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English Pages [516] Year 1976 (1877)
TRIBES
OF CALIFORNIA
STEPHEN POWERS Introduction
&
Annotations by
ROBERT F. HEIZER
For Reference Not
to be taken from this
room
SAN MATtO tllY f'UOLH. Lior^Mn
3 9047
02288138
»
4
TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA
STEPHEN POWERS
TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA With an Introduction and Notes
ROBERT F.HEIZER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY • LOS ANGELES • LONDON
V
Reprinted from Contributions
Volume
III,
Department
to
North America Ethnology,
of the Interior, U.S.
Geographical and
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, J.W. Powell, in charge
(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1877).
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, LTD. London, England Copyright
The Regents
1976, by
of the University of California
ISBN: 0-520-03172-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-13150 Printed in the United States of America
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
Stephen Powers was an unusual man. He was a true adventurer, addicted to what he called "vagabondizing," a writer of some ability, a
newspaper publisher, sheepherder, gold miner, and an expert in the raising of Merino sheep. He was born in Waterford, Ohio, in 1840 and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1863. The Civil War was on, and Powers served as an "army correspondent" for the Cincinnati Commercial (now Enquirer) until the war's end. pioneering anthropologist,
In 1866 he went to Europe for fifteen months, supporting himself as a
New York Times found elsewhere.^ On January 1, 1869, Powers started on a walking trip across the United States by the "southern route." He began at Raleigh, North Carolina, "dressed," as he wrote in his brief autobiography, ^ "in a pair of
correspondent for various newspapers, principally the
and Nation.
Details of his life can be
doeskin trousers, light top boots, with the ends of the trousers inserted
and a planter's hat." He then proceeded to Charleston, Savannah, Macon, Columbus, Montgomery, Selma, Vicksburg, Shreveport, Athens, El Paso, Tucson, and Los Angeles to San Buenaventura where he reached the Pacific Ocean, and "stooping and dipping my hand into the brine, I said: 'The Sunrise to the Sunset Sea, through a weary footman. Greeting." From there he tramped to San Francisco, where he arrived on November 3, 1869. The entire trip was about 3700 miles and took ten months. Powers in his autobiography says of this excursion, "It was not a remarkable feat in any respect, as the only qualities required were health and persistence; at no time did I accomtherein, a shortish frock coat
plish over forty miles a day, generally only twenty or twenty-five." In 1872
Powers published the account of called Afoot '
S.
Park,
The
No. 28 (University 2
S.
his transcontinental
and Alone: a Walk from Sea
tramp
in a
book
to Sea.
Life of Stephen Powers, Archaeological Research Facility. Contribution of California, Berkeley, 1975).
Powers, Autobiographical Sketch, Archaeological Research Facility, Contribution
No. 25 (University
o» California, Berkeley, 1975), pp. 220-221.
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
2
\
—
Powers next decided to try his hand at a new writing project one which would also be based upon his own experiences and observations. He selected the California Indians as his subject, and studied them during the summers of 1871 and 1872. "[I] travelled some thousands of miles on foot and horseback among the California Indians during which time I collected a mass of original material and prepared an elaborate account of the habits, customs, legend^, geographical boundaries, religious ideas, etc.
which the principal portion I published Overland Monthly, and one chapter in the Atlantic, in the
of the California Indians of
serially in the
years 1872-1875." Actually articles,
and
I
append a
Powers wrote more than
full list of these at the
this in the
end of
form of
this Introduction.
(The complete collection of his articles has recently been reprinted in Contribution No. 25 of the Archaeological Research Facility, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.) Powers realized about $600.00 for the articles on Indians published in the Overland Monthly. No record has survived to inform us of Powers' itinerary and travel schedule. It
seems probable, however, that he wrote the
articles
soon
Klamath River (Karok, Yurok, and Hupa) moving south into the Coast Range north of San Francisco Bay to visit the Yuki and Pomo, and from there across the Sacramento Valley to study the Miwok. At the time he owned a 160-acre ranch at Sheridan, Placer County, and the Miwok study could have been done as an independent, local investigation during the period when he was not travelling among tribes. Then follow studies of the Modocs, Yokuts, southern Maidu (Nisenan), Achomawi, Yana, Maidu, Wintun and Patwin a series of tribes whose locations make it clear their descriptions were not written in the same sequence as they were studied. Powers did not make investigations south of the Tehachapi Pass since he believed the cultures of these tribes had become too much altered in the missions to be worth studying. In 1874 Powers seems to have decided that the main part of his ethnographic researches were completed, and he got in touch with Major J. W. Powell, then in charge of the Department of Interior's Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. Powell, who was much interested in American Indians, agreed that the collection of articles after his visit
with each
—
tribe,
beginning with the
tribes of the
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
3
should be brought out in book form.^ Tribes of California was not a mere reprinting of the earlier published articles.
