SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNilTED STATES 289 



are native to the North American continent, but the Canna^ mentioned 

 next, was introduced from the tropics and was probably Ganna indica^ 

 naturalized from the West Indies. Next follow general references 

 to Drupi^ plums, and Baxiciferous plants, berries. 



There is good reason to believe that most of the foods which do not 

 appear in both the Creek and Choctaw lists were, nevertheless, used 

 by both tribes. For instance, we have found the sunflower cultivated 

 as far east as North Carolina or Virginia, and we know that the Smildx 

 root was a staple article among all the Creeks. Nor is there reason 

 to suppose that the maypop was unknown to and unutilized by the 

 Choctaw. 



The Choctaw were less dependent on animal foods than most of 

 their neighbors and such as they had differed little. They included 

 the deer, bear, and, when opportunity offered, the bison and elk. 

 They made more use than other peoples of small animals, particu- 

 larly squirrels. Fish played a smaller part in their dietary. On 

 occasion they are said to have resorted to snakes and in later times, 

 horse meat and pork. In a Choctaw story some hunters are repre- 

 sented cooking a hawk (Swanton, 1931a, pp. 208-209). 



Adair gives us a fairly good idea of the Chickasaw bill of fare, 

 and shows that it differed little from that of the neighboring Creeks 

 and Choctaw. He says regarding corn : 



Corn is their chief produce, and main dependence. Of this they have three 

 sorts. [One of these, a small variety,] usually ripens in two months, from the 

 time it is planted ; though it is called by the English, the six weeks corn. The 

 second sort is yellow and flinty, which they call "hommony-corn." The third 

 is the largest, of a very white and soft grain, termed "bread-corn." (Adair, 

 1775, p. 407.) 



Besides corn, he tells us they cultivated different sorts of peas and 

 beans, "a sort of small tobacco, which the French and English have 

 not," pumpkins, different kinds of melons, potatoes, watermelons, 

 "marsh-mallows," and sunflowers, and they also utilized hickory nuts, 

 strawberries, wild potatoes, grapes, and persimmons. Hazel nuts 

 were eaten seldom. Among cultivated plants the corn, peas, beans, 

 tobacco, pumpkins, and sunflowers were native ; the melons, potatoes, 

 and watermelons introduced, unless by melons he means instead of 

 muskmelons some sort of squash (Adair, 1775, pp. 361, 408^09). 

 By "marsh-mallows" he may intend the Pdssiflora or perhaps the 

 okra (Hibiscms esculentus). In either case, we have to do with a 

 plant foreign to the country, but if it is okra this is the first refer- 

 ence we seem to have noted. Another plant not certainly mentioned 

 hitherto is the Nelvmho lutea, Adair says of this: 



There grows a long flag, in shallow ponds, and on the edges of running 

 waters, with an ever-green, broad, round leaf, a little indented where it joins 



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