April I, 19 1 6 359 



a mat of damp .seaweed on wliicli a lajer of Ibc Uibers was 

 placed, and beings overlaid by more seaweed and liot stones, was 

 allowed to !-teani for about two bonrr. 'J'be tubers were iben 

 ready to be calen. 2. I'oiling. A second mclliod was to put tbe 

 tubers into a watei proof ba.-ket, co\er llieui wilb water and beat 

 tbe water wiib bol stones unlil tbe tubers were i)oiled. Tbis 

 process required two l.ours or more. 3. Pit cookinj^. In tbe 

 ibird metbc'd tbe tubers I cino;^ collected, a .'^mall ."square, or more 

 usually oblong, pit about 3 fcit wide by 5 or 6 feet long and 2 

 feet deep was made in llic ground, a lajer of bot stones placed in 

 tbe bottom and co\ercd wilb a mat of bracken and feins, on 

 wbicb a layer of tbe tubers was laid and tbe process repeated 

 until two layers of tubers bad tbus been covered. Tbe pit was 

 left undistnibed for aLout 48 liours, until tbe cooking was com- 

 plete. Tbe tubers were iben exlnnned and tb^ outer coat being 

 removed, were ready to be eaten. 4. Baking. Tbe usual metbod 

 in use by tbe Indians, bowever, was to bake tbe plant in bot 

 asbes. Tbe tubers were j)laced in very bot a>bes and allowed to 

 remain for about an lionr. Tbey were tben raktd out of tbe 

 asbes and tbe tougb outer coat being removed, were eaten wbile 

 hot. Tbis metbod bad many advantages: a. only a sufficient 

 quantity for tbe immediate meal need be cooked; b. tbey were 

 eaten bot and tbe flavor was mncb improved wben tbey were 

 cooked in tbis way — in fact, it was tbe only mode of cooking 

 that rendered tbem really palatable to tbe wbite man; and c. tbe 

 lime required to cook ar.d prepsietbe meal was con.'-iderably less 

 tban by any of the otber metbods, a factor ibat counted for much 

 at the end of a long das's joniney or an arduous hunt. 



Wben it was desiied to put up tbe plant for future use, pit 

 cooking was tbe metbod adopted, and the tubers after removal 

 from tbe pit and hu.^king tbe outer coat, were reduced to a sort 

 of dough or paste and made into small roundish cakes about 3 

 inches in diameter and i to 2 inches thick, and were then fire 

 dried and put away for winter use. 



The Cbinese in Oregon and California relish the Wapato, 

 and to tbis da>" use it for food wherever it can be obtained in 

 sufficient quantities to justify gathering it. The introductiou of 



