All the Allibamas drink the cassine.[6] This is the leaf of a little tree which is very shady; the leaf is about the size of a farthing, but dentated on its margins. They toast these leaves as we do coffee, and drink the infusion of them with great ceremony. When this diuretic potion is prepared, the young people go to present it, in calabashes formed into cups, to the chiefs and warriors, that is, the honorables, and afterwards to the other warriors, according to their rank and degree. The same order is preserved when they present the calumet to smoke out of. Whilst you drink, they howl as loud as they can and diminish the sound gradually. When you have ceased drinking they take their breath, and when you drink again they set up their howls again. These sorts of orgies sometimes last from 6 in the morning to 2 o’clock in the afternoon. The Indians find no inconvenience from this potion, to which they attribute many virtues, and return it without any effort. The women never drink of this beverage, which is only made for the warriors.
What Bossu says relating to the size of the leaves shows conclusively that it was the leaf of the tree Ilex cassine, for one of the leaves is just the diameter of the English farthing, a coin the size of the old half cent of American currency. His phrase “return it without any effort” is rather ambiguous, but it probably refers to the expulsion of the decoction after having drenched their stomachs with it. I do not think this was a true emesis, for there is no proof that it was an emetic. The Indians doubtless swallowed such large quantities that it was regurgitated without effort.
Bossu’s only other reference to the cassine is when, in describing a council between the French and the Allibamas, he writes:
The Chevalier de Emville held a speech to the assembly in his turn, and made the nation a present which the governor had sent him. The Indians gave him the great calumet of peace to smoke; all the soldiers and French inhabitants likewise smoked it, in sign of a general amnesty. Afterwards they drank the cassine, which is the potion of the white word, i. e., the potion of oblivion and peace.
Bernard Romans, “Natural History of Florida” (1775), page 94, writes as follows:
The cassine is used by them (the Creeks) as a drink; they barbecue or toast the leaves and make a strong decoction of them; then men only are permitted to drink this liquor, to which they attribute many virtues. It is made so strong as to be black and raise a froth. When they drink it at their assemblies in the square they call it black drink.
Romans states (p. 96) that it was the business of the women to “prepare the cassine drink.” These are his only allusions to cassine.
William Bartram, in his “Travels in Florida” (1792), one of the most fascinating books ever written, narrates that he attended a “feast” given by the “White king of Talahafochta,” near the River “Appalochuchla” (Apalachicola), and says:
When the feast was over, * * * our chief, with the rest of the white people in town, took their seats according to order; tobacco and pipes were brought; the calumet was lighted and smoked, circulating according to the usual forms and ceremony; and afterwards black drink concluded the feast. The king conversed, drank cassine, and associated familiarly with his people and with us. (P. 234.)
Again, when in what is now Georgia, or extreme north Florida, meeting the Creek Indians at a town he calls “Attasse,” he attended a great council of the chiefs of that nation:
I was introduced to the ancient chiefs at the public square or areopagus; and in the evening in company with the traders, who are numerous in this town, repaired to the great rotunda, where were assembled the greatest number of ancient, venerable chiefs and warriors that I had ever beheld; we spent the evening and greater part of the night together in drinking cassine and smoking tobacco. The great council house, or rotunda, is appropriated to much the same purpose as the public square, but more private, and seems particularly dedicated to political affairs; women and youth are never admitted, and I suppose it is death for a female to presume to enter the door or approach within its pale. It is a vast conical building of circular dome, capable of accommodating many hundred people: constructed and furnished within exactly in the same manner as those of the Cherokees already described, but much larger than any I had seen of them; there are people appointed to take care of it, to have it daily swept clean, and to provide canes for fuel or to give light. As their vigils and manner of conducting their vespers and mystical fire in this rotunda are extremely singular, and altogether different from the customs and usages of any other people, I shall proceed to describe them. In the first place, the governor or officer who has the management of this business, with his servants attending, orders the black drink to be brewed, which is a decoction or infusion of the leaves and tender shoots of the cassine; this is done under an open shed or pavilion, at 20 or 30 yards distance, directly opposite the door of the council house. Next he orders bundles of dry canes to be brought in; these are previously split and broken in pieces to about the length of 2 feet, and then placed obliquely crossways upon one another on the floor, forming a spiral circle round about the great center pillar, rising to a foot or 18 inches in height from the ground; and this circle, spreading as it proceeds round and round, often repeated from right to left, every revolution increases its diameter, and it at length extends to the distance of 10 or 12 feet from the center, more or less, according to the length of time the assembly or meeting is to continue. By the time these preparations are accomplished, it is night, and the assembly have taken their seats in order. The exterior extremity or outer end of the spiral circle takes fire and immediately rises into a bright flame (but how this is effected I did not plainly apprehend; I saw no person set fire to it; there might have been fire left on the earth; however, I neither saw nor smelt fire or smoke until the blaze instantly ascended upwards), which gradually and slowly creeps round the center pillar, with the course of the fire, feeding on the dry canes, and affords a cheerful, gentle, and sufficient light until the circle is consumed, when the council breaks up.
