They welcomed his
coming, and tendered him and his people a home. From them he learned
the extent of the great river below, and that it was lost in the great
water that was without limit and had no end. These Indians, according
to their traditions, had once inhabited, as a mighty nation, the
country extending from near the city of Mexico to the Rio Grande, and
were subjects of the Aztec empire of Mexico. They had been persecuted
and oppressed, and determined, in grand council, to abandon the country
and seek a home beyond the Mizezibbee, or Parent-of-many-waters, which
the word signifies.
Their exodus commenced in a body. They were many days in assembling
upon the east bank of the Rio Grande; and thence commenced their long
march. They abandoned their homes and the graves of their ancestors for
a new one in the lovely region they found on the hills extending from
the mouth of the Yazoo to Baton Rouge. Their principal town and seat of
empire was located eleven miles below Natchez, on the banks of Second
Creek, two miles from the Mississippi River. It is a delightful spot of
high table-land, with a small strip of level low-land immediately upon
the margin of the dimpling little stream of sweet water.
Pages:
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523