Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1906-02-08
DESERT BILL OF FARE

lII1CEhl Dllll1OE Il Al II
( sOuRcEs FROM WHICH THE INDIAN
SUPPLIES HIS LARDER.
Sesne Of the Things Eaten, Especial.
| " the Insect aud ReptiItan Foods
. Are Not Only Not Inviting, hut Are
1 Net Even PalatabIe.
OF the west are to be seen small
patches Of maize or few tiny melon
! patches. bur 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 portion
of our barbarian population is found
a tree remarkable for certain proper
ties. The botanical name of this plant
ls Prosopis julifora. 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 hum
| cry natives, 1t 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 pnlpy. 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
| ther preparation or it is baked into a
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
| IL priced because of it's sugary quail,
| ties This fruit in 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
| Pr,nus andersonii. or chamish, is
| found In abundance The pits of this
fruit are pounded In mortars, and the
| meal ia then eaten. There are many
| varieties OF the cactus fruit which are
utilized for food, the fruit of the OPIUM
| example
The dead loco weed, the pest Of the
| cettlemen, is favorlte with the In
dams, for the yellow pods Of the plant
/ when pulyerized serve as spice to rem
| der some Of the otherwise inspid dish
| es spalatable.'
I, 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
| roasted and eaten Seeds Of the Arte-
| misia tridentata or wormwood and the
| Atriplex lentiforms 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 large part of their living
There are other herbs which are uti-
liked 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
er things besides plants which are
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-
| larly In California, bodies of bitter,
poisonous waters known as boracic
lakes. Owens lake, twenty miles long,
- OIL ILLS CihbS. IL ID d VGTlldDle Dedu
| sea, and, like the sea of that maine and
Its counterpart, the Great Salt lake Of
Utah. its heavy, brackish waters do
not support hsh or marine life.
| At certain seasons of the year the
waters OF these boracic lakes abound
in white grubs known to the Indians
Of that region as "koochabee. /" These
grubs are the larvae of two winged
fly. the Ephydis california; So plen-
tiful are these grnbs in their season
they line the shores of the lake to q
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
1.-THE lake, gather this peculiar haryes,
and dry 1t iii the sun. Later the grubs
are ground in stone mortars into fine
/ powder, and from this insect meai
they bake bread which IS highly
priced.
There are q number Of other Insects
lizards, reptiles and the ike-which are
used as food by different tribes The
chuckawalla, lizard somewhat re
4 sembling the ella monster, ID a com
II mon arficln cf fon,l with aver. Cali