1878. | Plants Used by Indians of the United States. 597 
with a drain underneath. Rather fine gravel is now scattered 
thickly over the bottom, and up the sides of the strainer, and the 
meal laid thickly over this gravel. Water is added, little by 
little, to set free the injurious matter. When the water ceases 
to have a yellowish tinge, the deleterious property has been sepa- 
rated. The meal is removed by the hand as much as possible, 
after which water is poured over the remainder, so as to get the 
meal together. It is then scooped up by the fingers, very little 
being wasted in the operation. The meal is cooked in two ways: 
First, by boiling it in water, as we do cornmeal mush. When 
cooked by this process, it is not unlike yellow cornmeal mush in 
appearance and taste. The second mode is to take the meal, as 
soon as it is washed, and make it into small balls which are 
wrapped in green corn leaves. These balls are then placed in 
hot ashes, some green leaves of corn are laid over them, and hot 
ashes, placed on the top of sufficient thickness to bake the cakes. 
These are considered extra nice by Indians. Females not only 
gather and store the acorns, but perform all the work necessary 
to convert them into food. 
Rhus aromatica var. triloba (Squaw berry),so named because the 
Indian women gather large quantities of the berries which are 
used as food. They are of a red color, and excessively sour, but 
very much used while fresh, during the summer months. The 
berries when macerated makes a very pleasant drink, and they 
are also dried for food. The young twigs of this plant are used 
in the manufacture of baskets. The wood exhales a peculiar 
odor, which is always recognizable about Indian camps,and never 
leaves articles made from it. It grows loosely in mountain ra- 
vines, and attains a height of five to eight feet. 
In Utah, Arizona, Southern California, and New Mexico, the 
Indians depend solely upon this plant for material out of which 
to make their baskets. It is far more durable and tougher than 
the willow, which is not used by these Indians. The mode of 
preparation is as follows: The twigs are soaked in water to 
soften them, and to loosen the bark, which is scraped off by the 
females. The twigs are then split, by the use of the mouth and 
both hands. Their baskets are built up by a succession of small 
rolls of grass stems over which these twigs are firmly and closely 
_ bound. A bone awl is used to make the holes under the rims of 
_ grass for the split twigs. Baskets thus made are very durable, __ 
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