The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1883-12-12

The Piute Is not am impressive char
ncter. Civilization has done its worst
for him. He has learned all tho bad
and none of the good. He dresses I'm
the prevailing style of the mining camps,
with flannel shirt and broad-brimmed
hat. In the spring, summer and fall no
hunts, fishes and picks berries, and
disposes of his surplus stock to the
whites He is an inyeterate gambler, a
hard drinker, when he can get liquor
and when drunk is a fond The tribal
relations of the Piutes have been broken
up, although they still recognize nom-
inal Chief. They roam aimlesslY
over the country from place to place,
begging and stealing and living the
Lord only knows how In the winter
they are the scavengers Of the State.
They know the location of every swill-
barrel, refuse-heap and ash-pile in
Nevada, and never day passes that
they do not make rounds, always find.
ing something to repay them for their
trouble. One Of them recently came
ambling up to an ash-barrel which, the
/ owner remarked TO q bystander, CON
/ tanned nothing That even a Piute would
/ deem of value. The red man poked
around it for time, and then tipped
/ the barrel over, empting most of its
/ contents on the ground. The owner
/ had some misgiyings, but he still
| laughed, and said the "Iniun" would
| find nothing there. Pretty soon the fell
low picked out something and put Il in
his pocket The owners curiosity was
aroused. Walking up TO the redskin,
he asked:
''You don't find much in there do
you?"
"Mebbe, said he; cheap catch EN-
toback"
He had found one or two ancient to-
bacco guilds in the ashes, and did not
despair of picking out few more. So
they 90 from the back doors Of the best
houses to those of saloons and slaughter
houses, gladly appropriating to their
own use hundreds of things which the
white man has discarded as useless
TO most people the Piute is the personi-
fcation of a joke. A more solemn
mortal than he can not very well be
Imagined, but his quaintways, his imita-
tion of the white man, more especially
the bad white man, and his queer as
sumption of the airs of civilized life
make him very picturesque object
when he does not render himself a
nuisance, as is quite apt to be the
case.
1t doesn't take a great deal of silver
change to start a big gambling game
among the Piutes. If a crowd of tif.
teen or twenty can raise ten dollars Oh
twenty dollars in silver the sport viii be
kept up for hours These gambling
spells fake on the nature of q tOurna.
meut. and last sometimes for weeks, at
tracing the red sports from all parts
of the State. They meet i'm the daytime
on the sunny side of their wickiups
from which they extend wings by ty
inc blankets on poles to break the force
, of the wind. The gamblers place tw,
poles on the ground about ten feet apar
and parallel with each other, and sea
, themselves on the ground cross-leggeC
8 outside the poles. There are general,
/ six or eight bucks on each side. and thu
stakes are stacked on the open grOunt
+ between the poles The game that the
] play is incOmpTehensihle to the whit
e mind but it seems to be nothing NOR
3 than guessing by one buck i'm which han
another holds some shells While thi
o is i'm progress the players SING q mOnot
D onous chant and sway their bodies t
S and fro. When night comes on sage
{ brush fires are lighted, and the game
e often last until morning, the sVuaw
and children standing near, as deepl
interested i'm the game as the players
No game can be played without tn
= dismal accompaniment Of chanting, an
no weirder sights can be imagined tha
those to be witnessed i'm one of thes
I, protracted day and night tournament.