New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1905-07-26
DESERT BILL OF FARE
SOURCES FROM WHICH THE INDIAN
SUPPLIES HIS LARDER.

|
" the Insect and Repti1ian Foods,
Are Not Only Not Inviting, but Are
Not Even Pa1atabIe.
+ About some of the Indian villages
Of the west are to be seen small
patches of maize or a few tiny melon
patches, but these cultivated areas are
of little account as compared with the
number Of persons to be fed. These,
too, are exceptions rather than the
rule, majority of the towns having
no such cultivated fields.
In the various parts Of the arid re-
gion which shelters so great a portion
Of our barbarian population is found |
a tree remarkable for certain proper |
ties. The botanical name Of this plant
is Prosopis julifora. 1t is popularity |
known as the algaroba, or honey mes
quite. This tree t6riyes with little
moisture, grows, with thick, bushy top,
to height of twenty to forty feet, af-
fords shelter from the wind and sun,
and best Of all in the sight of the hun
CRY natives, it yields abundant crops
! Of fruit known as mesquite beans.
| The slim green pods hang in clusters
from the tips of the boughs, often
bending the branches nearly to break
ing, so abundant do they grow. The
| pods, which are six or seven inches
long, are pulpy, juicy, fairly palatable
and nourishing.
These beans are gathered, dried and
stored in the peculiar granaries of the
| no
bushels each-and are pulveriZed when
wanted for food in wooden or stone
mortars, and the meal thus formed is
soaked in water and eaten without fur
Their preparation or it is baked into
sort Of unleavened bread. It is the
principal and favorite food of several
tribes.
The screw bean is another food prod
uct, less PLENTIFUL, but even more high
ly priced because Of it's sugary quail
ties. This fruit is often eaten as pluck
ed from the tree. It ripens the latter
part Of June or in July, little later
than the mesquite beaA.
In some Of the mountain sections the
Prunus andersonii, or chamish, Is
found in abundance. The pits Of this
fruit are pounded in mortars, and the
meal Is then eaten. There are many
varieties of the cactus fruit which are
utilized for food, the fruit Of the OPIUM
tia tuna or prickly pear being notable
example.
:, The dead loco weed, the pest Of the
cattlemen, is a favorite with the In
! dams, for the yellow pods Of the plant
when pulverized serve as spice to rem
, der some of the otherwise insipid dish
: es palatable.
The roots Of the cancer root are
, roasted over live Goals, and when
young, succulent and nourishing are
: prime favorites with the red epicu-
: reans.
Flowers Of the yucca and agave are
3 boiled, dried and preserved, to be eaten
as occasion requires. The young shoots
or crowns of these plants are also
roasted and eaten. Seeds Of the Arte
: m1sia tridentata or wormWood and the
a Atriplex lentiformis are pulveriZed and
Y eaten. Pine nuts form very impor
tant item of food with many Of the
: tribes in the wooded section Of the
g country, and acorns furnish other
f tribes with large part of their living.
d There are other herbs which are uti
lized by the Indians as food. Indeed
g there are few plants which are no
7, capable Of being rendered edible il
some manner. There are, however, 9th
n er things besides plants which arr
made to satisfy the pangs of hunger
y In the animal kingdom are humble
S. Of varieties Of creatures, not classed il
II the game list Of the white man, Whic]
minister to the appetites and needs o
y the red man.
lie There are in the southwest, particr
IS larly in California, bodies of bitter
n poisonous waters known as boraci
ID lakes. Owens lake, twenty miles Ions
is of this class It is a veritable Dea
N sea, and, like the sea Of that name an
it's counterpart, the Great Salt lake c
at Utah, its heavy, brackish waters d
Id not support fish or marine life.
. At certain seasons Of the year th
4 waters of these boracic lakes aboun
in white grubs known to the Indian
of that region as ''koochabee." Thes
" grubs are the larvae of a two Winge
at fly, the Ephydra california;. So ple1
tn tiful are these grubs in their seaso
- they line the shores Of the lake to
ut depth of several inches, where tt
a waves cast them up from their water
no incubator The Indians at this seasC
,w of the year camp upon the shores
is the lake, gather this peculiar harve
to and dry it in the sun. Later the grul
til are ground in stone mortars into fiji
he powder, and from this insect me
an they bake bread which is high
~ priced.
as There are number Of other insects
ed lizards, reptiles and the ike-which a
or used as food by different tribes. II
his chuckawalla, a lizard somewhat r
ce. sembling the ella monster, is col
in mon article of food with Lower Ca
re- fornia Indians and with some Of t
* tribes north of the line. It may not
M the most inviting Of foods-some of t
1g. insect and reptilian foods are far fro