58 



straining out the fragments of shells through a basket sieve. Tlie 

 milky fluid which was thus formed was allowed to stand until the 

 thick creamy substance separated from the water. The water was 

 then poured off, and the delicious cream which remained was used as a 

 component of various dishes. This substance was called by the Vir- 

 ginian Algonkian Indians " Pawcohiccora," a word which has been ab- 

 breviated and miodified to "Hickory," the name by which we now 

 designate not only the nuts, but the tree and its wood. 



It is interesting to note that a similar creamy or butter-like sub- 

 stance was derived by a similar process -froip various ])ahii nuts in 

 Central and South America. Cieza de Leon describes such a process 

 in his Chronicle of Peru, in connection with a nut which was described 

 as Cocos hiityracea, but wliich was not a true Cocas, or coconut. Long 

 before the discovery of America, a somewhat similar process was used 

 in the Xicobar Lslands for extracting a creamy substance from the 

 gr.'ited kernel of the true coconut, Cocon uiicifera, whicli in early times 

 was called Xii.r indicii. This jirocess is still followed thi'oug'hout Poly- 

 nesia. Some of the most savory dishes of the Samoans and the natives 

 of Guam are enriched and flavored with this coconut cream, which is 

 a sulistancc (luite distinct from the water, or so-called milk, contained 

 ill the hollow kernel of the nut, which is so coimnonly used for drinking. 



Coming back to America, 1 would call attention to the \alue of 

 some of our native pine nuts and acorns as food staples. Certain 

 Indian tribes of the Southwest live upon pine nuts at certain seasons 

 wlicii they are ripe. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has told of the utilization 

 (if acorns l.y sarious tribes of lndi;ins in a beautifully illustrated 

 article piiblishrd in the National (reographic Magazine, 11) IS. entitled 

 "The Acorn, a Possibly Neglected Source of I'Ood." "To the native 

 Indians of California," he says, "the acorji is, aiul alw.iys li/is been. 

 the staff of life, furnisliing the material for their daily mush and 

 bread." He describes the ))roc('Ss of gathering and storing them, 

 shelling, drying, grinding the kernels, leaching out the bitter tannic 

 acid, and preparing the acorn meal in various ways for food. In 

 i-astern North America, several sjiecies of acorns wtre soiiuuliat 

 similarlv used, includine; those of the live oaks of our southern states. 

 The Spaniards of Florida som/etimes toasted' them and used them as a 

 substitute for chocolate or coffee. Chinkapins were used for food by 

 the earliest English colonists. They are mentioned by Herriot, the 

 historian of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony at Roanoke. In addition to 



