352 THE MIWOK. 
make brushes of the fibrous matter encasing the bulb, wherewith they 
occasionally sweep out their wigwams and the earth for a small space 
around. Although there were millions of tall, straight pines in the moun- 
tains, the Miwok had no means of crossing rivers, except logs or clumsy 
rafts. All the dwellers on the plains, and as far up as the cedar-line, 
bought all their bows and many of their arrows from the upper moun- 
taineers. An Indian is ten days in making a bow, and it is valued at $3, 
$4, and $5, according to the workmanship; an arrow at 122 cents. Three 
kinds of money were employed in this traffic. White shell-buttons, pierced 
in the center and strung together, rate at $5.a yard (this money was less 
valuable than among the Nishinam, probably because these lived nearer the 
source of supply); “periwinkles” (olivella?) at 51 a yard; fancy marine 
shells at various prices, from $3 to $10 or $15 a yard, according to their 
beauty. 
Their chieftainship, such as it is, is hereditary when there is a son or 
brother of commanding influence, which is very seldom; otherwise he is 
thrust aside for another. He is simply a master of ceremonies, except when 
aman of great ability appears, in which case he sometimes succeeds in 
uniting two or three of the little, discordant tribelets around him, and 
spends his life in a vain effort to harmonize others, and so goes down to his 
grave at the last broken-hearted. It is of no use; the greatest savage 
intellect that ever existed could not have banded permanently together fifty 
villages of the California Indians. 
When he decides to hold a dance in his village, he dispatches 
messengers to the neighboring rancherias, each bearing a string wherein is 
tied a number of knots. Every morning thereafter the invited chief unties 
one of the knots, and when the last one is reached they joyfully set forth 
for the dance—men, women, and children. 
Occasionally there arises a great orator or ‘prophet, who wields a wide 
influence, and exerts it to introduce reforms which seem to him desirable. 
Old Sam, of Jackson, Calaveras County, was such a one. Sometimes he 
would set out on a speaking tour, traveling many miles in all directions, 
and discoursing with much fervor and eloquence nearly all night, according 
to accounts. Shortly before I passed he had introduced two reforms, at 
A ih 
