Moreover, I Have Remark'd, That It Is Only Those Places
Bordering On The Ocean And Great Rivers, That This Distemper
Is frequent in,
and only on and near the same Places this Evergreen is to be found;
and none up
Towards the Mountains, where these Agues seldom or never appear;
Nature having provided suitable Remedies, in all Countries,
proper for the Maladies that are common thereto. The Savages of Carolina
have this Tea in Veneration, above all the Plants they are acquainted withal,
and tell you, the Discovery thereof was by an infirm Indian,
that labour'd under the Burden of many rugged Distempers,
and could not be cured by all their Doctors; so, one day,
he fell asleep, and dreamt, that if he took a Decoction of the Tree
that grew at his Head, he would certainly be cured; upon which he awoke,
and saw the Yaupon or Cassena-Tree, which was not there
when he fell asleep. He follow'd the Direction of his Dream,
and became perfectly well in a short time. Now, I suppose,
no Man has so little Sense as to believe this Fable; yet it lets us see
what they intend thereby, and that it has, doubtless, work'd Feats enough,
to gain it such an Esteem amongst these Savages, who are too well versed
in Vegetables, to be brought to a continual use of any one of them,
upon a meer Conceit or Fancy, without some apparent Benefit
they found thereby; especially, when we are sensible,
they drink the Juices of Plants, to free Nature of her Burdens,
and not out of Foppery and Fashion, as other Nations are oftentimes
found to do. Amongst all the Discoveries of America,
by the Missionaries of the French and Spaniards, I wonder none of them
was so kind to the World, as to have kept a Catalogue of the Distempers
they found the Savages capable of curing, and their Method of Cure;
which might have been of some Advantage to our Materia Medica at home,
when deliver'd by Men of Learning, and other Qualifications,
as most of them are. Authors generally tell us, that the Savages
are well enough acquainted with those Plants which their Climate affords,
and that some of them effect great Cures, but by what Means,
and in what Form, we are left in the dark. {Sassafras.}
The Bark of the Root of the Sassafras-Tree, I have observ'd,
is much used by them. They generally torrefy it in the Embers,
so strip off the Bark from the Root, beating it to a Consistence
fit to spread, so lay it on the griev'd Part; which both cleanses
a fowl Ulcer; and after Scarrification, being apply'd to a Contusion,
or Swelling, draws forth the Pain, and reduces the Part to its pristine
State of Health, as I have often seen effected. Fats and Unguents
never appear in their Chirurgery, when the Skin is once broke.
The Fats of Animals are used by them, to render their Limbs pliable,
and when wearied, to relieve the Joints, and this not often,
because they approve of the Sweating-House (in such cases) above all things.
{Make Bread, how.
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