316 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON CALIFORNIA. 



CALIFORNIA was discovered by the Spaniards about 1534, 

 and towards the close of the succeeding century, the Jesuits 

 established themselves in it to convert the natives. The ef- 

 forts of the missionaries have nominally converted about half 

 the natives to Christianity, but the number of the native in- 

 habitants are rapidly decreasing, and they do not number at 

 present more than fourteen thousand. Though divided into 

 many tribes, they are understood to belong to the same family, 

 speaking the same language, and having similar manners and 

 customs. 



The stature of these people varies with their habits. Those 

 who subsist chiefly on fish, and inhabit the sea- coast, are sel- 

 dom more than five feet and six inches in height, with slender 

 forms, while those who occupy the great valleys in the interior 

 are tall and robust. Their complexion is a shade or two 

 darker than that of the Indians in Oregon and about the 

 Columbia ; their noses are broad and fiat ; the hair is black, 

 coarse, and straight, and their lips are thick, like the negro. 

 The forehead is low and contracted ; eyebrows and beard 

 scanty. They have the habit common to all American Indians 

 of extracting the beard and hair of other parts of the body. 

 During the summer months the men seldom conceal their 

 nakedness ; but the females always have a rush or a skin- 

 covering around the waist. The women are also fond of tat- 



