164 A Pre-Columbian Dinner 



very thick clay vessels and great quantities 

 of fire-cracked quartzite pebbles leads to the 

 conclusion that wrater vi^as brought to the 

 boiling-point by heating the stones to a red 

 heat and dropping them into the vessel hold- 

 ing the water. Thomas, as we have seen, 

 says corn was " boyl'd with Water." Meat 

 also was, I think, prepared in the same man- 

 ner. Their pottery probably was poorly 

 able to stand this harsh treatment, which 

 would explain the presence of such vast quan- 

 tities of fragments of clay vessels. Traces of 

 vegetable food are now very rarely found. A 

 few burnt nuts, a grain or two of corn, and, 

 in one instance, what appeared to be a charred 

 crab-apple, complete the list of what, as yet, 

 have been picked from the mingled earth and 

 ashes. This is not surprising, and what we 

 know of vegetable food in use among the 

 Delaware Indians is almost wholly derived 

 from those early writers who were present 

 at their feasts. Kalm mentions the roots of 

 the golden-club, arrow-leaf, and ground-nut, 

 besides various berries and nuts. It is well 

 known that extensive orchards were planted 

 by these people. It may be added that, in 

 all probability, the tubers of that noble plant. 



