OF LOS ANGELES CO., CALIFORNIA. 9 



came to the land where the geese breed. And even he 

 appears to have possessed that property ascribed to his 

 race, for on his return he informed them of having fallen 

 in with people whose ears reached down to the hips ; 

 others of a small stature ; and finally a people so perfect 

 that they would lay hold of a rabbit or other animal, put 

 it near the mouth, draw a long breath and then throw the 

 rest away ; which on examination was nothing but excre- 

 ment ! They sucked with their breath the essence of the 

 food and so lived without any calls of nature. 



LETTER VI. 



Food and Raiment. 



The animal food used by the Gabrielinos consisted of 

 deer meat, young coyotes, squirrels, badgers, rats, go- 

 phers, skunks, raccoons, wild cats, the small crow, black- 

 birds and hawks, and snakes, with the exception of the 

 rattlesnake. A few eat of the bear, but in general it was 

 rejected on superstitious grounds. The large locust or 

 grasshopper was a favorite morsel, roasted on a stick at 

 the fire. Fish, whales, seals, sea-otter and shell-fish 

 formed the principal subsistence of the immediate coast 

 range lodges and Islanders. Acorns, after being divested 

 of the shell, were dried and pounded in stone mortars, 

 put into filterers of willow twigs worked into a conical 

 form and raised on little sand mounds, which were lined 

 inside with two inches of sand ; water added and mixed 

 up ; filled up again and again with more water, at first 

 hot, then cold, until all the bitter principle was extracted ; 

 the residue was then collected and washed free of any 

 sandy particles it might contain ; on settling, the water 

 was poured off; on being well boiled it became a sort of 

 mush, and was eaten when cold. The next favorite food 

 was the kernel of a species of plum which grows in the 



ESSEX IN8T. BULLKTIN, VOL. XVII. 2 



