La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

1682,] HOSTILITY. 305La Salle planted a large cross, with the arms ofFrance attached, in the midst of the town ; while theinhabitantslooked on with a satisfaction which theywould hardly have displayed had they understood themeaning of the act.The French next visited the Coroas, at their villagetwo leaguesbelow; and here they found a receptionno less auspicious. On the thirty-first of March, asthey approached Red River, they passed in the foga town of the Oumas, and three days later discovereda party of fishermen, in wooden canoes, among thecanes along the margin of the water. They fled atsight of the Frenchmen. La Salle sent men to reconnoitre,who, as they struggled through the marsh,were greeted with a shower of arrows; while fromthe neighboring village of the Quinipissas, l invisiblebehind the canebrake, they heard the sound of anIndian drum and the whoops of the musteringwarriors. La Salle, anxious to keep the peace withall the tribes along the river, recalled his men, andpursued his voyage. A few leagues below they sawa cluster of Indian lodges on the left bank, apparentlyvoid of inhabitants. They landed, and found threeof them filled with corpses. It was a village of theTangibao, sacked by their enemies only a few daysbefore. 21In St. Charles County, on the left bank, not far above NewOrleans.2Hennepin uses this incident, as well as most of those whichhave preceded it, in making up the story of his pretended voyage tothe Gulf.SO