Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/194

 182 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 22, 1920

from Carder's statements? Obviously that the Indians, questioned in a language which they did not understand in regard to the products of their country, or asked for names of Old World products, gave in reply the names of native fruits which the French understood to be "oranges," "figs," etc., or which resembled the Old World products shown. This is a common experience and examples may be found in many parts of the world. Plums of course were native, the "oranges" may well have been the Osage orange or some variety of Crataegus, and "almonds" could have been any one of several varieties of nuts. In regard to "figs," it must be remembered that Cartier himself confused them with plums, and gives the same name for both. They may, however, be a reference to the "May Apple," called locally, " Indian Fig," or perhaps to a variety of Opuntia. There remain the "cloves" and "cinnamon." In regard to the former, it is to be noted that they are referred to in two of the three manuscripts as "so-called cloves," obviously indicating that they resembled but were not true cloves. It has been suggested that sassafras may have been what was meant by the word for "cinnamon." Under any circumstances, however, whether these sug- gested identifications are correct or not, there is a very weak place in Pro- fessor Wiener's whole argument. For, if tobacco, with its name, was im- ported to Ontario from the Gulf Coast, why do we not also find the names for these imported tropical fruits and spices also derived from Old World sources? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

The theory that the Iroquoian tribes north of the St. Lawrence were, in the early sixteenth century, in direct trade relations with the Gulf of Mexico could, quite apart from its inherent improbability on account of the distances involved, only be imagined by one quite unaware of the character of Indian trade and of the political conditions among the eastern tribes at this time. One of the "proofs" of this supposed trade which is adduced shows to what lengths the author is willing to go in the way of, shall we say "fanciful," etymologies. On page I45ff. it is contended that the carriers of this trade in tobacco and tropical fruits were the Algonkian people called by Sagard (and by him alone!) the Epicerinys, whose name is derived by Professor Wiener with all apparent seriousness from the French "epicerie" (spices). It is hardly necessary to point out that these "bringers of spices" are the Nipissirini or Nipissings of the lake of that name in northern Ontario. Quite apart from its validity on the philological side, it may be wondered why the presence of assumed Mande words for tobacco among the Algonkian tribes of the Maritime Provinces and northeastern New England should be adduced as evidence for an overland trade by the Hurons with the Gulf of Mexico!

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