From: Carver's Travels through North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and
1768 with Illustrations and Maps, Carver, Jonathan, 1710-1780, J.Walter and
S. Crowder, London, 1778.
CHAP. VI. Of Their Feasts.
Many of the Indian nations neither make use of bread, salt, or spices; and
some of them have never seen or tasted of either. The Naudowessies in
particular have no bread, nor any substitute for it. They eat the wild
rice which grows in great quantities in different parts of their
territories; but they boil it and eat it alone. They also eat the flesh of
the beasts they kill, without having recourse to any farinaceous substance
to absorb the grosser particles of it. And even when they consume the
sugar which they have extracted fro the maple tree, they use it not to
render some other food palatable, but generally eat it by itself.
Neither have they any idea of the use of milk, although they might collect
great quantities from the buffalo of the elk; they only consider it as
proper for the nutriment of the young of these beasts, during their tender
state. I could not perceive that any inconveniency attended the total
disuse of articles esteemed so necessary and nutritious by other nations,
on the contrary, they are in general healthy and vigorous.
One dish however, which answers nearly the same purpose as bread, is in use
among the Ottagaumies, the Saukies, and the more eastern nations, where
Indian corn grows, which is not only much esteemed by them, but it is
reckoned extremely palatable by all the Europeans who enter their
dominions. This is composed of their unripe corn as before described, and
beans in the same state, boiled together with bears flesh, the fat of which
moistens the pulse, and renders it beyond comparison delicious. They call
this food Succatosh.
The Indians are far from being canibals as they are said to be. All their
victuals are either roasted or boiled; and this in the extreme. Their
drink is generally the broth in which it has been boiled.
Their food consists of the flesh of the bear, the buffalo, the elk, the
deer, the beaver, and the racoon; which they prepare in the manner just
mentioned. The usually eat the flesh of the deer which is naturally dry,
with that of the bear which is fat and juicy; and though the latter is
extremely rich and luscious, it is never known to cloy.
In the spring of the year, the Naudowessies eat the inside bark of a shrub
that they gather in same part of their country; but I could neither learn
the name of it, or discover from whence they got it. It was of a brittle
nature and easily masticated. The taste of it was very agreeable, and they
said it was extremely nourishing. In flavour it was not unlike the turnip,
and when received into the mouth resembled that root both in its puplous
and frangible nature.
The lower ranks of the Indians are exceedingly nasty in dressing their
victuals, but some of the chiefs are very neat and cleanly in their
apparel, tents, and food.
They commonly eat in large parties, so that their meals may properly be
termed feasts; and this they do without being restricted to any fixed or
regular hours, but just as their appetites require, and convenience suits.
They usually dance either before or after every meal; and by this
cheerfulness, probably, render the Great Spirit, to whom they consider
themselves as indebted for every good, a more acceptable sacrifice than a
formal and unanimated thanksgiving. The men and women feast apart: and
each sex invite by turns their companions to partake with them of the food
they happen to have; but in their domestic way of living then men and women
eat together.
No people are more hospitable, kind, and free than the Indians. They will
readily share with any of their own tribe the last part of their
provisions, and even with those of a different nation, if they chance to
come in when they are eating. Though they do not keep one common flock,
yet that community of goods which is so prevalent among them, and their
generous disposition, render it nearly of the same effect.
When the chiefs are convened on any public business, they always conclude
with a feast, at which their festivity and cheerfulness knows no limits.
CHAP. XIX. Of the Trees, Shrubs, Roots, Herbs, Flowers, &c.
....
Farinaceous and Leguminous Roots, &c.
Maize or Indian Corn, Wild Rice, Beans, the Squash, &c.
MAIZE or INDIAN CORN, grows to the height of about five or six feet, on a
stalk full of joints, which is stiff and solid, and when green, abounding
with a sweet juice. The leaves are like those of the reed, about two feet
in length, and three of four inches broad. The flowers which are produced
at some distance from the fruit on the same plant, grow like the ears of
oats, and are sometimes white, yellow, or of a purple colour. The seeds
are as large as peas, and like them quite naked and smooth, but of a
roundish surface, rather compressed. One spike generally consists of about
six hundred grains, which are placed closely together in rows to the number
of eight or ten, and sometimes twelve. This corn is very wholesome, easy
of digestion, and yields as good nourishment as any other sort. After the
Indians have reduced it to meal by pounding it, the make cakes of it and
bake them before the fire. I have already mentioned that some nations eat
it in cakes before it is ripe, in which state it is very agreeable to the
palate and extremely nutritive.
