The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1851-06-30

their country, and white rabbits or hares, as we'll
the common rabbit; white bears sometimes
come dow among the M and wolves of all coors.
The men go entirely naked and the women nearly
so, only wearing small flap or piece of skin.
They have number Of Spaniards among them,
of fair complexion, taken from the settlement Of
Santa Fe, when they were children, who live as
they do, and have no knowledge of where they
came from Their language differs from that of
any other nation, the Tawakenoes excepted.
Their present number of men is estimated at abont
400. great number of them, four years ago,
were swept off bv the small pox.
HETANs, or CoMANCHEs, who are likewise called |
by both names, have no fixed place of residence
have neither towns nor villages divided into so
many different hordes or tribes, that they have |
scarcely knowledge of one another. No estimate |
of their numbers can we'll be made; they never |
remain in the same place more than a few days,
but follow the buffalo, the flesh of which is their
principal food some Of them occasionally pnr- |
chase of the Panis corn, beans and pumpkins, but,
they are so numerous any quantity of these articles
the PaBis are able to supply them with must make |
but small proportion of their food. They have |
tents made of neatly dressed skins, fashioned in |
form of cone, sufficiently roomy for family Of |
ten or twelve persons; those of the chiefs will |
contain, occasionally fifty or sixty persons. When
they stop, their tents are pitched in very exact
order, so as to- form regular streets and squares
which, in a few minutes, has the appearance Of a
town, raised, as it were, by enchantment And |
they are equally dexterous in striking their tents
and preparing for march, when the signal 10
given; to every tent two horses or mules are aot-
ted, one to carry the tent, and the other, the poles
or sticks, which are neatly made of red cedar
they all travel on horseback their horses they
never turn loose to Craze, but always keep them
tied with long cabras or halter and every two or
three days they obliged to move, on account of
all the grass near them being eaten up, they have
such numbers Of horses. They are good horsemen,
and have good horses, most of which are bred by
themselves, and being accus toned, when very
young, TO be handled. they remarkably docle
and gentle. They sometimes catch wild horses,
which are every where among them, in lmmenSe
droves; they hunt down the buffalo on horseback,
and kill them, either with the bow a sharp stick
like spear, which they carry in their hands.
lhey are generally at war with the Spaniards,
after committing depreda,ons upon the inhabitants
of Santa Fe and st. Antoine, but have always
been friendly and civil to any French or Americans
who have been among them. They are strong and
athletic, and the elderly men fat though they
had lived upon English beef and porter. 1t is said
| the man who kills buffalo catches The blood and
drinks 1t, while warm; they likewise at the liver
raw, before Is cold, and use the gall by way of
sauce. They are. for savages uncommouly ceanly
IN their PERSONS; the dress of the women is long
| loose robe, that reaches from their chin to the
ground, tied round with fancy sash or girdle, all
| made of neatly dressed leather, on which they
paint figures of different colors and Specifications.
The dress OF the men is close leather pantaloons
| and hunting shirt or frock of the They
never remain long enough in the same place to
| plant any thing; the small Cayenne pepper grows
| spontaneously in the country, with which, and
/ some wild herbs and fruits, particularly bean
| that grows in great plenty on small tree resem-
| bling willow, called WuSketO, the women cook
their buffalo beef, in that would be CRATE
| full 10 an English squire. They alternately occu.
py the immense space of country from The Trinity
| and Braces, crossing the Red River, TO the heads
| of Arkansas and Missouri, to RIVER Grande and
| beyond il, about Santa Fe, and over the dividing
| ridge on The waters OF the W-s,ern Ocean, wh-ra,
they say, they have large pirogues, with
to ihem-in describing which, they make a draw.
