And here they lived and multiplied, and, as instructed by their medicine men, worshipped the Great Spirit which gave them life, and the sun which warmed and made them happy.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Boysen_.
MARY.
Daughter of Captain John, one of the last Chiefs of the Yosemites.] They also kept in memory the happy land of their forefathers.

The story was told by the old people to the young, and they again told it to their children from generation to generation, and they all believed that after death their spirits would return to dwell forever in that distant country.
They prospered and built other towns outside of Ah-wah'-nee, and became a great nation.

They learned wisdom by experience and by observing how the Great Spirit taught the animals and insects to live, and they believed that their children could absorb the cunning of the wild creatures.

And so the young son of their chieftain was made to sleep in the skins of the beaver and coyote, that he might grow wise in building, and keen of scent in following game.

On some days he was fed with _la-pe'-si_ that he might become a good swimmer, and on other days the eggs of the great _to-tau'-kon_ (crane) were his food, that he might grow tall and keen of sight, and have a clear, ringing voice.