The History of Louisiana Part 22

The ayac, or stinking-wood, is usually a small tree, seldom exceeding the thickness of a man's leg; its leaf is of a yellowish green, glossy, and of an oval form, being about three inches in length. The wood is yellow, and yields a water of the same colour, when it is cut in the sap: but both the wood and the water that comes from it have a disagreeable, smell. The natives use the wood for dying; they cut it into small bits, pound them, and then boil them in water. Having strained this water, they dip the feathers and hair into it, which it is their custom to dye first yellow, and then red. When they intend to use it for the yellow dye, they take care to cut the wood in the winter, but if they want only a slight colour they never mind the season of cutting it.

{227} [Ill.u.s.tration: _Box Elder or Stink-wood Tree_]

The machonchi, or vinegar-tree, is a shrub with leaves, somewhat resembling those of the ash; but the foot-stalk from which the leaves hang is much longer. When the leaves are dry the natives mix them with their tobacco to weaken it a little, for they do not love strong tobacco for smoaking. The wood is of an astringent nature, and if put into vinegar makes it stronger.

{228} [Ill.u.s.tration: TOP: _Ca.s.sine or Yapon_--BOTTOM: _Tooth-ache Tree or p.r.i.c.kly Ash_]

The ca.s.sine, or yapon, is a shrub which never grows higher than 15 feet; its bark is very smooth, and the wood flexible. Its leaf is very much indented, and when used as tea is reckoned good for the stomach.

The natives make an intoxicating liquor from it, by boiling it in water till great part of the liquor evaporate.

The tooth-ache tree does not grow higher than 10 to 12 feet. The trunk, which is not very large, is wholly covered over with {229} short thick p.r.i.c.kles, which are easily rubbed off. The pith of this shrub is almost as large as that of the elder, and the form of the leaf is almost the same in both. It has two barks, the outer almost black, and the inner white, with somewhat of a pale reddish hue. This inner bark has the property of curing the tooth-ach. The patient rolls it up to the size of a bean, puts it upon the aching tooth, and chews it till the pain ceases. Sailors and other such people powder it, and use it as pepper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOP: _Pa.s.sion Thorn or Honey Locust_--BOTTOM: _Bearded Creeper_]

{230} [Ill.u.s.tration: _Palmetto_]

The pa.s.sion-thorn does not rise above the height of a shrub; but its trunk is rather thick for its height. This shrub is in great esteem among the Natches; but I never could learn for what reason. Its leaf resembles that of the black thorn; and its wood while it is green is not very hard. Its p.r.i.c.kles are at least two inches long, and are very hard and piercing; within half an inch of their root two other small p.r.i.c.kles grow out from them so as to form a cross. The whole trunk is covered {231} with these p.r.i.c.kles, so that you must be very wary how you approach it, or cut it.

The elder-tree is exactly like that of France, only that its leaf is a little more indented. The juice of its leaves mixed with hog's lard is a specific against the haemorrhoids.

The palmetto has its leaves in the form of an open fan, scolloped at the end of each of its folds. Its bark is more rough and knotty than that of the palm-tree. Although it is less than that of the East Indies, it may however serve to the same purposes. Its wood is not harder than that of a cabbage, and its trunk is so soft that the least wind overturns it, so that I never saw any but what were lying on the ground. It is very common in Lower Louisiana, where there are no wild oxen; for those animals who love it dearly, and are greatly fattened by it, devour it wherever they can find it. The Spanish women make hats of its leaves that do not weigh an ounce, riding-hoods, and other curious works.

The birch-tree is the same with that of France. In the north they make canoes of its bark large enough to hold eight persons. When the sap rises they strip off the bark from the tree in one piece with wedges, after which they sew up the two ends of it to serve for stem and stern, and anoint the whole with gum.

I make not the least doubt but that there are great numbers of other trees in the forests of Louisiana that deserve to be particularly described; but I know of none, nor have I heard of any, but what I have already spoken of. For our travellers, from whom alone we can get any intelligence of those things, are more intent upon discovering game which they stand in need of for their subsistence, than in observing the productions of nature in the vegetable kingdom. To what I have said of trees, I shall only add, from my own knowledge, an account of two singular excrescences.

The first is a kind of agaric or mushroom, which grows from the root of the walnut-tree, especially when it is felled. The natives, who are very careful in the choice of their food, gather it with great attention, boil it in water, and eat it with {232} their gruel. I had the curiosity to taste of it, and found it very delicate, but rather insipid, which might easily be corrected with a little seasoning.

The other excrescence is commonly found upon trees near the banks of rivers and lakes. It is called Spanish beard, which name was given it by the natives, who, when the Spaniards first appeared in their country about 240 years ago, were greatly surprised at their mustachios and beards. This excrescence appears like a bunch of hair hanging from the large branches of trees, and might at first be easily mistaken for an old perruque, especially when it is dancing with the wind. As the first settlers of Louisiana used only mud walls for their houses, they commonly mixed it with the mud for strengthening the building. When gathered it is of a grey colour, but when it is dry its bark falls off, and discovers black filaments as long and as strong as the hairs of a horse's tail. I dressed some of it for stuffing a mattress, by first laying it up in a heap to make it part with the bark, and afterwards beating it to take off some small branches that resemble so many little hooks. It is affirmed by some to be incorruptible: I myself have seen of it under old rotten trees that was perfectly fresh and strong.

