g became more precarious and
transitory, and many of them were, at times, in a condition near
to starvation. In these straitened and desperate circumstances,
many of their young women were used as commercial property, and
peddled out to the mining camps and gambling saloons for money to
buy food, clothing or whisky, this latter article being obtained
through the aid of some white person, in violation of law.

Their miserable, squalid condition of living opened the way for
diseases of a malignant character, which their medicine men could
not cure, and their numbers were rapidly reduced by death.

At the present time there are not in existence a half-dozen of
the old Yosemites who were living, even as children, when the
Valley was first discovered in 1851; and many of the other tribes
have been correspondingly reduced.

[Illustration: _Photograph by Boysen._
YOSEMITE MOTHER AND PAPOOSE.
The baby basket is carried on the back, like all burdens, and
supported by a band across the forehead.]

Chapter Three.

CUSTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS.

As stated in a previous chapter, all of the Indian tribes
occupying the region in the vicinity of the Yosemite Valley were
more or less affiliated by blood and intermarriage and resembled
each other in their customs, characteristics and religious
beliefs. What is said, therefore, on these subjects in the
following pages, will be understood to apply generally to all of
the tribes which have been mentioned as inhabiting this region,
although, of course, minor differences did exist, principally due
to environment. As in the case of all primitive peoples, their
mode of life, food supply, etc., were largely determined by
natural conditions, and the tribes living in the warm foot-hills
differed somewhat in these respects from those dwelling higher in
the mountains.

DIVISION OF TERRITORY.

In their original tribal settlements, at the time the first
pioneer whites came among them, the Indians had well defined or
understood boundary lines, between the territories claimed by
each tribe for their exclusive use in hunting game and gathering
means of support; and any trespassing on the domain of others was
likely to cause trouble. This arrangement, however, did not apply
to the higher ranges of the Sierras, which were considered common
hunting ground.

COMMERCE AMONG THE TRIBES.

As there was a difference in the natural products and resources
of different sections of the cou