102 fkbj=(Englatttis Parities. 



Bajlard Calamus Aromaticus, agrees with the defcrip- 

 tion, but is not barren; the)' flower in July, and grow in 

 wet places, as about the brinks of Ponds. 1 



To keep the Feet warm. 

 The EngliJJi make ufe of the Leaves to keep their Feet 

 warm. There is a little Beaft called ,a MufkquaJJi, that 

 liveth in fmall Houfes in the Ponds, like Mole Hills, that 

 feed upon thefe Plants. Their Cods fent as fweet and as 

 ftrong as Musk, and will lafl along time handfomly 

 wrap'd up in Cotton wool; they are very good to lay 

 amongft Cloaths. May is the befl: [54] time to kill them, 

 for then their Cods fent ftrongeft. 



thirteen gallons of corne, hee hath had encrease of it 52 hogsheads; every hogs- 

 head holding seven bushels, of London measure : and every bushell "was by him 

 sold and trusted to the Indians for so much beaver as was worth iS shillings. 

 And so, of this 13 gallons of corne, which was worth 6 shillings 8 pence, he made 

 about 327 pounds of it the yeere following, as by reckoning will appeare ; where 

 you may see how God blessed husbandry in this land. There is not such greate 

 and plentifull eares of corne, I suppose, any where else to bee found but in this 

 countrey; because, also of varietie of colours, — as red, blew, and yellow, &c. : 

 and of one corne there springeth four or five hundred." Roger Williams (Key, 

 /. c, pp. 20S, 221) has some interesting particulars of the Indian use of their corn. 

 According to him, the Indian msickquatash (that is succotash, as we call it now) 

 was "boiled corn w-hole," and " naiusaump, a kind of meal pottage unparched. 

 From this the English call their samp ; which is the Indian corn beaten and 

 boiled, and eaten, hot or cold; with milk or butter, — which are mercies beyond 

 the natives' plain water, and which is a dish exceeding wholesome for the Eng- 

 lish bodies. 



1 Acorns Calamus, L. ; common to Europe and America. In his Voyages, p. 

 77, the author drops properly, in mentioning this, the injurious prefix. It seems 

 that our New-England forefathers used the leaves to cover their cold floors, as 

 they had used rushes at home ; and, according to Sir W. J. Hooker (Br. Fl., vol. 

 i. p. 159), the pleasant smell of the plant has recommended it, in like manner, 

 "for strewing on the floor of the cathedral at Norwich, on festival days." 