CHAPTER V.

_Of Creeping Plants._

The great fertility of Louisiana renders the creeping plants extremely common, which, exclusive of the ivy, are all different from those which we have in France. I shall only mention the most remarkable.

The bearded-creeper is so called from having its whole stalk covered with a beard about an inch long, hooked at the end, and somewhat thicker than a horse's hair. There is no tree which it loves to cling to so much as to the sweet gum; and so great is its sympathy, if I may be allowed the expression, for that tree, that if it grow between it and any other tree, it turns solely towards the sweet gum, although it should be at the greatest distance from it. This is likewise the tree upon which {233} it thrives best. It has the same virtue with its balm of being a febrifuge, and this I affirm after a great number of proofs. The physicians among the natives use this simple in the following manner.

They take a piece of it, above the length of the finger, which they split into as many threads as possible; these they boil in a quart of water, till one third of the decoction evaporate, and the remainder is strained clear. They then purge the patient, and the next day, upon the approach of the fit, they give a third of the decoction to drink. If the patient be not cured with the first dose, he is again purged and drinks another third, which seldom fails of having the wished-for effect. This medicine is indeed very bitter, but it strengthens the stomach; a singular advantage it has over the Jesuits bark, which is accused of having a contrary effect.

There is another creeper very like salsaparilla, only that it bears its leaves by threes. It bears a fruit smooth on one side like a filbert, and on the other as rough as the little sh.e.l.ls which serve for money on the Guinea coast. I shall not speak of its properties; they are but too well known by the women of Louisiana, especially the girls, who very often have recourse to it.

Another creeper is called by the native physicians the remedy against poisoned arrows. It is large and very beautiful; its leaves are pretty long, and the pods it bears are narrow, about an inch broad, and eight inches long.

The salsaparilla grows naturally in Louisiana, and it is not inferior in its qualities to that of Mexico. It is so well known that it is needless to enlarge upon it.

The esquine partly resembles a creeper and partly a bramble. It is furnished with hard spikes like p.r.i.c.kles, and its oblong leaves are like those of the common creeper (liane;) its stalk is straight, long, s.h.i.+ning, and hard, and it runs up along the reeds: its root is spungy, and sometimes as large as one's head, but more long than round.

Besides the sudorific virtue which the esquine possesses in common with the salsaparilla, it has the property of making the hair grow, and the women among the natives use it successfully with this view.

{234} They cut the root into small bits, boil them in water, and wash their heads with the decoction. I have seen several of them whose hair came down below their knees, and one particularly whose hair came lower than the ankle bones.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOP: _Bramble_--BOTTOM: _Sarsaparilla_]

Hops grow naturally in the gullies in the high lands.

Maiden-hair grows in Louisiana more beautiful, at least as good as that of Canada, which is in so great repute. It {235} grows in gullies upon the sides of hills, in places that are absolutely impenetrable to the most ardent rays of the sun. It seldom rises above a foot, and it bears a thick s.h.a.ggy head. The native physicians know more of its virtues than we do in France.

The canes or reeds which I have mentioned so often may be divided into two kinds. One kind grows in moist places to the height of eighteen feet, and the thickness of the wrist. The natives makes matts, sieves, small boxes, and other works of it. Those that grow in dry places are neither so high nor so thick, but are so hard, that before the arrival of the French, the natives used splits of those canes to cut their victuals with. After a certain number of years, the large canes bear a great abundance of grain, which is somewhat like oats, but about three times as large. The natives carefully gather these grains and make bread or gruel of them. This flour swells as much as that of wheat.

When the reeds have yielded the grain they die, and none appear for a long time after in the same place, especially if fire has been set to the old ones.

The flat-root receives its name from the form of its root, which is thin, flat, pretty often indented, and sometimes even pierced through: it is a line or sometimes two lines in thickness, and its breadth is commonly a foot and a half. From this large root hang several other small straight roots, which draw the nourishment from the earth. This plant, which grows in meadows that are not very rich, sends up from the same root several straight stalks about eighteen inches high, which are as hard as wood, and on the top of the stalks it bears small purplish, flowers, in their figure greatly resembling those of heath; its seed is contained in a deep cup closed at the head, and in a manner crowned. Its leaves are about an inch broad, and about two long, without any indenting, of a dark green, inclining to a brown. It is so strong a sudorific, that the natives never use any other for promoting sweating, although they are perfectly acquainted with sa.s.safras, salsaparilla, the esquine and others.

The rattle-snake-herb has a bulbous root, like that of the tuberose, but twice as large. The leaves of both have the same {236} shape and the same colour, and on the under side have some flame-coloured spots; but those of the rattle-snake plant are twice as large as the others, end in a very firm point, and are armed with very hard p.r.i.c.kles on both sides. Its stalk grows to the height of about three feet, and from the head rise five or six sprigs in different directions, each of which bears a purple flower an inch broad, with five leaves in the form of a {237} cup. After these leaves are shed there remains a head about the size of a small nut, but shaped like the head of a poppy.

