264 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Fbull. 43 



We went to bid good-hy to the ("liiof. niid h(> had the canoe retnrned to us 

 and a quantity of provisions .^iven to ns. II«> came, acconii)anied by ?,0 canoes, 

 to see M. de la Salle, and brought him so many iirovisions that it was neces- 

 sary to throw some of them away, the canoes being overloaded. Savages 

 swept the earth over which their chief was going to pass. He spoke with M. 

 de la Salle, seated on a mat. M. de la Salle gave him an old dresshig gown 

 of calico and a little Mosojiolea slave, which had been obtained from the 

 Acansa ; the chief gave him his robe or covering, similar to cotton." 



In IGSO, on his second trip to the sea, Tonti again visited the 

 Taensa and they sang the cahimet to him.'' In 1G90 he stopped 

 there a third time and made the Taensa vilhiges his starting point 

 in an expedition westward in search of La Salle. He states that 12 

 Taensa started Avith him, but when he had come to the Natchitoches 

 ihere were 30. '' The chiefs of the three nations [Natchitoches, Oua- 

 sita, and Capiche] asembled, and before they began to speak the 30 

 Taenca who were with me got up and, leaving their arms, went to 

 the temple to show how sincerely they wished to make a solid peace. 

 After having taken their (lod to witness they asked for friendship. 

 I made them some presents in the name of the Taenca. They [the 

 Taenca J remained some days in the village to bargain for salt, which 

 these nations got from a salt lake in the neighborhood.'"' '' We know 

 from many other sources that the trade in salt between the Caddoan 

 tribes and the tribes along the Mississippi was anciently a brisk one. 



The next we hear of the Taensa tribe is from the missionaries. La 

 Source and De Montigny, who descended the Mississippi in 1G98 

 along with Davion and St. Cosme, to establish missions among the 

 tribes of the lower river. Their accounts are as follows: 



The next day we arrived at the portage of the Taensa, Avhich is a league 

 long, where we slept. I had the fever as well as the rest of them. On the 

 21st [.Tanuary. KtOS] we arrived at the Taensa, It is a league by land and 

 [plus I two l)y water. They are on the shore of a lake [and are] 3 leagues 

 from the IMississippi. They are very humane and docile people. Their chief 

 died not long before we arrived. It is their custom to put to death fmanyj on 

 this account. They told us that they had put to death 13 on the death of the 

 one who died last. For this i)urpose they put a root in the fire to burn, and 

 when it is consumed they kill him with tomahawks. The Natchez, who ai'e 

 12 leagues lower down, i)ut men to death on the death of their chief. It must 

 be avowed that they are very foolish to allow themselves to be killed in this 

 way; yet it is a thing they esteem a great honor and noble heartedness. They 

 have a pretty large temple, with three columns <* well made, serpents and other 

 like sui)erstitions. The temple is encircled by an inclosure made like a wall. 

 It is almost covered with skulls. They would not let us enter, saying that 

 those who entered died. We entered half by force, half by consent. The girls 

 and women are dressed like those I have menticmed before, and even worse, 



" Margry, D6couvcrtes, i, 566-568. 

 ''Il)id.. Ill, 556, 3 878. 

 Trench, lUst. Coll. I.a., 72, 1846. 



'' Probal)ly the orisinal was colomhe, " dove," instead of colonnv, reference I)ein.ir made 

 to the throe birds on the roof. See p. 269 and cf. p. 162. 



