156 LAWSON'S HISTORY 



great weight thereof, frightens our sawyers from 

 the fatigue that attends the cutting of this timber. 

 A nail once driven therein, tis next to an impossi- 

 bility to draw it out. The limbs thereof are so 

 cured that they serve for excellent timbers, knees, 

 &c., for vessels of any sort. The acorns thereof 

 are as sweet as chesnuts, and the Indians draw an 

 oil from them, as sweet as that from the olive, 

 though of an amber color. "With these nuts or 

 acorns, some have counterfeited the coca, whereof 

 they have made chocolate, not to be distinguished 

 by a good palate. Window frames, mallets, and 

 pins for blocks, are made thereof to an excellent 

 purpose. I knew two trees of this wood among 

 the Indians, which were planted from the acorn, 

 and grew in the freshes, and never saw anything 

 more beautiful of that kind. They are of an in- 

 different, quick growth, of which there are two 

 sorts. The acorns make very fine pork. 



"Willow oak is a sort of water oak. It grows in 

 ponds and branches, and is useful for many things. 

 It is so called from the leaf, which very much re- 

 sembles a willow. 



The live oak grows in the fresh water ponds and 

 swamps by the river sides, and in low ground over- 

 flown with water ; and is a perennial green. 



Of ash we have two sorts, agreeing nearly with 

 the English in the grain. One of our sorts is tough 

 like the English, but differs something in the leaf, 

 and much more in the bark. Neither of them 

 bears keys. The water ash is brittle. The bark 

 is food for the bevers. 



