The Washington times., 1916-04-09
ISH|, LAST OF STONE.
AGE INDIANS, DEAD
Contact With Civilization Proves
Fatal to Primitive Savage.
A Sacrifice to Science.

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal. April o.--Ishi.
the last of the Yahi. the stone age tribe
which once fiourished and fought the
whites among the crags and cliffs east
OF the Sacramento. is dead--a sacrifice
TO science. which tore him from his
green forests and running streams to
dispel the darkness clouding the primi-
tive life and viewpoint
Ishi. whose. living presence at the At
fillated Colleges Museum served to re-
vive memory of what once was; who
brought back the days when the West-
ern plains were scenes Of strife and
massacre; and further back. the time
when the discoverers of America, land
ing on its eastern shores. found there
a race of matchless physical perfection.
breathed his last upon small cot In
the University of California Hospital.
Ishi died nameless. for "Ishi," In the
language of his vanished tribe. means
simply man." and Of tuberculosis. For
eighteen months, say Drs. Herbert, G.
Moffitt and z. II. Falconer. who attend
ed him. his iron constitution--the prod
uot of his primitive existence before
sclepce claimed him for Its own-re-
sisted the ravages of the disease. Ishi
explained by signs and in the. few
words OF English which he had been
taught that he was Ill and must 20 to
bed,
fifty-five and sixty years, will--in the
manner of his forefathers-be cremated.
He will not carry with him to the grave.
as was the custom OF his tribe, the crude
primitive creations of his nlmble fingers.
These will remain as monuments to his
memory in the California room of the
museum to which Ishi In his lifetime
drew great, curious throngs.
"Wild Man" Found.
Thin. hungry. and clad only in a cast
off undershirt. Ishi was discovered in
August, 1911. four miles from Oroville.
His appearance caused a furore of ex-
citement, and the Sheriff OF Butte coun-
~ came out. took the wild man" in
charge and gave him. as the most avail
able lodging. the insane cell of the Jail.
The news OF the capture Travelled
through the newspapers to the Univer-
sity OF California. whose savants imme-
diately tagged him as a possible sur
vivor of the Yahi tribe.
Sitting upon the side of his cot in the
insane CELL 1shi, uncertain Of his fate.
answered "ulsi" Il don't understand) }
in Yana, the Language Of his tribe, to
a broadside OF questions in Spanish
English, and half a dozen Indian lam
guages. A few weeks later he was
taken in charge by the department OF
anthropology and became a scientific
sistant janitor.
with two twlgs to assist him Ishi
produced fire out of thin air. with nim-
BILE fingers he produced monstrous fish,
nets; fashioned with a fiaker of elk
antler the finest of arrowheads; led
scientists to the ancient haunts of his
vanished tribe, and initiated them into
the inmost details of primitive life and
ancient lore: explained his religious and
mythical ideas. but threw a wall of re-
serve around his parents and his move
ments in the years preceding his cap
ture.
From Ishi's impressions OF present
day civilization scientists collected many
curious and interesting points which
may be used in filling up the many
blank spaces in primitive history.
Tribe Almost Exterminated.
According to the history of the Yahi
tribe compiled by Prof. T. T. Water.
man of the university. who has been a
close friend and observer of Ishi. the
Indian was one of small party of sur.
vlvers of Yahis. who filed to the hills
east of the Sacramento I'm 1865, after suf-
fering almost complete determination al
the hands of an armed band of whites
In 1908 evidence of the survival OF
four of the tribe, which Stunned both
Indians and whites as enemies. was
discovered, when they still used the bow
and arrow and other aboriginal appli-
ances, and were, according to Prof
Waterman, absolutely unfamiliar with
the usages of civilization.
Ishi has told the museum scientists
that one of the survivors of whom evi-
dence was found in 1908 was his sister
another, his mother, and the fourth an
old man. All were dead when lshi un.
Willingly passed the borders of civil.
ization and became a scientific speci-
men,"