BURIAL—ANNIVERSARY DANCE. 133 
Nevertheless, I consider the Indian explanation the best, because the 
simplest—namely, that all this folly is voluntary; that these men choose 
this unnatural life merely to escape from the duties and responsibilities of 
manhood; and that the whole phenomenon is to be regarded as another 
illustration of that strange capacity which the California Indians develop 
for doing morbid and abnormal things. 
The Pit River Indians have a regular ceremony for consecrating these 
men-women to their chosen life. When an Indian shows a desire to shirk 
his manly duties they make him take his position in a circle of fire, then a 
bow and a “woman-stick” are offered to him, and he is solemnly enjoined 
in the presence of the witnesses assembled to choose which he will, and 
ever afterward to abide by his choice. 
From the outrageous character of this tribe, white men know very little 
about their religious beliefs and ideas. Tai-ké-mo is the name of the 
Great Man of the Yuki mythology; he created the world and was himself 
the first man in it. But this has probably been ingrafted from the Christian 
story. . 
The Yuki bury their dead in a sitting posture. They dig a hole six 
feet deep sometimes, and at the bottom of it “coyote” under, making a little 
recess in which the corpse is deposited. 
There is an anniversary dance observed by them called the green-corn 
dance, though this manifestly dates only from the period when the Spaniards 
taught them to cultivate corn. The performers are of both sexes; the men 
being dressed with a breech-cloth and a mantle of the black tail-feathers of 
eagles, reaching from under the shoulders down to the thighs, but not en- 
cumbering the arms; while the squaws wear their finest fur robes, strings 
of shells, ete., and hold gay-colored handkerchiefs in their hands. The men 
hop to the music of a chant, a chorister keeping time with a split stick ; 
but the squaws, standing behind their respective partners in an outside cir- 
cle, simply sway themselves backward and forward, and swing their hand- 
kerchiefs in a lackadaisical manner. 
Thievery is a virtue with them, as it was with the Spartans, provided 
the thief is sly enough not to get caught. Turbulent and choleric, they 
often treat their women and children with cruelty, whereas most California 
