384. PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY. CAL. 
enters very largely into their diet throughout the whole vear. The 
broad and stately white oak (Quercus lobata. PL AVIT), is the most 
characteristic tree of the best farming land of the region, but in every 
locality throughout the county there are one or more different species 
of oak which furnish in good seasons a great abundance of acorns, 
which, although not edible in the raw condition, are converted by 
simple processes into a very satisfying and wholesome diet. The Con- 
cows especially, who are not used to eating much meat, claim: that they 
never get sick from eating the mush and bread made from acorns. As 
aclass these nuts are oily, and hence they replace in a measure the 
oily fish more largely consumed by the coast Indians. They are, how- 
ever, lacking in proteid matter, 
Fig. 71.—Acorn four outtit, 
All contain a small quantity of tannin, which produces an astringent 
effect upon the tongue, and a greater or less quantity of some eluco- 
side, which causes them to taste bitter. Both of these substances must 
be removed before the acorns are eaten. This appears to be oecasion- 
ally accomplished by burying the acorns ina sandy place with @rass, 
charcoal, and ashes, and then soaking them in water from time to time 
until they become sweet. This method was seen in operation at only 
one place in Round Valley. The usual method is very different, far 
more interesting, and in several ways exceedingly instructive, both to 
the farmer and to the scientist. The whole process of soup and bread 
making, as TI have seen it carried out both at Round Valley and at 
Ukiah, is here given in detail. 
When the acorns are ripe in autumn the men go out and beat them 
off the tree or cut off the small branches and throw them to the ground. 
