1911.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 33 



The materials gathered in the baskets in this way were carried to 

 some convenient and suitable place near the encampment and piled 

 upon the ground preparatory to threshing. This operation (mon-gop- 

 ma-wu-pain, to beat seed vessels, to thresh) was performed simply 

 by beating thoroughly with sticks or paddles until the chaff, pods and 

 other accessory parts were fully loosened from the seeds. The separa- 

 tion of the seeds from the chaff and other waste parts, the winnowing, 

 was next accomplished by slowly shaking the threshed material from 

 a special winnowing basket or fan held at a height wmen the wind was 

 blowing which could carry away the chaff w r hile allowing the seeds to 

 fall more directly to the ground or upon skins spread for the purpose 

 (ma-ioi'-a-nin, to winnow). The winnowing basket (ti n '-u-wa) was 

 circular or ovate in form and was shallow, being but gently and grad- 

 ually depressed from the margins toward the center. Larger or 

 heavier materials were separated by hand. At the present time the 

 Gosiutes grow wheat and oats in considerable quantity which they 

 thresh and winnow in this primitive way as do various other Indians. 

 The threshing is sometimes done by means of horses driven round and 

 round in a circle over the cut grain spread out on a floor or upon hard 

 ground, the tramping of the horses accomplishing what is more com- 

 monly effected by the pounding with sticks or paddles. The same 

 method is used not only among other Indian tribes in the West, but 

 also among peoples of the Orient. 



After winnowing, the seeds were stored in baskets or other appro- 

 priate receptacles for winter, the containers being covered in pits in 

 the usual way. Before using, the grain commonly was made into a 

 meal by being ground up by hand in the well-known mortar or mill. 

 Among the Gosiutes this was a flat stone of mostly oblong form {pa'-to) 

 upon which the seeds were placed and pulverized by means of a smaller, 

 mostly subcylindrical stone (du'-su), which was rubbed back and forth 

 over the mortar under pressure. This operation in time resulted in 

 wearing out the mill over the middle portion and leaving an elevated 

 rim along each side, which served the better to keep the grain in place. 

 The meal thus obtained was largely used as a porridge or mush or was 

 baked into crude cakes. 



Of high importance to the Gosiutes as food was the fruit of the nut- 

 pine (Pinus monophylla) . The expedition to the mountains each fall 

 for gathering pine nuts was one of the great fixed events of the year ; 

 and to this day, when so little dependence is placed upon most of the 

 original sources of their food supply, pine nuts (ti'-ba) are gathered 

 regularly in considerable quantity and are kept for use or, to some 

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