g the case, and before commencing operations, he
would quietly retire for a short time, ostensibly to get under
the influence of the divine healing spirit, but in reality to
fill his mouth with several small articles, such as bits of wood
or stone; he was then ready to commence treatment. After sucking
and spitting pure blood a few times, he began to spit out with
the blood, one after another, the things he had in his mouth, at
the sight of which all the attendants would join in a chorus of
grunts of astonishment, and the doctor would pretend to be very
much nauseated. In most ordinary cases two or three treatments
effected a cure.

The doctors also made use of certain rare medicinal plants in
treating some diseases. The Indian women have great faith in
charms made of the pungent roots of some rare plants from the
high mountain ranges, which they wear on strings around their
necks, or on a string of beads, to protect them from sickness.

In cases of malignant sores or ulcers on any part of the body,
the doctors treated them by applying dirt or earth, and in warm
weather would excavate a place in the ground and put the patient
in it, either in a sitting or recumbent position, as the nature
of the case required, and cover the affected part with earth for
several hours, daily. Sometimes, by this mode of treatment,
wonderful cures were made.

In all cases, if a doctor failed to cure a disease, and the
patient died, he was obliged to refund to the relatives any fee
which he had received for his services.

DISPOSING OF THE DEAD.

In the early days of the settlement of California, it seemed to
be the universal custom of the Indians along the foothills of the
Sierra Nevada range of mountains to burn the bodies of their
dead.

A suitable pile of readily combustible wood was prepared. The
body was taken charge of by persons chosen to perform the last
sacred rites, and firmly bound in skins or blankets, and then
placed upon the funeral pyre, with all the personal effects of
the deceased, together with numerous votive offerings from
friends and relatives. The chief mourners of the occasion seemed
to take but little active part in the ceremonies. When all was
ready, one of the assistants would light the fire, and the
terrible, wailing, mournful cry would commence, and the
professional chanters, with peculiar sidling movements and
frantic gestures, would circle round and round about the burning
pile. Occasionally, on arr