JENKS] WILD RICE AS A FOOD 1083 
which produce flesh. It is richer in flesh-producing substance than 
any of the other-foods given above, with the exception of sturgeon and 
dried beef. It is therefore true that wild rice is the most nutritive 
single food which the Indians of North America consumed. The 
Indian diet of this grain, combined with maple sugar and with bison, 
deer, and other meats, was probably richer than that of the average 
American family to-day. Of course this diet lasted a limited part of 
the year only. 
Ways or Preparinc Witp Rice ror Foop 
Food suggests plenty and satisfaction. The witty and humorous 
after-dinner speeches of well-dined and well-wined men are a natural 
overflow. Radisson presents a brief glimpse of a happy primeval 
banquet before the western Indian had Jcarned to distrust the white 
man. He speaks of a friendship feast of the Dakota as follows: ** Our 
fongs being finifhed, we began our teeth to worke. We had there ¢ 
kinde of rice, much like oats . . . and that is their food for the moft 
part of the winter, and [they] doe dreffe it thus: ffor each mana hand- 
full of that they putt in the.pott, that fwells fo much that it can fuflice 
a man.” * 
The Indian is very fond of soups, and wild rice is commonly used 
by him to thicken food of this kind quite as commercial rice is used by 
the whites. Early in the eighteenth century Neill wrote of the Dakota 
Indians: ** Wild rice is a good and very healthful food, very light and 
nourishing; it is excellent with game broth.” * 
On the same page this author also said that at the time these Indians 
buried their store of grain in the fall of the year, *‘ they also put some 
to rot in the water, and when they return in the spring they find it 
delicious.” Ellis wrote of the use of wild rice in the early days at 
Green bay, Wisconsin, as follows: **It is used to thicken their broth 
of venison, bear, fish, and fowl; it is very nutritious and palatable.” 
The wild rice of the Mississagua Indians of Rice lake, Ontario, is 
parched and ‘* without further preparation it is often used by hunters 
and fishermen when out on expeditions. But more frequently it is 
made into soup and stews.”* From Lake of the Woods comes a 
receipt for a wild-rice dish, which suggests. a delightful flavor, as fol- 
lows: ‘‘ A soup made of wild rice and blue berries is a very palatable 
dish, and eagerly sought after by those who have been living on salt 
food for several weeks.”° The Potawatomi Indians, after pounding 
their grain, bull and all, and throwing it into a vessel of water, 
skimmed off the refuse hulls and made the remainder into a very 
palatable soup." 

1 Radisson, Voyages .. . ,p.215. 4Chamberlain, op. cit., p. 155. 
2 Neill, Memoir of the Sioux, p. 236. 5 Hind, Narrative, pp. 96-97. 
3 Ellis, Recollections, p. 266. 6 Paddock, letter, January 20, 1899. 
