64 EJHNO-BOTANY OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANS 



are cooked into a rich sauce that needs no sweetening. They are 

 delicious thus prepared. An Indian family during this season of the 

 year will subsist largely on these messes of " sauco." 



Several species of the manzanita, an exceedingly handsome tree or 

 shrub with a rich red-colored bark and small ever-green leaves, grow 

 on these mountains. It has a red fruit and is very common. The 

 "great-berried manzanita" (Arcostaphylos glaucd] is common through- 

 out the coast. Manzanita is a Spanish word, the diminutive of " man- 

 zana," meaning " little apple." The fruit is much enjoyed by the 

 Coahuillas and is called ta-tu-ka. It is eaten raw and is also dried, 

 pounded into a flour, and mixed with water. 



The sumac (Rhus trilobata, Nutt.), the twigs of which are so impor- 

 tant in basket making, bears a very small red berry, sel-it-toi, which is 

 very sour but much used both fresh and dried. Soaked in water it 

 makes a refreshing drink. The use of the rhus was noticed by Dr. 

 Edward Palmer. 1 



46. Perhaps the most important of the seed foods used by the 

 Indians is the justly famed "chia" (Salvia Columbariae Benth.), called 

 by the Coahuillas pa-sal. The plant is one of the smallest of the sage 

 family. It grows up from an annual root with a slender branching 

 stem, terminated by several curious whorls containing the seeds. These 

 are dark, round, flat bodies, that have a slippery, uncertain feeling to 

 the touch. The genus Salvia has an exceedingly wide range and use 

 as a food plant. According to Dr. Havard the Salvia polystarchia, 

 Ort, is largely cultivated in northern and central Mexico. These 

 seeds are rich in mucilage and oil. " After careful roasting they are 

 ground into meal, which, when thrown into water, expands to several 

 times its original bulk, the mucilage rapidly dissolving. By adding 

 lemon and sweetening a very popular Mexican beverage is produced."* 



Chia was a staple food with the Indians of the Pacific coast. Large 

 quantities, already parched, have been taken from graves on the Santa 

 Barbara channel. 3 The seeds are gathered by the Coahuillas with the 

 seed fan and flat basket, and are parched and ground. The meal is 

 then mixed with about three times as much wheat flour and the whole 

 pounded up together. It makes a dark looking meal. This is "pinole," 

 called by the Coahuillas to-at. It is an old and famous preparation. 

 Molina gives the following definition of its constituents as made in 



i op. at. 



2 Plant foods of the North American Indians, Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, Lancaster, Pa. 

 Vol. XXIII, No. 2, 1896. 



3 United States Geological Survey West of the looth Meridian, Vol. VII, pp. 37, 40, 79, 80, etc. 



