TUCKAHOE, OR INDIAN BREAD. 689 



with a hard scaly bark, with a brown and woody appearance; elliptical 

 in shape and about the size of a man's head, exactly resembling a 

 cocoa nut; bark thick and fibrous, in general appearance like a pine 

 root. Within, the substance is almost white and flesh-like, with an 

 odor like a mushroom. When they attain their growth, the color is 

 white, and they are considered by the natives as possessing medicinal 

 properties. They are found in Carolina, especially among the i)ine for- 

 ests." Almost the identical description is given by Von Schweinitz, in 

 ''Synopsis Fungorum," -p. 56-, also in Walter's "Flora Carolina," p. 256. 

 In order to be able to positively assert that there were more than one 

 root known as Tuckahoe, we must find at least one other whose proper- 

 ties and general appearance will coincide with or take the place of those 

 already given. A search for this was made among the earliest histories 

 of the eastern parts of America. The first promise of success was de- 

 rived from Smith's " History of Virginia," ji. 87, where it is written : " The 

 chief root they have for food is called Tockawhoughe. It grows like a 

 flag in marshes. In one day a savage will gather sufficient for a week. 

 These roots are much of the greatness and taste of potatoes. They used 

 to cover a great many with oak leaves and ferns and then cover all M'ith 

 earth in the manner of a coal pit; over it and on each side they continue 

 a great fire 24 hours before they dare eat it. Kaw, it is no better than 

 poison, and being roasted, unless it be tender and heat abated, or sliced 

 and dried in the sun, mixed with sorrel and meal it will i)rickle the 

 throat extremelj', and yet in summer they use this ordinarily ibr bread.' 

 The account given by Smith is confirmed by Beverly, "History of Vir- 

 ginia," p. 153 : " Out of the ground they (the Indians) dig earth nuts, wild 

 onions, and a tuberous root they call Tuckahoe, which, while crude, is 

 of a very hot and virulent quality. But they can so manage it, as in 

 case of necessity to make bread of it. It grows like a flag in the miry 

 marshes, having roots of the magnitude and taste of Irish potatoes." 

 Also, in Campbell's "History of Virginia," p. 75: "Of the spontaneous 

 productions of the soil, the principal article of sustenance was the tuck- 

 ahoe root, of which one man could gather enough in a day to supply 

 him with bread for a week. The Tockawhoughe, as it is called by 

 Smith, was in the summer the principal article of diet among the natives. 

 It grows in marshes like a flag, and resembles somewhat the potato in 

 size and flavor. Eaw, it is no better than i)oisou, so that the Indians 

 were accustomed to roast and eat it mixed with sorrel and corn meal. 

 There is another root found in Virginia called Tuckahoe and confounded 

 with the flag-like root described above, and erroneously supposed by 

 many to grow without stem or leaf. It appears to be of the convohndus 

 species, and is entirely unlike the root eaten by the Jamestown settlers." 

 It is evident from the preceding extracts that at least two dissimilar 

 roots were referred to, so that the supposition that more than one tuber 

 was known as Tuckahoe may now be called a conclusion. The ques- 

 tion then remaining is: What was this flag- like root? The Kooyah, or 

 S. Mis. 109 14 



