GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 



WOKAS, A PRIMITIVE INDIAN FOOD 



AT the foot of the Cascade Moun 

 tains, in southwestern Oregon, 

 there is a great marsh called Klamath 

 Marsh. In spring it is covered with 

 beautiful yellow water lilies, which grow 

 so vigorously as to completely exclude 

 the usual marsh vegetation. Later in 

 the season, when the flowers drop away 

 and the pods form and ripen, crowds of 

 Klamath Indians come and gather the 

 pods or ' ' wokas. ' ' They shell the pods 

 in various laborious ways by drying them 

 in the sun or over a fire, and then crack- 

 ing the seed found inside the pods get 

 a kernel, the taste of which delights the 

 most fastidious palate. The Indians 

 roast the kernels or make meal from 

 them ; they consider the wokas a great 

 delicacy and hoard their seeds with 

 much care. 



In the last report of the National 

 Museum Mr F. V. Coville gives an in- 

 teresting description of the wokas and 

 of how the Indians harvest their unique 

 crop. He declares that the wokas are 

 delicious when freshly parched and eaten 

 with cream, and thinks that if some eco- 

 nomical method of getting the seeds out 

 of the pods could be devised it would 

 prove a popular breakfast food. The 

 supply will be always limited, however, 

 to what is now growing in Klamath 

 Marsh and in several smaller areas on 

 the northwest coast. The lily can not 

 be grown commercially elsewhere. ■ In 

 former times the wokas was a staple food 

 of the Indians. Pictures of the wokas 

 marsh and seeds are shown on pages 

 182-184. 



A LABRADOR EXPEDITION 



THE terrible experiences of the 

 Leonidas Hubbard Expedition to 

 central Labrador, ending with the tragic 

 death of Mr Hubbard, is described in a 

 letter from A. Dillon Wallace, a member 

 of the expedition, to a relative in New 



York. The party of three — Hubbard, 

 Wallace, and one guide — left Northwest 

 River, Labrador, July 15, 1903, bound 

 for Lake Michikamau, 400 miles inland. 

 They took a scanty supply of provisions, 

 expecting game would be plentiful ; but 

 with the exception of one caribou, which 

 they shot, and a rare grouse or goose, 

 they saw nothing living during the en- 

 tire journey. They reached the lake 

 September 15 in a starving condition, 

 and found no game there either. They 

 struggled back, with nothing to eat ex- 

 cept straps and skins, which they soaked. 

 Finally, on October 18, Hubbard be- 

 came so weak that the party decided he 

 must be left and the others push ahead 

 for help. Wallace and the guide gave 

 him almost all they had and pushed 

 ahead, but in a few hours Wallace, too, 

 became exhausted and unable to ad- 

 vance. He tried, then, to return and 

 join Hubbard, but in his weakness lost 

 his way. Meanwhile the guide kept on 

 and fell in with a party of trappers. 

 Going back they found Wallace wander- 

 ing about, crazy, and Hubbard dead. 

 Wallace has since recovered. 



THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT 



THAT a vast Antarctic continent ex- 

 ists, perhaps twice as large as 

 Europe, would seem to be proved by the 

 reports now appearing of the recent ex- 

 plorations in that region. The Amer- 

 ican Commander Wilkes, returning 

 from the far south in 1841, asserted the 

 existence of a vast South Polar conti- 

 nent, and described his voyage of 1,500 

 miles in sight of the coast. Ross, how- 

 ever, returning soon after, discredited 

 Wilkes' conclusions, saying that the 

 land seen by Wilkes was merely a great 

 wall of ice. The world has been in 

 doubt which to believe. 



That Ross was wrong and Wilkes 

 right is very evident from the report of 

 Captain Scott, of the British Antarctic 



