PART VIII.

 

INDIANS AND CHINESE

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            Indians and Chinese are usual constituents in the population of every Nevada town. The principal tribes of Indians in the State are the Piutes, Shoshones, and "Washoes. The Washoes live in the western portion of Nevada, near the California line, and are probably an offshot of the California Digger Indians, whom they resemble somewhat in stature and feature, and whose counterparts they are in squalor, filth, and dullness of intellect. The Shoshones occupy the territory east of a given line from the center of the State to a point near the Utah boundary, out of which limits they seldom venture. The Piutes, being numerically the strongest and most powerful, besides much superior to the others in both mental and physical attributes, roam where they please, their lines extending into Idaho and Oregon on the north, nearly to Arizona on the south and east, and west from the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada to the Territory of Utah. There are certain places in Idaho and Nevada which serve as head-quarters for the various subdivisions under the lesser chiefs, or "captains"; but, except at particular seasons, when dance festivals (called fandangos) are held, or excursions are made to the hills for the purpose of gathering the crop of pine-nuts which forms a large part of their winter subsistence, they hang about the towns as do the Shoshones in their own territory. There are other but insignificant tribes in the southern portion of the State, and the eastern part of Nevada and Western Utah is inhabited by the Goshutes. This tribe, which was once warlike and powerful, is now almost extinct, and numbers but a few hundred souls, it having

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been almost exterminated by the troops tinder command of General P. E. Connor, in 1864-5, as a punishment for and to check their attacks on emigrants and stages on the Overland road. At one time, all these tribes warred with each other ; but now the hatchet is buried forever. They have occasional tribal troubles on account of the Piutes stealing horses or squaws from the weaker tribes, and there are frequent quarrels among them caused by whisky and gambling but these are as likely to occur among members of the same family as with neighboring tribes. In the majority of cases, the differences are submitted to the arbitration of some white man whom the Indians conceive to possess authority -- justices of the peace, sheriffs, town or city marshals, and frequently the editor of the local paper. It is a common occurrence for Indians to call at the REVEILLE sanctum with statements of their grievances, and a request that I "heap put 'em in paper." They fancy that a publication of their wrongs in a newspaper is a sure method of obtaining redress.

            In the towns, the Indians perform various menial offices. The men chop wood and dig, act as street scavengers, dish-washers in the restaurants, and in divers other capacities of simple labor ; the squaws do washing, and some of them make very good house servants. The money they obtain in this way is used in personal adornment and playing poker an amusement to which all Indians, male and female, are passionately addicted.

            There is a strong antagonism between the Indian and the Chinaman, principally felt by the Indian, and the races have frequent quarrels, in which the Indian, owing to the Chinaman's superior cunning, usually comes off second best. The Chinaman lives in quarters, apart from the portions of the town occupied by the whites, the streets of which look like a slice cut from China ; and to Chinatown the Indians resort for a miserable compound miscalled whisky, which is furnished them by the keen "Johns" at an enormous profit. They are dependent for the gratification of their alcoholic tastes almost exclusively on the Chinese, as it is seldom that a white man will supply liquors to them, being restrained by the strict State laws prohibiting it. Therefore, Lo, who hates John with a bitter hate, cannot afford to quarrel with him ; for, though he despises the Chinaman much, he loves liquor more. As this purports to be a Nevada book, and as the Chinese and Indians form so large an element of Nevada's population, I here introduce a few sketches of incidents in connection with those races, many of which were published from time to time in the REVEILLE.

            The Indian, stripped of the romance with which he is clothed in the imagination of those whose estimate of him is based on novels, poems, and histories which treat on the "noble son of the forest," stands forth merely a crude, dirty, vicious savage. This is his best aspect. Until subdued by force he is cruel and treacherous, with a nature little better than the wolf that prowls the plains. He is cunning, and politic to the extent that when he is whipped, and feels himself in the power of a superior race, he grovels

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and toadies to that superiority -- accepts its cast-off clothes, does its chores for a consideration, and copies its vices. Its good traits he seldom or never learns or practices. An Indian is a coward. Liquor or excitement may render him desperate, but true bravery is something foreign to his nature. He will only fight when he has the best of it, and even then he skulks, and shoots from shelter ; and it is seldom that he will battle man to man with the whites, except when cornered then he turns at bay like any other wild beast. He is a stranger to the feeling of gratitude, and if a favor is done him he can conceive no other motive for it than fear. Do an Indian a kindness, and he is sure you are afraid of him. I have seen members of nearly all the .tribes of Indians between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, and this description applies to one equally with the other, except in some isolated cases in Montana and British Columbia, where intermarriage with whites arid the teachings of the Catholic fathers have taken some of the wolf out of them. But even the best of those classes are not the equals in moral attributes of the lowest grade of white men. Nobody who has ever been brought in direct contact with the Indians as they are, ever knew or heard of one of them performing an act of magnanimity or of charity. Among themselves, in their own social life, they are brutes. They compel the women to carry all the burdens and to perform all the labor, and when the females grow old they are neglected, starved, beaten, and abused, and frequently stoned to death to get them out of the way. Cleanliness they know not of, and the proudest looking Indian that ever stalked in fringed buckskins and beads, with pain'ted face, and hair adorned with army buttons, is covered with vermin, from which he never makes an effort to free himself.

            The Indians in Nevada, having been cowed and subdued by frequent chastisements by the military and settlers, after for several years pursuing a cruel and diabolically torturing warfare, are now merely a collection of nomadic loafers. They have head-quarters of subdivisions of the tribes at certain points but few consenting to live on Government reservations and from these they roam the country, some picking up a precarious subsistence in hunting jack-rabbits, sage-hens, and such other small game as the country affords, and others hanging about the mining towns and the towns along the line of the Central Pacific Railroad. A few are induced to work on ranches at certain seasons. In the main they dress in clothes which have been cast off by the whites, but a few of them wear robes made by sewing together the skins of jack-rabbits.

            The town Indians subsist by begging at the kitchens of residences, hotels, restaurants, and miners cabins, and the majority of them pass their time in sleeping in the sunshine or gambling at cards. With all, gambling is the chief aim of life whether it be at Indian poker or monte, by day on the street corners, or at night in their miserable wickiups, or playing marbles "for keeps" among themselves, or with small white boys. Some of the men work at odd jobs, such as cutting firewood, scavenger work, wash-

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ing dishes in restaurant or hotel kitchens, and other odd chores, while many of the women do rough washing for families and perform various easy menial services. The women are much more industrious than the men, but all their earnings go to their lords and masters, to furnish them with gambling capital.

            The women of the Piute tribe are, except in isolated cases, virtuous ; but in the other tribes they do not know the significance of such a word. Among the Piutes a lapse from virtue is punishable by death, by burning, or by stoning ; but in the other tribes, the husbands, so-called, pocket the proceeds of the women's prostitution, and shame is a feeling which neither man nor woman of them ever experienced.

            There is a humorous side to the Indian character, however ; and it is in the endeavor to portray this, that the sketches which follow are embodied in this work.

The Chinese.

            The Chinaman is a problem. He is all over the Pacific Coast, in every State and Territory which comprises that region, and forms the most undesirable and disturbing element of the population. His good qualities are very few, and may be summed up in three words : Industry, frugality, and patience. His vices are legion, and comprise, in part, dishonesty, cruelty, filth, idolatry, and opium smoking. He has no home ties, and seeks none ; he lives in a hovel in the villages and towns, and, crowded like sheep in a pen, in filthy buildings in Chinese quarters in the large cities. His women are all prostitutes, brought from China as slaves. To steal is his creed ; to lie, his religion. I will not say that there are no Chinamen whatever better than this picture ; but where there are such, they form notable exceptions to a general rule. John, like Lo, has his humorous side, and an attempt to depict it is the cause of his introduction in these pages.

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The Origin of the Fandango.

            The fandango, or dance, is a species of thanksgiving festival, held in accordance with instructions from a source which will be mentioned below. The Shoshones and Piutes, unlike Fennimore Cooper's and Ned Buntline's Indians, have no belief in a "Great Spirit" or " Happy Hunting Ground." Their idea of a hereafter is a place where there are millions of fat crickets always roasting, and thousands on thousands of ponies roaming around on grass-clad hills, with red blankets strapped to their backs ; and the being they worship, and in whose honor these festivals are given, is a traditional Indian, whose history the medicine-man gives as follows :

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            " Heap sun-ups, maybe long time ago," a mountain in the Goose Creek range suddenly became very much disturbed. It rocked violently to and fro, sending forth loud noises resembling exaggerated human groans. The Indians, who at that time flocked in large numbers to that locality to gather pine-nuts, were greatly terrified at the actions of the mountain ; but they could not flee they were chained to the spot by a sort of fascination, and all their efforts to tear themselves away were fruitless. They huddled in groups at the foot of the mountain ; the men pale with fear, and the women and children wailing and crying.

