70 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



This rice is one of the leading articles of food of the aborigines and was 

 such in the old times.* 



♦The writer became acquainted with this plant at Nett Lake, Minnesota, 

 where he had charge of the Bois Fort Indian Reservation as Superintendent 

 and Special Disbursing Agent from 1909 to 1914. Nett Lake, the lake that bears 

 that name, covers three-fourths of a township in area and is in the shape of a 

 great lobster's paw with the claws pointing eastward, the major claw being 

 the northern member. It is a very shallow lake, the greater part being less 

 than four feet in depth. In this the wild rice grows in such quantities that 

 the lake looks like a great barley field. 



The rice does not ripen all at once, so can not be cut like a field of barley. 

 But as the grains drop from the stalk very easily when ripe, it can be pounded 

 off into a canoe with a stick and the green grain still left to ripen. 



The rice begins to ripen the latter part of August. The Indians then have a 

 secret ceremony and much powowing. Then the chief medicine man gives 

 permission for them to go out and gather rice. 



With canoes, the Indians go among the rice and beat the heads over the canoe 

 with short clubs. This they keep up till they have a canoe full of rice. Then 

 they go to the village with it. 



At the village, the rice, which is just past the milk stage when gathered, is 

 parched and scorched in a large iron kettle inclined over the fire so that a 

 squaw can stir it to keep it from burning. By this scorching process the hulls 

 are all burned from the kernels, or are so dried and charred that they can be 

 loosened and removed by the next process. 



As soon as the scorched rice is removed from the kettle and is cold enough 

 to handle, it is placed in a cylindrical hole in the ground that has been lined 

 with cement or marl from the lake. Then the Indian man of the house gets 

 into this hole and tramps the hulls off with his feet. After the tramping is 

 completed, the chafl", dust and ashes are winnowed from the rice by the women. 

 The product is then sacked and is ready for sale as breakfast food. It sells at 

 not less than 30 cents per pound at the village, and as high as 50 cents in the 

 neighboring cities. 



This rice makes good gem cakes. It is also used to stuff ducks and other 

 fowls when preparing them for dinners. Orders have come from as far as 

 Salt Lake City for rice for making dressing for ducks for Thanksgiving dinners. 



In preparing it as breakfast food, it is prepared and cooked the same as 

 white rice and can be cooked in as many different ways. The preferable way, 

 however, is to take a cupful of the rice and pour a cupful of boiling water on 

 it at bedtime and then cover it up so as to keep the steam in and let it set till 

 morning, then put it on the stove and evaporate the remaining water. It is 

 then puffed-rice, and is delicious with sugar and cream. 



The Ojibwa sometimes boil the excrements of the rabbit with the rice "to 

 season it" and are said to esteem it as a luxury. To make that dish still more 

 palatable, and one of the highest epicurean dishes, they occasionally take a 

 partridge, pick off the feathers, and without any further dressing except pound- 

 ing it to the consistency of jelly, throw it into the rice, and boil it in that con- 

 dition. 



Genus Hordeum, Tourn. Barley. 



Hordeum jubatum, L. Squirrel-Tail Grass. Common. 



EQUISETACEAE. HORSETAIL FAMILY. 

 Genus Equisetum, L, Horsetail. 

 Equisetum pratense, Ehrh. Very common. The Indians eat the tubers of 

 (his plant. 



