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FLEUR DE LYS
of the woods with their women and children, so that when we entered their village we found no one there, only their little personal effects and other utensils with which they worked. M. d’Hyberville was not surprised at this and remarked that fear had made them abandon their houses. He immediately detailed two Frenchmen and one savage to go to them and reassure them. They ran after them and caught up with them in a short while, as their children hindered them from going fast. Our savage, who was of the Biloxi and knew them all, made them understand that we were good people and encouraged them to return; and, although they had little faith in that, they did not fail to return, their calumet of peace in their hands. When they had come back to their village, they offered the pipe to M. d’Hyberville and all the other officers, and also some flour, which they cat with cold water, some of their bread, some fish, and other foods of their making. A while later they sang their calumet, as is the manner of the savages.
During the evening they asked M. d’Hyberville in their language whether we had had enough to eat and whether we would require as many women as there were men in our party. By showing his hand to them, M. d’FIyberville made them understand that their skin—red and tanned —should not come close to that of the French, which was white. We stayed in their village three days—as long as their calumet lasted.12 We made them presents of some trinkets, such as mirrors, rings, picks, etc., which they beheld with wonder after they had been instructed in the uses of all these things. M. d’Hyberville told the chief of
12	Notice how life in Louisiana as portrayed in this book falls into threc-day periods, so binding was calumet protocol upon the French as well as the nations.
24
Indian IN VVinti « D,u ss. I rom D.ivid I. IiiisliiK'11, Jr., "Dr.,wings by A. DcH.it/. in I.ouisi.in.i, 1712-1735,” j„ Smithsonian Misrrllanr-
OHS (_4(>ll(’fffoils, I.XXX, No.


Penicaut Narrative Document (010)
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