partially reimbursed him.  Being driven to desperate straits, the priest tried a rather doubtful shift.  He sold, or pretended to sell, a great natural meadow, known as la prairie du pont, which the people of Cahokia claimed as a common pasture for their cattle.  His conduct drew forth a sharp remonstrance from the Cahokians, in the course of which they frankly announced that they believed the priest should confine himself to ecclesiastical matters, and should not meddle with land grants, especially when the land he granted did not belong to him. [Footnote:  State Department MSS., No. 48, p. 41.  Petition of J. B. La Croix and A. Girardin.]

It grew steadily more difficult to get the Creoles to furnish supplies; Todd had to forbid the exportation of any provisions whatever, and, finally, the soldiers were compelled to levy on all that they needed.  Todd paid for these impressed goods, as well as for what the contractors furnished, at the regulation prices—­one third in paper-money and two thirds in peltries; and thus the garrisons at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes were supplied with powder, lead, sugar, flour, and, above all, hogsheads of taffia, of which they drank an inordinate quantity.

The justices did not have very much work; in most of the cases that came before them the plaintiff and defendant were both of the same race.  One piece of recorded testimony is rather amusing, being to the effect that “Monsieur Smith est un grand vilain coquin.” [Footnote:  This and most of the other statements for which no authority is quoted, are based on Todd’s MS.  “Record Book.”]

    Burning of Negroes Accused of Sorcery.

Yet there are two entries in the proceedings of the Creole courts for the summer of 1779, as preserved in Todd’s “Record Book,” which are of startling significance.  To understand them it must be remembered that the Creoles were very ignorant and superstitious, and that they one and all including, apparently, even, their priests, firmly believed in witchcraft and sorcery.  Some of their negro slaves had been born in Africa, the others had come from the Lower Mississippi or the West Indies; they practised the strange rites of voudooism, and a few were adepts in the art of poisoning.  Accordingly the French were always on the look-out lest their slaves should, by spell or poison, take their lives.  It must also be kept in mind that the pardoning power of the commandant did not extend to cases of treason or murder—­a witchcraft trial being generally one for murder,—­and that he was expressly forbidden to interfere with the customs and laws, or go counter to the prejudices, of the inhabitants.