The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-08-25
DESERT BILL OF FARE
SOURCES FROM WHICH THE INDIAN
SUPPLIES HIS LARDER.

Some of the Things Eaten, Especial
ly the Insect and Reptiiian Foods
Are Not Only Not InVitinG, but Are
Not Even PsIutablc.
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, a majority of the towns having
no such cultivated fields.
In the various parts of the arid re
glon which shelters SO great Il portion
OF our barbarian population is found
Il tree remarkable for certain proper
ties. The botanical name Of this plant
Is Prosopis juliflora. 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, at
fords shelter from the wind and sun,
and, best Of all IN the sight of the hum
CRY natives. 1t yields abundant crops
of fruit known rs mesquite beans.
The slim green pods hang i'll clusters
from the tips of the bouEhs, 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 nOuriShinS.
These beans are gathered, dried and
stored in the peculiar granarics of the
IndianS-huge baskets holding several
bushels cuch-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
| ther preparation or it Is baked into a
sort of unlcavcned bread. 1t is the
principal and favoritc food of several
| tribes.
The screw bean is another food prod
net, less plentiful, but even more high
| " 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, little later
than the mesquite bean.
| In some OF the mountain sections the
| Prunus andcrSonii, or chamiSh, Is
| found III 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 Opun
tia tuna or prickly pear being notable
example.
The dead loco weed. the pest Of the
| cattlcmcn is favorite with the In
| dams, for the yellow pods of The plant
when pulveriZcd serve as spice to rem,
der some Of the otherwise insipid dish
eS palatable.
The roots of the cancer root arc
roasted over live Goals, and WheI
| young, succulcnt and n1urishing arc
| prime favoritcs with the red Cpicu
rcanS.
Flowers of the yucca and agave are
boiled, dried and preserved, TO be eater
as occasion requires. The young shoots
or crowns of these plants are also
roasted and eaten. Seeds of the Arte
miSia tridentata or Wormwood and tht
AtripleX lentiformis are pulvcriZcd anl
eaten. Pine nuts form very impor
tant item OF food with many Of tit
tribes in the wooded section of TIL
country, and acorns furnish othe
tribes with large part of their living.
There are other herbs which are uti
lied by the Indians as food. Indeed
there are few plants which are no
capable OF being rendered edible il
some manner. There are, however, 9th
er thing; besides plants which ar
made to satisfy the pangS of hunger
In the animal kingdom are Il humble
of varieties of creatures. not claSsed il
the game list OF the white man. Whicl
: minister to the appGtites and needs o
the red man.
; There are III the southwest, particu
larly in California, bodies of bittel
poisonous waters known rs Doracl
lakes Owens lake, twenty miles long
is of this class. 1t is Il vcritahlc Dc3'
. sea, and, like the sea of that maine an
: its counterpart, the Great salt lake o
] Utah, its heavy. brackish waters d
: not support fish or marine life.
At certain seasons of the Year III
l waters of these boracic lakes aboun
in white grabs known to the Indian
of that region as "koochabee." TheS
grubs are the larvae of u two winge
$ fly, the Ephydra california;. So plel
tiful are these grubs in their seaso
they line the shores of the lake to