92 VEGETABLE PRODUCTS USED BY NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
apply to P. Sabineana alone,—a fertile source of error. The Indian climbs the 
tree and throws down the cones to the squaw beneath, who carefully secures them, 
otherwise the squirrels would make short work with them. The cones are then 
scorched to open them and destroy the troublesome resin, so that the winter supply 
of pine-seeds, which it has been thought would supply such a harvest to the bo¬ 
tanist, is perfectly useless, the vitality being extinct in them. When I visited 
Oregon in 1865, I found that in P. Sabineana , as in nearly every other conifer, 
the “pine-seed harvest ” had failed, and the Indians suffered much. One of these 
pines (P. Lambertiana, the “sugar-pine”), yields a sugar, which is occasionally 
eaten, though it has cathartic properties. It is only found on scorched trees, and 
in very small quantities. I have, however, heard of a man who devoted himself, 
for a few weeks, to the business of collecting it, and obtained 150 pounds. It 
can scarcely be distinguished from the manna of the shops, except by a slight 
terebinthine flavour. In times of scarcity the Indians will eat the liber of 
JPinus contorta, Dougl. Along both sides of the trail, in the passes of the Galton 
and Docky Mountains, many of the young trees of this species are stripped of 
their bark, from a foot or so above the ground to a height of six or seven feet. 
This is done by the Indians during their annual buffalo-hunting expeditions from 
the Kootanie and Kalispelm country to the plains east of the Rocky Mountains, 
for the sake of the inner bark which they use as food, as well in its fresh state 
as when compressed into thick cakes, so as to render it portable (Lyall, Linn. 
Journ. Bot. vii. p. 141). I am not aware that the Coast Indians make any use 
of it for food. The seeds of Vicia gigantea , Hook., are also eaten. Many 
species of grass-seeds ( e. g. Elymus arenarias, L.) are collected for food. 
They are ground in a mortar, or roasted and made into soup. The seed 
of the wild rye ( Hordeum jubatum , L.) is especially held in request among 
the Shoshones of Southern and Eastern Oregon, and a staple article of diet 
among the Klamaths ; near the Klamath Lake, in the same section of coun¬ 
try, are the seeds of the yellow water-lily ( Nupliar advena , Ait.), the gathering 
and preparation of which I described in one of my published letters.* 
“ Chestnuts ’’ ( JEsculus Californica, Nutt.) are usually made into a gruel 
or soup. After being ground in a mortar, they are mixed with water in a 
waterproof basket, in which red-hot stones are thrown, and then the soup 
is cooked. As the stones, when taking out from the fire, have dirt and ashes 
adhering to them, the soup is not clean, and it often sets the teeth on 
edge. The acorns of several species of oak ( Quercns ) are eaten with perhaps as 
much avidity as they were by the ancient Britons,—only we are too familiar 
with the process as practised by the “Digger” to throw any shade of romance 
around it. The acorns of the Californian oaks are mostly large, and the trees in 
general produce abundantly, though some years there is a great scarcity, and 
much misery ensues among the poor natives. They do not, however, contain, 
in proportion to the bulk, an equal amount of nutriment with cereals. The 
acorns are gathered by the squaws, and are preserved in various methods ; 
the most common plan is to make a basket with twigs and rushes in an oak-tree 
and keep the acorns there. The acorns are prepared for eating by grinding 
them and boiling them with water into a thick paste, or by baking them into 
bread. The oven is a hole in the ground, about eighteen inches cubic. Red- 
hot stones are placed in the bottom, a little dry sand or loam is placed over 
them, and next comes a layer of dry leaves. The dough or paste is poured into 
the hole until it is two or three inches deep ; then comes another layer of leaves, 
more sand, red-hot stones, and finally dirt. At the end of five or six hours the 
oven has cooled down, and the bread is taken out, in the form of an irregular 
mass, nearly black in colour, not at all handsome to the eye or agreeable to the 
* ‘Farmer,’ Nov., 1865 (Horticultural Department), etc. 
