DWELLINGS, ANCIENT AND MODERN—CANOES. 2d) 
wind answers. four hundred strong young men went out with me to war 
with the whites; only 80 are left. We will be good if the white man will 
let us, and be friends forever.” And individually he kept his word. 
For a foundation to his dwelling the Modok excavates a circular space 
from 2 to 4 feet deep, then erects over it a rounded structure of poles and 
puncheons, strongly braced up with timbers, sometimes hewn and squared. 
The whole is warmly covered with earth, and an aperture left atop, reached 
by a center pole. Before the coming of the whites secured them against 
the constant assaults and incursions of their enemies, their dwellings were 
slighter, consisting generally of a frame of willow poles, with tule matting 
overspread. It was not worth their while to build very substantial struc- 
tures, lest in the next marauding expedition they should lose all their labor. 
On the great, arid, volcanic, and sage-bush plains which sweep over the 
northeast corner of California, and which make it geologically a part of 
Nevada, it was an object of prime importance to the aborigines to get a sup- 
ply of water. Hence the lodges of the Modok always stand beside some 
lake or some sluggish desert stream, and they were notably fond of the pel- 
lucid, fresh, and wholesome waters of Lost River—that so singular phe- 
nomenon in this land of acrid sage-bush and lye-burnt soil. 
Both sexes always dressed themselves warmly in skins and furs. For 
gala robes they took large skins and inlaid them with brilliant-colored 
duck-scalps, sewed on in various patterns, forming very beautiful if rather 
evil-smelling, raiment. 
They formerly had ‘dug-outs”, generally made from the fir, quite 
rude and unshapely affairs compared with those found on the Lower Kla- 
math, but substantial, and sometimes capable of carrying a burden of 1,800 
pounds. Across the bow of one of these canoes a fish-seine was stretched, 
bellying back as the craft was propelled through the water, until the eatch 
was sufficiently large, when it was lifted up and emptied. 
In these canoes they also gathered the wo’-kus. This is an aquatic 
plant with a floating leaf very much like that of the pond-lily, in the cen- 
ter of which is a pod resembling a poppy-head, full of rich farinaceous 
seeds. These are pulled in great quantities, and the seed thrashed out on 
shore, forming an excellent material for bread or panada. Americans some- 
