USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



meal, and it is as cloyingly fragrant as so much mo- 

 lasses. Mr. Edward H. Davis, of Mesa Grande, 

 California, to whom I am indebted for the specimen, 

 writes concerning it : 



"The mesquit meal is used to-day by the desert 

 Indians the same as centuries ago. The pod is 

 pounded up in wooden mortars made from the 

 mesquit-tree trunk hollowed out by fire and set 

 firmly in the ground. A long, slender, stone pestle 

 is used to pound with. The beans are so brittle that 

 enough for dinner can be prepared in eight to ten 

 minutes. The meal is mixed with water and eaten 

 so, being sweet and nourishing. The edible part is 

 the pulp of the pods only; the seeds are not diges- 

 tible by either man or beast, but will pass through 

 the digestive tract unchanged. However, by pour- 

 ing warm water over the seeds a sweetish, rather 

 lemon-tasting drink is made and much relished by 

 the desert Coahuillas." 



The Pima Indians of Southern Arizona formerly 

 used mesquit meal as a makeshift for sugar, mingling 

 it with their wheat or corn pinole to sweeten the 

 latter.^^ The raw beans picked from the tree may 

 be chewed with enjoyment and some nutritive profit, 



11 John Russell Bartlett, "Personal Narrative of Explorations in 

 Texas, New Mexico, California, etc." Vol. II: 217. 



64 