Soon after this illumination takes place the aged chiefs and warriors are seated on their cabins or sofas, on the side of the house opposite the door, in three classes or ranks, rising a little one above or behind the other; and the white people and red people of confederate towns in like order on the left hand, a transverse range of pillars, supporting a thin clay wall about breast high, separating them; the king’s cabin or seat is in front; the next to the back of it the head warriors’, and the third or last accommodates the young warriors, etc.
The great war chief’s seat or place is in the same cabin with and immediately to the left hand of the king and next to the white people; and to the right hand of the mico or king the most venerable headmen and warriors are seated. The assembly being now seated in order, and the house illuminated, two middle-aged men, who perform the office of slaves or servants pro tempore, come in together at the door, each having very large conch shells full of black drink, and advance with slow, uniform, and steady steps, their eyes or countenance lifted up, singing very low but sweetly; they come within 6 or 8 paces of the king’s and white people’s cabin, when they stop together, and each rests his shell on a tripod or little table, but presently takes it up again, and bowing very low, advances obsequiously, crossing or intersecting each other about midway; he who rested his shell before the white people now stands before the king, and the other, who stopped before the king, stands before the white people, when each presents his shell, one to the king and the other to the chief of the white people; and as soon as he raises it to his mouth, the slave utters or sings two notes, each of which continues as long as he has breath, and as long as these notes continue so long must the person drink, or at least keep the shell to his mouth. These two long notes are very solemn, and at once strike the imagination with a religious awe or homage to the Supreme, sounding somewhat like a hoo-ojah and a he-yah. After this manner the whole assembly are treated as long as the drink or light continues to hold out; and as soon as the drinking begins, tobacco and pipes are brought.
Mark Catesby (Hortus americanus, 1763) describes the Ilex cassine as follows:
This shrub usually rises from the ground with several stems to the height of 12 feet, shooting into many upright, slender, stiff branches, covered with a whitish, smooth bark, and set alternately with small evergreen serrated leaves, resembling those of the Aleternus; its flowers are small and white, and grow promiscuously among the leaves, and are succeeded by small spherical berries on short footstalks. These berries turn red in October and remain so all winter, whereby with the green leaves and white bark they produce an elegant appearance.
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:
In one part of this house where the fire was kept was an Indian man having a pot on the fire wherein he was making a drink of the leaves of a shrub (which we understood afterward by the Spaniard is called cassena), boiling the said leaves after they had parched them in a pot; then with a gourd having a long neck and at the top of it a small hole which the top of one’s finger could cover and at the side of it a round hole of 2 inches diameter, they take the liquor out of the pot and put it in a deep round bowl, which being almost filled containeth nigh 3 gallons. With this gourd they brew the liquor and make it froth very much; it looketh of a deep brown color. In the brewing of this liquor was this noise made which we thought strange, for the pressing of the gourd gently down into the liquor and the air which it contained being forced out of the little hole at top occasioned a sound, and according to the time and motion given would be various, this drink, when made and cooled to sup, was in a shell first carried to the Cassekey, who threw part of it on the ground and the rest he drank up, and then would make a loud hem, and afterwards the cup passed to the rest of the Cassekey’s associates as aforesaid, but no other man, woman, or child must touch or taste of this sort of drink, of which they sat sipping, chattering, and smoking tobacco, or some other herb instead thereof, for the most part of the day.
In a letter from William Baldwin, a noted naturalist and surgeon in the U. S. Navy, written from St. Marys, Fla. (6 miles from Fernandina), in 1816, he mentions finding the Ilex prinoides predominant on the sandy, shrubby plains of the vicinity:
Its common height is about 6 or 8 feet, and at this season (December), with its ripe crimson-colored fruit, makes a fine appearance. The berry of this species is considerably larger than that of any other I have seen, and is not unpleasant to the taste, possessing an agreeable sweet, along with a slight bitter. I have eaten freely of it with entire impunity.
