Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-08-29
Habits Of the Piute Indians.

Ihere are one JnOu5anQ TO ntteen
hundred Piutes in this county and
vicinity, says a Nevada paper. They
are very orderly and useful class of
people. The old men and women will
pack wood, nearly one-eight of cord
at time, full three miles, and sell it
for two bits and smaller loads they
will sell for bread and cold meats
(hog-a-die, as they callit). The younger
ones do washing, and any other kind
of work for families, and work on
farms, where they soon learn to work,
and some of them will do harder work
than white man. They are migratory
in their habits, and will seldom stay
more than a month in one place, then
go off to another camp, have talk, and
return again to their work. They have
jugs made of willow and covered with
pitch from the pine trees, that are per-
fectly watertight, and hold from one to
five gallons. They never camp in the
valley by water, but pack their water to
camp on the hills. Kit Carson once
told me that the reason so many whites
got killed in early days was, they would
camp in the valley by water, and the
Indians could see them from the hills
and rush down and surround them.
Last fall they were quite alarmed, as
they had been told they would all have
to go on the reservation. I told them
they could go and stay where they
liked, only to behave themselves, and
do no wrong. Since then they have
been content. They never had any
thing from government, and want moth
ing. They all have Piute name. such
as Sywabba, ge-brush), Koona,
(Wood)-all named after some local
thing-but they will not own their
Piute names, so they have an American
name, such as Tom, Jim, Mary, Susan.
When this place was first settled, they
wore nothing but rabbit-skin robes and
moccasins made of deer-skins, which
they cure by constant rubbing. Now
they are we'll clothed the women buy
calicoes and sit down in the dirt and
sew them well in the style of our
women, and do not take them off until
worn out. They appear happy when
they have money to gamble with. They
play monte and two other games I do
not understand. They have no houses,
but camp on the hill, with pine and
cedar bushes in a circle about twelve
feet in diameter, with no cover to pro-
tect them from snow and rain. They
gather bushels of pine nuts, and bring
large quantities of them into town. and
trade them for refuse apples, of which
they are very fond. They will help the
butcher kill, take the entrails, strip
them, and take the legs, head and offals
to camp. They get worm as large as
a finger from the pine trees in Mono
Lake, the water of which is very pecu-
liar, being very cold, so that a man
can't stay in it but few minutes, and
then has to go to fresh water to wash.
The BARRIERS use it for shampooing.
1t IS preferable to soap. The men take
their clothes and shake them a short
time in the water, and they are as clear
as though they had been thoroughly
washed. In the summer there is o spe-
cies of fly near the shore, and the water
will be of milky color. They change
to an egg, then to worm, and wind
rows foot high will be blown on the
shore, which the Indians gather and eat
in the winter. They have their dances
occasionally, sometimes at Mono Lake,
Walker Lake, and in this vicinity. Re-
Gently they had one about mile from
town. They had pine and cedar brushes
ut around space about a hundred
eet in diameter. The bucks had moth
ing on but pantaloons, cap and feathers,
their face and bodies being painted.
They go Though rnummery, and Just
move their whole person, men and
women. Many citizens went there to
see them. They danced for two nights
all night. A few days after friend
went to see them, and he told me that
he found them all on their knees in the
form of three sides of square, going
through the same mummery to tune,
and then they would all, men and
women, form ring, keeping up their
singing. He asked them if they were
going to dance. They said, NO
NoNSO NOhO hOOP P1dJ al AlSnUs
Which calls to mind the lines of Pope
Lo, the poor Indian whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind. u
The women are generally virtuous,
and have one, two, or three children
with them about the streets but they
do not appear to increase in population,
as many die in winter from exposure.
There are but few old men or women.
They bury their dead in the ground,
covering them with stones and earth.
They have no general burying ground,
but bury them where they die, and
when one dies in camp they burn the
camp and leave it. If widow or child
dies, the warrior paints the face black,
and leaves it on till it wears off, as they
never wash. Wife they call No-Dick-
Wah." They have no idea of years
sleeps, moons and SHOWS is their time.
A Novel Mound.
In Ohio q mound of q novel character