rich sugars is highest is done by all people who eat ma- 
guey hearts. Pit-baked magueys are an important food 
source at the time of year when food stores of the pre- 
vious growing season are dwindling and before the arrival 
of summer rains which are needed for the growth of wild 
greens and cultivated plants. Occasionally, magueys are 
pit-baked at other times of the year. 
The plants are dug up with a pointed stick, an iron 
bar or an old ax. ‘Then the outer leaves are trimmed 
with a machete, leaving the hearts and leaf-bases. A 
wooden hook is inserted into the bottom of each heart, 
two of which are tied together and placed over a burro 
to carry to the pit. If people are carrying the hearts and 
the distance to the pit is great, the leaf-bases are cut off 
and carried separately in a basket. 
A fire, usually of green oak wood (Quercus spp.) is 
built in the pit with rocks placed on top of the wood. 
Hard, heavy rocks are chosen, since they hold heat longer. 
The round pit is usually about three feet deep and five 
feet wide. The same pit is used year after year. About 
noon, when the fire has burned down to coals and the 
smoke, which would give the hearts a bad taste, no longer 
comes out, the pit is ready for use. If the coals are too 
hot, a layer of earth is placed over them. Then the mes- 
‘al hearts with the leaf-bases still intact are placed in the 
pit. Sometimes a stick of ‘‘rolobusi’’® (Bouvardia sp.) 
is inserted into each heart to assure sweetness in cooking. 
If ‘‘rolobusi”* is not available, leaves of ‘‘usabi’’ (Prunus 
Gentry) are placed on the hot rocks at the bottom for 
the same purpose. After the hearts are in the pit, the 
pit is covered with leaves of a palm (Sabal wresana). 
Then a layer of soil is placed over the top and left for 
° Western Tarahumara belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family of lan- 
guages. It is written here using the Spanish orthography with the 
addition of the glottal (*). The r’s and 1’s differ from Spanish in that 
they are retroflexed. 
= 
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