While our young people seldom wanted for meat, they felt the privation of
the tread to which they had teen accustomed very sensibly. One day, while
Hector and Louis were busily engaged with their assistant, Wolfe, in
unearthing a woodchuck, that had taken refuge in his burrow, on one of the
gravelly hills above the lake, Catharine amused herself by looking
for flowers; she had filled her lap with ripe May-apples, [Footnote:
_Podophyllum peltatum_-May-apple, or Mandrake. The fruit of the May-apple,
in rich moist soil, will attain to the size of the magnum bonum, or
egg-plum, which it resembles in colour and shape. It makes a delicious
preserve, if seasoned with cloves or ginger; when eaten uncooked, the outer
rind, which is thick and fleshy, and has a rank taste, should be thrown
aside; the fine acid pulp in which the seeds are imbedded alone should be
eaten. The root of the Podophyllum is used as a cathartic by the Indians.
The root of this plant is reticulated, and when a large body of them are
uncovered, they present a singular appearance, interlacing each other in
large meshes, like an extensive net-work; these roots are white, as thick
as a man's little finger, and fragrant, and spread horizontally along
the surface.
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