SOME DESERT INDIAN LORE 83 



effective temescal or sweat-house, prototype of our 

 Turkish bath. 



Cord for fish-lines, snares, slings, and nets was 

 procured from several plants. The agave and yucca 

 were the principal sources, but a superior fibre was 

 taken from one of the milkweeds, Asclepias eriocarpa. 

 Brushes came from the ever-useful agave. Glue was 

 at hand on the mesquit, or was ingeniously prepared 

 from other plants. A sort of coffee was made from 

 the roasted nuts of the Simmondsia. Paints of vari- 

 ous colors were taken from the earth, and splendid 

 dyes were obtained from sundry herbs. In short, 

 there were few, if any, needs of a natural life in a 

 mild climate that these people — whom the early 

 whites, in conscious superiority of whiskey and six- 

 shooter, named "Diggers" in contempt — had not 

 found the means of supplying. Many more pages 

 could be filled with the list of their discoveries and 

 appliances, for those I have named are but examples 

 drawn at random from an astonishing number. 



