128 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. IV. 



Stones are thrown over the mash until it has boiled long enough to pre- 

 vent its deteriorating with age, after which cakes are obtained by drying 

 on hurdles, as practised with regard to the service berry. 



• A species of high bush cranberry {^Viburnum paneifioriun), in spite of 

 its pungency, is also much appreciated by the native palate. It comes to 

 perfect maturity late in September, and is generally eaten with bear 

 grease. But when it ripens early enough, and when the service berries 

 are not kept in dried cake<, it is mixed with them to render them more 

 digestible. The service berry, when eaten alone, is rather heavy on the 

 stomach, and the addition of the cranberries is intended to correct this 

 drawback. The Carriers call the high bush cranberry tsajtsc. 



The soap berry (Shepperdia canadensis), which is so unpalatable to a 

 white man, is not the least esteemed of esculent berries among the 

 Western Denes. It is either eaten raw or dried for future use. In both, 

 cases, it requires some preparation to become edible. After it has been 

 mashed in a tin or bark vessel and sprinkled with a little sugar to soften 

 down its bitter taste, it is vigorously stirred with the hand until it 

 springs up into a beautiful rosy foam — whence its name — which is highly 

 appreciated, especially on a hot summer day. If not needed at the 

 time the berries are collected, their mash is put in a spruce bark vessel 

 and boiled by means of heated stones until nothing remains but the 

 roasted residue of the fruit. This is now given the form of the usual 

 plug-like cakes by spreading and drying on hurdles and finally stowed 

 away. When these are required for consumption, they are put in a 

 kettle, dissolved in a little water, and stirred with the hand as in the case 

 of the fresh berries and with similar results. 



Two other species of single berried fruit called respectively tcitccstetce^ 

 and nontsa are generally eaten fresh. As far as I can guess, they 

 belong to the genus Viburnnm. The first, which grows only on 

 mountainous soil, is black and resembles the service berry, but the 

 natives claim that it is unknown to the whites. The second is a blue 

 berry ripening on very tall bushes. 



Nor should we omit in our nomenclature even the berry of the 

 kinnikinik {Arctostapky/os iiva-tirsi), which is prepared for eating 

 by roasting in a frying pan and mixed with salmon oil or the grease 

 of any animal. Its native name is tdnili in all the western dialects. 



The natives also relish any species of edible — and sometimes to us 

 non-edible — berries, such as the raspberry {Rubus strigosus), the straw- 



This name, though used among the Carriers, is of undoubted Tse'kehne origin. 



