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Show The Nuwuvi 15 cakes, often used as travel food. A fermented drink called "mescal' was made from the yant, a mountain agave. Pine nuts were an important part of the Nuwuvi diet. They were eaten raw, roasted and cooked, and were preserved in the form of pine nut flour. The inner bark of the pine nut tree also served as food and the wood as fuel. The sap or sunip was used for chewing and a coarser grade for mending, cementing and waterproofing.6 It was also used for spiritual purposes such as warding off ghosts. Berries such as juniper, currant, and raspberry were eaten fresh; others such as serviceberry and eesi were dried. The eesi was made into a beverage. Nuwuvi still enjoy this delicious drink today. The Nuwuvi also used native plant life for medical purposes. They commonly drank tea made from such plants as yarrow, Indian tea, and sage brush in order to cure or relieve a variety of ailments. Sage brush was made into a tea used to assist in childbirth and as a remedy for headaches, colds, and worms. Another variety of sage was used in the treating of swellings and bruises. Yerba santa was used internally and externally in treating rheumatism, partial paralysis, and colds and was taken as a tea to remedy lung problems. Other plants were used as poultices for sprains and bruises and others to constrict the blood vessels to stop bleeding.7 The women were largely responsible for gathering plants, and the men hunted. Deer was the chief large-game animal and was hunted in the late summer and fall. Almost the entire deer was utilized; some of it was dried and some smoked. The brains were used in the tanning process. Though desert big horn sheep and antelope were also hunted, they were less plentiful. Bows made of both wood and horn were used; they were commonly backed by sinew. Arrows were made using points of stone or greasewood for the tips and eagle or flicker feathers to insure a straight flight. Small game was hunted throughout the year. Rabbits and various rodents were the most important. Hunting was done by lone hunters and by groups of men. Large-scale rabbit drives required cooperation. The Nuwuvi made large nets, into which rabbits were driven, ensnared and beaten with rabbit sticks. Fall was the most important season for hunting. This was the time of the year when the Nuwuvi moved to the higher levels on the plateaus and in the mountains. There they hunted deer and |