But the esteem the American Indians have for this shrub, from the great use they make of it, renders it most worthy of notice. They say its virtues have been known amongst them from the earliest times, and they have long used it in the same manner as they do at present. They prepare the leaves for keeping by drying or rather parching them in a pottage pot over a slow fire, and a strong decoction of the leaves thus cured is their beloved liquor, of which they drink large quantities, both for health and pleasure, without sugar or other mixture. They drink it down and disgorge it with ease, repeating it very often, and swallowing many quarts. They say it restores lost appetite, strengthens the stomach, and confirms their health, giving them agility and courage in war. It grows chiefly in the maritime parts of the country, but not farther north than the capes of Virginia. The Indians on the seacoast supply those of the mountains therewith, and carry on a considerable trade with it in Florida, just as the Spaniards do with their South Sea tea from Paraguay to Buenos Ayres. Now, Florida being in the same latitude north as Paraguay is south, and no apparent difference being found on comparing the leaves of these two plants together, it is not improbable they may be both the same. In South Carolina it is called cassena, in Virginia and North Carolina it is known by the name of yopon; in the latter of which places it is as much in use amongst the white people as among the Indians, and especially among those who inhabit the seacoast. This plant is raised from the seeds, which lie 2 years in the ground before it appears; it grows plentifully on many of the sand banks on the seashore of Carolina. In that rare and quaint narrative of Jonathan Dickenson (1790), “who was shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida among the savage cannibals,” he states that when a short distance south of the “village of Sta. Lucca” (St. Lucia), and among the Indians and at the “house of the Cassekey,” he heard often a strange noise in another part of the house which he could not account for. The following quotation is interesting; it shows that cassine grows on the extreme south coast of Florida, and gives the method of preparing the black drink among those barbarous nations: