Page:American History Told by Contemporaries, v2.djvu/343

No. 109], and he would tell them the intentions of the King his master. The Scioux of the West have, according to the accounts of those of the East, more than a thousand huts.

"They do not use canoes or cultivate the land, but wander in the prairies between the upper Mississippi and the Missouri, and live by hunting.

"All the Scioux say they have three souls, and that after death the good one goes to a warm country, the bad one to a cold country, and the third watches the body. They are very expert with their bows. Polygamy is very common among them. They are extremely jealous, and sometimes fight duels for their wives. They make their huts out of buffalo skins, sewed together, and carry them with them. Two or three families generally live together. They are great smokers. They swallow the smoke, but some time after they force it up from their stomach through their nose. . ..

"On the 1st December, they invited M. le Sueur to a great feast which they had prepared for him. They made a speech, and presented him with a slave and a sack of oats. . . ." On the 18th March, 1702, M. d'Iberville arrived at Dauphin Island, in the frigate "Palmier," which he brought into port without any difficulty, there being twenty-one feet or more of water at the pass. On the 19th, M. de la Salle arrived with his family at For[t] Mobile, which had just been finished, and the head-quarters of the colony about to be removed there from Dauphin [Massacre] Island. On the 25th, M. de Tonty, who had been sent by M. d'Iberville on a mission to the Chactas and Chicachas, arrived at Mobile, bringing with him some of the principal Chiefs of those nations, to make a treaty of peace. By presents and entreaties M. d'Iberville made them agree to live in peace together. On the 27th, M. d'Iberville returned to Dauphin Island, and from thence he went to Pensacola. On the 13th April, M. Dugue arrived with a transport ladened with provisions. On the 31st, M. d'Iberville and de Serigny departed for France. On the 12th May, eight Alibamon Chiefs arrived at Mobile to consult with M. de Bienville whether they should continue to war with the Chicachas, Tomes, and Mobilians. He advised them to make a peace, and gave them some presents for this purpose. On the 24th June, a Spanish shallop arrived from Pensacola, on board of which was Don José de Roblas, Captain of Infantry, and a son of the nurse of Count de Montezuma, bringing a. letter from Francisco Martin, Governor of Pensacola, asking to be supplied with some provisions, which M. de Bienville granted.