White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 107 
decreased in modern times, especially within the last two or three de- 
cades with increasing purchases from stores, but we have no adequate 
data on this point. Among the wild flora of the vicinity the following 
plants have been used for food: amaranth (Amaranthus paniculatus), 
the seeds of which are eaten and the leaves used as greens (this plant 
is sometimes cultivated in the Rio Grande pueblos); Rocky Moun- 
tain bee plant (Peritoma serrulatum), seeds eaten and leaves cooked 
as greens; cactus, pricklypear (Opuntia lindheimert), roasted in damp 
-sand, eaten with chili; chenopodium, cooked as greens; wild potato 
(Solanum jamesii and S. fendleri), eaten raw or cooked, with clay to 
counteract astringency; pifion nuts (Pinus edulis), gathered in con- 
siderable quantities, roasted; Yucca baccata, fruits are eaten. Wild 
plants are used as medicines, teas, smoking material, condiments, and 
for other purposes (White, 1945). 
The Sia are exceptional among their pueblo neighbors for their 
numerous cattle and sheep per capita. They keep chickens and a few 
turkeys and pigs. They are probably the most diligent hunters of 
deer and turkey in the region. There are periodic hunts for rabbit, 
and everyone avails himself of every opportunity to catch wood rats 
(Neotoma), which are highly prized as food. But with all this, the 
Sia eat very little meat; they cannot afford to. ‘Meat is the food 
most desired,’”’ say Hawley, Pijoan, and Elkin, (19438, p. 552) ‘and 
most difficult to obtain . . . under the most favorable conditions, 
the people do not expect to have meat more than two or three times 
a week, and then more as a flavoring than as a food.”” Owners of 
livestock are loath to kill a beef or a sheep during hot weather—ex- 
cept at fiesta time—because the meat may spoil; some can be pre- 
served by drying. Small quantities of meat are purchased at stores. 
According to figures of the Extension Division of the United Pueb- 
los Agency, which are admittedly rough estimates, the following 
amounts of meat were butchered for domestic consumption in Sia 
in 1948 (in pounds): beef, 12,200; sheep, 4,160; pork, 3,800; goats, 
420; chickens, 1,500; turkeys, 60; total 22,140 pounds. This would 
mean an average of approximately 60.7 pounds per day for the pueb- 
lo as a whole; 1.17 pounds per day per household; 0.23 pounds per 
capita per day. Specific information is lacking, but it may be pre- 
sumed that these weights are gross, 1.e., they include bones and other 
waste. If this is correct, the edible portion would probably not be 
much more than half of the gross figure. 
The figures for 1951 are (in pounds): beef, 22,180; sheep, 4,660; 
goats, 1,500; pork, 5,275; chickens, 1,080; turkeys, 96. This would 
amount to about 0.33 pounds gross per capita per day. The amount 
of meat available to the pueblo in 1951 was 57 percent greater than 
