s wanton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 161 
On leaving Pascagoula, Iberville selected two of his men to go, 
with the chief of that nation and his brother, to the Choctaw, Tohome, 
and Mobile, sending the chief of each nation a present and inviting 
them to come and enter into relations of friendship with him. 1 His 
people returned in May, having gone as far as the village of the Tohome, 
but they had turned back there on account of the high waters.- In 
the winter of 1700-1701 Bienville sent to the Mobile Indians for 
com. 3 In January, 1702, after Iberville had reached Louisiana on 
his third voyage, he sent Bienville to begin work upon a fort on 
Mobile River, and soon afterwards followed him in person. This 
fort, as Hamilton informs us, was located at what is now known 
as Twenty-seven Mile Bluff. 4 On March 4 he sent his brother "to 
visit many abandoned settlements of the savages, in the islands 
which are in the neighborhood of this place. " He continues as follows : 
My brother returned in the evening. He noted many places formerly occupied by 
the savages, which the war against the Conchaque and Alibamons has forced them 
to abandon. The greater number of these settlements are inundated about half a foot 
when the waters are high. These habitations are in the islands, with which this river 
is full for thirteen leagues. He made a savage show him the place where their gods 
are, of which all the nations in the neighborhood tell so many stories, and where the 
Mobilians come to offer sacrifices. They pretend that one can not touch them without 
dying immediately; that they are descended from heaven. It was necessary to give a 
gun to the savage who showed the place to them. He approached them only stealthily 
and to within ten paces. They found them by searching on a little rise in the canes, 
near an ancient village which was destroyed, in one of these islands. They brought 
them out. They are five figures: of a man, a woman, a child, a bear, and an owl, made 
in plaster so as to look like the savages of this country. For my part I think that it was 
some Spaniard who, at the time of Soto made in plaster the figures of these savages. 
It appeared that that had been done a long time ago. We have them at the establish- 
ment; the savages, who see them there, are surprised at our hardihood and that we do 
not die. I am bringing them to France although they are not much of a curiosity. 5 
Five days later Iberville left to visit the Tohome, and he gives us 
the following account of his trip: 
The 9th I left in a felucca to go to the Tohomes. I spent the night five leagues 
from there: one finds the end of the islands three leagues above the post. From the 
post I have found almost everywhere, on both sides, abandoned settlements of the 
savages, where it is only necessary to place settlers, who would have only canes or 
reeds, or roots, to cut in order to sow; the river, above the islands, is half a league 
wide and five to six fathoms deep. 
The 10th I spent the night with the Tohomes, whom I found eight leagues distant 
from the post, following the windings of the river. The first settlements, called 
[those of the] Mobiliens, are six leagues from it. These two nations are established 
along the two banks of the river and in the islands and little rivers, separated by 
families; sometimes there are four or five and sometimes as many as twelve cabins 
together. They are very industrious, working the earth very much. The greater 
i Margry, D<5c, iv, p. 427. < Hamilton, Col. Mobile, p. 52. 
» Ibid., p. 429. e Iberville, in Margry, iv, pp. 512-513. 
Ubid.. p. 504. 
1 18061 °— 22 11 
