Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/78

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RUSSELL]
THE FOOD SUPPLY
73

The shelled corn is ground on the metate and baked in large cakes in the ashes. Corn is also boiled with ashes, dried, and the hulls washed off, then thoroughly dried and parched with coals or over the fire. It is then made into a gruel, but is not so highly regarded as the wheat pinole.

Iʼsavĭk. The thorns of this cactus are removed as soon as gathered, and it is eaten without further preparation.

Iʼtany, Atriplex sp. The heads of this saltbush are pounded up in the mortar and screened to separate the hulls. The seeds are washed, spread to dry, parched in a piece of olla, and ground on the metate. They are then ready to be eaten as pinole, or dry, in the
Fig. 3. Dried saguaro fruit.
latter case a pinch of the meal being taken alternately with a sip of water.

Kaʼĭfsa, Cicer arietinum Linn. The chick-pea is raised in small quantities and is also purchased from the traders. This is the garabanzo of Mexico. The name chicos is sometimes applied to this pea as it is to anything small, especially to small or, rather, sweet corn that is just old enough for roasting.

Kâf, Chenopodium murale. The seed is gathered early in the summer and prepared by parching and grinding, after which it may be eaten as pinole or combined with other meal.

Kâʼmeûvat. After the August rains this seed is gathered, parched over coals in the parching pan, ground on the metete, and eaten as pinole.