WILD RICE. This grain, which grows in the greatest plenty throughout the interior parts of North America, is the most valuable of all the spontaneous productions of that country. Exclusive of its utility, as a supply of food for those of the human species who inhabit this part of the continent, and obtained without any other trouble than that of gathering it in, the sweetness and nutritious quality of it attracts an infinite number of wild fowl of every kind, which flock from distant climes to enjoy this rare repast; and by it become inexpressibly fat and delicious. In future periods it will be of great service to the infant colonies, as it will afford them a present support, until in the course of cultivation other supplies may be produced; whereas in those realms which are not furnished with this bounteous gift of nature, even if the climate is temperate and the soil good, the first settlers are often exposed to great hardships from the want of an immediate resource for necessary food. This useful grain grows in the water where it is about two feet deep, and where it finds a rich muddy soil. The stalks of it, and the branches or ears that bear the seed, resemble oats both in their appearance and manner of growing. The stalks are full of joints, and rise more than eight feet above the water. The natives gather the grain in the following manner: nearly about the time that it begins to turn from its milky state and to ripen, they run their canoes into the midst of it, and tying bunches of it together just below the ears with bark, leave it in this situation three or four weeks longer, till it is perfectly ripe. About the latter end of September they return to the river, when each family having its separate allotment, and being able to distinguish their own property by the manner of fastening the sheaves, gather in the portion that belongs to them. This they do by placing their canoes close to the bunches of rice, in such position as to receive the grain when it falls, and then beat it out, with pieces of wood formed for that purpose. Having done this, they dry it with smoke, and afterwards tread or rub off the outside husk; when it is fit for use they put it into the skins of fawns or young buffalos taken off nearly whole for this purpose and sewed into a sort of sack, wherein they preserve it till the return of their harvest. It has been the subject of much speculation why this spontaneous grain is not found in any other regions of America, or in those countries situated in the same parallels of latitude, where the waters are as apparently adapted for its growth as in the climates I treat of. As for instance, none of the countries that lie to the south and east of the great lakes, even from the provinces north of the Carolinas to the extremities of Labradore, produce any of this grain. It is true I found great quantities of it in the watered lands near Detroit, between Lake Huron and Lake Erié, but on enquiry I learned that it never arrived nearer to maturity than just to blossom; after which it appeared blighted, and died away. This convinces me that the north-west wind, as I have before hinted, is much more powerful in these than in the interior parts; and that it is more inimical to the fruits of the earth, after it has passed over the lakes and become united with the wind which joins it from the frozen regions of the north, than it is farther to the westward.
BEANS. These are nearly of the same shape as the European beans, but are not much larger than the smallest size of them. They are boiled by the Indians and eaten chiefly with bear’s flesh.
The SQUASH. They have also several species of the MELON or PUMPKIN, which by some are called Squashes, and which serve many nations partly as a substitute for bread. Of these there is the round, the crane-neck, the small flat, and the large oblong squash. The smaller sorts being boiled, are eaten during the summer as vegetables; and are all of a pleasing flavour. The crane-neck, which greatly excells all the others, are usually hung up for a winter’s store, and in this manner might be preserved for several months.
[1]. For an account of Tobacco, see a treatise I have published on the culture of that plant.
APPENDIX.
THE countries that lie between the great lakes and River Mississippi, and from thence southward to West Florida, although in the midst of a large continent, and at a great distance from the sea, are so situated, that a communication between them and other realms might conveniently be opened; by which means those empires or colonies that may hereafter be founded or planted therein, will be rendered commercial ones. The great River Mississippi, which runs through the whole of them, will enable their inhabitants to establish an intercourse with foreign climes, equally as well as the Euphrates, the Nile, the Danube, or the Wolga do those people which dwell on their banks, and who have no other convenience for exporting the produce of their own country, or for importing those of others, than boats and vessels of light burden: notwithstanding which they have become powerful and opulent states.
The Mississippi, as I have before observed, runs from north to south, and passes through the most fertile and temperate part of North America, excluding only the extremities of it, which verge both on the torrid and frigid zones. Thus favourably situated, when once its banks are covered with inhabitants, they need not long be at a loss for means to establish an extensive and profitable commerce. They will find the country towards the south almost spontaneously producing silk, cotton, indico, and tobacco; and the more northern parts, wine, oil, beef, tallow, skins, buffalo-wool, and furs; with lead, copper, iron, coals, lumber, corn, rice, and fruits, besides earth and barks for dying.
These articles, with which it abounds even to profusion, may be transported to the ocean through this river without greater difficulty than that which attends the conveyance of merchandize down some of those I have just mentioned. It is true that the Mississippi being the boundary between the English and Spanish settlements, and the Spaniards in possession of the mouth of it, they may obstruct the passage of it, and greatly dishearten those who make the first attempts; yet when the advantages that will certainly arise to settlers are known, multitudes of adventurers, allured by the prospect of such abundant riches, will flock to it, and establish themselves, though at the expence of rivers of blood.
But should the nation that happens to be in possession of New Orleans prove unfriendly to the internal settlers, they may find a way into the Gulph of Mexico by the River Iberville, which empties itself from the Mississippi, after passing through Lake Maurepas, into Lake Ponchartrain; which has a communication with the sea within the borders of West Florida. The River Iberville branches off from the Mississippi about eighty miles above New Orleans, and though it is at present choaked up in some parts, it might at an inconsiderable expence be made navigable so as to answer all the purposes proposed.
Although the English have acquired since the last peace a more extensive knowledge of the interior parts than were ever obtained before, even by the French, yet many of their productions still remain unknown. And though I was not deficient either in assiduity or attention during the short time I remained in them, yet I must acknowledge that the intelligence I gained was not so perfect as I could wish, and that it requires further researches to make the world thoroughly acquainted with the real value of these long hidden realms.