186 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [kum.. 4:? 



tribe from the northwest, probably part of the advance wave of the 

 great Muskhogean imniioration, which hitter became the ruling class 

 in the resulting state. Formerly the writer was inclined to think that 

 the culture possessed by this composite tribe had arisen from a higher 

 culture Avhich the Muskhogean immigrants found on their arrival, but 

 while there is reason to believe that they absorbed many ideas from 

 the peoples whom they found in possession," an examination of the 

 region in question fails to yield any evidence that the culture there 

 was as high as that developed in the Natchez state. Comparing what 

 is said of the Natchez and their branch, the Taensa, on one side with 

 the culture of their neighbors, we find that practically all of the dis- 

 tinctive elements fade out in proportion to the distance from these 

 tribes. If the Natchez had been instructed by their predecessors in 

 the Mississippi they had evidently excelled their teachers. 



HISTORY SINCE FIRST WHITE CONTACT 



A^Hiatever is known or can be surmised regarding the history of 

 the Natchez previous to 1G82 has now been considered. The ex- 

 pedition of De Soto, which gives passing glimpses of very many 

 southern tribes, appears not to mention them, although the retreating 

 Spaniards necessarily passed in front of their villages, and no doubt 

 Natchez pirogues joined in their pursuit.^ From the time of Father 

 Charlevoix,'^^ 1721, if not earlier, it was commonly supposed tha^ the 

 Natchez were the people among whom De Soto had spent most of his 

 time after he came out upon the river, but it is now very generally 

 admitted that they were the Quapaw. At any rate, for a hundred 

 and forty years after his expedition until the date we mention, the 

 tribes of the lower Mississippi sank back into utter obscurity. Mar- 

 quette's map, although noting the " Tanikwa " and " Akoroa," north- 

 ern neighbors of the Natchez, omits any mention of the latter people.'' 



In his ever memorable expedition of 1082 La Salle left the Quapaw 

 towns in March, and on the 22d of that month encamped in a small 

 cove on the right bank of the Mississippi in front of Lake St. Joseph, 

 where were located the villages of the Taensa nation. Next day 

 Tonti was sent to this tribe, and was cordially received by the great 

 chief, who sent 20 canoe loads of provisions to La Salle's camp. 

 This meeting and the things seen at the Taensa villages are described 

 at length in all accounts of the expedition,*' which are of importance 

 as containing the most detailed descriptions extant of this tribe and 

 also on account of the confusion which subsequently arose between 

 them and the tribe under consideration. March 25 the explorers left 



" See p. 57. Also, perhaps, head-flattening. 



" See, however, a suggestion on p. 258. 



f^ French, Hist. Coll. La., 162, 1851. 



"•Map in Shea, Disc, and Expl. of the Miss. 



« French, Hist. Coll. La., 52-8.S, 1840; Margry, DccoiivertPS, i, 547-014. 



