Part 3 - Chapter 3

The French in the Mississippi Valley and Gulf Area. 

The settlement of New France (Canada) began in the early part of the seventeenth century. By the latter quarter of the century, explorers were heading south and south-west to find a transcontinental water route to the Pacific ocean. However, as expansion and exploration in Virginia had been alternately favored and curtailed by the English Crown, so had the attempts of the French been governed by the French Crown. Exploration by the French outside of their settlements in New France was to be sporadic until the end of the century.

In 1673, Louis Joliet and the Catholic Missionary Father Jacques Marquette were sent to explore the waterways in order to discover the "South Sea." They explored the upper branches of the Mississippi River and traveled south on the Mississippi River to its junction with the Arkansas River.

Father Marquette, in his journal of the voyage, left a few descriptions of the Indians through whose territory he traveled. Even though these Indians are not considered as belonging to the Southeast Ceremonial Complex, they are important for they are contiguous to it. In addition, the tribes of the southeast were fluid during the next few centuries and bands of them moved throughout the area. This movement affected all aspects of their material culture.

The two groups of Indians that Joliet described lived within the area of the Chickasaw, in the tri-state junction of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

The first group of Indians that Marquette saw were those that lived near the mouth of the Ouabouskigou. This river was identified as the Wabash and the Ohio while the bluffs above the mouth of it are identified as the Chickasaw Bluffs.1 Geographically, this description spans a lot of territory. Authorities state that these Indians were probably the Monsoupeleas.2 Swanton stated that they were later known as the Ofo or Ofogoulas Indians.3 However, Hodge in The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, does not mention this relationship, and the notes to volume 59 of The Jesuit Relations an Other Allied Documents state that these Indians could have been Tuscaroras.4 If Swanton's statement is true, these Indians were part of the Siouan linguistic family as were the Quapaw.5

Marquette wrote that:

"They have guns, hatchets, hoes, Knives, beads, and flasks of double glass, in which they put Their powder. They wear Their hair long, and tattoo their bodies after the Hiroquois [Iroquois] fashion. The women wear head-dresses and garments like those of the Huron women."6

The next group of Indians that they encountered were the Michigamea who also lived further north by northwest. However, Marquette does not describe their dress. The last group of Indians that they saw before turning north was the Akamsea, also known as the Quapaw.7 These Indians were prohibited from trading with the Europeans by other bands of Indians who barred their way.8

"The men go naked, and wear Their hair short; they pierce their noses, from which, as well as from Their ears hang beads. The women are clad in wretched skins; they knot Their hair in two tresses which they throw behind their ears, and have no ornaments with which to adorn themselves."9

The influence of the French on the Indians of the Mississippi River Valley was not to become apparent for about a decade since Father Marquette did not establish any missions in the area.10

The next major exploration of the Mississippi River did not occur until the latter part of the seventeenth century when Sieur [Monsieur or Mister] Robert Cavelier de La Salle started his explorations that would lead him and his team to the Gulf of Mexico and contact with the Indian tribes that lived around and west of the Mississippi River. The ones that he and his compatriots visited and described were the Taensa, Houmas, Bayogoula, Mugulasha, Biloxi, Natchez, and those divisions of the Caddoan linguistic family.

The people who journeyed with La Salle and kept records were: Henri de Tonty, his lieutenant; Missionary Fathers - Zenobius Membré, Louis Hennepin, Anastasius Douay, and Christian LeClercq; Henri Joutel; and his brother Jean Cavelier.

   Costume Plate # 9
   A Jesuit Missionary
09jesuit missionary sm.jpg (7236 bytes)
Some of the material that dealt with the customs and culture of the Indians has been proven, over time, to be inaccurate. Since Hennepin has been accused of plagiarism and exaggeration and Tonty disavowed some of his material after it was incorrectly printed, only material that fits the historical pattern will be used and these controversies will not be discussed. However, when an unusual mode of dress is described by an author whose work is contextually and historically consistent, that mode of dress will be included and the difference noted.

With the wealth of information presented by all these writers, very little concerns the dress and adornment of the southern tribes. Hennepin, early in his book A New Discovery .....with a Continuation giving an account of the attempt of the Sieur de La Salle etc., provided a comparison of the northern Indians with the southern Indians. In the comparison, Hennepin described how the French Missionaries needed to instill in the natives the feeling of bodily shame. This aspect is important to the development of dress especially in those regions populated heavily with European missionaries.