            The mountain continued to labor for many days ; when, at last, one night, when the sky was of inky blackness, a bright ray of light shot up from its peak, and in a few seconds the entire sky was illumined by a dazzling light of rosy hue. The assembled Indians with one accord cast their eyes to the peak of the mountain, when there slowly emerged therefrom the figure of an Indian. The figure was about ten feet in height, and straight as an arrow. It was clad in buckskin, richly embroidered with beads ; its ears and nose were decorated with bead rings ; the head was surmounted by the pinion of an eagle, and around its waist was a belt containing upwards of three million (according to Indian count) glass beads. For full ten minutes the figure stood gazing at the astonished and terrified Indians, when, fixing an arrow in his bow, he discharged it at a range of hills opposite him. A flash of light like the trail of a meteor followed the discharge, and in a moment the range, which was before barren, was covered with pinons, laden down with luscious pine-nuts. Another discharge of an arrow at the stream which rippled at the foot of the mountain, and the river was almost overflowing with fish. The figure then pointed its finger significantly at the large rock on which it was standing, and slowly disappeared into the mountain, whicli then ceased its shaking and rumbling ; the light went out, and a solemn silence came over the scene.

            The next morning, Salamahowich, a mighty warrior, who was then chief of the tribe, ascended the mountain, and stepping on the rock on which the figure had stood the night before, it suddenly gave way with him, and in a moment he found himself in the interior of the mountain. The description of the place in which he found himself, as given by the medicine-man, is beyond our powers ; but he gave us to understand that the floor " all the same half-dollars," (meaning silver) and the roof " heap all same him," pointing to a cluster of icicles dependent from a porcli, by which we suppose he meant it was covered with stalactites. While the chief was lost in admiration of the magnificence of his surroundings, the figure of the night before emerged from a recess in the cave, and bidding the chief to seat himself, he told him that he was the Savior and Guardian of the Shoshone tribe, born but the night before, and that the mountain" was his mother. He commanded the chief to take word to the tribe, and to tell them that so long as they obeyed a certain code, which

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he laid down to the chief, but which is too long for repetition here, so long would he be their guardian and protector. Among other things, he demanded that a constant guard should be kept at the mouth of his cave ; that no human being should be permitted to enter it ; and that at a sound which he would strike on an immense boulder of pure silver, which stood near the mouth of the cave, signal fires should be built directing the tribe to hold a dance in his honor.

            It is doubtful if any white man could find the locality of the mountain, or even if he would be permitted by the Indians to enter the region ; so ambitious prospectors need not trouble themselves about it ; but when fires which flash seven times seven times are seen on the mountains, it may be set down for certain that the big Indian is hitting his boulder, and then follows a grand fandango, which is religiously observed without regard to season or weather, oftentimes being held during a fierce snow-storm, or on nights when the thermometer is so low that the mercury tries to crowd itself out of the bottom of the instrument.

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A Fandango.

            I was one of a party who made a visit to one of the spring fandangos of the Piute tribe of Indians. The Indians were found encamped in a circle formed by piling up brush, and at the time of our arrival, dancing having not yet commenced, the children of the sagebrush were distributed within the circle in various picturesque groups. The camp seemed to be subdivided into smaller camps, in some of which games of cards were in progress ; in others, the braves were sitting around a small sagebrush fire engaged in conversation, the light of the fire giving a subdued glow to the various-colored blankets and the painted faces of the Indians, and forming a picture such as I have seen painted of gipsy life. Other groups consisted of families, the women sitting or lying quietly on the ground, and the infants in their beds of rabbit-skins ; and here and there a pair of tiny red feet could be seen peeping out from under the skins, catching the warmth of the sagebrush fire. On the outer edge of the circle a number of half-grown boys and girls were at play, running and jumping through a fire ; and their glad shouts and frisky motions showed that they were happy in their rags, and felt not the lack of comfort and shelter which are indispensable to the children of the white man. The first dance being called, a number of bucks formed a circle around a small cedar which was set up in the center of the circle of brush, and commenced a slow, monotonous chant, placed shoulder to shoulder, and moved with regular step around the tree, keeping time to the chant with their feet. Gradually the circle became enlarged, squaws and children falling into it and taking up

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the refrain of the chant, till, at the time of the departure of the party about nine o clock p. m. about fifty Indians were engaged in the dance. The dance, or fandango, as the Indians call it, is held in celebration of the approach of spring, being a sort of thanksgiving for the disappearance of the snow and cold, and the advent of mild weather. It is a solemn business for Mr. Indian, and he goes at it in dead earnest, not a smile or laugh disturbing his countenance during its progress. The feature of the evening was an Indian dressed in a harlequin custume, which some white man had worn at one of the masquerades given in town. The wearer felt himself a big Indian, and was an object of merriment to the other Indians and of awe to the children, who followed him around as though he were a whole circus in himself.

            The inauguration of a fandango is occasionally foreshadowed by a migration of the tribe to some more desirable place, where the festivities can be held in comparative seclusion. I once witnessed the breaking up of a camp for this purpose. About six o clock in the evening a great commotion was observable, bucks, squaws, and pappooses all being at work pulling down the wickiups and packing the horses with the household goods. Viewed from the opposite hill, the preparations for departure presented a picturesque sight. The ponies standing patiently to receive their burden of high-colored blankets, provisions, cooking utensils, and the miscellaneous traps that go to make up an Indian household ; pappooses in all stages of raggedness tumbling about on the ground ; squaws taking down the dirty and ragged odds and ends which serve for the covering of an Indian house ; bucks riding furiously over the steep hill-side to get the horses together all set off against the grayish background of the hills with the sinking sun casting a glow on the scene that made bright color look brighter, and dirty bits of cloth look clean. It was a pretty picture at a distance; a near approach would have destroyed the romance and picturesqueness, besides offending the nostrils and endangering the cleanliness of the spectator. About eight o clock the cavalcade began to move, the braves and favorite squaws and children, who were mounted, taking the trail around the hill above the Clifton grade, and the blear-eyed old squaws, with burdens on their backs, taking the shorter cut over the mountain ; and by the time it was fairly dark there was not an Indian left in the town or its immediate vicinity.

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"Indian Al."

            Indian Al is a California Digger, who was brought to this city when quite young, and educated with white children of his own age. During his boyhood he was taught to read and write, and was kept neatly dressed,

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and at one time gave promise of growing up an intelligent and respectable man. But when he reached man's estate the wolf cropped out; he threw off the restraints and clothing of civilization, encased himself in rags, allowed his hair to grow, procured a blanket, went to an Indian camp on the hill and fraternized with the Shoshones, becoming as one of them, and acquiring their tongue readily. He naturally gravitated to whisky, and a short time after his lapse from civilization became a recognized nuisance of the town. Shortly after the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad he removed to Battle Mountain, and since then has lived in the different camps along the line of that road between Reno and Elko. I saw him a few weeks ago at Carlin, when he told me that he had given up drinking and gambling, and stopped associating with the Indians ; but his appearance contradicted his statements. Two days ago he put in an appearance at Austin. He is the biggest liar on the continent, and told some wonderful tales of his travels to both Indians and whites, even excelling Uncle John of the Sazerac -- asserting that he had been all over Europe, to China, Japan, Australia, and the Sandwich Islands. The Shoshone squaws at once fell in love with him, by wholesale ; they loved him for the lies he told, as Desdemona did Othello ; and, clustering around him, would swallow the biggest of his yarns, with the utmost confidence in their truth. There is a Shoshone Indian in town from Belmont, who until Al's arrival was the admired of all admirers among the squaws. He is a handsome young fellow, and, tricked out in a red shirt and plug hat, has been strutting around with half the young Indian ladies of the vicinity at his heels. With these two gallants on the street at the same time, there could be but one result ; and it soon came in the shape of a quarrel between them, during which Indian Al drew a huge knife on his rival. The former was arrested, and now occupies a cell in the City Jail. Here his education serves him in stead, and with the stub of a pencil he whiles away the dreary hours inscribing on the wall the words, "The course of true love never did run smooth." It is perhaps necessary to say that this is strictly true.

            This Al got into an argument with a store-keeper the other day, during which something was said about keeping books.

            " Do you keep books ? " asked he.

            " Yes," said the white man, " I keep my own books."

            " It's a bad practice," returned the Indian ; " more men have got broke in this country by keeping books than from any other cause. You should confine your operations to a cash basis."

