SWANTON] INDIAN TRTBKS OF TTTF, LOWKI{ MISSTSRTPPI VALIJCV 227 



y.\()n\ {)[' (lie disaster was Kicai'd. (lie sloickccprr. At llic first shots 

 ho jiimpod into the river, gained the iuM«;hl)()rin<; forest by swiiiiniinjj, 

 and hid himself there over niuht. Not (hiring to follow the bank, he 

 ininiersetl himself in the water \\\) lo his neek and slowly descended 

 in this manner. On reaehin<i: the honse of a master potter named 

 Rou.sseaii he saw a li^ht, and was so overcome by cold and hiinjrer as 

 to be induced to enter, but he at once found himself surrounded l)y 

 Indians and pive himself up as lost. They proved, however, to be a 

 band of Yazoo who had come to Natchez with M. du Codere, com- 

 mandant of the '^'azoo post, and had been quartered here dnrinfj the 

 absence of Rousseau. These received him kindly, ^ave him food 

 and a j^iroijue. and sent him on to New Orleans with the assurance 

 that their nation would remain fii-m friends of the French, and that 

 they would warn all piro^'ucs found ascendin<>' the river." 



Two other FroiU'lmi(>u naniotl. the one Postilloii, tlio other Louotte, did not 

 have equal pood forlniie. They had parted that nionihij; fo^'ether to fj<> to Wliite 

 P^arth. when, liaviiif: arrived on a lieij^ht wliidi connnanded that on whicli tliis 

 grant was situated, tliey discovered at a distance tlie massacre wliicli tlie sav- 

 ages were niakin.i,' of the Frencli. At tins sight tliey stoi)])cd. and, not daring 

 eitlier to advance or to risl< returning to the fort in broad daylight, they con- 

 cealed themselves in tlie w is. awaiting night. Wlien it had come on they set 



out. not by the ordinary road l»ut across the forests and i)rairies. Tliey arrived 

 in that way at the old storehouse of the company, where, seeing a light and 

 the Sieur Postilion looking through the window, taking for French those who 

 were within, he rapped. f)ne ojH'ned the door, and scarcely had he entered 

 when he recognized that these were savages, who had dressed themselves in the 

 clothing of the Fi-eneh they had massacred. As soon as they saw him among 

 them they presented him with a glass of brandy and amused themselves a 

 moment with him ; then, having made him drink a second draft, they threw 

 him on the ground, put his head on a block of wood, and cut it off VA'ith a blow 

 of an ax. Louette, who was outside, seeing the reception which they gave his 

 comrade, did not consider it prudent to enter among such charitable hosts; he 

 continued his route to gain the river, in hope of finding some conveyance there 

 in which he might embark. Passing near a cabin, he thought he heard persons 

 spealving French; he entered; it was the French women whom the savages 

 had enslaved, and who had collected in this cabin under guard of one among 

 them. As soon as they perceived him, they cried, " Why do you come here, 

 poor Louette? xVll the Frenchmen are dead; save yourself." lie profited by 

 the advice and escaped. 



One named Canterelle, seeing what passed, had closed his house whil(> the 

 massacre was going on. and kept himself concealed all day in his granary with 

 his wife, without any savage venturing to enter. When night came, after having 

 loaded themselves with the best things they were able to carry, they set out 

 and took their way through the woods ; but the Sieur Canterelle, having remem- 

 bered on the way that he had left something at home which was of consequence 

 to him, he told his wife to go and await him in a place he indicated, and returned 

 to his house. On his return he was entirely unable to find his wife, whether 

 she had wandered or had l)een made a slave by the savages; but in searching 

 for her he had the good fortune to discover a pirogue, in which he escaped. Some 



" Charlevoix, Hist. Louisiana, vi, 84-8.5 : Le Petit, in Jes. Rol., lxviii. 170-173 ; Du- 

 mont, M6m. Hist, sur La Louisiane, ii, 149-150. 



