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river, and camped about six miles below the town 

 of Natchitoches, near the river, by the side of a 

 small lake of clear water, and erected a mound 

 of earth, of considerable size, where it now re- 

 mains. Monsieur Saint Dennie, a French Can- 

 adian, was then commandant at Natchitoches; 

 the Indians called him the Big Foot, were fond 

 of him, for he was a brave man. Saint Dennie, 

 with a few French soldiers, and what militia he 

 could muster, joined by the Natchitoches Indians, 

 attacked the Natchez Indians in their camp, 

 early in the morning ; they defended themselves 

 desperately for six hours, but were at length to- 

 tally defeated, and what were not killed in bat- 

 tle, were drove into the lake, were the last of 

 them perished, and the Natchez, as a nation, be- 

 came extinct. This lake is now called Natchez 

 lake. Since that time the Natchitoches nation have 

 decreased, until their remains only twelve men, 

 and nineteen women, who live in a village about 

 twenty-five miles above the town, near a lake 

 called by the French Lac de Muire. The small 

 pox has been their great destroyer. Their ori- 

 ginal language is the same as the Yattassee, but 

 speak Caddo and French. The French inhabit- 

 ants highly respect this nation, and a number of 

 decent families have a mixture of their blood in 

 them. They still preserve their Indian dress, 

 and habits ,* raise corn and the other vegetablss 

 common in their neighbourhood. 



