GILMORE] TAXONOMIC LIST OF PLANTS 119 
Pumpkin seeds have been found in old Pawnee graves in Nebraska. 
The squash is mentioned in the Onondaga creation myth, showing 
that it has been in cultivation by that tribe from ancient times, and 
this is evidence of its wide distribution from the area of its origin. 
Religious expression is one of the most conservative elements and 
does not readily take up any new thing, hence the religious songs of 
a people indicate those things which have been for a long time 
familiar to that people. Allusion is made to the squash in some of 
the oldest religious songs of the Pima tribe in the southwest. One of 
the most ancient hymns to bring rain is the following. 
Hi-ilo-o ya-a-a! He the All-seeing 
Sees the two stalks of corn standing; 
He’s my younger brother. Hi-ilo-o ya-a-a! 
He the All-seeing sees the two squashes ; 
He’s my younger brother. Hi-ilo-o ya-a-a! 
On the summit of Ta-atukam sees the corn standing; 
He’s my younger brother. Hi-ilo-o ya-a-a! 
On the summit of Ta-atukam sees the squash standing; 
He’s my younger brother. Hi-ilo-o woiha! 
Another Pima rain song: 
Hi-ihiya naiho-o! The blue light of evening 
Falls as we sing before the sacred Amina. 
About us on all sides corn tassels are waving. 
Hiteciya yahina! The white light or day dawn 
Yet finds us singing, while corn tassels are waving. 
Hitciya yahina-a! The blue light of evening 
Falls as we sing before the sacred 4mina. 
About us on all sides corn tassels are waving. 
Hitciya yahina! The white light of day dawn 
Yet finds us singing, while the squash leaves are waving.” 
Cucurpira Fictrot1A Bouché. (C. melanosperma, A. Br.) 
The specimens correspond closely with the description of this species 
(hitherto known only as cultivated in European gardens and conjectured to be 
from the East Indies) excepting in the shape of the leaves, which have the 
lobes (often short) and sinuses acute instead of rounded. Guadalajara, culti- 
vated; September (620).—The fruit, called “ cidra cayote ” or “ chila cayote,” is 
about a foot in length, resembling a watermelon in appearance, with a hard 
outer shell, the contents white and fibrous, and seeds black. It keeps for many 
months without decay. A preserve is made of the inner fibrous portion. The 
name “ cayote,” given to this and other cucurbitaceous species in Mexico, may 
be the equivalent of the “chayote” of Cervantes and the “chayotli” of 
Hernandez.* 
1 Hewitt, Iroquoian Cosmology, p. 174. 
2 Russell, The Pima Indians, p 332. 
8 Watson, Contributions to American Botany, p. 414. 
