206 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



de Belle Isle." M. Hubert's own concession, which lay above the 

 great Natchez village, was called by him St. Catherine (pi. 6, a), and 

 its name has been perpetuated in that of the stream. In 1723, being 

 desirous to return to France, he sold it to M. Kolly through his 

 agents, the MM. Dumanoir.'' 



Many smaller concessions were established here, among which 

 Penicaut mentions that of " M. de La Houssaye, a gentleman of 

 Picardy, with 15 persons, among whom were the two Tisserand 

 brothers associated wnth M. de La Houssaye."'' This was also on St. 

 Catherines creek. It was subsequently sold to Penicaut. In the 

 following year he records " the concession of MM. Pellerin and 

 Bellecourt, with 15 persons and their families," which was placed 

 " at the village of the Natchez." '^ In fact settlers now came in 

 rapidly and Natchez was soon a flourishing place. 



Toward the end of July, 1720, M. de Pailloux tried to persuade the 

 Natchez and Yazoo to declare war against the Chickasaw ; with what 

 success does not appear.'' 



The year following Natchez was visited by the famous historian of 

 New France, Father Charlevoix. He left the Quapaw towns early 

 in December, 1721, and the Yazoo post the 10th of the same month, 

 carrying with him a Natchez who desired to return home. This 

 proved a fortunate circumstance, for on the 13th of that month he 

 would have been lost in a gulf had it not been for this Indian. On 

 the 15th he arrived at Natchez, which he describes as "the finest, the 

 most fertile, and the most populous [canton] of all Louisiana." The 

 great village of the Natchez was then reduced to a very few cabins, 

 '' because," as he explains, " the savages, from whom the great chief 

 has a right to take all they have, get as far from him as they can ; 

 and therefore many villages of this nation have been formed at some 

 distance from this." The Indians were then all at another village 

 attending a feast. The father remained here longer than he had 

 intended in order to minister to the spiritual needs of the settlers, 

 and left the day after Christmas. The abandoned state of these lat- 

 ter will occasion less mourning among ethnologists than it caused the 

 reverend father, since it probably enabled him to give a longer de- 

 scription of the Natchez tribe than would otherwise have been the 

 case.'' He informs us that there had been no missionary stationed 

 among them since the death of St. Cosme, but Father Poisson, who 

 stopped at the place from June 13 to June 17, 1727, on his way to the 



" Dumont, M^m. Hist, siir La Loulsiane, ii, 126. 



" Marjiry, Decouvertes, v, 58.3. Dumont says it was not sold to them until after tlio 

 death of M. Hubert, but as a matter of fact M. Hubert died very soon after his return to 

 Franee. 



•■ Mai-t;ry, Decouvertes, v, .55:5. <• ]''i'eiu-h. Hisl. Coll. Lr.., 70. 1S51. 



"^ Ibid., OGG. 'Ibid., 140-170, 1S51. 



