ROBBINS, HARRINGTON, 

 FREIHE-iMARKECO 



] ETHNOBOTANY OF THE TEWA INDIANS 29 



i\%, 'ashes.' 



Ashes are stirred into the dough for making- huwa (waferbread, 

 Spanish guallahe) and huwa Iccua (corn tortillas), in order to turn it 

 blue. At Hano the ashes of a wild plant, "'Ui'jxy ( Atriplex canescens) 

 are preferred, but at the end of the winter, when the supply runs 

 short, the ashes of sheep's dung are substituted. 



Ashes of corncobs are boiled with white corn in order to make it 

 swell. Fray Juan de Escalona in his private report from San Gabriel 

 (Chamita), 1st October, 1601, refers probably to a similar practice; he 

 says that the Indians, having been robbed of their corn, are eating 

 wild seeds mixed with charcoal.^ 



At Santa Clara warm ashes are rubbed on to relieve pain in the 

 shins, attributed to cold. Nitpo, 'ash water' (/lu^ ashes; po, water) 

 is given to children as a medicine. 



At Santa Clara and at San Ildefonso, when children have measles 

 ashes are dusted over the eruption with a cloth to sooth the irritation. 

 Hence the malady is called niikewe {fill, ashes; h'^ve, ). 



At the time of the Spanish advent ashes were mixed with ado))e 

 for building material. 



Torquemada's informant mentions the use of ashes in signaling: 

 "They [the Pueblo Indians] know of their enemies' approach from far 

 off, and in order that the neighboring pueblos may come to their aid, 

 the women go up to the top of their houses and throw ashes into the 

 air, and behind this make a smothered fire so that by giving a thicker 

 smoke it may be better seen by the other pueblos whose help they 

 desire, and the women, striking their hands on their open mouths, 

 raise a great cry which sounds loud and far off . . ." 



Castano de Sosa, in 1590, described the throwing of ashes, perhaps 

 in token of defiance: "The lieutenant went back to the pueblo to 

 parley with them again, and they would not; on the contrary an 

 Indian woman came out on a balcony of the said houses, which are as 

 much as four or five stories high, and threw a small amount of ashes 

 at him, and at this they set up a great clamor, and he withdrew."^ 



iTorqiiemada, Movarchia Indiana, lib. v, p. 672. 

 ^Doc. de Indias, xv, p. 229. 



