77 



planted in the spring, and requires but little cultivation. The leaves 

 are picked early in the fall, when their color first begins to change, and 

 when dried are ready for use. After the first year it grows spontane- 

 ously, from the seed shed by the plant when fully ripened. If the 

 plants become too thick, which is frequently the case, from their vigor- 

 ous growth, it becomes necessary to thin them out, as the leaves dimin- 

 ish in size with their increase in number. This tobacco is used exclu- 

 sively for smoking. The custom of chewing the weed, appears to have 

 been derived from us. Although this tobacco is exceedingly mild, they 

 mingle it with the leaves of the sumac, to diminish its stimulating pro- 

 perties. The sumac has been used by the Indian to temper tobacco 

 from time immemorial. 



Until within a few years, the Iroquois used the wild potato as an 

 article of food. It still grows spontaneously upon the western reserva- 

 tions, and is usually about the size of a hen's egg. They never culti- 

 vated this potato, but gathered it in its wild state.* 



Six varieties of the bean, and four of the squash, are also furnished. 

 "Which varieties were of original cultivation and indigenous, the writer 

 cannot state. 



Gii-weh-ga-a, or Snow Shoe. . 



2 feet 10 inches. 



The snow shoe is an Indian invention. Upon the deep snows which 

 accumulate in the forest, it wonld be nearly impossible to travel with- 

 out them. They were used in the hunt, and in warlike expeditions 

 undertaken in the season of winter. 



The snow shoe is nearly three feet in length, by about sixteen inches 

 in width. A rim of hickory, bent round with an arching front, and 

 brought to a point at the heel, constitutes the frame, with the addition 



* Directions were left at Tonawanda to forward to the writer specimens of the 

 Wild Potato, which the Senecas described to him. On being 1 seen, (after this sec- 

 tion was written,) they proved to be the Apios Tuberosa. 



