While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Atalans. An imaginary prehistoric civilized race of
North America (Rafinesque, introd. to Marshall, Ky., I, 23, 1824);
probably based on the Atlantis fable.
Atsina-Algo. An adjective invented by Schoolcraft (Ind.
Tribes, I, 198, 1853) to describe the confederate Atsina and Siksika.
Batni (a gourd vessel in which sacred water is carried;
also the name of a spring where sacrificial offerings are deposited. Fewkes).
According to Stephen the site of the first pueblo built by the Snake people of
the Hopi; situated in Tusayan, x. E. Ariz., but the exact location is known only
to the Indians. It is held as a place of votive offerings during the ceremony of
the Snake dance. Batni. Stephen in 8th Rep. B. A. E., 18, 1891.
Bayberry wax. A product of the bay-berry, or wax myrtle
(Myrica cerifera), the method of extracting which was learned from the
Indians by the New England colonists whose descendants probably still use it. It
was esteemed for the manufacture of candles and tallow on account of its
fragrance. See Rasles in Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d ser., viii, 252, 1819;
Alice Morse Earle, Customs and Fashions of Old New England, 126, 1893.
(A. F. C.)
Chinook wind. A name applied to certain winds of N. w.
United States and British Columbia. According to Burrows (Yearbook Dept.
Agric., 555, 1901) there are three different winds, each essentially a warm
wind whose effect is most noticeable in winter, that are called chinooks. There
is a wet chinook, a dry chinook, and a third wind of an intermediate sort. The
term was first applied to a warm s. w. wind which blew from over the Chinook
camp to the trading post established by the Hudson Bay Company at Astoria, Oreg.
Under the influence of these chinook winds snow is melted with astonishing
rapidity, and the weather soon becomes balmy and spring like. The name is
derived from Chinook, the appellation of one of the Indian tribes of this
region. (A. F. C.)
Chocorua. The legendary last survivor of a small tribe
of Indians who, previous to 1766, inhabited the region about the town of Burton,
N. H. He was pursued by a white hunter to the mountain which bears his name and
driven over the, cliffs or shot to death. Before dying he is reported to have
cursed the English and their cattle, and to this is attributed the fact that
none of these animals thrive in Burton (Drake, Aboriginal Races, 285, 1880). It
is possible that the chief has been conjured up to account for the name of the
mountain. (A. F. C.)
This site
includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes
reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These
items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes
implied .
Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906
