106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 184 
and albinism has been introduced into Santa Ana through marriage 
with Jemez women. Mental and nervous diseases were on the in- 
crease, according to an Indian Service physician and a field nurse. A 
Sia man, born about 1921, was once committed to St. Elizabeth’s 
Hospital in Washington, D.C. After a year or two he returned to 
Sia where, apparently, he is not much of a problem either to his 
family or to the community. He has never married. No informants 
or Indian Service personnel had ever known of a suicide at Sia. 
DIET 
The dict of the Sia is meager in quantity and deficient in some 
important food elements. Corn (Zea mays) was, without doubt, the 
most important food in pre-Spanish days. Nowadays corn and wheat 
(Triticum vulgare, introduced by the Spaniards) are the most impor- 
tant foods: “bread stuffs being the basis of every meal’’ (Hawley, 
Pijoan, and Elkin, 1943, p. 550). Considerable wheat is grown at 
Sia; it is taken to mills outside the reservation to be ground. Mac- 
aroni and, to a lesser extent, rice, purchased at stores, are fairly 
popular. 
Beans (Phaseolus acutifolius and P. vulgaris) and the broadbean 
(Vicia faba) are grown at Sia, and one would expect them to be eaten 
in considerable quantity, since they form a large part of the diet of 
nearby Spanish-Americans and Indian pueblos. Nutritionally they 
would be very important, since they contribute proteins, and Sia 
fare is low in proteins. However, the survey by Hawley, Pijoan, 
and Elkin (1943, p. 552) observes that “most Zia Indians lack .. . 
beans,” and the reports of the Indian Service either fail to list beans 
at all among crops (1951, 1956) or indicate meager yields: 70 bushels 
in 1936; 140, in 1949. Some Sia purchase beans from stores or other 
sources. This is a curious situation for which I have no explanation. 
Much chili (Capsicum annuum) is grown and eaten, however; it 
is eaten almost daily and sometimes at more than one meal per day. 
Some potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are grown and others are pur- 
chased from stores; they are eaten frequently and in considerable 
quantity. Two kinds of pumpkins are grown: Cucurbita moschata, 
which was cultivated in pre-Spanish times, and C. maxima, which the 
Sia call merikana (American) pumpkin, since it is not indigenous to 
the region. Watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris) and cantaloup (Cu- 
cumis melo) are grown and eaten but constitute an insignificant 
part of Sia diet. Some peaches and apples are grown but not in quan- 
tities sufficient to supply the needs of a well-balanced diet. 
In the past the Sia, and other Indians in the region, have exten- 
sively exploited wild plant resources for food and for materials 
for other purposes. The use of wild plants for food has undoubtedly 
