I might have added a great number of informations, from travellers, concerning various tribes of Indians; their cuftoms, their languages, &c. fuch as that there are Indians who fpeak the Welsh language; that there are others who live in works fimilar to the ancient remains, already defcribed; that there are Indians who live a fhepheard-life, and others who entirely cultivate the foil. But I have not fuch full affurance of the truth of these things as to authorise me in reporting them.

I have, thus, according to the best of my abilities, given every information in my power, on the various inquiries in your favor. favor. I have little expectation of there being any thing new in them, or which will give light on the subjects: but fuch as they are, please to accept them as my earnest endeavours to ferve you.

With every fentiment of respect,

I am, Sir,

Your moft Obedient and

Humble Servant,

JONATHAN HEART.

No. XXVI.

An Account of fome of the principal Dies employed by the North-American Indians. Extracted from a paper, by the late Mr. Hugh Martin.

Read Oct. 4th, 1782.

T

HE Indians die their red with a flender root, which is called in the language of the Shawanoes Hau ta the caugh. Upon my fhowing a fpeci

men

men of this root to the diers in Philadelphia, they informed me that it was madder, and that by tranfplanting and cultivating it, for a few years, it would become exactly fimilar to the imported madder of the fhops. In its natural ftate, it grows in low fwampy grounds, and spreads along the ground, near the furface. The roots are of various lengths, fome of them being not more than an inch or two, whilft others are two feet, long: their thickness feldom exceeds that of a ftraw.

Thefe roots, when fresh, for the most part, put on an orange appearance, though fome of them are yellow; but after they are dried, which they must be, before they can be used with fuccefs, the outfide appears of a dark brown: when broken, however, the infide appears red. From every root arises one limber ftalk, which is commonly from fix to eighteen inches high: at the diftance of about half. an inch there are four small leaves, and on the top is the feed-veffel, which comes to maturity in September, and is of a conic form. In fome fwampy fituations, I have found, this vegetable growing fo plentifully, that feveral hand-fulls of it might have been gathered within the compass of a yard or two.

The Indians pound the roots of the Hau ta the caugh in a mortar, with the addition of the acid juice obtained. from the crab-apple. They, then, throw the whole into a kettle of water along with the fubftance to be died, and place the veffel over a gentle fire, until the colour is pro-perly fixed.

It is by this procefs that the Indians die the white hair of deer-tails and the porcupine-quills, with which they ornament themselves, of a red colour. I have alfo feen a fpecimen of wool which one of them had died of a beautiful red in the fame manner. I made experiments with this red and the vegetable-acid, and fucceeded. I also employed

ployed the vitriolic-acid in alum, &c. which made it of a darker colour.

The orange colour employed by the Indians, is obtained from the root of the Pocoon, the outfide being pared of, and alfo from the plant called Touch-me-not. The vegetable-acid, before mentioned, is likewife ufed as a fixer to the colour of these two plants. I found that by mixing the red colour of the Hau ta the caugh with the yellow colour of the plant of which I am next to speak, I made an orange.

The Indians die their bright yellow with the root of a plant which grows fpontancoufly in the western woods, and which might, very properly, be called radix flava Americana. This root is generally from one to three inches long, and about one half of an inch in diameter, and fends out a great number of fmall filaments in every direction except upwards: these filaments are as yellow as the body of the root itself. From the root there grows up a ftalk about a foot from the ground, and at the top is one broad leaf. A red berry, in shape and size resembling a raspberry, but of a deeper red, grows on the top of the leaf: this berry is ripe in July.

I made fome experiments with this root and the vegetable-acid, on filk, linnen, and woolen, and fucceeded. I tried it again with the vitriolic-acid and, likewife fucceeded. I also tried it with the vegetable-alkali, and without any of these substances, and was fuccefsful in obtaining a good yellow in its fimple ftate. I prefented a fpecimen of this root to the diers, who found it to be a valuable article in making a yellow, and with the addition of Indigo in making a green.

Their green is made by boiling various blue fubftances in the liquor of Smooth-Hickery bark, which dies a yellow. In this manner, I have feen blue cloth, and yarn chang

ed

ed to a green; but the goodness of the green depended on that of the blue. There are other fubftances which die a yellow colour, and with which the Indigo will form a green; but as they are found to be inferior to the radix flava, or Yellow-Root, in making a yellow, and with the Indigo a green, nothing need be faid of them.

In making their green the Indians discover great œconomy. They carefully unravel fmall pieces of green cloth, and pieces of old green garments. These they throw into a kettle with a fufficient quantity of water, and the cloth to be died. The whole is then fet over a gentle fire, until the colour is made. They informed me that by this process they die their Porcupine-quills green..

The blues are fo well known to be made by the Indige of our own continent that nothing need be faid concerning them here. Under this head, however, I beg leave to obferve, that the Woad is the natural produce of our western foil, and that without it no deep or lafting blue can be made.

The Indians die their black with the Sumach of this country. They, likewise, make a beautiful black with the bark of the White-Walnut, and the vegetable-acid; for they have no knowledge of the mineral acids. With this bark I have seen them die their woolen cloths, and the inteftiries of various fpecies of animals, as bears, &c.

VOL. III.

F f

No. XXVII,

No. XXVII.

An account of the beneficial effects of the CASSIA CHAM-ECRISTA, in recruiting worn-out lands, and in enriching fuch as are naturally poor: together with a botanical defcription of the plant. By DR. JAMES GREEN-WAY, of Dinwiddie-County, in Virginia.

Read May 2d, 1788.

IN

1

N Maryland, and on the Eastern-Shore of Virginia, they have long been in the practice of fowing a feed, which they call a bean, for the fake of recruiting their worn-out lands, and enriching fuch as are: naturally poor. The beft information, that I have, is that, they fow a pint of the bean with every bushel of oats. The oats ripen, and are cut, in July, at a time when the young beans are small, and escape the injury of the scythe. The beans flower in Auguft and September. In October, the leaves fall off, the feeds ripen, and the pod opens with fuch elasticity as to fcatter the beans to fome distance arround. The year following, the field is cultivated with corn; the beans, which sprout early, are all deftroyed with the plow and hoe; but the more numerous part not making their appearance, above ground, until the corn is. laid by, fpring up, unhurt by the inftruments of agriculture, and furnish feed for the ensuing year, when the field is again fowed in oats. The ground is, alternately, cultivated with corn and oats, annually, and, in the course of eight or ten years, fo greatly improved that, without any other manure than the mouldered leaves and stalks of the beans falling on it, the produce will be three* barrels to the acre, on fuch as, prior to this management,

A barrel is a measure of five bushels, much used in Virginia.

would