162 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOCY [bull. 73 
number of their settlements are inundated during the high waters for from eight to 
ten days. The village of the Tohomes, that is to say of the Little Chief, where there 
are about eight or ten cabins together, is at about the latitude of 31 degrees 22 minutes. 
They have communicating trails from one to another; that place may be six and a 
half leagues to the north a quarter northeast from the post. Following the rising 
grounds one comes easily to these villages; it would be easy to make wagon roads; 
one can go there and return at present on horseback. The ebb and flow come as far 
as the Tohomes when the waters are low. According to the number of settlements, 
which I have seen abandoned this river must have been well peopled. These savages 
speak the language of the Bayogoulas, at least there is little difference. There are 
in these two nations 350 men. 1 
Penicaut mentions the arrival of the chiefs of several nations of 
Indians at the Mobile fort in 1702 to sing the calumet, and among 
them those of "the Mobiliens, the Thomez, and the people of the 
Forks [the Naniaba]." 2 The following further translation from 
Penicaut contains some interesting information regarding the tribes 
with which we are dealing: 
At this time five of our Frenchmen asked permission of M. de Bienville to go to 
trade with the Alibamons in order to have fowls or other provisions of which they had 
need. They took the occasion to leave with ten of these Alibamons, who were at 
our fort of Mobile and who wished to return. On the way they stopped five leagues 
from our fort in a village where were three different nations of savages assembled, 
who held their feast there. They are called the Mobiliens, the Tomez and the Nama- 
bas; they do not have a temple, but they have a cabin in which they perform feats 
of jugglery. 
To juggle (jongler), in their language, is a kind of invocation to their great spirit. 
For my part, and I have seen them many times, I think that it is the devil whom 
they invoke, since they go out of this cabin raving like those possessed, and then 
they work sorceries, like causing to walk the skin of an otter, dead for more than two 
years, and full of straw. They work many other sorceries which would appear incredi- 
ble to the reader. This is why I do not want to stop here. I would not even mention 
it if I, as well as many other Frenchmen who were present there with me, had not 
been witness of it. Those who perform such feats, whether they are magical or other- 
wise, are very much esteemed by the other savages. They have much confidence 
in their prescriptions for diseases. 
They have a feast at the beginning of September, in which they assemble for a 
custom like that of the ancient Lacedemonians, it is that on the day of this feast 
they whip their children until the blood comes. The entire village is then assembled 
in one grand open space. It is necessary that all pass, boys and girls, old and young, 
to the youngest age, and when there are some children sick, the mother is whipped 
for the child. After that they begin dances, which last all night. The chiefs and the 
old men make an exhortation to those whipped, telling them that it is in order to 
teach them not to fear the injuries which their enemies may be able to inflict upon 
them, and to show themselves good warriors, and not to cry nor weep, even in the 
midst of the fire, supposing that they were thrown there by their enemies. 3 
Penicaut goes on to say that four of the five prospective traders 
were treacherously killed by Alabama Indians when close to their 
1 Iberville, in Margry, iv, pp. 513-014. For the Bayogoulas see Bull. 43, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 274-279. 
2 Margry. v,p.425. 
» Penicaut, in Margry, v, pp. 427-428. 
