WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 



tible (by Indian organs, at least), and have always 

 formed a cherished item in the native dietary, 

 wherever the shrub grows. It is quite generally 

 known by its Spanish-Indian name islay. Barrows, 

 writing of this food, 10 states that the kernels are 

 crushed in a mortar, leached in the sand basket (pre- 

 sumably like acorn-meal) and boiled as mush; but 

 an intelligent old Indian of Mission Santa Ines, one 

 Fernando Cardenas, who is familiar with the customs 

 practised by Southern California Indians, has in- 

 formed me that the process as observed by him was 

 to put the unground kernels into a bag and dip the 

 sack in hot water again and again, until the meats 

 became sweet. They were then ground, fashioned 

 into balls and eaten so with great gusto. As I have 

 personally never seen either process, I record both 

 for the curious to test for themselves. 



It would seem reasonable to expect edible seeds 

 of many of the wild members of the useful Pea 

 family, which is abundantly represented in all parts 

 of the country. As a matter of fact, few seem to 

 have been found worth while even by Indians of the 

 most catholic taste. The Groundnut, Apios tube- 

 rosa, has been mentioned in a previous chapter as 



10 "The Ethnobotany of the Coahuilla Indians of Southern Cali- 

 fornia." 



59 



