MEDICINES OF COMMERCE. 427 
(Asclepias—pu). When it is dry the Indian takes both ends of a stalk in 
his hand and crushes it in his teeth, or else passes it over a stone while he 
gently taps it with another; then strips off the bark and twists it into 
strands, then into cords. The rock milkweed (oam’-pu) has a medicinal 
value; they use the root for the toothache the same way the root of the 
buckthorn is used. 
It is necessary to state that most of the medicines above mentioned 
are of the class which, the women are allowed to become somewhat ac- 
quainted with and to employ. There are several other substances which 
are more rare and valuable, or at least they deem them more valuable, and 
which the medicine-men alone know anything about. They are found far 
up in the mountains or in other localities, and may be called the medicines 
of commerce, having a tolerably well-settled value in shell-money. I re-_ 
egret that I was generally unable to secure sufficiently complete specimens 
to determine them. For instance, there is a root (li'-no) which I should 
call seneca snakeroot, but of which I could secure only a little piece. A 
root as large as a pipestem and about four inches long is worth $1. A 
decoction of it is used for diarrhea, that scourge of aboriginal life, also for 
venereal diseases. There is a bush (cha’-pum) found in the mountains, with 
a very pale, tea-green bark and minute golden specks on the small limbs, 
which is probably California sassafras, and which is very highly esteemed 
for coughs and colds, a tea of the bark being given. Another root (pal’- 
lik)—spignet from its appearance—is made into a tea and drunk for diar- 
rhea. This also is very valuable. There is still another root (Jit/-we) found 
on the Truckee which is good for the dropsy. 
Although it is not strictly germane to the topic, I may be permitted to 
state that the Indians have names for all the internal organs of the human 
body; and their ideas of their functions and of the operations of medicine 
are at least as respectable as those of the Chinese. 
YOKUTS BOTANY. 
I will subjoin here some brief notes on plants and flowers brought in 
by the Indians of Tule River Reservation for inspection by the surgeon of 
the reseryation and myself: 
