swanton] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 331 



Penicaut goes on to describe the cruelties of the Koroa generally, 

 in words which would pi'obably apply nearly as well to any other 

 tribe in the same region, but they may be added here, since no other 

 attempt has ever been made to describe the customs of this tribe 

 particularly. 



These savages, who ai'e named Coroas, are the most cruel of all those of 

 Louisiana. They are almost always hunting or at war, and when they have 

 talien one of their enemies alive, they fasten him to a frame, which is com- 

 posed of two poles 8 feet in height, 5 feet apart, the two hands being well 

 bound above and the two feet below, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. 

 The poor wretch being fastened thus completely naked, the entire village 

 collects around him. They have a fii'e lighted in this place, where they have 

 placed pieces of iron such as old gun barrels, shovels, or the iron parts of 

 axes and other similar things, to make them red hot, and when they are 

 thoroughly reddened they rub them upon his back, arms, thighs, and legs; 

 they then lay bare the skin all the way around his head as far as the ears, 

 tearing it off from him by force. They fill this skin with burning coals, 

 which they replace on his head; they put the ends of his fingers into their 

 lighted pipes, which they smoke, and tear out his nails, tormenting him thus 

 until he is dead." 



As has been said in speaking of the Tunica, the war which Bien- 

 ville desired to make upon this tribe in revenge for the murder fell 

 through, owing to St. Denis's refusal at the last minute to enter upon 

 it ; but it appears from De Richebourg's memoir that the Koroa chiefs 

 had had the murderers killed in reparation for the injury.'' De la 

 Vente states that, about 1704, all of this tribe except the chief and 

 a few persons who were absent were destroyed by the Illinois and 

 Quapaw,*^ but the completeness of their victory is evidently much 

 exaggerated. It was perhai)s at this time, however, that the Koroa 

 moved back permanently upon the Yazoo, to be nearer their allies, 

 the Yazoo and Chickasaw. At any rate^ Charlevoix, in 1721,'^ and 

 Poisson, in 1727,'' found the Koroa, Yazoo, and Ofo living on that 

 river, either in one village or in three small villages close together. 

 Du Pratz (1718-1730) seems to locate the Koroa village next above 

 that of the Yazoo, and places the number of their cabins at 10.'^ In 

 1729, on the outbreak of the third Natchez war, this tribe united 

 with the Yazoo in murdering the Jesuit missionary' Seuel and mas- 

 sacring the garrison of St. Peter." Le Petit states that in the 

 following year the Koroa, while retreating to the Chickasaw with 

 their French captives, were fallen upon on the way by the Chak- 

 chiuma and some Choctaw, who took 18 scalps and released some 

 French women and their children. " Some time afterward," he adds, 

 "they were again attacked by a party of Akensas, who took from 



"Margry, Decoiivertes, v, 4.58-459. ''French, Hist. Coll. La., 13S-1.39, 18.5L 



"French, Hist. Coll. La., 246, 1851. " Jes. Rel., Lxvii, 317. 



'' De la Veato, letter of Sept. 20, 1704, f Du Pratz, Hist de La Louisiane, ii, 226. 



Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. de's Amer., " See pp. 229-230. 



15th sess., I, 36. 



