The Indians at work here have caused the price of
pisco and whisky to rise to a most exorbitantly high
rate. They content themselves with feasting on
the bitter acorn bread, and spend all their earnings
on “strong water” and a little finery.
Sometimes a party of them, when intoxicated, will
get up one of their wild dances, when the stamping
and yelling are of a far more fearful character than
is generally the case at these singular exhibitions.
The dance begins generally with a rude song, the words
being of the usual harsh guttural character, but the
ideas are generally striking and peculiar. One
has been explained to me which recites the praises
of the “yellow earth,” because it will
procure the Shoshonee the fleet rifle with which he
can slay his Pawnee foe. It says nothing, however,
about the “strong water,” which renders
the arm of the war-chief weaker than that of a child;
for, with all their vices, there is still that pride
about the Indian character which makes them ashamed
of those weaknesses they are unable to resist.
Frequently, while the Indian warriors repose from
their exertions, after the termination of one of these
wild dances, the women of the tribe will occupy their
place; but in general their postures and movements
are indelicate in the extreme. But modesty is
hardly to be looked for in the amusements of savage
life.
CHAPTER XV.
The party determine to start for Bear
River
Sickness at the mines
What happened to a drunken Indian
An old trapper and his stories
Captain Sutter’s first settlement
Indians partial to horse-flesh
A score of horses stolen
An expedition to revenge the theft
A rancheria demolished
A chorus of yells
Indians routed and then brought to labour
Tin
Bear River
The trapper engaged as guide
Preparations for the journey
An addition to the party
The journey commenced
Rocky country
Cross the North Fork
An accident to a mule
Flour cakes and bacon scraps
Resume the journey
Precipitous ravines
End of the journey.
Monday, July 24th.—We have determined
to start for the Bear River. We worked hard last
week, but suffered greatly from the heat; almost every
man of us complains of feverish symptoms, with pains
in the limbs, back, and loins, yet we are better than
the majority of the miners. These washings have
now become nearly as crowded as the Mormon diggings
were when we left them, and immense sums have been
made by some of the luckier adventurers amongst the
ravines. The whole valley is dotted over with
tents and green bush arbours, and there is hardly a
watercourse but which is sprinkled with miners, digging,
sifting, and washing. About half of the people
work together in companies—the other half
shift each for himself. There are hundreds of
Indians, many of them fantastically dressed, for they
can purchase fine clothing now, even at the extravagant
rates at which all articles are charged at Weber’s
store. They labour one day, and get drunk on pisco
or the “strong water” on another.
One of them rolled down a rocky ravine lately, in
an intoxicated state, and was killed.