The
general order of tribal
descriptions was preserved as they were originally presented, but a
and
ber of additional tribes were described,
there
ment, rewriting, and adding of information. So
seems that the sketches
it
appearing in the Overland Monthly were exactly
that,
and
notes contained additional information secured by
him
in 1871
In 1875 Powers had
Through
left
num-
was much rearrangethat Powers'
and
1872.
California and was living on the family farm
and at Powell's instigation, came an appointment as Special Commissioner "to make a collection of Indian manufactures, etc., illustrative of Indian life, character, and habits on the eastern slope of the Sierras, and also in California, for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876." To perform this duty. Powers returned to the West, remaining from September, 1875, to late January, 1876, visiting new tribes and revisiting familiar ones. Some of the information he secured on this last trip was incorporated into the book. in Ohio.
his contact with Powell,
Powell apparently objected to certain of Powers' theories.
One differ-
ence of opinion was regarding Powers' suggestion that the California
who had first Healdsburg and, as they increased in numbers, expanded out in
Indians were descendants of Chinese transpacific voyagers settled at
all directions
from
this theory in
two
in Tribes.
A
this seed colony.
articles (1874b, 1874h),
first
but the theory does not appear
second point of argument was over what Powell
over-estimation of the
had
Powers had proposed and defended
number
of
was an pre-white Native Californians. Powers
(1872e) estimated the population at 1,520,000.
He
felt
later (1875)
reduced this to 705,000, and despite Powell's urging, refused to lower further
and
insisted that
it
it
app)ear in Tribes.
Powers genuinely liked the California Indians he was visiting and studying in the summers of 1871 and 1872, and was aware of their shattering experience of contact with the Americans from Gold Rush times, some twenty years before. But Powers, as a man of a century ago, could scarcely fail to reflect in his writings (which It
^
of
is
obvious,
I
think, that
R. F. Heizer, ed., Letters of Stephen Powers to California,'
Archaeological
Calilornia, Berkeley, 1975).
Research
John Wesley Powell Concerning 'Tribes
Facility,
Contribution No. 28 (l^niversity
oi
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
4
we musl
not forget were dire( ted toward a body of eon tern fx^rary readers)
which Americans generally held about all Indians. injustices done to the Native Californians. He recognized these injustices, accepted them as facts, deplored them, f)ut made no real attempt to generate corrective measures in the low opinion
Powers was no brave champion of the
his writings.
The
af)peal for federal attention to aid the neglected Cali-
came
fornia Indians
at this
Powers apparently saw And,
if
lime with the Ames^ and Wetmore
and not
his job as that of a reporter
Powers often observed the unpleasant
reports.^
a reformer.
Indian
realities of
life
and
commented unfavorably on the character of the people themselves, let us remember that these were the broken, dispirited and decimated survivors of a series of independent tribal nations which, until more than two decades before, had never even seen a while man. By 1870, from
fifty to
seventy thousand Indians were blown away by the well-armed Americans and by starvation and disease. Kven the will to live had been destroyed, and this we must remember when we read Powers. The anthropological value of Powers' century-old observations of the
Indian cultures of the northern two-thirds of (California
is
Powers (perhaps with some help from Powell) drew up the linguistic classification for California.
was not a trained linguist, and method of comparing word lists were
related.
But
Alexander
showing the tribal
S.
it
to dec ide
general
crude, partly because
Powers
first
attempt
name
in the general area of cxc
upancy
map shows
ExcdJlivc DfKumrni No. 91 (Washingion.
G. Ames in Regard to ihe (iondilifin "
at
drawing up
a
map
the locations of Indian tribes in Cialifornia,*' but he merely wrote
— there are no territorial
The original
I). C:..
