Georgetown weekly news., 1855-01-18
Digger Indians.

OohNSiAiiiS IuO IIlD6S OF INDIANS IN tle
northern portion Of this State, which con-
tains much interesting statistical informa-
ton. An abstract of the same is published
IN the Times and Transcript. The district
embraced in the report composed of the
counties of Yuba, Nevada, Sierra and Pla-
Ger. Not having received the Times and
/ Transcript, we copy from the Union. The
census of nine tribes is given, with the fol.
lowing as the aggregate:
Total number of Indians in l849, 10, ,070;
at the present, 1850. Total males, 1890;
females, l $3.50. al
Some OF these Indians are comfortably
clad, while others suffer greatly from expo
sure and the incIemency of winter weather.
Their chief articles of food are acorns liz
ards, snails, offals, and such other animals
and articles as can be procured when the
cravings OF hunger are felt the severest.-
A great portion OF the Indians are opposed
to removal, and resist every overture made
to them by the charitably disposed officers
OF the General Government -prefering to
roam at freedom, witt precarious subsist-
ence, over the hills and through the forests
of their early attachment, to the adoption
Of the manners and customs of the white
man, whom they feel to be infinitely re-
moved above them in native and cultivated
superiority. va1aa ii
The chief cause Of the defamation of these
Indians is said to be the small pox Whole
tribes have been swept away by it. The
report goes on to say:
Sometimes miner will permit them to
take pan of dirt from his claimfrom which
they get some gold. They scrape up the
dirt about the end of the sluice boxes which
sometimes pays them very well. On the
rivers they obtain gold by scraping out the
crevices that have been abandoned by the
whites. The mining is done almost exclu-
sively by the squaws. ! have known a
company of four or five squaws to obtain as
much as So in one day. With this they
purchase -four and beef and most generally
of the worst that there is in the market
Meats that cannot be sold to others are sold
to them. The men are very indolent, spend
ing their time mostly laying about camp.
Formerly they exercised more in search of
game. Now there is no game. Since the
settlement by the whites the deer, which
were in the greatest abundance around their
camps, have been entirely driven off or
killed, They have generally gathered
good quantity of toadstools, q sort ofmush-
room, upon which they feed and seem to be
very fond They first steam them by coy-
ering them in heated dirt, then roast them,
bruise them up in small pieces and make a
sort of cake OF them. They eat the Buck
eye berry. Of these they seem to be very
| fond after they are roasted.
They are very fond of wheat and prefer
it to -four They prepare it by boiling it
| to mush when it is considered a great lux
ury. Everything is cooked in their baskets
Their ingenuity manifested in the manufac-
ture of their baskets clearly indicates their
ability to learn without difficulty to manu-
facture all the articles of clothing necessary
to make them comfortable. | have no
doubt Judging from the articles about their
camps, that if wool could be furnished them
they would learn in twelve months to weave
it into cloth with but little instruction. /
make these suggestions for your cOnsidera-
ton, believing that You will conclude with
me that in a few years they may be made to
clothe as well as feed themselves, There is
great industry manifested by the squaws-
they are always engaged at something
they do all the work of every kind.
The tribes have physicians in whom they
place implicit confidence; they give no med
icines, but Astarye" the disease. They IN
variably burn their dead. They manifest
great grief and anguish during the process
Of burning. When the corpse has been re-
duced to ashes, they collect it, and mixing
part of it with pitch, obtained from the
pine-the female relatives of the deceased,
after cutting their hair short, smear it over
their face, head, neck and shoulders, and
wear it as badge of mourning until it
wears off, which it will do in about six
months. The balance of the ashes are then
buried. at this time in many of the camps
One-half of the squaws are in mourning, in
consequence of the death of relatives, There
are few barbarous tribes Of mankind that
approach so near civilization on the subject
of marriage. Polygamy is not considered
illegal, but seldom practised among them.
They universally respect the marital rights
of each other Infdelity to their marital
vows on the part of the wife is punishable
with death. For the last year they have
in some camps permitted this crime to go
unpunished- when committed with whites.
Acts Of adultery are becoming much more
frequent than formerly. In the county OF
Sierra, during the last fall, Q wife who COM.
mitted adultery with white man was sum-
marily executed by her husband, by shoot
ing her with his arrows. In the camps
about Nevada, Yankee Jim's, Grass Val
ley and Auburn, lewdness among the young
squaws is becoming very common; in some
instances they have suffered much with dis
eases contracted by such habits.
These Indians are generally comfortably
clad. They obtain the clothing that has
been thrown away by the whites, or pur-