282 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTION'S. [anNO 1772. 



VII. Of the Roots used by the Indians, in the Neighbourhood of Hudson^ s Bay, 



to dye Porcupine Quills. By Mr. John Reinhold Forster, F.R.S. p. 54. 



Among the curiosities presented by the Hudson's Bay Company to the r. s., 

 is a small parcel of porcupine quills, dyed by the wild natives, some red and 

 some yellow, with the roots of some plants they use for that purpose. Mr. F. 

 examined them carefully, and found that they are probably of the same kind 

 with those mentioned by Prof. Kalm, vol. 3, p. 14, and l6o of the English 

 translation. The one root, dying yellow, is called by the French in Canada, 

 Tisavoyanne jaune; the other, dying red, has the name of Tisavoyanne rouge. 

 Prof. Kalm declares the latter -to be a new plant, belonging to the genus of 

 galium, and received by Dr. Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum, p. 153, by the 

 specific name of tinctorium, on account of its dying quality. It grows in woody, 

 moist places, in a fine soil. Kalm observes, ' that the roots of this plant are 

 employed by the Indians in dying the quills of the American porcupine red, 

 which they put into several places of their work : air, sun, and water, seldom 

 change this colour. The French women in Canada sometimes dye their cloth 

 red with these roots, which are but small, like those of the galium luteum or 

 yellow bedstraw.' Dr. Linnaeus describes this plant, as having 6 narrow linear 

 leaves at each knot of the stem, and 4 at the branches; commonly 2 flowers are 

 on each stalk, and its seeds are smooth. The roots, when dry, are of the 

 thickness of a crow quill, brown on the outside, and of a bright purple red, 

 when broken, on the inside. 



The 2d plant, or the Tisavoyanne jaune, is, according to Prof. Kalm, vol. 3, 

 p. ]6o, ' the three-leaved hellebore (helleborus trifolius Linn.); grows plentifully 

 in woods, in mossy, not too wet, places. Its leaves and stalks are employed by 

 the Indians to dye yellow several kinds of their work, made of prepared skins. 

 The French learned from them to dye wool and other things yellow with this 

 plant.' Among the roots sent as a specimen from Hudson's Bay, Mr. F. found 

 several leaves, which he separated, and found the plant undoubtedly to be the 

 three-leaVed hellebore. In the 4th vol. of Dr. Linnaeus's Amoenitates Acade- 

 micae, is a figure of this plant, which on comparison Mr. F. found by no means 

 to be accurate : for the leaves in our specimens, and in those collected by a 

 gentleman who favoured him with the sight of the plant, are far more pointed, 

 than in the engraved figure. The stalks have constantly but one flower. 



The dyed porcupine quills sent along with the roots from Hudson's Bay, are 

 of the brightest red and yellow : and this circumstance suggested the thought of 

 trying whether these roots might not be usefully employed in dying. For this 

 purpose, he boiled a piece of flannel in a solution of half salt of tartar and half 

 alum : the wet flannel was put into the decoction of the three-leaved hellebore 