1874).
large folded
a
is
Congress,
l^^rd
Idem. "RefK)rJ
Mission Indiansol
ol the
boundaries, which he
tribal
C. Arncs, Mission Indians of Southern California,
J.
employed the simple
whether or not two languages
represented a beginning.
learned from native informants.
lif)ns,
is
partly fx-cause he
Taylor made the
boundaries indicated. Powers'
*
It
substantial. first
1st
ol Sfxrial
(^alilf)rnia,
with
map
Session,
Agent John
Re(ommenda-
Hrf)orf of the (.ornrnissionrr of Indian Affairs of ISjf (Washington.
I)
i..,
1874),
A|)|x iidix A. pp. 29-40.
A.
'•
Wetmore. A Rrfjort
of Charles A.
Wetmore,
on the Mission Indians, CiPO (Washington. R.
F.
Hei/er. "Alexandei S.
l
Map
ayior's
Ihstorual Sodety Quarterly 20( 194
1
):
1
7
I). Ci..
1
-
1
80.
f)l
Sf)e< lal
I
'
niled States Cointnissioner
187')).
(ialiiorrna Indian
I
rihes, \H(r\."
California
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION printed in colors, and since
reproduce
The
it
exactly,
it
too difficult, as well as too costly, to
is
an abstract
5
presented here on page 465.
is
one-volume coverage of California Indian cultures is Alfred L. Kroeber's Handbook of the Indians of California which was definitive
published in 1925, a half-century
Powers' Tribes of California.
after
Kroeber, the acknowledged master on the subject, had this to say about
Powers I
Handbook's Introduction:
in the
should not close without expressing
my
sincere appreciation to
cessor in this field, the late Stephen Powers, well
known
my one
prede-
for his classic 'Tribes of
California," one of the most remarkable documents ever printed by any govern-
ment. Powers was a journalist by profession, and
.... He
often the crudest
it is
true that his ethnology
is
... an astoundingly quick and vivid keen as it was untrained, and an invariably
possessed
sympathy, a power of observation as
spirited gift of portrayal that rises at times into the realm of the sheerly fasci-
nating. Anthropologically his great service
lies
method he was able seize and fix the salient
looseness of his data and before or after
him
to
people he described.
The
ethnologist
he fingers Powers' pages, but for he can
still
do no
slovenly edges,
it
this brief
have provided annotations
The
they are keyed to the
The
all their
With
and smile
as
highlights and shadows,
all its
flimsy texture and
best introduction to the subject.
Introduction and redrawing Powers' map,
to certain passages in the book.
are corrections or clarifications,
pages.
therefore by turns writhe
remain the
than anyone
qualities of the mentality of the
better than consult the book.
will always
Beyond writing
few as possible.
may
values with
its
in the fact that with all the
to a greater degree
and
annotations
I
may
have
tried to
Usually these
keep them as brief and
be found at the end of the
numbers appearing
I
and the book text,
margin of one section at and the figure numbers appear in the margins in the outer
original illustrations have been condensed into
the beginning of the text,
adjacent to the text references.
Annotating
this reprint of
Powers' book was done
at the
suggestion of
August Fruge, Director of the University of California Press. I thank him for asking me to do this happy task. My own teacher, Alfred Kroeber, would approve of this reprinting, but if he had done the annotations I am certain they would have been far better than mine. Robert July
F.
13,
Heizer
1975
STEPHEN POWERS' PUBLISHED WRITINGS
ON CALIFORNIA INDIANS 1872a
"The Northern
California Indians, No.
1
•
^
[the Karok],"
Overland Monthly
[the Karok],"
Overland Monthly
8:325-333.
1872b
"The Northern
California Indians, No.
II
California Indians, No.
Ill [the
8:425-435.
1872c
"The Northern ly
1872d
"The Northern Monthly
1872e
Yurok],
'
Overland Month-
S:5S\-bS9.
California Indians,
No. IV [the Hupa]," Overland
9:155-164.
"The Northern
California Indians, No.
V
[the Yuki],"
Overland Monthly
9:303-313.
1872f
"The Northern
California Indians, No. VI [the Porno]," Overland Monthly
9:499-507.
1873a
"The Northern Monthly
1873b
"The Northern Monthly
1873c
"The
California Indians, No. VII [the Meewocs]," Overland
10:323-333.
California Indians, No. VIII:
The Modocs," Overland
10:535-545.
California Indians, No. IX:
The
Yocuts," Overland Monthly
11:
105-116.
1874a
"The
California Indians, No. X:
The Neeshenams," Overland Monthly
12:21-31.
1874b
"Aborigines of California; an Indo-Chinese Study," Atlantic Monthly
33:
313-323.
