Remarks upon East Florida. 59 



the symmetry of a boy's top. The leaves are large and fen>like, 

 forming, when the seed-bud is in its fullness, a handsome plant. 



Both of these roots are grated or bruised by the Indians, and 

 the starch separated, by frequent changes of water, from the 

 fibrous or woody parts, as also, in the white coonta, from a poison- 

 ous quality which is combined with it in its natural state. The 

 flour of the latter has the look and feel of arrow-root, and is 

 equally nutritious and well suited to weak stomachs. The flour 

 of the China-briar is of a reddish hue, and more easily obtained 

 than the white coonta. 



These two important articles of food are found in abundance, 

 the one or the other, in most parts of southern Florida ; the 

 China-briar in nearly all the hammocks, and the Zamia in most 

 of the barrens along the coast lagoons. Thousands could subsist 

 upon them, with only the labor. necessary to gather the roots and 

 prepare the flour. Previous to the war, one or two persons 

 were established near Cape Florida, who manufactured the white 

 coonta in large quantities for shipment. Medical men often pre- 

 fer it, for hospital purposes, to the arrow-root. 



The palmetto is often called the cabbage-tree, from its contain- 

 ing an edible substance within its top, which somewhat resembles 

 a cabbage — more in look, however, than in taste, which is not 

 unlike that of a raw chestnut. Where the fan-shaped leaves of 

 this beautiful tree put out at the top, is found infolded a pith, 

 forming about one third the diameter of the trunk, and about 

 twelve or fifteen inches long, which is of an eatable quality, par- 

 ticularly when boiled, or preserved as a pickle. It is true, a 

 tree some half-century old might be sacrificed to the attainment 

 of a single meal ; but these trees are abundant, and no doubt 

 have often aflbrded one to a roving Indian, who sat down hungry 

 and unprovided beneath their shade. 



But the necessities of the war now going on, have opened a 

 new resource to the Indians, or which, at least, does not appear 

 to have been used by them in more abundant times. This is 

 found in the root of the saw-palmetto, a singular species of most 

 common vegetation in Florida, which overspreads nearly every 

 pine-barren, covering it like a vast reticulated carpet. In passing 

 over these barrens, the palmetto leaf is seen shooting up from the 

 ground in great luxuriance, forming, as is found on close inspec- 

 tion, the termination of a recumbent cabbage-tree, several feet 



