120 THE WAILAKKI, ETC. 
abolished before this time had they not been gathered on the Round Valley 
Reservation. 
An adventure related by T. G. Robbins, of the California volunteers, 
shows that the Wailakki are not lacking in bravery. His regiment, the 
Second Infantry, had been pushing a stiff campaign against them south of 
Kel River, routed them in a bloody fight, and drove them pell-mell over 
the river at Big Bend. One of them being a poor swimmer lagged behind, 
and when Robbins and his comrades emerged on the bank, they saw him 
resting in the middle of the river, in the eddy of a bowlder. He now 
struck out again, and the bullets spattered in the water around him like 
hail. Once across, he perceived it would be death to run up the bank 
under fire, so he concealed himself again. Robbins stripped to the buff 
and swam over to tackle him. As he came out of the water the Indian 
dashed at him with an enormous root in each hand. Both men were stark 
naked, except that the Wailakki had a shell-button and a dime hanging 
from each ear. The soldier struck at him, but his rotten billet of driftwood 
splintered harmlessly over the savage’s head. The Indian aimed a mighty 
blow in return, but the soldier threw up his left arm as in sword practice, 
and the club broke over it, though the end -slammed down on his sconce, 
causing him to perceive ten or twelve Indians and several hundred stars. 
The Indian struck with his second club, but Robbins parried again, and 
the club bounced high in the air. Both men were now disarmed. Instead 
of closing in and grappling, as he should have done, the Indian made a 
dive to recover his club. Quick as thought the soldier caught up another, 
and as the Indian stooped he dealt him a stunning blow on the base of the 
ear. ‘The savage fell all along on the gravel, and lay quivering in every 
muscle, while the soldier, as he says, ‘‘beat him until there was not a whole 
bone in his body”, and the company on the other side looked on and 
applauded. 
This trifling affair, with its truly Homeric termination, is worth 
relating only as an instance of a fair, naked fight between men of the two 
races, armed only with the weapons which nature offered: The upshot 
shows that the savage was the equal of the other in strength, agility, and 
courage, but was inferior in fencing. 
