Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1879-11-11
THE METEOROLOGICAL PIUTES.

| Captain Sam and his staff of Piute Indians
were in town yeS.-clay on official business
with His Excellency the Governor The oh
| ject of their visit was to secure some sort 81
| appropriation to place the Piutes on more
comfortable footing for the coming Winter.
Sam bases this claim against the State Oh tbs
valuable services he and his tribe have rem
dered in the prognosticatlon of meteorological
events As early as October the savage fixes
up weather schedule which may be con
sidered fully as reliable AS the " Old Prob
abilities report, and vastly superior to any
that such knowledge as they place in pos
session of the State should find fitting equiv
alant. What they want is lumber for houses,
cloth for clothes and few cooking ranges for
the leading families of the tribe. The dele
cation had an audience with the Governor
yesterday morning and the scene was
solemn and impressive one. Capt. Sam
entering gravely deposited his hat in yawR-
ingspittoon. The example was immediately fol-
lowed by the rest of the tribe, and all the
spittoons were taken up. Speeches were in
dulged in by Capt Sam and johnson Sides
When Sam rose to speak he threw off his red
blanket and hung it up the stove. The
blanket was soon in blaze but was put out
by the Secretary of State, who came in Just
in time with one of his Babcock extinguish-
ers. Sam made great ado bat his action was
considered as nothing more than a dodge to
yet new blanket. The Governor informed
them that he would take their proposition
under consideration and they withdrew in a
hopeful mood.
PIUTE PREDICTIONS.
The Piutes predict that the coming Winter
will be pretty hard one all round Deep |
snow, high winds and uDprecsdentedly cold |
weather about Christmas time are counted on. !
what they see in nature, and there are no |
good reasons why their opinions, the result Of
ong experience and of close observation,
should not be entitled to proper weight. The
Early disappearance of the birds. the heavy
growth of moss upon the trees and the deep
in the ground of animals and
worms are the signs which tell them of
lgorous Winter. There are also certain in
ects which make provisions against the cold
" rolling themselves up in coverings which
hey weave about their bodies in the Fall. A
Mysterious instinct, which the wisest can not
athom, tells these insects when to make their !
eats warm and thick, and the Piutes hold
hat the thicker the coverings the colder the
Winter. Perhaps, after all, these
vagabonds of the hills are able to
cad the book of nature more understandinglv ,
han the best scientific men of our enlight-
ned age. This may IN a measure account
or the fact that Dan De Quill, of the Enter.
Use, has been so uniformly successful in hi. !
Gather predictions. He gets his points from q
ls Piutes and pays for them in old pants :
nd shirts. By this means he has established ,
reputation as a weather prophet, second to ,
one in the State. The last snow storm was
reshadowed by him week ago There can =
, no doubt of the justice of an appropri- r
ion for the Piutes. They will be obliged,
owever, to wait until the legislature meets
I'd by engaging Bill Leet, of Virginia City, +
Jack Perry, of Eureka, to lobby through O
e bill, they will doubtless be successful p