FOOD PLANTS OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANS 67 



of ungovernable action, in other words, "locoing" them. One such 

 species, called by the Coahuillas kash-lem, has a curious use as a flavor- 

 ing principle. By summer-time the leaves fall away from the sere and 

 yellow branches of these plants, and they are covered by quantities of 

 straw-colored pods as big as the joint of a man's thumb. These quiver 

 and rattle with every motion of the air, and give it one of the designa- 

 tions by which it is known. These pods, according to Celestin Torte, 

 are pounded up and mixed with beans, and perhaps other articles of 

 food, as a spice. 



48. Among the fruits most important to the Indian inhabitants of 

 the Southwest stand those of the cactus family. There are over fifty 

 species in the United States and a majority of these are found in California. 



The Mexican prickly pear or "tuna" (Opuntia Tuna, Mill) is said 

 by Dr. Havard to have been brought to the Pacific coast from Mexico, 

 where it had been cultivated from time immemorial. It was planted 

 in hedges about the missions and ranch-houses, where it thrives still in 

 picturesque clusters and is now thoroughly naturalized. Its fruit is the 

 well-known "Indian fig." While it has not been planted anywhere on 

 the reservations of the Coahuillas, they sometimes obtain the fruit from 

 other Indians of the valleys. The cactus plant is called by the Coa- 

 huillas na-vit and the little bud-like fruit na-vit-yu-lu-ku or "the little 

 heads of the cactus." 



There are numerous species of cactus throughout the mountains down 

 to the desert level. About a dozen yield fruit products utilized by the 

 Coahuillas. In most cases it is the ripened fruit or "fig" that is eaten. 

 In several cases it is the abundant seeds , in others, the buds and suc- 

 culent joints of stalk. Except in a few instances I can do no more in 

 the way of identification of these species than to give a description of 

 the plant and state its uses and Indian name. 



The Opuntia basilaris is an especially valuable cactus plant to the 

 Coahuillas. It is one of the small varieties and has a tender slate- 

 colored stem in flat joints. The young fruit in early summer is full of 

 sweetness. These buds are collected in baskets, being easily broken 

 off with a stick. The short, sparse spines are wholly brushed off with 

 a bunch of grass or a handful of brush twigs. The buds are then 

 cooked or steamed with hot stones in a pit for twelve hours or more. 

 This cactus is called md-nal. Mr. Coville describes exactly the same 

 use of this plant by the Panamints. ' This cooked cactus is, he says, 



i Directions fo r Collecting Specimens and Information Illustrating the Aboriginal Use of 

 Plants. Bulletin of National Museum, No. 39, 1895, p. 6, and American Anthropologist, Vol. V, p. 

 350, 1892. 



