of other fish was beyond believing.
Josselyn, in his "New England Rarities," enumerated two hundred and
three varieties of fish; yet Tuckerman calls his list "a poor
makeshift." The planters had plenty of implements with which to catch
fish--"vtensils of the sea"--"quoils of rope and cable, rondes of twine,
herring nets, seans, cod-lines and cod hookes, mackrill-lines, drails,
spiller hooks, mussel-hooks, mackrill hooks, barbels, splitting knives,
sharks hookes, basse-nettes, pues and gaffs, squid lines, yeele pots,"
&c. Josselyn also tells some very pretty ways of cooking fish,
especially eels with herbs, showing that, like Poins, the colonists
loved conger and fennel. Eels were roasted, fried, and boiled. Boiled
"eals" were thus prepared:

"Boil them in half water half wine with the bottom of a manchet, a fagot
of Parsly and a little Winter Savory, when they are boiled they take
them out and break the bread in the broth and put in two or three
spoonfuls of yest and a piece of sweet butter, pour to the eals laid
upon sippets." Another way beloved by him was to stuff the eels with
nutmeg and cloves, stick them with cloves, cook in wine, place on a
chafing-dish, and garnish with lemons. This rich dish is somewhat
overclouded by his suggestion that the eels be arranged in a wreath.

The frequent references to eels in early accounts prove that they were
regarded, as Izaak Walton said, "a very dainty fish, the queen of
palate-pleasure."

Next to fish, the early colonists found in Indian corn, or "Guinny
wheat"--"Turkie wheat" one traveller called it--their most unfailing
food-supply. Our first native poet wrote, in 1675, of what he called
early days:

"The dainty Indian maize,
Was eat with clamp-shells out of wooden trays."

Its abundance and adaptability did much to change the nature of their
diet as well as to save them from starvation. The colonists learned from
the Indians how to plant, nourish, harvest, grind, and cook it in many
Indian ways, and in each way it formed a palatable food. The Indian
pudding which they ate so constantly was made in Indian fashion and
boiled in a bag. To the mush of Indian meal they gave the English name
of hasty-pudding. Many of the foods made from maize retained the names
given in the aboriginal tongues, such as hominy, suppawn, pone, samp,
succotash; and doubtless the manner of cooking is wholly Indian.
Hoe-cakes and ash-cakes were made by the squaws long before t