THE CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA. 363 



a pointed piece of heavy wood, a spaa aud a half loug, is inserted, bearing 

 usually at its extremity a tiint of a triangular shape, almost resembling a serpent's 

 tongue, and indented like the edge of a saw * The Californians' carry their 

 bows and arrows always with them, and as they commence at an early age to 

 use these weapons many of them become very skilful archers. 



In lieu of knives aud scissors they use sharp flints for cutting almost every- 

 thing — cane, Avood, aloe, aud even their hair — and for disembowelling and skin- 

 ning animals. With the same flints they bleed or scarify themselves, and 

 make incisions for extracting thorns and splinters which they have accidentally 

 run into tlijeir limbs. 



The whole art of the men consists in the manufacture of bows and arrows, 

 while the mechanical skill of the females is merely conflned to the making of 

 the above-mentioned aprons. Of a division of labor not a trace is to be found 

 among them ; even the cooking is done by all without distinction of sex or age, 

 every one providing for himself, and the children commence to practice that 

 necessary art as soon as they arc able to stir a fire. The time of these people 

 is chiefly taken up by the search for food and its preparation; and if their physical 

 wants are supplied they abandon themselves entirely to lounging, chattering, and 

 sleep. This applies particularly to the roaming portion of the Californian In- 

 dians, for those who dwell near the missions now established in the country are 

 sometimes put to such labor as the occasion may require. 



CHAPTER III. OF THEIR FOOD AND THE MANNER OF PREPARING IT. 



Notwithstanding the barrenness of the country, a Californian hardly ever dies 

 of hunger, except, perhaps, now and then an individual that falls sick in the wil- 

 derness and at a great distance from the mission, for those who are in good health 

 ti'ouble themselves very little about suph patients, even if these should happen 

 to be their husbands, wives, or other relations ; and a little child that has lost 

 its mother or both parents is also occasionally in danger of starving to death, 

 because in some instances no one will take charge of it, the father being some- 

 times inhuman enough to abandon his offspring to its fate. 



The food of the Californians, as will be seen, is certainly of a mean quality, 

 yet it keeps them in a healthy condition, and they become strong and grow old 

 in spite of their poor diet. The only period of the year duiing Avhich the Cali- 

 fornians can satisfy their appetite without restraint is the season of the pitaha- 

 yas, which ripen in the middle of June and abound for more than eight Aveeks. 

 The gathering of this fruit may be considered as the harvest of the native in- 

 habitants. They can eat as much of it as they please, and with some this food 

 agrees so well that they become corpulent during that period ; and for this rea- 

 son I Avas sometimes unable to recognize at first sight individuals, otherwise 

 perfectly familiar to me, Avho visited me after having fed for three or four weeks 

 on these pitahayas. They do not, however, preserve them, and when the sea- 

 son is over they are put again on short rations. Among the roots eaten by 

 the Californians may be mentioned the yuka, which coiistitutes an important 

 article of food in many parts of America, as, for instance, in the island of Cuba, 

 but is not very abundant in California. In some provinces it is made into a 

 kind of bread or cake, while the Californians, who would find this process too 

 tedious, simply roast the yukas in a fire like potatoes. Another root eaten by 

 the natives is that of the aloe plant, of which there are many kinds in this 

 country. Those species of this vegetable, however, which aSbrd nourishment 

 for not all of them are edible — do not grow as plentifully as the Californi- 

 ans mi"-ht wish, and very geldom in the neighborhood of water ; the prepara- 



* In the collection of Dr. E. H. Davis, of New York, there are a inimber of arrows ob- 

 ' tained from the Imliaus of the island of Tihnron, in the Culifornian gulf. They answer, ia 

 every respect, the description given in the text. 



