THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 81 



taste of the roots and their medicinal virtues appear to be the same. From the very 

 many evidences I have had of their beneficial effects, I am led to conclude that their 

 virtues far surpass those of the P. vulgare, which was formerly of great repute, 

 but which has been laid aside in modern practice. Perhaps the Poly podium growing 

 upon the immediate sea-coast derives some peculiar quality from the atmosphere of 

 the ocean, but it certainly seems to be as efficacious and to take the place in this 

 latitude of the sarsaparilla of the equatorial regions. By the white settlers it is 

 often mixed with the root of the &quot; Oregon grape&quot; (MaJionia), but the Makahs use 

 it alone, either simply chewing it and swallowing the juice, or boiling it with water 

 and drinking the decoction. A number of species of liverwort are found at Cape 

 Flattery, one of which grows upon the ground, and when freshly gathered has the 

 taste of spruce leaves. The Indians use this for coughs, and as a diuretic. When 

 chewed it appears to be of a mucilaginous nature, somewhat like slippery elm. It 

 loses its peculiar spruce flavor on being dried, and I think its virtues are greatest 

 when the plant is green. A variety of bittersweet or wintcrgrcen is used for 

 derangement of the stomach and intestinal canal. This is simply chewed and 

 swallowed. I was shown one day by a sick chief, a great medicine which he 

 had received from a Clyoquot doctor. It was kept very secret, and I was permitted 

 to examine it as a mark of great confidence and friendship. After a number of 

 rags had been unrolled, a little calico bag was produced, and in this bag, very 

 carefully wrapped up in another rag, were several slices of a dried root, which the 

 Indian informed me was very potent. I tasted it and found it to be the Indian 

 turnip (Ariscemd). Dr.Bigelow (Am. Med. Bot.) says &quot; the root loses nearly all its 

 acrimony by drying, and in a short time becomes quite inert.&quot; But this which the 

 Indian showed me was intensely acrid, and it had been dried for several months. 1 

 have not seen the plant growing in this vicinity, but if it is not a different variety 

 from the eastern species, it certainly retains its potency for a much longer period. 



The Indians have shown me at different times other plants which they said were 

 good for certain complaints, but I have never seen them exhibited as medicine. 

 It is to be observed, however, that there is scarcely an herb of any kind which 

 grows on the Cape or its vicinity, but is considered a medicine in the hands 

 of some one or other, and so what one considers good another ridicules, for as 

 they have no knowledge of the diagnosis of disease, they are apt to think 

 that what is good in one case is good in all. Thus, one doctor acquired quite a 

 reputation by administering a pasty mass composed of the shell of the Natica, 

 ground with water on a stone. This was useful in cases of acidity of the stomach 

 arising from surfeits of butter and oil. Another tried the same remedy in the case 

 of an abscess on the liver, but the patient died and the medicine was ridiculed. I 

 think, as a general rule, they have but little confidence in their own preparations, 

 as they invariably come to me after a trial of a day or two of their native remedies ; 

 and the whole of their matcria mcdica is employed after the manner of the old 

 women of all countries. But their ceremonials and tamanawas, and the manipula 

 tions and juggling feats of the doctor they have great faith in, and will probably 

 continue them for a long time to come, if indeed they ever relinquish the practice. 



Various plants have been shown me by the Indians as valuable during parturition, 



11 December. 1809. 



