IROQUOIS HERBALISM — FENTON 517 



eyes with the same water * • * natives from Canada formerly ♦ • • 

 cut the stems in two, took out the pith and preserved it and took it home with 

 them to use as described above.^'' 



Living at the northern extremity of its range Iroquois uses of sassa- 

 fras were typical of tribes farther south. Seneca warriors carried 

 the powdered leaves, women employed it as a tonic after childbirth, 

 it was used in cases of rheumatism, and as a diuretic; and drinking 

 sassafras tea as a sprmg tonic has so long ago become a part of life 

 on the American frontier that the Iroquois herbalists have regularly 

 peddled the root bark on the doorsteps of their white neighbors. In 

 the modern city of Buffalo the Indians still maintain the right to sell 

 sassafras and wildflowers in season from certain street corners, and 

 choice stations are annually preempted by old Seneca families of 

 Tonawanda and Cattaraugus reservations. Some years ago when the 

 matrons of the Bear clan at Tonawanda were considering the nomina- 

 tion of a recently deceased Sachem, someone remarked, "All he 

 knows is how to sell sassafras!" 



Maidenhair fern {Adiantum pedatum L.) attracted much attention 

 in the colonies. For its most conspicuous feature, a black stalk, it 

 was generally known among the Iroquois as "black shins" (deganyen- 

 daaji's(S.); degodisinahumji's(M.)). Mohawk and Seneca mid- 

 wives recommend it as a haemostatic in women's disorders and for 

 labor pains. Its earlier uses which made it a popular export item 

 from New France do not appear in Waugh's or my own notes. 



Several people in Albany and Canada assured * * * [Kalm (1749)] 

 * * * that its leaves were very much used instead of tea, in consumption, 

 cough, and all kinds of pectoral diseases. This they have learnt from the 

 Indians who have made use of the plant for these purposes since ancient times. 

 This American maiden hair is reckoned preferable in surgery to that which we 

 have in Europe and therefore they send a great quantity of it to France 

 every year." 



The export trade in this drug was flourishing as early as 1687 when 

 Lahontan observed * * * "that the Inhabitants of Quebec pre- 

 pare great quantities of its Syrup which they send to Paris, Nants, 

 Roitan, and several other Cities in France.^^ ^^ In Kalm's day the 

 price varied according to the grade of the plant, the care taken in 

 preparing it, and the quantity available at Quebec. The Indians 

 went into the bush about the first of August and traveled far above 

 Montreal in quest of it. 



Of greater importance financially and more pertinent to a discus- 

 sion of Iroquois herbalism than either sassafras or maidenhair fern 



" Peter Kalm's travels in North America, pp. 180, 179, 78, 606, Adolph B. Benson, ed., 

 New York, 1937. 

 « Idem, p. 438. 

 * Lahontan, Baron, de, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 263. 



