NATIVE COUNTRY OF THE POTATO, 295 



the science. Have not the plants of Canada, New York, 

 and Pennsylvania, been asserted to grow — perhaps exclu- 

 sively — among the toupinamboes of Brazil? Even Linnieus, 

 speaking of aconitum nncinatum, says " Habitat in Phila» 

 delphia." I presume, that he intended to say, Pennsylva* 

 nia, though 1 think ^he plant has not yet been found wild 

 in any part of this state. Hardly any part of botany stands 

 more in need of reform than that which relates to the /la&i- 

 /af5 of vegetables. Zoological science, too, in this respect, ciem^fn thV" 

 may be greatly improved and corrected. respect. 



And where was Norembega? I believe the geographers VVhete was 

 would find some difficulty in determining this point. In De ^''^ ^^** 

 Laet's map of *' Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium, et Vir- 

 ginia," we find the word " Norembegua" laid down far to 

 the north of the most northern limits of modern Virginia ; 

 somewhere about latitude 45 ! The historian tells us, that 

 he is at a loss to determine the situation of the celebrated 

 city and river of Norembegua, concerning which many fa- 

 bles have been written. He conjectures, however, that the 

 river of this name is that called by the English ** Pennobscot." 

 ** Qui superioribus annis de hisce regionibus scripserunt, 

 raulta fabulati sunt de celebri oppido et ilumiue A^orifm? 

 hegua" &c. Lib. ii, cap. XVHT, p. 55* 



That the potato was not brought from Virginia, and Tli« po*'**^ 

 that it is not even a native of that part of North Ame- Virginia. 

 rica, will, I think, appear more than probable from this 

 striking circumstance, that not one of the earlier visitors 

 or describers of the country has mentioned this vegetable, ^ 



in their lists of those which they found, either wild or culti- 

 vated, among the Indians. In Mr. Herriot's account there 

 is no reference to any thing like the potato, with the ex- 

 ception of the openawk, and a few other esculent roots, 

 the aboriginal names of which I have already mentioned. 

 And although I may not be able to say confidently what are 

 the precise species of plants called openawk, kaistucpenauck, 

 tsinaw, coscushaw, &c., I think I have been successful i\\ 

 proving, that the solanum tuberosum is neither of them. 



The silence of Herriot, in regard to the potato, is with me Herriot, an 



„ -111 -1 *^ 1 • • acvite observer, 



a Circumstance qi considerable weight, ror this writer was does not men- 

 no common observer. He seems to have examined, with tion the 



potato. 



