440 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



It would seem clear that Charlevoix is here referring to a consider- 

 able number of forms and without much doubt includes in the term 

 Pacane one or more types of hickory nut with the pecan as we now 

 use the term. 



While describing in his General History the adventures of La Salle 

 near the mouth of the Mississippi River in 1685, Charlevoix seems to 

 indicate that he might have found this nut. A form of walnut 

 described as "larger than the ordinary ones" and "very good" is re- 

 garded by his translator, Shea, as the pecan. 1 The evidence here is 

 so incomplete, however, as to leave room for doubt on this point, 

 although the guess may perhaps be correct. 



At a somewhat later date Le Page du Pratz 2 described the Louis- 

 iana country, and in discussing the various nuts growing in that 

 province writes : 



II y a encore les Tacaniers dont" le fruit est une espece de noix fort petite, 

 & qu'on prendroit au coup d'oeil pour des noisettes, parcequ' elles en ont la 

 forme, la conteur, & le coque aussi tendre; mais en dedans elles sont figurees 

 comme les noix ; elfes sont plus delicates que les notres, moins huilleuses & 

 d'un gout si fin, que les Francois en ont des pralines aussi bonnes que cedes 

 d'amandes. 3 



The translator responsible for the wording of the English edition 

 of 1763 4 translates Pacaniers as Hicori, no mention of the pecan 

 coming to my attention in any other place. That this historian or 

 any other observer traveling through the lowlands bordering the 

 lower Mississippi or those of its tributaries would be likely to miss 

 the pecan seems to me very unlikely. 



INTRODUCTION INTO THE EAST. 



Concerning the introduction of the pecan to European civiliza- 

 tion, the writer has seen nothing to indicate that either the early 

 Spanish or the early French explorers accomplished this. However, 

 it is probable that the pecan was cultivated in Spain perhaps before 

 it was grown either in France or in England. The pecan seems to 

 have first become known in the English colonies in 1761, through the 

 botanist John Bartram, of Philadelphia. 5 



1 Charlevoix, The Kev. V. P., History and general description of New France. Trans- 

 lated with notes by John Gilmary Shea, in 6 volumes. New York. Vol. 4, 1870, p. 72. 



2 Du Pratz, Le rage, Histoire de la Louisiane. Paris, 1758. T. II : 2G. 



3 There are again the pecans the fruit of which is a kind of very small walnut that 

 would be taken at first glance for a filbert, since they have the form, the outline, and 

 the likewise thin shell, but internally they are shaped like the walnut ; they are more 

 delicate than our own, less oily, and with a flavor so fine that the French make 

 "pralines" (a kind of baked cake composed of almonds) of them as good as those made 

 of almonds. 



4 Du Pratz, Le Page, The history of Louisiana. 2 vols. Becket & De Hondt. Lon- 

 don, 1763. Vol. 2 : 21. 



5 Darlington, Wm., Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall, Philadelphia, 

 1840 : 233. 



