swAXTuNl INDIAN 'l'i;ii'.i;s oi' in I', LOWKK MISSISSIPPI VALIJ:\ 40 



:iii(l ii liltlf Ihil nil top. 'I'lu-ir features ai'e reL'ular. 'I'liey have Iilaek eyes, 

 and hair of IIk- same ((lior; coarse aiitl straijihi. If one never sees lh()S(> who 

 are e.xl I'eiiieiv I'al. iii> iimre does he see (liose as Ihiii as coiisiiiiipt ives. 'I'he 

 men ai'e ordinarily hellei' l'oini<'d llian tlie women. They are more sinewy and 

 the womi'n nioic llesliy. 'I'he men are all tall and the women of medium 

 height, hill both are well eiion,L,di projioii i.med i!i limire and lieiLrht. there heiiiK 

 i\oiie, as in lOurope. of uiuaiitlc stature or as short as dwarfs. 1 have seen a 

 sin.nie i)erson who was only 4i feet lufrh and who. althon,i.'h well proportioned, 

 dared not appear amonj: the French until three or four years after tlieir arrival, 

 and tlii'u he wotild not liave done so had not some Frenchmen accidentally dis- 

 covered biin." 



Estimates of Indian chai'actor by white men are seldom satis- 

 factory, l)eini>: based on the stanchirds oiirrent amon^ whites at a 

 certain phice and time or c()h)red by romantic or do^niatic consider- 

 ations. y(>t it may be jjrofilabh' at the outset to ((note a few opinions 

 of early writers reoardin<>- the tribe nnder discussion. It must not 

 be suppo.sed, however, that we shall fhid the Natchez much ditl'er- 

 ent from Indians in other parts of the North American continent. 

 In fact, as Charlevoix very well remarks, the only strikiiif^ distinction 

 was in their social ortjanization and <>"overnment. 



IberviUe. whose familiarity with Indians was that of a soldier, 

 lets fail an opinion of the people in connnenting on the great chief 

 of the Natchez of his time (1700) : 



This chief is a man 5 feet 8 or 4 inches tall, rather thin, with an intollisent 

 face. He appeared to me the most absolute savajie I had seen, as heL'irarlv 

 as others, as well as his snl).jects. all of whom were larjre. well-foi-med men, 

 very idle, hut showing nuu-h friendship toward us.'' 



Graxier. who descended the river the same year, gives the veriHct 

 of the priest as follows : 



The Xatches, Mr. St. Cosme assured me, are far from being as docile as the 

 Tounika. They practice polygamy, steal, and are very vicious, the girls and 

 women more than the men and boys, among whom there is much to reform 

 before anything can be expected of them.'' 



St. Cosme writes: " One is persuaded that they are all thieves and 

 try only to do harm, and that if they had no fear they would kill a 

 man in order to get his knife."'' 



De la Vente's opinion is more optimistic, however. He says: 



It seems to me that there remains yet among these barbarous people ex- 

 cellent remnants of that beautiful natural law that God engraved on the heart 

 of men in the state of innocence.'' 



Union reigns to such an extent among them that not only does one see no 

 lawsuit among them, but tliey even receive in common the outrages perpe- 

 trated upon a single person and the village, even if it perishes entirely, will 



° Du Pratz. Hist, de La Louisiano, ii, .S08-300. 

 '■Mar.trry, Decouvertos, iv, 412, 1S80. 

 '•Shea, Early Voy. Miss., 1.^0, 1861. 



''Letter of Oct. 21. 1702, in Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des Ani^r., 1.5th sess.. i, 

 4.5-46. 



•■Letter of De la Vente, .Ttily i. 170S. iljid., i, 45. 



83220— Bull. 43—10 4 



