454 INDIANS OF WESTERN NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA. 



within 15 miles of Death Valley, perhaps half a dozen in number, and 

 some of them scattered along several miles on the caiion walls. I got 

 a copy of one of them, and Dr. O. Loew, of Lieutenant Wheeler's party, 

 showed me another, in which he thinks he has detected five Chinese 

 characters. In my copy, however, there was nothing of this sort. 

 These inscriptions are said to be largely geographical, depicting rivers, 

 mountains, caiions, «&;c. 



After a couple of days in Lone Pine, I left, on the 30th, for Bakers- 

 field, where I arrived November 1st. After a delay of two days, I pro- 

 ceeded to Tule River reservation, reaching it November 4th. I found 

 this reserve in charge of Rev. J. B. Vosburgh, of the Methodist Church, 

 and on it about 300 Indians, classified as Tules, Tejons, and Manaches, 

 (Mondchees.) The two first named, as revealed by their language, are 

 substantially the same ; the third (of whom I believe there are now 

 none on the reservation) belong to the Piutes. The Tules, living along 

 Tule River, cannot be said to have any general name. Every village 

 has its special designation. The Tejons, living at Fort Tejon, have* also 

 a number of villages or camps, but are known as Tinnlinie, (Coyote 

 Holes, the name of the locality.) All the Indians from Fresno River 

 to Fort Tejon speak substantially the same language, and are one na- 

 tion, so far as one can use the word among the California Indians ; but 

 they have no solidarity whatever, and, for lack of a comprehensive name, 

 I shall call them " Yokuts " — a word which denotes people or Indians. 



The tribes on King's River construct a peculiar kind of lodge. It is 

 made of tule in the shape of a tent, with two sides to the roof and two 

 gable-ends, and a number of them are set along in a row, side to side, 

 and a continuous awning of brushwood is built along the front. The 

 captain of the band occupies one end lodge, and the medicine-man the 

 other. This sort of a village at a distance bears a striking resemblance 

 to a military encampment. This is only where tule is plenty. In the 

 mountains the conical hut of poles or the thatched willow-pole lodge is 

 found. 



Acorns constitute the principal staple of their vegetable food. They 

 are gathered in autumn in large quantities and cached on the spot, or 

 in the vicinity of their dwellings in granaries made of wicker-work 

 about the size and shape of a hogshead, and thatched with grass or tule. 

 These are set in the forks of a tree or on forked stakes planted in the 

 ground, so as to be above the reach of rodents and other animals. Sal- 

 mon are caught in the Fresno and San Joaquin with a number of differ- 

 ent nets, weirs, bone-spears, &c. A booth is sometimes built over the 

 water and closely roofed in with brushwood so as to be dark, and the 

 fisherman, lying on his foce and peering down through a hole, readily 

 sees the fish passing beneath and transfixes it with a spear. In King's 

 River, and in the other streams making into Tulare Lake as well as in 

 the lake, were caught lake-trout, chubs, and suckers. Sometimes 

 in catching fish in a running stream, the fisherman takes a kind 



