 
of Rousseau, and of his death and burial at the Place 
De La Croix. 
