130 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



drumming of their pestles, as they crushed acorns 

 into meal. After the grinding, the next step is to 

 extract the astringency and bitterness which char- 

 acterize the acorn. The Indian has found that 

 water will remove these unpalatable principles ; and 

 so the meal is subjected to a process of leaching, the 

 result of which is a dough, in consistency much like 

 the bread dough of our own kitchens. This is 

 either baked into little loaves, or boiled into mush 

 and eaten as we eat cereal breakfast-foods, except 

 that the Indian dispenses with the concomitants of 

 cream and sugar, or even salt. It is rather insipid 

 and not entirely palatable to most white people, but 

 it is unquestionably nutritious, and it has been sug- 

 gested that the universal use of it among California 

 Indians may have contributed to the fatness of body 

 which is characteristic of them as a race. The 

 members of Portola's expedition from San Diego 

 to San Francisco in 1769, were reduced to eating 

 acorns when provisions ran low, but found them to 

 their unaccustomed stomachs productive of indiges- 

 tion and fevers doubtless from lack of knowledge 

 as to their preparation. 



Indian Potatoes and Pinole 



The term "Digger" applied to California Indians, 

 was given them in contempt by the early American 



