378 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
forts and decencies of life, these Indians are so ardentl) 
attached to their country, that when carried into the lands of 
their captors and surrounded with abundance, they pine away 
and often die in grief for the loss of their native deserts. In 
one instance, I saw one of these Paiuches die from no other 
apparent cause than this home-sickness. From the time it 
was brought into the settlements of California it was sad, 
moaned, and continually refused to eat till it died. 
“ The Paiuches are very cowardly. They, however, make 
some weapons of defence, as bows and arrows. The bows 
are about six feet long; made of thesavine (Juniperus sahina). 
This wood being very tough and elastic, the bows are both 
powerful and durable. Their arrows are made of a species 
of cane-bamboo, and are from three to four feet long, pointed 
with a bit of fire-hardened wood. When these canes are 
young they chew them for the juice, which contains consider¬ 
able saccharine matter. Their habitations, if such they may 
be called, are of the rudest character. Some of them are 
mere holes dug in the sand-hills; others consist of sticks and 
branches of brush and trees piled up conically, and covered 
with dirt. This latter kind is usually found where they 
attempt villages of greater or less size, and stand huddled 
closely together. The interior of these huts is filthy beyond 
description. 
“ These Indians, although destitute of that daring which 
characterizes many other tribes in the mountain regions of 
which we are speaking, are occasionally a source of great 
annoyance to those who traverse these deserts, by gathering 
around their camps in the darkness of the night, and letting 
fly a volley of arrows at the travellers’ horses and mules, mor¬ 
tally wounding or disabling more or less of them, so that they 
must be left behind when the caravan moves on ; and when 
danger of chastisement has passed, they surfeit themselves on 
their carcases. 
“ In this description of the Paiuches I have been governed 
by my own personal observations,” says Doctor Lyman, “made 
