swANTi.Nl INDIAN THIBKS OK TIIK I.OWKlf MLSSTSSTPPT VAIXF.Y 'ZTS 



roiimh'il li.v ;i iialisjulc iiiiuli' *Mi(iri'l.v of cain's, 1 iiK-li apart and 10 fct'l in 

 lu'i^'lit, witlKtnt a dour to close it. They eauio to recoivc luo at the entrance 

 of IJic vill;it:i', aiul ((HKlnctcd uic in fronl of Ilic caliin nl" tin- [cinef of tbe| 

 .Mn^'nlaslia, wlicre lliey made ns sit down In a very warm snn on cane wattles. 

 There I made tbem a present — cousideraMe, for them — of axes, knives, mirrors, 

 needles, sliirts. coverings. They made me one also of their greatest riches, 

 whiili were 12 very large skins of deer, the greater part pierced, which I gave 

 to my people to make shoes. They regaletl us on hominy made of bread. 

 While Ihey made their distribution of iiresents, I went to walk in the village 

 with tlie chief of the r.ayogoulas," who led me into their temjile, on which there 

 were ligures of animals. like cocks, painted red. At the entrance was a shed 

 S feet wide and lli feel long, lield up by two great pillars, with a crosspiece 

 which served as a girder. At the side of the temple door were many figures of 

 animals, such as bears, wolves, birds; on this side, that of one which they call 

 choucoiiacha [oixtssuml. which is an animal with a head shaped like a sucking 

 pig and as large, hair like a badger, gray and white, the tail like a rat, the 

 feet like a moidvcy, which has a pouch under the belly in which it brings forth its 

 young and nourishes them. I have killed S of them, which I examined closely. 

 The door of the teiniil(> is S feet high and 2* wide; the chief had it opened by 

 a man and entered first. It was a cabin, made like all the others in which they 

 are lodged, made of staves, 30 feet across and round, built with mud to the 

 iieight of a man. In the middle were two logs of dry, decayed wood, placed 

 end to end. which were burning; at the inner end there was a platform, on 

 which were many bundles of deer, bear, and bison skins, which were in-esents 

 oflered to their god, under the form of this choucoiiacha,* which was painted 

 in many places in red and black. There was a double glass bottle {Ijoulcillc da 

 vcrrc (h)iiblc) which Tonti had given these people. That is all which I saw in 

 this lcni|ile. From there I went into the village and saw the cabins, made like 

 tlie ti'mple. with the shed close to it (covime Ic temple a Vappentis pres), some 

 larger, otliers smaller, covered with canes split and joined together neatly, 

 without windows. These cabins obtain their daylight from above, through an 

 opening 2 feet in diameter, without pavement or flooring other than sand or dry 

 earth. Their beds are on square posts, raised 2 feet from the earth, with cross- 

 pieces of red wood, as large around as the arm, and a mat stretched upon them, 

 of small canes bound together in such a manner that they are very straight, but 

 not very soft. They have for furniture only some earthen pots, which are 

 quite neat and delicate and well worked. The men are all naked, without 

 being conscious of the fact. The women have only a breechcloth made of the 

 bark of a tree, usually white and red. The breechcloth is made of many bits of 

 bark thread woven together to the height of 8 inches above, which takes in 

 their buttocks; the lower part is made of cords a foot long, descending to a 

 little above the knee. They are sufliciently concealed by that, the cords being 

 always in motion. Many girls from to 7 have no breechcloths at all; they 

 cover themselves with a little bundle of moss, held by a thread, which passes 

 between their thighs and is knotted to a belt which they wear. I have seen 

 none that are pretty. They wrap their hair around their heads in a bundle. 

 There are in this village 107 cabins and 2 temples, and there may be about 200 

 to 250 men ; few women ; the smallpox, which they still had among them, hav- 

 ing destroyed a quai-ter of the village. They put their dead bodies on scaffolds 



" Ills name as fjivon by Sauvolle is transoribod .\ntobeteanea by French (Hist. Coll. 

 La.. 2i;.">. 18.51) and .\ntobiscania l)y Margry (Det-ouviTtes. iv. 448. ISSOt. 



''The tribal siiin, or tDtcm. l(<ft behind by a war party of tliis tribe after a raid was, 

 however, an alligator, if we may trust Dumont. See p. 126. 



