97 



tracted from it was used by the natives of Louisiana to season their 

 food." Its use at or near Madrid on the Mississippi by the Indians 

 is mentioned in the Portugese Rehition of De Soto's Expedition. Ban- 

 croft refers to the fact that DeSota discovered not only the Mississippi 

 River but also the pecan, and fixes the date of this discovery of the 

 pecan in 1511. On page 47 of Volume I of Bancroft's History of the 

 United' States, the pecan nut, the mulberry and two kinds of wild 

 plums are mentioned as furnishing tlie natives with articles of food. 



The Indians had a liquid obtained by pounding the kernels of the 

 nuts and throwing them into boiling water. This liquid, called 

 powcohicora, was used to thicken venison broth, to season hominy or 

 corn cakes and, according to the records of the American Philological 

 Society in 1872, was in some instances allowed to ferment, forming 

 an intoxicating drink. 



About 150 years later, when tlie Frencli had more largely settled 

 this district, numerous references to the pecan nut appear. We see 

 that these early French settlers had learned from the Indian to place 

 their dependence for food largely upon the pecans. Jean Penicaut, 

 ill his Annals of Louisiana covering the period' from 169-1 to 1722, 

 makes references to the food value of tlie pecan both to the Indian and 

 to the early settlers. Describing Natchez, an Indian village on the 

 Mississippi, he says, "Tli^ natives have three kinds of walnut trees, 

 some whose nuts are as big as the fist, from which bread for their 

 soup is made. The best ones, however, are scarcely bigger than the 

 thumb and are called Pacane." Xavier Charlevoix, French missionary 

 .•:;nd traveller, descended the ^Mississippi to New Orleans in 1722 and 

 published a history of new France in 1711. In this he gives a good 

 description of tlie pecan as l:e had seen it, after comparing it with the 

 acorn in length and general form. After describing the fact that some 

 have very thin shells, and showing their advantage to those with the 

 harder, thicker shell, which were even smaller, he says, "All have a 

 very fine and delicate taste." 



Le Page du Pratz, a French explorer, visited New Orleans in 1720, 

 and spent eight years exploring the Mississippi Valley. In 1758 he 

 jjublished a history of Louisiana in which he describes the pecan ac- 

 curately and particularly praises its flavor. In it we find the first 

 mention of the pecan praline which the French colonists made out of 

 the kernels. What other candy, originating in America, can point 



