376 BUREAU OF AME-RICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



Adair is the only writer who gives us much of an idea of the way 

 in which bear meat was preserved. His words have been quoted al- 

 ready (p. 372) (Adair, 1775, p. 446). 



But bears were valued mainly for their fat and Adair's description 

 of the Chickasaw treatment of this has also been given. In his time 

 they put it "in large earthen jars, covered in the ground" (op. cit.) , but 

 it was also put away in skin receptacles and De Soto's army was treat- 

 ed to bear fat taken out of calabashes (Robertson, 1933, p. 104; 

 Bourne, 1904, vol. 1, p. 74). Du Pratz describes at greatest length the 

 method of putting up bear fat in deerskins. Having killed a deer 



they begin by cutting off its head, then skin the neck, rolling the skin as one 

 would a stocking, and cut up the flesh and bones as fast as they advance. 

 This operation is necessarily laborious because they have to take out all the 

 flesh and the bones through the skin of the neck in order to make a sack of its 

 skin. They cut it as far as the hams and other places where there are outlets. 

 When the skin is entirely empty they scrape it and clean it. Then they make 

 a kind of cement with the fat of the same deer and a few fine ashes. They put 

 it around the orifices which they close very tightly with the bark of the bass 

 tree and leave only the neck through which to cask the bear's oil. It is this 

 which the French call a faon of oil. The natives put the flesh and the fat to 

 cook together so that they may detach themselves from each other. They do 

 this cooking in earthen pots of their own manufacture, or in kettles if they 

 have them. When this grease or oil is lukewarm they put it into the faon. 



They come to trade this kind of oil to the French for a gun or ell of cloth or 

 similar things. That was the price of a faon of oil at the time when I lived 

 there. But the French use it only after having purified it. (Le Page du Pratz, 

 1758, vol. 2, pp. 88-89 ; Swanton, 1911, p. 69.) 



Frames were set up over the fire on which the meat was dried. 

 Le Moyne says of these : 



In order to keep these animals longer they are in the habit of preparing 

 them as follows: They set up in the earth four stout forked stakes; and on 

 these they lay others, so as to form a sort of grating. On this they lay their 

 game, and then build a fire underneath, so as to harden it in the smoke. In 

 this process they use a great deal of care to have the drying perfectly per- 

 formed, to prevent the meat from spoiling, as the picture shows. I suppose this 

 stock to be laid in for their winter's supply in the woods, as at that time we 

 could never obtain the least provision from them. (Le Moyne, 1875, pp. &-10 

 (illus.) ; Swanton, 1922, p. 358.) 



The picture in question (pi. 55) shows a scaffold with several fish on 

 it, a deer, an alligator — or possibly a lizard, for Le Challeux tells us 

 that lizards were eaten — a snake, and some quadruped about the size of 

 a dog, all placed there without any previous dressing. The varieties 

 of food placed in the granaries are indicated by the descriptions pre- 

 served to us by Le Moyne in other places. He speaks of the storage 

 of wild vegetable products gathered "twice a year" into granaries 

 such as are to be described presently. (Also cf. Catesby, p. 374 above.) 



