62 ETHNO-BOTANY OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANS 



the size of a small marble, is eaten by the Coahuillas and called by 

 them is-wut. 



The acorn was one of the most generally used foods of the Indians 

 of the Pacific coast. Its use was noticed by Cabrillo, the first white 

 explorer to navigate these waters. "They eat acorns and a grain 

 which is as large as maize and is white, of which they make dumplings. 

 It is good food." 1 Certain parts of the coast, the Upper San Joaquin 

 valley and the mountains of the Coast Range are thickly covered with 

 forests of this stately tree. There are no less than fourteen species of 

 oaks in the whole of California and about eight are found in the 

 southern part of the state. 2 Their fruit contains "starch, fixed oil, 

 citric acid, and sugar, as well as astringent and bitter principles." The 

 largest and most palatable acorn is that of the white oak, or Mexican 

 "roble" (Quercus lobatd), "common throughout the state, on the 

 plains and in the foot-hills, in the southern part of the state somewhat 

 higher in the mountains." It was mostly from this tree that the 

 Indians of the past supplied themselves. 



All the " live oaks " also, among them the Quercus JSnglemanni, 

 yield palatable acorns. There are several desert and shrub species, 

 Q. undulata, Torr., Q. oblongifolia, and Q. Wisltenzi, var. fructescens, 

 the "desert oak" of the Southwest, from three to ten feet high. Q. 

 agrifolia, Nee, is the only one of the black oaks affording food to the 

 Indians. It is the coast live-oak of California, the "encino" of the 

 Mexicans. The oak is, however, somewhat rare within the habitat of 

 the Coahuillas and the acorn is not to them of great economic impor- 

 tance. They do not put the same dependence upon it as did the 

 Indians along the coast. 



The Quercus dumosa, Nutt., which has a thick, large fruit, grows on 

 the Coahuilla mountain and is gathered in considerable quantities by 

 the Indians of Coahuilla valley. This acorn is called by them kwin- 

 yil. It is ground in the mortar and leached in the sand basket. Dr. 

 Havard reports that the sand mixed with the meal by washing has "a 

 decided effect upon the teeth. My informant, a medical officer, tells 

 me that he has seen an Indian forty-five years old with the crowns of 

 his otherwise healthy teeth half gone, while in Indians sixty years old it 

 is not uncommon to see all the teeth worn down even with the gums." 3 

 Although the sand basket as a means for preparing food is in constant 



iRelacion 6 Diario, translation by Mr. R. S. Evans. 



2 Botany of California, United States Geological Survey. 



3 Food Plants of the North American Indians, Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. XXII, 

 No. 3, March 27, 1895. 



