312 Notes on Indian Manners and Customs. [ May, 
nests, capture a wasp, place a small straw in the abdomen, light 
it, and let the insect go, they then watch its flight, follow it, and 
secure the nest. The Miama Indians were very fond of a dish 
prepared by boiling the roots of the yellow lily, Litium canadense, 
with meat. In the fall the roots, often two inches in diameter, 
are gathered; they taste very much like green corn. These In- 
dians also eat otter oil cooked in soup, and consider it very 
nutritious. ; 
The Cheyennes and Arapahoes consider dog-meat a superb 
dish, and when they wish to honor a guest especially, they kill 
the fattest dog and roast it; great offence is given if the guest eat 
not bountifully of the chosen dish. They also eat poisoned 
wolves in the Buffalo country. The white men kill the buffaloes 
for their hides, tallow, tongues, and some of the best portions of 
the meat. The tongues bring a high price. The rest of the car- 
cass is then poisoned with strychnine. The wolves eat the meat 
and their intestines become inflamed, producing death. The In- 
dians remove the viscera and eat the remaining portions of the 
wolf. On Cow Creek in Kansas, in 1865, I saw the carcasses of 
hundreds of wolves that had been thus eaten. 
i he Wichita and Comanche Indians will not eat fish that have 
scales, but are fond of those that have no scales ; they catch both 
kinds, and sell those which they do not like to the whites. 
The Apaches kill the beeves issued to them in the following 
manner: They divide themselves into parties; a lasso is cast 
around the animal’s horns and he is thrown to the ground. His 
throat being cut, a number of the Indians mount the body, still 
alive, while the others proceed to cut up the animal in spite of 
his plunging. I saw on one occasion a party cutting out the ribs, 
another removing the viscera, when the beast with a fearful bellow, 
extricated himself from the piles of Indians holding his legs, 
dealt one man a terrible blow in the face, and gored another in 
the stomach. But they rushed like wolves on their prey and soon 
had the quivering meat dangling at their horses sides, the squaws 
carrying off every morsel that was left. In this operation the 
strong have no respect for the weak, animals that have been 
sometime dead are not rejected, and every part of the carcass 1$ 
devoured, They greatly prefer mule and horse flesh. Itis roasted 
half done, all standing around and cutting off slices as soon as it 
is thoroughly warmed. They will not eat anything, however, 
_ that has been killed by lightning. 
