134 



THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by C. Hart Merriam 



OPEN-AIR KITCHEN, WHERE) THE ACORN MEAE IS EEACHED AND COOKED 



Beyond the leach is the fire, covered with stones which are being heated to cook the mush 

 in the baskets on the left. The leach is a low, concave mound of dry debris gathered under 

 the manzanita and lilac bushes, consisting mainly of dead and broken leaves and bark, which 

 together form a porous bedding through which the water easily finds its way. The leach is 

 lined with a fiber mat, or cloth, and the branch of an evergreen tree is laid on the meal to 

 catch and spread the water so that it will not dig into the meal. Used by the Mewuk Indians 

 of the Sierra foothills region, California. 



leagues away. But the quantity of food 

 obtained proved insufficient, and early in 

 March the famished Hurons were com- 

 pelled "to go in search of acorns on the 

 summits of mountains which were divest- 

 ing themselves of their snow." These 

 poor Indians were drowned by the sud- 

 den breaking up of the ice on the lake 

 (Jesuit Relations). 



USE OE ACORNS IN SOUTHERN STATES 



The Choctaw, of Louisiana, according 

 to David Bushnell, used to make flour by 

 pounding the acorns of the water oak 

 in a wooden mortar, when the meal was 

 leached, by putting it into an openwork 

 basket and pouring water through several 

 times. It was then boiled or used as 

 corn meal. 



In the Southern States, where more 

 than 20 species of oaks occur, and in 



parts of Mexico, acorns are sometimes 

 eaten by the people, and they are relied 

 upon to supply the principal food of the 

 countless thousands of hogs that roam at 

 will through the glades and forests, thus 

 contributing materially, albeit indirectly, 

 to the support of the population. 



And there is every reason to believe 

 that a fair proportion of the species 

 might be utilized with advantage to vary 

 or supplement the daily diet of the peo- 

 ple. This would be especially desirable 

 in the case of the ill-nourished poorer 

 classes — those subject to the inroads of 

 hook-worm and pellagra. 



In California the relative merits of the 

 different kinds are well known. At mid- 

 dle elevations in the interior of the State 

 the fruit of the black oak is the favorite, 

 while in the humid coast belt that of the 

 tanbark oak is most prized. Besides 



