540 
Plants  Used  by  the  Indians. 
<  Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      Nov.,  i8?8. 
J.  Califomica,  a  dwarf  but  showy  overgreen.  Southern  Californian  Indians  con- 
sume immense  quantities  of  the  fruit  which  is  sweet  and  is  eaten  as  soon  as  ripe. 
When  the  fruit  is  dry  it  is  either  ground  fine  and  made  into  bread,  or  boiled  in 
water  to  the  consistency  of  mush.  It  must  be  nutritious,  as  the  Indians  get  fat 
on  it. 
J.  Califomica  var.  Utahensis  attains  a  height  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  in 
Utah,  and  a  diameter  of  twelve  inches.  The  Utes  eat  the  fruit  raw  or  made  into  bread. 
As  in  the  former  species,  the  taste  is  quite  sweet.  These  Indians  use  what  they 
call  Noo-ahn-tup,  or  what  appeared  to  be  excrements  of  insects  left  in  hollows  of 
the  junipers,  said  to  be  ground  and  used  for  mush  by  the  Pah-Ute  Indians.  The 
fibrous  bark  of  this  tree  is  made  into  saddles,  breech  clouts,  skirts  and  mats  to  sleep 
on.  The  bark  is  rather  brittle  and  not  so  good  for  domestic  purposes  as  that  of 
Conjoania  mexicana. 
J.  occidentalis. — The  berries  of  this  tree  are  gathered  and  consumed  for  food,  but 
have  more  of  a  juniper  taste  than  the  former  species. 
Pinus  torreyana,  a  very  rare  pine,  on  hills  of  Solidad,  Southern  California,  only. 
The  nuts  are  large  and  wholesome.  Only  the  Indians  near  by  gather  them,  as  they 
are  not  in  great  abundance. 
P.  monophylla. — The  common  pine  on  the  border  of  Lower  California.  It  is  a 
very  productive  tree.  Its  seeds,  though  rich,  and  good  when  fresh,  are  more  digest- 
ible after  being  roasted,  besides  in  that  condition  they  will  keep  fresh  a  long  time. 
Heat  dissipates  the  oil  property  of  the  kernel  and  renders  the  hull  brittle  and  easily 
removed.  It  is  astonishing  how  many  of  these  nuts  an  Indian  can  eat.  From 
morning  until  night,  as  long  as  they  last,  cracking  and  eating  go  on.  The  Indians 
get  very  fat  during  a  good  pine  nut  harvest.  They  remove  the  hulls  by  putting  a 
number  of  the  nuts  on  a  metate,  and  by  rolling  a  flat  pestle  backward  and  forward 
imtil  the  hulls  are  loosened  The  mass  is  then  put  into  a  flat  basket  tray  and  the 
hulls  are  blown  off.  The  kernels  are  now  ready  to  be  eaten,  or  ground  on  the 
metate  to  flour,  which  if  made  into  bread  or  mush  is  a  palatable  and  nutritious  dish. 
The  interior  of  the  young  cone  is  also  eaten. 
As  soon  as  the  pine  cones  begin  to  open  the  Indians  assemble  for  their  great 
feast  and  camp  among  the  pine  trees  during  the  nut  harvest.  The  fruit  upon  the 
ground  is  gathered  up  by  the  children,  while  the  females  pluck  from  the  trees  the 
unopened  fruit,  which  they  place  in  a  net.  Draw-strings  are  tied  around  the  neck 
•of  the  net  which,  when  full,  is  let  down  by  means  of  a  long  rope  fastened  to  the 
centre  of  the  draw-strings.  Some  one  on  the  ground  empties  the  load,  and  the  net  is 
drawn  up  to  be  refilled.  Thus  for  many  days  this  gathering  goes  on  until  the  sup- 
ply is  exhausted,  or  they  have  satisfied  their  wants.  To  hasten  the  opening  of  the 
cones,  they  are  thrown  on  hot  ashes  for  a  few  minutes  The  seeds  are  at  once 
removed  and  put  into  an  earthen  pot  over  a  slow  fire.  After  a  few  stirrings  they 
are  sufficiently  parched  to  render  the  hull  brittle,  so  as  to  be  easily  removed,  while 
the  oil  in  the  kernel  is  set  free.  By  this  process  the  kernel  is  rendered  more  digest- 
ible and  will  keep  for  a  long  time.  If  not  parched,  the  seeds  would  soon  become 
rancid  and  mouldy. 
Algarobia  glandulosa  or  Prosopis  juliflora,  in  Texas,  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and 
Sonora,  grows  from  twenty  to  forty  feet  high,  and  eighteen  inches  in  diameter. 
