HEATH FAMILY. 375 
and make saw handles, stirrups, and various little tools of it. It is 
valued commercially for the manufacture of charcoal for gunpowder. 
As a fuel it burns so rapidly and emits so much heat that it should be 
used along with some slow-burning wood. Cows will eat the leaves 
when green grass is scarce. Both the leaves and the scarlet berries 
are highly prized for decorative purposes. (is-¢d'-ts¢ and kou-wat'- 
chu were given to me as the names used by the Concows for the tree; 
the Little Lake name is 47’-y7 and the Yokia hab’-ct. 
Arctostaphylos manzanita Parry. 
No-deh'-é (Yuki). —The common manzanita (Pl. XXI) of California, 
a magnificent evergreen shrub, usually 8 to 15 feet high, with highly 
polished, mahogany-colored branches and berries. 
This species of manzanita is an exceedingly common shrub through- 
out the region, generally occupying wide areas on dry, barren ridges, 
often to the entire exclusion of other vegetation, and in masses so 
thick that they are impenetrable to man. 
The fruit is not much more than a third of an inch in diameter, but 
the quantity produced is very large. It was used very extensively by 
the Indians when the Spanish priests first settled the country, and from 
the latter it received the name ‘*manzanita,” which means ** little 
apple,” and was suggested by the shape of the fruit. This name has 
been universally adopted as the common as well as the botanical 
specific name of the shrub. The generic name is derived from two 
Greek words meaning ** bear” and ‘‘ grapes.” Bears are exceedingly 
fond of the fruit, and it is in manzanita patches that they are hunted 
during the summer and autumn. The ripe fruit is dry, mealy, and 
very nutritious. Its time of ripening used to be memorialized by the 
Concows and other tribes by holding a special dance and ‘* big eat.” 
The green fruit is very tart and so indigestible that it is apt to cause 
colic, but when eaten in small quantity it is of great value in quenching 
thirst, an item of considerable importance, because the shrubs often 
grow on dry and barren hillsides. During July and August, when 
the berries are ripe, a number of squaws go out into the hills with 
their babies and their huge carrying baskets and beat off large quan- 
tities of the berries. These are caught in the baskets and carried 
home, where they are eaten raw or cooked, converted into cider, or 
stored away for the winter. During the gathering, which may last 
for a considerable time, the babies are protected from thirst by wrap- 
ping them up in the soft, flexible green leaves of the mountain iris. 
The Yokia Indians recognized the fact that the bushes do not all 
yield equally well, and on this account certain large and_ prolific 
bushes, and even large areas, were owned by a family or a tribe, and 
only after the rightful owner’s demand was satisfied could the fruit be 
picked by others. Tribute was often exacted for permission to gather 
food materials from such property. 