This head is separated into four divisions, each of which contains four black seeds, equally thick throughout, and about the size of a large lentil. When the head is ripe, it will, when shaken, give the same sound as the tail of a rattle-snake, which seems to indicate the property of the plant; for it is the specific remedy against the bite of that dangerous reptile. The person who has been bit ought immediately to take a root, bite off part of it, chew it for some time, and apply it to the wound. In five or six hours it will extract the whole poison, and no bad consequences need be apprehended.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rattlesnake herb_ (on p. 236)]

Ground-ivy is said by the natives to possess many more virtues than are known to our botanists. It is said to ease women in labour when drank in a decoction; to cure ulcers, if bruised and laid upon the ulcered part; to be a sovereign remedy for the head-ach; a considerable quant.i.ty of its leaves bruised, and laid as a cataplasm.

upon the head, quickly removes the pain. As this is an inconvenient application to a person that wears his hair, I thought of taking the salts of the plant, and I gave some of them in vulnerary water to a friend of mine who was often attacked with the head-ach, advising him likewise to draw up some drops by the nose: he seldom practised this but he was relieved a few moments after.

The Achechy is only to be found in the shade of a wood, and never grows higher than six or seven inches. It has a small stalk, and its leaves are not above three lines long. Its root consists of a great many sprigs a line in diameter, full of red juice like chickens blood.

Having transplanted this plant from an overshadowed place into my garden, I expected to see it greatly improved; but it was not above an inch taller, and its head was only a little bus.h.i.+er than usual. It is with the juice of this plant that the natives dye their red colour.

Having first dyed their feathers or hair yellow or a beautiful citron colour with the ayac wood, they boil the roots of the achechy in water, then squeeze them with all their force, and the expressed liquor serves for the red dye. That which was naturally white before it was dyed yellow, takes a beautiful scarlet; {238} that which was brown, such as buffalo's hair, which is of a chesnut colour, becomes a reddish brown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOP: _Red Dye Plant_--BOTTOM: _Flat Root_]

I shall not enlarge upon the strawberries, which are of an excellent flavour, and so plentiful, that from the beginning of April the savannahs or meadows appear quite red with them. I shall also only just mention the tobacco, which I reserve for the article of agriculture; but I ought not to omit to take notice, that hemp grows naturally on the lands adjoining to the lakes {239} on the west of the Missisippi. The stalks are as thick as one's finger, and about six feet long. They are quite like ours both in the wood, the leaf, and the rind. The flax which was sown in this country rose three feet high.

I cannot affirm from my own knowledge that the soil in this province produces either white mushrooms or truffles. But morelles in their season are to be found in the greatest abundance, and round mushrooms in the autumn.

When I consider the mild temperature of this climate, I am persuaded that all our flowers would succeed extremely well in it. The country has flowers peculiar to itself, and, in such abundance, that from the month of May till the end of summer, you can hardly see the gra.s.s in the meadows; and of such various hues that one is at a loss which to admire most and declare to be the most beautiful. The number and diversity of those flowers quite enchant the sight. I will not however attempt to give a particular account of them, as I am not qualified on this head to satisfy the desires of the curious, from my having neglected to consider the various flowers themselves. I have seen single and small roses without any smell; and another kind of rose with four white petals, which in its smell, chives, and pointal, differed in nothing from our damask roses. But of all the flowers of this country, that which struck me most, as it is both very common and lasts a long time, is the flower called Lion's Mouth. The flowers which decorate its stalk, its shady colours, its blowing for more than three months, justly ent.i.tle it to the preference before all other flowers. It forms of itself an agreeable nosegay; and in my opinion, it deserves to be ranked with the finest flowers, and to be cultivated with attention in the gardens of our kings.

As to cotton and indigo, I defer speaking of them till I come to the chapter of agriculture.

{240}

CHAPTER VI.

_Of the Quadrupedes._

Before I speak of the animals which the first settlers found in Louisiana, it is proper to observe, that all those which were brought hither from France, or from New Spain and Carolina, such as horses, oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and others, have multiplied and thriven perfectly well. However it ought to be remarked, that in Lower Louisiana, where the ground is moist and much covered with wood, they can neither be so good nor so beautiful as in Higher Louisiana, where the soil is dry, where there are most extensive meadows, and where the sun warms the earth to a much greater degree.

The buffalo is about the size of one of our largest oxen, but he appears rather bigger, on account of his long curled wool, which makes him appear to the eye much larger than he really is. This wool is very fine and very thick, and is of a dark chesnut colour, as are likewise his bristly hairs, which are also curled, and so long, that the bush between his horns often falls over his eyes, and hinders him from seeing before him; but his sense of hearing and smelling is so exquisite as in some measure to supply the want of the other. A pretty large bunch rises on his shoulders in the place where they join to the neck. His horns are thick, short, and black; and his hoof is also black. The cows of this species have small udders like those of a mare.