When the fall arrives, Ishi’s People begin preparations for the great Harvest Feast, and for the winter ahead. Timawi tells Ishi to not set traps so close to the trail, because it is important that the saldu not know that some of their People still live. While at Black Rock, Ishi has a close encounter with the saldu, or white men, and tells Timawi about it, as he is older than Ishi and would know what should be done. At thirteen, Ishi begins sleeping in the men's tent, or watgurwa, and begins the selection of wood for his first adult hunter’s bow. Ishi often goes to his secret hiding spot at Black Rock, which overlooks the valley below, and where Ishi can watch the white man’s train, which he calls “the Monster,” as it passes through the mountains. There are only seven of the Yana People remaining, including Ishi, Mother, Elder Uncle, Grandmother, Grandfather, Timawi, a young Bushki Indian, and Ishi’s cousin, Tushi. In the beginning of the book, Ishi is thirteen, and is living in a hidden village called Tuliyani, in the foothills of Mount Lassen, known to Ishi’s people as Waganupa. Ishi was born in approximately 1861 or 1862, and his father was killed, as were most of the Yahi Indians, in a series of slaughters by the white miners who invaded California during the Gold Rush.

Theodora Kroeber wrote the narrative based on her husband’s notes, though she never met Ishi herself. The book was written by Theodora Kroeber, whose husband, Alfred Kroeber, met and worked with Ishi at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of California. 'Ishi: Last of His Tribe' is a slightly fictionalized account of the life and death of Ishi, the last of the Yana People in northern California.

Theodora kroeber ishi