Doustioni

The Doustioni were a Caddoan people of the Red River country in Louisiana, near the Natchitoches and Yatasi. Their name has been interpreted as “Salt People,” and their settlements have been associated with the salt springs northeast of Natchitoches. Like neighbouring Caddo communities, they combined village life and cultivation with hunting.

French accounts mention the Doustioni as allies of the Kadohadacho in 1687. By 1712, according to Pénicaut, they had spent several years moving about and living by the hunt. Two years later they accepted an invitation to settle near the Natchitoches and received seed for planting. In 1719 La Harpe described them living on an island in the Red River near the French post. Their later history became entwined with that of neighbouring Caddo peoples.