SwANTON] INIDIAN'S OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 367 



knew two trees of this wood among the Indians, which were planted from 

 the acorns, and grew in the freshies, and never saw anything more beautiful 

 of that kind. (Lawson, 1860, p. 156.) 



Romans mentions their use among the Creeks, and Bartram (1909, 

 p. 90) , referring to the Southeastern Indians of his acquaintance, re- 

 marks that they "obtain from it a sweet oil, which they use in the 

 cooking of hommony, rice, &c. ; and they also roast it in hot embers, 

 eating it as we do chestnuts." 



When San Miguel and his companions were w^recked upon the 

 Guale coast in 1595 they were given, among other things, "lumps of 

 acorn cake, yellow and red, which are rough and bitter," and in 

 consequence they were unable to eat them, but it appears that the 

 Indians had more of this than of corncake (Garcia, 1902, pp. 189, 

 197). 



There is singularly little mention of the pecan as distinguished 

 from other nuts, though Du Pratz describes the tree with considerable 

 care. Speaking of a point on the east bank of the Mississippi near 

 which De Soto crossed the river, a point somewhere below Helena, 

 Ark., Biedma says : 



There we first found a little walnut of the country, which is much better 

 than that here in Spain. (Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, p. 25.) 



This is supposed to be a reference to the pecan. 



Extraction of sugar from the sugar maple is mentioned by Beverley. 

 Lawson, Adair, and Benjamin Hawkins, but the remarks of Beverley 

 and Adair are very general and might apply to Indians inside or out- 

 side of the section. However, Adair's contacts with Indians were 

 almost entirely with those in the South. He notes that "several of the 

 Indians produce sugar out of the sweet maple-tree, by making an 

 incision, draining the juice, and boiling it to a proper Consistence" 

 (Adair, 1775, p. 414). Beverley (1705, bk. 2, p. 21) informs us that 

 "the Indians make One Pound of Sugar, out of Eight Pounds of the 

 Liquor." The section is not indicated, but the following quotations 

 have reference to sugar making in the Southeast itself without much 

 question. The first is from Lawson : 



The Indians tap it (the sugar maple) and make gourds to receive the liquor, 

 which operation is done at distinct and proper times, when it best yields its juice, 

 of which, when the Indians have gotten enough, they carry it home, and boil it to 

 a just consistency of sugar, which grains of itself, and serves for the same 

 uses, as other sugar does. (Lawson, 1860, p. 174.) 



Benjamin Hawkins was an eyewitness to the process among the 

 Cherokee on Limestone Creek in northern Georgia : 



On this creek, the sugar is made by the Indian women, they use small wooden 

 troughs, and earthen pans to ketch the sap, and large earthen pots for boilers. 

 (Hawkins, 1916, p. 24.) 



