148 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



The average Mexican laborer believes in it im- 

 plicitly. 



Plants of the Weavers and the Basket Makers 



But life is not all feasting and going to the doc- 

 tor; even California Indians felt the advantage of 

 some sort of clothing and of certain manufactured 

 articles in their domestic economy. For their sim- 

 ple needs in these lines several wild plants have 

 been drawn upon for the raw material. Among 

 these is the so-called Indian hemp (Apocynum can- 

 nabinum) one of the very few floral species com- 

 mon to both our Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The 

 California Indians soaked and pounded out from 

 this, as well as from species of Asclepias, Agave and 

 Yucca, valuable fibers for weaving such articles as 

 petticoats, sandals, saddle blankets, ropes, carrying 

 nets, and bow strings. Collectors of Indian curios 

 know the charm of this sort of aboriginal work and 

 are eager to secure it, but it is now all but obsolete. 

 Here and there, however, among the rancherias of 

 mountain and desert, one finds old people who prac- 

 tise the ancient handicrafts, and only the other day 

 from fat, old Francisco at Palm Springs, I got a 

 pair of curious old-fashioned desert sandals, with 

 flexible soles an inch thick and corded tie-strings, all 

 made from the white fiber of the agave or mescal. 



