Their under-bedding usually consisted of the skins of bears, deer, antelope or elk, and the top covering was a blanket or robe made of the skins of small fur-bearing animals, such as rabbits, hares, wildcats and foxes. The skins were cut in narrow strips, which were loosely twisted so as to bring the fur entirely around on the outside, and then woven into a warp of strong twine made of the fine, tough, fibrous bark of a variety of milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). These fur robes were very warm, and were also used as wraps when traveling in cold weather.
During the warm summer season they generally lived outside in brush arbors, and used their o´-chums as storage places.
Drawing by Jorgensen.
YOSEMITE MAIDEN IN NATIVE DRESS.
This buckskin costume has now been replaced by the unpicturesque calico of civilization.
CLOTHING.
Their clothing was very simple and scant, before being initiated into the use of a more ample and complete style of covering while living at the reservations. The ordinary full complement of dress for a man (Nung´-ah) was simply a breech-clout, or short hip-skirt made of skins; that for a woman (O´-hoh) was a skirt reaching from the waist to the knees, made of dressed deerskin finished at the bottom with a slit fringe, and sometimes decorated with various fancy ornaments. Both men and women frequently wore moccasins made of dressed deer or elk skin. Young children generally went entirely nude.
CHARACTERISTICS.
The Indians of the various tribes in this part of the Sierras vary somewhat in physical characteristics, but in general are of medium height, strong, lean and agile, and the men are usually fine specimens of manhood. They are rather light in color, but frequently rub their bodies with some kind of oil, which gives the flesh a much redder and more glossy appearance. The hair is black and straight, and the eyes are black and deep set. The beard is sparse, and in former times was not allowed to grow at all, each hair being pulled out with a rude kind of tweezers. They are naturally of a gentle and friendly disposition, but their experience with the white race has made them distant and uncommunicative to strangers.
Most of the older Indians still cling to their old customs and manner of living, and are very slow to learn or talk our language, but the younger ones are striving to live like the white people, and seem proud to adopt our style of dress and manner of cooking. They all speak our language plainly, and some few of them attend the public schools when living near by, and acquire very readily the common rudiments of an education.