8 ETHNO-BOTANY OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANA 



of the ethno-botany of any such region should properly include, of 

 course, all plants used for foods or medicines, or which have been 

 found useful in the arts, but also all such as have a religious signifi- 

 cance, or that figure in the folklore of the Indians, or even such as are 

 admired or worn for ornament, or that supply food for animals. What 

 we wish to know is, how has the Indian satisfied all his needs out of 

 the flora of his home. Ethno-botany properly touches every side of 

 his life. We might go even farther than this and say that even those 

 plants which he knows to be poisonous, or noxious, or mere nuisances, or 

 which have proved absolutely useless to the Indian, so far as he recog- 

 nizes these plants in his language, that is, has named them and under- 

 stands them, are worthy of our notice. Such plants often show how 

 diligent and acute, even though unrewarded, the investigation for 

 useful things has been. 



The present paper is an attempt to study, from this point of view, 

 the native culture of one of the Indian tribes inhabiting the arid plains 

 and mountains of the California desert. 



The question that instantly arises in the mind of the visitor to the 

 habitat of the Coahuillas is, how can any people find here the satisfac- 

 tion of their wants. This question has guided these investigations, 

 and the answer is attempted in this monograph and has determined 

 its limits. At the same time, I have included considerable matter 

 relating to the tribal relations of these Indians and their past history, 

 for the reason that the Coahuillas are almost unknown outside of their 

 own portion of the state, and the information heretofore published 

 concerning them has been somewhat confused and mistaken. 



3. The orthography used in writing Indian words is, in general, 

 that used by the collectors of the Bureau of Ethnology. Vowels have 

 the Italian values, etc. I have not followed, however, the plan of 

 using c for the sound s/i, as I consider this spelling too misleading to 

 those unacquainted with the system. 



A word should be said also as to the pronunciation and spelling of 

 the tribal name, Coahuilla. The word is Indian, and the tribesmen's 

 own designation for themselves, and means "master" or "ruling 

 people." There is some slight variation in its pronunciation, but the 

 most usual is, probably, Kow-wee-yah, accent on the second syllable. 

 The spelling has been various. The spelling adopted by the early 

 writers, and correct, according to the value accorded to 11 in Spanish- 

 America, is that adopted here, Coa-hui-lla. I have preferred this, 

 although advised by Mr. C. F. Lummis to spell the name " Coahuia," 

 the spelling demanded by the precise Castillian rule. 



