98 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



magnificent plain lay stretched out beneath them, blue as a 

 summer sea with these blossoms. Agriculture and herding 

 have driven the camas in large measure from the Clearwater 

 and Palouse prairies. It is now to be found only in fence 

 corners and out-of-the-way places ; but farther back in the 

 midst of the forests are many meadows where it still flourishes. 

 These meadows vary in size from an acre to several hundred 

 acres and all are encircled by the dark wall of the forest. Some 

 of the larger meadows have been "taken up" as homesteads 

 and the settlers cut the camas ever}' year for hay. The word 

 camas is derived from the Indian name for the plant. 

 As is usual with primitive peoples the names was not re- 

 restricted to one kind of plant but was applied to several spe- 

 cies which do not belong to the genus Camassia. One species 

 of Brodiaca was called "blue camas" and a certain poisonous 

 Zygadenus was called "death camas." Camas bulbs formed 

 the chief food supply of some of the Indians of the Northwest. 

 They baked them in pits dug in the ground until the bulbs 

 crumbled into a white starchy powder which was their flour. 

 It was the encroachment of the whites upon the "camas 

 grounds" of the Indians which lead to the Nez Perce War. It 

 was during this war that the remarkable retreat of Chief 

 Joseph and his followers took place. Encumbered with wo- 

 men, children and baggage, the Indians crossed the Bitter 

 Roots into Montana, then made their way to the National 

 Park and turning northward were within a day's march of the 

 Canadian line where they were captured by Gen. Miles. It 

 was only another chapter in the pathetic story of that race 

 which since the coming of the white man has been fighting a 

 loosing fight for the land of its forefathers. Many of the cap- 

 tives never saw their native haunts again. They were sent far 

 away to pine away their lives in the fever-stricken hated "hot 

 lands" of the Indian Territory, while they longed for the cold 

 springs and green prairies of their beloved "camas grounds." 

 San Auselmo, Calif. 



