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LETTER XXX. 



Voyage from the Akanfas to the Natchez, De- 

 fcription of the Country. Of the River of the 

 Yafous. Of the Cufioms, Manners, and Re- 

 ligion of the Natchez. 



At the Natchez, December 25, 172 r. 



Madam, 



I Set out from the village of the Ouyapes on the 

 third of December, fomewhat late in the even- 

 ing ; I however pitched my tent that night a little 

 below the firft mouth of the river of the Akanfas, 

 which feems to be about five hundred paces in 

 breadth. Next day I pafTed the fecond, which is 

 very narrow, and, on the fifth, pufhed as far as 

 the Point e Coupe, or Cut Point. This was a pret- 

 ty high point, which run out into the river on the 

 "Weft fide, and which the river has cut fo that it is 

 become an ifland •, but the new channel is not, as 

 yet, navigable, unlefs when the waters are high. 

 From this place to the principal branch of the 

 river of the Akanfas, are reckoned two and twenty 

 leagues, but there cannot be above ten in a ftreight 

 line ; for the river is very ferpentine, during the 

 fpace of feventy leagues, which mult be traverfed 



in 



