Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico Page: 27
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SWANTON] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 27
tions, being one of the most widely extended in this country.... a.
At the time of his next ascent of the Mississippi, the year following,
Iberville's information has improved, thanks to the industry of his
brother, Bienville, who had remained in the country during his
absence. Speaking of the Natchez, whom he was visiting at the time
of writing, he says:
This language is different from that of the Oumas. There is not one of this
latter nation who speaks it. We make ourselves understood by means of my
brother [Bienville], who begins to make himself understood in Bayogoula,
in Ouma, Chicacha, Colapissa, and [the language] of the tlre e nations whlih
are on the branch of the river, which is but the same streamlm; [they] shonw
little difference.b
" The three nations which are on the branch of the river" can be no
other than the Washa, Chawasha, and Okelousa who lived, or were
supposed to live, on or near Bayou La Fourche. In Iberville's jollrnal
of his third voyage occurs the following: " I also sent with the
chief of the Chicachas the little Saint Michel, who speaks Oum a very
well, which is almost the same thing as Chicacha. in order that lie
may become accomplished in that tongue." A number of y ears later
Du Pratz tells us that the Acolapissa "speak a language which approaches
that of the Tchicachas,"d and the Chakchiullma ()fo
and Taposa "do not pronounce the r's at all, and appear to be
branches of the Tchicachas, so much the more as they speak their
language."
Regarding the Mobile tribes our first information is again from
Iberville. On his visit to the Tohome (March 9, 1702) he remarks:
"These savages speak the language of the Bayogoulas; at least there
is little difference." f Le Page du Pratz, after discussing the tribes
which were settled about Mobile bay in his time, the Chatot, Tohome,
Tainsa, and Mobile, adds:
All these little nations were in peace at the arrival of the French, and are
so still, because the nations which are to the east of Mobile protect them from
the incursions of the Iroquois; the Tchicachas, moreover, regard them as their
brothers; because they have almost the same language as well as those to the
east of Mobile who are their neighbors.g
We are to understand that the Tainsa are to be excepted from this
description, for Du Pratz has just declared them to be a branch of
the Natchez.
Regarding the Bayogoula, Houma, and Chakchiuma languages,
moreover, we have a slight amount of additional information. In
Referred to by Gosselin in Compte Rendu Cong. Internat. des Am6r., 15th sess., I, 38.
*Margry, Ddcouvertes, iv, 412.
' Ibid., 521.
d Du Pratz, Hist. de La Louisiane, ii, 219.
' Ibid., 226.
tMasgr, !Deouverte, iv, 514.
Du Prats, Hist. de La Loulsiane, x1, 214, 1758.
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Swanton, John Reed. Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, book, 1911; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29404/m1/35/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .