Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 February 2019
Getting Rid Of That Gamy Taste.
Sunday, 18 March 2018
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Corn, can it really sustain you on a long trek?
I have read that the Woodland Indians travelled with just corn to sustain them on their long journeys, & I have often wondered, knowing a little about the properties of corn or the lack there of, how they managed to survive. Then recently one of my sons happened to mention to me the advantages of cooking corn in a lye solution. Apparently the action of the lye on the corn releases nutrients in the corn that otherwise could not be accessed. Now of course I had read about the Indians boiling & soaking corn in a solution of lye, but I had not realised the full potential of this process. So I started researching to see if the parched corn that these woodland travelers carried & ate, was first treated with a lye solution, & found that it was!
Now I don't recall when reading about parched & dried corn used as trail food the mention anywhere about treating first with a lye solution. Now of course this makes perfect sense, no wonder they were able to travel long distances on just dried corn. Of course the lye solution can only release those nutrients that are in the corn, so it does have its limitations. As daily meals under normal circumstances other foods such as meat would have to be included to keep one fit & healthy, but as a trail food for a limited time, this maize or corn was indeed quite adequate.
It is interesting to note that the Europeans did not take this knowledge of treating corn with lye back home with them, so the many recipes we use today lack the nutrition that is locked away inside the corn kernel!
The author's brass trade kettle.
Indians cooking & drying meat.
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Skinning.
When I skin and butcher at home I use a Gamble to hang the animal. In the woods if I can hang the game I use a stick as a Gamble.
My home made Gambrel.
My home made Gambrel.Thursday, 21 April 2011
On Powder & Lead.
On Powder & Lead.
What are the heaviest items that we carry on a trek? I would think it was water, lead, & food. Food we can cut back on. I don’t mean that we should all start just carrying flour, bread or corn & hunt for our meat, but we can cut our provisions back to just two items, perhaps bread & hard cheese, or bread & meat. That should be fairly light & last us for a weekend or more.
Water we can’t do anything about, unless you know that you have good water where you are going. I carry water anyway, & either boil any water I find, or I collect rainwater in my kettle.
Lead can be reduced in weight because we can retrieve spent lead from shot game & remould it. By reducing the amount of lead we carry we can carry more gunpowder.
My fusil takes 60 grains of gunpowder. 60 grains = 1 Dram.
1LB of gunpowder = 256 Drams. So that is 256 shots from just one pound of gunpowder. My powder horn holds roughly one pound, & my gunpowder bag roughly two pounds. So if I only took my horn & gunpowder bag, I would still have 768 shots to hunt with. That is a lot of meat when hunting large game, & most of the meat would come from a trap line. So barring any skirmishing, I could take one shot per day for 2 years, or one shot per week for 14 years from just 3 pounds of gunpowder!
What are the heaviest items that we carry on a trek? I would think it was water, lead, & food. Food we can cut back on. I don’t mean that we should all start just carrying flour, bread or corn & hunt for our meat, but we can cut our provisions back to just two items, perhaps bread & hard cheese, or bread & meat. That should be fairly light & last us for a weekend or more.
Water we can’t do anything about, unless you know that you have good water where you are going. I carry water anyway, & either boil any water I find, or I collect rainwater in my kettle.
Lead can be reduced in weight because we can retrieve spent lead from shot game & remould it. By reducing the amount of lead we carry we can carry more gunpowder.
My fusil takes 60 grains of gunpowder. 60 grains = 1 Dram.
1LB of gunpowder = 256 Drams. So that is 256 shots from just one pound of gunpowder. My powder horn holds roughly one pound, & my gunpowder bag roughly two pounds. So if I only took my horn & gunpowder bag, I would still have 768 shots to hunt with. That is a lot of meat when hunting large game, & most of the meat would come from a trap line. So barring any skirmishing, I could take one shot per day for 2 years, or one shot per week for 14 years from just 3 pounds of gunpowder!
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
On Meat Alone.
On Meat Alone.
The list of period foods is quite long, but whose foods are they? Would a woodsrunner bother to carry dried peas, parched corn, oats & currents? Somehow I don’t think so. It all adds to the weight, & sooner or later it has to run out, & what then? Well, he or she hunts for meat.
So I started looking for the least weighty foods, & foods that would compliment meat. Jerky is mentioned many times, & this food I think was pretty popular with woodsrunners, & so was bread, or flour. Yes bread & flour can run out too, but is it possible to survive on meat alone & stay healthy? Or would one get the dreaded scurvy? It appears that one can survive on meat alone, & I have no doubt that this is what woodsrunners did. Following is the information I have found so far.
Faragher, John M. Daniel Boone: the life and legend of an American pioneer (1992).
"On March the 28th, as we were hunting for provisions, we found Samuel Tate's son, who gave us an account that the Indians fired on their camp on the 27th day.
On the 7th day of February, as I was hunting to procure meat for the company.
"A day was soon appointed for the march of the little cavalcade to the camp. Two or three horses furnished with pack−saddles were loaded with flour, Indian meal, blankets, and every thing else requisite for the use of the hunter.
Daniel Boone. Life & Times of Col. Daniel Boone 1775.
Tuesday 6 Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8--Had Snow and such Bad weather that we could not travel for three days; but I killed a young Bear so that we had provisions enough.
Thursday 7.--Set out with my Horse Load of Bear Meat and travelled about 30 M this afternoon I met a Young Man (a Trader) and we encamped together that night; He happened to have some Bread with him, and I had plenty of Meat so we Fared very Well.
Wednesday 16.--Set out SW 25 M to Licking Creek--the Land from Muskingum to this place rich but
Broken--Upon the N Side of Licking Creek about 6 M from the Mouth, are sevaral Salt Licks, or Ponds,
formed by little Streams or Dreins of Water, clear but of a blueish Colour, & salt taste the Traders and
Indians boil their Meat in this water which (If proper Care not be taken) will make it too salt to eat.
Monday 4.--This day I hard sevral Guns, but was afraid to examine who fired Them, lest they might be some of the French Indians, so I travelled thro the Woods about 30 M; just at night I killed a fine barren
Cow-Buffaloe and took out her tongue and a little of her best meat:
Wednesday 6.--I travelled about 30 M and killed a fat Bear.
Sunday 12.--Stayed to rest and Dry some Meat we had Killed.
The Journal of Christopher Gist, 1750-1751.
. We had carried but little provisions with us, and the next morning was entirely out of meat.
I worked on with my hands till the bears got fat, and then I turned out to hunting, to lay in a supply of meat. I soon killed and salted down as many as were necessary for my family;
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee_ (1834) by David Crockett.
We are now without bread and are compelled to hunt the buffalo to preserve life....
"Sunday 26th...procured some buffalo meat; though poor it was palatable.
Pioneers of the Old Southwest by Constance Skinner.
These months on fish were the beginning of several years during which I lived on an exclusive meat diet.
Adventures in Diet Part 1 By Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Harper's Monthly Magazine, November 1935.
Prolonged meat diet study.
http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf
In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I was alone three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat, or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook, and roasted them on the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat, nothing but the melancholy wilderness around me. In this way I explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement, and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a village should afterwards be established.
William Cooper.
Meat made up a large portion of the diets of residents of eighteenth-century England.
http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/food/foods.htm
Some settlers were driven by curiosity or necessity to hunt and eat the native mammals. Stuffed wombat and fried echidna were on the menu in early settlements in Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was known in those times.
Flour was a staple item of the early settler's diet. It was usually made into bread or damper.
Other foods that seem less palatable to modern urban Australians - such as witchetty grubs, lizards, snakes and moths - were greatly valued.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/foodanddrink/
Men Were Hunters and Brought Home Larger Animals
Men were hunters while women were gatherers. Hunting larger animals, the Aboriginal men often worked in groups while smaller animals were often hunted individually. There was plenty of animal food like kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, possums, bats, pademelons, bandicoots, goannas, lizards, frogs, snakes and birds like cockatoos, parrots, ducks, emus, swans and bush turkeys. Coastal people also ate a wide range of seafood, fish and marine animals like dugongs and turtles. Aboriginal men used a wide range of tools like spears and boomerangs while hunting. Nocturnal animals were not hunted during the night, but caught in their burrows where they were sleeping during the day.
http://www.gondwananet.com/australian-aboriginal-food.html
That night we had a mess of wheat for our supper.
There came an Indian to them at that time with a basket of horse liver.
As we went along they killed a deer, with a young one in her, they gave me a piece of the fawn.
I went, and he gave me a pancake, about as big as two fingers. It was made of parched wheat, beaten, and fried in bear's grease, but I thought I never tasted pleasanter meat in my life.
There was a squaw who spake to me to make a shirt for her sannup, for which she gave me a piece of bear. Another asked me to knit a pair of stockings, for which she gave me a quart of peas. I boiled my peas and bear together, and invited my master and mistress to dinner;
They would eat horse's guts, and ears, and all sorts of wild birds which they could catch; also bear, venison, beaver, tortoise, frogs, squirrels, dogs, skunks, rattlesnakes; yea, the very bark of trees;
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson 1676.
Our Kettle was put over the fire with some pounded Indian Corn, and after it had boiled about two hours, my oldest Indian Brother returned with a She Beaver, big with young, which he soon cut to pieces, and threw into the kettle, together with the guts, and took the four young beavers, whole as they came out of the dam, and put them likewise into the kettle, and when all was well boiled, gave each one of us a large dishful of broth, of which we ate freely, and then part of the Old Beaver, the Tail, of which was divided equally amongst us, there being Eight at our fire; The four young Beavers were cut in the middle, and each of us got half of a Beaver; I watched an opportunity to hide my share, having satisfied myself before that tender dish came to hand, which if they had seen, would have much displeased them.
The other Indians catched young Musk-Rats, run a stick through their bodies, and roasted, without being skinned or gutted, and so eat them."
ROBERT EASTMAN-1759
We had one — and but one— dog along with us ; he was large and very fat, and this evening he fell a sacrifice to our necessities. Our custom on this march was to encamp ten men at a fire. The dog was carefully butchered and divided into seven parts, except the entrails which the butcher had for his fees. These he brought to our fire, and ten of us made a very good supper of their fat, without bread or salt.
Journal of Rufas Putnam 1754.
and found an Indian by the river side, resting himself. All his provision was a dried eel;
John Bartram 1743.
We dined on parched meal, which is some of the Indian's best traveling provision. They take the corn and parch it in hot ashes, till it becomes brown, then clean it, pound it in a mortar and sift it; this powder is mixed
with maple sugar. About one gill, diluted in a pint of water, is a hearty traveling dinner.
John Bartram (1751) Travels In Pensilvania and Canada.
May 8th Friday Cloudy and warm, we continued at our incampment and made shift to Purchace half Bushel of Corn, which we Parched and Pounded to meal, which we thickened with water and sweeten'd with sugar and Drank for Diet….
Joel Watkins Journal* (1789)
They make also a certain sort of meal of parched maize. This meal they call nocake. It is so sweet, toothsome, and hearty, that an Indian will travel many days with no other food but this meal, which he eateth as he needs, and after it drinketh water. And for this end, when they travel a journey, or go a hunting, they carry this nocake in a basket or bag for their use.
Gookin 1674 http://plymoutharch.tripod.com/id226.html
The list of period foods is quite long, but whose foods are they? Would a woodsrunner bother to carry dried peas, parched corn, oats & currents? Somehow I don’t think so. It all adds to the weight, & sooner or later it has to run out, & what then? Well, he or she hunts for meat.
So I started looking for the least weighty foods, & foods that would compliment meat. Jerky is mentioned many times, & this food I think was pretty popular with woodsrunners, & so was bread, or flour. Yes bread & flour can run out too, but is it possible to survive on meat alone & stay healthy? Or would one get the dreaded scurvy? It appears that one can survive on meat alone, & I have no doubt that this is what woodsrunners did. Following is the information I have found so far.
"and on the first day of May 1770, my brother returned home to the settlement by himself, for a new recruit of horses and ammunition, leaving me by myself, without bread, salt or sugar, without company of my fellow creatures, or even a horse or dog."
Daniel Boone 1770.Faragher, John M. Daniel Boone: the life and legend of an American pioneer (1992).
"On March the 28th, as we were hunting for provisions, we found Samuel Tate's son, who gave us an account that the Indians fired on their camp on the 27th day.
On the 7th day of February, as I was hunting to procure meat for the company.
"A day was soon appointed for the march of the little cavalcade to the camp. Two or three horses furnished with pack−saddles were loaded with flour, Indian meal, blankets, and every thing else requisite for the use of the hunter.
Daniel Boone. Life & Times of Col. Daniel Boone 1775.
Tuesday 6 Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8--Had Snow and such Bad weather that we could not travel for three days; but I killed a young Bear so that we had provisions enough.
Thursday 7.--Set out with my Horse Load of Bear Meat and travelled about 30 M this afternoon I met a Young Man (a Trader) and we encamped together that night; He happened to have some Bread with him, and I had plenty of Meat so we Fared very Well.
Wednesday 16.--Set out SW 25 M to Licking Creek--the Land from Muskingum to this place rich but
Broken--Upon the N Side of Licking Creek about 6 M from the Mouth, are sevaral Salt Licks, or Ponds,
formed by little Streams or Dreins of Water, clear but of a blueish Colour, & salt taste the Traders and
Indians boil their Meat in this water which (If proper Care not be taken) will make it too salt to eat.
Monday 4.--This day I hard sevral Guns, but was afraid to examine who fired Them, lest they might be some of the French Indians, so I travelled thro the Woods about 30 M; just at night I killed a fine barren
Cow-Buffaloe and took out her tongue and a little of her best meat:
Wednesday 6.--I travelled about 30 M and killed a fat Bear.
Sunday 12.--Stayed to rest and Dry some Meat we had Killed.
The Journal of Christopher Gist, 1750-1751.
Pamela Patrick-White. Well Dressed Victuals.
. We had carried but little provisions with us, and the next morning was entirely out of meat.
I worked on with my hands till the bears got fat, and then I turned out to hunting, to lay in a supply of meat. I soon killed and salted down as many as were necessary for my family;
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee_ (1834) by David Crockett.
We are now without bread and are compelled to hunt the buffalo to preserve life....
"Sunday 26th...procured some buffalo meat; though poor it was palatable.
Pioneers of the Old Southwest by Constance Skinner.
These months on fish were the beginning of several years during which I lived on an exclusive meat diet.
Adventures in Diet Part 1 By Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Harper's Monthly Magazine, November 1935.
Prolonged meat diet study.
http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf
In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I was alone three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat, or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook, and roasted them on the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat, nothing but the melancholy wilderness around me. In this way I explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement, and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a village should afterwards be established.
William Cooper.
Meat made up a large portion of the diets of residents of eighteenth-century England.
http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/food/foods.htm
Some settlers were driven by curiosity or necessity to hunt and eat the native mammals. Stuffed wombat and fried echidna were on the menu in early settlements in Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was known in those times.
Other foods that seem less palatable to modern urban Australians - such as witchetty grubs, lizards, snakes and moths - were greatly valued.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/foodanddrink/
Men Were Hunters and Brought Home Larger Animals
Men were hunters while women were gatherers. Hunting larger animals, the Aboriginal men often worked in groups while smaller animals were often hunted individually. There was plenty of animal food like kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, possums, bats, pademelons, bandicoots, goannas, lizards, frogs, snakes and birds like cockatoos, parrots, ducks, emus, swans and bush turkeys. Coastal people also ate a wide range of seafood, fish and marine animals like dugongs and turtles. Aboriginal men used a wide range of tools like spears and boomerangs while hunting. Nocturnal animals were not hunted during the night, but caught in their burrows where they were sleeping during the day.
http://www.gondwananet.com/australian-aboriginal-food.html
That night we had a mess of wheat for our supper.
There came an Indian to them at that time with a basket of horse liver.
As we went along they killed a deer, with a young one in her, they gave me a piece of the fawn.
I went, and he gave me a pancake, about as big as two fingers. It was made of parched wheat, beaten, and fried in bear's grease, but I thought I never tasted pleasanter meat in my life.
There was a squaw who spake to me to make a shirt for her sannup, for which she gave me a piece of bear. Another asked me to knit a pair of stockings, for which she gave me a quart of peas. I boiled my peas and bear together, and invited my master and mistress to dinner;
They would eat horse's guts, and ears, and all sorts of wild birds which they could catch; also bear, venison, beaver, tortoise, frogs, squirrels, dogs, skunks, rattlesnakes; yea, the very bark of trees;
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson 1676.
Our Kettle was put over the fire with some pounded Indian Corn, and after it had boiled about two hours, my oldest Indian Brother returned with a She Beaver, big with young, which he soon cut to pieces, and threw into the kettle, together with the guts, and took the four young beavers, whole as they came out of the dam, and put them likewise into the kettle, and when all was well boiled, gave each one of us a large dishful of broth, of which we ate freely, and then part of the Old Beaver, the Tail, of which was divided equally amongst us, there being Eight at our fire; The four young Beavers were cut in the middle, and each of us got half of a Beaver; I watched an opportunity to hide my share, having satisfied myself before that tender dish came to hand, which if they had seen, would have much displeased them.
ROBERT EASTMAN-1759
We had one — and but one— dog along with us ; he was large and very fat, and this evening he fell a sacrifice to our necessities. Our custom on this march was to encamp ten men at a fire. The dog was carefully butchered and divided into seven parts, except the entrails which the butcher had for his fees. These he brought to our fire, and ten of us made a very good supper of their fat, without bread or salt.
Journal of Rufas Putnam 1754.
and found an Indian by the river side, resting himself. All his provision was a dried eel;
John Bartram 1743.
We dined on parched meal, which is some of the Indian's best traveling provision. They take the corn and parch it in hot ashes, till it becomes brown, then clean it, pound it in a mortar and sift it; this powder is mixed
with maple sugar. About one gill, diluted in a pint of water, is a hearty traveling dinner.
John Bartram (1751) Travels In Pensilvania and Canada.
May 8th Friday Cloudy and warm, we continued at our incampment and made shift to Purchace half Bushel of Corn, which we Parched and Pounded to meal, which we thickened with water and sweeten'd with sugar and Drank for Diet….
Joel Watkins Journal* (1789)
They make also a certain sort of meal of parched maize. This meal they call nocake. It is so sweet, toothsome, and hearty, that an Indian will travel many days with no other food but this meal, which he eateth as he needs, and after it drinketh water. And for this end, when they travel a journey, or go a hunting, they carry this nocake in a basket or bag for their use.
Gookin 1674 http://plymoutharch.tripod.com/id226.html
Monday, 11 April 2011
Some Excerpts From "A Journey to The Land Of Eden"
A
JOURNEY
to
THE LAND OF EDEN:
IN THE YEAR 1733.
One of our men, Joseph Colson by name, a timorous, lazy fellow, had squandered away his bread, and grew very uneasy when his own ravening had reduced him to short allowance. He was one of those drones who love to do little and eat much, and are never in humour unless their bellies are full. According to this wrong turn of constitution, when he found he could no longer revel in plenty, he began to break the rules by complaining and threatening to desert. This had like to have brought him to the blanket, but his submission reprieved him. Though bread grew a little scanty with us, we had venison in abundance, which a true woodsman can eat contentedly without any bread at all. But bears' flesh needs something of the farinaceous, to make it pass easily off the stomach. In the night we heard a dog bark at some distance, as we thought, when we saw all our own dogs lying about the fire. This was another alarm; but we soon discovered it to be a wolf, which will sometimes bark very like a dog, but something shriller.
One of the Indians shot a wild goose, that was very lousy, which nevertheless was good meat, and proved those contemptible tasters to be no bad tasters. However, for those stomachs that were so unhappy as to be squeamish, there was plenty of fat bear, we having killed two in this day's march.
. Our invalids found themselves in travelling condition this morning, and began to conceive hopes of returning home and dying in their own beds. We pursued our journey through uneven and perplexed woods, and in the thickest of them had the fortune to knock down a young buffalo, two years old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very seasonably, just as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more welcome too, because it was change of diet, which of all varieties, next to that of bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon venison and bear until our stomachs loathed them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did their quails. Our butchers were so unhandy at their business that we grew very lank before we could get our dinner. But when it came, we found it equal in goodness to the best beef. They made it the longer because they kept sucking the water out of the guts, in imitation of the Catawba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great cordial, and will even make them drunk, or at least very gay. We encamped upon Hico river, pretty high up, and had much ado to get our house in order, before a heavy shower descended upon us. I was in pain lest our sick men might suffer by the rain, but might have spared myself the concern, because it had the effect of a cold bath upon them, and drove away their distemper, or rather changed it into a canine appetite, that devoured all before it. It rained smartly all night long, which made our situation on the low-ground more fit for otters than men.
The sorrel tree is frequent there, whose leaves, brewed in beer, are good in dropsies, green-sickness, and cachexies. We also saw in this place abundance of papaw trees, the wood whereof the Indians make very dry on purpose to rub fire out of it. Their method of doing it is this: they hold one of these dry sticks in each hand, and by rubbing them hard and quick together, rarify the air in such a manner as to fetch fire in ten minutes. Whenever they offer any sacrifice to their God, they look upon it as a profanation to make use of fire already kindled, but produce fresh virgin fire for that purpose, by rubbing two of these sticks together that never had been used before on any occasion.
. In our way we shot a doe, but she not falling immediately, we had lost our game had not the ravens, by their croaking, conducted us to the thicket where she fell. We plunged the carcass of the deer into the water, to secure it from these ominous birds till we returned, but an hour afterwards were surprised with the sight of a wolf which had been fishing for it, and devoured one side. We knocked down an ancient she bear that had no flesh upon her bones, so we left it to the free-booters of the forest. In coming back to the camp we discovered a solitary bull buffalo, which boldly stood his ground, contrary to the custom of that shy animal, we spared his life, from a principle of never slaughtering an innocent creature to no purpose.
Major Mayo's survey being no more than half done, we were obliged to amuse ourselves another day in this place. And that the time might not be quite lost, we put our garments and baggage into good repair. I for my part never spent a day so well during the whole voyage. I had an impertinent tooth in my upper jaw, that had been loose for some time, and made me chew with great caution. Particularly I could not grind a biscuit but with much deliberation and presence of mind. Tooth-drawers we had non amongst us, nor any of the instruments they make use of. However invention supplied this want very happily, and I contrived to get rid of this troublesome companion by cutting a caper. I caused a twine to be fastened round the root of my tooth, about a fathom in length, and then tied the other end to the snag of a log that lay upon the ground, in such a manner that I could just stand upright. Having adjusted my string in this manner, I bent my knees enough to enable me to spring vigorously off the ground, as perpendicularly as I could. The force of the leap drew out the tooth with so much ease that I felt nothing of it, nor should have believed it was come away, unless I had seen it dangling at the end of the string. An under tooth may be fetched out by standing off the ground and fastening your string at due distance above you. And having so fixed your gear, jump off your standing, and the weight of your body, added to the force of the spring, will prize out your tooth with less pain than any operator upon earth could draw it. This new way of tooth-drawing, being so silently and deliberately performed, both surprised and delighted all that were present, who could not guess what I was going about. I immediately found the benefit of getting rid of this troublesome companion, by eating my supper with more comfort than I had done during the whole expedition.
. We could have no supplies from such neighbours as these, but depended on our own knapsacks, in which we had some remnants of cold fowls that we brought from Blue Stone Castle.
The Westover Manuscripts 1674-1744.
JOURNEY
to
THE LAND OF EDEN:
IN THE YEAR 1733.
One of our men, Joseph Colson by name, a timorous, lazy fellow, had squandered away his bread, and grew very uneasy when his own ravening had reduced him to short allowance. He was one of those drones who love to do little and eat much, and are never in humour unless their bellies are full. According to this wrong turn of constitution, when he found he could no longer revel in plenty, he began to break the rules by complaining and threatening to desert. This had like to have brought him to the blanket, but his submission reprieved him. Though bread grew a little scanty with us, we had venison in abundance, which a true woodsman can eat contentedly without any bread at all. But bears' flesh needs something of the farinaceous, to make it pass easily off the stomach. In the night we heard a dog bark at some distance, as we thought, when we saw all our own dogs lying about the fire. This was another alarm; but we soon discovered it to be a wolf, which will sometimes bark very like a dog, but something shriller.
One of the Indians shot a wild goose, that was very lousy, which nevertheless was good meat, and proved those contemptible tasters to be no bad tasters. However, for those stomachs that were so unhappy as to be squeamish, there was plenty of fat bear, we having killed two in this day's march.
. Our invalids found themselves in travelling condition this morning, and began to conceive hopes of returning home and dying in their own beds. We pursued our journey through uneven and perplexed woods, and in the thickest of them had the fortune to knock down a young buffalo, two years old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very seasonably, just as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more welcome too, because it was change of diet, which of all varieties, next to that of bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon venison and bear until our stomachs loathed them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did their quails. Our butchers were so unhandy at their business that we grew very lank before we could get our dinner. But when it came, we found it equal in goodness to the best beef. They made it the longer because they kept sucking the water out of the guts, in imitation of the Catawba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great cordial, and will even make them drunk, or at least very gay. We encamped upon Hico river, pretty high up, and had much ado to get our house in order, before a heavy shower descended upon us. I was in pain lest our sick men might suffer by the rain, but might have spared myself the concern, because it had the effect of a cold bath upon them, and drove away their distemper, or rather changed it into a canine appetite, that devoured all before it. It rained smartly all night long, which made our situation on the low-ground more fit for otters than men.
The sorrel tree is frequent there, whose leaves, brewed in beer, are good in dropsies, green-sickness, and cachexies. We also saw in this place abundance of papaw trees, the wood whereof the Indians make very dry on purpose to rub fire out of it. Their method of doing it is this: they hold one of these dry sticks in each hand, and by rubbing them hard and quick together, rarify the air in such a manner as to fetch fire in ten minutes. Whenever they offer any sacrifice to their God, they look upon it as a profanation to make use of fire already kindled, but produce fresh virgin fire for that purpose, by rubbing two of these sticks together that never had been used before on any occasion.
. In our way we shot a doe, but she not falling immediately, we had lost our game had not the ravens, by their croaking, conducted us to the thicket where she fell. We plunged the carcass of the deer into the water, to secure it from these ominous birds till we returned, but an hour afterwards were surprised with the sight of a wolf which had been fishing for it, and devoured one side. We knocked down an ancient she bear that had no flesh upon her bones, so we left it to the free-booters of the forest. In coming back to the camp we discovered a solitary bull buffalo, which boldly stood his ground, contrary to the custom of that shy animal, we spared his life, from a principle of never slaughtering an innocent creature to no purpose.
Major Mayo's survey being no more than half done, we were obliged to amuse ourselves another day in this place. And that the time might not be quite lost, we put our garments and baggage into good repair. I for my part never spent a day so well during the whole voyage. I had an impertinent tooth in my upper jaw, that had been loose for some time, and made me chew with great caution. Particularly I could not grind a biscuit but with much deliberation and presence of mind. Tooth-drawers we had non amongst us, nor any of the instruments they make use of. However invention supplied this want very happily, and I contrived to get rid of this troublesome companion by cutting a caper. I caused a twine to be fastened round the root of my tooth, about a fathom in length, and then tied the other end to the snag of a log that lay upon the ground, in such a manner that I could just stand upright. Having adjusted my string in this manner, I bent my knees enough to enable me to spring vigorously off the ground, as perpendicularly as I could. The force of the leap drew out the tooth with so much ease that I felt nothing of it, nor should have believed it was come away, unless I had seen it dangling at the end of the string. An under tooth may be fetched out by standing off the ground and fastening your string at due distance above you. And having so fixed your gear, jump off your standing, and the weight of your body, added to the force of the spring, will prize out your tooth with less pain than any operator upon earth could draw it. This new way of tooth-drawing, being so silently and deliberately performed, both surprised and delighted all that were present, who could not guess what I was going about. I immediately found the benefit of getting rid of this troublesome companion, by eating my supper with more comfort than I had done during the whole expedition.
. We could have no supplies from such neighbours as these, but depended on our own knapsacks, in which we had some remnants of cold fowls that we brought from Blue Stone Castle.
The Westover Manuscripts 1674-1744.
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