"The boys [of the north] go stark naked till they are capable of marriage, and even when they are clothed, those parts which nature forbids men to discover are always left uncovered at least if they have no shirts."11

Thus to these missionaries, even a bare chest was something to be considered shameful.

The next discussion involved the modesty of young girls. This will give even more of an understanding of how the missionaries tried to influence the Indians and teach them shame.

"The girls [of the north] begin to put on clothes at five or six years old, and then they wear a piece of stuff12 that goes round [th]em reaching from their loins down to their knees. When we went into their cabins to instruct them, we obliged them to cover themselves. This produced a good effect; now they begin to be ashamed of their nakedness and cover themselves a little better than they did formerly."13

It is hard to know, in this case, whether Hennepin was stating that they should cover themselves completely or only "gird their loins" for earlier in the text, he stated that the adult Indians went naked in their houses except for a piece of cloth around their middle in the winter.14

Hennepin was horrified how the female gender in the south appeared. They were new to constant missionary influence even if many had had dealings with the Spanish missionaries.

"'Tis otherwise with the women and girls of Louisiana and Mississippi which be southwest of Canada above a thousand leagues from Quebec. There we see the girls in puris naturalis, just as they came out of their mother's belly, [un]til they arrive at a fit age to marry. Meantime they are not at all ashamed because they are used to it."15

The Indians that can be considered to be of the southeast described by members of La Salle's party lived on or near the Mississippi river within the 34-28 degree latitude and to about the Trinity river in Texas. The tribes that lived near the perimeters of these geographic boundaries are considered, by some authorities, to be marginal to the southeast. However, since tribes moved frequently and sometimes merged with each other during the historic period, any tribe within these boundaries had a potential effect on the dress and adornment of another tribe.

The tribes noted by name during the exploration of the 1680's were: the Chickasaws of the Muskhogean linguistic group; the Quapaw of the Siouan linguistic group; the Tunica of the Tonikan linguistic group; the Koroa, possible related to the Tonika; the Natchez and Taensa of the Natchesan linguistic family; the Acolapissa, "an indefinite group of Choctaw lineage"16; and the various nations of the Caddoan linguistic group, especially the Caddo and the Cenis.17

Very little is written about the Chickasaws even though all of these explorers came in contact with them. All Tonty remarked about then was that they practiced the custom of head flattening, as did many of the southern tribes, so that their heads appeared "as big as a large soup plate"18.

While Hodge in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, equates all the various spellings of Arkansas Indians under the description of the Quapaw, Francis Parkman in his book about La Salle states that the Indian nation is called the Arkansas and the Quapaw or Cappas are a tribe of the Arkansas Nation.19

The only mention of the dress of the Quapaw at the town of "Cappa" (also spelled Kappa) dealt with their ceremonial dress.

"Accordingly at about ten in the morning the warriors and youth came together to dance. They were dressed after their best manner, some of them wearing plumes of several colors, wherewith they adorn their heads; others, instead of feathers, had two bullocks' horns, and were all besmeared with clay, or black and red, so that they really looked like a company of devils or monsters..."20

The Taensa tribe and the closely associated Natchez Indians were described by most of the men who accompanied La Salle. Two versions of the same event are attributed to Tonty. It is stated by some authorities that the published version was rendered inaccurate by an unsolicited "ghost writer" at the time of publication. Thomas Falconer in 1844 published what, according to him, was Tonty's original memoir. This version concurs with the one used by Cox in 1905.21 The different versions as they relate to the dress of the Taensa vary slightly and will be noted. The following quotations are from the published version. Upon entering the "Prince's Palace" his bed or thrown was said to have been covered with "curtains of fine stuff, made and woven of the bark of the Mulberry tree."22

Before examining the longer quotation in regards to the dress of the Taensa nobility, it is important to note that nettles and the rind from the Linden tree and the bark of the Line or Mulberry tree were used by the Southern Indians to make thread.23 They, also, used thorns to fasten together their garments.24

"We saw the prince of this people upon this bed, as upon his thrown, in the middle of four handsome women and encompassed with 60 old men armed with bows & arrows. They were clothed with very fine white garments' that of the prince was adorned with certain tufts of wool of different colors. The rest were all plain. The prince had upon his head, a diadem of woven rushes very curiously wrought and enriched with large pearls and raised with a plume of various feathers; all that were about him were bare headed. The women were dressed in clothes of the same stuff. they had upon their heads little rush hats adorned with several feathers and had necklaces of pearl, and fine ear-pendants of the same. They had bracelets of woven hair and several other jewels which set off their attire."25

The original memoir described the Taensa "nobility's" dress much less ostentatiously.

