232 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



book is, that the inhabitants of East Florida 

 prepare, from the root of the China briar, a 

 very agreeable sort of jelly, which they call 

 conti. They chop the root in pieces, which are 

 afterwards pounded in a wooden mortar ; and, 

 when washed and strained, the sediment that 

 settles to the' bottom dries into a reddish flour. 

 A small quantity of this, mixed with warm water 

 and sweetened with honey, becomes a delicious 

 jelly, when cool ; or, mixed with corn flour and 

 fried in fresh bear's oil, it makes very nice cakes. 



26^/z. I have just found, in " Bartram's 

 Travels," some particulars that I do not think 

 we knew before, of that curious species of the 

 Tillandsia, commonly called long moss. 



It grows on all trees in the southern regions 

 of North America ; and any part of the living 

 plant, torn off and caught on the branches of 

 another tree, immediately takes root. Wherever 

 it fixes, it spreads into long pendent filaments, 

 which subdivide themselves in an endless man- 

 ner, waving in the wind like streamers, to the 

 length of twenty feet. It is common to find the 

 spaces between the boughs of large trees entirely 

 occupied by masses of this plant, which, in bulk 

 and weight, would require several men to carry. 

 In some places, cart loads of it are found lying 

 on the ground, torn off by the violence of the 

 wind. When fresh, cattle and deer eat it in the 



