The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-11-03
DESERT BILL OF FARE
SOURCES FROM WHICH THE INDIAN
SUPPLIES HIS LARDER.
Some of the Things Eaten, Especial
ly the Insect and Reptilian Foods,
Are Not Only Not Inviting, but Are
Not Even PnlatabIe.

Hy
Are Not Only Not Inviting, but Are
Not Even Palatable.
About some of the Indian villages
of the west are to be seen small
patches of maize or 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 julifiora. 1t is popularity
known as the algaroba, or honey mes
quite. This tree thrives 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
Indians-huge baskets holding several
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. 1t 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 its sugary quail
ties. This fruit is often eaten as pluck
ed from the tree. 1t ripens the latter
part of June or in July, a little later
than the mesquite bean.
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 a 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
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-
misia tridentata or NORWOOD and the
Atriplex lentiformis are pulverized and
eaten. Pine nuts form a very impor-
tant item Of food with many of the
tribes in the wooded section of the
country, and acorns furnish other
tribes with a large part of their living.
There are other herbs which are uti-
lized by the Indians as food. Indeed,
there are few plants which are not
capable of being rendered edible in
some manner There are, however, 9th
m
made to satisfy the pangs Of hunger.
In the animal kingdom are number
of varieties of creatures, not classed in
the game list of the white man, which
minister to the appetites and needs of
the red man.
There are in the southwest, particu-
larry in California. bodies of bitter,
poisonous waters known as boracic
lakes. Owens lake. twenty miles long.
is of this class. 1t is a vertable Dead
sea, and, like the sea of that name and
its counterpart. the Great Salt lake of
Utah, its heavy, brackish waters do
not support fish or marine life.
At certain seasons of the year the
waters Of these boracic lakes abound
Ill Willie SIuUS hAONl " Tic
Of that region as "kOochabee." These
grubs are the larvae of two winged
fly. the Ephydra california;. So plen-
tiful are these grubs in their season
they line the shores of the lake to u
depth of several inches, where the
waves cast them up from their watery
incubator. The Indians at this season
Of the year camp upon the shores OF
the lake. gather this peculiar harvest
and dry it in the sun. Later the grubs
are ground in stone mortars into fine
powder, and from this insect meal
they bake a bread which Is highly
priced.
There are a number of other insects
lizards. reptiles and the like-which are
used as food by different tribes. The
chuckawalla, lizard somewhat re-
sembling the ella monster, is a com
mon article of food with Lower Cali
fornia Indians and with some of the
tribes north Of the line. 1t may not be
the most inviting of foods-some Of the