Note 195 — Chapter VIII · {III}

The term Digger Indians has no ethnological significance, but was applied to degraded bands of the Shoshonean stock who ranged chiefly west and south of Great Salt Lake; without horses or much clothing, they lived in a furtive way upon roots and insects. The name is sometimes equivalent to Paiute, who have proved to be of a more vigorous character than was formerly supposed. The French appellation was Digne de pitié (worthy of pity); see De Smet's Letters in our volume xxvii, p. 167, note 38.—Ed.