264 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BrLL. 34 



seasoning or other addition, and the water is pressed out. Meantime 

 there have been roasted and ground together some small beans and 

 maize ; these are mixed with the leaves and thus eaten. Sometimes the 

 greens are eaten with pinole or with the cooked fruit of the hdnami. 



Djeli-t-li'a-tak (Amsinckia tesselata) is a plant which grows near the 

 Gila. The young leaves are eaten raw without preparation. 



Ni'-a-tam, (Malva borealis) is another plant growing in the Gila 

 valley, the fresh leaves of which serve the Pima as food. The leaves 

 are cooked, mixed with white flour, again cooked, and eaten without 

 further preparation. 



Oh'-'pon (Chenopodium?) is a low spreading plant which grows in 

 abundance near the Gila all along the Pima reservation. The green 

 tops are boiled by the Indians and when cooled are drained, mixed 

 with lard and occasionally with salt, and eaten with tortillas; some- 

 times the green tops are chewed raw. 



Chu-lm-ki-ia is a small plant the leaves of which the Pima use for 

 food in the fall. They usually eat them cooked, with the addition of 

 salt, in the same way as spinach, but occasionally they chew the 

 leaves raw. 



Of chrt' -qa-a-talc (Amsinckia spectabilis) the part used is the young 

 leaves, which are eaten raw. They are rolled into a ball, chewed, 

 and swallowed. 



In the case of mo-o-tatrTc (Orobranche multiflora) , the entire plant is 

 used for food. It is somewhat bitter. The Pima eat it cooked 

 without the addition of salt or sugar or other substance. 



Of se-wi-je (canaigre : Rumex hymenosepalus) a common plant in 

 the Gila valley, the Pima used to eat the stalks. They cooked these 

 in pots, or roasted them in the ashes; then, after peeling them, they 

 ate the inside. The root is often chewed by the children, and is also 

 used medicinally in the tribe. 



Chu-Jich-kun-ek ("black salty:" Dondia suffrutescens), a small bush 

 growing along the Gila, is considered poisonous. Nevertheless, as 

 mentioned before, the Pima use the leaves and stalks to line the 

 holes in which they roast the fruit of the hdnami cactus. The purpose 

 of lining the holes with this plant is to give the cactus fruit a salty 

 taste and also to keep up a moist heat. 



Another of the native foods of the Pima is the honey of the wild 

 bees; it is, however, obtained but seldom. A favorite sweet of the 

 Pima children is the honey which a small solitary bee deposits in 

 mud cells in the ground."^ The bee digs a tunnel about 6 inches 

 long below the surface of the ground, and there makes one, two, 

 or even three little jars of mud, in which it secretes a thick, sweet, 



aAccording to Dr. Wm. H. Ashmead, of the National Museum, who was shown a specimen, thecell 

 or pocket is made by a species belonging to the family Authophoridic, probably of the genus Autho- 

 phora, or Melissodes; without the bee ,t£elf the species could not be definitely identified. These bees 

 store up honey and pollen, pleasant enough to taste, in their clay cells, never pure honey alone. 



