376 PLANTS USED BY INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CAL. 
An estimate made by Stephen Powers allows as great a yield of 
solid nourishment in selected acres of these bushes as in the best acre 
of wheat ever grown in California, proper allowance being made for 
the cost of cultivation. They are eaten whole in great quantity, but 
some tribes, especially the Numlakis, use them as a powder, like 
pinole, or cooked up in hot ashes and made into bread or mush. Death 
is said to occur from eating the fruit too freely. The bowels become 
stopped with great masses of seeds and pulp and death follows, with 
contraction of the pupils and general tetanic spasms, such as are 
observed with strychnine poisoning or in the symptoms of cerebro- 
spinal meningitis. Dr. J. W. Hudson, who has had a large practice 
with the Guidiville (Pomo) Indians near Ukiah and who furnished the 
above symptoms, states that he has observed at least five fatal cases, 
in all of which the same effect was noted. One similar fatal case has 
been reported by Dr. B. C. Bellamy, a former agency physician at 
Round Valley. 
The method of making manzanita cider as practiced by one of the 
more civilized Concow women is worthy of note, for from personal 
experience the beverage can be recommended as delicious. The ripe 
berries, carefully selected to exclude those that are worm-eaten, are 
scalded for a few minutes, or until the seeds are soft, when the whole 
is crushed with an ordinary potato masher. To a quart of this pulp 
an equal quantity of water is added. The mass is then poured imme- 
diately over some dry pine needles or straw contained in a shallow 
sieve basket, and the cider is allowed to drain into a water-tight 
basket placed beneath, or sometimes it is allowed to stand an hour or 
so and then strained. After cooling, the cider is ready for use with- 
out the addition of sugar. It is delightfully spicy and acid in taste. 
From some information obtained, it seems probable that some of the 
Indians not only ferment the cider to obtain vinegar, but also to 
obtain an alcoholic beverage. The Yuki name for the cider is 
hé-dch'6k. A better quality of cider is said to be made from the 
pulp alone, The berries are ground up ina ‘‘ pounding basket” and 
the seed fragments separated by means of a flat circular basket about 
a foot in diameter. Some of the ground material is placed upon this, 
and it is then thrown repeatedly into the air, falling on the mat when 
it is in an inclined position. The fine flour will cling to the meshes, 
while the heavier seed parts will roll off on the ground. 
The Calpella Indians make a tea of the leaves ‘* to cure severe colds,” 
but they are commonly regarded as ‘‘ too strong” for internal use. In 
this connection it is interesting to note that the leaves of a closely 
related species (Al. g/auca Lindl.) have recently been largely manu- 
factured into an extract for the cure of catarrh of the throat and 
stomach. The Little Lakes boil the leaves till the extract is yellowish 
red and then use it as a cleansing wash for the body and head—in the 
