Excerpt from Carl Dittman's memoir, “Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California."
… Nidever asked the Indians if they thought the old woman could be taken by force if necessary. They replied that there would be no difficulty. Hearing this I told Nidever I did not think that there would be any necessity of using force, & that if she could be made to understand what was wanted that she would willingly go with us. Patting her on the shoulder to attract her attention I went through the motions of packing her things in to the baskets, placing this on my back & walking off in the direction of the beach, & then said vamos the Spanish for let us go. The motions she no doubt understood, but the word vamos seemed to be more intelligible, as upon hearing it her face brightened up & she set to work with alacrity to get ready. She filled her baskets & in the larger one she placed the seal’s head after replacing the putrid brains & tearing away from it bits of adhering flesh. This basket she raised to her back & secured with straps passing over her shoulders & under her arms. She took other articles in her hands & started off towards the beach with a load that seemed heavy enough for a mule. Two of our Indians went ahead of her while Nidever & I brought up the rear to guard against any attempt escape, although no such precaution was necessary. Upon reaching the beach we stopped at a spring that forms a little pool of water under a sort of mound of rocks, & situated but a few yards from the beach. One of the peculiarities of this spring was its surface, which is at all times ruffled with a cool breeze which seems to be continually playing over the pool. I noticed it on this occasion & at several times afterwards. The water was invariably clear & cool. Its source I should judge must have been high up on the ridge. Around this spring were several poles erected & on these we hung the things we had brought from the old woman’s place, for each of us had our hands full, & made motions for the old woman to do the same. We hung the things up very carefully & the old woman followed our example, without, to all appearances, the least reluctance. In the cracks & fissures of the rocks that formed the mound we found thrust numbers of bones which we afterwards came to the conclusion had been placed there by the old woman, to furnish her food in time of need. I afterwards noticed that she always saved the bones contained in her food, placing them in baskets, to be taken out at intervals & sucked until they were cleaned of every particle of meat. She also saved the scraps of food that were left & ate them when she felt hungry. She ate very little at a time, but took food several times during the day.
From this spring we proceeded along the beach or rather on top of the bank until we arrived at a path that lead down to another spring on the beach. The men who were still ahead continued along the bank but the old woman went down the path to the spring. We saw she intended to wash herself, & so withdrew & waited until she returned when we continued along the bank to the boat. We made motions for her to get into the boat, which she did without any hesitation, & crawled forward to the bow, & there knelt down, holding on to the side with her hands. Arrived on board, she crept up to the galley or stove which was on deck, & made signs that it was warm there. We had dinner as soon as we got on board & gave the old woman some of our food. She ate heartily & with an apparent relish & our food at this & in fact at all times seemed to agree with her. That afternoon I busied myself on making a petticoat or skirt for her, out of ticking, & this with a man’s shirt, a black necktie & an old cape or cloak that Nidever gave her completed the dress she afterwards wore while with us on the Island.
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Listen to memories of visit to San Nicolas Island in 1853
Carl Dittman describes moving the Lone Woman to their hunting camp on the other side of the island.
- Date created:
- 10/14/2020
Last updated: February 26, 2020