312 An Hijîorîcal yournal of 



I faw in the Garden of the Sieur le Noir, chief Clerk, vefjr 



Cotton Indi o Cotton on the Tree, and a little lower 



0 on, igo* begin to fee fome wild Indigo, They 



jiave not yet made a Trial of it ; but it is very likely that it 

 will turn out as well as that they found in the Ifland of St, Do- 

 mingo, which is as much efteemed there as that which is brought 

 from other Places. And furthermore, Experience teaches us 

 that the Soil which naturally produces Indigo, is very lit to 

 bear any foreign Sort that one chufes to fow in it. 



The great Village of the Natchez is at prefent reduced to a 

 Defcrittion of ^^^^ Cabins. The Reafon which I 



the Villate ^^^^^ Savages, from whom 



J .1 cr J ^ t^e Great Chief has a Right to take all they 

 ma the Temple of . . r r i,* \. \ 



/i^f Natchez, ^ . .\ ' 



therefore many Villages of this Nation have' 



been formed at fome Diflance from this. The Tioiix, their Al- 

 lies and our's, have aîfo fettled a Village in their Neighbour- 

 iiood. 



The Cabins of the great Village of the Natchez, the only 

 one I faw, are in the Shape of a fquare Pavillion, very lov/, 

 and . without Windows ; the Top is rounded much like an 

 Oven : The greatell: Part are covered with the Leaves and Stalks 

 of Maiz ; fome are built of Clay mixed with cut Straw, which 

 feemed to me to be tolerably ftrong, and which were covered 

 within and without with very thin Mats. That of the Great 

 Chief is very neatly plaiftered in the Infide : It is alfo larger 

 and higher than the reft, placed on a Spot fomething elevated, 

 and Hands alone, no other Building adjoining to it on any Side. It 

 fropts the North, with a large open Place before it, which is not 

 of the moft regular Figure. All the Furniture I found in it was a 

 narrow Couch of Boards, ralfed about two or three Feet from the 

 Ground. Probably when the Great Chief wants to lie down, 

 he fpreads a Mat upon it; orTome Skin. 



There was not a Soul in the Village : All the People were 

 gone to a neighbouring Village, where there was a Feaft, and 

 all the Doors were open ; but there was nothing to fear from 

 Thieves, for there was nothing to be fèen any where but the bare 

 Walls. Thefe Cabins have no Vent for the Smoke, neverthe- . 

 lefs, all thofe which I entered, were white enough. The Tem- 

 ple is very near the Great Chief's Cabin, turned towards 

 the Eaft, and at the End of the open Place, It is compofed of 

 Ùe fame Materials as the Cabins, but its Shape is different -, it 

 is a long Square, about forty Feet by twenty wide, with a Côm- 

 mon Roof, in Shape like our's. At the two Ends there is to Ap- 

 pearance like two Weather-cocks of Wood, which reprefent very 

 îndifferentlv two Eagles. 



The 



