520 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



chopped straw to their bread, but more as our own bakers would use 

 bran than as a regular article of diet. 



Barcia makes no allusion to anything resembling hoddentin or &quot; polvos 

 de bledos&quot; in his brief account of Vaea s journey. But Buckingham 

 Smith, in his excellent translation of Vaea s narrative, renders &quot;polvos 

 de paja &quot; thus : &quot;It was probably the seed of grass which they ate. I 

 am told by a distinguished explorer that the Indians to the west col 

 lect it of different kinds and from the powder make bread, some of which 

 is quite palatable.&quot; And for &quot;polvos de bledos&quot;: &quot;The only explana 

 tion I can otter for these words is little satisfactory. It. was the prac 

 tice of the Indians of both New Spain and Xew Mexico to beat the ear 

 of young maize, while in the milk, to a thin paste, hang it in festoons in 

 the sun, and, being thus dried, was preserved for winter use.&quot; 



This explanation is very unsatisfactory. Would not Vaca have 

 known it was corn and have said so ? . On the contrary, he remarks in 

 that very line in Smith s own translation: &quot; There is no maize on the 

 coast.&quot; 



The appearance of all kinds of grass seeds in the food of nearly all 

 the aborigines of our southwestern territory is a fact well known, but 

 what is to be demonstrated is the extensive use of the &quot; powder&quot; of the 

 tule or cat-tail rush. Down to our day, the Apache have used not only 

 the seeds of various grasses, but the bulb of the wild hyacinth and the 

 bulb of the tule. The former can be eaten either raw or cooked, but 

 the tule bulb is always roasted between hot stones. The taste of the 

 Jfryacinth bulb is somewhat like that of raw chestnuts. That of the 

 roasted tule bulb is sweet and not at all disagreeable. 2 



Father Jacob Baegert :i enumerates among the foods of the Indians of 

 southern California &quot;the roots of the common reed&quot; (i. e., of the tule). 



Father Alegre, speaking of the tribes living near the Laguna San 

 Pedro, 4 in latitude 28 north two hundred leagues north of the City of 

 Mexico says that they make their bread of the root, which is very 

 frequent in their lakes, and which is like the plant called the &quot;anea&quot; 

 or rush in Spain. &quot;Formau el pan de una raiz muy frecueute en siTs 

 lagunas, semejante a las que llamaa aneas en Espana.&quot; 5 



The .Indians of the Atlantic; Slope made bread of the bulb of a plant 

 which Capt. John Smith 6 says &quot; grew like a flag in marshes.&quot; It was 

 roasted and made into loaves called Uuckahoe/ 7 



Kalin, in his Travels in North America, 8 says of the tuckahoe: 



It grows in several swamps and marshes and is commonly plentiful. The hogs 

 greedily dig up its roots with their noses in such places, and the Indians of Carolina 

 likewise gather it in their rambles in the woods, dry it in the sun, grind, and make 



1 Ensayo Cronologico, pp. 12 et seq. 



2 See .also on this point Corbusier. in Ameriean Antiquarian. November. 1886. 

 3 Rau s translation in Smithsonian Ann. Kep., 1863, p. 364. 



Probably the Lake ofParras. 



6 Historia de la Compafiia (le Jesus en Xueva-Kspana. vol. 1, p. 284. 



6 History of Virginia. 



7 See also article by J. Howard (lore. Smithsonian Report, 1881. 



8 Pinkerton, Voyages, London, 1814. vol. 13, p. 468. 



