SWANTOX] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 309 



leagues by land, is quite pretty. I found piakimina trees loaded with fruit and 

 many copal trees exuding gum. We passed in the roads canes 40 feet high 

 and as thick as your arm. The stalk of the corn, which we call Indian corn, 

 is over 15 to 20 feet high, and so are the sunflowers, and thick in proportion. 

 We saw five or six hamlets of a few cabins, and I was surprised that the In- 

 dians, who so rarely see Frenchmen, showed so little curiosity. There was 

 none except at Mr. Davion's village, where all the people escorted me to the 

 house of that fervent missionarj-, whom I found in bed with the fever. He 

 arose the next day to receive at my mass, and [went] out for the first time 

 with me to visit some cabins. He conversed with me with great frankness on 

 the mission which he is beginning to establish, and God blesses his zeal and the 

 study which he makes of the language, which he begins to speak better than 

 could be naturally expected from a person of his age. There are three different 

 languages in his mission^the Jakou [Yazoo], of 30 cabins; the Ounspik [Ofo], 

 of 10 or 12 cabins; and the Touuiika [Tunica], who are in 7 hamlets and who 

 comprise in all 50 or 60 small cabins. He devotes himself only to this last 

 language, and the Tounika, being the most numerous, give name to the 

 mission." 



From this time until he abandoned his charges in despair the liis- 

 tory of the Tunica is closely bound up with the life of Davion, who 

 bears the distinction of having maintained his mission much longer 

 than any other missionary on the lower Mississippi. Many stories 

 and legends have grown up around him, and these have been woven 

 together in beautiful language by Gayarre in the first volume of his 

 History of Louisiana. Unfortunately, like so many romantic stories, 

 there is very little basis for any of them, and the majority are directly 

 contradicted by authoritative documents, but it is certain that he must 

 have been a man of unusual force of character, or his influence over 

 this tribe would never have been what it was. His efforts to Chris- 

 tianize them resulted for the most part in failure, but the allegiance 

 which they refused to the faith was granted to the man, and he is 

 probably responsible for the unswerving fidelity of his charges to the 

 French interest, although the Yazoo and Koroa, their neighbors 

 and presumably close relations, were always in sympathy with the 

 Chickasaw and the English. 



About 1702 Davion fled from his mission for reasons given differ- 

 ently by different writers, and was absent a year or more before he 

 returned, at the earnest solicitation of the Indians. Penicaut states 

 that he one time entered their temple, overthrew the " idols " there, 

 and broke them in pieces. Those which he was unable to break he car- 

 ried into his house. Next morning, when the Indians discovered what 

 had been done, they ran to his house to kill him, but his life was saved 

 by the great chief, who was particularly fond of him.'' Penicaut does 

 not say that Davion was driven away at this time, and, besides, he 

 appears to place the occurrence among the Yazoo instead of the 



" Gravier's Letter in Shea's Early Voy. Miss., 1:32-136. 

 "" Margry, Decouvertes, v, 438, 439. 



