22 (p. 271).--_The whistler, or nightingale_: so named from the shrill whistle it utters on the approach of an enemy. The hoary marmot, or whistler (_Arctomys pruinosus_): a hibernant rodent, of the _Sciuridæ_ or squirrel family; its flesh is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians, who also sew the skins into robes or blankets. 23 (p. 273).--Concerning these roots, see vol. v., _note_ 29. The "rosary" is doubtless _Apios tuberosa_; its roots were and still are used as food by the aborigines. It has been found as far north as latitude 47°, on the Lower St. Lawrence. It is figured and described by Charlevoix, in _Plantes Principales de l'Amérique Septentrionale_ (Paris, 1744), p. 21. 24 (p. 273).--_Michtan_: the sugar-maple (_Acer saccharinum_). This tree was found, by early explorers, growing abundantly throughout Canada and the Atlantic region. Lafitau tells how the Indians made sugar from its sap (_Mœurs des Sauvages_, part ii., pp. 154-157) and gives a pictorial illustration of the process. Cf. Schoolcraft's _Ind. Tribes_, vol. ii., pp. 55, 56; Bouchette's _British Dominions in N. America_ (London, 1832), pp. 371, 372; and Carr's "Food of Amer. Inds," _Am. Antiq. Soc. Proc._, vol. x., part i., p. 170. 25 (p. 273).--The early explorers found tobacco cultivated by the natives along the entire Atlantic coast. Cartier saw it in use on the St. Lawrence; Champlain, under cultivation at San Domingo and on the coast of Maine; Strachey, on the James River (where it was called _apooke_). The Northern species was _Nicotiana rustica_, smaller and of milder quality than _N. tabacum_ of the South. It was generally known among the Indians as _petun_ (a word of Brazilian origin).--See Pickering's _Chron. Hist. of Plants_, pp. 741, 742. Champlain mentions it (Laverdière's ed., p. 50) as "tobacco, also called petung, or Queen's plant." It is figured by De Bry in Wyth's _Portraits of Inhabitants of Virginia_ (1590), plates 1, 22,--reprinted by Langley (N. Y., 1841). For descriptions of its preparation and use, see Cartier's _Brief Récit_ (Tross ed.), p. 31; Lescarbot's _Nouv. France_, pp. 838, 840; Lafitau's _Mœurs des Sauvages_, part ii., pp. 126-139. Lescarbot says: "The good Tobacco that comes from Brazil costs sometimes an écu the pound." Tobacco was highly prized by the American Indians, and often figured in their myths, religious rites, and sacrifices; much information concerning these is given by _Jour. Amer. Folk-Lore_. The pipes used in smoking were often elaborately carved and otherwise ornamented. Creuxius has an illustration (_Hist. Canad._, p. 76) of an Indian smoking a long pipe; Schoolcraft gives descriptions and engravings of various sculptured pipes, in _Ind. Tribes_, vol. i., pp. 72, 74; vol. ii., p. 511. Cf. _Bureau of Ethnology Report_, 1890-91, pp. 323-354, etc.; and 1891-92, pp. 128-134. The pipe was ceremoniously smoked at councils, especially when a treaty was under consideration.