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The Mayflower and Her Log, v5 by Azel Ames
Book, page 12 / 30


tongue" is named as a contribution of the Pilgrims to the dinner for
Captain Jones and his men on February 21, 1621, when they had helped to
draw up and mount the cannon upon the platform on the hill at Plymouth.
Winthrop paid "14d. a piece" for his "neats' tongues." The pork of the
Pilgrims is also said by Wood' to have been "tainted." Winthrop states
that his pork cost "20 pence the stone" (14 lbs.).

Hams seem to have been then, as now, a highly-prized article of diet.
Goodwin mentions that the salt used by the Pilgrims was (evaporated)
"sea-salt" and very "impure." Winthrop mentions among his supplies,
"White, Spanish, and Bay salt."

The beans of the Pilgrims were probably of the variety then known as
"Spanish beans." The cabbages were apparently boiled with meat, as
nowadays, and also used considerably for "sour-krout" and for pickling,
with which the Leyden people had doubtless become familiar during their
residence among the Dutch. As anti-scorbutics they were of much value.
The same was true of onions, whether pickled, salted, raw, or boiled.
Turnips and parsnips find frequent mention in the early literature of the
first settlers, and were among their stock vegetables. Pease were
evidently staple articles of food with the Plymouth people, and are
frequently named. They probably were chiefly used for porridge and
puddings, and were used in large quantities, both afloat and ashore.

Vinegar in hogsheads was named on the food-list of every ship of the
Pilgrim era. It was one of their best antiscorbutics, and was of course
a prime factor in their use of "sour krout," pickling, etc. The fruits,
natural, dried, and preserved, were probably, in that day, in rather
small supply. Apples, limes, lemons, prunes, olives, rice, etc., were
among the luxuries of a voyage, while dried or preserved fruits and small
fruits were not yet in common use. Winslow, in the letter cited, urges
that "your casks for beer . . . be iron bound, at least for the first
[end] tyre" [hoop]. Cushman states that they had ample supplies of beer
offered them both in Kent and Amsterdam. The planters' supply seems to
have failed, however, soon after the company landed, and they were
obliged to rely upon the whim of the Captain of the MAY-FLOWER for their
needs, the ship's supply being apparently separate from that of the
planters, and lasting longer. Winthrop's supply seems to have been large
("42 tons"--probably tuns intended). It was evidently a stipulation of
the charter-party that the ship should, in part at least, provision her

 
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