The Republican., 1889-08-17
DELICIOUS LITTLE WORMS.
An Article of Food of Which the Piute
Indians Are Very Fond.

y a
man living in the East. He was not
proof against the impulse to seek his
fortune in the mines, and came to New
York with the hope of finding part
ners. In this he was not disappointed,
and with number of others he char
tered a New Orleans packet, stocked it
with provisions to last a year and
half, sailed around Cape Horn, and
reached the Golden Gate in safety.
Since then Mr.. Keeler has lived almost
continuously in California, but is now
visiting this city, and has brought with
him many fine mineralogical specimens.
After showing these to a Tribune re-
porter the other day, he handed to the
latter small bottle, saying: do you
know what those things areP" In the
bottle were dozen or more dark, col
ored objects, shriveled, but juicy look
ing. The average length was about
one inch and they had the appearance
of luscious raisins. The reporter said
he supposed that was what they were.
The Californian smiled, too, as he said:
mo, they are not; they're worms"
Then he went on to say that they were
considered a great luxury by the Piute
Indians" "
II call them the nut pine worm, be-
cause they feed on the nut pine tree;
what the scientific name is do not
know. On the eastern slope of the
Sierra Nevada mountains in Southern
California, between Bodie and Bishops
creeks, is great stretch of these nut
pine trees. They bear a small nut
extremely rich i'll oil. So rich are they
that you don't want to eat many of
them. In August the ground under
the trees begins to be covered with
green worms as thick as a mans finger
and from u to 3! inches in length.
The worms soon grow wings and fly
into the trees. The worm. which should
now be dignified by the name of but
terfly, does not leave the tree but scars
around among the branches extracting
the oil from the nuts. In about a
month the body is full of oil; so full, in
fact, that the entrails have been forced
out. Then the wings fall off.
at is about this time that the Flutes
make their appearance and camp
among the trees. They come in large
numbers and provided with sacks.
The worm having lost its wings again,
it crawls along the limbs of the tree to
the trunk and falls to the ground. In
cidentally it falls into a trap prepared
by the Indians. To prevent the worms
from escaping they dig trenches around
the roots of the tree, the trenches hay
ing concave sides. l have known of
bushels Of worms being taken from one
of these trenches. When the crop of
worms has been harvested the Indians
build fires on Nat stones or the hard
earth. When the bed has become hot,
not hot enough to roast, the worms
are spread upon it and dried. They
are then placed in the sacks and car
ried to the Piute camps. A friend of
mine once told me that he had one
season estimated that fifty tons of these
worms were gathered and dried
"How do the Indians eat the worms?"
''ln soups. The Piutes seem never
to tire of soup. They have it almost
every day. A buck is allowed two
worms and a squaw one for each dish
of soup. Sometimes a gallant Indian
gives pretty or popular squaw one of
his portion. The worms are not eaten
until the soup is consumed, they being
reserved as a final tid-bit. ! have
tasted the worms and find them very
palatablc. They are rich and oily like
the nut upon which they feed."-N. Y.
Tribune.
Rev. Edward Everett Hale was re-
Gently making one of his long pcdes-
trian tours through q rural region and
became quite hungry. Calling at tho
door of Il farmhouse, he asked the
woman if She would let him have some
thing to eat. She looked over his tall,
robust figure and then answered in
slightly cOntcmptuous tone? "Yes;
I'll give you something to eat, but
man rs big and strong, and as able to
work as you are ought to be ashamed
Of tramping and begging around the
coun:ry"
THE statistics of the Southern Presbyter-
ian church, just prepared, show that it
has 13 syLods; GS presbyteries; l,l45 minis
ters-a gain of IS; 2,321 churches; ,742
communicants-a gain of 5,493. There was
large increase in all contributions except
three. The total is S1,Gl2,S65 against ST.