Digger Indians

a name given to several western tribes of Indians, chiefly Shoshonean, extending from Idaho to California. The name was applied in particular to the Bannocks and Piutes. As contrasted with Indians of the chase and Indians of agricultural habits, the Diggers live largely by digging and eating roots. The camass root in particular was a source of food. Pine nuts, lizards, almost any vegetable or animal food, seem to be acceptable to the Diggers.

Among all these Indians the most miserable are the root-diggers, who live almost entirely on the scanty roots of plants which are found in the ravines or plains. These poor wretches suffer all the hardships of hunger and want. They are compelled to spend two-thirds of the year among the mountains, with no other resource than a little fish and roots. When both these provisions fail, it is impossible to picture the wretched state of these pariahs of the wilderness. Yet they are not downcast; they are ever cheerful, and endure their suffering with dignity. They are open and sociable with strangers and perfectly honest in their transactions.-Abbe Domenect.

Among the choice delicacies with which the California Digger Indians regale themselves during the summer season is the grasshopper roast. Having been an eye-witness to the preparation and discussion of one of their feasts of grasshoppers, we can describe it truthfully. There are districts of California, as well as portions of the plains between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, that literally swarm with grasshoppers, and in such astonishing numbers that a man cannot put his foot to the ground, while walking there, without crushing great numbers.

To the Indian they are a great delicacy, and are caught and cooked in the following manner: A piece of ground is sought where they most abound, in the center of which an excavation is made, large and deep enough to prevent the insect from hopping out when once in. The entire party of Diggers, old and young, male and female, then surround as much of the adjoining grounds as they can, and each, with a green bough in hand, whipping and thrashing on every side, gradually approach the center, driving the insects before them in countless multitudes, till at last all, or nearly all, are secured in the pit.

In the meantime smaller excavations are made, answering the purpose of ovens, in which fires are kindled and kept up till the surrounding earth, for a short distance, becomes sufficiently heated, together with a flat stone, large enough to cover the oven. The grasshoppers are now taken in coarse bags and, after being thoroughly soaked in salt water for a few moments, are emptied into the oven and closed in. Ten or fifteen minutes suffice to roast them, when they are taken out and eaten without further preparation, and with much apparent relish, or, as is sometimes the case, reduced to powder and made into soup. And having from curiosity tasted, not of the soup, but of the roast, really, if one could divest himself of the idea of eating an insect as we do an oyster or shrimp, without other preparation than simply roasting, they would not be considered very bad eating, even by more refined epicures than the Digger Indians.-Birds and Nature.