Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/193

 for the manufacture of bread. Oil was also obtained from the walnut. The aborigines gathered a great abundance of hickory nuts, and, placing them in mortars into which water had been poured, pounded shell and kernel until a milky liquor, known as pohickory, had been made. This was used either as a refreshing drink, or as a sauce for a mess of boiled beans, peas, maize, and pumpkins. The kernels of the chestnut and chinquapin were considered to be great dainties when dried, beaten into flour, and converted into bread, in which form it was reserved for the most important feasts, and for the enjoyment of the werowances. The only salt in use among the Indians was the ash of stick weed and hickory; and, except the juice sucked from the crushed fibre of the maizestalk, they had no knowledge of any spirits, whether natural or manufactured, unless the infusion of hickory nuts with water can be regarded as such. The liquid they preferred for drinking purposes was the water that had long been standing in