MEDICINES—OLD GRAVEYARDS. 99 
. 
All these things Billy related to me with the most profound earnest- 
ness and good faith, and many other matters he added thereto, the recital of 
which would make the hair of the human race stand on end. But I have 
now something to record of him which is greatly more creditable to his intel- 
ligence and that of his tribe. One day I strolled leisurely several miles 
through the Mad River forest with my little chaperone, and our conversa- 
tion turning on the practice of medicine he pointed out to me as we went 
along every plant or shrub that possessed a healing virtue. He must have 
called my attention to fifty different kinds of vegetation, all used by the 
physicians for medicine, and to every one he gave a distinct name. ‘There 
is not the smallest moss or lichen, not a blossoming shrub or -tree or root, 
not a flower or vine, no forest parasite, bulrush, or unsightly weed grow- 
ing inthe water or out, or any sea-weed or kelp, for which they have not 
a specific name; and it seemed to me that Billy pointed out as good for 
one disease or another nearly half of all the herbs or bushes we saw; so 
copious and carefully defined is the Patawat materia medica. (See chapter 
on “Aboriginal Botany. ”) 
Among the Patawat the dead are always buried and their possessions 
placed in the graves with them. There is evidence to show that this cus- 
tom long antedates the advent of the Americans. Mr. Hempfield related 
to me that in the early days of the settlements around Humboldt Bay, he 
had seen old Indian burying-grounds containing hundreds of graves, each 
marked with a redwood slab. Though a soft wood, the redwood is noted 
for its durability ; and the size and condition of some of these head-boards 
rendered it probable that the graves had been made seventy-five or a hun- 
dred years. 
The Patawat are like the Viard in almost every respect, and I was able 
to obtain various supplementary particulars’ of the latter; so I will only 
add here the numerals common to both tribes: 
1. Koh’-tseh. 5. Weh’-sah. 9. Sri-ré-keh. 
2 Dieteh: 6. Chil-6-keh. 10. Lo-kel’. 
3. Di-keh. 7. A-tloh. 
4. Df-oh. 8. I-wit. 
