ntry, there was a system of
reciprocal trade in the exchange of the different desirable
commodities. Sometimes commerce between tribes extended for a
long distance, as, for instance, the Indians on the western side
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains were entirely dependent upon the
Pai-utes _(Pye-yutes')_ on the eastern side for the obsidian, a
kind of volcanic glass, from which they made the points for their
most deadly arrows, used in hunting large game or when in mortal
combat with their enemies. They were also dependent upon the
Pai-utes for their supply of salt for domestic use, which came in
solid blocks as quarried from salt mines, said to be two days'
travel on foot from Mono Lake.

From the Indians at or near the Catholic Missions to the South,
on the Pacific Coast, they got their hunting knives of iron or
steel, and sea shells of various kinds, for personal or dress
ornaments, and also to be used as money. From the same source
they obtained beads of various forms, sizes and colors, cheap
jewelry and other fancy articles, a few blankets, and pieces of
red bunting, strips of which the chiefs and head men wore around
their heads as badges, indicating their official positions.

COMMUNICATION.

They had a very efficient system of quickly spreading important
news by relays of special couriers, who took the news to the
first stations or tribes in different directions, where others
took the verbal dispatches and ran to the next station, and so
on, so that all tribes within an area of a hundred miles would
get the good or bad tidings within a few hours. In this manner
important communication was kept up between the different tribes.
They also had well organized signal systems, by fires in the
night and smoke by day, on high points of observation--variations
in the lights (either steady, bright or flashing) indicating
somewhat the character of the tidings thus given.

DWELLINGS.

Their winter huts, or _o'-chums_, as they termed them, were
invariably of a conical form, made with small poles, and covered
with the bark of the incense cedar (_Libocedrus decurrens_). A
few poles ten or twelve feet long were set in the ground around
an area of about twelve feet in diameter, with their tops
inclined together. The outside was then closely covered with long
strips of the cedar bark, making it perfectly water-tight. An
opening was left on the south side for an entrance, which could
be readily closed with a portable door.