310 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS CF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
It supplies the lumber which the Indians use there for the construe- 
tion of their houses. The Round Valley tribes make little or no use 
of the lumber, because it is so difficult to get it into the valley. The 
coast Indians used to convert the fallen logs into canoes by skillfully 
hollowing them out by means of fire, and these were often sold to 
other tribes. 
TYPHACEAE. Cat Tail Family. 
Typha latifolia LL. 
No Indian name was learned for this plant, which is the ‘* flag tule” 
of this region. It is more generally and properly known as cat-tail 
or cat-tail flag. The roots and the bases of the stems are used consid- 
erably for food, and the down of the fruiting part is used to some 
extent for beds, 
ALISMACEAE. Water Plantain Family. 
Sagittaria latifolia Willd. 
Nd'-ho (given by a Little Lake woman, who was specially well 
versed in plant lore).—A plant, probably this species, which was 
described as being somewhat similar td the water plantain (A/ésima 
plantago-aquatica), & specimen of which was shown her. The name 
means ‘* water potato,” and is given to the plant on account of its 
fleshy and edible potato-like tubers. The species is common north- 
ward, but probably very rare in this district. No specimens were 
observed, and the Indians seem to have but little knowledge of it. 
POACEAE. Grass Family. 
The grasses are particularly well represented in the rich adobe land 
of Round Valley, and, especially in former times, constituted one of its 
chief sources of wealth, because the live stock fattenedsupon it could 
be driven to market. The large cost of transportation at the present 
time prevents the sale of the hay in the city markets, the nearest of 
which is the town of Ukiah, 70 miles distant. 
Very little direct use is made of these grasses, They are not used 
for food by the Indians, as is clover, nor are any of them used to make 
baskets, the so-called ‘* grass baskets” being made from the leaves of 
au kind of sedge (Carer sp.) known as ‘ 
The first general appearance of grass in the springtime has never, 
as in the case of other food products of nature, such as clover and 
acorns, been especially celebrated by a dance or other performance. 
There is, however, a kind of game into which grass enters very con- 
spicuously and which is therefore called the ‘grass game.” It isa 
purely gambling sport, which is played by four persons, two of whom 
manipulate a pair of small cylindrical bones in their hands. These are 
skillfully concealed in bunches of very finely chopped grass and are 
‘ page ?? 
SUW OTASS. 
