SWAXToxl IN'DIAX Ti:il'.F.S OF VWV. LOWKH MIl^STSSIPPI VAI.LF.V 39 



jipplictl l»u( once t«» (lie exclusion nf ( )r(i<i(>iil:i. .•mmI in llif olluT cases 

 i( appoars side hy ^itlc willi lluit term. I>i'iii<^- crroiicoiisly Mip|)Osed to 

 refer to aiiotlier tribe 



Til coiiclusioii we may say that, in Uie li^ht ol" thf matciial a\ail- 

 al)l('. the only trilx's alxuit the liii<2;uistic clrtssificiition of which we 

 still ha\(' some reason to hesitate are the Fasca<;onla, ^^'asha. Cha- 

 washa, Okelousa, Opelousa. and (irinfra. When all the uni)ul)lishe(l 

 material on early Louisiana has heen made pnhlic this innnher wil! 

 pr('bably be reduced still further, it" it is n<it entirely obliterated. 



POPULATION 



The subject o( Indian ]')Oi)ulation is one of the most dillicult with 

 which oiu' can deal. In North America the an<>;el of death seems to 

 have precetled rathei' than followed the white man, and testimony is 

 practically unanimous that the aborigines decreased steadily and in 

 many instances rapidly fiom the time of their first appearance. 



I)e la Vente says: 



Toucliinj: these savajies. tliero is a thing that I can not omit to r(Mn.irl< to you, 

 it is tliat it appears visibly tlint (Jod wishes that they yield their jilace In new 

 peoples. < )ni' may learn tidiii the most aged that the.v were formerly incom- 

 parahl.v more numerons tliaii tliey |ii<iw are]. 



The Xatcliez * * assure us tlial they cauie hei-e to the number of more 



than r>,0UO. The otlier natiniis say that many centuries ago they were, some 

 3.0<K), others 2.(X»(l, others a thousand, and all that is reduced now to a veiy 

 moderate numlier. . Wliat is certain is that our iieople in the six years in which 

 they have Iteen descending llie river Icnow certainly that the number has 

 diminished a third, so true is it that it seems (Jod wishes to make them give 

 place to others * * *. 



The reason for it is \ery clear. It is that, for I do not know liow many years, 

 they have placed all their glory in carrying away scalps of their enendes on 

 the slightest jiretenses. Add to this that the English give [presents] to them 

 and excite them to make war in order to obtain shives by it. * * * " 



These causes were, however, of less importance than diseases, 

 nejjlect of children, and immorality. Iberville, writino- in 1700, 

 mentions " a flux of which the savages almost always die,"" '' and 

 the Luxembourg memoir says: 



The women of the Mississippi are fecund, although the country is not ex- 

 tremely well peopled with savages. The severe way in which they i-ear their 

 children makes a large part of them die; and diseases like fever and smallpox, 

 for which they know no other remedy than to bathe however cold it be, takes 

 ott" a great numlter of tlieni. The girls, although given as the.v are to their 

 pleasures, have means of guarding against pregnancy.'' 



» Letter of De la Vente, Sept. 20. 1704, quoted in Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des 

 Am^r., 15th sess., i, 36-37. - 



"Margr.v. D^couvertes, iv. 411, ISSO. 

 «■ M^moire sur La Loulsiaue, i:J8. 



