522 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



con ellas, para que perdiesen el sentido, y no sintiesen tanto la inuerte 

 cruel, ([ue las dabau. 11 



Guautli, generally spelled &quot;yuautli,&quot; one of the foods paid toMonte- 

 zuma as tribute, may have been tule pollen. Gallatin says: &quot;I can not 

 discover what is meant by the guautlf. It is interpreted as being semilla 

 dc Bledo; but I am not aware of any other native grain than maize 

 having been, before the introduction of European cereales, an article 

 of food of such general use, as the quantity mentioned seems to indi 

 cate.&quot; 2 



Among the articles which the king of Atzapotzalco compelled the 

 Aztecs to raise for tribute is mentioned &quot;ahuauhtli (que es como 

 bledos).&quot; 3 



&quot;BLEDOS&quot; OF ANCIENT WRITERS ITS MEANING. 



/ ^ / 



Lafitau 4 gives a description of the Iroquois mode of preparing for 

 the warpath. He says that the Iroquois and Huron called war 

 &quot; n oudoutagette &quot; and &quot; gaskeriragette.&quot; &quot;Le terme Ondonta signifie 

 le duvet qu on tire do 1 epy des Itoseaux de Marais & signifle aussi la 

 plaute toute entiere, dont ils se serveut pour faire les nattes sur quoi ils 

 couchent, de sorte qu il y a apparerice qu ils avoient affecte ce terme 

 pour la Guerre, parce qne chaque Guerrier portoit avec soy sa uatte 

 dans ces sortes d expeditions.&quot; 



This does not seem to be the correct explanation. Bather, it was 

 because they undoubtedly made some sacrificial meal of this &quot;duvet,&quot; 

 or pollen, and used it as much as the Apache do hoddentiu, their 

 sacred meal made of the pollen of the tule, which is surely a species 

 of &quot; roseaux de marais.&quot; 



The great scarcity of corn among the people passed while en route 

 to Cibola is commented upon in an account of Coronado s expedition 

 to Cibola, in Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos, relatives al descu- 

 brimiento, conquista y colonization de las posesiones Espanolas de 

 America y Oceania. 5 



We are also informed 6 that the people of Cibola ottered to their idols 

 &quot; polbos amarillos de flores.&quot; 



Castaneda speaks of the people beyond Chichilticale making a bread 

 of the mesquite which kept good for a whole year. He seems to have 

 been well informed regarding the vegetable foods of the tribes passed 

 through by Coronado s expedition. 7 



That the &quot; blettes&quot; or &quot; bledos&quot; did not mean the same as grass is a 

 certainty after we have examined the old writers, who each and all 



Torqiu inada, Monardiiii Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 10, cap. 22, p. 274. 



Galluliii, in Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., vol. 1, pp. 117-118. 



3 Vetanourt, TeatroMcxicano, vol. 1, p. 271. 



MuMirs des Salivates, vol. 2, pp. 194. 195. 



Madrid, 1870. vol. 14. p. :120. 



Ibid. 



7 Teriiunx-Cumpans, Voyages, vol. 9, p. 159. 



