35 



SEXTANT ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Latitude oli.scM-vatioii.s weiv made at most of the cainp.s wIhmh! the party lemaiiied for a siiifjle 

 uiglit by inean.s of the sextant; tlie deteriniiiatioii for time depemliii^' iii>oii .siii^^le altitude ob.serva- 

 tions of the stars or equal altitudes of the suu, including several points at which equal altitudes of 

 star.s were also obtained. For latitude, either ])olaris was ob.scrved and al.'^o a soutii star, or circum- 

 meridian altitudes of the suu with a south star or stars. The method emphn erl in reduction is giveu 

 in these tables, special blank forms having been prepared for the use of the expeditiou. 



The accuracy of these ob.servations is proven to be very great, aud the results compare not 

 unfavorably with those obtained by the use of the zenith telescope. 



For illustration, the following single results for latitude at a given point, determined during 

 different days, are submitted : 



Camp 7, {near Camp Ruby.) 



OBSEiiVKn, Lieutenant Wueklkk. 



Mean latitude, 40o 03' 47".46 ± 1".45. 



INDIANS. 



All the Indians through Southern Nevada may be termed "Mountain Indians," in contradis- 

 tinction to those that inhabit the valleys or plains, or live along the ocean-.shore. The habits, 

 dispositions, aud mental characteristics of all the Indians that I have encountered on the racific 

 Slope seem to be governed largely by the topography of the country and the principal articles used 

 as food, the latter undoubtedly liaving the greater eflect. 



The mountain Indians are more hardy, intelligent, shrewd, and cunning, generally going into 

 the valleys to plant and harvest, returning to their mountain-retreats after gathering their slender 

 crops. They make up the deficit in food from nuts and acorns, rarely eating roots. The well-kuown 

 Digger Indians of the California valleys formerly subsisted in the main upon roots aud plants, and 

 to them pine-nuts aud acorns were a great luxury. They were aud are a filthy, .sliiggishiniiided, 

 di-sgusting race. Certain other shore Indians, closely allied in general worthlessness of character 

 to the Diggers, subsist upon fish and any refuse or offal found along the shore, together with sea- 

 weed and various .searoots and plants. They inhabit the northern coasts of California ai'd Oregon. 



The mountain Indians of Nevada aud Idaho, as a general rule, have been endowed by nature 

 with more of the civilized instincts than those found below the Colorado River; and, in fact, it is 

 not unlikely that a provisional latitudinal distinction, modified by the form and extent of the 

 drainage basins, may be made general in its ai>plication to all tribes west of the Rocky Mountains. 



With the development and po|»ulation of countries like Arizona, the Indian will become im- 

 pressed with the fact that warlike aggression or resistance will be futile ; and the submissive 

 Apache of a few years hence will be found to differ but little from the tame Ute and Pah-Ute of to- 

 day. 



Our guide and interpreter, Henry Butterfield, a thorough master of the Shoshone and Gosiute 

 tongues, succeeded in gaining a pretty accurate census of the "wickeups" at which the Indians 

 were found at home. His estimate of those enumerated was very nearly two thousand five hun- 

 derd ; aud it is not unsafe to suppose that at least this number are permanent inhabitants of the 

 area surveyed. 



