Chapter 16 – Voyage of the Author in the Backcountry of Louisiana: He takes some Naturals to accompany him: The season of his departure: Hunting Turkeys: Discoverers: Signals.

Ever since my arrival in Louisiana, I had tried to use my time to instruct myself in all which was new to me, and applied myself toward seeking out objects, the discovery of which might be useful to society.

I resolved therefore to make a voyage into the interior lands. So, leaving my home in good condition, and giving orders to my men, after I had asked my friends and neighbors to look out for my interests, and they had promised to help, I readied myself to make a trip into the interior of the province. To get to know the nature of the soil and all its productions, and to make discoveries which no one had spoken of; to find, if it were possible, things which no one [214] had searched for. Because one sees nothing without taking the trouble to leave one’s home, and one imagines that the land is obliged to anticipate all of man’s needs, to present to him all the riches it possesses ready and prepared, as he would want to have them, without buying them with the price of his labor.

I was obligated, before departing, to consult with an old colonist on the location of several rivers, and on some certain points along my route. He referred me, and communicated my plans, to several others, who, like him, had wanted to come on the voyage. He told others about me, because I had not permitted him to join my company, but he gained nothing by revealing my secret, as I remained inflexible, and I persisted in my resolution in the face of strong solicitations people made that they believed capable of breaking me. These men no doubt imagined that my fortune would be made by means of this journey, and they would have liked to profit from what I was able to discover, but they would have been very wrong [215] to think that way. I traveled for my instruction and for the utility of the public, but I wanted to be alone so as to act at my convenience, to examine things at my leisure, to go wherever I wished, and to stay for as long as I might judge appropriate. I didn’t want any company, not wanting to share with anyone the glory of the knowledge which I would acquire and which I promised myself from this journey. My third reason was the example, not of Monsieur de la Salle [who had been murdered by mutinous members of his expedition in Texas in 1687], for they would have had no good reason to assassinate me, but of Monsieur de St. Denis, who having left Mobile with 25 men, could only keep 10 with him, part of the group having abandoned him along the way, and the others having finally settled themselves at Natchitoches. M. de St. Denis was too prudent to force men to march with him who could only have hurt him, rather than be an advantage. He could have punished them, or forced them to march, but he did neither. What would I have done, therefore, with half a dozen colonists, who might have had their hearts in it when they joined, but who would not have the commitment [216] to be on their feet all day, to climb, descend, make rafts to cross rivers, sleep on beds of leaves, hunt for their food, and still be ready to go out exploring. They would have been afraid of getting lost, or would have fled at the sight of a wild animal. Frenchmen do not have the patience, nor are they strong enough, to carry all the tools that one needs as well as one’s provisions. They would have begged me to return, because they had not found anything that met their idea of novelty. They would have been disgusted by eating fresh meat from one hand, and dried meat, in place of bread, from the other. We would have needed our beds for the seven of us, and who would have carried them and other things, which one transports easily in voyages in civilized countries? Eventually, having no authority over my traveling companions, I would have been forced to retrace my steps, or to travel alone. The first would have been insufferable, for the sadness [217] would have overwhelmed me; the second was impossible. I therefore took with me ten Naturals. I preferred them to the French, with whom I could not have been able to do the least of the things I had planned.

The Naturals are indefatigable. They are robust and docile, and they have the strength necessary for hunting, and as I would be the only Frenchman, I also had to be sure that the people who came with me not be as weak as some of the colonists would have been. You will see by what follows, the difference between different sorts of companions, and that I was right to prefer one to the other.

I chose the ten Indians, who seemed to me the most tractable and most prepared to bear the fatigue of a voyage that had to be made in winter. I explained to them my whole plan. I told them, we should avoid passing through any inhabited countries, and would take our journeys through such as were unknown and uninhabited, because I traveled only in order to discover [218] what no one before could inform me about. This explication satisfied them, and on their part they promised I should be happy with their company. But, they had one objection: they told me they were afraid of getting lost in countries they did not know. To remove these apprehensions, I shewed them a mariner’s compass, which, after I had explained to them the manner of using it to avoid losing our way, removed all their difficulties. They were pleased with the easy fashion I had taught them of traveling and they told me they understood.

