CHAPTER XXIII. 
THE MAKH/-EL-CHEL. 
This is the name by which they are known among the surrounding 
Indians and the Americans, but whether it originated with themselves I 
cannot state. Their principal, and formerly only, abode was an island on 
the east side of Clear Lake, a few miles above Lower Lake. In their 
language hésch’-la signifies “island”, which has been corrupted and applied 
both to the island and the tribe; and our undiscriminating countrymen 
pronounce it with great impartiality Hessler, Kessler, Hesley, Kelsey, and 
several other ways. 
The Makh’-el-chel are in some respects a remarkable race. So fine 
and almost Caucasian is their physiognomy, so light their color, so quick 
their intelligence, so exclusive and haughty are they (or once were), that 
many persons refuse to believe they are of the same blood with the 
degraded and miserable beings on the Lower Sacramento. Pioneers with 
a good eye for the fine points in a man, and knowing nothing of the subtle 
laws of philology, insist that they cannot be “Diggers”, but must be a 
remnant of some previous, ancient race. But the indications of language 
cannot be disregarded. Words of such common occurrence as “water”, 
“earth”, ‘ panther”, and the personal pronouns, which they have in common 
with the Patwin or Wintiin, could not have been borrowed from the latter, 
but must have come to them by inheritance. They are undoubtedly 
descended from the Sacramento Valley tribes, and are a fine illustration of 
the ennobling effects of a mountain climate: 
They are singular also for their exclusiveness. They are one of the ~ 
very few tribes who would put a woman to death for committing adultery 
with or marrying an American. All blue-eyed and fair-haired children they 
destroyed without remorse, regarding the whites with the same disdain that 
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