DAWN AND THE DONS
—but not much—and ate about everything that teeth could bite. The usual menu included such delectable dishes as acorns, ground into flour, and made into bread; seeds, roots, herbs, fish and grasshoppers. The latter were a delicacy, dried, mashed or roasted.
As to dress, in summer the men wore a loin cloth, or nothing—usually nothing—and in winter they had primitive garments rudely fashioned from the skins of animals. There was no such thing as a sense of shame. The women wore an apron or skirt, reaching from the waist to the knees, made usually of tule grass. They also made use of the skins of animals in winter. The tailoring business had no place in their industrial development, nor were dressmakers in demand. The women beautified themselves by tattooing their faces, necks and breasts, and the men were not wholly free from this bit of vanity. Ornaments of bone, wood and shell were worn by the women in ears, hair or around their necks or wrists.
There was very little work done, and this little was done by the women. War was considered the true occupation of the men, though they were rather poor warriors; not cowardly, but lacking any idea of organization or discipline. Their weapons were bows and arrows and clubs. They were poor hunters, too.
Their wars, as we are informed by the authentic and well written history of Monterey and San Benito Counties, published by J. M. Guin, were of the primitive kind, and of short duration. The women, who followed the warriors to battle, carrying food, baggage and babies, would
