Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/281

Rh which have been burned by the natives to save the trouble of felling them or of collecting other fuel, a practice to which they are greatly addicted, produce a quantity of a saccharine substance, used for seasoning in the same way as sugar is by civilized milieus. The cone measured sixteen inches and a half in length, and was ten inches round at the thickest part. The country of the Umptqua Indians, two degrees south of the Columbia, produces this tree in the greatest abundance. The seeds are collected in the end of summer, dried, pounded. and made into a sort of cake which is considered a great dainty. To my inquiries respecting it, the poor Indian answered by repeated assurances that he would give me plenty of this cake when I visited his country, which is the surest proof of its being much prized, as these people will, on every occasion, offer the greatest rarity or delicacy to a stranger. The same person brought me also an Elk's snare and a netted purse of ingenious workmanship, made of a most durable grass, which, from what I have seen, will probably prove a new species of Helonias. Of this plant he has also promised to procure me roots and seeds.