Ishi

Ishi is the central figure in the narrative of Ishi: Last of His Tribe. Ishi is a Native American Indian born in 1861 or 1862. “His tribe was the Yana, and his parents belonged to the southernmost of the Yana who called themselves the Yahi. The Yana lived in the western foothills of Mount Lassen, in northern California” (Author’s Notes, p. 210).

In the beginning of the narrative, Ishi is thirteen years old and just beginning his rites as a young wanasi, or hunter, among the tribe. Ishi’s father was slaughtered, along with most of Ishi’s People, when the white settlers arrived in the area searching for gold in the early 1860s. Ishi grew up raised by his mother, grandparents, and uncle, along with a cousin and another wanasi, Timawi, from the northern village of Bushki.

Ishi grows up in this small tribe of seven, hiding stealthily from...