Chapter XIX: The Digger Indians and Negroes

Of all the aborigines that are known to travelers within the limits of the western continent, the Digger Indians are certainly the most filthy and abominable. A worse set of vagabonds cannot be found bearing the human form. They come into the world and go from it to as little purpose as other carnivorous animals. Their chief characteristics are indolence and gluttony. Partially wrapped in filthy rags, with their persons unwashed, hair uncombed and swarming with vermin, they may be seen loitering about the kitchens and slaughter-houses awaiting with eager gaze to seize upon and devour like hungry wolves such offal or garbage as may be thrown to them from time to time. Grasshoppers, snails and wasps are favorite delicacies with them, and they have a peculiar relish for a certain little animal, which the Bible tells us greatly afflicted the Egyptians in the days of Pharaoh. The male Digger never hunts--he is too lazy for this; he usually depends upon the exertions of his squaw to provide something or other to satisfy the cravings of hunger.

The term Digger has been applied to these Indians in consequence of their method of procuring their food. The grasshopper or cricket of California is one of their favorite messes. They capture these insects by first digging a pit in the ground, and then forming a wide circle round it which is gradually narrowed. In this manner they drive the insects to the pit and there capture them. After having secured their prey, the next thing is to prepare it for food. This is accomplished either by baking the grasshoppers in the fire or drying them in the sun, after which the Diggers pulverize them. The epicures among them crush service-berries into a jam and thoroughly incorporate the pulverized insects with the pulpy mass to which they have reduced the fruit. Others mix their cricket meal with parched sunflower seed, but this is an advance in civilization and in the luxuries of the table, which is made by very few of them. They obtain the young wasps by burning the grass, which exposes the nests and enables them to grub in the earth for this delicacy.

Acorns are also a favorite article of diet with these wretched creatures. In California, this fruit is larger and more palatable than with us, and it has the merit of being a cleaner kind of food than that which usually satisfies the Digger’s hunger. Rude as these people are, they have sense enough to observe that all years are not equally productive in these nuts, and foresight sufficient to lay in a good stock during the plentiful years. They pound them up, mix them with wild fruit, and make their meal into a sort of bread. They are said to resort to a stratagem to obtain the acorns in greater abundance. There is a bird in California, called, from his habits, the carpenteir or carpenter. He busies himself in making holes in the redwood trees and filling them with acorns. When a Digger finds a tree stocked in this manner, he kindles a fire at its base, (so the story goes,) and keeps it up till the tree falls, when he helps himself to the acorns.

Grass-seed constitutes another portion of their diet, and this is gathered by the women, who use for the purpose, two baskets, one shaped like a shield, the other deep and provided with a handle. With the shield the top of the grass is brushed and the seed shaken down into the deep basket. This also is made into bread.

It is commonly supposed that these Indians belong to a single tribe. This, however, I think is doubtful. They are scattered over a wide extent of country, being found far to the north, among the Utahs. Those upon the frontier usually call themselves Shoshonees or Snakes, while some claim to be Utahs. Their skin is nearly as dark as that of the negro. Indeed they greatly resemble the African in color and general appearance. They are distinguished from him chiefly by their aquiline noses, their long hair and their well-shaped feet. The southern Diggers have a lighter complexion, being not so dark as a mulatto.

It is reported on good authority that Captain Sutter, the first settler on the Sacramento, at whose fort (the present site of Sacramento) gold was first discovered, employed these people to build his fort for him. He paid them in tin coin of his own invention, upon which was stamped the number of days the holder had worked. This was taken at his “store” for articles of merchandise, such as dry goods, &c. He fed his field Indians upon the offal of slaughtered animals and the bran sifted from ground wheat. The latter was boiled in large iron kettles; and then placed in wooden troughs from which they scooped it out with their hands. They are said to have eaten it, poor as it was, with great relish, and it was no doubt more palatable and wholesome than their customary diet.

These Indians are inveterate gamblers, and when they have been so fortunate as to obtain clothing, they are almost sure to gamble it away before they stop. Their game is carried on as follows. A number sit cross-legged on the ground in a circle, and they are then divided into two parties, each of which has two head players. A ball is passed rapidly from hand to hand along the whole of one party, while the other attempts to guess in what hand it is. If successful, it counts one for the guessing party towards the game. If unsuccessful, it counts one in favor of the opposite party. The count is kept with sticks. All the while this is going on, they grunt in chorus, swinging their bodies to keep time with their grunts. The articles staked are placed in the centre of the ring. When they once get excited in play, they never stop so long as they have any thing to stake. After getting through with their money, their trinkets and their provisions, they stake their clothes and keep on gambling till they reduce themselves to the costume of Adam.

The fate of these poor creatures is involved in no uncertainty. They must melt away before the white man like snow before a spring sun. They are too indolent to work, too cowardly to fight. When pinched by the severity of hunger, and unable to procure their customary filthy diet, they are driven to the settlements, where they steal if they can, and do a little labor if they must. No sooner, however, have they procured the means of satisfying their immediate wants, than they abandon the employment offered them and relapse into their customary indolent habits. Of course, it can only be while labor is in such great demand as it now is, that they can secure even this temporary employment. When hands become abundant in that country, the laboring white man, the Chinese or the negro will monopolize all the work. The Indian then will be confined to thieving for a livelihood, and that is something which the Californians will not permit. Some of these miserable people have been cruelly butchered by the whites for indulging their propensity to make free with other people’s property. They cannot fight for their plunder, and consequently they must suffer as patiently as they can whatever penalty is inflicted. If the fierce warlike tribes of the north could not oppose the march of civilization, how easily will these poor weak children of the south be crushed under its advancing wheels!

