SwANTON] INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 291 



The one is round and the other in the shape of a hunting horn." These last 

 are the better, having firmer flesh of a less insipid sweetness, containing fewer 

 seeds, and keeping much better than the other. These ere the ones of which 

 they make preserves. (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, p. 11.) 



A kind of grass yielding grain, called choupichoul in Natchez (in 

 English shupishul) was given a kind of semicultivation by the river 

 people, and still another known as widthloogouill (withloguithl) by 

 the same tribe was utilized without any sort of cultivation. One of 

 these was probably the wild rice, while the other may have been 

 cockspur grass (Echinochloa crusgalli). 



They also gathered the seeds from a species of wild cane which has 

 been mentioned already. This is not produced every year, but is very 

 abundant when it does appear. 



This grain, [says Du Pratz] which rather resembles t»ats, except that it is 

 three times as thick and longer, is carefully gathered by the natives, who make 

 of it bread or porridge. This meal swells up as much as that of wheat. 

 (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 1, pp. 316-317, vol. 2, pp. 58-59.) 



Persimmons and the inevitable bread made from them are noted, 

 along with peaches and figs introduced by the Spaniards and French. 

 Undoubtedly pecans, hickory nuts, and acorns constituted an item 

 in the lower Mississippi diet, but Du Pratz (1758, vol. 2, pp. 18-20, 

 25) speaks only of bread made from black walnuts and the occasional 

 employment of chestnuts when other food was scanty. 



Finally he mentions, 



a kind of agaric or mushroom which grows at the foot of the walnut, especially 

 when it is overthrown. The natives, who pay great attention to the choice of 

 their nourishment, gather these with care, have them bo'led in water, and eat 

 them with their grits. I have had the curiosity to taste of these, and I have 

 found them very delicate, but a little flat, which could be easily corrected by 

 means of some seasoning. (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, p. 51.) 



Among the Natchez game animals mentioned are bear, deer, and 

 bison, besides turkeys and many other birds, and fish such as carp, 

 sucker, catfish, and a variety of sardine. Du Pratz adds the dog, 

 but the use of the dog was probably mainly confined to ceremonial 

 occasions (Swanton, 1911, pp. 67-72). Absence of any mention of 

 the alligator as a food animal is noticeable, as it was much esteemed 

 along most of the Gulf coast. 



The diet of other river tribes differed little from that of the 

 Natchez, except that the Tunica are reported to have relied more 

 upon corn and to have lived one entire month every year on persim- 

 mons besides putting up a great quantity of persimmon bread. Gra- 

 vier mentions sunflowers growing in Tunica fields beside the corn, 

 and they were probably grown everywhere along the river. 



" Cor de ohasae, but given by Du Pratz as "corps de chaase" (see Bead, 1931, p. 89). 



