Chapter I: Front Matter

_Frontispiece_]

_HEATH SUPPLEMENTARY READERS_

DOCAS
The INDIAN BOY of
SANTA CLARA

_By_
GENEVRA SISSON SNEDDEN

D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO ATLANTA
DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO LONDON

COPYRIGHT, 1899,
BY D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY

COPYRIGHT RENEWED, 1927,
BY GENEVRA SISSON SNEDDEN

3 K 6

No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form without written permission of the publisher

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

MY DEAR CHILDREN:--

What sort of people do you like best to read about--white people or Indians?

I think you will say Indians, because all the children of whom I have ever asked this question have said that they liked best to read about Indians. Indians do everything so differently from the way we do that they are always interesting.

This book which we are now going to read is about Indians,--the Indians who lived near the Pacific Ocean before our grandfathers were born, and before we Americans came west and settled the country.

Do you like best to read about grown-up people or about children? I think I can hear you say, “What a question! Children, of course!” Yes, children can have such fun, running and playing and finding out about all kinds of things for which grown people never have time, that it is much pleasanter to read about them. So this whole book is about children. The first part tells about the little Indian boy, Docas; farther on, when Docas grows to be a man, the book tells about his children and grandchildren.

Last of all, the stories tell about things that actually happened to Indian children long ago in California, so they are what you call “truly stories,” not “made-up ones.”

These are some of the reasons why the children for whom the stories were first written liked them and learned from them, and for these same reasons I think many of you will care to read about Docas, the Indian boy of Santa Clara.

THE AUTHOR

_NOTE_

These stories were originally written to serve as reading material
for the children in the University School connected with the
Department of Education at the Leland Stanford Junior University. The
never-failing delight with which those children welcomed each new
instalment was the first impetus toward putting the stories in a form
where they would have a larger audience.

The work was done as a thesis in history under the direction of Mary
Sheldon Barnes. To her careful supervision and many suggestions the
book owes much of whatever merit it may possess.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

WHEN DOCAS LIVED AT THE INDIAN VILLAGE

PAGE

Building the Fire 3

Docas at Breakfast 5

How Docas went Fishing 7

Massea’s Storehouse 10

How Docas caught the Grasshoppers 15

The Grass-seed Basket 17

Docas’s New Skirt 21

The Sweat House 24

The Feast of the Eagles 27

The Invitation to the Dance 30

The Acorn Dance 31

Docas playing “Teekel” 36

Making the Mountains 40

The Measuring-worm Rock 42

The First White Man 44

Docas goes to the Red Hill 49

Docas in a Fight 52

PART II

WHEN DOCAS LIVED AT THE MISSION

Docas goes to live at the Mission 57

Breakfast at the Mission 59

The Mission School 63

Raising Corn 65

Threshing the Grain 69

Getting ready to make Bricks 72

Getting the Timbers 79

Building the Church 80

Visit of Father Serra 85

Visit of Captain Vancouver 88

Preparing Hides and Tallow 93

Making the Ox-cart 98

Shipping the Hides and Tallow 102

Trading on the Ship 108

Leaving the Mission 111

PART III

WHEN DOCAS LIVED WITH DON SECUNDINI ROBLES

Wash-day 117

The Cascarone Ball 122

The Sheep-shearing 128

The Barbecue 133

Horseback-riding 138

The Rodeo 142

BIBLIOGRAPHY 148

PRONUNCIATION OF NAMES 151

PART I

WHEN DOCAS LIVED AT THE INDIAN VILLAGE