1892-93.] NOTES ox the westekn denes. 127 



it finally coagulates into cakes of uniform thickness which are then 

 stored away for future use. When properly prepared, these will keep for 

 years and if sprinkled over with a little sugar, they are of tempting 

 succulency even to others than Indians. 



Esculent and Medicinal Plants. 



Before proceeding further in our description of native utensils, it may 

 not be irrelevant to complete our knowledge of the means of subsistence 

 •of the Western Denes by a brief nomenclature of the other esculent 

 berries, roots or plants they use as food, as well as of the chief medicinal 

 herbs which they have, or had formerly, recourse to in case of bodily 

 ailment. Their flora, such'as represented in their vocabulary, is some- 

 what limited, inasmuch as, with very few exceptions, only such plants as 

 have a place in their domestic economy are deemed worthy of a name. 

 •Question, for instance, a TsijKoh'tin about the native name of a beautiful 

 flower which may strike your fancy, and if it is not that of an edible or 

 medicinal plant, he will look at you wondering if your mind is not 

 getting unbalanced and ask you scornfully : " Do you think that we eat 

 such a thing, that we should have a name for it ? " A great many berries 

 they do eat, and therefore honour with a distinctive name These, added 

 to those already mentioned in the course of the present monograph, are : 



The small, low-growing blue berry ( Vaccinium niyrtillus) which is 

 common in dry, stony places, such, generally, as are wooded with the 

 scrub pine. These are gathered in the autumn and either eaten fresh, 

 when they are very succulent, or dried and kept until needed for use. In 

 this latter case, they are first boiled in a common tin kettle, then thor- 

 oughly kneaded, and spread, without extracting the juice, over small 

 trellis, much as is done with the mash of the service berries. Their Car- 

 rier name is y^ji-th^-Jiiar or ground berries. 



A larger species of blue berries ( V. viyrtiloides) is also much sought 

 after and treated, as a rule, as the small ground blue berries. Such is 

 also the case with the swamp cranberry {Oxicoccus pahistris) which, 

 though rather scarce here, is none the less appreciated by the natives. 

 The Carrier name of the former is ya/tsyl, a secondary root ; that of the 

 latter 9ya-k3-mai\ or marsh berry, a noun of the third category. 



T9tqe is a large, dark-colored berry, {Einpetnu)i nigrum) somewhat 

 acid and very juicy. When not eaten fresh, or seasoned with bear 

 grease, whole basketsful of it are deposited in long trough-like vessels of 

 spruce bark, tucked up at both ends so as to form provisional receptacles 

 therefor. After they have undergone the usual kneading process, heated 



