122 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS (eth. ann. 33 



Wntcriiieli'iis are cultivated in Kreiit plenty in the English and French- 

 Aiiierlciin c.ilonies, and there is hardly ii peasant here who has not a field 

 lihinted with them. . . . The Indians plant creat quantities of watermelons 

 at present, but whether they have done it of old is not easily determineti. 

 For an old < )nldoe Iialian (of the six Iroquese Nations) assured me that the 

 Indians did not know watermelons liefore the Kuropeans came into the 

 couuiry uud communicated them to the ludiaus. The French, on the other 

 liand. have assure<l me that the Illinois Indians have had abundance of this 

 fruit, when the French first came to them, and that they declare, they had 

 plantwl them since times immemorial. However, I do not remember ha\ing 

 read that the Europeans, who first came to North America, mention the 

 watermelons in sfieaklng of the dishes of the Indians of that time.^ 



After several miles of marchinj; along extensive and well-cultivate<l fields of 

 squashes, pumpkin.s. beans, melons, and corn the Dragoons reached the village. 



Here then was the Toyash or Pawnee Pict village, the main goal of this ex- 

 pe<lition. . . . Col. Dodge encamped in a fine position about a mile from the 

 village, and the hungry Dragoons were soon enjoying the Inilian hospitalities. 

 Dishes of corn and beans dre.ssed with buffalo fat were placed before them. 

 For dessert the soldiers enjoyed liberal supplies of watermelons and wild plums.= 



When Garces was among the Tumas in 177.5 they were raising "countless" 

 calabashes and melons — ralahazus ii iiivlotics — perhaps better translated 

 sfpuishes and cantaloupes, or p\impkins and muskmelons. The Piman and Yuman 

 tribes cultivated a full assortment of eucurbitaceous plants, not always easy to 

 Identify by their old Spanish names. The Sandia was the watermelon invari- 

 ably ; the melon, usually a muskmelon, or cantaloupe; the calabaxa, a calabash, 

 gourd, pumpkin, or squash of some sort, including one large, rough kind like 

 our crook-neck squash." ' 



JfKI.ON.S AMOXn THE NATCHEZ 



Father Petit in a letter to Father d'Avatigtior, from New Orleans, 

 July 12. 1730, writes. "Each year the people assemble to plant one 

 vast field with Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons, and then 

 again tlie\' collect in the same way to gather the harvest."* 



The vegetables they [the Iroquois] cultivate most are Maize, or Turkey corn, 

 French beans, gourds, and melons. They have a sort of gourd smaller than 

 ours, and which ta.ste much of sugar [squa.shes] : they boil them whole in water, 

 or roast them under the ashes, and so eat them without any other preparation. 

 The Indians were acquainted, before our arrival in their country, with the com- 

 mon and water melon.' 



Toute sorte de Melons croissent ft souhait dans la Louisiane; ceux d'Espagne, 

 de France, el les melons Anglois. que Ton nomine melons blancs, y son infiniment 

 meilleurs que dans les Pays dont lis portent le noni : mais les plus exeellens de 

 tons sr)nt les melons d'eau. Conune lis sont pen connus en France, ofl Ton n'en 

 volt gufres que dans la Provence, encore sont-ils de la petite esp&ee, je crois que 

 Ton ne domie trouvera point mauvais que j'en la de.scription. 



' Knlm. Travpls Into North Amorlca, vol. 2, p. 385. 



'PelziT. Henry Dodgp. p. 100. 



Mluascll. The Pima Indians, p. 01. 



'.fi'nuit Rrlntliinn, vol. fiS, p. l^T. 



'Cbarlevolx, Journal of a Voyage to North .\merira, vol. i. p. 2.50. 



