SWANTONl INDIAN THIMKS OK 'illi: LOWKR MISSISSTPI'I VAI.LKV 197 



iiiiikc iiiniiy estMltlisliiiuMits cm tliis river, mih! Id Ix'^^'iii willi lli;it Ml ilio Xatcliez 

 with SO soldiers. He iinim'tliiitfly set liiiii.sclf tu woii^ mi the coiisli-iictidii (if 

 pirof^uos iH'tMlcd to carry all tliiiij:.s. 



II was IranuMl in llic iiioiitli (if Jaiinary. ITKi, tlinnif,'!! M. Davidii, (he niis- 

 sidiiary, that four Canadians who were goinj? up to the Illinoi-s had been nnir- 

 dered by the Natchez. Tliis news induced M. de Bienville to hasten his de- 

 parture, lie besfied M. de Laniothe to give h'm the detachment of SO men, as 

 he had been ordered by M. le Compte de I'ontchiirtrain. M. de Lamothc* re- 

 fused. He j;ave him conunand only of the comiiaiy of M. de liichelxiur;;. which 

 had but 'M men. M. de Hienville enuai^ed M. Duclos, (irdainiufi cduiniissidncr, 

 and MM. Uauzon and I.abarre. agents of M. Crozat. to unite with him in repre- 

 senting to M. de I.amonthe the impossibility of undertaking the construction 

 of a fort and a war against the Natchez, w'ho dounted at least SOO men, with a 

 company of 34 uien. P.ut to no avail. It was necessary, then, to part with 

 this company to which 15 sailors were addeil. They set out in eight dugout 

 canoes." 



The 23d of AjumI they came to the Tonikas, IS leagues from the Natchez. 

 There they learned that the Natcluv> had killed another Frenchman '' coming 

 down from the Illinois, and intended to surprise 15 more who were expected at 

 the same place.^ M. Davion, missionary to the Tonikas, informed M. de Bien- 

 ville that the Natchez were ignorant that these murders were known to the 

 French, the thing being kept very secret among them. The missionary furtlier- 

 more warned M. de Bienville to be on his guard against the Tonikas, who had 

 even received presents to kill liim.'* All this information must have been very 

 dis(]|uieting to M. de Bi<»nville, who, far from appearing disturlit^d, liad all the 

 Tonikas assembled, and without letting what he had lu^ard be known, told 

 them that his mission was to go to the Natchez in order to mak(» a small estab- 

 lishment there and a warehouse which could furnish this nation and other.s, in 

 exchange for their pelts, the merchandise of which they had need, but that as 



" r(5nicaut Rives as officers of this force M. de Pailloux, major of the troops ; M. de 

 Richi'lidurK, captain of company ; M. de Tissen<> and the two brothers De la Loire. 

 (Margry, DtVouvortes. v. r>20.) La Ilarpe states (.Tour. Ilist., ^24) that Rienvillo with 

 MM. de Paillou.x and de Riclielioury found at the fort on the Mississippi when tliey arrived 

 there ten pirojiues wliich had been sent from Mobile laden with pi-ovisions and utensils 

 to form the settlements at Natchez and on the Wabash. 



" La TIarpe says two. 



•■ I'l-nlcaufs account runs thus : " We ascended the Mississipy as far as the portage 

 of tlie Cross of the Tonicas, where we found a letter tied up in a little cloth sack 

 which liung from the branch of a tree on the bank of the Mississipy ; this tree ex- 

 tended sutHciently into the river to be perceived, with this inscription in large char- 

 acters attached to the sack where the letter was : ' To the first Frenchman who 

 passes.' It was M. Davion, the priest, who had placed it there. Wo took this sack, 

 which we carried to ^L de Bienville; he opened the letter, in which it was noted that 

 a Frenchman named IJicliard had been taken eight days before by the Natchez in de- 

 scending from the Illinois, and that after having taken his goods they had brought 

 him to their village, where they had cut off his feet and hands and had then thrown 

 his body into a bog. On reading this letter M. de liienville knew that the thing was 

 more serious than he had thought. He had before underrated it and regarded it as 

 a trifle, accusing us of lieing afraid ; but on reading this letter I think he was truly 

 afraid himself, for he changed the design he had of going directly to the Natchez, 

 and had us land at the Cross of the Tonicas ; this was three hours after midday." 

 (Margry, Di^couvertes, v, ,^)20-521.) Bienville's attitude toward the undertaking is 

 here represented differently from tlie way it appears in the narratives of De Kiche- 

 bourg and La Ilarpe. 



<* This seems hardly consistent with the attitude of the Tunica at the time when 

 Natchez emissaries came to them after the flight of the MM. de la Loire and P6nicaut, 

 but all savages are subject to rapid changes of view, and liesides there was probably 

 a Natchez party, even though a minority one, among the Tunica. 



