While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Avoyel, Avoyelles (Fr. dim. of
avoie, 'small vipers'). A tribe spoken of in the 18th century as one
of the nations of the Red River, having their villages near the mouth of
that stream, within what is now Avoyelles Parish, La. They probably
belonged to the Caddoan family, the tribe representing a group that had
remained near the ancient habitat of its kindred. The country occupied by
the Avoyelles was fertile and intersected by lakes and bayous, one of the
latter being still called by their name. The tribe lived in villages,
cultivated maize and vegetables, and practiced the arts common to the
tribes of the Gulf region. Nothing definite is known of their beliefs and
ceremonies. Like their neighbors, they had come into possession of horses,
which they bred, and later they obtained cattle, for Du Pratz mentions
that they sold horses, cows, and oxen to the French settlers of Louisiana.
During the general displacement of the tribes throughout the Gulf states,
which began in the 18th century, the Avoyelles country proved to be
attractive. The Biloxi settled there and other tribes entered and took
possession. Under the influences incident to the advent of the white race
the Avoyelles mingled with the newcomers, but through the ravages of wars
and new diseases the tribe was soon reduced in numbers. Before the close
of the century their villages and their tribal organization melted away,
their language became extinct, and the few survivors were lost in the
floating Indian population. In 1805, according to Sibley, the tribe had
become reduced to two or three women.
