BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 367 
methods are used in preparing it for food, but they consist essentially 
in roasting and then washing out the poison, The buckeyes are placed 
ina hole lined with rock and willow leaves in which a fire has previ- 
ously been built, more willow leaves are added and the whole is covered 
with hot ashes and dirt and allowed to remain from 1 to 8 or 10 hours, 
The fruit then has the consistency of: boiled potatoes, and may be either 
sliced, placed ina basket, and soaked in running water for from 2 to 
4 or 5 days, depending upon the thinness of the slices, or mashed and 
rubbed up into a paste with water (when the red-brown skin floats and 
is removed from the surface) and placed to soak from 1 to LO hours in 
sand, as in the case of acorns. A wider and deeper hole is used 
because the water drains off more slowly. After this process the 
resultant mass, which has the consistency of gravy, is ready for con- 
sumption. It is frequently eaten cold and without salt. Buckeyes 
decay or sprout very rapidly and are therefore not preserved for” 
future use for long periods. After sprouting the taste is said to be 
disagreeable. The buckeye fruit is also a favorite food for squirrels, 
but hogs will not eat it. It is claimed that they are very useful for 
expelling bot worms from the intestines of horses, and that when 
they are eaten by cows they are very apt to cause abortion. 
The leaves or young shoots are probably used to a slight extent by 
the Yuki and Concow to poison fish, but for this purpose they are 
inferior even to blue curls (Zr/ehostema lanceolatum). Sheep and cattle 
nibble at the leaves, and cattle, especially, seem to get fat on them. 
A large cattle owner informed me, however, that cattle when thus fat- 
tened lose their flesh with remarkable rapidity when driven over the 
country to any considerable distance. The bark is apparently the 
only part of the tree used medicinally. Small fragments are placed 
in the cavity of a tooth to stop the toothache. One well-authenti- 
cated case of the fatal poisoning of goats from eating the bark was 
recently investigated by the writer. The mistletoe which occasionally 
grows upon it is said to be used as an abortifacient. 
The wood, which is quite soft, was formerly used as twirling sticks 
in the process of making fire by friction. The Yokia name for the 
tree is bi-sha’, the Yuki, sympt'-o/, and the Numlaki, fa7’-sdt. 
RHAMNACEAE. Buckthorn Family. 
Ceanothus cuneatus (Hook.) Nutt. 
Yuk (Yuki).—A low evergreen species of California lilac 6 to 12 feet 
high, which has small, thick opposite leaves, rigid branchlets, white 
flowers, and large, three-horned resinous fruit. It forms impassable 
thickets on the edges of the valleys and on low, dry hillsides. The 
brush is useful on account of its rigid branches in building fish dams. 
Deer feed on the leaves and squirrels are fond of the seed, which is 
