In 1855, after four years of confinement on the reservations, an agreement was made with the Indian Commissioners, by the head men of the tribes, that if their people were again allowed their freedom, they would forever remain in peace with the white settlers, and try and support themselves free of expense to the Government. They were soon permitted to leave, and have ever since faithfully kept their promise. Most of them went back to the vicinity of their old homes, and made temporary settlements on unoccupied Government land, as many of their old village sites were now in possession of white settlers. As there was a very large crop of acorns that season, they gathered an abundant supply for winter use, and, with what was given to them in the way of food and clothing by some of the white settlers, they managed to get through the winter fairly well. [Illustration: _Photograph by Foley_. CAPTAIN PAUL. One of the characters of the Valley. Supposed to be 105 years old, and a survivor of Teneiya's band.] HARDSHIP AND SUFFERING. Their four years' residence on the reservations, however, had been more of a school in the vices of the whites than one of a higher education. They became demoralized socially, addicted to many bad habits, and left the reservations in worse condition than when they were taken there. Their old tribal relations and customs were nearly broken up, though they still had their head men to whom they looked for counsel in all important matters. As the country became more settled, much of their main food supply, the acorns, was consumed by the domestic animals of the ranchers, and their mode of living became more precarious and transitory, and many of them were, at times, in a condition near to starvation. In these straitened and desperate circumstances, many of their young women were used as commercial property, and peddled out to the mining camps and gambling saloons for money to buy food, clothing or whisky, this latter article being obtained through the aid of some white person, in violation of law. Their miserable, squalid condition of living opened the way for diseases of a malignant character, which their medicine men could not cure, and their numbers were rapidly reduced by death. At the present time there are not in existence a half-dozen of the old Yosemites who were living, even as children, when the Valley was first discovered in 1851; and many of the other tribes have been correspondingly reduced. [Illustration: _Photograph by Boysen._ YOSEMITE MOTHER AND PAPOOSE. The baby basket is carried on the back, like all burdens, and supported by a band across the forehead.] Chapter Three. CUSTOMS AND CHARACTERISTICS.