A SYLVAN BAROMETER—ABORIGINAL ART. 189 
eating when cocked and peeled. There is a certain locality on Gualala 
Creek, called by them Hi-po-wi, which signifies ‘potato place”. Unlike 
the Atlantic tribes, those on this coast seldom consume anything raw, 
except dried smelt and salmon. 
Clams and mussels are great dainties in the season. They also trap 
ground-squirrels ‘and such small deer” by means of a noose attached to a 
pole bent over, which springs up and hoists the animal into the air. 
It will be observed by the traveler that the quality of aboriginal art, 
as a general thing, is inferior in Southern and Central California to that in 
the northern parts of the State. The tobacco-pipe affords a convenient illus- 
tration. Among the Hupa it is made of beautiful manzanita or laurel wood, 
and very elegantly, though plainly, carved into the form of a cigar-holder ; 
it is as round as if turned with a lathe, and is frequently encircled at the 
outer end with a thin rim or band of stone. But among these southern 
tribes the rudest kind of a pipe answers all purposes. The Indian takes 
any straight stick he happens to find and whittles out of it a stem a foot 
long and as large as one’s little finger, with a rough lump of wood at the 
end, which is burned or bored out a little to serve for a bowl, the whole 
pipe being straight, so that the smoker must cant it up a good deal or lie on 
his back. 
While among the Gualala I had an excellent opportunity of witness- 
ing the gambling game of wi and tep, and a description of the same, with 
slight variations, will answer for nearly all the tribes in Central and South- 
ern California. 
After playing tennis all the afternoon they assembled in the evening 
in a large frame-house of one room, made by themselves with tolerable 
skill, and squatted on the ground around a fire, which it was the children’s 
task constantly to replenish with shavings. There were about forty men, 
women, and youngsters. They first divided off in two equal parties, and 
then proceeded to make up the grand sweepstake. One Indian would lay 
down a half dollar, and another of the opposite section would cover the 
same. Another would deposit a blanket or a pair of trousers, and one of 
the other side would match it with an article agreed to be of equal value. 
A squaw would contribute a dress, or a chemise, or a string of beads, which 
