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| Four drumsticks were found in the Mystery Chest and may have had military use. The use of drums to mark a cadence as armed settlers moved against the hostile Karankawa occurs in an account of La Salle’s expedition by Henri Joutel. “On 20 February 1685, the day l’Aimable sank, two of seven or eight men who had been sent to chop down a tree returned to the base camp after a party of Karankawan Indians tried to capture them. They immediately armed themselves and set off to locate the Indians and their captured companions. The Indians were openly confrontational.” However Joutel continues, “when they saw that we were advancing toward them fully armed, to the drumbeat, they turned around as if to flee, believing we were going to attack them.” |