Corn Dodgers with Tobacco Juice

The following is from the exhaustively titled Lancaster county Indians: annals of the Susquehannocks and other Indian tribes of the Susquehanna territory from about the year 1500 to 1763, the date of their extinction. An exhaustive and interesting series of historical papers descriptive of Lancaster county's Indians prior to and during the advent of the paleface:

"I now jot down an item as to certain Susquehannock customs found by the Swedes when they came among them in 1638. Campanius tells us of this in his history of New Sweden, p. 121, and while what he relates there of itself does not prove that he is speaking of the Susquehannocks distinguished from other Indians—other parts of the text read with it show it to be so. A little portion of this I have written before but I set it down more fully now. He says, "They make bread out of the maize or Indian corn which they prepare in a manner peculiar to themselves; they crush the grain between two stones or on a large piece of wood; they moisten it with water and make it into small cakes which they wrap up in corn leaves and bake them in the ashes. They can fast for many days when necessity compels them. When they are traveling or lying in wait for their enemies they take with them a kind of bread made of Indian corn and tobacco juice which is very good to allay hunger and quench thirst in case they have nothing else at hand." I wouldn't try this at home.

Photo: From a drawing by Captain John Smith circa 1608. Smith describes his first meeting with the Susquehannocks, including their tobacco pipes: "The half sleeves coming to the elbows, were the necks of bears; and the arms through the mouth, with paws hanging at their noses. One had the head of a wolf hanging in a chain for a jewel; his tobacco pipe three-quarters of a yard long prettily carved with a bird, a deer or some such device, at a great end, sufficient enough to beat out one's brains; with bows, arrows and clubs suitable to their greatness."