Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/235

]  and Jesuits bad charge of the spiritual concerns of the colonists. "Rice was the principal crop, the main resource for feeding the population. To this were added tobacco and indigo. The fig had been introduced from Provence, and the orange from St. Domingo." In 1727, the population amounted to something more than five thousand, half of this number being negroes.

Périer, in 1726, was appointed governor in place of Bienville, whose removal had been effected by his pertinacious enemies; soon after, difficulties began to arise with the Indians. The Natchez tribe, who had at first amicably received the French, and in whose territory Fort Rosalie had been erected, now became jealous of their growing demands for territory: urged on by the Chickasaws, and falling suddenly upon the fort in 1729, they massacred all the male inhabitants and carried away the women and children into slavery;but a year or so afterwards, the French nearly exterminated the whole tribe, and sent several hundred of them to be sold as slaves in Hispaniola. The Chickasaws, who traded with the English, and obstructed the communication between Upper and Lower Louisiana, now gave asylum to the poor remains of the Natchez tribe; for these offences the French determined to subdue them

The Mississippi Company, in 1732, resigned Louisiana into the hands of the King, and Bienville was again appointed governor, and directed to make preparations for a war against the Chickasaws. With a fleet of sixty boats and canoes, and with about twelve hundred Choctawa as allies, Bienville ascended the Tombigbee River to the head of navigation, and attacked the Chickasaws near that point ; but the French were repulsed and compelled to retreat. Three years later the whole strength of the French was put forth to overcome this haughty and powerful tribe; sickness, however, and scarcity of provisions, soon thinned the ranks of the French troops, and, probably in consequence of dissensions among the officers, in 1740, they were glad to withdraw their forces and leave the Chickasaws unsubdued. The home government was greatly displeased with Bienville's ill success in this undertaking; and shortly after, in 1743, the Marquis de Vaudreuil was sent out as his successor. Bienville, at the age of sixty-five, left Louisiana never to return to the colony he loved and had served so long and well.

From this date onward, for many years, Louisiana, under the administration of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, enjoyed comparative tranquility, and gradually advanced in prosperity. De Vaudreuil was a nobleman of honorable standing, and endeavored to give a high tone to his government, and although troubles with the Indians and other difficulties interfered with his comfort and the progress of the colony, yet, on the whole, matters went on as well as could be expected. In 1753, De Vaudreuil was transferred to Canada, and Kerlerec, a captain in the Royal Navy, succeeded him as governor of Louisiana.