VI 



INDIAN USES OF CALIFORNIA PLANTS 



WHATEVEE the shortcomings of the Cali- 

 fornia Indian, whom it is the fashion to put 

 down at the tail of our class of aborigines, he was 

 not a bad botanist in his native estate, and what he 

 knew about the wild plants and their uses in the 

 economy of the simple life makes quite a respect- 

 able showing. 



Pine-nuts and Acorns 



Indian life throughout California before the white 

 man came and for two or three generations after- 

 wards in the wilder parts of the interior, was some- 

 thing of a Saturnian matter. The mildness of the 

 climate reduced the necessities of clothing and shel- 

 ter to a minimum. There was no government 

 even native making vexatious laws to restrict a 

 man's going and coming, what he should eat or 

 what he should drink, for aboriginal California was 

 remarkable for its lack of social organization. 



There were no tax collectors ; there was land enough 

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