1890. | HARRIS—ROOT FOODS OF SENECA INDIANS. III 
meadows, along ditches and in moist, shady places. It is well known 
to all lovers of wild plants as a floral curio, both on account of its 
peculiar flower and acrimonious nature. The root is roundish, flat- 
tened, an inch or two in diameter, covered with a brown, loose, 
wrinkled epidermis, and internally white, fleshy and solid. In its 
fresh state it is violently acrid, producing, when chewed, an insup- 
portable burning and biting sensation in the mouth and throat, which 
continues for a long time, leaving an unpleasant soreness. It is used 
when fresh, and may be preserved a year by packing in damp sand. 
When dried and pulverized it produces a beautiful snow white powder, 
that when properly prepared, may be employed as a substitute for flour 
in making bread. 
For many years the Senecas have called this plant “baby board,” 
from its resemblance in form to the board used by Indian mothers as a 
convenience in the transportation of infants. The frame of a baby 
board is about two feet long, fourteen to sixteen inches wide, has a 
narrow shelf or foot-rest at the lower end and a hoop arched at right 
angles over the head. The infant is wrapped in a blanket and lashed 
to the board with broad belts. A small cloth is then drawn over the 
upper end and hoop, forming a hood that leaves the face of the child 
exposed yet secure from the weather. This board is termed o-a-o-sah. 
The peculiar shape of Arum triphyllum always attracts the attention of 
Indians who hold up their hands and say: “ Just like baby board, that 
flower !’’ 1! hence they apply the name o-a-o-sah to the visible portion 
of the plant, but the part below the surface of the ground is known 
simply as oke-tah’-a, a root. It is probable that Swetland mis-pronounced 
the smooth flowing Seneca word o-a-o-sah, rendering it, in crude Yankee 
vernacular, ook-te-haw. 
At the period of which Mr. Swetland wrote, the Senecas were 
associated with the British, in their efforts to subdue the American 
‘colonists, and received some aid from their English allies; but as a 
people they were mainly uncultivated nomads of the forest, charac- 
terized by the same habits and customs their ancestors had possessed 
for unknown centuries, dependent upon their skill as hunters and, to 
some extent, upon the natural productions of the soil. Our inquiry 
regarding the identity of ook-te-haw may, therefore, extend to the 
customs and diet of their forefathers as recorded in early chronicles. 
In Thomas Herriot’s account of Virginia in 1585, that writer informs 
us that ‘‘Cos-cus-haw * * groweth in very muddy pools and moist 
grounds. * * The juice is poison, and therefore heed must be taken 
before anything be made therewithal ; either the roots must be first sliced 
1 The writer gratefully acknowledges his obligations to J. H. Van Valkenburg, Superintendent 
of the Thomas Asylum at Cattaraugus, to Solomon O’Bail, A. Sim Logan and William P. Buck for 
interpretations of various Seneca terms. 