            The white brother weakened, and the argument closed.

            Belmont Johnny, Al's rival, also soon came to grief. A few days ago, he went to the City Marshal, and related a tale of wrong and injury sufficient to move the stoutest heart. Johnny's particular affinity was a squaw named Topsey, a fat and rollicking Shoshone maiden ; but another member of the Piute tribe succeeded in inaugurating himself into her affections and estranging them from Johnny, and on the wings of night fled with her

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to the fastnesses of Hot Creek, on the Battle Mountain road. Johnny's sorrow was genuine when he asked the Marshal to " send 'em paper, and heap bring 'em back," and tears came into his eyes as he depicted Topsey's ingratitude.

            " Yesterday me give him fibe dollar, me give him pair shoe, and buy him silk dress."

            " A silk dress ? " asked the Marshal, " how much did you pay for the silk dress?"

            " Me give three dollar," replied the sorrow-stricken red man.

            The Marshal informed Johnny that the law was powerless to redress his wrongs, and that his only remedy for the injury wrought upon him was personal vengeance.

            "All right," said Johnny, "you no put 'em jail-house, me catch 'em Topsey, maybe- so me catch 'em back silk dress."

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The Courting Season.

            That " in the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love," applies with particular force to the noble red man of the sagebrush. Both the Shoshone and Piute tribes of Indians have a regular courting or love-making season, which generally begins about the first of April and lasts until the spring fandango, at which wives are chosen, and such marriage ceremony performed as the Indians employ. Owing to the inclemency of the present spring, the fandango has been postponed, and the Indians have not yet commenced making love on the street corners, a thing not unfrequently seen in this town. No Indian or even white man would feel like courting in the open air with the thermometer below the freezing point, and the wind sending the snow rushing through the streets at the rate of sixty miles an hour. But, after all, this courting-season business seems like a pleasant custom, and it might even be adopted with profit by the whites. How much cheaper and more systematic it would be for Charles to call on Araminta, and open the conversation by saying : "My dear Miss Araminta, the courting season has opened, and I have come to ask if you will permit me to pay my devoirs to you during the said season," than for him to be going up to the house every night for six months, or a year, maybe, with his pockets full of gum-drops and peanuts, and sitting in a corner and looking foolish, and letting Araminta's baby sister lick the blacking off his boots, and her little brother borrow (and keep) his jacknife. And then, after all this trouble and expense, to have her tell him that she had formed a previous attachment, and never, really and truly, ever dreamed that his attentions meant anything more serious than friendship. But she could love him as a brother, and all that sort of

216 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

thing. If custom had allowed Charles to state his case at the outset, he would have been saved all the expense for the gum-drops and peanuts, and the humiliation of having his suit rejected ; and Araminta would have been saved the painful duty of saying those little, but difficult words, " No, sirree; not if I know myself."

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An Elopement.

            Owing to the excitement of the election and the occupation of our space by matters connected therewith, we have been unable until to-day to make mention of an elopement which took place last week.

            Out of regard for the feelings of the families concerned, we refrain from mentioning names, which, however, are well known in this city. The couple had long loved ; and, a short time since, the gentleman requested the hand of the lady in marriage, from her stern and cruel father, and was kicked down a long flight of steps for his presumption. Nothing daunted, however, by this cruel rebuff, the young man continued his attentions, and although frequently treated to showers of hot water by the maternal parent of his adored, and interviewed by the family dog to the extent of three pairs of pants, he still continued his attentions. The object of his affections viewed with heart-breaking sorrow the persecutions of the idol of her soul, but was powerless to prevent them, as she was kept confined in a cabin in a secluded part of the town, and kept from all communication with the unfortunate young man. Last week, however, the young man discovered the whereabouts of his beloved and managed to communicate with her, when she expressed a willingness to fly with him.

            On the appointed night the lover was on hand. The night was pitchy dark, and a gentle rain pattering on the roof prevented the stern parent of the girl from hearing the stealthy footsteps of her lover. Approaching the cabin, he drew his trusty pocket-knife, and soon picked enough of the mud which filled the interstices of the logs of which the cabin is composed, to enable the prisoner to crawl through. As the last flicker of her dress passed through the " chink " she fell into his arms, and throwing her on his shoulder he flew to the hills.

            When the old man awoke, next morning, the elopers had a wickiup of their own erected ; and as the excited parent approached, with his bow and arrow cocked, and fire gleaming from his eye, the now husband threw his protecting arm around the waist of his bride, and defied the old duffer. The husband settled the matter, however, by the payment of three ponies, a deck of greasy cards, and a flannel shirt. A grand banquet of entrails was given at the slaughter-house, and as soon as the squaw gets over the honeymoon, she will be again ready to do washing by the day.

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An Unhappy Medicine-Man.

            The squaw over whom the medicine-man has been howling so much, to the annoyance of our citizens, has gone to her last account. Yesterday afternoon, observing that matters on the hill south of town bore a some what unusual appearance, we walked to a wickiup, where a large number of Indians had congregated. The wickiup consisted of a piece of drilling stretched over a few bent poles, and beneath this canopy was a ghastly sight. Stretched on the ground was the dead body of a squaw, her features almost unrecognizable as those of a human being, on account of being covered with dirt and clotted blood. In a circle around the corpse were seated about twenty Indians, who with grave and serious faces rocked to and fro and sang a monotonous chant. Within this circle were seated a number of squaws, who were crying and tearing their hair, while at the head of the corpse was seated the medicine-man, a gray-headed, miserable- looking old wretch. His arms were folded across his breast, and his body swayed to and fro in time to his continuous groaning. It is stated that when an Indian medicine-man fails to effect a cure, the Indians accuse him of having bewitched the patient ; and immediately after the death of the patient they put the doctor to death, so that he shall not have an opportunity to bewitch others. Last night there was no fire or light of any kind in the Indian camp, and it was as still as the grave ; and there can be no doubt that the red men were up to some deviltry. They probably buried the squaw and put the old medicine-man to death. Stoning to death is the method used in these cases, and in all probability the old fellow is mashed up as fine as sausage-meat by this time. He seemed to understand what was in store for him, and was as miserable and woe begone a specimen of humanity as can well be imagined. As to the Indian who beat the squaw to death, nothing will be done to him, as he is a brave, and the woman was his wife, which gave him a perfect right to kill her.

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            The REVEILLE sanctum was honored, this forenoon, by a visit from the chief justice of the Piute tribe of Indians Judge John, as he calls himself. The Judge is the most intelligent Indian we have ever met, not even excepting Indian Al, and seems to be pretty well posted on matters and things. After informing us that the old men of his tribe prophesy that there will be severe storms throughout the whole of the present month, he proceeded to question us about the news. He asked us what was going on at Virginia, Carson, Eureka, Hamilton, Salt Lake, the Black Hills, Montana, and the United States, about the affairs of all of which he exhibited a knowledge remarkable for an Indian. He asked us our views of

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the coming Presidential election, and who we thought would be Grant's successor, and wound up by giving us his opinion of the Chinese question. Said he :

            " Chinaman no good he come here, heap work, no spend 'em money ; but take 'em all money way over big water. Injun my tribe no like Chinaman ; heap down on 'em. Too many Chinamen come San Francisco, Virginny all United States ; heap work for little money ; whita man, whita woman, and Injun no got work. Bimebye heap kill 'em Chinaman ; send 'em back home."

            He explained that the Indian, unlike the Chinaman, spent his money in the stores for gloves and clothes and food, thus keeping it in the country ; and he argued from this that while the Chinaman is an injury to the country, the Indian is a benefit. He stated that he is a second cousin of Naches, son of old Winnemucca, and that he has a brother who can read and write English well. Like all the Indians of the present day, Judge John has ever been a steadfast friend of the whites, and would rather win all the money in an Indian poker game than harm a hair of a white man's head.

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            An old Piute Indian departed for the happy hunting ground, via old age and general debility, from the camp back of the City Hall, last night. It is not the custom of the Piutes to bury their dead ; and in this instance they merely carried the body a few rods from the camp and deposited it on the ground. The City Marshal, learning that the late Lo was lying exposed on the hillside, commanded Al to have it properly buried. Al made no objections to this order; but five other Indians standing by, whom he requested to assist in the funeral, positively refused to do so. Upon this, the officer threatened that unless they proceeded forthwith to bury the dead Indian, he would arrest them and have them fined four million dollars each. This threat had the desired effect, and the funeral commenced. They wrapped the body in a robe of rabbit-skins and tied it up with ropes, making a bundle the shape of a ball. This they dragged over the hill to an old shaft, into which they dumped it without ceremony. In reply to a question as to the cause of the Indian's death, a dusky maiden, who was an interested spectator of the funeral, replied : " Heap too dam old."

