h difficulty
understand one another. These tribes were almost continually at
war.

The Indians upon the Pacific slope were generally found to be inferior
in most respects to those living in the central and eastern portions
of the continent. One might suppose that the tribes possessing the
fair and fertile valleys of California would be the most advanced
in civilization, but such was not the case. Many of them were among
the most degraded upon the continent. They seemed unable to adapt
themselves to the white man and his ways, and in the older settled
districts they have now nearly disappeared. In the newer portions
of the Northwest and along the coast toward Alaska the Indians
have not yet come into so direct contact with the white men, and
remain more nearly in their primitive condition.

When the Indians of central California were first seen, they wore
but little clothing, and knew how to construct only the simplest
dwellings for protection from the weather. They did not cultivate
the soil, nor did they hunt a great deal, although the country
abounded with game. Along the larger streams fish was an important
article of food, but in other places, acorns, pine nuts, and roots
constituted the main supplies. The acorns were ground in stone
mortars and made into soup or into a kind of bread. These Indians
have often been called Diggers because they depended so largely
for their living upon the roots which they dug.

It would seem natural that about San Francisco Bay the natives
should have used canoes, but, according to early travellers, they
had none. When they wished to go out upon the water they built
rafts of bundles of rushes or tules tied together.

At favorable points along the shore the Indians collected for their
feasts, and these spots are now indicated by heaps of shells, in
some places forming mounds of considerable size. Many interesting
implements have been dug from these mounds, or kitchen middens
as they are sometimes called. In the mountains the sites of the
villages are marked by chips of obsidian (a volcanic glass used in
making arrow-tips) and by holes in the flat surfaces of granitic
rocks near some spring or stream. These holes were made for the
purpose of grinding acorns or nuts.

Many of the Indian tribes developed great skill in the weaving of
baskets, which they used for many different purposes. The baskets
are still made in some places, and are much sought after because
of their beauty.