New Jerfey> "Raccoon. 413 



yards of thefe ropes for one piece of bread. 

 Many of the Europeans ftill buy fuch ropes, 

 becaufe they laft fo well. The Indians like- 

 wife make feveral other fluffs of their hemp. 

 On my journey through the country of the 

 Iroquefe, I faw the women employed in ma- 

 nufadluring this hemp. They made ufe neither 

 of fpinning-wheels nor diftaffs, but rolled the 

 filaments upon their bare thighs, and made thread 

 and firings of them, which they dyed red, yel- 

 low, black, &c. and afterwards worked them, 

 into fluffs, with a great deal of ingenuity. The 

 plant is perennial, which renders the annual 

 planting of it altogether unneceffary. Out of 

 the root and ftalk of this plant, when it is frefh, 

 comes a white milky juice, which is fomewhat 

 poifonous. Sometimes the fiihing tackle of the 

 Indians confifts entirely of this hemp. The Eu- 

 ropeans make no ufe of it, that I know of. 



FLAX and Cat-tail, were names given to a 

 plant which grows in bays, rivers, and in deep 

 whirlpools, and which is known tobotanifts by the ; 

 name of Typha lati folia. Its leaves are here twifted 

 together, and formed into great oblong rings, 

 which are put upon the horfe's neck, between 

 the mane and the collar, in order to prevent the 

 horfc's neck from being hurt by the collar. The 

 bottoms of chairs were frequently made of thefe 

 leaves, twifted together. Formerly the Swedes 

 employed the wool or cotton which furrounds 

 its feeds, and put it into their beds inftead of 

 feathers; but as it coalefces into lumps after the 

 beds have been ufed for fome time, they have 

 left off making ufe of them. I omit the ufe of 



this 



