THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 3 



up in the debris about such places, pieces of well-woven cord- 

 age made of the yucca fibre, which also served in the manu- 

 facture of prehistoric sandals. This use of the yucca has now 

 been abandoned, but the foliage still supplies an important 

 basket material ; and in the hands of an artist, very beautiful 

 effects are obtained by combining in the design leaves which 

 have been dried green with others which have first been 

 bleached or browned by the weather. The narrow leaved 

 yucca (F. angiistifolia) which is indigenous to much of the 

 territory where F. haccata grows, is often cut off just below 

 the root crown, bunched together and dried to serve as whisks 

 or brooms. 



The greatest contemporary usefulness of the yucca, how- 

 ever, lies in its long, thick root. This is highly saponaceous, 

 and is greatly prized both by Indians and Mexicans as a sub- 

 stitute for toilet soap. The roots are grubbed up, cut into 

 handy lengths, and crushed with an axe or stone. Rubbed up 

 in water they make a plentiful lather, which is excedingly 

 cleansing and leaves a pleasant feel to the skin. In the cere- 

 monial washings attendant upon the religious rites of the 

 Indians, the use of commercial soap would be sacrilege, only 

 yucca suds being permitted. Amole is the name by which 

 their soapy root is known throughout the Southwest, and its 

 value has not escaped the notice of the enterprising American 

 soap maker, to judge from a brand of "amole soap" which I 

 have seen in the shops of civilization. 



Among the Navajos, the yucca seems to have some mysti- 

 cal import, and the plaited leaves are used as face masks in 

 some of their religious ceremonies. A dance, known as the 

 hosh-kazvn dance, is practiced among them — a night ceremony, 

 in which the development of the yucca plant from the barren 

 clump of winter leaves, through its flowering stage, to the time 

 of fruitage, is dramatically represented. 



Pasadena, Calif. 



