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Dear subscribers, I'm putting the finishing touches on an edition of John Marrant's _Journal_ (1790) & some associated documents, due to appear later this year in the Northeastern Library of Black Literature as _Face Zion Forward: First Writers of the Black Atlantic, 1785-1798_, ed. Joanna Brooks & John Saillant. There's one passage in which Marrant describes himself as hungry & asking an Indian for food. Then: "The Indian came back with some mouse-meat, I had some stew made, but was prevented from eating so much as I would for fear of its hurting me." This puzzles me & my co-editor & I are trying to decide whether to annotate it. I can think of a few possibilities: (1) The meat was from mice. But then I don't know why he'd be afraid to eat it. (2) The meat was from a moose (& the name of the ruminant was misspelled). I imagine moose meat is rather formidable, but don't know for sure & anyway still don't know why he'd be afraid to eat it. Did the moose have a bad reputation in culinary affairs in the 18th c.? (3) The meat was from rats (& "mouse" was used as a euphemism). I believe rats have been considered edible only in rare situations, so in this case do understand why he'd be afraid. It might also be relevant to note that smallpox was common in the region & he might have believed that rats carry it. (4) The OED does give a usage of "mouse" as meaning any edible meat. However, I don't recall seeing this in 18th-c writing & then it wouldn't make any sense for him to be afraid of it. Send on any thoughts. John Saillant
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