He discusses the question whether the genus Prinos should not be merged into that of Ilex. They are so near alike that their leaves doubtless possess similar properties, and are probably mixed with cassine.
Collinson, in a letter from London, England, to John Bartram, 1739, makes mention of “the yupon of Virginia, or cassena of Carolina” (Ilex cassena or I. vomituria). The Indians drive a great trade with the berries (?) to make tea with to the Gulf of Mexico. It grows nowhere to the northward of that island they found it on, which belongs to Col. Custis. I have it in my garden. (He errs as to the berries being used, but proves that it can be cultivated.)
Dr. Fothergill cultivated it together with maté in his botanical garden in London in 1784. (See his Memoirs.)
John Lee Williams, in his history of east and west Florida, 1837, a work unique in character and of special value to historians, contains but one mention of the “black drink.” It is in a mention of Oseola, a noted chief of the Seminoles. In writing of his parentage, he says:
Powell, or Oseola, is a native Red Stick; who his father was is unknown, but it is said that his mother was at one time connected with an Englishman of the name of Powell. We are informed by a respectable Creek chief that his name is As-sin Yahole, “Singer at the black drink.”
Now this word As-sin is a variation of cassine, and Oseola was probably one of those whose duty it was to sing during the ceremonies which accompanied the drinking of cassine.
It is strange that the cassine has not been celebrated in poetry or song. The songs of the Creeks have not been preserved. Perhaps they sung the praises of the “black drink.” The only mention I find in poetry is an allusion to it as “the tough cassine,” in the poems of Mrs. Sigourney, when she enumerates the variety and qualities of the trees of America.
C. C. Jones, in his “Antiquities of the Southern Indians,” writes (page 11): “The black drink was a decoction of the leaves and tender twigs of the cassine, or Ilex yupon.” He mentions no other ingredients, but other observers claim that the Iris versicolor (blue flag) and sometimes the Lobelia inflata were used. My opinion is that, when used in their wars or religious festivals, other ingredients were used, for it is represented as powerfully purgative and emetic. Yet, on the other hand, we are told that the two species of Ilex cassine and dahoon possess these qualities. The I. cassine is called by some botanists Ilex vomitoria. On social occasions the black drink was probably made of the leaves of the cassine alone, or made much weaker. Jones writes:
The Mico councillors or warriors meet every day in the public square, sit and drink acee (assi), a strong decoction of the cassine yupon, called by traders black drink, talk of the news, the public and domestic concerns, etc. They have a regular ceremony for making as well as delivering the acee to all who attend the square.
The black drink made by the Seminoles is described as “nauseous to the smell and taste, and emetic and purgative.” It is a mixture and not brewed of the cassine alone. All our beverages, such as tea, coffee, maté, and even chocolate, when drank very strong are capable of causing diuresis, purging, and vomiting.
One peculiarity of the drinking of the black drink is that, so far as I can ascertain, it was not used at their meals as we use tea and coffee, but wholly as a social beverage or at festivals and other public occasions. I do not think the women were allowed to drink it, at least not publicly. Authorities differ on this point.
Among the Creeks the women sometimes prepared the black drink, but Narvaez writes that the Indians on the coast of what is now Texas did not allow a woman to come near it during its preparation.
That a beverage containing caffeine should fall into disuse and become almost forgotten is a singular fact. The use of maté has not decreased from the time of the conquest of South America by Europeans. The reason why the latter is still in use and the former not lies, perhaps, in the fact that the Europeans in South America mixed with the natives, married, and adopted their customs, while the English and French who settled the Gulf States did not associate with the Indians, and adhered to the use of Chinese tea. Now that we know that the leaf of the cassine contains caffeine or theine, can its use as a beverage be revived?
It is not as pleasant in odor and taste as Thea sinensis, and this may be against it; on the other hand, it seems to have some salutary properties which the latter does not possess, and may, perhaps, be far more cheaply obtained.
A rough estimate can be made as to the number of square miles upon which it grows. Estimating the coast line from the James River, in Virginia, to the Rio Grande, in Texas—about 2,000 miles—and multiplying this by 20 miles, the extent of its growth inland, we get a total of about 40,000 square miles. On this area could be picked an immense quantity of the leaves, and if the trees are not destroyed in the picking the crops could be harvested every year. No estimate can be approximated even of the amount of the crop of leaves which could be gathered, because we can not estimate the number of trees on this area.
It would seem possible that further inquiries on this point and careful experiments in cultivation and manipulation might result in furnishing our market with a product which would be found in many cases an acceptable and useful substitute for the more expensive imported teas.