WOKAS, A PRIMITIVE FOOD. 731 



LOLENSH. 



Fresh wokas seeds, in which the kernels are still moist, are in the 

 condition necessary for manufacture into what is called lolensh 

 (lo-lensh'). This condition exists in spokwas and in the two grades of 

 seeds, nokapk and chinialvum, derived from cooked pods, or awal, 

 described below. The dried seeds, h)wak and stontaldaks, can not be 

 made into lolensh. 



The fresh seeds are placed in a frying' pan, one or two quarts at a 

 time, and held over a lire for perhaps ten minutes, constantly stirred 

 or shaken. This operation dries and partially cooks the seed, leaving 

 the shell l)rittle and the kernel in a tough, elastic condition. In early 

 times the cooking was done in a wicker tray with live coals, as 

 described below under shiwulinz. 



The removal of the shells is accomplished by grindingthe seeds lightly 

 on the ordinary mealing stone and then winnowing them. The lower 

 mealing stone (Imach) is a piece of Hat lava rock commonly about a 

 foot and a half in length and a))out 1<» inches in width. The upper 

 stone (si-lak'-al-ish), also of lava, is nuich smaller and has usuall}' two 

 ni))s upon the back which Jit into the haiul's of the user as she sits or 

 kneels on the ground. The seeds to l)e gi-ound are placed, a few hand- 

 f uls at a time, on the end of the lower stone next to the grinder. The 

 seeds on that side of the pile farthest from her are spread out in a thin 

 layer reaching to or beyond the middle of the stone. She seizes the 

 upper stone in both hands and rubs it lightly over the lower and over 

 the thin layer of seeds upon it. The forward stroke does the grind- 

 ing, while the deft ])ackward stroke serves to catch between the stones 

 a small amount of seeds from the thin edge of the pile on the lower 

 stone. The product of the grinding accumulates on the end of the 

 lower stone farthest from the grinder and is shoved off upon a circular 

 mat or very shallow, tightly woven dish, commonly known as a wokas 

 shaker, described below, upon which the end of the mealing stone has 

 been placed. (Plate 7.) 



The notable feature of the grinding of these seeds is that the shells 

 are cracked so that they can be removed, while the kernels, from the 

 tough, elastic texture they have acquired through their partial cook- 

 ing and from the lightness of stroke exercised ])y the grinder, are 

 not cracked as are thoi'oughly dried or roasted seeds when similarly 

 manipulated upon the mealing stone. 



The next process is that of winnowing, by which the loose pieces 

 of broken seed shells are separated from the seed kernels. The imple- 

 ment employed is a winnowing tray, known to the white people of the 

 Klamath Lake region as a wokas shaker (p'a'-hla). This is a broad, 

 circular, very shallow dish closely woven of a cord twisted from nar- 

 row strips of tule stems, from the great tule marshes of the Klamath 



