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Wokas as an Article of Commerce
In the preparation of lolensh and
of shiwulinz the broken seed shells (tsi'-hlak) are winnowed, as already
described, from the seed kernels. These seed shells or hulls are not always
thrown away, but they are often saved for a later curious use. In the
manufacture of their finer baskets and trays the Klamaths use for both warp
and weft cords twisted from the split outer surface of the tule (Scirpus
lacustris). Upon the main body of the basket as woven from these cords
are overlaid various designs in white, black, yellow, and maroon. The
patterns in black are made from the same material as the body of the
baskets, split tule stems, which have been colored by a certain dyeing
process. Ordinarily this is accomplished by immersing the tule stems in the
black mud of sluggish springs containing iron. A superior color, however, is
obtained by the addition or a quantity of wokas hulls, which contain a large
amount of tannin. The same result is now frequently secured among these
Indians by prolonged soaking of the tule stems in an iron kettle, in water
containing a liberal amount of the hulls. The color is evidently due to the
development of tannate of iron. Samples of the wokas hulls analyzed through
the courtesy of Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of
Agriculture, were found to contain 20 per cent of tannin.
Wokas as an Article of Commerce
Wokas, when freshly parched so as
to be nicely browned, is a delicious food, particularly if slightly salted
and eaten with cream. There is every reason to believe that wokas could be
brought into successful use as a breakfast food. Small quantities of it can
be purchased from the Indians, but only at a price of from 10 to 20 cents a
pound. It is evident that in order to enter into successful competition with
other breakfast foods economical machine methods must be devised for
extracting the seeds from the pods and putting them through the
processes necessary to bring them to the lolensh stage, which is the best
form for shipment. The primitive methods at present employed by the Indians
are altogether too expensive. Some of the various means now used by seedsmen,
coffee dealers, and millers for macerating, roasting, milling, and cleaning
seeds are undoubtedly applicable, with some modifications, to the production
of wokas.
The writer does not consider the cultivation of
the wokas plant on a commercial scale to be feasible. The available supply
of the seeds must be limited to the natural product, which in the Klamath
country is estimated at about 10,000 acres. Other, but, so far as known,
smaller areas of the plant exist on the Northwest Coast. There seems to be
no probability that the pods can be harvested by any other method than that now practiced by the Indians-hand picking
from, boats. It should be possible to secure the pods in this way at 10
cents a bushel, a bushel of the pods producing about one-fourth its bulk of
seed, and the seeds about one-third their bulk of lolensh. The weight of
lolensh to the measured bushel is about 59 pounds. When parched the lolensh
expands to nearly three times its original bulk, a sample of the best shnaps
weighing about 21 pounds per bushel. The season of harvesting in the Klamath
country is about six weeks-from the middle of August to the end of
September. For an illustration of a wokas camp at the close of the season
see Plate 13.
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Wokas, Primitive Food of
the Klamath Indians
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