In 1687 French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle encountered the tribe, they settled near Red River, in southwest Arkansas.
[2] In July 1687, Father Anastasius Douay, a French priest, visited a Cahinnio village near present-day Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
[3] In the 1680s, French explorer Henri Joutel traveled with the La Salle expedition, to Cahinnio territory.
He wrote that they presented his expedition with two loaves of corn bread, describing it as "the finest and the best we had so far seen; they seemed to have been baked in an oven, and yet we not noticed any among them.
"[4] Joutel noted that corn was an important food staple among the Cahinnio, as were beans and sunflower seeds.