Now it is important that Estudillo was in the "roblar" in 1819. In view of the severe disorganization, "mortality," and "famine" of 1814 to 1816, the population of the Wukchamni must have undergone a serious decline before Estudillo saw the tribe. Despite the absence of any specific figures the documents give the impression that the reduction of population around Tulare Lake was almost complete by 1819 and that the valley tribes along the margin of the foothills had lost fully half their number. It will be proper therefore to ascribe a one-quarter reduction to the Wuchamni, Gawia, and Yokod. If we accept Estudillo's estimate of 2,400 for the year 1819, the aboriginal population for these groups would have been 3,200. In the meantime the Mono of the upper river had scarcely been touched, save possibly by epidemics of which we have no record. It is significant that at the great gathering at Chischa there appeared, near the middle of the day, a chief with 69 men and 42 women from a rancheria called Apalame in the interior of the Sierra Nevada. These natives, probably Balwisha or Waksache, had never seen troops. To arrive at the population of the entire Kaweah basin in aboriginal or proto-aboriginal times these tribes must be included. Their strength, as previously estimated, was of the order of 600 persons. Computing now the total for the Kaweah river and delta as first described by white men, we find an aggregate of 7,600 inhabitants. As set forth previously, the survivors in 1850 numbered about 1,800 or 23.7 per cent of the aboriginal (or early historical) value. Excluding the relatively undisturbed Mono the comparable value for the lower river and delta is 17.2 per cent. These percentages are in close agreement with those found for the ecologically similar area bordering Lake Tulare. KAWEAH RIVER ... 7,600 ______________________ THE MERCED RIVER It will be convenient at the present juncture to consider the watershed of the Merced River, although this area lies at a considerable distance from that just examined (see maps 1 and 4, area 6). In the preceding section it was concluded that only 500 to 600 natives still remained in 1850 on the lower portion of the river below the foothills, whereas the population of the southern Miwok in the foothills and higher ranges amounted to approximately 1,250. The latter figure was based principally on Merriam's village lists and the population counts obtained from informants by Gifford for the Miwok farther north. The question must now be propounded whether these data, which appear to be fairly accurate for the year 1850 or even 1840, can be taken as showing the population under substantially aboriginal conditions, let us say those obtaining prior to the intense Spanish invasion of the valley in the decade 1800 to 1810.