SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE S-OUTHEASTEKN UNilTED STATES 287 



dry ground, in their gardens; by this management a few grains in a hill (the 

 hills about four feet apart) spread every way incredibly, and seem more prolific 

 than when cultivated in water, as in the white settlements of Carolina ; the heads 

 or panicles are larger and heavier, and the grain is larger, firmer, or more fari- 

 naceous; much sweeter, and more nourishing. Each family raises enough of 

 this excellent grain for its own use. 



But, besides the cultivated fruits above recited, with peaches, oranges," plums 

 [Chickasaw plums], figs, and some apples, they have in use a vast variety of 

 wild or native vegetables, both fruits and roots, viz.: diospyros [persimmon], 

 morus ruhra [red mulberry], gleditsia multiloba [meliloba Walt.], s. triacanthus 

 [honey locust or water locust] ; all the species of juglans and acorns, from 

 which they extract a very sweet oil, which enters into all their cookery, and 

 several species of palma, which furnish them with a variety of agreeable and 

 nourishing food. Grapes, too, they have in great variety and abundance, which 

 they feed on occasionally when ripe; they also prepare them for keeping, and 

 lay up for winter and spring time." A species of smilax {8. pseudochina) 

 affords them a delicious and nourishing food, which is prepared from its vast 

 tuberous roots. . . . 



I conclude these articles with mentioning a vegetable which I had but a 

 slight opportunity of observing, just as I left the Creek country, on the waters 

 of the Mobile river. It is a species of palma. It has no stalk or stem above 

 ground; the leaves spread regularly all round, are flabelliform when fully ex- 

 panded, otherwise cucullated, their slips very short, scarcely appearing at a 

 slight view; in the centre is produced a kind of dense panicle or general re- 

 ceptacle of the fruit, of the form and size of a sugar-loaf. There is a vast 

 collection of plums or drupes, of the size and figure of ordinary plums, which 

 are covered with a fibrous, farinaceous, pulpy coating of considerable thickness ; 

 this substance, which, to the best of my remembrance, resembles manna in tex- 

 ture, color, and taste, is of the consistence of coarse brown sugar, mixed with 

 particles or lumps of loaf sugar. It is a delicious and nourishing food, and 

 diligently sought after. There were several of these clusters brought into the 

 Ottasse town just before I left it, of which I ate freely with the Indians, and 

 think in substance and taste it is most of anything like manna; it is a little 

 bitterish and stinging on the palate, at first using it, but soon becomes familiar 

 and desirable. 



I own I am not able to give an accurate botanical account of this very curious 

 and valuable vegetable, because it was disclosed to my observation just on my 

 departure; and although I saw several of the plants on the road, yet being 

 obliged to follow the mad career of a man travelling with pack-horses, I had 

 left the country of its native growth before I had an opportunity or leisure to 

 examine it, — an omission which I have severely regretted. I am convinced it 

 is an object of itself worth a journey to these regions to examine. (Bartram, 

 1909, pp. 49-50.) 



This Palma was undoubtedly the "blue palmetto," or "needle palm," 

 mentioned by Romans above under the name Chamaerops. Of Old 

 World origin were all the domesticated animals mentioned, water- 



" "Oranges and figs are not much cultivated In the Nation or Upper Creeks ; but in the 

 Lower Creek country [1. e., Florida], near the sea-coast, they are in greater abundance, 

 particularly the orange. Many sorts are now become wild all over East Florida." — 

 Bartram. 



^* "Vitis Vinifera ; I call them so because they approach, as respects the largeness of 

 their fruit and their shape and flavor, much nearer to the grapes of Europe and Asia, of 

 which wine is made, and are specifically different from our wild grape, and as different 

 from the fox or bull grape of Pennsylvania and Carolina." — Bartram. 



