Of the 35 village sites in Yosemite and below El Portal, Merriam says 10 were large and 6 small. The rest are not qualified but were presumably medium to small. Gifford's average for the central Miwok of 21 persons per village in 1850-1852 may be applied directly, giving a population for the Merced Valley in the hills of 1,239. To this may be added, according to Ryer and to Johnston, 50 to 600 for the lower river, making a total of 1,800. Mariposa Creek and the Chowchilla River have never been as thoroughly investigated as the Merced. Merriam's "Mewuk List" mentions 13 sites on each of the two streams, including the 6 given by Kroeber in the Handbook. At 21 persons per village this would mean a population of 273 for each or 546 for both, a value which appears rather low. Another approach to the problem is by way of territorial comparisons. There are under consideration, including those previously discussed, five small river systems, those of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa, and Chowchilla. Physiographically and ecologically they are very similar since the rivers all descend the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and traverse the plain to the San Joaquin through the same life zones and at nearly the same latitude. There are, to be sure, some local differences between them with respect to how much of their course is favorable for village sites, but in the aggregate the similarities outweigh the differences. It is of interest, therefore, to estimate the village density along each watercourse. This value can be computed with a fair degree of accuracy by measuring on a large-scale map the length of each river and its principal affluents from the edge of the plain to the upper limit of known permanent habitation. The village numbers can be derived from the lists of Kroeber, Gifford, and Merriam. Estimated Villages per River Length (mi.) Villages river mi. _____ ____________ ________ ____________ Stanislaus 85 28 0.33 Tuolumne 105 42 0.40 Merced 125 59 0.47 Mariposa 40 13 0.32 Chowchilla 65 13 0.20 ______ Mean 0.34