ROBBINS, HARRINC.Tf 

 FREIRE-MAUKECO 



'^^] ETHNOBOTANY OF THE TEWA INDIANS 51 



An informant from San Ildefonso described the use of j/'a as a ritual 

 emetic; the person chews it (part not specified, possibly the root) and 

 then drinks water. 



The leaves were sometimes baked and eaten by travelers when other 

 provisions failed. 



Mr. A. F. Bandelier kindly allowed the writers to quote from his 

 manuscript notes on the uses of yucca at Cochiti in 1882 : 



"Fishing was done in former times with long nets made of threads of iMmilla 

 ancha (Yucca baccata), which were stretched across the river, weighed down by 

 stones, and kept floating by gourds and inflated skins. . . . The thread of the 

 palmilla ancha was prepared as follows : In May or June, the governor sent out men 

 to cut the leaves of the plants and gather them in 'hands.' They dug a hole in 

 the ground and kindle<i a large Are in it; after the ground had become thoroughly 

 heated, the embers and ashes were cleared out and the leaves placed in carefully, 

 covered with brush, then with stones, and finally with a layer of earth. On the 

 top of this another large fire was built and left burning over night; the leaves were 

 thus well baked. Then the ' hands ' Avere carried to the pueblo, and as the leaves 

 became very sweet, the boys chewed them up, extracting the fiber, ha-tyani-go-goiren, 

 which they carefully laid aside, each bundle by itself, returning it to the house 

 where it belonged. That fiber was twisted into thread, and strips of netting made 

 of it, which were handed to the oflicers and then the whole net made. It was thus 

 to all intents and purposes a communal enterprise, and the proceeds were enjoyed 

 in common. Fruits of the Yucca baccata are still eaten. The women went together 

 to gather the fruit in September and October, baking it until the skin could be taken 

 off and the fiber removed, then threw it into ca.refes and mixed it thoroughly, 

 boiling it alternately, until it came down to a firm jelly or paste. It was then spread 

 into large cakes about 1 inch thick, and left to dry on hanging scaffolds, changing it 

 from time to time until it was perfectly dry. It was then cut into squares (or, at 

 Acoma and Laguna, rolled into loaves) and preserved. In spring it was eaten in 

 various ways, as paste, or dissolved in water and drunk, or tortillas and guayabes 

 were dipped into the solution, thus using it like molasses or syrup." 



The fruit, sahil, of Yucca baccata, samoa^ is eaten by the Hopi; its 

 soapy root is called samomobi. The soap}^ root of Yucca angustifolia, 

 mohil^ is called mohumobi. All the yucca plants are used for basketry 

 and a multitude of other purposes.* 



The Zuni paint designs on pottery with brushes made of yucca 

 needles. The pigments are ground in stone mortars and made into a 

 paste with water to which a sirup of yucca fruit is added. ^ They 

 make yucca cord for netting, strings to plume offerings, etc.^ The 

 ancestors of the Zuiii, Ashiwi, are said to have used bowstrings of 

 yucca fiber.* The Zufii make a conserve of the fruit of Yucca haccata.^ 



The archeological evidence in the pueblo area shows that yucca 

 strips were used to make plaited sandals and baskets resembling the 

 modern /X{yV>, and for fiber and cord generally; also that yucca fiber, 



I J. Walter Fewkes in Amcr. Anthr., ix, 1896, p. 17. 



2M.C. Stevenson, Zufii Indians, Twenty-third Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 375. See also this 

 author's Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians, Thirtieth Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethn., passim. 

 3Ibid.,p. 113. ilbid.,p. 36. sibid., p.368. 



