728 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1902. 



dependent upon the former, for the l)ird,s feed upon the seeds and 

 starchy roots of the larger plants oi- upon fish or other animals that 

 ultimately depend for their supply of food upon the minute alg{» with 

 which the waters of the marsh and lake abound. 



One of the plants growino- al)undantly in the marsh and less exten- 

 sively in some of the bays of the lake, the great ^^ellow water lily 

 {Nyiii'pliaea poJy^iepala)^ was a staple farinaceous food of the Klamaths 

 in primitive times and now is regarded ))y them as a delicacy (Plates 1 

 and 2). An opportunity presented itself to spend a week at Klamath 

 Marsh in August, lOO:^, and to see the Indians harvest their crop of 

 wokas (wo'-kas)," or waterlily seed. The industry is well preserved 

 in so nearl}" its primitive form that a detailed record of it has seemed 

 desirable and is herewith presented. A wokas gatherer's camp is 

 shown in Plate 3. 



It is estimated that Klamath Marsh contains about 10,000 acres of 

 a solid growth of wokas. The plant is so vigorous and has such a 

 habit of growth as usually to occupy an area suited to it to the com- 

 plete exclusion of other characteristic and conspicuous marsh plants, 

 such as tule and cattail. Certain plants associate themselves habitually 

 with the waterlily, but tliese plants are for the most part submerged 

 in the water, are inconspicuous, and subsidiary in their relationship to 

 the waterlily, and in no effective or important way contest its spread. 

 The principal of these latter plants are bladderwort {Utricidaria vul- 

 garis)^ mare's tail {lUppurls vi/lgf/r/s)^ and pond weed {Potaiiiogeton 

 natans and other species). 



HARVESTING. 



Wokas is harvested exclusively in boats of the kind known as a 

 " dugout. " The dugout (wuns) is hollowed from a single log, commonly 

 of the yellow pine {Pinus jponderosa)^ and ordinarily is about 18 feet 

 long, 2 feet wide, and 16 inches deep (Plate 4). Sometimes logs 

 of Douglas fir {Pseudotmign mucronata) are used. This tree makes a 

 superior ])oat, but as the species normally grows at a higher elevation 

 than the lake and marsh, it is less easily available to the boatmaker. 

 The dugout is propelled usually by poling instead of paddling. The 

 pole (la-gak'), made of a peeled sapling of the lodge-pole pine {Pinus 

 rmiTrayanxi)^ is about 9 feet long and \\ inches thick. The lower end 

 is split for a distance of about G inches, and the two split points are 

 then spread abruptly to a distance of about 4 inches, where they are 

 held by the insertion of a transverse brace. In all the poles seen the 



« The alphabet and system of diacritic marks followed in this paper are those of 

 the Burean of American Ethnology, except that "sh" is here used instead of "c" 

 for the sound of "sh " in shall, and " ch " instead of " tc " for the sound of " ch " 

 in church. Secondary accents are not marked when they occur at the normal dis- 

 tance of two syllal)les from a primary accent. 