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            The Piutes and Shoshones of this vicinity have inaugurated a grand rabbit-drive in Reese River Valley, which will last five days. The valley is teeming with rabbits, and the method pursued by the Indians insures the slaughter of thousands. Their mode of procedure is nearly the same as that of the Irish soldier, who captured a prisoner by surrounding him.

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            The Indians select a piece of ground which they know to be the resort of their game, and, each man being armed with gun or bow and arrows, form a circle. Inside of this ring the women and children are placed, and the space is gradually contracted, the squaws and pappooses meanwhile beating the brush with sticks to start the rabbits. The bewildered little animals rush hither and thither, finding no escape from the wall of hunters, and being hemmed in on every side, and gradually driven into smaller space ; until, when the supreme moment arrives, the Indians turn loose their guns and arrows on the confused and affrighted creatures, slaying large numbers of them at each discharge, and the women and children even killing many with their sticks. Captain Charley, a Piute, who is chief-engineer of this drive, says that after it is over there will be a joint fandango of the Piutes and Shoshones, at which his son, "Liar," will "make heap big talk." Charley's son was dubbed Elias by some white man ; but the Indians can not pronounce the word Elias, the nearest they can come to it being " Liar," and by that name is he called and known.

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            In a couple of weeks the Piute and Shoshone Indians of this section will assemble at Mammoth to gather the pine-nut harvest. A short time before the ripening of the nuts, which grow in great profusion on the hills in that vicinity, the Indians will meet to the number of more than a thousand. They go from Austin, Belmont, Stillwater, and other places within a circuit of 150 miles, and have a grand fandango, lasting upwards of a week ; and when the nuts are ripe the squaws collect and roast them for winter use. When the harvest is over, the Indians return to the haunts of civilization, where they live comfortably through the winter on this pine- nut bread, with the addition of such kitchen refuse as they can get. Entrails roasted in the ashes, and cakes made of crickets and pine-nuts mixed together, form a royal feast for an Indian ; and when seated in his wickiup, enjoying this savory mess, he doesn't care a continental about civil service reform, is perfectly indifferent whether gold goes up or down, and absolutely neutral on the great question as to the eternity of hell.

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            A Piute passed down Main Street yesterday, whose appearance excited the attention of the white beholders, the jealousy of his male companions, and the admiring glances of the Indian maidens who were sitting on the curbstones pursuing investigations in natural history in their hair. He was mounted on a sleek pony, and was attired in a flaming red flannel shirt, two pairs of new blue overalls, a stiff-brimmed Peruvian sombrero, and a yellow linen duster, whose ample folds spread gracefully over the

220 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

back of the pony, almost hiding that animal from view. As he rode along, he seemed to be aware that he was the admired of all admirers, and carried himself with an air of conscious pride, occasionally bestowing a contemptuous glance on some less fortunate Indian whose clothes were held together by bits of hay rope, or vouchsafing a patronizing glance on the dusky maidens of his tribe. Grant would have been required to give about eleven horses, sixteen squaws, and a barrel of whisky to have changed places with that Indian. But Indian happiness is as short-lived as that of his white brother; and it is sad to think that this noble red man, so happy yesterday, may have struck an Indian poker game last night, and to-day he may be a total wreck, with nothing to cover his manly form but an old plug hat and a lariat.

__________

            As is well-known to those conversant with the Indian character, the Indians none of them know their ages. Before the advent of the whites in this country their computation of time did not extend beyond moons ; though many of them now understand what a year is, and are able to compute time by years. Yesterday, an old Indian on Main Street was asked how old he was, and replied he did not know.

            " Do you savvy what a year is ? " he was then asked.

            " Yosh," he replied, " me heap savvy ; most Injun he only savvy moon."

            " Why Injun no count how old by moon ? " asked the red man's questioner.

            " Him too goddam lazy count 'em," returned the brave.

            It is difficult to judge of an Indian's age by his appearance. The exposed life they lead ages them fast, and an Indian at fifty looks as old as a white man does at eighty. This particularly applies to the women ; a squaw at thirty is an old hag. A young squaw begins to lose her youthful looks in a couple of years after marriage, and grows old in appearance so rapidly that a person who had not seen her in the intervening two years would not recognize her as the same woman at the end of that time. Very few Indians live to an old age, and we are of the opinion that the average age to which they live is not over thirty years.

__________

            A couple of days ago, a squaw died out at Yankee Blade, and the Indians buried her and her infant together, without taking the trouble to make a corpse of the latter. It is the custom with the Piutes and Shoshones to consign the dead mother and living child when the latter is too young to help itself to a common tomb. In this instance they dug a hole, threw the woman into it, and laid the infant on her breast, covering them both over with brush. In explanation of this, one of the tribe said :

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 221

"Baby no good; no got milk; bimeby heap cry; die pooty soon anyhow."

            It would be impossible to convince an Indian that he is doing wrong by thus abandoning a helpless infant to the coyotes and carrion birds ; it was the custom of his fathers, and he can see no crime in it. A white man , does not like to interfere, for to try and rear the child would be a hopeless task, and besides, the Indians would feel greatly aggrieved if any one meddled with this pleasant custom.

__________

            The Piutes have established a new settlement on Union Hill, at the head of Cedar Street. The houses are composed of pieces of house-lining discarded by the whites, old gunny-sacks, strips of blanket, and any remnants that -the Indians could pick up around town. One aristocratic red man secured a piece of lining large enough to line the Boston Mill, and has erected a mansion of magnificent proportions. It is in this that the nightly festivities are held. A fire is kept burning throughout the night ; and by the light of its flickering flame the noble sons of a fast-fading race probe the mysteries of Indian poker, tell of the heroic deeds of their fathers in scalping emigrants and defenseless stage-drivers, and roast the entrails cribbed from their white brother's slaughter-house. Here may be seen the stalwart brave stretched upon his gaudy blanket, smoking the cigarette of peace, and ruminating on the possible supply of cast-off grub on the morrow ; while seated in the shadow is a gentle Hiawatha, mourning the loss of her last string of beads, and rocking to and fro, wearily singing the death-song of her tribe; while the pappooses are scattered around promiscuously.

__________

            A daughter of the forest, with a rabbit-skin robe wrapped closely around her noble form, was meditatively meandering along Main Street, this forenoon, and stepped on a slippery place on the sidewalk, and suddenly sat down with a bump that shook the planks. As soon as she had recovered from the shock she cast a glance of indignation at the spectators, and uttered an ejaculation which indicated that her knowledge of the English language had not been derived from a very refined source ; and arranging her ruffled dignity and other clothes about her, she said to the most boisterous of the spectators, "You heap dam' smart!" and marched off as though she didn't care if the world dropped down a hole in three minutes by the watch. A prominent citizen, who slings big words and is very precise in his conversation, remarked that people ought to put ashes on the sidewalks, as it was too bad to see a poor Indian female " prostituted " to the ground in that manner.

222 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            " There," said a prominent citizen on Main Street this morning, pointing to an Indian who was carrying a sack of pine-nuts, " there you see the bounty of Nature to her children, the wise provision which she makes for these untutored savages, who, living in a country to the eye barren of all that is necessary to sustain life, yet find on these sterile hills the means of subsistence in the nutritious pine-nut. The pine-nut," he continued, "grows only in countries possessing characteristics such as we find in Nevada ; and just look at it, how, by a generous Nature, it is planted here and flourishes to ripeness for the benefit of the aboriginal inhabitants."

            " Ye ---------s," remarked a bystander, " but if Nature wanted to be so powerful particular about furnishing grub for these Indians, what made her plant the red cusses in such a God-forsaken country as this in the first place?"

            The other man said that the forces of Nature were so immutable, and cause and effect were so hidden in the deep recesses of mystery, that science had never been able to penetrate them, and he guessed he couldn't answer that question till he had consulted the authorities.

__________

            The Indian children, less fortunate than the white juveniles, are, except in a few isolated instances, unable to procure the luxury of a sled. They take great delight in coasting, but to them to even wish for a sled is to launch out in the direction of the unattainable. To make up for this deprivation they have invented a cheap and simple contrivance for coasting, which, though less comfortable and more dangerous than a sled, enables them to pursue the sport after a fashion. Their coasting apparatus consists simply of a barrel stave, and a piece of rope or stout cord passed and fastened through a hole in one end of the stave. They stand with the right foot on this stave, facing the string, which they hold in their hands, and by its means guide their craft ; and giving themselves a start by pushing the left foot on the ground, go scooting down the steep track in the position taken by a boy skating on one skate. They get frequent falls and many bumps, but the little wretches are as tough as a pine knot, and are heedless of the mishaps which befall them. Necessity is as much the mother of invention to the redskin as she is to his white brother.

