This unique style of headgear was used by some Indian hunters for
many years after they had guns to hunt with.

[Illustration: _Drawing by Jorgensen_
INDIAN SWEAT HOUSE.
Used by the Yosemite hunters before starting after game.]

The high ranges of the mountains, as already stated, were
considered common hunting ground by the different tribes. The
deer, many of them, were in some degree migratory in their
habits, being driven from the higher ranges to the foothills by
the deep winter snows, and in the spring following close to the
melting, receding snow, back again to their favorite summer
haunts.

Late in the summer, or early in the fall, just before holding
some of their grand social or sacred festivals, the Indian
hunters would make preparation for a big hunt in the mountains,
to get a good supply of venison for the feast. One of the first
absolute prerequisites was to go through a thorough course of
sweating and personal cleansing. This was done by resorting to
their sweat houses, which were similar in construction to the
_o´-chums_, except that the top was rounded and the whole
structure was covered thickly with mud and earth to exclude the
air. These houses were heated with hot stones and coals of fire,
and the hunters would then crawl into them and remain until in a
profuse perspiration, when they would come out and plunge into
cold water for a wash-off. This was repeated until they thought
themselves sufficiently free from all bodily odor so that the
deer could not detect their approach by scent, and flee for