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The Journal of the Renommee 151 roofed with palmetto palms, where they had assembled to sing the calumet to me. I gave a small present to them and to the chief ofthe Natchitoches,109 and gave them a calumet of peace. At this village ofthe Soutchitionys there are fifteen huts assembled in a cluster. In front of the village the river is wide and full of uprooted trees. Now that the water is high, it is 4 fathoms deep. The 10th. It rained all day. The chief promised to let his son guide me to the Yactaches. The 11th, Easter Sunday. We set forth in pirogues to get across 3 leagues of wretched country north by east of the village. Quitting the river, we made camp on a hillside, where there were many deer that had withdrawn there because of the high water. The 12th. We left our pirogues and walked overland for 1 league north, where we found a big lake 5 to 6 leagues long and an eighth of a league wide. We proceeded along it west-northwest to get by it. At the end of it we saw a great many deer. The 13th. We crossed five small streams close together that flow into the lake. I went north-northeast for 11/2 leagues and happened upon the beaten track, along which we proceeded west-northwest for a distance of 5¥Z leagues of hardwood forests and streams, finding creeks and good hunting for deer and turkeys. The 14th. We are walking on. Half a league farther, we find a swamp filled with trees, very deep, and so long that our two guides lead us to believe that one has to sleep four nights before he can get around it, and that about 1 league south there used to be three huts on the bank of a stream, where there were some pirogues. I immediately set my men the task ofdigging out a pirogue with our hatchets. It was finished in five hours, big enough to carry the six men whom I sent to those huts for the Indians' pirogues. My men went hunting and killed six deer. The 15th. My men returned, bringing me three pirogues, in which we set forth and, going 4 leagues north by east, reached the other side of the lake, where we spent the night. I09MS.: "Natchitouches," the same bad spelling again. 152 Second Voyage to the Mississippi The 16th. We left our pirogues and walked along the lake on a hillside of fine country and woods, where we killed five deer along the way, making 31fzleagues northwest and crossing over several rather high hills covered with small stones. We fired several musket shots to give notice to the Indians, who were encamped on the other side of a lake, 1 league west-southwest of us. They came in a pirogue, five men, to find out who we were. Our guides having called to them and got them to come, I embarked in their pirogue with two of my men, leaving three of the Indians in my place. I went to their hut, which was flooded with water. As the water covered the ground, these Indians had camped on platforms. Scattered there, were fifteen huts of the Nakasasllo nation, who live on the bank of the River Marne. I sent for the pirogues belonging to the huts. Only three quite small ones were found, which I sent to my men. The 17th. In the morning I sent the pirogues back to my men, who arrived about noon. I immediately set out in two pirogues to go to the Yataches, striking through the woods by the shortest cut, the river having overflowed and spread inland for more than 2 leagues. Night caught us opposite a little village of Nakasas, eight huts, on the left bank of the River Marne. We went there and spent the night. The river is 160 yards wide at this spot and has as strong a current as the Mississipi. The 18th. I sent three pirogues for the rest of my men. Around these huts there is not one arpent that is not flooded. The water is falling noticeably. I found very little corn, owing to some Yuahesll1 that came visiting here and took away all the corn their horses could carry. The 19th. About three o'clock in the afternoon my men arrived. It was too late to go to the Yataches, about which the Indians became...

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