__________

            A short time ago, a couple of Piute Indians went to a store on Main Street and purchased the entire stock of playing cards contained therein. They took them to their camps, and having secretly marked each one, came back to the store, and putting on that look of misery which only an Indian

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 223

knows how to assume, whined out that they were "heap broke," and offered to sell them back for one-fourth of what they had paid. The paste boards were purchased on these terms, and were subsequently sold, a pack at a time, to the Shoshone Indians. The Piutes knew that the Shoshones made their purchases at this particular place ; and the guileless Shoshone, unaware of the manipulation, bought and played poker with the wily Piute, without a suspicion that all was not --  as Governor Bradley would say -- " on the dead squar'."  The result was, the Piutes won all the money the Shoshones possessed, and now there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and sackcloth and ashes, in the camp of the Shoshone.

__________

            Belmont Johnny, and Topsey, his affinity, the principals in the Shoshone riot night before last, have buried the hatchet, shaken hands across the bloody chasm, and let the dead past bury its dead. In other words, having both got sober, they have made up the quarrel. They were walking Main street together last evening, Topsey all smiles, and Johnny with his head swollen to twice its natural size, and bruised and cut up so that he was hardly recognizable. Topsey, being interviewed, gave an account of the affray of the preceding night, as follows :

            " Johnny heap dlink wiskakee ; heap git mad cause me talk other Injin ; heap blake my dless ; me git mad. Me knock him down ; heap kick him head ; heap git eben, you bet."

            She further stated that Johnny won ten dollars at poker that day, and had given her a pair of shoes as a peace-offering, and that they had made it up, and were again good friends. Where do the Indians get their whisky ?

__________

            A game of marbles between a white boy and an Indian youth attracted quite a crowd in front of Horton & Sawtelle's, yesterday afternoon. The sympathy of the crowd was, of course, with the white boy; but, either through good luck or skill, the son of the forest got away with the baggage ; and as the shades of evening closed over the scene, and the sun began to scoot behind the hill, the red boy pocketed the white boy's white alley. With a sigh that seemed to be drawn out of his boots, the last boy brushed the dirt from the knees of his Sunday pants, and went home and read in his Sunday-school book about the fate of the wicked little boy who played marbles on Sunday, who lost all his marbles, ripped the seat of his breeches, got the delights whaled out of him by a big boy, and got an additional dose from his dad as a punishment for letting the other boy lick him. Truly, the way of the transgressor is not soft.

224 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            Printers rollers -- the rollers with which type is inked on the press -- are composed of glue and molasses. We don't know the exact ingredients of printers ink, but it probably contains lamp-black, turpentine, epsom- salts, coal-tar, and assafoedita. The combination of the glue and molasses forms a composition which an Indian squaw will eat with as much delight as a white boy will muzzle a jar of preserves. After being used a certain length of time the rollers become impregnated with the ink, and the composition is torn from the stock on which it is fastened, and thrown away. Then is the opportunity of the gentle maidens of the sagebrush. They gather up the discarded material, and squat on the ground, and hold a roller-composition festival. It is the molasses in it that attracts them, and they deceive themselves into the belief that the stuff is a new kind of jujube-paste, a substance which it much resembles in appearance.

__________

            There was a close struggle between the wind and Mr. Indian, this afternoon, for the possession of the latter's blanket. The red man wrapped the blanket closely around his noble form, and the wind tore away at it like "all furiation" ; but the son of the forest finally obtained the victory by sitting on it the blanket, not the victory. Indians fear windy weather far more than snow or cold, as their wickiups protect them in a great measure from the two latter. But when a howling wind gets to rampaging and cavorting through the ragged edges of the flimsy wickiup, his house and home are likely to come rattling down on him in the winking of a cat's tail. Captain Tom, a representative specimen of the Piute race, sought shelter in the REVEILLE office during the gale of this* afternoon, and, as he listened to the howling of the wind, remarked : "Him wind dam humbug; heap bustem wickiup."

__________

            Somebody dropped some quicksilver on the sidewalk on Main Street, to-day, and an Indian tried to pick it up. First he made a grab at it with his thumb and forefinger, and was astonished when he found he couldn't pick it up. He was determined to have that quicksilver, anyhow ; so he unwound a handkerchief from his hat, and, spreading it on the ground, got a chip and scraped the quicksilver into it. A look of triumph shot from his eagle eye as he gathered up the four corners of the handkerchief ; but it was replaced by one of horror and disgust when the metal ran through the fabric like water through a sieve. Looking at the metal, as it lay on the ground, in a puzzled sort of way for a moment, he launched a vicious kick at it, and uttering the ejaculation used by a keno-player when some other fellow makes keno, he turned on his heel and left the quicksilver for some other untutored son of the forest to experiment on.

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 225

            Sam, the Indian who cleans the streets, has met with a severe bereavement in the loss of his oldest wife, who departed this life night before last, at her residence in the Indian camp on the hill back of the City Hall. Sam is grief-stricken over the loss of his helpmeet, and shed tears profusely while telling of it. Said he : " Him woman keep me heap long time ; me so sorry she die ; other wife too young ; no got much sense ; don't keep me so long as old woman." Although he has got a young and pretty wife to console him for his loss, and although the deceased sharer of his sorrows and bearer of his burdens was old and homely, Sam seems to feel very bad over her death, and to not entertain a very great affection for the living wife, who is the best-looking Piute squaw in that portion of the tribe resident here.

__________

            A squaw in a millinery store, purchasing a new " bunnit " to wear at the fandango, which shortly comes off at Stillwater, was what this reporter beheld last evening. She was as fastidious and as hard to please as a white woman is when engaged in a similar pastime, and tried on, and looked in the mirror to see how it became her, nearly every hat in the establishment. Having made her selection, she rolled it in her handkerchief, and putting it under her arm, marched out of the store, saying to herself in the Indian tongue: "I'd just like to see the shape of the copper-colored woman that can put on more style than I can at that fandango."

__________

            The sudden advent of cold weather caught Mr. Indian napping, he not having yet put his house in order, and exchanged his linen ulster for a beaver overcoat lined with sealskin. The old man and his wife and his son and his daughter, likewise his aunt and his mother-in-law, turned out of their wickiup early this morning, and the whole family might have been seen shivering over the bonfires built on Main Street of the rubbish swept out from the stores. Last week, the noble son of the forest elevated his nose and uttered an unseemly ejaculation when offered work; to-day, he goes around pleading for a chance to chop a little wood, saying : " Heap cold ; me heap dam hungly."

__________

            Judge John is a venerable sage of the Piute tribe, whose face is familiar to the majority of the people of Austin. The Judge usually wears a dilapidated plug hat, but when he came into the REVEILLE office this morning his head was destitute of that adornment, its place being supplied by a dirty and tattered cloth.

226 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            "Where's your plug, John?" inquired our devil, addressing himself to the Indian and pointing at his head. And the red man made answer thus :

            " Me flug him heap git old ; maybeso heap pooty quick heap blake (break) ; me put him my wickiup so keep him for Sunday. Sunday heap my head put 'em on flug; heap put 'em on style all same Judge Logan."

__________

            The fine weather has encouraged the Indians to resume playing marbles, and numerous groups of them were to be seen about the streets today engaged in that absorbing sport. To an unaccustomed eye, it looks strange to see a lot of grown-up men, ranging in age from twenty to forty years, playing marbles with all the glee and interest of ten-year old white boys ; but we are used to it in this country, and it excites no comment. In such a matter as play, the Indian is but a child, and it is a common thing for adult Indians and fathers of families to indulge in the sports of small white boys. Tops, marbles, and sleds are favorite pastimes with the Indians, and, next to food and whisky, are looked upon by them as the grandest products of the white man's civilization.

__________

            The provident Indian covers his hat with a dirty handkerchief to protect it from the snow. The improvident Indian hasn't got either hat or handkerchief. The provident Indian is the one that is successful at poker. When the red man gambles, he plays for all that's out. As " the boys " say, " he's blooded " ; and when luck is against him, he plays off hat, coat, boots, horse, wife, everything. When he has had a run of bad luck, and the weather is as severe as that of to-day, he lays down behind a woodpile and takes his solemn oath that he will never touch another card as long as he lives; but soon recovers from his fit of despondency, and hunts a job to earn money with which to again woo the fickle goddess.

