University of Virginia Library

[Lewis:]

Wednesday June 11th. 1806.

All our hunters were out this morning by daylight; Labuish
and Gibson only proved successfull, the former killed a black
bear of the brown speceis and a very large buck, the latter also
killed a fine fat buck. five of the Indians also turned out and
hunted untill noon, when they returned without having killed
anything; at three P. M. the[y] left us on their return to
the[i]r villages. previous to their departure one of our men
exchanged an indifferent horse with one of them for a very
good one. in the evening our hunters resumed the chase; as

game has become scarce and shye near our camp they were
directed to hunt at a greater distance and therefore set out
prepared to remain all night and make a mornings hunt in
grounds not recently frequented. Whitehouse returned this
morning to our camp on the Kooskooske in surch of his horse.
As I have had frequent occasion to mention the plant which
the Chopunnish call quawmash[7] I shall here give a more particular
description of that plant and the mode of preparing it
for food as practiced by the Chopunnish and others in the
vicinity of the Rocky Mountains with whom it forms much
the greatest portion of their subsistence. we have never met
with this plant but in or adjacent to a piny or fir timbered
country, and there always in the open grounds and glades; in
the Columbian vally and near the coast it is to be found in
small quantities and inferior in size to that found in this neighbourhood
and in the high rich flatts and vallees within the
rocky mountains, it delights in a black rich moist soil, and
even grows most luxuriantly where the land remains from 6 to
nine inches under water untill the seed are nearly perfect which
in this neighbourhood or on these flats is about the last of this
month. neare the river where I had an opportunity of observing
it the seed were begining to ripen on the 9th. inst. and the
soil was nearly dry. it seems devoted to it's particular soil and
situation, and you will seldom find it more than a few feet from
the inundated soil tho' within it's limits it grows very closely
in short almost as much so as the bulbs will permit; the radix
is a tunicated bulb, much the consistence shape and appearance
of the onion, glutanous or somewhat slymy when chewed and
almost tasteless and without smell in it's unprepared state; it
is white except the thin or outer tunicated scales which are few
black and not succulent; this bulb is from the size of a nutmeg
to that of a hens egg and most commonly of an intermediate
size or about as large as an onion of one years growth from the
seed. the radicles are numerous, reather large, white, flexable,
succulent and diverging. the foliage consists of from one to
four seldom five radicale, linear sessile and revolute pointed
leaves; they are from 12 to 18 inches in length and from 1 to
3/4 of an inch in widest part which is near the middle; the uper
disk is somewhat groved of a pale green and marked it's whole
length with a number of small longitudinal channels; the under
disk is a deep glossy green and smooth. the leaves sheath the
peduncle and each other as high as the surface of the earth or
about 2 inches; they are more succulent than the grasses and
less so than most of the lillies hyesinths &c. the peduncle is
soletary, proceeds from the root, is columner, smooth leafless
and rises to the hight of 2 or 2-1/2 feet. it supports from 10
to forty flowers which are each supported by seperate footstalk
of 1/2 an inch in length scattered without order on the upper
portion of the peduncle. the calix is a partial involucre or
involucret situated at the base of the footstalk of each flower
on the peduncle; it is long thin and begins to decline as soon
as the corolla expands. the corolla consists of six long oval,
obtusly pointed skye blue or water coloured petals, each about
1 inch in length; the corolla is regular as to the form and size
of the petals but irregular as to their position, five of them are
placed near ech other pointing upward while one stands horizontally
or pointing downwards, they are inserted with a short
claw on the extremity of the footstalk at the base of the germ;
the corolla is of course inferior; it is also shriveling, and continues
untill the seeds are perfect. The stamens are perfect,
six in number; the filaments each elivate an anther, near their
base are flat on the inside and rounded on the outer terminate
in a subulate point, are bowed or bent upwards, inserted on the
inner side and on the base of the claws of the petals, below the
germ, are equal both with rispect to themselves and the corolla,