"I [Tonty] was much less surprised when, on entering, I saw the chief seated on a camp bed, with three of his wives at his side, surrounded by more than 60 old men, clothed in large white cloaks, which are made by the women out of the bark of the mulberry tree, and are tolerably well worked. The women were clothed in the same manner."26

In the original memoir there is no mention of diadems, hats, wool decoration etc. The dress of both the prince and his attendants is very plain. The differences in the texts are consistent with the expectations of the European readers' for the exotic.

Although the different narratives vary, not only those attributed to a single writer but between authors, the use of "a white robe or blanket made of the bark of a tree [mulberry] which they spin in that country"27 is a constant.

Minet, also, a member of La Salles's party, was possibly the only one of the Frenchman to described two very different Indian groups: the Courroua (Koroa) and the Quinipissa (Acolapiss). The Koroa, he stated were very similar to the Taensa in life-style. He stated that they had:

"dresses or blankets made with a sort of cotton. This resembles the hammocks of the Islands. That is what they cover themselves with, tying it with a large white cord that has large loops at the end, which they tie. They also have dresses of deer skins..."28

The cotton material that he described was probably material made from the bark of the mulberry tree because he also attributed a similar cotton garment to the Chief of the Taensa's. This latter garment was stated by others to have been made from the bark of the mulberry tree. Since he stated that the material resembled hammocks, it was probably loosely twined.

Minet, also, referred to a garment worn by the Qinipissa's. He stated that this garment was "a dress or covering made of the down from the turkey."29 He was probably describing the feather mantles that were prevalent throughout the southeast.

The last tribes discussed by the writers associated with La Salle were those of the Caddoan linguistic family of which the Caddo represent a division and the Hasinai or Cenis; Kadohadacho, Natchitches, Adai, and Eyeish represent subdivisions of the Caddo division.30

The two subdivisions of the Caddo division that the "La Salle" narrators described the most fully were the Kadohadacho (Cadadoches Cadadoquis etc.) and the Hasinai (Cenis).

Joutel left many descriptions of the Cenis in his journals about the La Salles's voyages. These journals appear in different forms. Most of the current ones that are in print and in English are from Mitchel's French abridgements of the text.31 These differ from the one found in Margry III. The editions that were used in this text are: The 1966 Readex Microprint of the 1714 English Edition in which the individual who organized the original printing of this book admits that he had it "polished" a little;32 Volume II of The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle by Dr. Isaac Cox; and Margry's Découvertes III. The differences will be noted where these discrepancies are critical to an understanding of dress and adornment.

The basic dress of these Indians was not very different from those in other areas of the southeast.

"The country of those Indians being generally subject to no cold, almost all of them go naked, unless when the north wind blows; then they cover themselves with a bullock's hide or goat, cured. The women wear nothing but a skin, mat or clout, [Margry added that they, also, wore pieces of very coarse blue cloth.33] hanging round them like a petticoat, and reaching down halfway their legs, which hides their nakedness before and behind. On their heads they have nothing but their hair, platted and knotted behind."34

The Joutel narrative in Margry describes the forms of tattooing in more detail than those found in the 1714 edition or in Cox's narrative. Since M. R. Harrington used this version, also, to describe this form of bodily adornment in reference to the Caddo Indians of Arkansas, it can be speculated that the forms and methods were similar among other tribes of the Caddo linguistic family.