We set out in the month of September, which is the best season of the year for beginning a journey in this country. In the first place because, during the summer, the grass is too high for traveling, whereas in the month of September, the meadows, the grass of which is then dry, are set on fire, and the ground becomes smooth, and easy to walk on. Hence it is that at this time, clouds of smoke are seen for several days together to extend over a long track of country, sometimes to the extent of [219] twenty and thirty leagues in length, by two or three leagues in breadth, more or less, according as the wind sets, and is stronger or weaker. In the second place, this season is the most commodious for traveling over those countries because, by means of the rain, which ordinarily falls after the grass is burnt, the game feed on the new grass. This is the reason why travelers more easily find provisions at this time than at any other; and if one rarely found them while traveling, it would be nearly impossible to travel and at the same time fulfill the goals of the voyage.

What further facilitates these excursions in Autumn, or in the beginning of Winter, is, that all labor in the fields is then at an end, or at least the hurry of it is over.

Although we were assured of finding game, I nonetheless made a small package of provisions for the first few days. My Naturals carried these stores; the ammunition for hunting, their bedding and mine, linen for me, the kettle with its [220] lid that we would use to cook our meat. All that I carried was light clothing and my gun. I brought also my dogs, as I knew that they would never be useless.

For the first days of our journey game was pretty rare, because it avoids the neighbourhood of men; if you except the deer, which are spread all over the country, their nature being to roam indifferently up and down. So at first we were obliged to be content with this fare. We often met with flights of partridges, of which I will make a description later; the natives cannot kill them, because they cannot shoot them on the wing; I killed some just for a change. The second day I had a turkey-hen brought to regale me. The discoverer, who killed it, told me, there were a great many in the same place, but that he could do nothing without a dog. I have often heard of a turkey-chase, but never had an opportunity of being at one. I went with him and [221] took my dog along with me. On coming to the spot, we soon descried the hens, which ran off with such speed, that the swiftest Indian would lose his labor in attempting to outrun them. My dog soon came up with them, which made them take to their wings, and perch on the next trees. As long as they are not pursued in this manner, they only run, and are soon out of sight. I came near their place of retreat, killed the largest, then a second, and my discoverer a third. We only wanted to kill these three, as with these we had enough. We might have killed the whole flock if we had needed them; for, while they see any men, they never quit the tree they have perched on. Shooting scares them not, as they only look at the bird that drops, and set up a timorous cry as he falls, so one can easily have all of them, no matter how large their flock.

Before I proceed on my voyage [222], it is proper to say a word concerning my discoverers, or scouts. I had always three of them out, one ahead, and one on each hand of me; commonly a league away from me, and as much from each other. Their condition as scouts did not prevent each from carrying his bedroll, and provisions for about thirty-six hours if necessary, though those near me were more loaded, I sent them out anyhow, sometimes one, sometimes another, either to a neighboring mountain or valley, so that I had three or four at least, both on my right and left, who went out to make discoveries a small distance off. I did thus, in order to have nothing to reproach myself with in point of vigilance, since I had begun to take the trouble of making discoveries.

The next business was, to make ourselves mutually understood notwithstanding our distance. We agreed, therefore, on certain signals, which are absolutely necessary on such occasions.

Every day, at nine in the morning, at noon, and at three in the afternoon, we made [223] a smoke. This signal marked the moment for making a short halt, in order to know whether the scouts followed each other, and whether they were at more or less the distance agreed on.

These smokes were made at the hours I mentioned, which are the divisions of the day according to the natives. They divide their day into four equal parts; the first contains half of the morning; the second is at noon; the third comprises half of the afternoon; and the fourth, from afternoon to night. It was according to this usage our signals were mutually made. At night we met in the place where I ended, or in the place I had chosen. We made a smoke that was the call to return to camp.

But when according to what I had told them and instructions that I had given them, a discoverer had found something unusual, the signal for alert was to make two smokes at a short distance from one another. I made the same signal when I wanted to alert them to come to me. At the first smoke one would stop; if [224] after a short time one did not see another, one could continue in the direction he was going. If one the other hand he perceived a second smoke, he set out toward where that fire was burning. In this way we would come together.