In Marysville, passing by one of the slaughter-houses, I saw a collection of about twenty of these wretches waiting for the offal. They were in the habit of presenting themselves regularly every morning at the same place and at the same hour to gather the refuse of the slaughtering establishment. The proprietors rather encouraged these visiters than otherwise, for the same reason that the turkey-buzzard’s visits are so acceptable to the denizens of most of our southern cities--they serve the purpose of scavengers so admirably. On this particular occasion, however, one of the proprietors seemed not so well satisfied, from the fact of his having detected one or two of these “Diggers” in the very act of stealing some choice pieces of beef. A stalwart Tennesseean and his son were the proprietors. The father was a very stout man, and more than a match for fifty of these poor miserable devils; fond of whiskey, an inveterate swearer, and withal, when excited, as was then the case, dangerous. As soon as the theft was discovered the eldest Tennesseean seized a meat-axe, and with a tremendous oath threatened to immolate the entire tribe, or, to use his own quaint but profane language, to “populate hell three deep with the damned thieving Digger Indians in less than no time.” This was said to his son, a good natured young man who was using his best endeavors to prevent his father from putting his terrible threat into execution. Happily for the Indians, they had sufficient time to get out of reach of the enraged man, and make good their escape with the stolen meat. The butcher’s scheme for populating the infernal regions was to my mind quite original, to say the least of it, and notwithstanding the impiety of the thing, I could not refrain from laughing. It afterwards became a matter of grave consideration how he would accomplish an undertaking of this description, without first having recourse to some actual measurement, the better to determine the amount of feet and inches required for each separate body. I think he must have been something of a surveyor, and had already measured the area contained within the dominions of the evil one; how else could he name the precise depth of “Diggers” he intended to furnish? Our worthy butcher, it must be conceded, understood geometry, as “three deep” distinctly implies length, breadth and thickness. The only true difficulty in the whole thing was the specified period of its performance. I understand what is meant by “no time” very well, but cannot say I am so confident as to the meaning and intent of the phrase “in less than no time.” I dare say though some very short period of time is intended, and if time and opportunity serves, upon some future day I will make the inquiry of the Tennesseean or his son (I should prefer the latter) what it really means.

There are comparatively few negroes in this new State. Most of those who are found here have emigrated from the northern and eastern States in the capacity of cooks and stewards of vessels. They are in the same situation as their brethren in New York and Massachusetts, slaves to no single individual but to the entire community. Like free negroes every where else, they inhabit the worst parts of the towns in California, and live commonly in characteristic filth and degradation.

There are a few blacks from the South, and these have been brought out here as slaves. It is true that on their arrival here they have the power of claiming their freedom; but such is their attachment to their masters that this is rarely done. Instances have occurred in which they have been enticed away by meddling abolitionists, but, disgusted with a freedom which was of no value to them, they have been eager to return again to their masters. Several cases of this kind have come under my own observation.

I was personally acquainted with a New Orleans sea-captain and ship-owner, who had a very likely negro man named Joe. This slave had acted as his special servant for many years, and had made two or three voyages with him between Shanghai and San Francisco. His conduct was entirely unobjectionable, and his duties were always promptly and efficiently discharged. Indeed, the captain informed me that, though he had reared Joe, he never had occasion to whip him for any offence. Others had observed the admirable traits of the negro, and several persons had attempted to buy him, offering extraordinary prices; but his master, having the highest appreciation of his qualities and a strong personal attachment for him, positively refused to part with him on any terms. At last, however, Joe deserted the vessel. An abolitionist had persuaded him to leave his master; and a short while thereafter he married a Mexican woman--a sort of half-breed--and went off to the mines, near Campo Seco. But he found his freedom unprofitable and troublesome. While in his legitimate station he had always had an easy time, plenty of food and an abundance of clothing. He had also accumulated two or three hundred dollars, which had been given him by his master, and others, for extra services. Not long after his marriage with the Mexican woman, his money disappeared. He became penniless, ragged, dejected, and, as a last resort, determined to return to San Francisco, beg his master’s pardon, and, if possible, reinstate himself in the favor of one who had always been his friend. He did return, presented himself as a suppliant before his master, told him that he had been persuaded to leave, that he was sorry for having done so, and now wished to enter his service again, promising unwavering faithfulness in the future. The master regarded him with a steady gaze until he had finished his story, and then, in a distinct and dispassionate tone, said to him: “You had no cause for leaving me; I had always treated you well. Now you may go; I don’t want you any longer.” At the conclusion of these words, the negro dropped in despair at his master’s feet, and wept like a child. Moved by the sincerity of the negro’s repentance, and having duly considered the extenuating circumstances of the case, the master overlooked his estrangement, set him to work and never had the least difficulty with him afterwards. Of his Dulcina, whom it seems he had married in a Laguna dance-house, I know nothing, except the information I gained from Joe himself, that she left him as soon as his money was gone.

One more instance, and I have done with the negroes. A gentleman and three of his slaves, from the western part of North Carolina, had been mining about two years, near Quartzburg, in Mariposa county. Their efforts having been crowned with success, the master concluded to return home, and speaking to his slaves of his intention, he told them that they were at liberty to remain in California, where their freedom would not be disturbed, and where they would be entitled to the entire proceeds of their labor. To this they replied that the abolitionists had told them that long before, and after detailing several attempts to decoy them from their owner, and signifying their unwillingness to remain in California, they concluded by requesting their master to take them with him. He consented, paid their passage, and they all returned home in the same vessel.

The applicability of slave labor to the soil of Southern California is now becoming a theme of discussion in that region, and it is probable that the experiment will one day be tried. Indeed, the propriety of dividing the State into Northern and Southern California has already occupied the attention of the legislature; and while it is generally admitted that the people are about equally divided upon the measure, it is universally conceded that, in case of its adoption, the southern portion will establish the laws and institutions of Virginia and Louisiana.