Newjerjty, Raccoon. 101 



wife ate them ; and the old men among 

 them told me, they liked this food better 

 than any of the other plants which the In- 

 dians formerly made ufe of. This Taw-kee 

 was the Orontium aquaticum. 



Bilberries were likewife a very com- 

 mon dim among the Indians. They are 

 called Huckleberries by the E?iglijh here, and 

 belong to feveral fpecies of Vaccinium, which 

 are all of them different from our Swedi/h 

 Bilberry-bum, though their berries, in re- 

 gard to colour, fhape, and tafte, are fo fimi- 

 lar to the Swedijh bilberry, that they are 

 diftinguifhed from each other with diffi- 

 culty. The American ones grow on fhrubs, 

 which are from two to four feet high ; and 

 there are fome fpecies which are above (ev&n. 

 feet in height. The Indians formerly pluck- 

 ed them in abundance every year, dried 

 them either in the fun-mine or by the fire- 

 fide, and afterwards prepared them for eat- 

 ing, in different manners. Thefe huckle- 

 berries are frill a dainty difh among the In- 

 dians. On my travels through the country 

 o$ \hz Iroquefe, they offered me, whenever 

 they defigned to treat me well, frefh maize- 

 bread, baked in an oblong fhape, mixed with 

 dried Huckleberries, which lay as clofe in it 

 as the raifins in a plumb-pudding. 1 fhall 



G 3 write 



