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THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



VOL. XXX. OTTAWA, MAY, 1916 No. 2 



THE USE OF WILD PLANTS AS FOOD BY INDIANS. 



By Tom Wilson, Vancouver, B.C. 



Previous to the advent of the Christian Missionaries, the 

 Indians of British Columbia did no cultivation, as such. They 

 depended for their vegetable food on certain kinds of roots, 

 shoots, leaves and berries which grew in their immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, or which they might come across in their wanderings. 



The coast Indians were fishermen and lived mostly in vil- 

 lages, but were partly nomadic as the seasons changed. The 

 interior Indians were wholly so, and lived by hunting and 

 trapping. Their methods of preparing vegetable stores varied 

 with the locality and its climate. Fruits, such as , saskatoon, 

 salmon bsrry, etc., among the coast Indians were beaten to a 

 p-alp. partially fermented, then mixed with fish or bear's grease, 

 and so kept, while in the dry or arid part- of the country sun 

 drying or evaporation was the method. This was prevalent 

 among the Indians of the Lillooet, Shuswap, Okanagan and 

 Similkameen countries, and to a limited extent among the 

 Kootenays. 



Commencing with the Service Berry, Amelanchier florida 

 Lindl. and A. Cusickii Fern, Saskatoon, Stcokim, Sheea, or 

 whatever happens to be the local tribe name, it is certainly 

 the most important berry in their estimation. It grows plenti- 

 fully in different parts of the province, extending up the coast 

 as far as Alaska, and even into the interior and away beyond 

 the confines of British Columbia. On the coast, the berry was 

 pulped and mixed with oolachan grease, then pounded and 

 moulded into cakes. This practice was carried on by the 

 Tsimtsians, Tclinkets and other coast tribes. In the dry belt 

 the berries were simply sundried. 



The Soap-oolalie, Shepherdia canadensis L., was partially 

 cooked by spreading on layers of damp grass after pulping and 

 allowing it to steam over hot stones. The fruit was bitter, 

 though not unpleasantly so. It was highly prized among the 

 Indians, and an extensive trade existed between the people 

 of the Thompson River and those of the coast, where it grows 



