History of Louisisana

History of Louisisana [with
accents]

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Title: History of Louisisana Or Of The Western Parts Of Virginia And
Carolina: Containing A Description Of The Countries That Lie On
Both Sides Of The River Missisippi
Author: Le Page Du Pratz
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9153] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 8,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
OF LOUISISANA ***

Produced by Stan Goodman and Distributed Proofreaders

THE HISTORY OF LOUISIANA, OR OF THE WESTERN PARTS
OF VIRGINIA AND CAROLINA:
Containing a DESCRIPTION of the Countries that lie on both Sides of
the River Missisippi:
With an ACCOUNT of the SETTLEMENTS, INHABITANTS, SOIL,
CLIMATE, AND PRODUCTS.
Translated from the FRENCH Of M. LE PAGE Du PRATZ;
With some Notes and Observations relating to our Colonies.

Foreword
Antoine Simon Le Page Du Pratz was a Dutchman, as his birth in
Holland about 1695 apparently proves. He died in 1775, just where
available records do not tell us, but the probabilities are that he died in
France, for it is said he entered the French Army, serving with the
Dragoons, and saw service in Germany. While there is some
speculation about all the foregoing, there can be no speculation about
the statement that on May 25, 1718 he left La Rochelle, France, in one
of three ships bound for a place called Louisiana.
For M. Le Page tells us about this in a three-volume work he wrote
called, Histoire de la Louisiane, recognized as the authority to be
consulted by all who have written on the early history of New Orleans
and the Louisiana province.

Le Page, who arrived in Louisiana August 25, 1718, three months after
leaving La Rochelle, spent four months at Dauphin Island before he
and his men made their way to Bayou St. John where he set up a
plantation. He had at last reached New Orleans, which he correctly
states, "existed only in name," and had to occupy an old lodge once
used by an Acolapissa Indian. The young settler, he was only about 23
at the time, after arranging his shelter tells us: "A few days afterwards I
purchased from a neighbour a native female slave, so as to have a
woman to cook for us. My slave and I could not speak each other's
language; but I made myself understood by means of signs." This slave,
a girl of the Chitimacha tribe, remained with Le Page for years, and one
draws the inference that she was possessed of a vigorous personality,
and was not devoid of charm or bravery. Le Page writes that when
frightened by an alligator approaching his camp fire, he ran to the lodge
for his gun. However, the Indian girl calmly picked up a stick and
hammered the 'gator so lustily on its nose that it retreated. As Le Page
arrived with his gun, ready to shoot "the monster," he tells us: "She
began to smile, and said many things which I did not comprehend, but
she made me understand by signs, that there was no occasion for a gun
to kill such a beast."
It is unfortunate, for the purpose of sociological study, that this Indian
girl appears so infrequently in the many accounts Le Page has left us in
his highly interesting studies of early Louisiana and its original
inhabitants. He does not even tell us the Indian girl's name.
We are told that after living on the banks of Bayou St. John for about
two years, he left for the bluff lands of the Natchez country. His Indian
girl decided she would go with him, as she had relatives there. Hearing
of her plan, her old father offered to buy her back from Le Page. The
Chitimacha girl,