Chapter 34

Of Shrubs and Excrescences.

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} [Illustration: _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} [Illustration: TOP: _Cassine or Yapon_--BOTTOM: _Tooth-ache Tree or Prickly Ash_]

The cassine, 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 prickles, 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.

{230} [Illustration: _Palmetto_]

The passion-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 prickles are at least two inches long, and are very hard and piercing; within half an inch of their root two other small prickles grow out from them so as to form a cross. The whole trunk is covered {231} with these prickles, 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.