SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 337 



THE CHITIMACHA 



Gatschet derives this term either from T cu' ti-ima' ca., ' those having 

 cooking vessels,' « which seems a strange name for one tribe to apply 

 to another, or from Ce'ti^ their name for Grand river. At the present 

 day they call themselves Panic finanha'nc^ 'men altogether red/ 



Under the name " Toiitymascha " they appear as one of fonr tribes 

 living westward of the Mississippi, with which Iberville made an 

 alliance shortly after his arrival on the Louisiana coast.* He usually 

 couples their name with that of another, called '' Yagueneschito " 

 (Margry, iv, 155), '' Magenesito " (Margry, iv, 172), " Yagenechito " 

 (Margry. iv, 184), and '' Yaguenechitons " (La Harpe, Jour. Hist., 

 98, 1831). This is plainly the Mobilian and Choctaw Yahna-tcito, 

 ' Big-country.' It is possible that it Avas applied to the Atakapa, but 

 if not it probably referred to a division of the Chitimacha. Nothing 

 is heard of it after the reference in La Harpe for 1706 given below. 



Perhaps owing to their hostile reception at the hands of the Washa 

 in 1690,^ the French appear to have made no attempt to reach the 

 villages of the Chitimacha in early times, and Ave hear little of 

 them until 1706. In August of that year the Taensa, having 

 treacherously massacred the Bayogoula, with whom they had taken 

 refuge, invited " many families of the Chitimacha and Yague- 

 nechiton nations, dwellers on the lakes, to come to eat the corn 

 of the Bayagoulas, and by means of this ruse they had surprised 

 many of these savages, whom they had carried away as slaves."'^ 

 Late the same year a war party of Chitimacha, who are said to 

 have been disappointed in an attempt against the Bayogoula, dis- 

 covered St. Cosme, missionary to the Natchez, and three other 

 Frenchmen encamped on the banks of the Mississippi and killed 

 them all. News of this reached Biloxi on the 1st day of January 

 through M. Berguier, grand vicar of Quebec, Avho had learned of 

 it, during his descent from the Illinois country, from a little slave 

 belonging to St. Cosme Avho had escaped. Immediately Bienville 

 sent presents to all the nations along the lower Mississippi to in- 

 duce them to declare war against the offending tribe,"" and in March 

 a party of 20 Bayogoula, 15 Biloxi, 40 Chawasha, 4 Natchitoches, 

 and 7 Frenchmen started for the Chitimacha country.'^ Guided by 

 the Chawasha, they crept upon a Chitimacha village by a small 

 lake early in the morning and surprised the inhabitants, killing, 

 according to Penicaut, 15 and Avounding 40 men, Avomen, and chil- 

 dren. Many prisoners Avere also brought back to INIobile, ;imong 



"Trans. Anthrop. Soc. Wash., ii, 2, I880. 



* Margry, Decouvertes, iv, 155. 



'■ See p. 298. 



" La Harpe, Jour. Hist., 08, 1831. 



« La Harpe, .Tour. Hist., 101. Penicaut erroneously places the event in 1703. 



f So La Harpe. Penicaut says 200 savages and 10 Frenchmen. 



S3220— Bull. 43—10 22 