__________

            An aged squaw, who had evidently struck a bonanza of discarded clothes, strutted proudly up the center of Main Street this forenoon. Over her ragged dress she wore a tattered under-garment of the feminine persuasion, what edges were left of it being richly embroidered. We don't know the name of the article, but do know that it was not a gentleman's shirt. The head of the aboriginal female was decorated with a hat that once was new, garnished with feathers, flowers, and ribbons, all tattered and torn,

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 227

and her feet were encased in a pair of miner's boots. Under her arm she carried a yellow cur, and as she strutted through the street she was the observed of all observers, and seemed conscious and proud of the attention her appearance attracted.

__________

            The horse trough on Main Street, just above the REVEILLE office, is where the Indians who live and have their being in and about Austin perform their ablutions. The washing is confined to their faces, hands, and hair ; their bodies are never washed from the moment of birth until they are summoned to the happy hunting ground. Taking a bath would be considered by a Shoshone or Piute as an unwarrantable waste of water, which at least shows that they feel the touch of nature which makes a good many people kin; as now and again, during the course of the white man's career, he meets with instances where white men and women take a similar view to the Indian on the bath question.

__________

            Some people think it very funny to chaff a squaw, and sometimes, when the squaw talks back, they don't think it quite so funny. A case in point occurred in town the other day. A group of men were standing in front of a popular Main Street saloon, when a squaw leading a pappoose came along. One of the party hailed the squaw with

            " Hello, Sally, whose baby is that ? "

            The daughter of the forest stopped and eyed her questioner, and then, pointing her finger at him, said earnestly :

            " Him your pappoose."

            There was considerable laughing from the bystanders, but they were not laughing at the squaw.

__________

            Captain Tom entered our sanctum, this morning, and informed us that he "maybeso heap go Carson, see Governor Bradley; maybeso heap catchum beef," and requested us to furnish him with a paper. By virtue of the authority vested in us, we drew up a paper for the worthy Captain, commending him to the good will of all white men, who are therein directed to furnish Tom and his family with whatever cast-off clothes or victuals they may need. The document is adorned with eleven gilt and five red seals, and its imposing appearance will command the awe and respect of every Indian in the country. Thomas inclosed the document in the lining of his plug hat, fully satisfied that it was carte blanche to beg in any part of the civilized globe.

228 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            Human nature is the same the world over, and an Indian child takes as much pleasure in a doll as does a white one. We were amused this afternoon by observing a little Indian girl, apparently about three years old, who had found the head of a china doll, probably cast away by some white child, which she was fondling and nursing and talking to after the manner of ordinary doll-mothers. Frequently we see on the street little mites of Indian girls with miniature baskets, containing rag pappooses, on their backs, which answer the same purpose to them as the most expensive and elaborately-gotten-up doll does to a white child.

__________

            The sun has shone brightly to-day, and the daughters of the forest took advantage of the circumstance to squat on the street corners where its rays could strike them squarely, and get out their fine-tooth combs and sticks of cosmetic, and shine up their luxuriant locks and make it warm for insect life. At noon to-day, they could be seen scattered all over the north side of Main Street, and all busily engaged in some occupation. Some were playing cards, some making gowns, some spanking their pappooses, and others stringing beads. They seem to be a happy set, and the summit of bliss is reached by them when they have full stomachs and can find a streak of sunshine to bask in.

__________

            Everybody has heard of the costume of the Georgia major, which consisted of a collar and pair of spurs ; but a young Indian appeared on Main Street to-day in a costume almost as scanty. It consisted of a jacket and a piece of buckskin string. The appearance of the young aborigine created a great deal of merriment among the people on the street, but we noticed that most of the ladies either turned up a side street or only looked at him from behind their pocket-handkerchiefs. The child was too young to appreciate the attention he attracted, but his father seemed proud that his offspring was so generally noticed by the white men.

__________

            On Saturday night last, a Piute, with disheveled hair, distended eyes, and a general look of wildness, rushed into Sower's store r and throwing down a dollar, excitedly exclaimed :

            " Gimme deck cards and four bits candles ! "

            We knew by his excitement and eagerness to obtain the articles that a big poker game must be in progress on the hill, so we questioned him regarding it.

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 229

            "Yes," he replied, "heap big poker game; me heap loser; play 'em all night maybeso get even ; hell ! dam ! " and grabbing the cards and candles he struck a bee-line for the camp on the hill.

__________

            A squaw sat down on the curb in front of the Post-Office, this forenoon, and unrolling a bundle of calico, commenced to manufacture a dress. In less than an hour it was finished ; and putting it on over her old clothes, she pulled out a pin here, a peg there, and untied a string in another place, made one step, and, presto ! the old clothes lay in the gutter. Gathering up the rags just shed, the noble daughter of the sagebrush cast one look of triumph on the spectators, and skipped gracefully off in the direction of the Indian camp, as proud as a Saratoga belle at the first ball of the season.

__________

            Captain Breckenridge, sub-chief of the Piutes, called on us in our sanctum yesterday, and requested that we would " put 'em in noo paper that he was in town, come Stillwater four days." The reason he assigned for desiring this notice inserted was, that he wanted Naches, the chief, to know he was here ; and some white man in Winnemucca would read the paper and tell it to Naches. Breckenridge told us all about his visit to San Francisco to see General McDowell, and said that city "too many people, heap, lots people," and he even hinted that there are more people in that city than there are in Austin.

__________

            We did not attend the grand ball given by the Piutes to the Shoshones in Crow Cañon last night ; but Captain Steve informs us that it was a grand success, and that Pine-nut Jane was the belle throughout the early part of the evening ; but that, unfortunately, she became involved in a game of Indian poker with Horned-toad Sally, in which she lost her gorgeous attire on a queen-full, and her place as belle was taken by the afore said Sally. Steve says everything passed off peaceably. " No dlinkum whisakee; no fightum."

__________

            No class of our population takes more kindly to the sport of coasting than the Indians ; and during the time when the fun is at its height, the sled of the red man may be seen moving, with democratic familiarity, close to that of his white brother. The white man coasts noisily ; the In-

230 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

dian quietly. The first goes with a shout ; a " hi-hi," or a toot-horn ; the latter never utters a sound until the end of the track is reached. He sits on his sled oblivious to all earthly things but the sport in which he is engaged, his face beaming with pleasure and excitement, but by no sound does he betray how thoroughly and entirely his soul is filled with the enjoyment of the moment.

__________

            Yesterday morning, while passing down Main Street, we observed a squaw seated on the sidewalk dandling her babe. The infant was not to exceed a week old, and all the covering on it consisted of a breech-clout ; but, though the air was raw and sharp, it did not seem to suffer in the least from the cold, but crowed as merrily as if its father owned the big bonanza, and it was clad in purple and fine linen, and a patent India-rubber what-you-call- 'em .

__________

            A resident of Austin has an Indian employed in chopping wood at his residence, and that the aforesaid is an aborigine who goes through the world with his eyes open is evidenced by what is as follows narrated :

            Yesterday (Sunday) the Indian refused to chop any wood, and when his employer asked him the reason of his refusal, he replied :

            " Heap no work Sunday ; all same whita man, heap play poker."

            Jim evidently recognizes Sunday as a day of rest in its full sense.

__________

            Not more than a dozen Indians are left in town, and the absence of the noble red men and their consorts creates a blank not easily filled. For washing, chopping wood, and various other menial services, the sons and daughters of the forest are able and reliable citizens, and those who depend on them to perform such services sadly deplore their absence ; but the pine-nut crop must be gathered if every restaurant in town has to close its doors and if every woman has to die at the wash-tub and lose her piano practice.

__________

            Owing to the near approach of the Fourth of July, the Piutes are disinclined to leave Austin and go to Stillwater, as requested by a message from Brcckenridge, their sub-chief. They say they are doing pretty well here, and that it they go to Stillwater, " maybeso heap hungry."

            There was never a small white boy that looked forward to the Fourth

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 231

of July with more joyous anticipation than does an Indian, and he would rather sacrifice his chances of salvation than miss the opportunity of taking a hand in the celebration of that day.

__________

            Belmont Johnny, a Shoshone Indian, hailed us on the street yesterday, and asked us if we knew how to " mark stamped cards." Of course we immediately denied the possession of any such wicked knowledge ; but the guileless Indian thinks a newspaper editor knows everything. However, we asked Johnny the object of his question, and he explained that he wanted to get some white man to mark a deck of cards for him, and teach him to read them by the backs.

            "And what then, Johnny?"

            And in reply he said :

            " Me heap break every Piute son of gun in Austin."

            The Indian did not use the word "gun" as above quoted, but we substitute it for the word he really did say, as a figure of speech, as it were. Johnny speaks English plainly, and has acquired to its full extent the white man's facility of forcible expression.

