The French settled in the lower Mississippi River area in the mid-
1600s.  This area was home to the Natchez, and relations between 
the two cultures were peaceful until 1729, when a land dispute over 
the location of Louisiana governor Sieur Chepart's plantation resulted 
in war.  After initial victories, the Natchez were defeated, and the 
tribe began a long, slow dissolution.  The French artist Antoine Simon 
Dupratz, who lived among the Natchez tribes for eight years 
beginning in 1720, illustrated many of their traditions and practices.  
His woodcut here shows a Natchez bison hunt, which generally took 
place in the month of November.  In his notebooks, he describes 
them gathering in a large party, women and children included, 
surrounding the herd in their grazing pasture, and taking them by 
surprise.