588  Plants  Used  by  the  Indians.  \AmJ™;$t*' 
kiln  remains  three  days,  or  until  the  contents  are  cooked,  then  it  is  uncovered.  The 
hearts  are  either  consumed  as  food  immediately,  or  pounded  fine  and  pressed 
into  flat,  long,  irregular-shaped  cakes,  about  ten  inches  wide  and  fifteen  long.  They 
have  a  pleasant  sweet  taste,  but  the  dirty  black  color  might  be  objectionable  to 
•some.  It  is  very  nutritious,  and  the  Indians  of  Utah  become  quite  fat  while  living 
upon  it.  The  tender  inner  leaves,  baked  with  the  hearts,  are  pounded  and  pressed 
by  the  hands  into  flat  cakes,  but  are  not  so  sweet  or  palatable  as  the  hearts,  and  are 
full  of  fibres  of  a  brown  color.  Its  fibrous  nature  adapts  these  cakes  for  transporta- 
tion. Indians  in  traveling  or  hunting  carry  them  tucked  under  their  belts,  and  take  off 
pieces  as  they  go  along  to  chew,  spitting  out  the  fibre  or  use  it  for  gun  wads.  The 
hearts  of  all  the  Agaves  when  roasted  yield  this  palatable  kind  of  food. 
A.  deserti. — This  is  on  the  whole  one  of  the  most  useful  of  natural  productions  to 
the  Arizona,  New  Mexican  and  Lower  California  Indians.  The  heart  of  the  plant, 
after  being  roasted,  is  a  nutritious  article  of  diet ;  from  it  is  distilled  a  strong  liquid 
called  mescal  by  Mexicans  ;  the  seeds  are  ground  into  flour  and  eaten  ;  the  leaves 
are  long  and  very  fibrous,  and  are  cleaned  like  those  of  Yucca  baccata.  Sometimes, 
after  the  leaves  are  dead  and  quite  dry,  they  are  pounded  until  the  epidermis  is  sepa- 
rated. The  fibre  thus  cleaned  is  not  so  smooth  and  white  as  that  soaked  first  in 
water,  but  very  strong  and  durable  ropes,  mats,  nets  and  sewing  thread  are  made 
therefrom.  This  is  a  very  abundant  plant,  covering  many  thousands  of  acres  of 
.land,  unfit  to  grow  anything  more  useful.  A  plant  that  contains  so  much  fibre, 
--surpassing  in  length  and  strength  many  other  fibres  in  use  for  cordage  and  for  paper, 
.must  some  day  be  cultivated  on  the  desert  wastes  of  the  United  States. 
A.  ShawH,  one  of  the  finest  garden  plants,  but  the  fibre  is  only  suitable  for  paper, 
being  short.  The  Indians  are  very  fond  of  a  sweet  honey-like  nectar  found  in  the 
base  of  its  flowers  ;  in  fact,  it  tastes  like  honey  and  water.  It  is  only  found  near 
San  Diego,  California. 
Willow  trees. — Those  along  the  Colorado  river,  Arizona,  yield  abundance  of 
long,  soft  bark,  from  which  the  Indians  on  this  stream  make  ropes  and  twine  for 
domestic  purposes,  as  well  as  sandals  and  mats.  The  females  generally  dress 
scantily  ;  only  that  part  of  the  body  from  the  waist  to  the  knees  is  hidden  from 
nnew.  This  custom  is  observed  by  most  of  the  Indian  females  living  along  the 
Colorado  river.  They  strip  off  the  bark  from  the  willow  trees  and  bury  it  in  blue 
mud  for  a  few  days,  after  which  it  is  taken  out,  washed  clean  and  dried.  It  is  now 
soft,  pliable  and  easily  handled.  Being  cut  into  requisite  lengths,  they  are  fastened 
very  thickly  to  a  belt  of  the  wearer. 
The  Colorado  river  Indians  are  said  to  make  a  fine  drink  from  the  flowers  of  the 
willows. 
Apocynum  cannabinum. — The  Indians  of  Southern  Utah,  California  and  Arizona 
use  the  fibre  prepared  from  the  stems  of  this  plant  to  make  ropes,  twine  and  nets, 
and  before  the  advent  of  Europeans  it  was  used  in  the  manufacture  of  various  arti- 
cles of  clothing.  In  order  to  remove  the  fibre  the  woody  stems  are  first  soaked  in 
water,  the  bast  with  the  bark  is  then  easily  removed.  The  latter  being  washed  off, 
leaves  a  soft,  silky  fibre  of  a  yellowish-brown  color,  which  is  very  strong  aud  dura- 
ble.   I  have  seen  ropes  made  of  it  that  have  been  in  constant  use  for  years. 
