THE RAY COLLECTION FROM HUP A RESERVATION. 215 



bmitod aud shot with arrows or caught in rude snares set for them. 

 The fruit of the chase, with the acorns, thus constituted the winter sup- 

 ply of food almost exclusively. 



Spring brought new viands. Early vegetation furnished abundance 

 in the form of young leaves and stems of succulent plants, with their 

 roots attached, and various species of clover, which were gathered in 

 large quantities and eaten. This was the season when the scpiaws 

 might be seen setting out in procession, each with a basket swung upon 

 her back, furnished' with a piece of wood about 3 feet in length and 

 sharpened to a point at both extremities to dig up roots, worms, etc. 

 This was the season also when lishing commenced, sometimes earlier, 

 sometimes later, according to the subsidence of the high water and 

 other circumstances. 



The summer mouths prolonged the same supply, with the addition of 

 Indian potatoes, or soap-root, as it is called by the whites, a large and 

 nutritious bulb which grows abundantly upon the hills, and various 

 kinds of wild fruits and nuts, together with the rich, fat salmon. This 

 was the feasting time par excellence of the California Indian. (Ind. 

 Aft'. Eept., 18G5, IIG.) 



Both the land and the water yield an abundant supply of food to the 

 natives in this region. 



The vegetable food is gathered chiefly by the women^ while it falls to 

 the lot of the men to ransack the forests and the waters for game and 

 fish. The outfit of the primitive gleaner, miller, and cook is worthy of 

 special description, inasmuch as we are able to follow her steps from 

 the beginning to the end of her laborious journey. While no edible 

 root or fruit was despised, the oaks furnished the chief breadstuff. 

 The acorns were gathered in an osier hamper, about IG inches high and 

 20 inches in diameter (Plate vii, Fig, 50), built up by fastening the 

 osier warp by means of a twined cord of the same material, the meshes 

 about ^ths by ^th inch, quite uniform in size. Around the top ran six 

 or seven rows of close-t^viued weaving with brown rush and grass, in 

 which the brown and the grass color alternately covered one another. 

 That is, by using two colors the weaver could bring either one into view 

 ad libitum. This form of basketry is used by the women in carrying 

 loads, supported by a band across the forehead. Filled with acorns 

 this hami^er was placed on the back and held in position by means of 

 the carrying pad (Plate viii. Fig. 51), consisting of a disk of mat 5 by 

 4 inches, made by coiling loose, native-made rope, and sewing the coil 

 with thread of grass. To each end of this pad is fastened, by a two- 

 pronged attachment, the baud of rope which passes around the back of 

 the head to hold the pad in place. This consists of rope served with 

 fine native twine. A collection of this type of pads from different tribes 

 of men, as worn by the human beast of burden, would be an instructive 

 chapter in the progress of our race, marked by the passage of the pad 

 from the forehead to the crown, and of the carrier from a half-prone 



