and eaten without further preparation. The tree grows on the mesas on all sides of the villages, where it is very conspicuous for a few days in May, when it is covered with a mass of purple flowers.
Hâʼkowat, Phoradendron californicum. The berries of the mistletoe that grows on the mesquite are gathered and boiled without stripping from the stem. They are taken in the fingers, and the berries stripped off into the mouth as eaten. Various species of mistletoe are very abundant on the trees along the Gila, but this one only is eaten.
Halt, Cucurbita pepo Linn. The common species of pumpkin grown by the Pimas, as well as by the whites and Mexicans, is cut in strips and dried, when it is known by a number of different names, according to the manner of cutting and the particular variety. This species includes the pumpkins proper, the bush scallop squashes, the summer crook-necks, and the white or yellow warty squashes. The club-shaped, pear-shaped, or long-cylindrical smooth squash is Cucurbita moschata Duchesne. It is extensively grown by the Pimas. The seeds of the pumpkin ere parched and eaten. When the dried pumpkin is used, it is softened in water and boiled.
Haʼnûm, Opuntia arborescens. The fruit of this cactus (pl. VIII, a) is gathered with an instrument that resembles an enlarged wooden clothespin. It is collected in large quantities and carried home in the kiâhâ, or carrying basket. A pit is dug and a fire built in it, on which stones are heated. As the fire dies down the stones are removed and a layer of the saltbush, Suæda arborescens, is placed over the coals; above this is placed a layer of cactus fruit, then hot stones, and so alternately to the top, over which a thick layer of saltbush is laid with earth outside. The pit is left undisturbed over one night, then its contents are spread out, dried, and the fruit stirred with a stick until the thorns are rubbed off, whereupon it is ready to store away for future use. In its final preparation it must be boiled. It is then salted and eaten with pinole, The acid flavor is usually relieved by the addition of various plants cooked as greens.
Haʼrsany, Cereus giganteus Engelm. The fruit of the giant cactus, or, as it is more generally known in the Southwest, the saguaro (pls. VIII, b, and IX, c, d), is gathered in June, and so important is the harvest that the event marks the beginning of the new year in the Pima calendar. The supply is a large one and only industry is required to make it available throughout the entire year, as both the seeds and the dried fruit may be preserved. Seeds that have passed through the body are sometimes gathered from the dried feces, washed, and treated as those obtained directly from the fruit, though there would seem to be some special value ascribed to them as in the case of the "second harvest" of the Seri.[1]
- ↑ Cf. W J McGee in Seventeenth Annual Report of Bureau of American Ethnology, 212.
