94 
JURIES. 
seen the northern tribes make the same use of the berries of the allied species 
(.Arctostaphylos tomentosa, Pursh). The tender shoots of various plants are 
eaten in the spring, such as the shoots of Rubus Nutkanus (canoe loads of 
which can be seen, in the season, on the way to Indian villages), Rosafraxini- 
folia , Bork., the green stem of Ligusticum Scoticum , L., and Peucedanum 
leucocarpim , Nutt., which are peeled and eaten, as well as the stem of Prodium 
cicutarium , L’Her. = the alfilerilla or “pin-grass” of the Californians, and 
some other plants of that sort. They seem to make use of no species of lichen 
for food, but make compressed cakes of a Rhodymenia for winter use. Capt. 
Mayne, R.N. (‘British Columbia,’ p. 256), however, says that they boil and 
compress into cakes “ L. juhatus” I never saw them do so, though the state¬ 
ment is not at all improbable (see also Lauder Lindsay, Journ. Linn. Soc. Botany, 
vol. ix. p. 413-14). Grass and clover the Digger Indian (little elevated in his 
dietary above the leaver animals) looks upon as great blessings, and eagerly eats 
them and grows fat on them too. The Californian white clover is, however, very 
sweet, and, I dare say, to these poor people forms, either raw or boiled, a very 
agreeable salad to their grasshoppers. Beyond the potatoe, they have no cul¬ 
tivated plant. Some of the Indians in Oregon used to grow a little wild tobacco, 
but they now buy the ordinary Nicotiana from the whites. I have seen some 
of them, when tobacco was scarce, in order, as they thought, to get the full bene¬ 
fit of it, inhale the smoke, gulping it down until it comes out at the nostrils 
and ears. They would repeat this once or twice, then hand the pipe to another, 
and lie down, almost senseless, to sleep off the stupor. In times of scarcity 
they will smoke the twigs of Thuja gigantea , Nutt., and the bark of Cornus 
sericea , L. (the hois rouge of the Canadian voyageurs), is usually mixed with 
tobacco even in times of plenty,—a habit the fur traders have learned from 
them. The leaves of Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi , L., are also extensively used 
among the Indians and frontier men all over the American continent, either 
alone or (more usually) mixed with tobacco under the O jib way name of Kini- 
kennick. Luckily for them, though passionately fond of intoxicating liquors, 
they have not acquired the art of preparing any. The stem of Acer macro- 
phyllum , Pursh, contains much juice, but the north-west Indians have never 
attempted to make sugar from it as in the case of A. saccharinum, L., in the 
eastern provinces 5 indeed, neither have the whites. The Crees, however, 
make a sugar from Negundo fraxinifoHunt , Nutt., which probably extends over 
the Rocky Mountains. 
(To be continued.) 
JURIES. 
The Commons’ Select Committee on the summoning, attendance, and remuneration 
•of special and common juries have concluded their labours. They recommend that 
the sheriff should have a larger discretionary power to increase the special jury lists, 
and that the system provided by the Common Law Procedure Act for the summoning 
of special jurors should be adopted in the metropolis as well as the country, not taking 
away from the parties the power of having “a special special-jury,” as at present, if a 
judge should think fit. The Committee state their recommendations as follows :—•“ 1. 
That the jury lists ought to be prepared with greater care, and to contain the names of 
many persons who are now either legally, or through negligence, omitted; and in order 
to ensure these objects the Committee recommend—That the overseers should be paid 
for their expenses in the preparation of the lists ; that the lists should be revised by the 
guardians of the poor before being sent to the justices; that the overseers should be 
liable to a penalty for negligence in the preparation of the lists, as well as for wilful 
misconduct; and that the present exemptions from serving on juries should be carefully 
considered; that many of them ought to be abolished, and those retained should be 
