At the end of five weeks, the doctor told me I could travel without danger to my leg, provided I was careful; accordingly I took passage on board of the steamer New World for San Francisco, and, with Ben as my body-guard, reached that city late in the evening of the same day without any further accident. I immediately put myself under the care of an able physician, and in a very short time experienced no inconvenience from my now perfect leg. As to Ben, he would not leave me, and in fact he made himself so necessary to my comfort that I was quite loth to part with him. He was a good servant, a good nurse, and honest as far as circumstances would permit; but he would get liquor to drink some how; no matter in what shape it came, Ben must have liquor; buy, beg, borrow or steal, have it he would. I have known him to drink the doctor’s prescriptions, in consequence of their having a small quantity of brandy in them; but for this failing I think I should have brought him back with me to the Atlantic States; as it was, I parted from him only upon the day that I sailed for home.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DIGGER INDIANS AND NEGROES.
Of all the aborigines that are known to travelers within the limits of the western continent, the Digger Indians are certainly the most filthy and abominable. A worse set of vagabonds cannot be found bearing the human form. They come into the world and go from it to as little purpose as other carnivorous animals. Their chief characteristics are indolence and gluttony. Partially wrapped in filthy rags, with their persons unwashed, hair uncombed and swarming with vermin, they may be seen loitering about the kitchens and slaughter-houses awaiting with eager gaze to seize upon and devour like hungry wolves such offal or garbage as may be thrown to them from time to time. Grasshoppers, snails and wasps are favorite delicacies with them, and they have a peculiar relish for a certain little animal, which the Bible tells us greatly afflicted the Egyptians in the days of Pharaoh. The male Digger never hunts—he is too lazy for this; he usually depends upon the exertions of his squaw to provide something or other to satisfy the cravings of hunger.
The term Digger has been applied to these Indians in consequence of their method of procuring their food. The grasshopper or cricket of California is one of their favorite messes. They capture these insects by first digging a pit in the ground, and then forming a wide circle round it which is gradually narrowed. In this manner they drive the insects to the pit and there capture them. After having secured their prey, the next thing is to prepare it for food. This is accomplished either by baking the grasshoppers in the fire or drying them in the sun, after which the Diggers pulverize them. The epicures among them crush service-berries into a jam and thoroughly incorporate the pulverized insects with the pulpy mass to which they have reduced the fruit. Others mix their cricket meal with parched sunflower seed, but this is an advance in civilization and in the luxuries of the table, which is made by very few of them. They obtain the young wasps by burning the grass, which exposes the nests and enables them to grub in the earth for this delicacy.
Acorns are also a favorite article of diet with these wretched creatures. In California, this fruit is larger and more palatable than with us, and it has the merit of being a cleaner kind of food than that which usually satisfies the Digger’s hunger. Rude as these people are, they have sense enough to observe that all years are not equally productive in these nuts, and foresight sufficient to lay in a good stock during the plentiful years. They pound them up, mix them with wild fruit, and make their meal into a sort of bread. They are said to resort to a stratagem to obtain the acorns in greater abundance. There is a bird in California, called, from his habits, the carpenteir or carpenter. He busies himself in making holes in the redwood trees and filling them with acorns. When a Digger finds a tree stocked in this manner, he kindles a fire at its base, (so the story goes,) and keeps it up till the tree falls, when he helps himself to the acorns.
Grass-seed constitutes another portion of their diet, and this is gathered by the women, who use for the purpose, two baskets, one shaped like a shield, the other deep and provided with a handle. With the shield the top of the grass is brushed and the seed shaken down into the deep basket. This also is made into bread.
It is commonly supposed that these Indians belong to a single tribe. This, however, I think is doubtful. They are scattered over a wide extent of country, being found far to the north, among the Utahs. Those upon the frontier usually call themselves Shoshonees or Snakes, while some claim to be Utahs. Their skin is nearly as dark as that of the negro. Indeed they greatly resemble the African in color and general appearance. They are distinguished from him chiefly by their aquiline noses, their long hair and their well-shaped feet. The southern Diggers have a lighter complexion, being not so dark as a mulatto.
It is reported on good authority that Captain Sutter, the first settler on the Sacramento, at whose fort (the present site of Sacramento) gold was first discovered, employed these people to build his fort for him. He paid them in tin coin of his own invention, upon which was stamped the number of days the holder had worked. This was taken at his “store� for articles of merchandise, such as dry goods, &c. He fed his field Indians upon the offal of slaughtered animals and the bran sifted from ground wheat. The latter was boiled in large iron kettles; and then placed in wooden troughs from which they scooped it out with their hands. They are said to have eaten it, poor as it was, with great relish, and it was no doubt more palatable and wholesome than their customary diet.
These Indians are inveterate gamblers, and when they have been so fortunate as to obtain clothing, they are almost sure to gamble it away before they stop. Their game is carried on as follows. A number sit cross-legged on the ground in a circle, and they are then divided into two parties, each of which has two head players. A ball is passed rapidly from hand to hand along the whole of one party, while the other attempts to guess in what hand it is. If successful, it counts one for the guessing party towards the game. If unsuccessful, it counts one in favor of the opposite party. The count is kept with sticks. All the while this is going on, they grunt in chorus, swinging their bodies to keep time with their grunts. The articles staked are placed in the centre of the ring. When they once get excited in play, they never stop so long as they have any thing to stake. After getting through with their money, their trinkets and their provisions, they stake their clothes and keep on gambling till they reduce themselves to the costume of Adam.
The fate of these poor creatures is involved in no uncertainty. They must melt away before the white man like snow before a spring sun. They are too indolent to work, too cowardly to fight. When pinched by the severity of hunger, and unable to procure their customary filthy diet, they are driven to the settlements, where they steal if they can, and do a little labor if they must. No sooner, however, have they procured the means of satisfying their immediate wants, than they abandon the employment offered them and relapse into their customary indolent habits. Of course, it can only be while labor is in such great demand as it now is, that they can secure even this temporary employment. When hands become abundant in that country, the laboring white man, the Chinese or the negro will monopolize all the work. The Indian then will be confined to thieving for a livelihood, and that is something which the Californians will not permit. Some of these miserable people have been cruelly butchered by the whites for indulging their propensity to make free with other people’s property. They cannot fight for their plunder, and consequently they must suffer as patiently as they can whatever penalty is inflicted. If the fierce warlike tribes of the north could not oppose the march of civilization, how easily will these poor weak children of the south be crushed under its advancing wheels!