830 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Pleiades are called by the Shuswaps "the bunch," and 

 also " people roasting." The latter name is given from a story of 

 their origin, which relates that a number of women who were 

 baking roots in a hole in the ground were changed into this group 

 of stars. The morning star has the names " coming with the day- 

 light " and " one with hair standing out round his head." The 

 four stars forming the bowl of the Great Dipper are known as the 

 bear stars, and the three following large stars are three brothers 

 in pursuit of the bear. The first hunter is brave and near the 

 bear ; the second leads a dog (the small companion star) ; and the 

 third is afraid and hangs far back. The stars of Orion's belt are 

 called " fishing/' and the Milky Way is the road or path of the 

 dead. The months, beginning about March, are " spring," " grass 

 month," " root-digging month," " strawberry month," " berry 

 month," " salmon month," " month when the salmon get bad," 

 " month when the deer travel," " month in which they return 

 from hunting," "midwinter month," and Pit-tshik-in-tin" (which 

 is not translated). 



Several native roots still constitute notable items in the food 

 of the Shuswaps, though their importance has diminished since 

 the white man's preparations were introduced. Roots are always 

 dug and cooked or cured by the women. In digging the roots 

 a pointed stick, about four feet in length, with a crutch-shaped 

 handle, is used. The lily, Lilium columbianum, is much sought 

 after, and, like most of the roots, is cooked by baking in the 

 ground. The roots of balsamorhiza, cinquef oil, claytonia or spring 

 beauty, dog-tooth violet, and of other less familiar plants, are also 

 eaten. The camass is abundant, and forms an important article 

 of diet. No edible thing is ignored, and few edible substances of 

 any kind are passed by ; but the Indians never heard of any one 

 eating a mushroom. The cambium layer of the black or bull 

 pine (Pinus murrayana) is eaten when it is soft and gelatinous, 

 at the time the leaves are still growing, and is sometimes dried 

 and kept. The cambium of the subalpine spruce and of cotton- 

 wood is also sometimes eaten. The sappy and still nearly white 

 parts of the large leaf -stalks and stems of the Heracleum lanatum 

 are eaten in the spring, and, when taken at the right stage, are 

 not much inferior to celery. The nutlets in the cones of Pinus 

 albicantes are gathered in large quantities and eaten from the 

 cones after having been roasted, or thrashed out and prepared. 

 They have a rather pleasant taste, flavored with turpentine, and 

 are nearly the size of small garden peas. Nutlets of yellow pine 

 and Douglas fir are also collected' — generally by robbing the 

 mice and squirrels of their stores. The pith or inner bark of 

 Epilobium, spicatum is eaten while still young and sappy. A 

 black, hairlike lichen, Alectoria jubata, is eaten roasted, and is 



