3 88 March 1749. 



long hole, fometimes two or three fathoms and 

 upwards in ' length, into which they put the 

 roots, and covered them with the earth that had 

 been taken out of the hole; they made a great 

 fire above it, which burnt till they thought pro- 

 per to remove it; and then they dug up the roots,- 

 and con fumed them with great avidity. The& 

 roots, when prepared in this manner, I am told, 

 tafte like potatoes. The Indians never dry and 

 preferve them ; but always take them freth out 

 of the marfhes, when they want them. This 

 Taw- bo is the Arum Virginicum^ or Virginian 

 Wake- robin. It is remarkable, that the Arums, 

 with the plants next akin to them, are eaten by 

 men in different parts of the world, though their 

 roots, when raw, have a fiery pungent tafie, 

 and are almofl poifonous in that (late. Hew 

 can men have learnt, that plants fo extremely 

 oppofite to our nature were eatable ; and that 

 their poifon, which burns on the toague, can 

 be conquered by fire ? Thus the root of the 

 Cola palnftris, which grows in the north of /,/- 

 rope, is fometimes ufed inftead of bread on an ex- 

 igency. The North American Indians con fume 

 this fpecies of Arum. Thofe of South America, 

 and of the Weft Indies, eat other fpecies of -Arums. 

 The I-fvttentots, at the Cape of Good Hope, in 

 Africa, prepare bread from a fpecies of Arum 

 or Wake-fobin, which is as, burning and poifon- 

 ous as the other .fpecies of this plant. In the 

 fame manner, they employ the roots of fome 

 kinds of Arum as a food, in Egypt and A/ia. 

 Probably, that fevere but fometimes ufeful mif- 

 trefs, neceffity, has firfl taught men to find out 



a 



