BULL. 30] 



FOOD 



467 



vegetal diet existed, and no aboriginal 

 domestication (q. v. ) of animals n. of 

 Mexipo is found except in the case of the 

 turkey and the dog. 



In general, in the n. portion of the con- 

 tinent the diet Avas three-fourths animal 

 food; in the s. part it was three-fourths 

 vegetal; while with the tribes of the 

 coast, mountains, lakes, and plains, it 

 varied according to the food supply. The 

 absence of milk food, other than the ma- 

 ternal lactation, to a considerable extent 

 limited the natural increase of population. 

 The food supply also changed with the 

 seasons, causing the diet at different pe- 

 riods of the year to vary in its ratio of 

 animal to vegetal constituents, and an- 

 other feature depended on religious cus- 

 toms and habits which modified or regu- 

 lated the food used. For esJample, the 

 Apache and Navaho will not eat fish 

 or the flesh of the bear or beaver, and 

 other tribes had tabu or totemic animals 

 which, though useful for food, were not 

 eaten (see Tabu). In inhospitable regions, 

 such as that inland from the Texas coast 

 in the 16th century, the natives subsisted 

 on whatsoever they could find. Cabeza 

 de Vaca wrote of the Yguazas: "Their 

 support is principally roots, which re- 

 quire roasting two days; many are very 

 bitter. Occasionally they take deer, and 

 at times take fish; but the quantity is so 

 small and the famine so great, that they 

 eat spiders and the eggs of ants, worms, 

 lizards, salamanders, snakes, and vipers 

 that kill Avhom they strike; and they eat 

 earth and wood, and all that there is, the 

 dung of deer, and other things that I 

 omit to mention ; and I honestly believe 

 that were there stones in that land they 

 would eat them. They save the bones of 

 the fishes they consume, of snakes, and 

 other animals, that they may afterward 

 beat them together and eat the powder." 

 Almost as much may be said of the Maidu 

 of California who, in addition to consum- 

 ing every edible vegetal product, ate badg- 

 ers, skunks, wildcats, and mountain 

 lions; practically all birds except the buz- 

 zard; yellow jacket larva?, grasshoppers, 

 locusts, and crickets, and even salmon 

 bones and deer vertebrse (Dixon). 



Vegetal food comprised a vast array 

 of the products of plant life, of which 

 roots and seeds were the most valuable. 

 The most important food plant possessed 

 by the Indians was maize (q. v.) which 

 formed and still forms their principal sub- 

 Fiistence. Following maize in order of 

 importance came l)eans, peas, potatoes, 

 squashes, pumpkins, melons, and chile, 

 which were grown in variety. Unculti- 

 vated plants also entered into the dietary, 

 as seeds, roots, and flowers of grasses and 

 other plants, or parts of plants used as 

 greens, for flavoring, etc. In number- 



less cases wild plants have preserved 

 tribes from starvation when cultivated 

 crops failed. In the S. W., cactus and 

 yucca fruits, mesquite beans, and the agave 

 were most important elements of the food 

 supply. As in Mexico, the roasted fleshy 

 leaves and leaf matrix of the agave were 

 prized as sweet, nourishing food (see 

 Mescal). Tuckaho and other fungi were 

 used for food by the eastern Indians; 

 " tuckaho bread " was well known in the 

 S. The N. Pacific tribes made much use 

 of thg sweet inner bark of the hemlock 

 and spruce. Savors, flavors, and condi- 

 ments, as well as sweets, were valued by 

 the Indian, who was also fond of chew- 

 ing gum. While salt was tabued by the 

 Onondaga and lye substituted by some of 

 the southerji Indians, the former was in 

 general use. In some cases salt was made 

 by the evaporation of the water of salt 

 springs; in other localities it was obtained 

 in crystal form from salt lakes and springs, 

 and commerce in this product was wide- 

 spread. Chile, which is of Mexican 

 origin, became known throughout the S. 

 W., and saffron, an introduced plant, is 

 still in use there to flavor and color food, 

 as are also the yellow flowers of the 

 squash vine. Throughout New England 

 and s. E. Canada sugar was produced by 

 the evaporation of maple sap (see Maple 

 sugar ) ; in the S. W. it was derived from 

 the willow and the agave. In some local- 

 ities clay was eaten, either alone or mixed 

 with food or taken in connection with 

 wild potatoes to mitigate the griping effect 

 of this acrid tuber. In general, buffalo, 

 the deer family, and fish were the ani- 

 mals most useful for food. Some wood- 

 land tribes depended on deer, while the 

 coast and river tril^es usually made special 

 use of fish and other products of the 

 waters. Amphibious mammals sustained 

 the Eskimo, while the porcupine is said 

 to have been the chief food animal of the 

 Montagnais. The range of game ani- 

 mals influenced the range of man in 

 America quite as much as the distribution 

 of food plants predetermined his natural 

 diffusion. 



Contrary to popular belief the Indians, 

 as a rule, preferred cooked food. The 

 Eskimo, whose name signifies ' eaters of 

 raw flesh' , ate uncooked meat only when 

 absence of fuel prohibited cooking, or as 

 a side dish. Vegetal food especially re- 

 quires the agency of fire to render it fit 

 for human digestion, whereas animal food 

 may be consumed in a raw state, certain 

 parts, as the liver, often being eaten in 

 this way. All the edible portions of the 

 animal were put to use, and in many cases 

 both animal and vegetal substances ad- 

 vanced toward putrefaction were pre- 

 ferred, as salmon eggs which were stored 

 in sand, by the Alaskans, and immature 



