BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY


de Belle Isle.a M. Hubert's own concession, which lay above the
great Natchez village, was called by him St. Catherine (pl. 6, a), and
its name has been perpetuated in that of the stream. In 1723, being
desirous to return to France, he sold it to M. Kolly through his
agents, the MM. Dumanoir.b
 Many smaller concessions were established here, among which
P6nicaut mentions that of M. de La Houssaye, a gentleman of
Picardy, with 15 persons, among whom were the two Tisserand
brothers associated with M. de La Houssaye."c This was also on St.
Catherines creek. It was subsequently sold to P6nicaut. In the
following year he records "the concession of MM. Pellerin and
Bellecourt, with 15 persons and their families," which was placed
"at the village of the Natchez." d In fact settlers now came in
rapidly and Natchez was soon a flourishing place.
 Toward the end of July, 1720, M. de Pailloux tried to persuade the
Natchez and Yazoo to declare war against the Chickasaw; with what
success does not appeared
 The year following Natchez was visited by the famous historian of
New France, Father Charlevoix. He left the Quapaw towns early
in December, 1721, and the Yazoo post the 10th of the same month,
carrying with him a Natchez who desired to return home. This
proved a fortunate circumstance, for on the 13th of that month he
would have been lost in a gulf had it not been for this Indian. On
the 15th he arrived at Natchez, which he describes as the finest, the
most fertile, and the most populous [canton] of all Louisiana." The
great village of the Natchez was then reduced to a very few cabins,
" because," as he explains, the savages, from whom the great chief
has a right to take all they have, get as far from hin as they can;
and therefore many villages of this nation have been formed at some
distance from this." The Indians were then all at another village
attending a feast. The father remained here longer than he had
intended in order to minister to the spiritual needs of the settlers,
and left the day after Christmas. The abandoned state of these lat-
ter will occasion less mourning among ethnologists than it caused the
reverend father, since it probably enabled him to give a longer de-
scription of the Natchez tribe than would otherwise have been the
case.f He informs us that there had been no missionary stationed
among them since the death of St. Cosme, but Father Poisson, who
stopped at the place from June 13 to June 17, 1727, on his way to the
 SDumont, MXm. HIst. sur La Louisiane, i, 126.
 bMargry, D1couvertes, v, 583. Dumont says it was not sold to them until after the
death of M. Hubert, but as a matter of fact M. Hubert died very soon after his return to
France.
 Mc argry, )Deouvertes, v, 553. c French, Hist. Coll. La., 76, 1851.
 d Ibid., 566. r Ibid., 140-170, 1851.


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