870 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
mention the names of the dead in the presence of the surviving, 
and thus renew their grief. Their respect for the truly valiant 
amounts almost to adoration. A chief or great brave who 
falls in battle is always honored ; not indeed with a trium¬ 
phal entry into Rome or Paris, but by having a slice of his 
flesh eaten by his victorious and reverent enemy. This is es¬ 
teemed the highest honor that can be paid to the dead. It 
is also believed by them that the flesh eaten will convey to 
the bosom that receives it, the brave breath that has fled from 
the deceased. They, like other North American savages, take 
the scalps of their enemies, and preserve them as trophies of 
their valor. One custom among them is, I believe, entirely 
peculiar to themselves. They pluck out the eyes of their 
enemies, and by some method preserve them in a state c: great 
perfection, as the most precious tokens of their victory 
The hot sand, and hot air baths, are the sovereign remedies 
for all diseases among the Indians of Upper California,* and 
accordingly the means of administering them are found every¬ 
where. The former are prepared by scooping out a trevch in 
the sand six or eight feet in length by one or two in breadth; 
less or more according to the size of the patient. Over this a 
fire is kept burning until the sand is thoroughly heated. The 
fire is removed and the sand stirred until a proper tempera¬ 
ture is obtained. The patient is then laid into the hc-llow, 
and covered with the heated sand up to the neck. By this 
means a protracted and profuse perspiration is produced, in 
the midst of which the patient plunges into a stream or the 
sea. 
The hot air bath is prepared as follows. A hole is dug in 
the ground, on the bank of a stream, or other beds of water, 
from five to ten feet in diameter, and from one to three feet in 
depth, which is covered with a well braced roof of poles, brush 
and grass, all secured by cords and plastered over with mud. 
A hole is left in the centre of the roof for the escape of smoke 
and admission of the light; one also at the side for entrance 
and egress. Several persons enter this oven and build a fire 
