THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA. 145 
its surface seemed brighter than the real objects above. The 
river abounded in fish, as did the plains on either side in 
antelope, deer, elk and bear. The happy laughter of chil- 
dren came from the villages, the splash of salmon, leaping 
from the surface, sent ripples circling to the shore, and the 
blue dome of heaven was arched from the Sierra Nevada 
with its fields of snow on the east, to the distant Coast Range 
that shut out the Pacific on the west. Grand oaks, with far 
spreading shade, dotted the plains that stretched for miles on 
either side, and in spring time the valley was brilliant with 
flowers. This was the possession and home of the Indians, 
whose ancestors had lived and hunted without patent or title 
obtained from deeds, long before the first sailor planted his 
flag on the sea-coast,and claimed the country by right of dis- 
covery. It could not be expected that the Indian would 
see his trees cut down and game destroyed, and the clear 
rivers turned into muddy streams, without regret. That 
they refrained from seeking satisfaction for what they re- 
garded as intentional wrong is more surprising. 
A white woman told me one day of her spirit in driving 
an Indian from her tent, by getting out her husband's pistol 
and ordering him to “vamose.” The Indian’s story was 
heard in this particular ease, and never having seen a white 
woman before he was astonished at her hostile intentions, 
and indignant at having been threatened when he intended 
no wrong. He added that he knew now "why so few of 
the white men in California were married." 
The Indians are philosophical by nature and accept either 
death or suffering, when regarded as inevitable, with com- 
posure. On one occasion, when talking with a chief, and 
slapping mosquitoes with considerable energy, killing them 
when I could, the Indian remained cool and serene, quietly 
brushing the little torments from his limbs, and observing 
my impatience, said, “what good comes of killing a few, 
the air is full of them." When the first steamboat passed 
the Indian villages I watched the Indians to see what effect 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 19 
