New Jerfeyy Raccoon. 371 



deferves the name of tea : therefore it can- 

 not have any good effedt upon thofe who 

 ufe it plentifully ; beiides, it cannot fail 

 of relaxing the bowels, as it is drank both 

 in the morning and in the afternoon quite 

 boiling hot. The Indians, the offspring of 

 the firft inhabitants of this^ country, are a 

 proof of what I have faid. It is well known 

 that their anceftors, at the time of the firft 

 arrival of the Europeans y lived to a very 

 great age. According to the common ac- 

 counts, it was then not uncommon to find 

 people among the Indians, who were above 

 a hundred years old : they lived frugally, 

 and drank pure water : brandy, rum, wine, 

 and all the other flrong liquors, were utter- 

 ly unknown to them j but fince the chrif- 

 tians have taught them to drink thefe li- 

 quors, and the Indians have found them 

 too palatable, thofe who cannot refifl: their 

 appetites, hardly reach half the age of their 

 parents. 



Lastly, fome people pretended that 

 the lofs of many odoriferous plants, with 

 which the woods were filled at the arrival 

 of the Europeans^ but which the cattle has 

 now extirpated, might be looked upon as 

 a caufe of the greater progrefs of the fever 

 at prefent. The number of thofe ftrong 

 plants occafioncd a pleafant fcent to rife in 

 A a 2 the 



