LACK OF VIRTUE—DIVISION OF LABOR. 23 
Notwithstanding this vicious system of intercourse among the young, 
bastards are universally shunned and despised. ‘They and the children for 
whose mothers no money was paid—who are illegitimate in fact, according 
to Karok ideas—constitute a class of social outcasts, Indian Pariahs, who 
can intermarry only among themselves. 
here is an appalling malady which destroys thousands of the civil- 
ized, but which was unknown to the Karoks before they became acquainted 
with white men. Indeed in their simplicity when syphilis first appeared 
among them they sometimes actually sought it, that they might revenge 
themselves on their encmies. Their theory of disease is that it is a demo- 
niacal possession; hence they believed that in communicating the contagion 
to another they would free themselves from it, and the results from this mis- 
take were disastrous in the highest degree. 
There prevails in this tribe, as throughout California, a more equitable 
division of labor than is commonly supposed to have obtained among the 
Algonkin races. The men build the lodges; kill the game, and generally 
bring it home; construct the fishing-booths, weirs, and nets ; catch the sal- 
mon, and generally bring it in and spread it out to dry; cut and bring in 
all the fuel for the assembly chambers ; help to gather acorns, nuts, and 
berries; make the fish-gigs, bows, and arrows. The women gather and 
bring in the wood used for secular purposes, that is, for cooking and for 
heating the common lodges; dig the roots, and carry in most of the veg- 
etable foods; weave their baskets; sometimes bring in and dry the salmon ; 
do all the work of the scullery; make the clothing. It must always be 
remembered that the men of savage tribes are not obliged to work like the 
civilized, and everybody knows that when men are at home ina spell of 
rainy weather, or for some other reason, they do not “help about the house” 
any more than the Indian does. The Indian woman is eternally puddering 
about something, because her utensils are so poor; but her husband does 
nearly as much as the farmer or merchant; that is, he provides the food 
and brings it home, unless it is some little matter of roots, berries, or the 
like, and many is the Indian I have seen tending the baby with far more 
patience and good nature than a civilized father would display. While on 
a journey the man lays far the greatest burdens on his wife, but in the life 
