354 bureaij of American ethnology [bdll. 137 



then placed in a kettle with water and fresh pork and seasoned with salt. This 

 was cooked down until it became a thick and very rich dish. 



Tiifala — Ta-fuUt {ta"fnln), was prepared in nnich the same way as td-shlohona, 

 except that the grains of corn were broken in several pieces and cooked with 

 beans or wood ashes; but no meat was used and it was retained in a more fluid 

 state than the latter. In making hickory ta-ftila, hickory nuts were gathered and 

 put in a sack over the fireplace to dry for a month or more. When ready to use the 

 nuts were cracked and shells and kernels together were put in a sack and water 

 poured over them ; when this was drained off it was the color of milk ; this fluid 

 was then poured into the ta-fula, and cooked, making a rich and palatable dish. 

 (Foreman, 1933, pp. 309-310.) 



Speck identifies with Choctaw ta"fula the Yuchi tso'ci, which he de- 

 scribes as follows : 



To make this the grains of corn, when dry, are removed from the cob and 

 pounded in the mortar until they are broken up. These grits and the corn 

 powder are then scooped out of the mortar and boiled in a pot with water. 

 Wood ashes from the fire are usually added to it to give a peculiar flavor much 

 to the native taste. Even powdered hickory nuts, or marrow, or meat may be 

 boiled with the soup to vary its taste. It is commonly believed, as regards 

 the origin of this favorite dish, that a woman in the mythical ages cut a rent 

 in the sky through which a peculiar liquid flowed which was found to be 

 good to eat. The Sun then explained its preparation and use, from which 

 fact it was called tso'ci, inferribly "sun fluid." (Speck, 1909, p. 44.) 



Skinner describes Seminole usage briefly : 



The meal [after having been taken from the mortar] is first sifted through 

 an open-mesh basket and then winnowed by being tossed into the air, the 

 breeze carrying away the chaff, while the heavier, edible jjortion of the corn 

 falls back into the flat receiving basket. In this condition the meal is mixed 

 with water and boiled to make sofki. This is the name applied primarily to 

 this corn soup, of which, in addition to the kind mentioned, there is fer- 

 mented or sour sofki, and soup made from parched corn, which is by far the 

 most savory of the three. (Skinner, 1913, p. 77.) 



The Chickasaw made a drink from corn which traders are said to 

 have nsed in preference to water in spite of the fact that it was 

 imfermented : 



Though in most of the Indian nations, the water is good, because of their 

 high situation, yet the traders very seldom drink any of it at home ; for the 

 women beat in mortars their flinty corn, till all husks are taken off, which 

 having well sifted and fanned, they boil in large earthen pots; then straining 

 off the thinnest part into a pot, they mix it with cold water, till it is suffi- 

 ciently liquid for drinking: and when cold, it is both pleasant and very nour- 

 ishing; and is much liked even by the genteel strangers. (Adair, 1775, p. 

 416.) 



A favorite method of cooking corn meal was to wrap it in husks, 

 which were afterwards boiled, a number at a time. Smith and 

 Strachey mention this, and Adair tells us that chestnuts were added 

 to the corn : 



In July, when the chestnuts and corn are green and full grown, they half 

 boil the former, and take off the rind; and having sliced the milky, swelled, 



