LOUISIANA. 189 



they get a little barrel full of this juice, which 

 they boil to a fyrup : and being boiled over again> 

 it changes into a reddifh fugar, looking like Ca* 

 lahrian manna ; the apothecaries juftly prefer it 

 to the fugar which is made of fugar canes. The 

 French who are fettled at the Illinois have learnt 

 from the Indians to make this fyrup, which is an 

 exceeding good remedy for colds, and rheuma- 

 tifms. 



At the end of the feflion of this affembly, 

 they brought a kind of bread which they call 

 Pliakmine, bears paws, and beavers tails ; I 

 likewife eat of the dog's flefh through complai- 

 fance, for I have made it a rule to conform oc- 

 cafionallyto the genius of the people, with whom 

 I am obliged to live, and to affed their man- 

 ners, in order to gain their friendfhip: they 

 likewife brought in a difh of boiled gruel, of 

 maize flour, called Sagamite^ fweetened with fy* 

 rup of the maple tree ; it is an Indian difh which 

 is tolerably g;ood and refrefhins;. At the end of 

 the repafl, they ferved a defert of a kind of 

 dry fruits which our Frenchmen call bluets^ and 

 which are as good as Corinth raifms •, they are 

 very common in the Illinois country. 



The 