1874d
"A Pony Ride on Pit River," Overland Monthly 13:342-351. "The California Indians, No. XI: Various Tribes [Achumawi, Yana, Sierra
1874e
"The
1874c
Maidu]," Overland Monthly 12:412-424. California Indians, No. XII:
The Wintoons," Overland Monthly
12:
The Patweens," Overland Monthly
13:
530-540.
1874f
"The
California Indians, No. XIII:
542-551.
1874g
"Aboriginal Botany," Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 5:373-379.
1874h
"The
California Aborigines," Proceedings of the California
Academy
of
Sciences 5:392-396.
1875
"Californian Indian Characteristics," Overland Monthly 14:297-309.
1877a
"Centennial Mission to the Indians of Western Nevada and California,"
Annual Report 1877b
of the Smithsonian Institution for 1876: 449-460.
Tribes of California, Contributions of North American Ethnology, Vol.
(Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the
Interior, U.S.
Ill
Geo-
graphical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region.) 1970
"The and
Life
and Culture
of the
Washo and
Paiutes [in 1875]," D. D. Fowler
C. S. Fowler, eds., Ethnohistory 17:117-149
6
Figure
5.
Tolowa man and
wife.
dressed tor While Deer Dance.
Figure
6.
Hu-pa Woman,
Figure
7.
Hu-pa mush-paddle,
pillow, and money-purses, spoons and
wedge
of
elkhorn.
Plan of
Figure
19.
Figure 20. Ventura's Lodge.
Plan ot Old
Se-nel'.
Figure 21. Earth-lodges ot the Sacramento Valley.
Figure 23.
1
lu
old
Chauoal
Artist
Figure 26. Mai-du Girl, with ornaments. (See page 339.)
V
%
Figure 27. Captain John, a Ni-shi-nam Chief.
Figure 28. Captain
Tom
and
wite. (See
page
339.)
Figure
37.
Yosemite Lodge.
Figure
38. Tis-se-yak.
Figure 42.
Woman
pounding acorns.
Figure 43. Tobacco pipes and Case.
V
Figure 44. Mortars and Pestles.
J
Dancing ^on£ of
cHi/Ttnowe
-no-lxxn-no
cHiniTxowe
-rtO'Tiirmo
I}Vv—rto
n
J
J
I
Wfn—TU)
^
^
I
u/n.-Tvo
r
J"j
J
Jl
f
wirt-rto
I
wxirt-n^o
o-Tuvrvno TuTKiTurto
J
J
turv--rto
J
vun-nxo
wxrvru) I
a-rt-'TU)
YcL-a
"Yct-CL
wv-n-^o
Ixe-le
l^e-le
wrt-mo
vvx-n-
no
ya-TU) Ixi-lo^ you-cu
ycL-TLO
Ixi-lo
W\Tvno f
lx--mo
vLiri-
lie-le
II
I
nohxrino
oTtirt-rLO
Tixrtixowe
o-Tixn-no
tUTt- -no
wiia--ru>
Tt/iTi/Ttowe
o-Ttirt-Tto
f
ihe J(!^ctTa^.
ttrt tu)
r
1
tfrt-'rto
r
f
wx-rt-no
I
ixo
v/a-TLo
"ke-le ycL-lo
wi-n-rto.
Txl-I^
Tti-lo
—
O
'
JHirTti-o
4
d
^
Tie-lte-o
'
«'
^ P
'
'kl-kvo
— —AJ 0
^
zi
"ke-"ke-o
"ke- o
"ke-o,
-rnoAiTvne
i ^
N
\
N
— =s:
T^oUe^- Valley.
Jfo -]3il ]oU-li welcL Timy tt >ta - a. - o.
e)\
-
TUt - s
THE MAKH' EL-CHEL. An
—
—
Haughty and exclusive Death to au adulteress— Wigwams, implements, and canoos Good Indians burned; bad Indians "holed"— A treaty Medical practices— A story of the lake.
island tribe
—
Chapter XXIV. THE
PAT-WIN'.
— Geographical distribution — Seats of population— Food— Lodges— Chiefship— Clannishness — War — Treatment of children — California Indian physiqm* — Change of skin — Raising the •lead — Kaising the devil— Widows — Medical art — Bidding the dead adieu— Legends— Origin of Clear Lake — The Great Fire— The Kejos.
