SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 271

Englishman, and afterward accompanied De la Loire to Mobile.
where they were assigned a place about 2 leagues from the French
fort, which had formerly been occupied by the Tawasa." Before
1744 b they had moved across to the Tensaw river, to which they gave
their name, and where they remained until Mobile was ceded to the
English. During this period they kept up their numbers very well,
occupying, it is said, 100 cabins.c There is occasional mention of
Taensa in the church registers of Mobile from 1708, when some were
brought as slaves, to 1761, but it would seem that they were too closely
wedded to their native cult to be much affected by Christian teach-
ings.a Another refugee tribe, the Apalachee, from northern Florida,
moved to the eastern mouth of Tensaw river about the same time,
and it is probable that a close intimacy sprang up between the two
peoples, as their subsequent histories ran close together for a long
time.
 Soon after the cession of Mobile to England in 1763 many of the
 small tribes who had been living in its neighborhood, and who did
 not fancy the change of masters, determined to move across the Mis-
 sissippi into Louisiana. Among these were the Talinsa, Apalachee,
 and Pakana, the last a tribe of the Creek confederacy, who jointly
 emigrated to led river. Afterward the Tanisa appealed to d'Abba-
 die, French commandant at New Orleans, for permission to settle on
 the Mississippi at the point of separation of Bayou la Fourche. A
 copy of the document informing us of this affair was transmitted to
 Doctor Gatschet by Pierre Margry, compiler of the famous D6cou-
 vertes, and was by him published in the American Antiquarian of
 September, 1891. The following is the translation made by Doctor
 Gatschet, and published at the same time, except that the original
 forms of the tribal names are substituted for those employed by him:

 Mr. d'Abbadic at A'c Orltins, April 10, 1764'
 The village of the Tuensas in the vicinity of Mobile, the inmates of which had
to pass over to the Red river with the Apilaches and the P'akanas of the Ali-
bamons, have called upon me to ask permission for settling upon the right-hand
bank of the [Mississippi] river at the Chetimaclhs fork, which is distant from
New Orleans about 30 leagues. I could not refuse to accede to their demand,
and have countenanced their project to settle at that spot, so much more will-
ingly as I consider it of advantage to tie colony. The two villages comprehend
nearly 200 persons. The Taensas are hunters and tillers of the soil and will be
of great support to the city of New Orleans, whereas tie Iak:nas Alihanons
will furnish the same help to us, though a more real advantage to us would
be to oppose them to the Tehaktas should they attempt to make forays on our
 Margry, D6couvertes, v, 509, 1883.
 bAccording to Hamilton (Colonial Mobile, 100), they are placed there in a French
map of that date.
 C Du Pratz, Hist. de La Louisiane, I, 213, 1758.
 d Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, 09-100.