BEECH AND OAK FAMILY. 333 
wood was particularly valuable for tinder, The dry rot from the wood 
when mixed with the powdered bark of the Bigelow willow (Sa/cr 
lasiolepis), is considered to be an excellent poultice for burns. — -Jus-A7- 
at’ and kus are two Wailaki names applied to the tree; the Pomo 
name is gd-shét'-7. 
» 
Corylus californica (A. DC.) Rose. 
Ol mam (Yuki). ~The hazelnut, which is very common in oper hill- 
side woods and in canyons throughout the county. The rich, nutri- 
tious nutsare gathered by the sackful inautumn, and a supply is kept on 
hand all winter and the following spring. The slender twigs are very 
commonly used in place of willow at Round Valley for the coarse sieve 
baskets and for vertical withes in the saw-grass baskets. A baby- 
arrying basket observed at Ukiah was made by a man out of hazel- 
nut wands, and several fish traps observed at Round Valley were prob- 
ably constructed out of the same material. The traps, which are 
designed for catching salmon, consist of two very coarse-meshed. con- 
ical baskets, one of which, the outer, is from 5 to 6 feet long and about 
3 feet wide at the mouth. The other is of equal diameter at the mouth, 
but only a foot or so high, and has the apex cut off so as to leavea 
hole large enough for the salmon to pass through. The two baskets 
are fastened together in telescope fashion and securely placed in an 
opening in the weir or dam constructed for the purpose. ‘The salmon 
are easily caught in the trap in their attempts to pass along in the stream. 
Frequently, however, they are frightened into it by the Indians. The 
Concow name of the plant is gai'-Ae''-n7; the Wailaki, ¢/747; the Lit- 
tle Lake, chd-ba’. 
FAGACEAE. Beech and Oak Family. 
Castanopsis chrysophyla (Hook.) DC. 
No Indian name was learned for the * golden-leaf chinquapin,” or 
‘California chestnut,” which not infrequently attains the dignity of a 
large-sized tree in this county. In general appearance it is much like 
that of the Eastern chestnut, but the burs and nuts are smaller, and 
the leaves are short, with entire margins. The lower surface is densely 
covered with yellowish scales. Two or three Indians informed me 
that they sometimes collected the nuts for food. They are eaten toa 
greater extent by more northerly tribes. 
Quercus spp. 
ACORNS AS FOOD. 
The great bulk of the vegetable food stuffs formerly supplied by 
nature to the Indians of the interior part of Mendocino County con- 
sisted unquestionably of acorns, and even at the present day this nut 
