The History of Louisiana, Or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina / Containing a Description of the Countries That Lie on Both Sides of the River Missisippi

by Le Page du Pratz

This war, of which I shall give no further detail, lasted only four days. M. de Biainville demanded the head of an old mutinous Chief of this village; and the natives, in order to obtain a peace, delivered him up.

I happened to live at some distance from the village of the Apple, and very seldom saw any of the people. Such as lived nearer had more frequent visits from them; but after this war, and the peace which followed upon it, I never saw one of them. My neighbours who lived nearer to them saw but a few of them, even a long time after the conclusion of the war. The natives of the other villages came but very seldom among us; and indeed, if we could have done well without them, I could have wished to have been rid of them for ever. But we had neither a flesh nor a fish-market; therefore, without them, we must have taken up with what the poultry-yard and kitchen-garden furnished; which would have been extremely inconvenient.

I one day stopped the Stung Serpent, who was passing without taking notice of any one. He was brother to the Great Sun, and Chief of the Warriors of the Natchez. I accordingly called to him, and said, "We were formerly friends, are we no longer so?" He answered, Noco; that is, I cannot tell. I replied, "You used to come to my house; at present you pass by. Have you forgot the way; or is my house disagreeable to you? As for me, my heart is always the same, both towards you and all my friends. I am not capable of changing, why then are you changed?"

He took some time to answer, and seemed to be embarrassed by what I said to him. He never went to the fort, but when sent for the Commandant, who put me upon sounding him; in order to discover whether his people still retained any grudge.

He at length broke silence, and told me, "he was ashamed to have been so long without seeing me; but I imagined," said he, "that you were displeased at our nation; because among all the French who were in the war, you were the only one that fell upon us." "You are in the wrong," said I, "to think so. M. de Biainville being our War-chief, we are bound to obey him; in like manner as you, though a Sun, are obliged to kill, or cause to be killed, whomsoever your brother, the Great Sun orders to be put to death. Many other Frenchmen, besides me, sought an opportunity to attack your countrymen, in obedience to the orders of M. de Biainville; and several other Frenchmen fell upon the nearest hut, one of whom was killed by the first shot which the Natchez fired."

He then said: "I did not approve, as you know, the war our people made upon the French to avenge the death of their relation, seeing I made them carry the pipe of peace to the French. This you well know, as you first smoked in the pipe yourself. Have the French two hearts, a good one today, and tomorrow a bad one? As for my brother and me, we have but one heart and one word. Tell me then, if thou art, as thou sayest, my true friend, what thou thinketh of all this, and shut thy mouth to every thing else. We know not what to think of the French, who, after having begun the war, granted a peace, and offered it of themselves; and then at the time we were quiet, believing ourselves to be at peace, people come to kill us, without saying a word."

"Why," continued he, with an air of displeasure, "did the French come into our country? We did not go to seek them: they asked for land of us, because their country was too little for all the men that were in it. We told them they might take land where they pleased, there was enough for them and for us; that it was good the same sun should enlighten us both, and that we would walk as friends in the same path; and that we would give them of our provisions, assist them to build, and to labour in their fields. We have done so; is not this true? What occasion then had we for Frenchmen? Before they came, did we not live better than we do, seeing we deprive ourselves of a part of our corn, our game, and fish, to give a part to them? In what respect, then, had we occasion for them? Was it for their guns? The bows and arrows which we used, were sufficient to make us live well. Was it for their white, blue, and red blankets? We can do well enough with buffalo skins, which are warmer; our women wrought feather-blankets for the winter, and mulberry-mantles for the summer; which indeed were not so beautiful; but our women were more laborious and less vain than they are now. In fine, before the arrival of the French, we lived like men who can be satisfied with what they have; whereas at this day we are like slaves, who are not suffered to do as they please."

To this unexpected discourse I know not what answer another would have made; but I frankly own, that if at my first address he seemed to be confused, I really was so in my turn. "My heart," said I to him, "better understands thy reasons than my ears, though they are full of them; and though I have a tongue to answer, my ears have not heard the reasons of M. de Biainville, to tell them thee: but I know it was necessary to have the head he demanded, in order to a peace. When our Chiefs command us, we never require the reasons: I can say nothing else to thee. But to shew you that I am always your real friend, I have here a beautiful pipe of peace, which I wanted to carry to my own country. I know you have ordered all your warriors to kill some white eagles, in order to make one, because you have occasion for it. I give it you without any other design than to shew you that I reckon nothing dear to me, when I want to do you a pleasure."

I went to look for it, and I gave it him, telling him, that it was without design; that is, according to them, from no interested motive. The natives put as great a value on a pipe of peace as on a gun. Mine was adorned with tinsel and silver wire: so that in their estimation my pipe was worth two guns. He appeared to be extremely well pleased with it; put it up hastily in his case, squeezed my hand with a smile, and called me his true friend.

The winter was now drawing to a close, and in a little time the natives were to bring us bear-oil to truck. I hoped that by his means I should have of the best preferably to any other; which was the only compensation I expected for my pipe. But I was agreeably disappointed. He sent me a deer-skin of bear-oil, so very large that a stout man could hardly carry it, and the bearer told me, that he sent it to me as his true friend, without design. This deer-skin contained thirty-one pots of the measure of the country, or sixty-two pints Paris measure.