ETHNOLOGY. 457 



from the citizens and give it to them ; and they are weary and sick of 

 hearing promises which are nev^er fullilled. Nothing but the strong 

 influence of Agent Burchard over them, and the faith and courage of 

 the more intelligent among them, have succeeded in preventing out- 

 breaks and collisions between the Indians and the trespassing settlers. 



Leaving this reservation December 6th, I returned to Ukiah City, and 

 remained until the 11th. 



All the Indians of Russian River Valley may be grouped into one 

 nation and called the Pomos, being closely related in language ; but 

 they are, as usual, divided into a great number of petty bands and vil- 

 lages. For the most part they construct a lodge of willow poles, set 

 in the ground and bent over, forming an immense round or elliptical 

 frame, which is covered with thatch. It is often large enough to con- 

 tain several families, who dwell together in the patriarchal fashion. 

 These huts are abandoned in the spring, when the inhabitants betake 

 themselves to open wickiups for the dry season; in the fall, when they 

 return, they burn down these last year's structures and erect new ones 

 on the ashes. This is their way of cleaning house. In the summer 

 they live right among the willows where the shade is thickest, often- 

 with nothing but a few pieces of brushwood tied overhead. On the 

 coast, where the redwood is found, a common style of wigwam is coni- 

 cal-shaped, and composed entirely of enormous slabs of redwood bark. 

 They use about the same articles of aboriginal food as the Tules and 

 Tejons above described, acorns and salmon constituting the staples. 



Russian River Valley, the most beautiful and picturesque in the State, 

 once contained a dense population, as is evinced by the ruins of ancient 

 towns and by the testimony of the earliest pioneers. The old, Indian 

 town of Sanel, situated near the American town of the same name, once 

 contained, judging by the regular streets laid out at right angles, and 

 the numerous assembly halls which are indicated by the large circular 

 embankments, 1,500 inhabitants. In 1847 it still numbered about 500 

 souls, though it had been subjected already several years to the prose- 

 lyting raids of the Spaniards. But now they are reduced to a wretched 

 remnant, and some tribes are nearly or quite extinct. Occasionally a 

 ranchman has twenty or thirty " bound" to him under the laws of the 

 State, and they live on his ranch in a state of dependence, doing occa- 

 sional small services, forming a reserve force for the neighborhood 

 exigencies in harvest, and receiving cast-off clothing and remnants of 

 unserviceable or unmarketable food from the ranchman's granaries and 

 cellar. He allows them to cultivate a small patch of land by the side 

 of the stream, where it can easily be irrigated, on which they produce 

 squashes, watermelons, and a little corn. Two of the staple crops of 

 Russian River Valley are hops and potatoes, and in the season of 

 harvest of these two products hundreds of Indians, old and young, 

 get remunerative employment on the ranches. Farmers sometimes 

 send long distances to Round Valley reservation, and apply to the 



