19-2 CALIFORNIA. 



have been advantageous. Captain Suter had commenced removing 

 the stock and transporting the guns, &c, to his establishment. 



The buildings at the two posts numbered from fifty to sixty, and 

 they frequently contained a population of four or five hundred souls. 

 Since the breaking up of the establishment, the majority of the Rus- 

 sians returned to Sitka ; the rest have remained in the employ of the 

 present owner. 



During our stay, there was much apprehension on the part of some 

 that the present governor of the district next west of New Helvetia, 

 felt jealous of the power and influence that Captain Suter was 

 obtaining in the country ; and it was thought that had it not been for 

 the force which the latter could bring to oppose any attempt to dis- 

 lodge him, it would have been tried. In the mean time Captain Suter 

 is using all his energies to render himself impregnable. 



In his manners, Captain Suter is frank and prepossessing ; he has 

 much intelligence, is conversant with several languages, and withal 

 not a little enthusiastic : he generally wears a kind of undress uni- 

 form, with his side-arms buckled around him. He has a wife and 

 daughter whom he expects soon to join him. 



New Helvetia was found to be in latitude 38° 33' 45" N., and 

 longitude 121° 40' 05" W. 



According to this gentleman, there are nine different tribes of 

 Indians that are now in his neighbourhood, and within a short dis- 

 tance of his territorjr. 



In the evening our party were favoured with a dance by Indian 

 boys, who, before they began, ornamented themselves with white 

 masks, and decked their bodies each according to his own taste. 

 The music was vocal, and several joined in the song. Their motions 

 were thought to resemble the Pawnees' mode of dancing. Their 

 music was more in harmony than among the other tribes we had 

 seen ; neither has their language any of the harsh guttural sounds 

 found in those of the Oregon Indians. Every word of their lan- 

 guage appears to terminate with a vowel, after the manner of the 

 Polynesian dialects, which gives their voices much more softness 

 than the tribes to the north, to whom they have no resemblance what- 

 ever, though they are said to be somewhat like the Shoshones. 



They wear fillets around their heads of leaves, and often tie on 

 them a piece of cotton, after the manner of the Polynesians. These 

 Indians do not build canoes, although they admire and prize them 



