SOUTHERN OREGON. 
243 
docile Indians, who made themselves quite easy, laughing and joking, 
and appeared rather to look upon the party as beneath them. They 
had some resemblance to the Shaste Indians; most of them were 
naked; the others had a piece of deer-skin thrown over their shoulders ; 
their faces w T ere marked with an expression of good humour. Some 
of them w r ore their hair long, extending below the neck and divided 
from the top; in others, and most commonly, it was drawn back and 
gathered in a bunch behind, where it was fastened with a string of 
deer-sinew; their ears were bored, and a short string inserted with a 
few beads; the face was usually painted, the upper part of the cheek 
in the form of a triangle, w T ith a blue-black substance, mixed with 
some shiny particles that resembled pulverized mica. 
The Indians w T ere darker as to colour than the northern tribes, and 
their general appearance resembled that of the South Sea islanders. 
Their food consists principally of fish and acorns; of the latter they 
make a kind of black cake by shelling the acorns, drying them in the 
sun, and then pounding them between stones to a meal, which they mix 
with a little water and arbutus-berries, which gives it a flavour; it is 
then formed into cakes about two inches thick, when it is wrapped in 
leaves and baked ; it is quite black and eats like cheese: these acorns 
are quite palatable in the raw state. The seeds of the different genus 
of pine are also eaten, particularly one that is peculiar to California. 
The arbutus-berry is in great plenty, and is also ground into meal; they 
have also many grapes. The game had also become very abundant, 
in consequence of the quantities of food, which attracts them as well as 
the Indians, and many antelopes and deer were observed. Large flocks 
of California partridges and geese were seen: among the birds was a 
new species of magpie. 
None of the Indians but men visited the camp, the women being left 
at their rancheria. Our party went to visit it; it was about half a mile 
below the camp, and consisted of some rude huts, built of poles, and 
divided by coarse mats into a number of small apartments. The whole 
was surrounded by a brush fence, which served for a stockade. 
The huts were small in size and devoid of comfort or cleanliness. It 
was remarked that the women were much inferior to the men in per¬ 
sonal appearance, looking careworn and wrinkled, probably from hard 
work ; for on them seems to depend the preparation of all their winter’s 
supply of food, at which they seemed to be constantly engaged; while 
the men are to be seen lounging about, or engaged in games of hazard. 
They are, however, during the season, engaged in taking salmon, either 
in weirs, or by spearing: the former method has been described 
already ; for the latter they use a long forked spear or fish-gig, which 