Lack
of cohesion
Chapter XXV. THE WIN
TUN'.
— Distribution of tribes — A metropolitan nation, and a court language^Dress — Fondness for water— Fishing-stations — Manzanita cider — Rotation of foods — Traffic — Puberty dance— Songs A social race — Scalp dance — Gift dance — Husband ai:d wife— Midwifery — Disposal of the dead
Characteristics
" Spirit-roads"— No religious acts— Trinity
Winlun— Weapons— Specimen
of tattooing.
Chapter XXVI. THE
SHAS-Tl-KA.
— Dominion — Physical aspects — Degenerated — Sweat-ovens— Range of fwnl- Not strictly Calil\»rnia Indians— Power of the chief— A treaty with Tolo-.-Prostitution— Women go to war — Their rights— Old feuds-Strong desire to be buried in native place— Language Legends — Prehistoric horses.
Difficulty of learning national
names
Chapter XXVII. THE MO-DOK. name— Habitat— Rugged strength of features— A fierce race— Bloody wars with the settlers— Retaliation— Dealt in slaves— Toughness of vitality— Dwellings stood near water— Dress, canoes, fooil, lish, etc.— Baby-baskets Morning chants Chiettainship— Does civilization improve Indian morals? Reasons given for polygamy A new religion Suicide of Curly-headed .Jack Origin of Modok war Influence of priests Their skill and bravery— Lava-bed defenses Captain Jack His bad record— Dying speech— John Sconchin— Boston Chailey— Wby they killed the commissionersMelancholy history of the Modok Always a persecuted race, always wronged, and driven to des-
Origin of
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
peration at
lust.
Chapter XXVIII. THE Pit
A-CHO-MA'-WI.
River- Physique in Hot Spring Valley— On the South Fork— In Big Valley— Custom of digging pits— Fooil supply— Position of women— Made slaves of— Social lift One of twins killed— Belief as to spirits of dead— Singular tradition— Legend of creation — Numerals— The Pakamalli.
—
— — TABLE OF CONTENTS.
13
Chapter XXIX. THE A
—
N6-ZI, ETC.
—
—
—
small, tierce, monntaiu tribe Their home Pwiessy— Aboriginal honesty Nearly extinct Tradition of their eastern origin — Mill Creek Indians — A doomed race Wonderful resistance to civilization Five Indians against the world Present home — Summary of customs — Apparently foreign to Cali-
—
—
fornia—Story of Snowflake.
Chapter XXX. THE MAl-DU.
—
—
— Guarded against surprise— Hill-stations Old camps Description of a village— Daily life Fowling-snares Acorn dance Cloverdance-Manzanita dance— Great Beliefs An Indian schottish Legend of the Flood W6-lok-ki and Spirit dance— Annihilation y6-to-wi The lion and the cat— Legend of Oan-koi'-tu-peh— Sacred songs.
Distribution of tribes— Sites of villages
— —
—
— —
—
—
—
Chapter XXXI. THE
Nl-SHI-NAM.
— Differences in langnage— Great number of dialects — Boundaries — System of names—Personal names — Villages and geography — Low estate of the tribe— Instances — No payment made for wife— Childless women — Murder of a woman — Nomadic habits— Origin of government — Penalty of crimes — Customs in war— Spears — Collecting debts — Sacrificeof the aged — Indian field-commissary Captain Sutter's Indians —Not misers — First grass dance — Second grass dance — A gala-day in spring — Spiritualism —Women's dance-house — Medical art— Death scenes —Mourning of widows Dance for the dead —The "cry"— Story of Captain Tom.
Classification
Chapter XXXII. THE NISHINAM— Continued. at target — Boys' games— Different kinds of gambling— An athletic game— "Learning —Jugglery— Shell-money—Wealth of the aborigines— Two kinds of money— Personal ornaments — Mythology — Ai-kutand Yo t6-to-wi — Origin of incremation —The bear and the deer Origin of -The old man-eater —The road-woman— Insanity — Hermaphrodites.
Games — Shooting the rules"
fire
Chapter XXXIII. THE Ml-WOK. A
—
—
—
dense aboriginal population A common language, but no nationality Greeting Characteristics Tribal geography The Walli Houses Food Shell-money Chieftainship Old Sam Tai-pok'-si Honeymoons Kill one of twins Medicine Dances Annual mourning A legend of the Tu-olum-ne Creation of man Numerals.
