306 A JOURNEY TO THE 



prepared are full of sand : for the stones thus heated, and then 

 immerged in the water, are not only liable to shiver to pieces, 

 but many of them being of a coarse gritty nature, fall to a 

 mass of gravel in the kettle, which cannot be prevented from 

 mixing with the victuals which are boiled in it. Besides this, 

 they have several other methods of preparing their food, such 

 as roasting it by a string, broiling it, &c. ; but these need no 

 farther description. 



The most remarkable dish among them, as well as all the 

 other tribes of Indians in those parts, both Northern and 

 Southern, is blood mixed with the half-digested food which is 

 found in the deer's stomach or paunch, and boiled up with a 

 sufficient quantity of water, to make it of the consistence of 

 pease-pottage. Some fat and scraps [317] of tender flesh are 

 also shred small and boiled with it. To render this dish more 

 palatable, they have a method of mixing the blood with the 

 contents of the stomach in the paunch itself, and hanging it 

 up in the heat and smoke of the fire for several days ; which 

 puts the whole mass into a state of fermentation, and gives it 

 such an agreeable acid taste, that were it not for prejudice, it 

 might be eaten by those who have the nicest palates. It is 

 true, some people with delicate stomachs would not be easily 

 persuaded to partake of this dish, especially if they saw it 

 dressed ; for most of the fat which is boiled in it is first 

 chewed by the men and boys, in order to break the globules 

 that contain the fat ; by which means it all boils out, and 

 mixes with the broth : whereas, if it were permitted to remain 

 as it came from the knife, it would still be in lumps, like suet. 

 To do justice, however, to their cleanliness in this particular, 

 I must observe, that they are very careful that neither old 

 people with bad teeth, nor young children, have any hand in 

 preparing this dish. At first, I must acknowledge that I was 

 rather shy in partaking of this mess, but when I was sufficiently 

 convinced of the truth of the above remark, I no longer made 

 any scruple, but always thought it exceedingly good. 



