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__________________________Source:Byrd, 1841:52
- In such a glut of provisions, a true woodsman, when he has nothing else to do, like our honest countrymen the Indians, keeps eating on, to avoid the imputation of idleness; though, in a scarcity, the Indian will fast with a much better grace than they. They can subsist several days upon a little rockahominy, which is parched Indian corn reduced to powder. This they moisten in the hollow of their hands with a little water, and it is hardly credible how small a quantity of it will support them. It is true they grow a little lank upon it, but to make themselves feel full, they gird up their loins very tight with a belt, taking up a hole every day. With this slender subsistence they are able to travel very long . journeys; but then, to make themselves amends, when they do meet with better cheer, they eat without ceasing, till they have ravened themselves into another famine.
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