—
—
—
—
—
— —
—
—
— —
—
—
—
Chapter XXXIV. YOSEMITE.
— Origin of the word— Inteqireters— Old Jim—List of names—Translations— Villages —Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la — Legend of Tis-8omeridianmn) wdien they are hard pushed in the spring.
They
extract the poisonous quality from
which they do by heaping a large quantity of it
over with green leaves, and building a
burn is
many
hours until the poison
said to be quite
cammas, and
peeled
sweetish and toothsome.
wliich are sweet
when
by
roasting,
over
They
This
it.
out,
is
allowed to
when
the root
also find a root
grow-
which they make much account, and which
]n'obably
is
fire
thoroughly roasted
sweet and palatable.
ing in moist places, of
is
is
it
on the ground, covering
it
called the wild potato,
roasted,
The
great
nnd especially
which w^hen roasted and
amount of tlie
is
roots in this State
cammas
— the digging
of
TRIBES TRIBUTARY TO TBE IIUPA^
90
whicli i^rocured for
"Dig-gers"
them
—seems
tlie
to
Califprnia Indians
the injurious
appellation of
account partly for the sweet- tooth that every one of
Let a squaw get together a few dimes by hook or crook, and she
has.
will hie her to a trading-post
and invest every cent of
They
grievously needs a few breadths of calico. as the eastern Indians are of whisky,
and eat
it
it
in sugar,
when she
are as fond of the article
as they
would bread.
The
large quantity of saccharhie matter which the California Indians get in the roots they eat seems to have
to
do with their fatness in youth,
always eating candy, and have round cheeks.
just as children are
They
somewhat
gather also huckleberries and manzanita-berries, which latter are
exceptionally large and farinaceous in the Trinity Valley.
I
have seen
thickets of them wherein an acre could be selected that would yield more
nutriment to
human
life, if
the berries Avere all plucked, than the best acre
grown in California, after the expenses of cultivation were The agriculture of the Upper Trinity and South Fork ^lieaven will never support a population one-fourth as numerous as mark
of wheat ever
—
deducted.
save the
!
—
the Indians were, and I greatly doubt
years of their yield, supported as
if
the placers, even in the halcyon
many
as lived there in the days of
savagery.
Before the miners troubled that all the river
tlie
was darkened by
w^aters the
their
salmon crowded up so thick
black-backed myriads, and they
sometimes lingered until they perished by hundreds before they could return to salt
water and rid themselves of the devouring fresh-water
old settler says he has often seen the thin stream in
them lying
figure-head of a chief,
so close that he could go across
prevails
whom
among
the Kelta, each village having
they obey or not, as they
Hupa, adultery committed by a married man
is
list.
As among
its
the
punished by the loss of one
murder by ransom.
Like
game
An
summer-time stepping every step on a dead salmon.
Extreme democracy
eye, and
parasites.
all
savages, the Kelta are inveterate gamblers, either with the
of " guessing the sticks " or with cards
;
and they have a curious way
of punishing or mortifying themselves for failure therein.
been unsuccessful
in
gaming, he frequently
glass on the outside of the leg from the
scarifies
knee down
When
himself with
one has flints
or
to the ankle, scratching
CLAIRVOYANCE— DESTINY OF the limb
all
up
believing that
criss-cross until
it
appease some bad
will
Their shamans profess to be dreams, which
be able
is
common among
related which
is
of ghost-stories narrated
who had murdered
by
is
created
at that
There was a certain Indian
the gente de razon.
Mr. Stockton, the agent of the reservation, besides three
was then a hunted speculation
day a Kelta shaman
moment with
the place where he
waking hours by clairvoyance.
about as worthy of credence as the majority
much excitement and
Indians, and one
murderer
against him.
the California Indians, but pretending to
other persons at various times, and ter
is
for luck",
not merelj having visions in
spiritualists,
to hold converse with spirits in their
An incident
who
spirit
91
lie does this
bleeds freely.
it
ISOULS.
the
tattle-loving
cried out suddenly that he
his spiritual eyes.
was concealed,
The mat-
fugitive.
among
He
how long he had been
told
saw the
described minutely there, etc.
Subsequent events revealed the fact that the shaman was substantialh^ corwhether he drew on his clairvoyant vision or on knowledge somehow
rect,
smuggled.
They make
a curious and rather subtle metaphysical distinction in
According
the matter of spirits.
