IROQUOIS HERBALISM — FENTON 511 



for a fortnight with a decoction of some unknown roots or barks, 

 "which they wrapped in a linen rag that was greasier than a kitchen- 

 cloth." " Dutch writers of the period also attest that there must be 

 valuable simples in the colony of New Netherlands because the Indians 

 know how to cure very dangerous wounds, sores, and bruises in a 

 most wonderful manner with herbs and roots and leaves which grow 

 in their country and are known to them.^^ The Relation of 1663-64 

 conveys some notion of the skill of Mohawk surgeons in the adventure 

 of three soldiers of the garrison of Three Rivers, Quebec, who were 

 ambushed by Mohawk warriors on the Richelieu Islands. In the 

 attack a ball passed through the body of one and lodged at the side 

 opposite its entry. We read : 



The Iroquois — who take pride in leading home prisoners alive and full of 

 strength, to endure the strain of torture * * * — turned Physicians * * * 

 and, with cruel compassion, dressed his wound and bled him * * *. They 

 probed the wound full through his body, and finding the place where the ball 

 had stopped, made an incision there and removed It, with admirable skill. After 

 this successful operation, it is incredible what pains and care they took of this 

 poor patient. Some would cleanse the wound and infuse into it the juice of 

 roots, either boiled or chewed, which is a sovereign remedy with them ; others 

 would bandage it * * *. 



That he survived to run the gauntlet before a Mohawk town and sub- 

 sequently escape near Oneida is almost as remarkable as his blunder- 

 ing into the cabin of a captive woman who had been reared by the 

 Ursulines of Quebec. 



For she set about * * * preparing a fire for them, giving them something 

 to eat, and wiping the matter from their sores, without showing any disgust 

 at the stench which arose from those ill-dressed ulcers. She even went to fetch 

 some medicinal roots, and made of them a dressing, which she applied to all 

 the places * * * where the gangrene seemed most dangerous, and cleansed 

 the others — * * * omitting nothing * * * that a wise and kind sur- 

 geon could do." 



Indians apparently were not as subject to gangrenous infections as 

 the French. Lahontan (vol. 2, p. 50) attributed this to the Indians' 

 hail constitutions, not to the quality of the herbs employed, because 

 notwithstanding the use of the same remedies gangrene invaded the 

 wounds of the French. Indians attributed this to eating salt. The 

 present-day Iroquois abstain from eating salted foods while under 

 treatment of the sacred Little Water Medicine, a mixture of powdered 

 vulnerary herbs and animal hearts composing their sacred war 

 bundles. That the Mohawk of Caughnawaga knew this formula at 



23 Relation of 1652-53, Jesuit Relations, vol. 40, pp. 139, 143. 



*» Van der Donck, Adriaen, Description of the New Netherlands. Coll. New York Hist. 

 Soc, 2d ser., vol. 1, p. 207, New York, 1841 ; The representation of New Netherland, 

 1650, in Narratives of New Netherland, J. F. Jameson, ed., pp. 299, 301, New York, 1909. 



»* Jesuit Relations, vol. 49, pp. 121, 129. 



