THE BOTANICAL IDENTIFICATION OF NORTHWEST COAST TOBACCO

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS THE BOTANICAL IDENTIFICATION OF NORTHWEST COAST TOBACCO A problem which has long interested anthropologists is that of the identification of the plant chewed with lime by the Haida and Tlingit. Dixon approached this problem on several occasions with his usual thoroughness,l but could never offer what he felt might constitute a defensible and conclusive answer. Dixon, in his American Anthropologist article, concluded that it was probable that the plant cultivated and chewed by the Tlingit and Haida was something other than tobacco (p. 150), and left the problem for some botanist familiar with the regional flora. It would seem now that such a savior has come forth in the person of the well known western botanist, Miss Alice Eastwood, of the California Academy of Sciences. Captain George Dixon, in 1787 at Port Mulgrave (Yakutat Bay, occupied by northern Tlingit), stated: 2 The Indians are particularly fond of chewing a plant, which appears to be a species of tobacco; not content, however, with chewing it in its simple state, they generally mix lime along with it, and sometimes the inner rind of the pine-tree, together with a rosinous substance extracted from it. This description obviously indicates that the Tlingit plant looked like a tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) plant, and is therefore clearly not as lupine as Dixon suggests. 3 That Dixon knew the difference between the two is indicated by the fact that he col­ lected a specimen of the tobacco plant used by the Haida on the Queen Charlotte Islands. This specimen, now in the Herbarium of the British Museum, has been dis­ cussed by Miss Eastwood, who calls attention to the fact that Dixon's specimen is similar to that collected by Archibald Menzies and now in the Hooker Herbarium at Kew. 4 The critical point, then, is the identification of these plants labeled by the 1 R. B. Dixon, Tobacco Chewing on the Northwest Coast (American Anthropologist, Vol. 35, 1933), pp. 146-150. In this paper will be found extensive references to the subject. See also his Contacts with America Across the Southern Pacific, pp. 330-335, in D. Jenness, The American Aborigines (Toronto, 1933), pp. 315-353. 2 George Dixon, A Voyage Round the World, but More Particularly to the North-west Coast of A merica; Performed in 1785 ... 1788 (London, 1789), p. 175. For other references see R. B. Dixon (American Anthropologist, Vol. 35,1933), pp. 146-150, and Menzies' Journal of Van­ couver's Voyage, edited by C. F. Newcombe (Archives of British Columbia, Memoir V, Victoria B. C., 1923), pp. 141-142. I R. B. Dixon (American Anthropologist), p. 150. James Deans, The Huida Kwul-ra, or Native Tobacco of the Queen Charlotle Islands. (American Antiquarian 12, 1890), pp. 48-50, identifies the Haida tobacco as a species of poppy, a plant with tall stems; on the extremity of each stem were a number of balls full of seeds. See also, by the same author, The Hidery Qwill­ Ray. (American Antiquarian 19, 1897). (I have not seen this latter pap'lr.) 4 A. Eastwood, The Tobacco Collected by Archibald Menzies on the Northwest Coast of America. (Leaflets of Western Botany 2: No.6, San Francisco, 1938), pp. 92-94. See also her Early Botanical Explorers on the Pacific Coast and the Trees They Found There. (California Historical Quarterly, 18: 1-12, 1939), p. 3.