156 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



near by the eight impatient travelers who had left us in such 

 fine style in the morning. They were in a sorry plight, in- 

 deed, for they were surrounded by a pack of yelling Diggers 

 who had them completely in their power. They had stolen 

 their rifles, and were now rummaging their baggage and 

 appropriating such articles, as took their fancy, to themselves, 

 while the humbled eight looked on and trembled. The 

 Diggers desisted from their plundering upon our unexpected 

 appearance, and were finally induced to make restitution from 

 threats of punishment. What would have become of the 

 party had we not seasonably arrived, I can only guess ; but it 

 is probable that they would have gone the road of the many 

 others whose uncoffined bones are bleaching on the sands of 

 the desert. 



The morning of the 7th dawned upon us clear and bright, 

 and found us encamped on a swampy flat abounding in salt 

 grass, and occasionally covered with thickets of thorny bushes. 

 We were soon visited by hosts of Indians, men, women and 

 children; all clamorously demanding shetcop. There were 

 proportionally few squaws, numbers having been carried off" 

 by neighboring tribes and sold as slaves in the settlements of 

 New Mexico. What few we saw were extremely ugly. They 

 were low in stature (which was mostly under four feet), thick- 

 set and waddling in their gait. They wore scanty mantles, 

 made by sewing several rabbit skins together, which were 

 loosely thrown around them, in " mother Hubbard " style. 

 Their faces were even more repulsive than those of the males, 

 being wrinkled and brutish, and with eyes that glared like 

 4ihose of a beast of prey. They were abject slaves to the men, 

 and while the latter were hanging around our fires and pester- 

 ing us for shetcop, their women and children were squatted in 

 a group by themselves : the picture of humility and abase- 

 ment. Some of the squaws wore on their heads a sort of bowl 

 made of willow branches closely woven together, which was 



