Fig. 69. Koonti log.
The Koonti log, so called, was the trunk of a large pine tree, in which a number of holes, about nine inches square at the top, their sides
sloping downward to a point, had been cut side by side. Each of these holes was the property of some one of the squaws or of the children of the camp. For each of the holes, which were to serve as mortars, a pestle made of some hard wood had been furnished. ([Fig. 69].)
Fig. 70. Koonti pestles.
The first step in the process was to reduce the washed Koonti to a kind of pulp. This was done by chopping it into small pieces and filling with it one of the mortars and pounding it with a pestle. The contents of the mortar were then laid upon a small platform. Each worker had a platform. When a sufficient quantity of the root had been pounded the whole mass was taken to the creek near by and thoroughly saturated with water in a vessel made of bark.
Fig. 71. Koonti mash vessel.