"These natives have a singular custom of tattooing their body, on which they make all sorts of figures, which are permanent. In doing this, after pricking the skin, they rub in charcoal ground very fine which makes the marks endure forever. Some men ornament themselves with birds and animals, others tattoo half the body with zigzag lines; the women tattoo their breasts with lines forming little compartments, very regular, and on their shoulders they have large flower figures like those on what we call Spanish lace."35

Another person to describe the Cenis Indians was Pierre Talon, a member of the French Talon family that sailed from France with La Salle aboard the ship, Aimable, which was lost in February, 1685. The Talons, along with others, remained on land near Baye du St. Esprit on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.36

When La Salle left for his last exploration he took eleven year old Pierre with him for the purpose of leaving him with the Cenis Indians in order to learn their language.37 Even though he remained with the Cenis for about three years, circumstances had changed because La Salle had been killed. In addition, the rest of the family, along with other Frenchmen, especially children, were captured by the Indians in the Fort Saint-Louis massacre.38

When the family was first captured, they were all tattooed on their faces, hands, arms, and on other places on their bodies. They described the method of tattooing. They [the Indians] make these tattoos with:

"charcoal of walnut wood, crushed and soaked. Then they [the Indians] insert this mixture between the flesh and the skin, making incisions with strong, sharp thorns, which causes them to suffer great pain. Thus, the dissolved carbon mixes with the blood and oozes from these incisions and forms indelible marks and characters on the skin."39

Adults, both Indian and captured Europeans who had been adopted into the tribe, were not the only ones to be tattooed. The Indians tattooed their own infants as soon as they were born. For this procedure, they liked to use European needles, and if no needles were available, they used pins.40 The Cenis, preferred to trade for pins and needles than for gold and silver. Pierre Talon saw them give away some gold Louis that had been La Salles's in exchange for needles, pins, a small knife, etc.41

Many of the Indians used tattoos to indicate tribal affiliation. They also tattooed adopted captives, as previously mentioned. They had tattooed the Talon children. This, according to the reports made by the Talon children years later, assured them of safety when travelling among other tribes.

These Talon children, when they were interrogated years later, noted that tattoos varied. For example The Cocos, a Karankawan band42, identified both sexes "by a small circle over each cheekbone, a horizontal line from the outer angle of the eye toward the ear, and three parallel lines from the lower lip to the chin."43 As has been described earlier, the Cenis identified its people by making a "straight line running from the top of the forehead and over the nose to the tip of the chin."44

The Atakapa Indians lived on the Gulf coast, south-east of the Cenis. Although these Atakapas lived beyond the geographic delineation of the tribes considered to be strictly of the southeast, an extremely graphic description of their method of tattooing was reported by the Spaniard Enríquez Barroto. Barroto had been sent on a reconnaissance mission along the Gulf coast by the governor of New Spain in 1687. Swanton believed the Atakapa were related to the Tunican stock.45 The tattooing had been done on a Spanish youth who had lived among the Atakapa Indians for several years.

"His face has tattoos like these Indians, with a black line that goes down the front to the end of his nose, another from the lower lip to the end of the chin, another small one next to each eye, and on each cheek, a black spot. Like the nose, the lips also are blackened, and the arms are painted with other markings. His clothing consisted of the deerskin that girded the waist, and the hair has a circular cut like a religious lay brother's, with one line going down the neck to encircle the breasts like the other Indians of this nation."46

Joutel felt that the Cenis women could have been attractive if they had refrained from tattooing themselves.

"The women are generally well shaped, and would not be disagreeable did they adhere to nature, but disguise themselves as ridiculously as the men, not only with the streak they have like them down their face, but other figures they make on it, at the corners of their eyes, and on other parts of their bodies, whereof they make more particular show of their bosom, and those who have the most are reckoned the handsomest, though that prickling of that part be extremely painful to them."47

The formal wear of the natives, differed from their daily garb. The tribal elders came to meet La Salle's party

"in their formalities, which consisted in some goats' skins dressed and painted of several colors, which they wore on their shoulders like belts, and plumes of feathers of several colors on their heads, like coronets. Six or seven of them had square sword blades, like the Spanish, on the hilts whereof they had fastened great plumes of feathers and several hawks' bells; some of them had clubs, which they called head-breakers; some only their bows and arrows; others bits of white linen, reaching from shoulder to shoulder. All their faces were daubed with black or red."48

Margry's description of the dress of the tribal elders differs from that found in the other versions. Firstly, he did not identify the skin that the elder's wore as goat's skin nor liken the garment to a belt that was worn over the shoulder; secondly, the feathers on their heads were likened to turbans that were painted of many colors and not coronets; thirdly, their faces were daubed with black, white, or red; and fourthly, they also had pieces of blue cloth which they had, in all probability, taken from the Spaniards. Margry did not make mention of any pieces of white linen worn across their shoulders.49