__________

            The noble red man has found a new sphere of usefulness, and in defiance of the Civil Rights Bill has trenched upon a field hitherto given over exclusively to the colored man. We refer to the art of whitewashing, in the practice of which we to-day saw a stalwart brave engaged. He handled the brush with all the dexterity of his African prototype, and his admiring squaw, who sat on the ground watching him, remarked to a bystander :

            " Maybeso bimebye, him heap paint, all same white man."

__________

            We can imagine no greater misery than to be a non-English-speaking Indian in such weather as the present. Put yourself in his place, and imagine yourself the inhabitant of a residence composed of old gunny-sacks and containing more holes than house, and then depict to yourself the affliction of being unable to curse the weather in a string of good, round, North American oaths. The Indian language contains no words capable of expressing a man's true inwardness under such circumstances.

232 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            Sacramento is excited over a red-headed squaw, who is looked upon there as a great curiosity. She would not be a curiosity in Reese River Valley, where young Indians with hair of all the shades that hair assumes can be seen at any time. Only the other day we saw a squaw sitting on the curbstone on Main Street, who had true blonde hair and a pull-back dress. In reply to a question as to the paternity of the half-breed, one of her companion squaws simply said : " Heap coalburner."

__________

            The rage with the white boys at present is kites, and of course the Indian boys follow suit, and imitate to the best of their crude ability. The kite is a new revelation to the Indian, but he takes to it naturally nevertheless. The kite used by the Indian boys is a clumsy affair at best just a piece of paper tied to a string, and it will not fly ; but the red urchins get lots of fun out of it and play with it by the hour, fondly hugging the delusion that they are flying a kite.

__________

            In front of the Cosmopolitan Saloon, yesterday afternoon, three stalwart Piutes were engaged in a game of Indian poker, the stakes in which were chewing-gum. Each Indian would bite off a piece from the wad of gum in his mouth and place it in the " pot," and the one holding the high hand would rake down the three pieces and put them in his mouth. The sons of the forest were as deeply absorbed in the game as if the stakes had been thousands.

__________

            The love-making season has opened among the Indians, and house keepers find it almost impossible to secure their services for the various kinds of labor to which they are accustomed. A lady of this city, this morning, sent her little boy to find an Indian to chop some wood. After an absence of several hours the boy returned and laconically reported :

            " Can't get one ; all off huntin squaws."

__________

            A picture of happiness, supreme and complete, is an Indian lad with two hats on his head, a man's boot on one foot, a woman's gaiter on the other, and a flag of truce fluttering in the wind from a breach in his rear entrenchments, as he skips along trying to fly a white boy's discarded kite, and both ignorant and unmindful of the philosophy of the tail.

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 233

            Some squaws found a battered umbrella in the street this morning, and they thought it was a ready-made wickiup. A brave who sat smoking a cigarette on a goods box, watching the dusky maidens as they squatted under the umbrellageous shade, remarked to a white brother standing near:

            " Injun squaw all same white squaw ; heap scared sun freeze him face, no look pooty."

__________

            The snow was falling thick and fast, and a member of one of the first Piute families sat shivering under the shelter of an abandoned charcoal sack, which served him for a blanket. As the REVEILLE reporter passed him, Lo the poor Indian raised his noble head, and cocking his left- eye up toward the obscured sky, remarked in piteous tones :

            " Heap dam cold to-day."

__________

            An Indian came into our sanctum, to-day, to tell us about the eclipse. He said the Indian word for an eclipse of the sun is " annonguiyaipe," which signifies, literally, buried "All same you dead and cold and covered up in the ground."

__________

            People who imagine that the Indian cannot be civilized and educated would acknowledge themselves mistaken were they to see an Indian youth knuckling down close to a china alley, and hear him cry " Fen kicks ! " and " Knuckle down close, you son-of-a-cloudburst ! "

__________

            Some white men tackled some Indians in a game of Indian poker today ; but the son of the forest rung in a cold deck and cleaned up all the money on the blanket, and then the pale faces said he was a son of some thing else than the forest.

__________

            The Indians have evidently heard of Pleasanton's blue-glass cure. Yesterday afternoon, a sick Piute was sitting in the sun on Union street, clad only in a pair of blue overalls and a pair of blue-glass goggles.

234 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

Hans.

            There is a barber shop in Austin conducted by Germans, and in their employment is a Chinaman whom they have dubbed " Hans." He is an observing Celestial, and, like all of his race, apt in learning American customs and phrases. The Chinese are notoriously imitative, and about the first thing American that they learn is to swear. Their native vocabulary has no words of such strong emphasis as the Nevada oath, and consequently the acquisition of a language containing words that enables a man to give a full expression to his true feelings, is one of the greatest boons the Mongolian has gained by the contact with our superior civilization. Hans is doubly fortunate in this respect ; for, in addition to his knowledge of nearly all the leading American expletives, he has a fair store of the most elaborate German oaths and by-words, and can swear grammatically in the two languages, with dialectic variations. He is quite a philosopher in his way, and loud in denunciations of the leading vices and sins of his race. Among other things he abhors opium-smoking. The habit is a curse to any people, and contact with the Chinese has corrupted a large number of the young men and women of the Pacific Coast to the adoption of this terrible, degrading, mind, body, and soul-destroying evil. It is practiced almost universally by the Chinese, and is spreading among the whites to such an extent that stringent legislation and strong prohibitory laws have been found necessary to check its demoralization of our youth. Knowing the strong opinions entertained by Hans on this subject, and having myself seen its effects in the lack-luster eyes and wretched faces of those whites who were addicted to the habit, I one day questioned him as to the effects of the use of the drug on his countrymen. His reply was prompt, terse, and to the point. Said he :

            " Chinaman smoke opium one year, he all same monkey, all same white man " ; a comparison I did not appreciate, but which served to show that a frank answer is not always flattering.

            Hans is also opposed to the female slavery practices of his country men. The Chinese who immigrate to America are seldom accompanied by their families. They do not come here to remain, and therefore have no home ties. The majority of the males are brought to this coast under a system of coolieism, which, although not actual slavery, is the next thing to it. But the women who come are absolute slaves, having a high value as chattels, varying with age, physical attractions, and condition. They are imported by the wealthy Chinamen of San Francisco if not directly by the great " Six Companies," which control all the Chinese in America and the purpose of their importation is the vilest that can be conceived. Hans is about the only Chinaman whom I ever heard denounce this in famous system. He says it is " too muchee bad ; sell woman all same Melican man sell mule " ; and ho expresses a determination never to own

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 235

one of his countrywomen by this method. Talking about matrimony, he said :

            " Me get lich, me go Chiny, make love nicee tiptop Chiny girl ; heap marry him, all same white man."

            But when asked if he would bring his wife to this country, he replied:

            " Not by dam sight. Some dam tiefee Chinaman stealee him and sell him."

            Once, a Chinaman passing the shop where Hans is employed, and seeing him engaged in putting a shine on a customer's boots, derisively called him something which sounded like " Tu-na-ma-hing highlowjackaudthe-game," which Hans afterward explained was Chinese for bootblack. Hans immediately replied in good, solid English, " Go to blazes, you rat-eating scrub!" and in a tone that indicated the utmost contempt for everything wearing pig-tails, " Me no washwoman Chinaman."

__________

            Hong Sing claimed that Sam Hing owed him two hundred dollars; Sam Hing said he didn't, and both Celestials agreed to leave the matter to the arbitration of the heads of the different wash-house companies in town, who consulted together and pronounced a verdict that Hing must go down to the graveyard and solemnly cut off a rooster's head that he was not indebted to Sing in the above named amount, decreeing likewise that Hing should pay Sing $2.50 for taking the oath a sort of notary's fee, as it were. In accordance with this verdict the parties litigant, in company with a number of other Chinamen, armed with knives, bludgeons, and six-shooters, repaired to the graveyard, where Hing decapitated the fowl over the grave of a departed countryman, and solemnly asseverated that he didn't owe Sing a dog-goned cent. Sing paid Hing the $2.50 for taking the oath, and then foolishness was about to commence ; but the City Marshal, who was on the watch, stepped in and read the riot act, and disarmed the party, capturing a number of six-shooters, knives, and iron bars. Had it not been for the interference of the Marshal, there would have been bloodshed, and Hong Sing's bones would have been put in condition for shipment to the Flowery Kingdom. He remarked to the Marshal that " maybe so you no come, me no more washee."

