RUSSELL] THE I'OOD SUPPLY 69 



Meat is roasted on the coals, a favorite metluul of cooking dried 

 meat or that of small rodents, or it is boiled imtil nvcII done. In the 

 latter method, according to one informant, it is put on the lire in cold 

 water. The hrolh is then thrown away lest it cause consumption. 

 A coarse-grained Hour is sometimes l)oiled with the meat to make what 

 a Canadian voyageur woulil term ruhabu. 



Occasionally a housewife will l)e met with among the Pimas who is 

 scrupulously neat and clean in cooking and in the care of the home, 

 ilost of the women, however, carry traces of dried dough on their 

 fuigers from week's end to week's end, and the cookhig vessels know 

 no cleansing except the scraping that seeks the last particle of food 

 that may cling to them, the rasping tongue of the starving dog, or the 

 hasty sloppmg of a little cold water hito them just before u.su>g again. 

 The evil effects of slovenliness are reduced, however, by the peculiar 

 conditions, such as the drj' air, which saps the moisture from all 

 organic matter, even in the shade; the outdoor cooldng place expo.sed 

 to a sim that withers all germs; and the habit of eating all the food 

 prepared for each meal, which includes the rule of eticpiette prescrib- 

 ing that one must eat all that is set before Mm. 



The kitchen is an arrow-bush inclosiire, about 4 or 5 meters in diam- 

 eter (pi. VI, b), containing its set of half a dozen pottery ves.sels. 

 In the center are the three stones on wliich the cooking pot rests. 

 Such an inclosure is <[uite common at the present day, though many 

 have adoped the oval fireplaces of adobe (pi. vi, c), some obtain inm 

 kettle stands from the agency blacksmith, and a few (chiefly those 

 who live in adobe houses) are using modem stoves. 



PLANTS USED FOR FOOD 



A'tiUJc i'avak, Atriplex bracteosa var. ; A. coronata Wats. ; A. elegans 

 Dietrich. These saltbushes, with a few others as yet unidcntilied, 

 are sometimes boiled with other food because of their salty flavor. 

 They are cooked in pits with the fruit of the cactus, Opuntia arbo- 

 rescens, the method of roasting them being described below. The 

 young shoots of .some of them are crisp and tender. Conunonly 

 known as "sagebrush," the.se saltbushes are among the most abun- 

 dant plants in that region. There are both herl)aceous and woody 

 species, the former being eaten by stock and the latter being useful 

 for fuel. 



A'opa M'aslk, Populus deltoidcs Marsh. The cottonwood occurs in 

 a thin fringe, with here and there a grove along the Gila and Salt 

 rivers. In February and March the women send some of the bare- 

 foot boys into the tree tops to throw down the catkins, which are then 

 gathered in baskets and carried home to be eaten raw by stripping 

 them off the stem between the teeth. 



