The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-03-24
then waving her hands as if in appeal
4 -. bur,

then waving her hands as if in appeal
to the sky This was burnt, too
The wind rising sighed through the
tall pines and walled drearily through
the deep. dark ravines and canyons as
if the spirits of the departed were re-
turning unwillingly. Silent shapes stole
down the trails to join the waiting
groups All silent except for the wall
ing squaw over the grave and bones of
her predecessor. More pitch wood was
added to the central fire, and the flames
leaped high
Licking the dark with scarlet tongues
Of flame"
A tall, muscular looking Indian arose,
standing with arms across his chest
His voice echoed in a deep tone in ex-
carnations of appeals to the spirits to
draw near. From the shadow of the
pines was heard responses in the same
tone, dying away into moan of in
tense anguish most heartrending.
This ended after ten minutes, when
the collected groups started a general
wall. Louder and louder it grew Sob
bings, shriekings echoed all over the
valley and hills, now rising, now falling
A blazing pitch knot was held to the
poles. and the greedy flames quickly
caught the inflammable mass
The squaws Joined hands, chanting
now in minor key, the men standing
like statues. Louder and louder the
voices, one hand held aloft beckoned,
while the others held companion. The
means, the shrieks echoed now from
peak to peak. This was kept up till the
moon sank behind the clouds, when all
Frustrated themselves, while the men
threw their clothing in the flames and
Joined the circle. The last rite was
the burning of dead Indian, with his
horse and dog that had been shot The
ceremony was not finished till sunrisa
when exhausted and almost naked they
went into camp, while smoldering ashes
and odor of burnt flesh was all that
remained of the great burn.
When a Digger dies his home is burnt
and four poles joined at the top hold
bunch of futtering rags and feathers
over it to keep off the evil one
The baskets of these Indians are uf
curious shape and workmanship, Woven
of roots and grasses and stripped will
low shoots very fine; woven SO tightly
they hold water. The cooking baskets
have water in them heated by throwing
redhot stones In. This cooks the wild
iiiCotS tliCy uSt IIlG DTtdu Is 1r16Q on
hot stones creased with the oil of an
gleworms. When it is not baked in
loaves or buns in the leaves of birch
put in hot ashes. Dried grasshoppers
roasted and pounded is a favorite dish.
In their language tkal'aee' is water.
sun or willow shoots, which gives
strength and shape to baskets Ia
hoom. water gift, the roots of the
orb hot 1x,,if
presses the smooth outline. Mil lay.
name of red bark, used for the patterns
on their baskets. The baby Digger is
carried either on straight piece of
bark or wood, bound tightly with raw
hide, or put in the conical- shaped bss-
kets and bound with straps across his
his mothers forehead His cute little
round head, with black. beady eyes.
peers out as he hobs sleepily rocked by
blinks as he mods sleepily rocked by
the jog trot of his barefooted mother.
The squaw, if riding on horse or mule,
sits astride, or as the modest Methodist
divine said, 'clothes-pin fashion
l saw queer procession one day. A
wheelbarrow in which sat an Indian
wheeled along by another, while a group
followed after. The miners wtheeIbar-
row is concave to hold gravel. So the
occupant had an uneasy seat. He
bobbed and lurched in a strange way.
He proved to be dead and was being
wheeled to the burn in this fashion.
The Diggers are fast becoming ex-
tinct, harmless, dirt-living lot. So
few are seen now and it is only at the
burns one sees them Never warlike
as the Mendocino tribes We're and only
dreaded by miners for their thiavinu
The Autochshones of the, Sierras
ArtleSS as they were and still a history
viii be about them
They did their mother natures will
And nature could not do without them''
LILLIAN LORDLY