542 
Plants  Used  by  the  Indians. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1878. 
kind  of  substitute  for  them.  In  preparing  a  food  from  acorns,  the  first  thing  is  to 
take  off  the  hulls.  This  is  done  in  a  mortar  by  a  few  slight  strokes.  The  hulls 
are  then  removed,  and  the  kernels  reduced  to  a  very  fine  meal.  As  all  acorns,  with 
few  exceptions,  possess  a  bitter,  astringent  property,  which  renders  them  unfit  for 
food  until  it  is  removed,  the  Indians  accomplish  this  by  laying  a  coarse  flat  basket  or 
strainer  on  a  pile  of  gravel  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  separated.  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  make  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  moun- 
tain ravines,  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,  will  hold  water,  and  are  often 
used  to  cook  in,  hot  stones  being  dropped  in  from  time  to  time  until  the  food  is 
done. 
Cerasus  ilicifolia. — Indians  eat  this  fruit  and  save  the  seeds  which  they  consume 
raw,  or  ground  and  cooked  into  mush.  They  are  dried  whole  or  split.  This  is  a 
very  common  plant  in  California,  and  is  very  productive.  Its  fruit  is  of  a  yellow 
color,  with  a  pink  tinge,  and  has  the  shape  of  gage  plums,  but  possesses  little  pulp. 
The  seeds  are  large,  affording  much  food. 
C.  demissa. — The  wild  cherry  of  Southern  California,  a  dwarf  bush,  but  very 
