514 SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA. 
sloping downward to a point, had been cut side by side. Each of these 
holes was the property of some one of the squaws or of the children of 


Fic. 69. Koonti log. 
the camp. For each of the holes, which were to serve as mortars, a 
pestle made of some hard wood had been furnished. (Fig. 69.) 
The first step in the process was to reduce the washed Koonti to a 
kind of pulp. This was done by chopping it into small pieces and 





Fic. 70. Koonti pestles. 
filling with it one of the mortars and pounding it with a pestle. The 
contents of the mortar were then laid upon a small platform. Each 
worker had a platform. When a sufficient quantity of the root had 
been pounded the whole mass was taken to the creek near by and thor- 
oughly saturated with water in a vessel made of bark. 


W. eT 
Soc SASS eas 
Fic. 71. Koonti mash vessel. 

