s; he a hunter and fisherman, she a gatherer, cook, and basket weaver. When a woman was with child, another woman would be needed to assist with household tasks and gathering; another wife may even be sought. Family members were cared for, if a mother would die, an aunt would care for the sister's children. The widow of a man may marry one of his brothers and a man whose wife would die may marry one of her sisters (40-41).
The family as an economic unit would move in the quest for food (gathering, fishing, and hunting). They left winter camp for Lake Tahoe and then moved in spring and summer and finally moved east to the pine nut hills where they picked nuts from a plot marked off with stones. Families with younger members moved earliest, groups with older people and infants waited until the weather was better to move. If a plot was trespassed upon by another group, plot owners could break the trespasser's gathering pole and seize any collected nuts. Families inherited gathering plots, each spouse could pick nuts on the parent's plot; the death of a spouse terminated the right to pick on that parent's plot. Families had property rights in other areas. Platforms and fishing traps were considered property of the family that built them. Rights to hunt eagles in particular areas were passed from father to son (12-13, 40-41).
The family was a biological unit (child bearing and r
...