Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity - Their History, Customs and Traditions by Galen Clark
page 26 of 82 (31%)
page 26 of 82 (31%)
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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 |
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