HRDLicKA] PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 259 



chin-ko-ja are washed and then crushed and dried. For use as 

 food, they are ground, stirred with water, and drunk, or eaten as 

 thin mush. The mixture is said to look much lilve broken-up camied 

 tomatoes, but tastes much better. It is reputed to be a good food 

 for sick persons. The juniper berries are boiled and eaten without 

 seasoning. 



Acorns are used as food but little; those from the scrub oak are pre- 

 ferred to others. They are ground, mixed with chopped-uj:) boiled 

 meat and soup, and thus eaten. The mixture is said to be "very 

 good." Pinon nuts, when ripe, are gathered m quantities and eaten 

 raw or roasted; black walnuts, which are somewhat smaller than 

 those of the eastern United States, are eaten raw. 



Of seeds the San Carlos people sometimes use the Tdoh-tzo and the 

 na'p-tzi, samples of which were not obtainable." The lioli-tzo is said 

 to look much like rye, but is smaller; the grass from which it is 

 obtained grows in the moimtains where pines are found. The seeds 

 after being ground are boiled for a short time, and the mixture is 

 then eaten with a little salt, like nmsh. The na'p-tzi is also the seed 

 of a grass that grows in the mountains. The seeds are roasted and 

 well ground ; hot water is then added and the mixture is eaten as 

 mush. 



The native foods of the Walapai are many. The writer collected a 

 number of samples (now in the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory), but these do not include all that are used, for, at the time of 

 his visit, no specimens of a few varieties could be found. Specimens 

 of the following or data concerning them were found: 



Ke-th-pi-la, a grass appearmg early in summer m the mountauis. 

 The seeds are called iat. The women gather these seeds and save 

 them in bags for future use. To make them ready for use the seeds 

 are parched, and ground on the metate; they are then eaten, after 

 being stirred m cold water into a mush ; or more water is added and 

 the mixture after being well stirred is drunk. 



M'-nat is a species of yucca, the same whose brownish root is used 

 in basketry. The plant has a greenish fruit, from which the Walapai 

 prepare a kind of dried molasses. The women roast the fruit to a 

 certain extent on coals, then break it open, pick out and throw away 

 the seeds, pound the pulp on stones, and spread it on grass in the 

 sun. After the mass has lain in the sun for a day or two it forms 

 large cakes, as much as a yard in diameter; these are folded and pre- 

 served as they are, or are roasted more and then stored away. The 

 cake is called tyi' -na-ta-la-va. The Walapai eat this as it is or cooked 

 more; at times they drink an infusion of it. The taste of the half- 

 dried m'na-ta-la-va is quite pleasant and preferable to that of the 



o Some of the plants here mentioned it was not possible to obtain at the season when the writer vis- 

 ited the reservation, while others were obtained, but, being without foliage and flowers, could not be 

 identified. 



