406 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
often brought it to the post for trade, where it found a ready market, 
as it is not only pleasant to the taste, but acts as an antiscorbutie, so 
necessary at military posts in the Territory of Arizona. Cut up into 
slices, it is easily dried and retains its sweetness for years, as evidenced 
by specimens in the Smithsonian Institution, now three years old. If 
the crown of the Agave be charred to blackness and mingled with water, 
a fine black paint is produced, which is used by the Apaches to paint their 
faces. The leaf, when washed and dried, is employed by the Indians 
for smoking, like tobacco; but being sweet and gummy, it chokes up 
the pipe. The Hualipais, of Arizona, press the roasted heart and leaves 
of the mescal into thin cakes, thirty inches long and eighteen broad, 
and trade them to the Moquis Indians for corn. In this form it has a 
shining, granulated look like opium. The crowns are sometimes baked 
in hot ashes, but are not so good as when baked in the pit. Itisa 
common practice in uncovering a mescal pit to collect the roasted leaves 
into suitable bundles and press them flat. They soon dry and are very 
sweet, but inferior to thecrown. These roasted leaves being of a fibrous 
nature entangle a white man’s teeth to an objectionable extent. The 
leaf has a dirty, black, stringy look, but it is the favorite food of the 
Apaches, and when they are at war or on the hunt packages of it are 
tied up with strings and carried around the person, or made fast to the 
saddle, and are their only subsistence. A fine mescal spirit is prepared 
by the Papajos and Apaches from the roasted heart of the Agave 
Americana. The sugar is developed by heat during the roasting, and 
when taken out of the pit the heart is cut into pieces, and put into 
hide bags or earthen jugs. Water is then poured over it, fermentation 
follows, and at the end of a week it is distilled. The process is carried 
on in secret. It is a strong, fiery drink, but not haif so injurious as 
modern whisky. It is much used by Mexicans, and will tempt an In- 
dian to any undertaking which promises to furnish a supply. The 
wasted pulp, when cut up, mixed with water, and boiled, forms a fine 
sirup, gnd when dissolve d in cold water forms a pleasant ‘drink and an 
excellent sauce to the usuaily very dry and insipid articles of Indian 
food. Although the roasted root is very. dark, the distilled spirit is of 
a clear yellow ‘color. It cannot be adulierated with water without im- 
mediately rendering it ropy and distasteful, the water precipitating 
some mucilaginous matter or resin contained in it. 
The leaves of this plant afford an excellent, strong, and rather coarse 
fiber. The Indians of Arizona and Southern California use it exten- 
sively, preparing it either by drying the leaves and beating the dry 
pulp from the fiber, or by using the fresh leaves and soaking in water 
until the rotten pulp falls off “the fiber. On one occasion, “when the 
writer was out against the Apaches with a scouting party, twenty of 
whom were Papajos, our Indian allies, when camping during the day, 
would gather the dead plants after they had bloomed, beat out the 
dry pulp from the fiber, and twist the latter into picket ropes; and, on 
the expiration of the scout, they had many lariats for sale made of this 
article. 
Balsamorrhiza incana and B. helianthoides—Both of these species 
have thick- roots, which are eaten by the Nez Perces Indians without 
previous cooking. 
Pimple mallow, (Callirrhoé pedata.)—The root of this plant resembles 
a parsnip, and is used as food by the Indians of Nebraska and Idaho. 
Wild sago, (Calochortus luteus, Fig. 5, Plate 1.)—The Utahs call it 
sago. The root is the size of a walnut, very palatable and nutritious. 
The Indian chjidren of California, Utah, and Arizona prize it as the 
