i5WANT0N] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 277 



will) t.ikos f.irc of tho firo in the (<'iii|ih'. 'I'lic village is coiiiiiost'd of rmin ^iin to 

 r)(»» iHTSoiis nf iiolii scxrs, j;r«':it mill sm;i!l. witli iMri^c luits iiiadr doiiu' sliapi'd, 

 in wliifli llicy sleep most of tlie time mi iiials, which a I'e laised on fonr posts to 

 a lieiglit of o feet from tlie earth, under which tliey put lire dnriiiK th(> niglit in 

 order to l<eep tlu'ir lionses or caltins warm, hecauso tlie nijihls an' very cold 

 there, and they have only sonu> skins pieced toj^etlier ircinitlics ilc pi«c(s) to 

 cover thems«'lves. Their fields, where tlicy make tlieir millet, are near tlieir vil- 

 lages, which they dii: with Imnes of bison; Ihey pass the greater part of their 

 time I'liiying in this place with great sticks, which they throw after u little stone, 

 which is almost round like a cannon hall. When any of their people die they 

 carry them 50 paces from their village to 4 posts, \vhere they place the body, 

 covered aI)ove and helow with mats made like a coffin, 4 feet above the ground, 

 whither they carry food. The village is composed of two nations, which are 

 the Mongoulachas and the Bayogoulas. which have the same language and have 

 two chiefs, of which that of the Mougoulachas appears the first. They are 

 distant from the river ouly a quarter of a league.* 



Next day Iberville left for the Houma village, taking some Bayo- 

 goiila with him, including the chief, and afterward returned to his 

 vessels through tho Manchac, in two bark canoes, leaving his brother 

 Sauvolle to conduct the heavier boats round by the mouth of the 

 Mississippi. 



Later the same year Dc Montigny visited th(> two tribes in this vil- 

 lage and estimates their cabins at 100.'' 



AMien he returned to Europe Iberville took a Bayogoula youth 

 along, and brought him back the following year, but he died of a 

 disea.se of the throat before reaching his people. Iberville, who had 

 made peace between the Bayogoula and Ilouma, found that during 

 his absence war had broken out again and that tho llomna had 

 surprised the Bayogoula when at work in their fields, had killed 

 several and captured 25 persons.'' He renewed the peace between 

 them, liberating the Bayogoula captives. In May of this year Bien- 

 ville returned from Hod river and brought Iberville word that the 

 Bayogoula had killed all of the Mugulasha and had called in many 

 families of Acolapissa and Tioux to take their places. Iberville an- 

 ti('i[)ated making use of many of the houses left vacant by the 

 slaughter of the Mugulasha.'' The Jesuit priest who accompanied 

 Iberville had remained among the Bayogoula to build a chai)el, but 

 he appears to have left again the same year, and the chapel was ])r()b- 

 ably destroyed, perhaps in consequence of the massacre just referred 

 to. At any rate things wore found ifi this condition by Gravier in 

 December, 1700, who speaks of the place in these terms: 



I did not go up to the village, and it was only on my return from Rilocchi 

 that I visited the Baiougoula, who massacred the chief of the Mongoulacha 

 with more than 200 men of that nation, which was very friendly to the French 



"Margry, D6couvertes, iv, 259-262, 1880. 



" Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des Am6r., 1.5th sess., i, 36. 



•^ Margry. D(5couvcrtes, iv, 406, 408, 455-456, 1880. 



" Ibid., 429, 1880. 



