( IOO ) 



Iroquois to the figure of its root. Your Grace 

 has no doubt feen what Father Saffitau who firffe 

 brought it into France, has written of it under the 

 name Aureliana Canadensis : it is at leaft in fhape 

 exactly the fame with that which comes from: 

 China, and which the Chinefe bring from Corea and 

 Tartary. The name they give it, and which fig- 

 nifies the likenefs of man \ the virtues attributed 

 to it, and which have been experienced in Canada 

 by fuch as have ufed it, and the conformity of 

 the climate * are a ftrong prefumption that 

 did we only believe it to come from China, it 

 would be as much efteemed as that which the Chi- 

 nefe fell us. And perhaps too it owes its little 

 credit amongft us, to its growing in a country which 

 belongs to us, and that it wants the advantage of 

 being in every refpecl a foreign commodity. 



Sailing up the river St. Jofeph I remarked fome 

 trees which I had not feen any where elfe. The 

 moft lingular of thefe, and which I at firft took for 

 an afh by its leaves, grows to an extreme thicknefs, 

 and bears a fort of bean very beautiful to the eye, 

 but which by being boiled become always harder 

 and harder, fo that it has been impoffible to make 

 any ufe of them. The fields round the fort are 

 covered with faffafras to fuch a degree, that the air 

 is perfumed with them. This is not a large tree as 

 in Carolina but a fmall fhrub creeping almoft on 

 the ground, and perhaps thefe are only the fhoots 

 of the trees which have been cut down in order 

 to clear the ground round the fort and Indian towns. 



Here 



* The black river is in 4 deg. 50 min. that is in the fame 

 latitude with the place whence the gingfeng of Corea is brought 

 for the ufe of the emperor of China. Some of it has been fent to 

 China, and after being prepared by the Chinefe, has been by 

 them fold as coming from Corea or Tartary. Befides, this pre- 

 paration adds nothing to its value. 



