PITT RIVER INDIANS. 
43 
120 feet be deducted from the altitude of the pass, which is 5,736 feet above the sea. With 
the same deduction for a deep cut, the descending grades will average, for the first 2.42 
miles, 124.30 feet to the mile by the fall of the stream, or 173.4 feet per mile for the same 
distance to the west, if the summit be passed without any cut or tunnel; succeeded, for 4.93 
miles, by 55.90 feet per mile, and 125.30 feet to the mile for the next 3.67 miles, and 25.30 
feet per mile for the following 2.25 miles ; while the descent is but 25 feet in the succeeding 
2.08 miles, but averages, for the next 1.25 miles, 76 feet per mile, and 19.70 feet per mile 
thence to our last camp, 8.81 miles; and from that camp to the head of the canon, 4.76 miles, 
there is an ascent, by the foot-hills which we followed, to avoid soft grounds, of 27 feet. In 
this valley our altitude has returned very nearly to that of Great Salt lake, of the lower part of 
Humboldt river, and of Mud lake; being 4,154 feet above the sea at the head of the canon. 
Rising the table in which the canon is formed, we came upon an open plain, without timber, 
six miles in length, by a variable width of from one to three miles, so covered with stones on 
the east side of the canon that we passed over considerable mountain spurs to avoid them, and 
again returned to the plain near our camp. On the west side of the canon the ground of the 
plain is wet, and a sheet of water stands upon it, beyond which the mountains rise a few 
hundred feet; while above our camp, to the east, they rise much higher, and are everywhere 
fertile and timbered. A single Indian, only, ventured to come to camp ; but as I was anxious 
to learn something of the water-courses of the country from them, I made him presents, and sent 
him to invite others in, for the hills and plains on the opposite side of the canon were covered 
by them. The women were engaged in digging roots, of which they brought us large numbers 
on the return of the messenger with a dozen of his comrades, who were entirely destitute of 
clothing, and armed with superior bows of cedar and long reed arrows, strengthened by insert¬ 
ing strong pieces of wood in their centres. They were short, muscular, and well-formed men, 
but were seriously afflicted with trembling, which they were unable to overcome entirely for 
several hours. This part of the Sacramento river has been heretofore termed Pitt river; and 
these Indians, and the bands lower down on it, are called, in California, Pitt River Indians, 
although they claim to be Pah-Utahs. One of them seated himself near me, and made from a 
fragment of quartz, with a simple piece of round bone, one end of which was semi-spherical, 
with a small crease in it (as if worn by a thread) the sixteenth of an inch in depth, an arrow¬ 
head, which was very sharp and piercing, and such as they use on all their arrows. The skill 
and rapidity with which it was made, without a blow, but by simply breaking the sharp edges 
with the creased bone by the strength of his hands—for the crease merely served to prevent 
the instrument from slipping, affording no leverage—was remarkable. After completing his 
work, he performed a pantomime, to inform me of the cause of his cheeks and forehead being 
covered with tar. He represented a man falling, and, despite his efforts to save him, trembling, 
growing pale, (pointing from his face to mine,) and sinking to sleep, his spirit winging its 
way to the skies, which he indicated by imitating with his hands the flight of a bird upwards, 
his body sleeping still upon the river bank, to which he pointed. The tar upon his face was his 
dress of mourning. 
It is not practicable to descend the Sacramento river with wagons, owing to the mountainous 
and rocky character of its banks. I determined, therefore, to proceed with a portion of my 
party to the mouth of Fall river, leaving the remainder in camp until our return, and to ascend 
the Sacramento from its main valley to that point, after having completed our survey of the 
Sierra Nevada. 
June 28.—We could not travel in the canon of the river with our animals, and, to avoid a 
large, rocky ravine entering it from the southeast, we were obliged to leave it for some distance ; 
and to make our day’s ride shorter, attempted to cross the country directly to the mouth of 
Fall river, intending to return by the Sacramento. But almost immediately after leaving 
camp, the hills, which were high, and all. the small ravines, became so rocky and covered 
with loose surface-stones, that it was difficult to ride over them ; and our progress was effectually 
