After the major attacks of the nineteenth century, the remaining Yahi survivors adapted to a life built around secrecy.

They chose camps that were difficult to find.

They avoided trails used by settlers.

Fires could reveal smoke.

Footprints could reveal movement.

Food had to be gathered without drawing attention.

Tools had to be made, repaired, and carried with fewer people sharing the work.

For a community already reduced by killing and disease, every additional death mattered enormously.

The surviving group that included Ishi appears to have lived for years with only a handful of people.

At different moments, these survivors likely included close relatives whose precise relationships are still debated in the historical record.