366 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
also they made a crude dress which consisted of « horizontal girdle 
with broad, vertical streamers. 
A very singular use to which the bark is applied in catching deer 
was made known to me by the chief of the Wailakis, Captain Jim. 
In the case recited a number of men were engaged for several days in 
gathering the bark, cutting it into bands about an inch in width and 
fastening it together as a continuous roll which looked much ‘like a 
roll of barbed wire,” but was very considerably larger. This band 
was suspended *‘ like a telegraph wire” on stakes about + feet high so 
that an immense letter V was formed, the apex of which extended out 
into the valley, while the ends terminated at the mouths of two adjacent 
‘canyons. The V line was, therefore, over a mile in length. The 
space included in the V was selected for the excellence of its pasturage, 
and especially on account of the fact that deer were known to feed 
there. After everything was arranged three Indians disguised like 
animals and armed with brittle sticks, a piece of smoldering oak 
bark, and a bone dagger resorted to the open end of the inclosure and 
if any deer were within the V stationed themselves at the end of the 
lines and in the middle, and then stealthily proceeded on the approach. 
If a deer came near to the maple band one of the Indians would shake 
the band and thus frighten it back; if one attempted to pass a man he 
would break a stick or expose the glowing piece of oak bark: finally, 
when through sheer fright they were coralled at the apex, the Indians 
would suddenly jump up and kill them with the bone daggers. 
AESCULACEAE. Horse Chestnut Family. 
Aesculus californica Nutt. 
De-si’ kd-la’ (Pomo). ~The California buckeye or horse chestnut 
(Pl. XX), a more or less shrubby tree 10 to 40 feet in height, which 
bears a great abundance of fragrant clusters of white flowers from 
May to July, which, in autumn, are partially replaced by large 
luscious-looking fruits 1 to 24 inches in diameter. The 3 to 7 fingered 
leaves usually drop off the tree a month or two after flowering time 
and thus expose the fruit, which often hangs on until the beginning 
of winter. The Pomo translation for their name is ** fruit tree.” No 
name could be more appropriate for the particular use of all the 
Indians, both at Ukiah and Round Valley, for without exception all 
of the tribes eat the fruit in considerable quantity even at the present 
time. Some state that when properly cooked it is ‘awful nice,” or 
that ‘*it is better and healthier than potatoes,” and even some of the 
more well to do and refined state that it is ‘* pretty good.” When raw, 
however, it is commonly regarded as poisonous and recognized by at 
least one of the tribes near Ukiah as a means of committing suicide. 
The fruit is undoubtedly poisonous in the fresh state. ‘Two or three 
