74 



THE PIMA INDIANS 



[ETH. ANN. 20 



Kan'yo, Sorghum vulgare Pers. Sorghum is cuhivated when tlie 

 water supply permits. It has been obtained recently from the wlaites, 

 who raise it extensively in the Southwest. 



Ki'ak. The heads of this annual are gathered and the seeds beaten 

 out with the kiaha stick used as a flail. The seeds are moistened, 

 parched, wliich makes it resemble pop corn, ground on the metate, 

 and eaten by taking alternately pinches of meal and sips of water. 



Kol, Prosopis velutina. j\[osquite beans" formed nearly if not 

 quite the most important article of diet of the Pimas in primitive 

 times (pi. X, a). They are still extensively used, though the supply 

 is somewhat curtailed by the live stock which feed avidly upon 

 them. As already stated, the crop sometimes fails, "especially in 



Fig. 4. Sheds with caches on roofs. 



hard times," as one of our informants naively remarked. The mes- 

 quite harvest takes place somewhat later than that of the saguaro. 

 The beans are gathered and stored in the pod in cylindrical bins on 

 the roofs of the hou.ses or sheds (fig. 4). While yet on the trees, the 

 bean pods are bored by larvag of the family Bruchidse. ^ 



o Analysis ol mesquite beans, including the pod: 



Per cent. 



Moisture 5. 96 



Dry matter 94.04 



Crude ash 5. 20 



Crude tat 5. 12 



Per cent. 



Crude cellulose 32 53 



Albuminoids 14.03 



Nitrogen-free extract 37. 13 



Nutritive ratio 1:5.8 



" The amount of cellulose, or woody fiber, is very much larger in the bean, and the amount of nitrogen- 

 fi-ee extract considerably smaller: but the albuminoids and fats compare very well indeed. The bean 

 pod is 4 to 8 inches in length, and grows in bunches from six to eight pods to the bunch." Third Amiual 

 Report, hSSS, Texas .\gricultural Experiment Station. Reference kindly supplied by Mr Ewell, Bureau 

 of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture. 



<> '■ There are two species of Bruchus which are especially common in mesquite seeds in .\rizona— both 

 the common mesquite and the screw bean, namely, Bruchus prosopis Lee. and Bruchus desertorum 

 Lee. Occasionally other species breed in the seeds." Dr L. O. Howard, Department of Agriculture, 

 letter. 



