Yucca glauca Nutt. Soapweed, Spanish Bayonet, Dagger Weed. (Pls. 7, 8.)
Hupestula (Dakota).
Duwaduwa-hi (Omaha-Ponca).
Chakida-kahtsu or Chakila-kahtsu (Pawnee).
The root was used by the Pawnee and Omaha in the smoke treatment. By all the tribes the root was used like soap, especially for washing the hair. On the high treeless plains the Teton Dakota, for want of wood for fire-drills, utilized yucca. The hard, sharp-pointed blades were bound together with sinew to make the drill, and the stem, peeled and dried, was used as the hearth of the fire-making apparatus, just as punk was used in the timbered regions.
Yucca leaves were macerated till the fibers were cleared, and, with the sharp, hard point of the leaf still attached, were twined into thread. The sharp point was used as a needle.