Indians of Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity

by Paul E. Schulz

Heart of deer was taboo to all males among Atsugewi and to all children and youths of the mountain Maidu. The foetus of all animals and also deer fawns could not be eaten by any except Atsugewi, Yana, and Yahi old men and old women. Animal foetus was, however, allowed as food to all mountain Maidu adults. Bear foetus was skinned by Atsugewi and fed to old women because it was so tender. Likewise, Yana and Yahi made foetus soup for old folks to eat. Deer liver was taboo to Atsugewi boys and youths. Taboo also among Atsugewi was the eating of fish and deer meat together. Among mountain Maidu the eating of salt on bear meat was prohibited. Many other food combinations were outlawed by these and other California tribes.

Deer backbone was ground up and eaten dry by mountain Maidu or molded into small cakes, then baked and eaten while Atsugewi would dry deer backbones with meat still adhering, grind it up, and then boil the meal before eating it. Yana also ate pulverized meal of other bones after cooking. Marrow was relished; it was a special delicacy for Yana children.

Securing of large game and fish and their preparation has been described earlier.

Such animals as wildcat, raccoons, foxes, et cetera were skinned and cooked in earth ovens by all local tribes. These were pits sometimes as much as six feet wide and lined with rocks. A large fire was built in the pit to thoroughly heat the rock lining, after which any unburned debris was removed. The animal to be roasted was laid in the pit on a layer of green pine needles, or various other leaves, depending upon the tribe. A large heated rock was placed inside the body cavity and smaller hot rocks were wedged under the fore and hind legs which were then all tied tightly together. A flat heated rock might be placed on top of the carcass and the whole was covered with pine needles and the like, and finally with hot ashes and sometimes dirt. The roasting proceeded for half a day or so. Blood and fat might be placed in the intestine membranes of larger animals (especially wildcat) to form sausage and cooked in ashes. Mountain Maidu also boiled blood for eating.

Quills of porcupine and hair of badger, squirrel, or other small mammals might be singed off before cooking instead of skinning the animals. Ground squirrels were sometimes merely gutted and then roasted in ashes without further preparation. When Yana (and probably Yahi) did this, they then skinned the ground squirrels after cooking and mashed the whole bodies by pounding before eating them. Rabbits were roasted over coals and broken into pieces for eating. Both mountain Maidu and Atsugewi sometimes broiled small mammals on a single stick over coals.

Turtles were cooked alive in hot ashes. If they crawled out they were pushed back in again.

Duck eggs were boiled in baskets using hot rocks—cooked they would keep for a week or two. Yana tribes roasted quail eggs in ashes. Birds were gutted, feathers singed off in flames and roasted on sticks or roasted in oven pits. Roasting was invariably used for the large birds such as ducks, geese, and swans.

Atsugewi practiced some fascinating gathering techniques in which they were not unique. Insects were gathered by both men and women. Grasshoppers and crickets not infrequently appeared in large numbers. These were collected early in the morning while still sluggish with cold. When very abundant they were scraped with sticks from branches of bushes into large burden baskets. During the heat of the day grasshoppers were effectively collected by singeing them. Some tribes merely burned dry grassy fields after which the insects were easily picked up. Atsugewi made a long willow “rope” to which many bunches of dry grass were fastened. This was set afire and men carrying this blazing band stretched tightly between them ran across open grassland where the grasshoppers were numerous. The insects jumped into the flames and were thus killed. Yana pulverized grasshoppers and other insects without cooking them.

Atsugewi roasted crickets in the pit oven. These were then dried two days and finally eaten or stored. If they had been stored, they were pounded before being eaten.

Salmon flies were plentiful along Pit River and Lost Creek (outside of the park). These were hand picked from the banks early in the morning. The wings were removed and the bodies boiled before eating by the Atsugewi.