The Spanish in the Southwest . a ball of clover. If only soft blossoms werethrown, the victim might be glad, for the temptation wastoo great for the fun-loving Indian lads. Many a clod ofdirt, a stick, or even a stone found its way into the wait-ing mouth. So with shouts of laughter the play went mer-rily on until every one was tired out. Learning to fish, to hunt, and to swim were almost likegames to the Indian children. The natives on the Sacra-mento River used to teach their children to swim whenthey were only a few weeks old. A father took his babydown to the river and, holding him on his
The Spanish in the Southwest . a ball of clover. If only soft blossoms werethrown, the victim might be glad, for the temptation wastoo great for the fun-loving Indian lads. Many a clod ofdirt, a stick, or even a stone found its way into the wait-ing mouth. So with shouts of laughter the play went mer-rily on until every one was tired out. Learning to fish, to hunt, and to swim were almost likegames to the Indian children. The natives on the Sacra-mento River used to teach their children to swim whenthey were only a few weeks old. A father took his babydown to the river and, holding him on his hands, put 24 Before the Coming of the Spanish him into the water. The little fellow was held so closelythat he could not drown; and, like a small frog, hiskicks and plunges soon taught him to swim. These Indians used to ride on the river and even on thebay on their tule rafts. It was often riding in the river;for, sitting astride of the long, cigar-shaped raft, the feethung down in the water. If the raft rolled and tipped off. Mission Indians the rider, he seemed to care no more than if he hadstumbled and fallen on land ; for these Indians could swimlong distances and were no more afraid of water than arefish. When the Spanish came, California was full of Indians,— happy, easy-going, good-natured. With no hard workto wear them out, no long, cruel wars to kill them off, andin a country that gave them food so easily, the Indiansoften lived to be a hundred years old or more. These Indian Life in California 25 happy conditions were not greatly changed during thetime of the Spanish. But when at length the Americansoccupied the country, they seemed to bring death to thepoor natives. The two races could not live together. Thebrown-skinned Indians were the weaker of the two, andthey faded away before the white men ; they disappearedlike melting snow in a rapidly rushing mountain not many are left of the thousands that less thana hundred years ago thronged our fertile,
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