{Kitoanchwa, a
The
less. is
Hupa word) and
evil errands
bent
;
The former
but the latter
is
science the is
spirit
good
heart", they
evil spirit or devil
;
name-
but the good
spirit
without, and ranges through space it
is
their
Like Confucius, who
seem
spirit is
own
spirit,
calls the
con-
to believe that the original nature of
good, and that he does evil only under temptation from the bad
without or external to himself
When away with catch the
a Kelta dies, according to their pretty fancy, a his soul to the spirit-land.
little
bird
their
If
bird
flies
he was a bad Indian, a hawk
will
and eat him up, soul and feathers
he will reach the spirit-land.
bury
an
but the good
within them;
is
their better nature, or conscience.
man
;
and powerful
evil spirit is positive, active,
negative and passive.
on
to them, there is
a good spirit
;
but
little
if
he was good,
Before the Americans came, they used to
dead in a squatting posture, which
they follow the Ilupa custom, which
is
is
a Win-tun custom
;
but
now
also that of civilization.
THE CIII-MA1/-A-KWE.
The Chi-mar-a-kwe
lived on
New
River, a tributary of the Trinity, but
TEIBES TKIBUTATY TO THE HDPA^
92
^
they are
now
When
extinct.
the Americans arrived there were only two
famihes, or about twenty-five persons, on that stream wlio
malakwe;
On
the rest of them used Hupa.
all
Burnt Ranch up
to the
mouth of North Fork,
Chim-a-ri-ko (evidently
tlie
still
the Trinity
spoke Chiitself,
from
there lived a tribe called the
same word as the kbove), who spoke the same
language as the Chimalakwe, and there are perhaps a half dozen of them
The New River Branch were
yet living.
Hupa
proof that the
when
the time
exacted tribute from certain surrounding
i^er capita
—that
among them named White
pioneer
tribes, for at
Chimalakwe were paying them yearly
the whites arrived the
a tax of about seventy-five cents
An early
interesting as affording indubitable
is,
an average deer-skin.
states that
they were once
nearly as numerous as the Hupa, but the restless aggression and persistency
them
of that sturdy race crushed
utterly out.
represent the true California Indians, while the
bascan races; and invasion,
whose
we behold
speaking more or
many
it
had dwindled
of the tribe
to a
left to
pliant
and
less heroic
speak either
Hupa or Chimalakwe.
away
before the white man, while the
lowlanders, conserving their strength through
sluggishness, have held on for years. to them,
mere category of names, though
are a melancholy illustration of the rapidity with which the sim-
ple tribes of mountaineers have faded
more
Atha-
to the
here one of the last conquests of this northern
southward was only checked by the advent As above stated, there were two families of Indians less Chimalakwe when the whites arrived; but in fifteen
years from that time
They
Hupa belong
to
stead}' progress
of the Americans.
there were not
The Chimalakwe seem
When
and they found they were naked,
the serpent of civilization
like
Adam and Eve in
they made for themselves garments or stole them.
Then when
came
the garden, there
came
one of those sweltering days of California the savages chafed themselves,
and grew hot piece.
fashion.
in their
new
clothes,
and they stripped them
off to the last
Besides that, they suddenly changed their diet to a semi-civilized All these things opened a broad door to quick consumption and
other maladies, and the poor wretches went off like leaves on a frosty morn-
ing in October.
It is related th-at at
one time there were not enough able-
bodied Indians in the tribe to dig graves for the dead; and whites, to their
shame be
it
tlie
neighboring
recorded, refused to assist them, so that
many
SWEATING FOK NEUllALGIA -THE CHIMARIKO. of them became a prey to the birds and the beasts.
93
So they went Hke a
wisp of fog, no bigger than a man's hand, on the top of a mountain,
little
when
the sun comes
up
in the
morning, and they are
all
gone.
Living so far up the Trinity as they did, toward the great family of
Wintun, on the Sacramento, they showed a trace of Wintiin influence that they doubled
Wintun,
like the
up a corpse too, in
into a
bunch
bury
to
sucking the patient for
in
Their doctors were
it.
many
ailments, especially
for snake-bites.
But
panacea was
their
tlie
Mr. White relates that he once
sweat-house.
ventured an experiment in one of these sweating-dungeons out of curiosity
and
in despair
many
things of
over a neuralgia, for the healing of which he had suffered
many
physicians, and had spent all that he had, and
The
nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. sufl'ocated
by
the dense and bitter
first
smudge made by
was
time he was well-nigh the green wood.
