INTRODUCTION 5 



Mertens ^ found that the Indians ate, both raw and cooked, the 

 lower part of the stipe of a rock weed which he referred to 

 jFucus vesiculosus (probably what in this volume is called jP. 

 evanescens 7nacrocephala)^ and which, or some related species, 

 is doubtless what Dr. GrinnelP notes as being eaten fresh. 

 Mertens also mentions that Fucus esculentus i^Alaria sp.), F. 

 saccharinus (^Laminaria saccharind)^ and '•F. edulis'' are eaten. 

 Professor Saunders observed, on the Harriman Expedition, that 

 the Indians make extensive use of one of the red seaweeds, 

 Rhodymenia ^ahnata (the dulse, or dillesk, which is also eaten 

 on the Atlantic coasts, and is said to be used in Kamchatka as 

 the basis of a fermented beverage). He saw them gathering 

 this by the basketful at Orca and in Yakutat Bay, and pack- 

 ing it away, when sun-dried, for the winter, when, as he was 

 given to understand, it is broken up by pounding, moistened with 

 water, and made into a sort of pudding. Mr. M. W. Gorman, 

 who has probably made a more thorough study of the food 

 plants of Alaska Indians than any other person, informs me that 

 another of the Florideae — a laver — Porfhyra per/brata, is 

 gathered in quantity, washed in fresh water, and pressed into 

 cakes nearly a foot square and about an inch thick, which are 

 dried for future use. Cut into small fragments, these cakes 

 furnish the basis for a decoction used as a remedy for colds and 

 bronchial affections ; they are also sprinkled over food as a con- 

 diment ; and Mr. Gorman adds that before the advent of the 

 white man this was the only source of salt possessed by the 

 natives. It may be this species that Dr. GrinnelP refers to as 

 being dried, pressed into cakes, and used as an ingredient of 

 soups and stews ; and which Mr. Coville, on the Harriman Ex- 

 pedition, observed in Reid Inlet, made into purple cakes about 

 a foot long, six inches wide, and an inch and a half thick, which 

 the Indians chewed with evident relish. On Douglas Island Mr. 

 Coville also found that the Indians had dried algse — a form of 

 Fucus evanescens^ judging from his description — covered with 

 minute fish eggs and called tiyeti. Aside from this occasional 



; ^Linnjea, 4: 46; Hooker's Bot. Miscellany, 3: 3. 1829. 

 * Harriman Alaska Expedition, I : 139. 1901. 

 'Harriman Alaska Expedition, 1 : 139, 1901. 



