SWAVroN] INDIAN 'li;ir.i;s OF TIIK LOWKR MISSISSIi'IM VAJJJ'.V 83 



ItiMit over like limsc of liis irdops to lii-c his f,Miii. Tlic I'rciicli siir^'Cdii who look 

 rhar^'i' of him and drcssi'il him with j^roat vurv, was skillful uiul spared nothing 

 foi- his curt', Imt the dor(oi-s of this cliicf who visitt'd him every day asked 

 the l''rencliinMii imw iiiiicli lime il would lake to citfe him; the laller I'eplied 

 that it would take al least six weeks. Tiiey answered nothing, '.)Ut went away 

 at once to make a litter, spoke to Iheii- ehief, jilaeed him on it, earried bini away, 

 and Ireati'd him in their own maniu'r. It took hut eiKld days to cure liim 

 eompletely. 



TluM'e is no one in the colony who is ignorant of the facts winch I have Just 

 reported. These jihysicians have made a fireat number of otlier cures, the nar- 

 ration of whicli w<iuld demand a special volume; I am satisfied to report only 

 these three, which I have just cittHl, to let it be seen that the maladies which are 

 elsewhere regarded as almost incurable, which are cured only at the end of a 

 long period and after great suffering being experienced, maladies of this kind, 

 1 say, are cured without a painful operation and in little time by the native 

 doctors of Louisiana." 



Do In Vente appears to have been as iinich impressed as Dii Pratz. 

 He remarks that they had '' preserved excellent remedies for their 

 ills, particularly for external maladies. I have seen many." he adds — 



Who have received 4 or 5 bullet or arrow wounds through the stomach and 

 who are so perfectly cured of them that they do not suiter any inconvenience. 

 * * * Through the knowledge of simples which the.v have received from 

 their fatlwrs they will cui'e bauds, arms, and feet that our best surgeons would 

 not hesitate to cut.'' 



The same Avriter says also that the natives professed to have a 

 remed}' which would restore one who had been wounded, no matter 

 how severely, if he only had strength enough to chew and swallow it. 

 Even in the case of internal diseases, with which they were less famil- 

 iar, a simple infusion of roots often sufficed to cure them of all ills.'' 



Du Pratz tells us that he was requested to make a special investi- 

 gation of Louisiana plants and the uses to which they were put by the 

 natives. 



The Western Company, informed that this province i)roduced a iinantity of 

 simples, the virtues of which being known to the natives gave them so much 

 facility in curing all kinds of diseases, gave orders to M. de hi Chaise, who came 

 from France in the capacity of director-general of this colony, to have re- 

 searches made for simples suitable for medicine and dyeing, by means of some 

 Frenchmen who might have obtained the secret from the natives. I was 

 pointed out to M. de la Chaise, \vho had no sooner arrived than he wrote to me 

 begging me to give my attention to this research; I did it with pleasure and 

 gave myself up to it heartily, because I knew that the company was continually 

 doing what it was able for the good of the colony. 



When I thought I had done in this respect what would satisfy the company I 

 transnntted in earth in cane baskets more than 300 simi)les with their numbers, 

 and a memorandum which detailed their qualities and taught the manner of 



" Du Pratz, Hist, dc La Louisiane, i, 209-211. 



'' De la Vente, quoted by Gosselin in Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des Amer., ITith 

 sess., I, 40-.")0. 

 <^ Ibid., 50. 



