2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



Two maps, redrawn by DeBatz from sketches by Indians, were 

 reproduced in Journal dc la Societe des Americanist cs de Paris, 

 Nouvelle Serie, Tome XIII, Fasc. i. Paris, 192 1. The two drawings 

 by DeBatz are now in the National Archives, Paris. Dated Alobile, 

 September 7, 1737. 



His name has not been discovered in any of the numerous manu- 

 scripts relating to the troubles with the Natchez, Chickasaw, or other 

 tribes with whom the French came in contact during the years men- 

 tioned. The few drawings known to exist prove him to have been a 

 careful observer and to have been interested in the manners and cus- 

 toms of the Indians. His sketches are crude but graphic. The draw- 

 ings now reproduced for the first time are the earliest known to have 

 been made in Lower Louisiana, and they are likewise believed to be 

 the oldest pictures existing of members of the Acolapissa, Atakapa, 

 Choctaw, Fox, Illinois, and Tunica tribes. 



The paper has turned yellow with age but the colors remain clear 

 and bright, and many details are shown with great exactness, some 

 of which, unfortunately, are lost in the photographs. 



The work of DeBatz in the lower Mississippi A alley compares with 

 that of Jacques Lemoyne de Morgues in Florida, and of John White 

 in Virginia, during the latter part of the i6th century. And although 

 the drawings were made by DeBatz at a much later day, the natives 

 with whom he came in contact were no less primitive in their manners 

 and ways of life ; consequently the three groups of pictures are of 

 equal interest and importance. The six pictures now reproduced are 

 in the private collection of the author. 



Petition (5202) dated Jan. 24, 1735. Signed DeBatz. 



