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Having reloaded, we paddled down the Penob- 

 scot, which, as the Indian remarked, and even I de- 

 tected, remembering how it looked before, was un- 

 commonly full. We soon after saw a splendid yellow 

 lily {Lilium Canadense) by the shore, which I 

 plucked. It was six feet high, and had twelve flow- 

 ers, in two whorls, forming a pyramid, such as I have 

 seen in Concord. We afterward saw many more 

 thus tall along this stream, and also still more numer- 

 ous on the East Branch, and, on the latter, one which 

 I thought approached yet nearer to the Lilium super- 

 bum. The Indian asked what we called it, and said 

 that the "loots" (roots) were good for soup, that is, 

 to cook with meat, to thicken it, taking the place of 

 flour. They get them in the fall. I dug some, and 

 found a mass of bulbs pretty deep in the earth, two 

 inches in diameter, looking, and even tasting, some- 

 what like raw green corn on the ear. 



The Maine Woods, 209. 



