swANTox] INDIAN THTBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY G7 



is (IciiKindt'd. Tliis prcc.-uil ion is t;ik<>M iiiilil llic pirujiiic is dcrp cihmii,'!!. 'i'lio 

 outside is made in llic s-.wwr niamicr and willi the same attention. 



The bow of this iiiruguo is made slopinf;. liive those of the l)()als \viii<h one 

 sees ou the Freucli rivers. This bow is as broad as the body of the pirogue. 

 I liave seen some 40 feet long by 3 broad. They are about 3 inclies thick 

 ^^■hic•h malces them very heavy. Tliese pirogues can carry 12 persons and ai-e 

 all of buoyant wood. Those of the Arkansiis are of black walnut. 



To guide the.se pirogues the natives make little oars, which are not fastened 

 to the boat. They are called i)addles { /xtudirs). They are similar to those 

 given in illustratious, where they are placed in the hands of river gods when 

 they are represented. They ai"e only 6 feet long. The French make them only 

 an inch thick, and they are infinitely lighter." 



The raft {cajeu) was a teinporary ferry used in crossing rivers or 

 bayous lying in the way of a party traveling across country. It is 

 thus described by Du Pratz : 



It (the raft) is a float composed of bundles of canes bound side by side then 

 crossed double | i. e.. a second tier being placed at right angles crosswise]. 

 Travelers emi»loy these vessels in crossing rivers. They are made on the spot 

 when one encounters a river. This happens only to those who travel far away 

 from the habitations of the natives, and when one does not go by water. In 

 all Louisiana one is always assured of having continually at hand something 

 with which to cross a river because canes are found very near the water.'' 



Mortars for pounding corn Avere hollowed out of sections of trees 

 in very much the same manner as canoes. They — 



made a pad of kneaded earth on the upper side, which was that which they 

 wished to hollow. They put tire in the nuddle and blew it by means of a reed 

 pipe, and if the fire consumed more raiddly on one side than on the other they 

 immediately placed some mud there. They continued in this way until the 

 mortar was sufficiently wide and deep.*^ 



ECONOMIC LIFE 



The principal animals hunted were the bear, deer, and bison. Re- 

 garding the bear, Dumont says: 



The savages feed willingly on the flesh of this animal, but for that purpose 

 it must be thin. In any other condition only the four feet can be eaten. The 

 rest is nothing but fat, * * * 



* * * In this province of Louisiana instead of caverns these animals choose 

 hollows of trees into which to retreat, on which point it may be observed that 

 these domiciles are raised more than 30 or 40 feet above the earth, and that 

 two bears never lodge there together. Toward the end of March or the begin- 

 ning of April, before quitting their retreat, the females of these animals bear 

 their little ones. They are then not at all thin in spite of their long fast, and 

 it is in this season that the natives pay them a visit, either to capture their 

 cubs or to make use of their fat. In order to discover them, they go through 

 the woods examining whether on the bark of the trees they notice the imprint 

 of this animal's claws. When they have found one that bears these marks they 

 do not yet content themselves with this indication, and in order to assure 



oDu Pratz, Uist. de La Louisiane, ii, 188-189. "Ibid., 186-187, "^ Ibid., 177. 



