92 GEORGE B. RIGG 



lines of the long cord-like stipe by soaking them in fish oil and 

 manipulating them to render them pliable. Bottles to contain the 

 oil were made from the bulb and the adjacent hollow part of the 

 stem by the same process. It is reported that the Indians in the 

 San Juan Islands formerly prepared salt for use in food by spread- 

 ing the fronds of this plant on clean logs and collecting the salt 

 that effloresced on the surface of these fronds. The hollow part 

 of the stipe was used by Alaska Indians as a worm in the proc- 

 ess of distilling "hoochenoo," a dark-colored poisonous drink. 

 Headache is cured by the Indians in Sitka by placing the smaller 

 end of one of these tubes in the ear and the other against a hot 

 stone to generate steam. The Makah Indians at Neah Bay 

 still use the split bulb of this plant for application in cases of 

 caked breasts. It seems to be soothing and antiseptic. The 

 Indians formerly used the hollow portion of this plant to give 

 the illusion that a voice was speaking from the fire. The smaller 

 end of the hollow portion was concealed near the fire while an 

 Indian hidden behind a convenient rock or bush spoke into the 

 large end. 



Considering the abundance of the seaweeds in Puget Sound in 

 connection with the large use that the Japanese make of their 

 seaweeds, the question naturally arises as to whether there is a 

 potential kelp industry here. As the first step toward answering 

 this question we must consider how far our conditions are similar 

 to those in Japan. The population in the Pacific Northwest is 

 not over dense and there is no congestion of population on the 

 seashore. Americans certainly could not be advised to take up 

 the slow and painstaking work of gathering seaweeds by hand 

 and preparing them for food, and the Japanese who have come to 

 our shores have shown no disposition to do so. If a kelp industry 

 is to be developed in the Puget Sound region, it must utilize a plant 

 whose abundance and situation will permit it to be harvested in 

 large quantities by labor-saving devices. There is but one such 

 plant in the region, — the bladder kelp. 



