swA.NTo.Nj INDFAN 'IHiniLS OK T 1 1 K l.OUKR MTSSISSIIMM VALLKV 273 



iiilt'i'pii'ls ""Xiilioii ol" tlic Rocks."'" Tlu' next rclViciico is in L;i 

 Ilarpe's journal ol" a xoya^c up Kctl lixcr. lie says: 



The 21sl we beeaiiu' aware of sniiu' savage luiiilt'is (n llie left of the rivt'i". 

 I sent one of my itirojiincs (o liud (lieiii: tliey were of tlie 'ranioiK-oiiKonla 

 Nation, otherwise enlh'd Anoy. They made ns a iirt'sent of some quarters of 

 Iiear and deer. 1 kei)t them many (htys in order to linnt. They liillod for me 

 lo deer and a hear, a qn.'intity of bustards. dnel<s, some liares Irahhits), and 

 many s(|nirrels; tliey also eanj^ht many fish for me. 1 mad(,' them a present 

 of two j^uns.'' 



Tlie first use of Avoyol or Avoyelles, as it is later written, so far as 

 the writer is aware, is in I)ii Pratz's enumeration of the tribes of 

 Louisiana. He snya of them : 



From tlie Oqne-Loussas as far as the Red river no otlier nation is fonnd ; 

 but above the rapid in this river there is on its baulks the littU^ nation of 

 Avoyels. It is tliey who liave broujiht to the French of Louisiana horses, 

 oxen [VI, and cows; I do not know in what fair they purchased them, nor In 

 what money they i)ay for them; the truth is that these beasts cost only 20 

 Iionnds \lirrrs] apiece. The Spaniards of New Mexico have such a great 

 ((uantity of them that they do not know what to do with them, and it j^ives 

 them pleasure to relieve them of them. At present the French have more 

 of them than they need and especially of horses.'^ 



From this it appears that the Avoyel acted as middlemen in 

 disposing to the French of cattle and horses plundered from the 

 Spaniards by Caddoan and other tribes. 



I)e Kerlerec, in 1758, mentions this as one of the tribes destroyed 

 by the proximity of the French and trade in liquors.'' In 1764, how- 

 ever, in conjmiction with the Ofo, Tunica, and some Choctaw, they at- 

 tacked a British regiment ascending the Mississippi, killed 8 persons, 

 and forced the remainder to retreat.^ The refusal of the British to 

 return a runaway slave is said to have been the cause of this. Col. 

 (leorge Morgan, who descended the Mississippi in 17G7, reports that 

 "about 50 leagues up this river (i. e., Red river) is what they call 

 the ' rapids,' and an Indian village of the Avoyelles tribe." f Baudry 

 de Lozieres, avIio claims to have obtained his information from 

 travels imdertaken between 1794 and 1798, but who seems to depend 

 on much earlier authorities in many cases, says: 



r)u ascending |Ked riverl 6 leagues, there is to be found on the left a little 

 arm of this river on which are established the Hou.iets. On descending this 

 branch of the river one finds a little village composed of 40 men only of the 

 finest kind. * * * They may be able to bring in in trade a thousand goat 

 [deer] skins-i? 



" Margry. Deeouvortes, v, 497^98; French, Hist. Coll. La., llC, 1SG9. 



<- Margry, D^couvertes, vi, 249, 1886. 



•^ Du Pratz, Hist, de La Loiiisiane, ii, 241-242, 1758. 



'' Compte Rendu Conj;. Internal, des Am^r., ].5tli sess., i, 75. 



<• Lcs Dcrni&res .VnnCos de la Louisiane Frangaisc, 1S2-183. 



'Eifflitli Int. Geog. Cong.. 1904 (Washington). 



' Voy. a La Louisiane, 249, 1802. 



83220— Bull. 43—10 -18 



