ILLUSTRATIONS. 129> 



taoy purchase great quantities from the savages ; and that at an establishment on 

 Red Cedar Lake, near the Mississippi in the 47th degree of latitude, they give 

 one dollar and fifty cents per bushel for it. The Menoraeni, a nation of indians 

 inhabiting ou the northwest of Lake Michigan, are called, by the french, 

 Fols Avoins, from this plant, which grows in great plenty among them. Henry, 

 in his Travels in Canada and the Indian Territories, bought wild rice at Lake 

 Sajunai in great abundance ; he says it grows in shoal water, and the indians 

 gather it by shaking the ears Into canoes. Hennepin say?, that among the fols 

 avoins it appears above the water in June, and is gathered in September, and 

 iii at it produces more meal than european oats. Mackenzie asserts, that the 

 indians, on Lake Sngenuja, depend principally for food upon fish, and wild rice 

 which gro'rvs spontaneously in these parts ; that there is abundance of it on the 

 banks of a small river which runs into the Lake of the Woods, about the lati- 

 tude of 49 degrees ; tha* from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipic, in latitude 50 

 degree? 37 minutes, " are vast quantities of rice, which the natives collect in 

 August for their winter stores. To the north of 50 degrees it is hardly known, 

 or at least does not come to maturity j" that the country between Lake Supe- 

 rior and the Mississippi was formerly very populous, and produced wild rice in 

 great plenty. Machtn^ie^s f~oyag?s, Prffaa. 



Carver, in his travels through North America, states tint the fox river is ren- 

 dered remarkable by the abundance of wild rice that grows on its shores, and 

 that this grain, which grows in the greatest plenty throughout, the interior parts 

 of North America, is the most valuable of all the spontaneous productions of 

 that country. Exclusive of its utility, as a sopp^y of food, for those of tue human 

 ^pecies who inhabit this part of the continent, and obtained without any other 

 trouble than that of gathering it in, the sweetness and nutritious quality of it at- 

 tract an infinite number of wild fowls of every kind, which Cock fcom distant climes 

 to enjoy this rare repast, and by it become inexpressibly fat and delicious. In fu- 

 ture periods it will be of great service to ihe infr.nt colonies, as it will afford them 

 a present support, until, in the course of cultivation, other supplies may be pro- 

 duced ; whereas, in those realms which are not furnished with this bounteous gift 

 of nature, even if the climate is temperate and the soil goad, the first settlers are 

 .,-iten exposed to great hardships from the want of an immediate resource for ne- 

 cessary food. This useful grain grows in the water, where it is about two feet 

 deep, and where it finds a rich muddy -oil. The stalks of it, and the branches 

 or ears, tiiatbear the seed, resemble oats, both in the appearance and manner of 

 growing. The stalks are full of joint?, and ri=e more than eight feet above the 

 water. The natives gather the grain in the following manner : neariy about the 

 time that it begins to turn from its milky state, and to ripen, they run their ca- 

 noe; into the midst of it. nnd tying branches of it together just below the ear, 



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