The missionaries of all the orders, notably the Jesuits, persistently opposed the sale of liquor to the Indians; but in this course they aroused powerful and unscrupulous enemies, as we shall see in later volumes.
[20] (p. [257]).—Obole: a small copper coin of early French currency, named from the Greek ὀβολός. Its value was one-half that of a denier tournois (which equaled one-twelfth of a sou). The obole is mentioned as early as 1329. The word is used in the present text, however, to signify, in a general way, a very small sum, in the same manner that the English often use the word "penny," or "farthing."
[21] (p. [271]).—For information on the elk and moose, see vol. [ii]., note [34]; on the caribou, see vol. [iii]., note [17].
[22] (p. [271]).—The whistler, or nightingale: so named from the shrill whistle it utters on the approach of an enemy. The hoary marmot, or whistler (Arctomys pruinosus): a hibernant rodent, of the Sciuridæ or squirrel family; its flesh is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians, who also sew the skins into robes or blankets.
[23] (p. [273]).—Concerning these roots, see vol. v., note 29. The "rosary" is doubtless Apios tuberosa; its roots were and still are used as food by the aborigines. It has been found as far north as latitude 47°, on the Lower St. Lawrence. It is figured and described by Charlevoix, in Plantes Principales de l'Amérique Septentrionale (Paris, 1744), p. 21.
[24] (p. [273]).—Michtan: the sugar-maple (Acer saccharinum). This tree was found, by early explorers, growing abundantly throughout Canada and the Atlantic region. Lafitau tells how the Indians made sugar from its sap (Mœurs des Sauvages, part ii., pp. 154-157) and gives a pictorial illustration of the process. Cf. Schoolcraft's Ind. Tribes, vol. ii., pp. 55, 56; Bouchette's British Dominions in N. America (London, 1832), pp. 371, 372; and Carr's "Food of Amer. Inds," Am. Antiq. Soc. Proc., vol. x., part i., p. 170.
[25] (p. [273]).—The early explorers found tobacco cultivated by the natives along the entire Atlantic coast. Cartier saw it in use on the St. Lawrence; Champlain, under cultivation at San Domingo and on the coast of Maine; Strachey, on the James River (where it was called apooke). The Northern species was Nicotiana rustica, smaller and of milder quality than N. tabacum of the South. It was generally known among the Indians as petun (a word of Brazilian origin).—See Pickering's Chron. Hist. of Plants, pp. 741, 742. Champlain mentions it (Laverdière's ed., p. 50) as "tobacco, also called petung, or Queen's plant." It is figured by De Bry in Wyth's Portraits of Inhabitants of Virginia (1590), plates 1, 22,—reprinted by Langley (N. Y., 1841). For descriptions of its preparation and use, see Cartier's Brief Récit (Tross ed.), p. 31; Lescarbot's Nouv. France, pp. 838, 840; Lafitau's Mœurs des Sauvages, part ii., pp. 126-139. Lescarbot says: "The good Tobacco that comes from Brazil costs sometimes an écu the pound." Tobacco was highly prized by the American Indians, and often figured in their myths, religious rites, and sacrifices; much information concerning these is given by Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore.
The pipes used in smoking were often elaborately carved and otherwise ornamented. Creuxius has an illustration (Hist. Canad., p. 76) of an Indian smoking a long pipe; Schoolcraft gives descriptions and engravings of various sculptured pipes, in Ind. Tribes, vol. i., pp. 72, 74; vol. ii., p. 511. Cf. Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1890-91, pp. 323-354, etc.; and 1891-92, pp. 128-134. The pipe was ceremoniously smoked at councils, especially when a treaty was under consideration.
[26] (p. [275]).—Hippocras: an old medicinal drink composed of wine with an infusion of spices and other ingredients, used as a cordial.—Century Dictionary (N. Y., 1889).