170 ILEX VOMITORIA. 
head. It was an annual custom for a chief to give notice to the inhabitants of 
a town, in spring, to assemble at the public house, which was previously purified 
by fire. After they had convened, the chief was first served with a bowl or 
conch-shell, never before used, of their emetic broth ; and next to him were 
served each individual of the company, according to his rank, till at last they 
came to the women and children. They had a belief that this beverage restored 
lost appetite, strengthened the stomach, and gave them agility and courage in 
war. Lawson, in recording a tradition of this tree, says: "The savages of 
Carolina have it in veneration above all the plants they are acquainted withal, 
and tell you the discovery thereof was by an infirm Indian, who laboured under 
the burden of many rugged distempers, and could not be cured by all the doc- 
tors ; so, one day he fell asleep, and dreamt that if he took a decoction of the tree 
that grew at his head, he would certainly be cured ; upon which he awoke, and 
saw the Yaupon or Cassine-tree, which was not there when he fell asleep. He 
followed the direction of his dream, and became perfectly well in a short time." 
Among some of the tribes, it was held in such high esteem, that the decoction 
of its toasted leaves, called "black drink," was forbidden to be used by their 
women. 
Properties, Uses, fyc. The leaves and young shoots of the cassena are inodo- 
rous, the taste sub-aromatic and fervid, being useful in stomach fevers, diabetes, 
small-pox, &c., as a mild emetic ; but the " black drink" of the Indians is a strong 
decoction, and a violent, though harmless vomitive. At a certain season of the 
year they often travel a distance of some hundred miles, from parts where this 
tree does not grow, to procure a supply of the leaves. They make a fire on the 
ground, and putting a kettle of water on it, filled with leaves, place themselves 
around it, and with a wooden vessel holding about a pint, commence by taking 
large draughts, which, in a short time, cause them to vomit freely. Thus they 
continue drinking and vomiting for two or three days, until they are sufficiently 
purified, when they return, with large quantities of the leaves and boughs, to 
their homes. The leaves and young shoots of the Ilex cassena and dahoon, and 
of many other shrubs, appear to be substituted indiscriminately by the Indians 
for making their " black drink." In North Carolina, it is said, the inhabitants of 
the sea-side swamps, having no good water to drink, disguise its taste by boiling 
in it a little cassena, or other plants of a similar nature, and use it constantly 
warm, as the Chinese do their daily tea. This circumstance gave rise to the 
opinion that this species was the Ilex paraguariensis, and was erroneously called 
"Paraguay Tea." 
This tree may be cultivated by seeds or by layers, in a similar manner, and 
in the same kind of soil as the Ilex opaca ; but its situation should be more shel- 
tfirecL 
