|
Ella M. Sexton - Stories of California
through this the mahala draws tough grasses or fine tree roots dyed in different colors, and after the
pattern she chooses. Sometimes she works into the baskets the quail's crest, small red or yellow feathers
from the woodpecker, green from the head of the mallard duck, or beads. She also hangs wampum or bits
of abalone shell on the finest ones. The storage baskets are four or five feet high to hold grain or acorns,
and the baskets to fit the back and carry a load are like half a cone in shape, with straps to hold the
burden in place. Their smaller berry baskets hold just a quart. Some are water-tight and are used to cook
mush in. Fish-traps and long narrow basket-traps for quail are also made out of this willow-work.
On the Bidwell ranch is an old Indian "temescal," or sweat-house. It is an underground hut, or cave dug
out of a hillside, with a hole in the top for smoke to reach the air. The Indians used to build a big fire in
this cave and then lie round it till dripping with sweat. A cold plunge into the creek near by finished the
bath, - Turkish, we call it. Nowadays the Indians use this place for a meeting-room and for dances.
The older Indians still dance and rig out in all their finery of feathers and beads, though the young people
are ashamed of their tribal customs and wish to be like the white folks. Some of their dances are named
for a bird or animal, and the Indians must imitate by their dress and cries the animal chosen. In the bear
dance the dancer crawls about the fire on all fours with a bear's skin about him. He wears a chain of
oak-balls round his neck, and as he shakes his head these rattle like a bear's teeth snapping shut, while all
the time he growls savagely. The feather-dancer, with a skirt and cap of eagles' feathers, will whirl on his
toes like a top for hours, while the other Indians sing and the master of the dance shakes a large rattle.
The California Indians are slowly passing away, and though all over the state there are still rancherias,
the land that was once their very own will soon know them no more.
THE STORY OF SAN FRANCISCO
The Mission and Presidio of San Francisco were founded in 1776 by Father Palou, and two little
settlements grew up around the fort and at the church. The Presidio was built where it is now, and ships
used to anchor in the bay in front of it, though the whalers usually went to Sausalito to get wood from the
hills and to fill their water-casks at a large spring. From early Mission times the Spanish name of Yerba
Buena was given to that part of San Francisco's peninsula between Black Point and Rincon Point.
Ship-captains and sailors soon found out that the cove or bay east of Yerba Buena was the best and least
windy place to anchor their vessels, and later on hundreds of ships found a safe harbor there. The name
Yerba Buena, or good herb, was given on account of a little creeping vine with sweet-smelling leaves
which covered the ground and is still found on the sand-dunes and Presidio hills.
For many years the small settlements made no progress, and the rest of the peninsula was covered with
thick woods, where the grizzly bear, wolf, and coyote roamed, while deer were plenty at the Presidio.
Then in 1835 Governor Figueroa, the Mexican ruler of California, directed that a new town should be
started at Yerba Buena cove. The first street, called the "foundation-street," was laid out from Pine and
Kearny streets, as they are called to-day, to North Beach. The first house was built by Captain
Richardson on what is now Dupont Street, between Clay and Washington. The next year a trader named
Jacob Leese built a store. It was finished on the Fourth of July, and in honor of the day he gave a feast
and a fandango, or dance, at which the company danced that night and all the next day. This was the first
Fourth celebrated in the place.
Two or three years later a new survey laid out streets between Broadway and California, Montgomery
and Powell. A fresh-water lagoon, or lake, was near the present corner of Montgomery and Sacramento,
and an Indian temescal, or sweat-house, beside it. The bay came up to Montgomery Street then, with five
|
