The mountains of California . Shasta and theModoc lava-beds, where the Indians had been feast-ing in stormy weather; also in the canons of theSierra opposite Owens Valley; while the heavy ob-sidian arrow-heads found on some of the highestpeaks show that this warfare has long been going on. In the more accessible ranges that stretch acrossthe desert regions of western Utah and Nevada,considerable numbers of Indians used to hunt incompany like 23acks of wolves, and being perfectlyacquainted with the topography of their hunting-grounds, and with the habits and instincts of thegame, they were pret
The mountains of California . Shasta and theModoc lava-beds, where the Indians had been feast-ing in stormy weather; also in the canons of theSierra opposite Owens Valley; while the heavy ob-sidian arrow-heads found on some of the highestpeaks show that this warfare has long been going on. In the more accessible ranges that stretch acrossthe desert regions of western Utah and Nevada,considerable numbers of Indians used to hunt incompany like 23acks of wolves, and being perfectlyacquainted with the topography of their hunting-grounds, and with the habits and instincts of thegame, they were pretty successful. On the tops ofnearly every one of the Nevada mountains that Ihave visited, I found small, nest-like inclosures builtof stones, in which, as I afterward learned, one ormore Indians would lie in wait while their com23an- THE WILD SHEEP 321 ious scoured the ridges below, knowing that thealarmed sheep would surely run to the summit, andwhen they could be made to aj^proach wdth the windthey were shot at short INDIANS HUNTING WILD SHEEP. Still larger bands of Indians used to make exten-sive hunts upon some dominant mountain much fre-quented by the sheep, such as Mount Grant on theWassuck Eange to the west of Walker Lake. On 322 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA some particular spot, favorably situated with ref-erence to the well-knowu trails of the sheep, theybuilt a high-walled corral, with loug guiding wdngsdiverging from the gateway; and into this inclos-ure they sometimes succeeded in driving the noblegame. Grreat numbers of Indians were of coiuse re-quired, more, indeed, than they could usually mus-ter, counting in squaws, children, and all; they werecompelled, therefore, to build rows of dummy hun-ters out of stones, along the ridge-tops which theywished to i3revent the sheep from crossing. And,without discrediting the sagacity of the game, thesedummies were found effective; for, with a few liveIndians moving about excitedly among them, theycould hardly be dist
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
