Hinta-Sak: A home of the Adais Indians.
This drawing of a Caddo hinta-sak, or house, was made from the description of an eye-witness, Gonzado Quadrado Charmillo, one of the chroniclers of the De Soto expedition which visited the El Camino Real area in 1540.
This Indian home was that of the Adais tribe near Robeline, La. of the Caddo Federation. It was made of cypress poles and cane interlaced with vines and daubed with a mixture of mud and moss. The roof was covered with alligator skins which had been treated with bees-wax to make it more impervious to rain. The broad leaves of the cat-tail plant were inserted in the mud to prevent erosion from rain. Thus the Spanish called the place toaille, a deprecatory description of a house built of tules. (Drawing by the author)
Top view of hinta-sak showing frame work and construction (Drawn by the author)
The Jumas, traders of the Caddo Indians, were also linguists and it would not have been impossible for them to distinguish the difference of the French and Spanish languages. The same Jumas of the Caddos traveled all of the Caddo trails. The Old Buffalo Trail extending from the Trinity River in Texas to the Red River in Louisiana was now considered part of the Caddo trail system.
In 1690 in the early spring De Tonty, “The Iron Hand,” was among the Adais Indians and the Natchitoches Indians. He, too, went as far as the Trinity River in Texas, but there his guides refused to go further; he gave up his search for LaSalle. In the same year the Joutel Party found the Buffalo Trail beginning at the Trinity River. There among the Hasinai they learned of the Frenchman with the iron hand. They followed the Caddo trail and finally came in contact with De Tonty among the Arkansas Indians. Strangely enough, De Tonty actually came within one days march of finding the Joutel Party.
1690-1691
From the missions south to the Trinity River came the report of two French patrols in the vicinity of the Hainais which also coincided with the report of Don Alonzo De Leon.
Late in 1690 the Don Domingo Teran Del Rios’ expedition left Mexico, and scouted the complete area of the Caddo and Hasinai Federations of Indians; Teran listed the four tribes of the Hasinai as Bidia, Nabadache, Nadaco and the Nacogdoches. Of the Caddos were the Ais, the Adais, the Natchitoches, the Koasatas; he missed the Pedicaddo but listed the Caddoquopois near present day Fulton, Arkansas. He was the first white leader to sight Lake Bistineau. It is believed that the location Father Massinetes, who was with this expedition, established was La Mission Loretteto, near present day Ringgold, Louisiana.