the tribe giving the invitation proceeds to select a suitable spot on which to hold the fandango; the one that is most shady and pleasant, and nearest to good water and plenty of firewood, is preferred.

Extensive preparations are immediately commenced. Rabbits are snared, fish are caught, acorns are ground, panola provided, roots are dug and washed, grasshoppers taken and dried, and large pieces of firewood gathered, besides beef, flour, and other luxuries obtained from white men, in readiness for the day. It must not be supposed that the tribe giving the invitation provides everything for the occasion; by no means, as every one who attends takes something to make up the variety and quantity of the general table.

At such seasons, both male and female dress themselves according to their most extravagant notions of paint and feathers. Several weeks are frequently consumed in making head-dresses and other ornaments, of feathers, shells, and beads, in which the top-knots of quails, and scalps

of the red and black headed California woodpecker, show to great advantage. These and numerous other ornaments of considerable value are prepared, and perhaps not used more than once before they become a portion of the offerings to the dead.

When the day arrives, groups of Indians may be seen wending their way to the festive scene; and, as many have to travel fifteen or twenty miles, the whole day is consumed in assembling together and conversing in groups on little family matters.

In the evening, when all are assembled, the "band," (which consists of about a dozen men, with reed whistles, and wooden castanets with which they beat time,) begins a monotonous "feu-feu" with their whistles; while the dancers follow their leader with the castanets, and keep time in a perpetual "hi hah! hi hah!" until they are out of breath, when they take their seats, to listen to a speech from their greatest chief or patriarch, in which he recounts the heroic

About thirty-five or forty are dancers for the evening, while the others sit down and look on, and sometimes break into a loud laugh at some mishap or mistake of a dancer.

When the first dance is over, the feast commences, and justice is certainly done the eatables provided. It is a scene that is rich with gluttony and drollery; and once seen, the remembrance is never obliterated from the memory. The feast concluded, the dancing is renewed, and continued until morning, when they finish the provisions that were left over at supper-time, and retire to rest beneath the shelter of a tree.

These dancing parties are frequently continued for several days, and, (as at others more fashionable) many a Digger youth falls irretrievably in love with some fair (1) Digger maiden.

This being properly understood by the parties most interested, the fortunate lover gathers together such property as he possesses, and repairs to her father to strike the bargain. The old man looks surprised, hesitates, looks at the candidate for his daughter's hand, then at the amount of goods that is brought him as an equivalent for his child. The question being argued, (of course eloquently,) if the match is considered a good one, the old man's thoughtful face relaxes into a smile, the property is exchanged, he tells him to make her a good husband, and the union is complete.

With some of the tribes, when an Indian wishes to marry, the female runs and hides herself; and, if the male succeeds in finding her within a given time, they live together.

There seems to be no formal marriage ceremony among the California Indians. The wife being looked upon as a species of slave property, a trade is made and they unceremoniously live together.

Frequently when a man is hunting for

They frequently gamble away their wives just as they do any other kind of property.

Quite often a given number of Indian men agree to fight for a certain number of Indian women, on which occasion each party puts up equally. As soon as either party is victorious, the women, who have been awaiting the chances of this kind of war, arise, and go with the victors, apparently satisfied with the result.

To obtain women is a frequent and only cause of war among them. When any particular tribe runs short of squaws, it unceremoniously steals some from an adjoining tribe, which on the first favorable occasion returns the complimentsometimes with considerable interest.

Polygamy is common. Some of the chiefs have from four to seven wives. As among the Mormons this is regulated by their ability to support them. Many of the "undistinguished diggers" have from three to five wives.

Before concluding this article we wish (with all their imperfections and obstacles, and they are many) to give our testimony in favor of the Reservations established by government to teach the Indian race the arts of agriculture, and the principles of self reliance. They are doing much to ameliorate the condition of the race, and in staying the sweeping hand of annihilation. But while we accord thus much to the system, we enter our protest to the promiscuous and libidinous intercourse allowed at these reservations by those placed in charge. In our opinion, founded upon observation, no officer should be appointed, no white man employed who has not a wife to accompany him there; and who could have as eleva

but two short incisors between the tusks. If a man should have tusks, they would be in his canine teeth, which always bear a resemblance in form to the tusks of the lower animals. The Frenchman, (whose name I have not been able to learn) says that it is not uncommon for the cannibals of New Caledonia to have these tusks.

If the statement be confirmed, it will furnish another evidence of the near relationship between man and the brutish animals. Perhaps it might be pressed into service by the advocates of the "development theory." Another point might, perhaps, be made for that theory in regard to the fact that most, and perhaps all, of those sounds of our language which Caucasian children cannot readily pronounce, are also stumbling blocks to the red and yellow races. Among these sounds are those of F, V, and R, which are troublesome both to white children and yellow men. Few Chinamen can say "very," they usually make it "welly;" an American they call a "melikan man," and so on. I attempted once to teach a cottonwood Indian, in Shasta county, to say "fire," but "piway" was the nearest approach he could make to it.

Cuvier, in his work on the animal kingdom, says of man, "but one child is usually produced at a birth, as in five hundred cases of parturition there is but one of twins; more than this is extremely rare." He does not state where the observations, from which deduction is

made, were taken, and no doubt it was correct in regard to France in his time; but it would not apply to California now. My impression is, that there is at least one pair of twins in every hundred cases of parturition in this State; yet we have no official or complete records by which to learn the exact truth. It might be expected, however, that twins would be most numerous where the people generally have the most generous diet, get the most of the sunlight, and are not worn down by excessive toil; and by this rule California is entitled to considerably more than the common measure of them. It is said by some physicians that the average weight of children at birth is greater here than in any other country.

Could not carbonic acid gas be used to prevent fermentation and putrefaction? Fermentation begins with the absorption of oxygen, and if the latter can be kept away the former will be prevented. Carbonic acid gas contains oxygen, but would probably not part with it to fermentable substances; at least, it will not part with it to animal lungs nor to fire; for carbonic acid gas, though rich in the material which sustains life and flame, kills both rather than part with it. Would a fermentable substance have a stronger power to decompose carbonic acid gas than fire has? The question is worthy of investigation. Perhaps most fermentable substances-take a piece of fresh meat, for instance, or an apple-have enough free oxygen in them to start fermenta