48 BOTANY. 



have been used by the native population past and present. Among them, 

 however, is one of some interest from an archseological standpoint, N. Cleve- 

 land^ Gray, Syn. Fl, vol. ii, part 1, p. 242. This small and small-flowered spe- 

 cies was found by me only in association with the shell heaps which occur 

 so abundantly on the coast of Southern and Central California. Perhaps 

 of all the remains of extinct races so richly furnished by that region, none 

 were so common as the pipes, usually made of stone resembling serpentine, 

 and in shape, as Dr. Yarrow has aptly remarked, like a cigar-holder. These 

 pipes were seldom less than 6 inches long, and 1^ inches in diameter at the 

 larger end, and often much exceeded these measurements. The wing-bone 

 of a pelican, cut to say 2 inches in length, was glued with the inevitable 

 asphaltum into the smaller end as a mouth-piece. Uncomfortable as pipes 

 of this size must have been in use, there is no doubt that they were much 

 used, and there is hardly any doubt in my mind that the above named 

 species of tobacco was the standard supply for them. I can only say, from 

 some experience, that it is excessively strong. 



Salvia Columbarice, Benth, is the Chia of Southern and Central Cali- 

 fornia. I abstract the following brief account I have given of it from the 

 Botanical Bulletin: 



" During the summer of 1875 my attention was called, while in South- 

 ern California, to a mealy preparation in popular use among the Indians, 

 Mexicans, and prospectors. On inquiry, I found it was called 'Chia.' Fur- 

 ther examination proved that it was furnished by the seeds of Salvia Colum- 

 baria, Benth. The seeds are collected, roasted, and ground, in the native 

 way, between two stones. This puts it in the condition in which I first 

 saw it. It is used as a food by mixing it with water and enough sugar to 

 suit the taste. It soon develops into a copious mucilaginous mass, several 

 times the original bulk. The taste is somewhat suggestive of linseed meal. 

 One soon acquires a fondness for it, and eats it rather in the way of a 

 luxury than with any reference to the fact that it is exceedingly nutritious 

 besides. It is in great demand among the knowing ones who have a desert 

 to cross, or who expect to encounter a scarcity of water, and what there is, 

 of bad quality. By preparing it so thin that it can be used as a drink, it 

 seems to assuage thirst, to improve the taste of the water, and, in addition, 



