194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 43

 I was then among the Natchez, and in spite of the precautions which they
had taken I did not fail to discover this, by seeing among them the goods
which these Frenchmen had brought in their canoe. I told the young M. de
la Loire, with whom his brother had left me as guard over the goods which were
in the storehouse of the French among the Natchez; but we did not allow our-
selves to act as if we had learned it. A short time afterward MI. de la Loire
the elder arrived from Mobile with three canoes loaded with goods and 14
Frenchmen. There was also an officer named M. de Varennes, who was sending
up goods to the Illinois on his own account. M. de la Loire, before leaving
Mobile, had had orders from M. de Lamothe to ascend to the Illinois in order
to deliver to them the goods which they had lent him to pay the savages who
had been to discover the mines. M. de la Loire remained fifteen days among
the Natchez in order to obtain provisions for his people. While he was there
the Natchez held councils many times in order to kill us; but, although we
knew nothing about it then, we always kept on our guard because we had
learned of the murder of the 4 Frenchmen, of whose death we appeared
ignorant.
 We asked 8 men of the great chief of the Natchez, paying for their services,
to set out with us in two days. He had them informed at once.
 Before setting out 31. de la Loire had munch difficulty in making his younger
brother consent to remain to guard the storehouse of the goods of the company,
for he saw the evident danger that he ran, which would have been yet greater
than we thought had not God protected us. After having embraced this young
man, we left him among the Natchez, very sorrowful that we were obliged
to leave him thus, and we parted, along will the 8 savages, which the grand
chief had given us to aid us in rowing (paddling) in ascending the river.
When we were embarked that traitor of a grand chief told these savages, very
loudly and in our presence, to do what we said, and that if we discovered on
the bank of the river people who made signs to us to go to them not to go
there, for fear lest they should wish to do us hurt or attempt our lives.
 The evening of the day we left the Natchez to ascend to the Illinois, and
while we were encamped on the shore of the river, one of the S savages came
and seated himself near me, and, having asked a pipe of me in order to smoke,
which I gave him, lie said to me in a very low voice, so that only I should hear:
"Where do you intend to go, Frenchinan I answered: "To the Illinois."
But after a moment's reflection I asked him why he had put this question to me.
The savage replied ltat his heart wept, because the next day we were to be
killed, and the chief, named The Bearded, who is the worst of the Natchez
chiefs, awaited us at the Little Gulf with 150 men in order to break our heads.
This speech did not surprise me, because one of their minor chiefs, a friend
of mine, had already warned me before leaving their village, although he had
not spoken so clearly. I had already spoken of it to 'M. do la Loire, but we
had not placed enough faith in this first warning to interrupt our journey.
This second intelligence obliged us to pay more attention to the matter. We
took council together, and afterward we called the 8 Natchez savages who were
guiding us, to whom we promised a considerable present if they would tell us
the truth, with promises of never declaring that it was they who had warned
us. All the S savages declared to us openly that 6 leagues above on the shore
at the left, where the canoes are obliged to pass close to the land. on account
of a very rapid gulf which whirls in the middle of the river, 150 Natchez,
armed with guns, at the head of whom was The Bearded, awaited us, and that
we could not fail to perish, although there were six times the number of people.

 SLa Harpe in Jour. Hist., 123, simply states that M. de la Loire had barely escaped by
the advice of a chief who had given him the means to save his life.