Passenger Testimonies

Pierre Meuinier

I was fourteen years old when I sailed with La Salle as one of his soldiers. La Salle was always a moody man and refused to share his plans with others. He fell ill with fevers many times and went out of his mind. During the winter of 1685, La Salle became extremely angry with me and placed in leg irons on the Belle. I managed to escape just as the ship was sinking.

Once we landed in the area that La Salle said was near the mouth of the Mississippi River, we began building Fort Saint Louis, cutting what wood we could find and making houses covered with bison skin. We used planking from the sunken Belle to build a storehouse for our supplies. We also traded with the Natives.

La Salle took men on several expeditions, going both east and west while those of us at the fort suffered from disease, insects, and Indian attacks.

I saw La Salle murdered by Duhaut. He shot him in the head. I felt ill and remained among the Cenis Indians. While living with the Natives, I was tattooed on my face and body. The Natives tattooed me by making cuts in my skin with strong, sharp thorns and then taking a charcoal made from crushed walnut wood soaked in water and inserting it in my flesh. The charcoal mixed with the blood and pus and formed marks on my skin that never left. While living with the Indians, I also learned their language and how they planted and grew food. I remained several years living among the Natives of East Texas.

I heard that the Spanish were settling the area and tried to hide but they found me. I served with Alonso de León on his expedition in 1690 as an interpreter as the Spanish built the San Francisco de los Tejas Mission.