354 TRAVELS through 



the morning fun *, the heat concentrated in the 

 vafe turns the oil of a red f olour, and gives it 

 an agreeable fmell, which cures and purifies all 

 kinds of wounds. There are even plants which 

 have the virtue of ferving as counter-poifons •, 

 but it is a rare and precious gift to man to know 

 them, and to know how to make a proper ufe 

 of them 'y the Creator has not granted this know-- 

 ledge to all men. There are numerous fimples 

 proper for clean fi;ng the mals of blood, and of 

 which the Indians have a peculiar knowledge. 



There are foreils o^ fajfafras trees *, the wood 

 of which is ufed in phyfic, and for dying ; there 

 is likewife the copal tree -j-, whofe gum is an ex- 

 cellent balfam, equal in goodnefs to the balfam 

 of Peru j the animals which are wounded by 

 hunters, cure themfelves by rubbing againft the 

 tree from which this balfam exfudes, which 

 has an aromatic fmell. The Indians have in 

 their huts bitter gourds and calabafhes, of which 

 latter they make a perioral fyrup ; maiden-hairy 

 which is a good peroral medicine, and the caf- 



ftne^ 



■' Saflafras-tree grows all over North America, it is Laii- 

 rusfajfafrasy Linn. 



. f Co^al tree grows only i» the fouthern part of North. 

 America, Rhus copallinumi Linn. 