The Cenis and others who lived in the area of Texas had been in contact with the Spanish long before the French traveled south and southwest. According to Joutel, a Frenchman in La Salle's party encountered an Indian dressed in a similar manner to a Spaniard. He wore:

"a little doublet, the body whereof was of blue and the sleeves of white fustian [a stout twilled cotton cloth], as it were embroidered, with very straight breeches, white worsted stockings, woolen garters, a broad-brimmed, flat crowned hat, and long hair."50

This Indian's dress, as concluded from various narratives, must have been an exception to typical dress. It is interesting to note that the two Indians riding with the Indian in Spanish garb were "quite naked".51

Joutel also gave an example of two Europeans, Ruter and Grollet, who had lived with the Nasoni Indians and dressed as they did.52 The Nasoni Indians were part of the Caddoan family, and thus, were related to the Cenis.

"[Each of them had] only a clout about him, some Turkey Feathers on their Shoulders, their Heads and Feet bare. The latter of them whose name was Grollet, had not consented to have his Face mark'd like the other, nor to cut his hair after the Indian Manner; for those people cut off all theirs, except a small lock on the Crown of the Head, like the Turks, only some of them have small Tresses on the Temples."53

Margry added that the turkey feathers were held together through the use of little strings54, and Herbert Bolton in his book, The Hasinais, stated "that these feather garments were worn over the shoulder, probably like a blanket."55

Margry, in addition, expanded upon the description of the hair styles of the Cenis. He stated that the tresses at the temple were wrapped around a small piece of wood and that some of the Cenis did not cut their hair but wore it straight, coarse, and jet black.56

The Cadadoquis' way of life was heavily influenced by the use of the horse. To protect their horses, they covered their horses with multiple layers of skins. In addition, for riding they fashioned pointed saddles and wooden stirrups.57

According to Tonty, both sexes of the Cadadoquis tattooed themselves all over their bodies and faces.58 In addition, the women "adorn themselves with little locks of fine red hair, which they make fast to their ears in the nature of pendants".59

The women wear their hair "done up behind, but take great pains to part it in front."60

There are two versions that describe the men's hair styles; Harrington's is taken directly from Margry while both other narratives add another element. In both Cox's rendition and one from the year 1714, the men are supposed "to curl [locks of hair] like snails."61 All of the versions state that:

"The men have their hair cut short like Capuchins, and grease it, and when they have assemblies or feasts, they put on it swan or goose-down, colored red."62

This style must have been similar to that of the Spanish youth who had been captured by the Atakapa.

As described previously, by citing the dress of Ruter and Grollet, it can be concluded that the men of the Nasoni group of Cadodoquis wore breech clouts and feather capes. Harrington, also cites this example to describe their dress.63

Harrington confirmed the fact that Joutel did not mention the dress of the women of the Cadadoquis. He believed that they dressed:

"like their sisters in nearby tribes, with a short skirt of skin or woven stuff, which in cold weather was augmented by a piece of similar material over one shoulder and under the other, and when necessary by a robe."64

Harrington further stated that:

"Leggings and moccasins....of deerskin, were probably used by both sexes, especially in the winter."65

Approximately fifteen years would elapse until other Frenchmen, again, penetrated the territory of the lower Mississippi. These accompanied Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. Some, including Tonty, LeClercq, and Douay, had previously accompanied La Salle. Others were: Fathers Davion, Du Ru, St. Cosme, Gravier, De Montigny, Pénicaut, Officer Sauvole, and d'Iberville's brother, Bienville.

Even though many of these people lived with the Indians and kept journals of their experiences well into the eighteenth century, only the events that occurred before the area began to be consistently colonized and not just explored is being reported in this section dealing with the seventeenth century since it has been previously shown that the Indian's dress became modified upon contact with Europeans and European goods.

