NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
127
the track that an invader might be supposed to follow, so that
while an army could not possibly live unless it took its own
complete commissariat, the tribesmen would be in a position to
fight to a finish."—From an article on Morocco in The Evening
Standard and St. James' Gazette, 15th November, 1907.
Subterranean Store-houses among the American
Indians.—In Catlin's North American Indians (Letter 17) the
author, describing a Mandan Village on the Upper Missouri,
notes that the Mandans were in the habit of preserving corn in
"caches." He says :—
"They raise a very small sort of corn, the ears of which are not longer than a
man's thumb. This variety is well adapted to their climate, as it ripens sooner
than other varieties, which would not mature in so cold a latitude. The green
corn season is one of great festivity with them, and one of much importance.
The greater part of their crop is eaten during these festivals, and the remainder
is gathered and dried on the cob before it has ripened, and packed away in
'caches' (as the French call them), holes dug in the ground, some six or seven
feet deep, the [insides of which are somewhat in the form of a jug, and tightly
closed at the top. The corn, and even dried meat and pemican, are placed in
these caches, being packed tight around the sides, with prairie grass, and
effectually preserved through the severest winters.
"Corn and dried meat are generally laid in in the fall, in sufficient quantities
to support them through the winter. These are the principal articles of food
during that ong and inclement season ; and in addition to them they oftentimes
have in store great quantities of dried squashes and dried 'pommes blanches,'
a kind of turnip which grows in great quantities in these regions, and of which I
have before spoken. These are dried in great quantities, and pounded into a
sort of meal and cooked with the dried meat and corn. Great quantities also of
wild fruit of different kinds are dried and laid away in store for the winter seas on
such as buffalo berries, service berries, strawberries, and wild plums."
Catlin's letter is not dated, but his travels among the Indians
took place in "the thirties" of the last century.—T.V.H.
The Mineral Springs of Essex: Additional Note.—
Mr. Miller Christy and Miss Thresh in their lengthy article on
this subject (E.N., xv., pp. 185-253) state (op. cit., p. 213) that
they know nothing as to the exact site of the mineral spring
reputed to exist in the parish of Markshall, near this town.
I believe that I am able to indicate the spring in
question, which is, without doubt, that situated in the meadow
known as "Ladle Meadow," between Markshall Rectory and
Tilkey, Coggeshall. Here, at the corner of a boggy grove,
which is called "The Well Plantation" on the six-inch Ordnance
Survey Map, there is still to be seen a stone basin, with a chain
attached to it, which was formerly connected with a drinking