MISCELLANEOUS USES 



a certain insect, which punctures the leafage, a pasty 

 exudation is often to be found in abundance upon 

 the plants. This, upon hardening into a gum, may- 

 be collected, and has a sweet, licorice-like taste. 

 Palmer records a former practice of the Indians to 

 cut the canes when the gum was sufficiently hardened, 

 lay them in bundles upon blankets, and shake off 

 the sweet particles. The sugar thus obtained was 

 usually consumed by stirring it in water, making 

 thus a sweet and nutritious drink. Coville speaks 

 of a somewhat different practice with the same plant 

 by the Panamint Indians of the Mojave Desert, who 

 would dry the entire reed, grind it and sift out the 

 flour. This, which would be moist and sticky from 

 the inherent sugar, would then be set near a fire 

 until it would swell and brown, when it would be 

 eaten like taffy.* 



Another primitive sort of sugar harvest may be 

 reaped in a small way from the common Milkweed 

 {Asclepias Syriaca). Kalm, among others, has 

 noted this. The process as observed by him was to 

 gather the flowers in the morning while the dew 

 was on them. The dew, expressed and boiled, 

 yielded a palatable brown sugar. Such a dainty 

 sort of manufacture seems fitting enough in fairy 



♦ The American Anthropologist, Oct., 1892, 



319 



