Note 618 — Chapter IV · CALIFORNIANS. (continued 2)
Reading edition
'They eat the seed of two species of Conifers, one about the size of a hazel-nut, the other much smaller. They also eat a small stone-fruit, somewhat red, or black in colour, and rather insipid; different berries, among others, those of Vaccinium. They collect the seed of the Atriplex and Chenopodium, and occasionally some grasses. Among roots, they highly value that of a bushy, yellowish and tolerably large broomrape, which they cook or dry with the base, or root-stock, which is enlarged, and constitutes the most nutritious part. They also gather the napiform root of a Cirsium acaule, which they eat raw or cooked; when cooked, it becomes quite black, resinous as pitch and rather succulent; when raw, it is whitish, soft, and of a pleasant flavour.' Remy and Brenchley's Journey, vol. i., p. 129. The Shoshones of Utah and Nevada 'eat certain roots, which in their native state are rank poison, called Tobacco root, but when put in a hole in the ground, and a large fire burned over them, become wholesome diet.' Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. vi., p. 697. 'Of the roots used ... the pap-pa, or wild potatoe, is abundant.' Id., vol. iv., p. 222; see also, Id., vol. v., pp. 199-200. At Bear River, 'every living animal, thing, insect, or worm they eat.' Fremont's Explor. Exp., p. 142, see also pp. 148, 160, 173-4, 212, 218-19, 267, 273. Inland savages are passionately fond of salt; those living near the sea detest it. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 85. The Utahs eat 'the cactus leaf, piñon-nut, and various barks; the seed of the bunch-grass, and of the wheat, or yellow grass, somewhat resembling rye, the rabbit-bush twigs, which are chewed, and various roots and tubers; the soft sego bulb, the rootlet of the cat-tail flag, and of the tule, which when sun-dried and powdered to flour, keeps through the winter and is palatable even to white men.' Burton's City of the Saints, p. 581, see also pp. 573, 577. The Pi-Edes 'live principally on lizards, swifts, and horned toads.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865. p. 145; see also Id., 1854, p. 229; 1856, p. 234; 1861, p. 112; 1859, p. 365; 1866, pp. 114; 1869, pp. 203, 216; 1870, pp. 95, 114; 1872, p. 59. The Snakes eat a white-fleshed kind of beaver, which lives on poisonous roots, whose flesh affects white people badly, though the Indians roast and eat it with impunity. Ross' Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 117, see also vol. i., p. 269-72; Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 539; Farnham's Life and Adven., pp. 371, 376-8; Irving's Bonneville's Adven., pp. 255, 257, 401-2; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 501; Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219; Bryant's Cal., p. 202; Stansbury's Rept., pp. 77, 148, 233; Kelly's Excursion, vol. i., p. 238; Saxon's Golden Gate, p. 251; Smith, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1828, tom. xxxvii., p. 209; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 178-9; Townsend's Nar., p. 144; White's Ogn., p. 376; Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 228-31, 309; Coke's Rocky Mts., p. 277; Irving's Astoria, pp. 258, 295; De Smet, Voy., pp. 28-30, 127; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 334; Farnham's Trav., pp. 58, 61; Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., pp. 242, 270, vol. ii., pp. 19, 60, 61, 64, 244, 311; Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 534; Simpson's Route to Pac., pp. 51-2; Lewis and Clarke's Trav., pp. 270, 288-9, 298-9; Bigler's Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.