The narratives of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and the other Frenchmen who accompanied him will be discussed in the next section of the book that deals with the Indian, in the eighteenth century. These narratives will commence with the years 1698 and 1699 when d'Iberville set out to explore and colonize the area at the mouth of the Mississippi. These dates, according to many authorities, mark the beginning of the period of colonization of Southern Louisiana.66


1. Samuel Cole Williams, Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, p. 43.

2. Ibid., p. 44.

3. Swanton, BAE 137, p. 165.

4. Jesuit Relations and Other Allied Documents, volume 59, p. 312, Microcard M 00320 - FO-61, M217.

5. Swanton, BAE 43, p. 7.

6. Jesuit Relations and Other Allied Documents, volume 59, p. 101, Microcard M 00320 - FO-61, M217.

7. Hodge, BAE 30, volume 2, p. 1023.

8. Jesuit Relations and Other Allied Documents, volume 59, Microcard M 00320 - FO-61, M217, 155.

9. Ibid., p. 157.

10. Kenton, The Indians of North America, p. 510.

11. Hennepin, A New Discovery.......with a Continuation etc. p. 89. transcribed into modern English.

12. From Nouveau Voyage.... "bande d'etoffe" can also be translated "band of material".

13. Hennepin, A New Discovery.......with a Continuation etc. p. 89. transcribed into modern English.

14. Ibid., p. 85.

15. Ibid., p. 89.

16. Hodge, BAE 30, volume 1, p. 9.

17. These linguistic groups are defined by F.W. Hodge in BAE Bulletin #30, volumes 1 and 2.

18. Tonty, On the Discovery of the Mississippi..... edited by Thomas Falconer, p. 63.

19. Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, p. 300, note 2.

20. Isaac Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, volume 2, pp. 203-204 from Joutel's A Journal of the Last Voyage..... Also in Microprint Readex of A Journal of the Last Voyage.... by Joutel p. 160.

21. Isaac Cox (editor) The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, volume 1, p, 1.

22. Tonti, An Account of Monsieur de la Salle's Last Expedition.... London, 1698. (English has been modernized.) p. 85.

23. Hennepin, A Continuation .....p. 113.

24. Tonti, An Account of Monsieur de la Salle's Last Expedition.... London, 1698. (English has been modernized.) p. 89.

25. Ibid., p.86.

26. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, p. 21. and Falconer, On the Discovery of the Mississippi, p. 65.

27. John Gilmary Shea, A Description of Louisiana by Father Louis Hennepin, p. 348. He states that this quote is from Hennepin's Nouvelle Découverte but should be attributed to LeClercq. Note is found on page 348 of the above book.

28. Weddle, La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf, p. 52.

29. Ibid., p. 57.

30. For more information as to relationships in the Caddoan linguistic family, see Swanton BAE 137 and BAE 145.

31. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, p. 1 and in the foreword section of The facsimile Edition.

32. Facsimile edition, A Journal of the Last Voyage Perform'd by Monsr. de la Sale, p. II.

33. Margry, Découvertes, III, p. 349.

34. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, volume 2, pp. 141-2.

35. Harrington, Certain Caddo Sites in Arkansas, pp. 241-2. Originally from Margry, Découvertes, III, p. 349.

36. Weddle, La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf, p. 226.

37. Ibid., pp. 209-212.

38. Ibid., p. 213.

39. Ibid., 239.

40. Ibid., p. 254.

41. Ibid., p. 231.

42. A tribe that lived near Matagorda Bay according to Hodge, BAE 30, p. 657.

43. Weddle, La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf, p. 267.

44. Ibid., p. 267.

45. Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, pp. 197-198.

46. Weddle, La Salle, the Mississippi, and the Gulf, p. 180,

47. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, volume 2, p. 140.

48. Ibid., pp 135-136.

49. Margry, Découvertes, III, p. 341.

50. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de LaSalle, volume 2, p. 133.

51. Ibid., p. 134.

52. Bolton, in The Hasinais, p. 130. stated that Ruter and Grollet had lived with the Nasonis

53. Facsimile Edition of A Journal of the last Voyage Perform'd by Monsr. de la Sale, p. 119.

54. Margry, Découvertes, III, p. 353.

55. Bolton, Hasinais, p. 130.

56. Margry, Découvertes, III, p. 356.

57. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, volume 1, p. 55.

58. Ibid., volume 1, p. 48.

59. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, volume 2, p. 181.

60. Harrington, Certain Caddo Sites in Arkansas, p. 242.

61. Cox, The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier de LaSalle, volume 2 p. 182; 1714 edition p. 143.

62. Harrington, Certain Caddo Sites in Arkansas, p. 242.

63. Ibid., p. 243.

64. Ibid., pp. 243-4

65. Ibid., p. 244.

66. Marcel Giraud, A History of French Louisiana, p. xi.