| ing OF ship, with all its sails and rigging; and
| they describe place where they have vessels
hffaaeending hffaee river, oyerswbich was a drawbidge
language Of sounds diffsfe hPsAsssgs. Ps Their naive
| any other nation, and none can either SPEAK ~
| understand it; but they have language by signs,
| which all Indians understand, and by which they
| cnnvrr.e uu among them-slv.s They ha~o a
| number OF Spanish men and women among them,
| who are slaves, and whom they made prisoners
wh.n young. An elderly gentleman, now living
at Natchitoches, who some years carried on trade
with the He'ans,a few days ago related to me the
| following story:
About twenty years ago. party Of these Indians
| passed over River Grande to ChawaWa the resi-
dence of the Governor General of what is called
the Five Internal Provinoes lay in ambush for an
| opportunity, and made prisoner the Governors
daughter, young lady, going in her coach 10 mas,
and brought her off. The Governor sent message
to him (my iniorman1), with thousand dollars for
The purpose of recovering his daushi He i'm
mediately dispa ched confidential trader, then in
his employ, with the one thousand dollars in mer.
chandise, who repaired 10 the nation found her
and purchased her ransom, but, to his great sur.
prise, she refused 10 return with him to her father
and sent by him The following message: That the
| Indians had disfgured her face bv tattoong il
according to their fancy and ideas of beauty, and
a young man of Them had taken her for his wife
| by whom she believed herself pregnant; that she
had become reconciled to their mode of life, and
was well treated by her husband and that she
ta ,na,,, hyr. 49,
under these circumstances, than by remaining
where she was which message was conveyed Il
her father, who rewarded the trader by presen
of three hundred dollars more, for his trouble ant
fidelity, and his daughter is now living with he
Indian husband in the nation, by whom she ha
three children.
NATCuIToCHEs, formerly lived where the towr
of Nachituches is now situated, which took it
name from them. An elderly French gantiema Al
lately informed me, he remembered " hen They
were 600 men strong | believe it is now ninety
eight year. since the French first established them
; selves at Natchltoches; ever since, these Indian
have been their steady and faithful friends. Afie
the massacre OF the French inhabitants of Natchez
by the Natchez Indians in l72S, those Indians flee
from the French, after being reinforced and cam,
up Red River. and camped about six miles below
The town of Natchtoches, near the river, by thu
, side of small lake of clear water, and erected
mound OF consider able size, where it now remains
Monsieur St. Dennie, French Canadian wa
: called him the Big foot; were fond Of him, for r.
! was brave man. ST. Dennie, with few Frenc
! soldiers and what miiit a he could muster ioine,
| by the Natchi,oches Indians attacked the Natche
in their camp, early in the morning they defande
e themselves desperately for six hours but were a
3 length totally defeated by st. Denne, and what c
f them Were not killed in battle were driven into tn
r | lake, where the last of them pershed and III
, | Natchez, as nation, became extinct. The lax
a | is now called by no other name than the Natche
q Lake. There are now remaining of the Natch
It tcches but twelve men and nineteen women VIII
live in village about twenty five miles, by lane
q | above the town which hears their name, near
v lake called by the French Lac de Muire The
n original language is the same as the Yattassee br
}, | sp-ak Caddo, and most of them French Th
French Inhabitants have great respect for this ma
+ ton, and a number of very decent families have
mixture of their ood in them. They claim but
small tract of land, on which they live, and, al
- informed, have the same rights to ii from Cover
y ment that other inhabitants in the neighborhoo
u have. Th.y are gradually wasting away; tn
small pox has been their great destroyer; they sti
preserve their Indian dress and habits; raise corr
and those vegetables common in their neghborhoot
BoLUsCAs, are emigrants from near Pensacola
II they came to Red River about forty-two years ag
,r with some French families, who left that countr
h about the time Pensacola was taken possession
o. | by the English. They were then a considerab
numerous tribe, and have generally embraced Ii
If Roman Catholic religion, and were very hgh
> esteemed by the French. They settled first
- Avoyees; then moved higher up 10 Rapide Bayo,
a, about forty miles from Natchiioches, where The
w now live, and are reduced to about thirty in nun
- Der. Their native language is peculiar to then
~ selves, but speak Mobilian, which is spoken by
III the Indians from the east side of the Mississippi