SWANTON] 1NF)1AN 'IHIHKS OK TlIK LONVKK MISSISSIPPI VALLHV 201 



adiiiitted tliiil it was (hat of a warrior who had had no i)art in llu' ninrdcr 

 of the Frciichiiicn ; but tlint as hi' was tlie lu-otbcr of one of the niurdererH 

 who had esi-aped then) (hey had tboui^dit it necessary to kill him in his place." 

 M. de Bienville showed himself much dissatisfied with them because they had 

 not brought him the other beads and told them that the next day he wished 

 that they would bring [the head of] some chief. The Little Sun was re- 

 placed in jirison and in fetters like the others. The Frenchman and the two 

 Illinois siivages, who had gone to deliver themselves to the Natchez, after four 

 days, were brought back by chief Little Sun, to whom they owed their lives, 

 for he had delivered them from the frame where they bad been attached to be 

 burned. This Frenchman assured M. d(? Bienville that no more Frenchmen 

 were descending from the upper Mississiijpi, and that he was the hist. They 

 were very much pleased to hear it. 



The 15th they sent to the Natchez two war cliiefs and the high priest of 

 the temple, who were cimrged to bring back the head of the chief Oyelape, 

 otherwise calUvl White Earlh.^ They wer(> brought to a i)oint near their 

 villages by a detachment of soldiers. This same day the chief of the Tonikas 

 came with M. Davion. their missionary, to inform M. de Bienville to keep liim- 

 self well on his guard; that he had had news through three of his people, who 

 had just arrived from the Natchez, that that nation liad assembled, and that 

 their warriors had taken the determination of descending en vmsm in dugouts 

 to slaughter us in our camp, and thereby rescue all their chiefs or perish with 

 them. These Tonikas offered to send 40 of their bravest warriors to giiard us 

 all night. M. de Bienville, who distrusted these as nuich as the others, tbankwl 

 them, and told them that be feared nothing; that nevertheless they would 

 please him by continuing to send spies among the Natchez to learn what they 

 were doing. 



The overflow of the Mississippi began to inundate all the land of the island 

 where we were encamped. There was half a foot of water above the higliest 

 land. This causeti us much fever, illness in the legs, and colic, [on account of] 

 always having the feet in cold water, througli the excessive lieats. M. de 

 Bienville, not being able to remain in his tent, had a cabin made surrounded 

 witli i)alings and covered with the bark of trees. He also had them erect a 

 little i)owder magazine. 



The chief, Tattooed-serpent, having caught the fever, M. de Bienville made 

 him come out of prison, took off his fetters, and permitted him to remain every 

 (lay with him (Bienville) along with his brothers. He bad reason to be pleased 

 with them. 'SI. de Bienville, who thus passed all his days with these chiefs, 

 reproached all of them for their evil practices, saying to them that they had 

 received the past year English traders and two young boys of tliis nation to 

 learn their language: that after having sent them back at his demand that 

 they had i)romised him they would never detach themselves from the friend- 

 ship and alliance of the P^'rench ; that nevertheless six months afterward they 

 had been traitorous enough to kill the first Frenchmen who had appeared 

 among them ; that every other French chief would not content himself with 

 demanding solely the heads of the murderers, but that he would make all the 



" Pgnicaut mentions only this head. The others may not have been shown him. He 

 says the innocent person was killed in place of Chief White Earth. La Harpe states 

 that two attempts were made to substitute another for the head of the chief who had 

 committed the murder. 



* .\ccording to Penicaut, he was nephew of the jj;reat Sun. while La Ilarpe, who calls 

 him " The .Vrrow," says he was the great Sun's ijrothor. " The Arrow " aiay have been his 

 name and White Earth his village. Oyelape has been suppos(>d to be a corruption of Ki 

 kahdp, " earth white," but the writer's Natchez informant tliought that it referred to a 

 " blister " raised by medicine. 



