SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 291 



them here and phices the number of their warriors at 25. One of their 

 chiefs was then named Natchiabe.'^ In a work by President Jefferson, 

 entitled " An Account of Louisiana, being an Abstract of Documents 

 in the Offices of the Departments of State and of the Treasury," it is 

 stated that on the east bank of the Mississippi, 25 leagues above New 

 Orleans, lived the remains of the " Houmas or Red Men," not exceed- 

 ing 60 persons. Sibley (1805) says: "There are a few of the 

 Houmas still living on the east side of the Mississippi, in Ixsusees 

 Parish, below Manchack, but scarcely exist as a nation." ^ " Ixsusees " 

 must be a very bad misprint for Ascension. Even as late as the time 

 of publication of Gallatin's classification of the Indian tribes of the 

 United States (1836) he is enabled to say that a few Houmas re- 

 mained in the vicinity of Manchac, He adds the information, how- 

 ever, that others were found in the vicinity of the Atakapa,'' and Sib- 

 ley declares that Tunica and Houma had both intermarried with the 

 Atakapa, increasing the number of men in the tribe from 50 to 80.** 

 The records leave us in doubt when the bulk of the tribe moved from 

 Ascension into Terre Bonne parish, and possibly it was a drift rather 

 than a regular migration. 



At any rate, the remnant of the tribe, mixed with other Indian 

 peoples and white and negro blood, noAv live along the coasts of Terre 

 Bonne and La Fourche parishes, where they were visited by the 

 writer in April, 1907, and the following facts learned regarding 

 them : 



They occupy six settlements on as many bayous, and are principally 

 engaged in hunting the otter, mink, and such other animals as occur 

 in their country, and in fishing and gathering shellfish. During the 

 sugar season some of them work on the plantations, especially at crush- 

 ing, and some cattle are raised, particularly by Bob Verret, the lead- 

 ing man among them. Mr. Verret gave the following estimate of 

 their population: On Point an Barree, 28 houses and 165 people; 

 Lower Point an Chien, 36 houses and 160 people; Champs Charles, 

 13 houses and llT people; Lower Bayou La Fourche, about 25 houses 

 and 175 people ; Bayou de Large, 12 to 14 houses and 84 to 98 people ; 

 Bayou Sale, below Bayou Grand Caillou, at least 25 houses and 175 

 people; total, 139 to 111 houses and 876 to 890 people. For Point 

 an Barree and Point au Chien this was a house-by -house statement, 

 and is nearly complete. The Champs Charles band was estimated by 

 Mr. Verret on a basis of 9 to the family and the others on a 

 basis of 7. In view of the fact that the average for the two first 

 mentioned is 6 and 4i, respectively, this may seem high, but, in any 

 event, the average is above the normal for an Indian tribe. Accord- 



« Hist. Narr. La., 39-40. " Gallatin in Amer. Antiq., u, 1836. 



"Ann. 9th Cong., 2d sess., 1088. "f Ann. 9th Cong., 2d sess., 1086. 



