116 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS (ETH. ANN. 33 
They made the piston from a piece of Amelanchier alnifolia or of 
the young growth of Quercus macrocarpa. The fibrous inner bark 
of Ulmus americana and of U. fulva was used for popgun wads. 
In the north, where Betula papyrifera is found, its papery bark was 
chewed to a pulp and used for this purpose, while on the western 
prairie the tops of Artemisia were chéwed and so used. 
SYMPHORICARPOS SyMPHORICARPOS (L.) MacM. Coral Berry, and S. 
occipENTALIS Hook. Wolf Berry, Buck Brush. 
Zuzecha-ta-wote sapsapa (Dakota); black snake food (zuzecha, 
snake; wote, food; ta, genitive sign; sapsapa, reduplication of 
sapa, black). 
Ishtogalite-hi (Omaha-Ponea), eye-lotion plant (i"shta, eye). 
The leaves were steeped to make an infusion used for weak or 
inflamed eyes. 
CUCURBITACEAE 
Perro rorripissma (H. B. K.) Britton. Wild Gourd. (PI. 27, a.) 
Wagamu" pezhuta (Dakota), pumpkin medicine (wagamu”, pump- 
kin; pezhuta, medicine). 
Niashiga maka" (Omaha-Ponca), human-being medicine (niashiga, 
human being; ma/a", medicine). They say it is male (niashiga 
maka" nuga) and female (niashiga maka" miga). 
This is one of the plants considered to possess special mystic 
properties. People were afraid to dig it or handle it unauthorized. 
The properly constituted authorities might dig it, being careful to 
make the prescribed offering of tobacco to the spirit of the plant, 
accompanied by the proper prayers, and using extreme care not to 
wound the root in removing it from the earth. A man of my ac- 
quaintance in the Omaha tribe essayed to take up a root of this plant 
and in doing so cut the side of the root. Not long afterward one of 
his children fell, injuring its side so that death ensued, which was 
ascribed by the tribe to the wounding of the root by the father. 
This plant is one which is held in particularly high esteem by all 
the tribes as a medicinal agent. As its range is restricted to the 
drier parts of the Great Plains, it happens that since the tribes are 
confined to reservations they can not get it as easily-as they did 
in old times. This explains why, when I have exhibited specimens 
of the root in seeking information, the Indians have asked for it. 
While they fear to dig it themselves, after I have assumed the risk 
of so doing they are willing to profit by my temerity; or it may be 
that the white man is not held to account by the Higher Powers 
of the Indian’s world. 
The root is used medicinally according to the doctrine of signa- 
tures, simulating, it is believed, the form of the human body, and 
