59 
bark. Cakes were made from the soft and eee inner bark 
of the hemlock, the willow, slippery elm, and the pine. Espe- 
cially with the oe Indians this sort 2 food was an 
important item o 
few words on seth be said concerning the storage of 
food products. Some fruits and tubers were gathered for im- 
mediate consumption, but whenever the nature of the food 
product was suitable, and the quantity available was sufficient, 
storage for future use was the rule. hen properly dried and 
stored various seeds, nuts, tubers, and even fruits keep from 
season to season. In fact, pack was not a serious problem with 
the Indians. Thatched huts or cribs were used meron for 
corn. Attics in their houses were utilized. Many tribes dug 
caches or cistern-like cavities in the ground in oo. localities 
about the village sites in which food supplies were stored. Often 
these caches are found today with remains of such less perishable 
foods as nuts and seeds. In both the preparation and the cooking 
of such foods the Indians were seriously handicapped. With 
ae grinding was a laborious task, accomplished by hand with 
aid of mortars and stone grinding stones 
ice to popular belief the Indians as a rule preferred 
cooked food. Nearly all the more staple vegetable foods require 
cooking. Parching and roasting were processes easily carried 
on by the use of open baskets and flat stones. Baking was also 
a rather simple process. Boiling was a difficult procedure, as 
the Indian was without iron, tin, or even glazed earthenware. 
“Stone boiling’ was practiced. In this method hot stones were 
placed in the baskets along with the food to be boiled. Consider- 
ing all these difficulties iors tribes reached a remarkable degree 
of proficiency in the art of cooking. 
At the time of the oe of ee the Indians as a 
whole were probably ie selene in numbers. Since their 
contact with whites most tribes have Sally diminished in 
numbers. A few tribes ae oe a steady gain— Navajo tribes 
for cee Recently several tribes have shown slight increase. 
ost common disorders of health now experienced by 
Tadians are te of the gastro-intestinal tract, due chiefly to 