WILD RICE. This grain, which grows in the greatest plenty throughout the
interior part of North America, is the most valuable of the spontaneous
productions of that country. Exclusive of its utility, as a supply of food
for those of the human species who inhabit this part of the continent, and
obtained without any other trouble than that of gathering it, in the
sweetness and nutritious quality of it attracts an infinite number of wild
fowl of every kind, which flock from distant climes to enjoy this rare
repast; and by it become inexpressibly fat and delicious. In future
periods it will be of great service to the infant colonies, as will afford
them a present support, until in the course of cultivation other supplies
may be produced; whereas in those realms which are not furnished with this
bounteous gift of nature, even if the climate is temperate and the soil
good, the first settlers are often exposed to great hardships from the want
of an immediate resource for necessary food. This useful grain grows in
the water where it is about two feet deep, and where it finds a rich muddy
soil. The stalks of it, and the branches or ears that bear the seed,
resemble oats both in their appearance and manner of growing. The stalks
are full of joints, and rise more than eight feet above the water. The
natives gather the grain in the following manner: nearly about the time
that it begins to turn from its milky state and to ripen, they run their
canoes into the midst of it, and tying bunches of it together just below
the ears with bark, leave it in this situation three or four weeks longer,
till it is perfectly ripe. About the latter end of September they return
to the river, when each family having its separate allotment, and being
able to distinguish their own property by the manner of fastening the
sheaves, gather in the portion that belongs to them. This they do by
placing their canoes close to the bunches of rice, in such position to
receive the grain when it falls, and then beat it out, with pieces of wood
formed for that purpose. Having done this, they dry it with smoke, and
afterwards tread or rub it off the outside husk; when it is fit for use
they put it into the skins of fawns or young buffalos taken off nearly
whole for this purpose and sewed into a sort of sack, wherein they preserve
it till the return of their harvest. It has been the subject of much
speculation why this spontaneous grain is not found in any other regions of
America, or in those countries situated in the same parallels of latitude,
where the waters are as apparently adapted for its growth as in the
climates I treat of. As for instance, none of the countries that lie to
the south and east of the great lakes, even from the provinces north of the
Carolinas to the extremities of Labradore, produce any of this grain. It
is true I found great quantities of it in the watered lands near Detroit,
between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, but on enquiry I learned that it never
arrived nearer to maturity then just to blossom; after which it appeared
blighted, and died away. This convinces me that the northwest wind, as I
have before hinted, is much more powerful in these than in the interior
parts; and that it is more inimical to the fruits of the earth, after it
has passed over the lakes and become united with the wind which joins it
from the frozen regions of the north, that it is farther to the westward.
BEANS. These are nearly of the same shape as the European beans, but are
not much larger than the smallest size of them. They are boiled by the
Indians and eaten chiefly with bear's flesh.
The SQUASH. They have also several species of the MELON or PUMPKIN, which
my some are called Squashes, and which serve many nations partly as a
substitute for bread. Of these there is the round, the crane-neck, the
small flat, the large oblong Squash. The smaller sorts being boiled, are
eaten during the summer as vegetables; and are all of a pleasing flavour.
The crane-neck, which greatly excels all the others, are usually hung up
for a winter's store and in this manner might be preserved for several
months.
I am sensible the I have not treated the foregoing Account of the natural
productions of the interior parts of North America with the precision of a
naturalist. I have neither enumerated the whole of the trees, shrubs,
plants, herbs, &c. that it produces, nor have I divided them into classes
according to their different genera after the Linnaean method: the limits
of my Work, in its present state, would not permit me to pursue the Subject
more copiously. However, if the favour of the Public should render a
future edition necessary, as I trust, from the number of Subscribers who
have already favoured me with their Names, will be the case, I then propose
the enlarge it considerably, and to insert many interesting particulars and
descriptions, which the size of the present Edition obliges me to curtail
or entirely to omit.
------
Enjoy!
Dave Chapman
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