__________

            Owing to the high license levied on banking games by the State laws, the Chinese of Austin no longer play their national game of " Tan," but have substituted therefor the good, old-fashioned, North American draw- poker. Each night, when the hour arrives for business, a Celestial stands on the single street of Chinatown, and, in a voice which can be heard

236 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

throughout the quarter and the neighborhood surrounding, proclaims that the game is open to all comers. The proclamation is uttered in the Chinese language, and literally translated is as follows :

            " Hear ye ! Hear ye ! The poker game of the Chinese quarter, in and for Lander County, State of Nevada, is now open ; free for all, without regard to age, sex, or previous condition of servitude. Come one, come all white, black, yellow, and copper-colored and take a hand in the game of the barbarian."

            When the crier has concluded, the Chinamen rush into the house where the game is played, and business commences. There is scarcely a night that white men may not be seen, side by side with Chinese, deep in the mysteries of poker ; and, though the white players cannot translate the words of the proclamation, they know by the sound and by instinctive feeling that it is a solemn announcement of the opening of the game.

__________

            Out at the Chase Mine, New York Cañon, the miners have been greatly troubled by mountain rats. They have been a particular source of annoyance to the Chinese cook, and he had vowed by all the gods of the Flowery Kingdom to wreak a bitter vengeance on the first marauding rodent which should fall into his clutches. Last Saturday, while busily engaged in cutting meat for the morning's hash, he heard a rustling noise, and looking round, saw what he supposed to be a rat's head protruding through a crack in the floor. Seizing a carving-fork, and gliding stealthily up to the object, he plunged it into its body, and, with a yell of triumph, uplifted the impaled animal, exclaiming, "Me catchee dam lat! " The miners, hearing his cries, rushed into the kitchen ; but paused on the threshold, for they smelt a smell. About this time, the Chinaman smelt something too, and exclaiming, " Hi yah, me smellee hell ! " dropped the fork, and broke from the room. The animal which he had impaled was one of the genus known scientifically as Mephitis Americana, vulgarly termed a skunk.

__________

            A Chinaman with a terrapin attracted a crowd on one of the street corners, at noon yesterday, and various were the conjectures as to what kind of a bug it might be. One called it a mud-turtle, another an ostrich, and one man was even bold enough to pronounce it a whale. The Indians, who composed a portion of the crowd, were greatly puzzled over what was to them an entirely strange bird ; and one noble red man, in reply to an inquiry as to his opinion of what it was, said, "Maybe-so him father tarantuhi ; him mother horn-toad." The Chinaman stated that he had a

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 237

dozen of them, for which he asked one dollar apiece ; and when one of the crowd tried to cheapen the animal he said :

            " Yesterday me sell 'em one dollar quartan; man keep saloon buy one, and woman like one put him in cage all same -bird. Me got too many; sell him one dollah belly cheap."

__________

            All Chinatown was drunk last night, owing to the copious potations of rice brandy indulged in by the Chinamen at the dinner in honor of the opening of the new store of the Fat Chung Company. During the night the Chinamen got up a game something on the principle of " Simon says thumbs up," the penalty of losing being that the loser must take a drink of China brandy. White men were allowed to take part in the game, and one of them, as soon as he dropped on it that the loser had to take a drink, commenced "throwing off," and got "stuck" every time. His dodge was soon detected by the Chinamen, and before the white player had lost games enough to get up a respectable drunk, he was indignantly " barred out " of the game, and ignominiously " fired out " of the house.

__________

            A Celestial maiden named Sing Loy passed in her checks, in Chinatown, yesterday afternoon, from the effects of a dose of opium administered with suicidal intent. Jealousy was the cause which led the maiden to commit the rash act which terminated her earthly career and shut her off forever from breathing the rarefied atmosphere of this altitudinous region. She was the wife, or chattel, of " Doc," a Chinaman. The bereaved " Doc " is almost inconsolable over his loss, as the woman cost him $400 when she was new. Her remains were borne to the silent tomb in a job- wagon this forenoon, being followed to the grave by a solitary heathen, who, when asked the occasion of so light-waisted a funeral, replied :

            " Chinawoman takee medicine, heap die, no Chinaman go funelal. Him sick, heap die, plenty Chinaman go funelal."

__________

            Yesterday being the last of the Chinese New Year, the heathen gave a grand jubilistic blow-out, and made night hideous with the notes of the one-stringed fiddle, the gong, the tom-tom, the Chinese bag-pipes, and other ear-splitting instruments of their native land. At midnight the entire population of Chinatown united in singing the Chinese national hymn, which sounded like the expiring howls of three thousand poisoned dogs,

238 THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

with variations by several hundred feline musicians. The music and the firing of bombs and crackers was kept up almost until daylight ; and many a man who before was indifferent to the Chinese question, arose this morning from his restless couch and expressed a determination to sign a petition for the immediate abrogation of the Burlingame treaty.

__________

            The Chinese are firm believers in necromancy, fortune-telling, arid kindred arts. The visions seen while under the influence of opium are by them interpreted into meanings. Several Chinamen in this city make a profession of fortune-telling. Their method is to take a smoke of opium, from the effects of which they have visions, from which they interpret whether certain sick persons will die or get well, or whether certain individuals will win or lose in gambling games in which they propose to engage. They have a small ivory figure to assist them in he interpretations, which represents a certain god who never sleeps, eats, or drinks, and never dies. If the seer's prognostications are verified, he is a smart fellow ; if not, the blame is laid on the god, whom they charge with being bewitched, and he is thrown away and a new ivory god purchased in his stead.

__________

            A few nights ago, a Chinaman was coming up on the stage from Battle Mountain. He was thinly clad, having no warmer clothes than a regulation Chinese blouse and trowsers, and being destitute of blankets. The night was fearfully cold, and the Celestial suffered severely ; but for a long time he bore the hardship with the meekness and patience so characteristic of his race. He tried to sleep, and snuggled down on the floor with his head under one seat and his feet under the other ; but the pitching and rolling of the stage over the cut-up and frozen roads bumped him unmercifully, until at last even his Chinese stolidity gave way, and he rose from his uncomfortable position on the floor, and seating himself on the front seat, said to the other passengers :

            " Hell dam ! Thissee lodgee house no good."

__________

            Even the Indians have their grievances against the Chinese. Captain Thompson, the Piute oracle, came into the REVEILLE office this morning, and inquired if it was the intention of the whites to drive the Chinamen out of town. It was explained to him that the white people desired to

INDIANS AND CHINESE. 239

get rid of the Celestials, but by peaceable means. This did not seem to suit Thompson, and he indignantly exclaimed :

            " No good ! Why no whita man heap kill dam Chinaman ? China man heap all same bad."

            When asked in what particular the Asiatics were so bad, he said : "Him Chinaman too dam schmart (smart) all time heap cheat 'em Injin play poker."

__________

            The 21st instant is the Chinese festival of something or other, when they decorate the graves of their dead with roast pigs, cups of tea, rice, confections, slips of red paper, and other Chinese edibles. As in this country a license tax is affixed to almost everything, John got it into his collective head that he would be required to take out a license to feed his dead, and a delegation of him waited upon the City Marshal to inquire "how muchee licee." The officer gave them permission to hold their festival without money and without price, and on the date mentioned the graves will be decorated in accordance with Chinese custom. This will offer to the numerous tramps now in Austin a most magnificent opportunity for a moonlight picnic if the coyotes don't get there ahead of them.

__________

            A Chinese merchant came into the REVEILLE office this morning to purchase some paper, and while waiting for the boy to bring the paper, he asked us if we had heard of the " big Chinaman fight in Virginriy." On our replying in the affirmative, he heaved a deep sigh, and said :

            " Him Chinaman allee same dam fool ; him got littlee money ; then him fight, and give allee him money to dam lawyer for makee talk ; then him lawyer he too muchee talk, and Chinaman him bloke, and go washee for money for give him big-mouf lawyer."

            This particular heathen don't seem to entertain a very high opinion of the legal fraternity.

__________

            A delegation of the Chinese residents waited on the City Marshal today, and preferred a request that he lock up the members of the Sazerac Lying Club in the City Jail until after the souls of the dead Chinamen had had a chance at the food they intended to pile on the graves of those departed Celestials to-day. The Marshal could find nothing in the city charter and ordinances authorizing such a proceeding, and the Chinamen concluded to stuff the pigs and chickens with nitro-glycerine and garlic.

240  THE SAZERAC LYING CLUB.

            Two Chinamen entered the telegraph office this morning, and inquired the cost of a telegram to Hongkong or Nagasaki, as they said that some cousins of theirs were passengers on the ill-fated steamer Japan. The operator informed them that the cost would be in the neighborhood of $100, when one of them exclaimed :

            " Me no send 'em ; hundled dollah too much for dead Chinaman ! "

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