BUSHNELL] THE CHOCTAW OF BAYOU LACOMB, LOUISIANA 9 



portion remaining in the sieve is called tonlache. Much of the hotu 

 was parched and eaten mixed with water; but most of the coarser 

 tonlache was boiled either with or without meat. Corn is said to 

 have been extensively raised by the Choctaw during past years. 

 Beans and potatoes were also raised, but no other vegetables are 

 remembered. 



Wild crabapples aje gathered and dried on a frame arranged over 

 a bed of hot ashes and coals. This appears to be the only fruit that 

 is preserved in any manner and kept for future use. Many kinds of 

 haws and berries grow in great quantities in the vicinity of Bayou 

 Lacomb, but it is said they are never dried, being eaten only when 

 fresh. 



Honoshe (rice). — The Choctaw have a very simple method of pre- 

 paring rice. After being gathered and dried, it is pounded in a 

 wooden mortar (Mte), with a wooden pestle Qcetoke) , care being 

 taken not to crush the grain more than can be avoided. Next the 

 chaff is removed by shaking the grain up and down in a winnowing 

 basket (ohfJco'), the chaff falling into the large tapa. If all the 

 husks are not loosened during the first pounding, the grain is again 

 pounded in the mortar and later winnowed. It is then sifted to 

 remove the broken grains, and afterward washed and dried. 



Game was formerly abundant throughout lower Louisiana and 

 venison and bear's meat were important articles of food, either fresh 

 or dried. The Choctaw method of preserving meat may be described 

 as follows : Thin strips were hung on sticks or spread over a frame, 

 or in the thick smoke from a fire on which green or wet wood had 

 been placed. Meat thus prepared during the cold months would 

 remain good throughout the following spring and summer. Large 

 quantities were formerly prepared in this way. Pork is now similarly 

 treated. 



As they Hve where fish are abundant and easily caught, it is 

 remarkable that the Choctaw seldom, if ever, eat them. At times, 

 however, large trout and shrimp were dried in the sun for future use. 



As before stated, a large area surrounding the mound near Chin- 

 chuba, and also in. the vicinity of Pere Rouquette's last chapel, is 

 covered with the shells of the Rangia cuneata Gray, these clams having 

 been brought up the creek from the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. 

 That they constituted an important article of food is evident from the 

 vast quantity of shells found mixed with charcoal, broken pottery, and 

 many bones of turkey, deer, and other animals, none of which appear 

 to be very ancient, and which consequently must have been left by 

 the Choctaw. The women at Bayou Lacomb say, however, they 

 have never eaten clams, although the ''old people " may have done 

 so. The present natives know of the accumulated mass of shells, and 