smooth & membraneous. the Anther is oblong, obtusely
pointed, 2 horned or forked at one end and furrowed longitudinally
with four channels, the upper and lower of which
seem almost to divide it into two loabs, incumbent patent,
membranous, very short, naked, two valved and fertile with
pollen, which last is of a yellow colour. the anther in a few
hours after the corolla unfoalds, bursts, discharges it's pollen
and becomes very minute and shrivled; the above discription
of the anther is therefore to be understood of it at the moment
of it's first appearance, the pistillum is only one, of which,
the germ is triangular reather swolen on the sides, smooth
superior, sessile, pedicelled, short in proportion to the corolla
tho' wide or bulky; the style is very long or longer than the
stamens, simple, cilindrical, bowed or bent upwards, placed on
the top of the germ, membranous shrivels and falls off when
the pericarp has obtained its full size. the stigma is three cleft
very minute, & pubescent. the pericarp is a capsule, triangular,
oblong, obtuse, and trilocular with three longitudinal valves.
the seed so far as I could-judge are numerous not very minute
and globelar. soon after the seeds are mature the peduncle
and foliage of this plant perishes, the grownd becomes dry or
nearly so and the root encreases in size and shortly becomes
fit for use; this happens about the middle of July when the
natives begin to collect it for use which they continue untill
the leaves of the plant attain some size in the spring of the
year. when they have collected a considerable quantity of
these roots or 20 [or] 30 bushels which they readily do by
means of [a] stick sharpened at one end, they dig away the
surface of the earth forming a circular concavity of 2-1/2 feet in
the center and 10 feet in diameter; they next collect a parsel
of split dry wood with which they cover this bason in the
groun[d] perhaps a foot thick, they next collect a large parsel
of stones of about 4 or 6 lbs. weight which are placed on the
dry wood; fire is then set to the wood which birning heats the
stones; when the fire has subsided and the stones are sufficiently
heated which are nearly a red heat, they are adjusted in
such manner in the whole as to form as level a surface as
pi[o]ssible, a small quantity of earth is sprinkled over the
stones and a layer of grass about an inch thick is put over the
stones; the roots, which have been previously devested of
the black or outer coat and radicles which rub off easily with the
fingers, are now laid on in a conical pile, are then covered with
a layer of grass about 2 or 3 inches thick; water is now thrown
on the summit of the pile and passes through the roots and to
the hot stones at bottom; some water is allso poared arround
the edges of the hole and also finds its way to the hot stones;
as soon as they discover from the quantity of steem which
issues that the water has found its way generally to the hot
stones, they cover the roots and grass over with earth to the
debth of four inches and then build a fire of dry wood all over
the connical mound which they continue to renew through the
course of the night or for ten or 12 hours after which it is
suffered to cool two or three hours when the earth and grass
are removed and the roots thus sweated and cooked with steam
are taken out, and most commonly exposed to the sun on
scaffoalds untill they become dry, when they are black and of
a sweet agreeable flavor. these roots are fit for use when first
taken from the pitt, are soft of a sweetish tast and much the
consistency of a roasted onion; but if they are suffered to
remain in bulk 24 hour after being cooked they spoil. if the
design is to make bread or cakes of these roots they undergo
a second process of baking being previously pounded after the
fi[r]st baking between two stones untill they are reduced to
the consistency of dough and then rolled in grass in cakes of
eight or ten lbs. are returned to the sweat intermixed with fresh
roots in order that the steam may get freely to these loaves of
bread. when taken out the second time the women make up
this dough into cakes of various shapes and sizes usually from
1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick and expose it on sticks to dry in the
sun, or place it over the smoke of their fires. the bread this
[thus] prepared if kept free from moisture will keep sound for
a great length of time. this bread or the dried roots are frequently
eaten alone by the natives without further preparation,
and when they have them in abundance they form an ingredient
in almost every dish they prepare. this root is pallateable but
disagrees with me in every shape I have ever used it.