CHAPTER X. 
THE PAT! A-WAT. 
Around Humboldt Bay there is a broad margin of land which is with- 
out dispute the most valuable compact body of soil for agricultural pur- 
poses in all the northern part of the State—the very jewel of the California 
coast. The extraordinary exuberance of vegetation in the humid atmos- 
phere of this region makes it look ragged and unhandsome, with flaunting 
brake and ferns by every roadside, and concealing every fence-row, and 
affording a lodging-place for great quantities of dust; but the depth and 
richness of the soil—that is the wonderful thing. And yet this land of 
almost unparalleled fecundity was the home of some of the most degraded 
races of Northern California. 
The Patawat live on the lower waters of Mad River, and round Hum- 
boldt Bay as far south as Arcata, perhaps originally as far down as Eureka. 
They are black-skinned; pudgy in stature; well cushioned with adipose 
tissue; with little berry-like eyes, often bleared; low foreheads; harsh, 
black, stiff hair; extremely timid and inoffensive; and a prey all their 
lives long to the most frightful and ghoulish superstitions I have heard 
anywhere. Living on the richest and goodliest of lands, they were the 
envy of their poorer neighbors, and were harried from time immemo- 
rial by the fierce Mattoal on the south, by the fiercer Sai’-az and Whilkut 
on the east, and by the Chillula on the north. They formerly built either 
the common conical hut, or the Klamath lodge of puncheons, with a round, 
shallow cellar, though now most of them imitate the American house ; and 
their implements are about the same as everywhere. The squaws tattoo in 
blue three narrow, pinnate leaves perpendicularly on their chins, and also 
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