1911.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 35 



of one or two feet and bearing greenish-white salverform flowers from 

 an inch to an inch and a half long. The leaves, borne on slender 

 petioles and ovate to lanceolate in form, were dried and used as ordinary 

 tobacco. Whether the related Nicotiana quadrivalvis , a native of 

 Oregon and formerly cultivated by Indians from that State eastward 

 as far as the Missouri, was formerly grown and used by the Gosiutes 

 is uncertain. Sedum glandulosum, drY-ka-ti-ioua, Vaccinium ccespito- 

 sum, ti'-da-kai-mi-ya, and Silene menziesii, yo'-go-ti-wi-ya, also fur- 

 nished leaves which w r ere similarly dried and used as ordinary smoking 

 tobacco. Ranking in importance with the tobacco plant proper was 

 the kinnikinnic (Cornus stolonifera) , the inner bark of which was 

 smoked alone or after mixture with tobacco. 



Of beverages the Gosiutes seem to have had but few originally. A 

 kind of tea made from the leaves of the mint (Mentha canadensis) is 

 said to have been drunk considerably, pleasing the taste of many. The 

 leaves of the shrub in early days sometimes termed the mountain-tea, 

 tin'-ai-hya, w r ere also used for making tea. Another plant termed by 

 the Indians tu'-tom-pi, but which I have not as yet definitely identified 

 among those known to me in the immediate region, is said to possess a 

 wood from which a good beverage was formerly made. 



There were a number of chewing gums. One was supplied by the 

 gum of the Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga douglasii), wan' -go. Also 

 the latex of Asclepias and of Senecio, among others, was dried and 

 converted into a gum. The chewing gum that seems to have been 

 most prized, however, was obtained from the roots of the greater 

 rabbit-brush (Bigelovia douglasi), si'-bil-pi. The inner part of the 

 root having been rejected, pieces of the outer portion w T ere taken into 

 the mouth and chewed, a gummy substance gradually separating out 

 and the more fibrous material being gradually removed. This gum is 

 sweet and pleasant to the taste. Indian children and their elders as 

 w r ell may still often be seen preparing it. 



For the making of baskets, bowls, water-jugs, baby-baskets or 

 cradles, etc., various species of w T illows, si'-o-pi, such as Salix lasiandra, 

 longijolia and others, supplied a considerable proportion of the 

 material, though, when available, many much preferred the shoots of 

 the cottonwood, so'-ho-pi, because of their greater toughness. For 

 the frame in the several types of basket work, branches of the service- 

 berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), ti'-um-pi, were used because of their 

 strength and toughness. Water jugs, cooking bowls, seed baskets, 

 winnowing fans and other vessels, designed to hold water or fine 

 material, w r ere made impervious by being coated on the inside or both 



