228 STRANGE ALTERATION OF TEETH. 



Growing in the most arid localities, it flowers 

 beautifully in early summer ; but its foliage soon 

 withers under the scorching rays of the sun as 

 the season advances. The other ' bitter root,' 

 the Tra-cliin of the Carriers, is the bulb of the 

 Lilium Canadense, flourishing in moist alluvial 

 soils. I do not recognise the other varieties men- 

 tioned in this article under the names given. 



Q. Have they any artificial way of modifying 

 the form and appearance of the teeth? 



A. (Anderson.) No. At least not that I am 

 aware of. Still they unconsciously do so. In 

 the sandy districts the split salmon, in the pro- 

 cess of drying, retains a portion of the comminuted 

 sand driven by the winds. Hence in the process 

 of mastication the teeth of the consumers are 

 mechanically worn down. This to a transient 

 observer might appear to be the effect of art, but 

 it is not so. About the Dalles on the Columbia 

 River (where, as you know, it is sandy enough) 

 the natives before mid- age have the teeth worn 

 nearly to the gums. Higher up, about Walla- 

 walla and other places, the effect is not so con- 

 spicuous ; not that the country is less sandy, but 

 that the natives subsist more upon roots, and 

 indeed have fewer salmon to eat. Among the 

 Canadian voyagers of New Caledonia the same 



