SWANTuN] INDIAN THllJKS OF rill'. LoWF.r MISSISSIPPI VALLKY 217 



As soon ;\s lir liiul jidiu- tiic Sicur I'.i-niiiin luiil his ti-onp Mimed mikI sent ii 

 niosscn^'iT to inc to tlio fort to inl'nnii iin- nf wIimI 1i:h1 iiasscd. At this news I 

 had tho cannon which was at the fmi loaded, had a i,'eiieial alarm sounded, 

 and having assenihled the inlialpjlanls by lirin;: oil" a caiinoii loa(h'd with jiow- 

 dor, I warned them to he on their j;uard and to retire to the fort at the second 

 disc-harge of the cannon which they should iiear, aloim wiiii ihelr wives and 

 children. These precautions were useless, liowever. 'I'he '{'atlooed-seipent. Iiav- 

 ing heard the cannon which I had had discharfied, Imagined at once that the 

 Frencli were >:oin,sr to fall on his vlllajies with arms, and in order to i)r('vent 

 them he left on the sjtot wltli all his Honored men to {^it and present the peace 

 calumet to the connnandant of White Eartli. The latter at first hesitated to 

 receive it, and said to the great chief that he could return to his village, where 

 he was going to bring him another calumet to smoke. However, he finally let 

 himself be overcome by the importunity of the savage, who begged him in- 

 sistently to receive him and his people into friendship; but in the si»eech which 

 he had ma(U> to him, he asked if it was right that the concession lose its mare 

 in this manner. The Tattooed-serpent agreed that it was not just, and by way 

 of reparation for the injury he .sentenced t-ach cai)in of all the villages of his 

 nation, even including those of the Tioux, to furnish to the concession a hamper 

 of corn, a thing which was accomplished in eight days. At the same time the 

 Sieur Brontin made the great chief understand tliat it was not enough to njake 

 peace with him if he did uot make it also with his lieutenant, who commanded 

 at the fort, and who was not less angry than he, w-hich determined the sa\ages 

 to come to Fort Rosalie, where I was, with the same favor of tlie calumet, the 

 whole garrison being under arms as long as the ceremony lasted. The corn 

 which was obtained from this contribution was more than sutlicient to pay an 

 entire regiment of cavalry, since but two hampers were needed to make a 

 quarter of corn [25 pounds], containing 120 pots [English pints], which were 

 sold then at 30 livres. Thus it happened that on this occasion the prudence of 

 the chief did not permit the nation to become the plaything of these savages, 

 who at heart loved the French, and who paid very dearly for the fault which 

 one of them had committed." 



Not long after this trouble had been satisfactorily .settled the Sieur 

 Brontin Avas recalled to the capital and succeeded by the Sieur de 

 Tisnet, who remained a year. Dumont notes of him that, in order 

 to win the friendship of the Natchez, he taught them to build pali- 

 saded forts after the manner of the French. This does not mean that 

 the natives were ignorant of such forts, but that De Tisnet taught 

 them improvements. Of these they seem to have made excellent use 

 in the subsequent Avar with their teachers. The next commandant, 

 the Sieur de Merveilleux, is said by the same authority to have been 

 very much beloved by the white inhabitants and to have lived on 

 excellent terms with the Indians.'' Perhaps his virtues may have im- 

 proved in retrospect in contrast Avith the vices of his successor, the 

 Sieur Chopart or Chepart. 



We noAV come to the last tragic chapter in the historv of the 

 Natchez as a nation, that to which, even more than to the uniqueness 

 of their social organization and many of their customs, they owe 



» Dumont, M6m. Hist. 3ur La Louisianc, ii, 118-122. <- Ibid., 122-123, 125. 



