366 THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF 



only burned or cliarred on tLe outside, but Ptill raw avid bloody witliin. As 

 soon ari it has become sufficiently cool, they t^liake it a little in order to remove 

 tht; adhin-inj? dust or sand, and eat it with «-reat relish. Yet I must add here, 

 that they do not previously take the trouble to skin the mice or disembowel 

 the rats, nor deem it necessary to clean the hall'-emi)tied entrails and maws of 

 larger animals, which they have to cut in pieces before Ihey can roast them. 

 Seeds, kernels, grasshoppers, green caterpillars, the Avhite worms already men- 

 tioned, and similar things that Avould be lost, on account of their smalhiess, in 

 the embers and flames of an open fire, are parched on hot coals, which they 

 constantly throw up and sliake in a turtle-shell, or a kind of frying-pan woven 

 jout of a certain plant. What they have parched or roasted in this- manner is 

 ground to powder betAveen two stones, and eaten in a dry state. Bones are 

 treated in like manner. 



They eat everything unsalted, though they might obtain plenty of salt ; but 

 since the}'' cannot dine every day on roast meat and constantly change their 

 quarters, they would find it too cumbersome to carry always a supply of salt 

 with them. 



The preparation of the aloe, also called ?nescale or maguey by the Spaniards, 

 requires more time and labor. The roots, after being properly separated from 

 the plants, are roasted for some houi-s in a strong fire, and then buried, twelve 

 or twenty together, in the ground, and well covered with hot stones, hot ashes, 

 and earth. In this state they have to remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and 

 when dug out again they are of a fine yellow color, and perfectly tender, 

 making a very palatable dish, which has served me frequently as food when I 

 had nothing else to eat, or as dessert after dinner in lieu of fruit. But they 

 act at first as a purgative on persons who are not accustomed to them, and 

 leave the throat somewhat rough for a few hours afterwards. 



To light a fire the Oalifornians make no use of steel and flint, but obtain it 

 by the friction of two pieces of wood. One of them is cylindrical, and pointed 

 on one end, which fits into a round cavity in the other, and by turning the 

 cylindrical piece with great rapidity between their hands, like a twirling stick, 

 they succeed in igniting the lower piece, if they continue the process for a 

 sufficient length of time. 



The Oalifornians have no fixed time for any sort of business, and eat, con- 

 sequently, whenever they have anything, or feel inclined to do so, which is 

 nearly always the case. I never asked one of them whether he was hungry, 

 who failed to answer in the affirmative, even if his appearance indicated the 

 contrary. A meal in the middle of the day is the least in use among them, 

 because they all set out early in the morning for their foraging expeditions, 

 and return only in the evening to the place from Avhich they started, if they 

 do not choose some other locality for their night quarters. The day being 

 thus spent in running about and searching for food, they have no time left for 

 preparing a dinner at noon. They start always empty-handed ; for, if per- 

 chance something remains from their evening repasts, they certainly eat it 

 during the night in waking moments, or on the following mornmg before 

 leaving. The Oalifornians can endure hunger easier and much longer than 

 other people ; whereas they will cat enormously if a chance is given. I often 

 tried to buy a piece of venison from them when the skin had but lately been 

 stripped of? the deer, but regularly received tbe answer that nothing was left ; 

 and I knew well enough that the hunter who killed the animal needed no 

 assistance to finish it. Twenty-four pounds of meat in twenty -four hours is 

 not deemed an extraordinary ration for a single person, and to see anything 

 eatable before him is a temptation for a Californian which he cannot resist ; 

 and not to make away with it before night would be a victory he is very 

 seldom capable of gaining over himself. 



