THE CALIFORNIAN PENINSULA. 387 
It is to be feared that some of those who are seized with illness far from the 
mission, and not carried thither, are buried alive, especially old people, .and 
such as have few relations, for they are in the habit of digging the grave two 
- or three days before the patient breathes his last. It seems tedious to them to 
spend much time near an old, dying person that was long ago a burden to them 
and looked upon with indifference. A person of my acquaintance restored a 
girl to life that was already bound up in a deer-skin, according to their custom, 
and ready for burial, by administering to her a good dose of chocolate. She lived 
many years afterwards. On their way to the mission, some natives broke the 
neck of a blind, sick old woman, in order to be spared the trouble of carrying 
-her a-few miles further. Another patient, being much annoyed by gnats, which 
no one felt inclined to keep off from him, was covered up in such a manner 
that he died of suffocation. In transporting a patient from one place to 
another, they bind him on a rude litter, made of crooked pieces of wood, which 
would constitute a perfect rack for any but Indian bones, the carriers being in 
the habit of running with their charge. 
Concerning their consciences and eternity, the Californians are perfectly 
quiet during their sickness, and die off as calmly as though they were sure of 
heaven. As soon as a person has given up the ghost, a terrible howling is 
raised by the women that are present, and by those to whom the news is com- 
municated, yet no one sheds tears, excepting, perhaps, the nearest relations,. 
and the whole proceeding is a mere ceremony. But who would believe that 
some of them show a dislike to be buried according to the rites of the Catholie: 
religion? Having noticed that certain individuals, who were dangerously sick, 
yet still in possession of their faculties, objected to being led or carried to the: 
mission, in order to obtain there both spiritual and material assistance, I in- 
quired the cause of this strange behavior, and was informed they considered it 
as a derision of the dead to bury them with ringing of the bells, chanting, and. 
other ceremonies of the Catholic church. 
One of them told me they had formerly broken the spine of the deceased. 
before burying them, and had thrown them into the ditch, rolled up like a ball, 
' believing that they would rise up again if not treated in this manner. I saw 
them, however, frequently putting shoes on the feet of the dead, which rather 
seems to indicate that they entertain the idea of a journey after death; but 
whenever I asked them why they observed this probably very ancient custom, 
they could not give me any satisfactory answer. In time of mourning, both 
men and women cut off their hair almost entirely, which formerly was giveit. 
to their physicians or conjurers, who made them into a kind of mantle or large 
wig, to be worn on solemn occasions. 
When a death has taken place, those who want to show the relations of the 
deceased their respect for the latter lie in wait for these people, and if they 
pass they come out from their hiding-place, almost creeping, and intonate a 
mournful, plaintive, hu, hu, hu / wounding their heads with pointed, sharp. 
stones, until the blood flows down to their shoulders. Although this barbarous. 
custom has frequently been interdicted, they are unwilling to discontinue it.. 
When I learned, a few years ago, that some had been guilty of this trans- 
gression after the death of a certain woman, I left them the choice either to 
submit to the fixed punishment or to repeat this mourning ceremony in my 
presence. They chose the latter, and, in a short time, I saw the blood trick- 
ling down from their lacerated heads. 
CHAPTER VIJI.—THEIR QUALIFICATIONS AND MANNERS. 
From what I have already said of the Californians, it might be inferred. that 
they are the most unhappy and pitiable of all the children of Adam. Yet 
such a supposition would be utterly wrong, and I can assure the reader that, 
as far as their temporal condition is concerned, they live unquestionably much 