For
two hours he lay with his face pressed close to the ground, with a wet handkerchief over his nostrils (the Indians purposely build the the door, so that they cannot escape until
wonder
to himself that
that he
made
We mariko,
a second
of
it,
But he was
it.
so
much
it
was a
benefited
and was quite cured.
have seen that the branch living on the Trinity are called ChiI
have above intimated
Californians, while the
the river
he lived through trial
fire close to
burns down), and
it
we
find the
had the enterprise
Hupa are
my
belief that these represent the true
to get
one up over the
'Mountain, and no redwoods
As
Athabascan.
redwood canoe, but no
grow
far as the
falls in
in their
Hupa ascended
The Chimariko never
farther.
the caiion at
own
territory.
New
River
Hence they
crossed the river on willow baskets, holding them under their breasts and propelling themselves wdth their feet and hands. It is related that their hunters,
when they went out
to lie in
ambush
near salt-licks and other springs, were accustomed to smear their bows and
arrows with yerha huena, to prevent the deer from detecting the
and that when they took
The oak
mistletoe
this
human
odor,
precaution they generally had good success.
was occasionally smoked by
these Indians in lieu of
tobacco.
In the early days, before the mining operations
filled
up the
Trinity,
94
TllIBES
TRIBUTAKY TO THE HUPA.^ ^
there was a
fall five or six feet
Hence
could not pass.
the
Wintun
were not so well provisioned as the river the salmon
and
tlie
high at Big Flat, above which the salmon living
on the upper reaches of the river
their down-river neighbors.
In running up
numbers at
this obstruction,
would accumulate
in great
Chimariko used to allow the Patch'-a-^^e (Wintun) living as far up
as North
Fork and Canon Creek
to
come down
in the season
and catch
all
they could carry home.
They occupied and tempting to the
a long and narrow caiion, which atiri
was
sacra fa^nes of the early miners.
rich in gold placers
The mining neces-
sarily roiled the river, so that the Indians could not see to spear salmon.
As
a matter of course they protested.
The miners
Being deprived of salmon,
nothing worse.
the miners' pack-mules and ate them.
The eloquence
replied with insults, if
their staff of
life,
they stole
The miners made bloody
of Pu-yel-yal-li, of Big Flat, stirred
reprisals.
them up
to seek
revenge, and thus matters went on from bad to worse until the deep canon of the Trinity liorrid
was
luridly lighted
war-whoops and the
up by the torch of war, and reechoed
to
wounded and dying. In 1863-64 The Indians for For twenty miles along the river there was
yells of the
the conflict raged with frightful truculence on either side. the nonce got the upper hand.
scarcely a white family or even a miner
and burned the waters ruins;
;
left;
the trading-posts were sacked
the ponderous wheels in the bed of the river lazily flapped in
now muddied no
longer, silent
and untended amid the blackened
and the miners' cabins were very small heaps of
But the Americans
finally rallied
ashes.
and returned, and sternly were the
Indians taught that they must not presume to discuss with American miners the question of the proper color for the water in Trinity River.
hunted
to the
over precipices
dragged down
death, shot ;
to
down one by
They were
one, massacred in groups, driven
but in the bloody business of their taking-off they also death with them a great share of the original
settlers,
alone could have given some information touching their customs.
who
In the
summer of 1871 it was commonly said that there was not an Indian left The gold was gone too, and the miners for the greater part and amid the ;
stupendous ripping-up and wreck of the earth which miners leave behind them, in this grim and rock-bound canon, doubly lonesome
now
with
its
INDIANS sagging
desei'ted villages
this
GOLD—THE PATAWE.
VS.
way and
that on
95
margins of shores, the
little
stripped and rib-smashed cabins, corrugated gravel-beds, shattered turbine-
wheels, and the hollow roaring of
a kind of querulous lament over
skinned fishermen peering keenly
ready poised
;
tlie
its
salmon
to
amid the gray
departed glories
down from
boAvlders, as if in
—long
ago, the dark-
their leafy booths, with spears
afterward, the restless, toiling bands of miners
"The gold
himself indulging in this reflection: the white
river
man wanted ofl'er
;
nothing else
;
is
the Trinity
—one
finds
gone, to return no more;
now
the Indian wanted nothing else
;
has nothing but
would not a
savages be better than this utter and irreclaimable waste, even
if
its
tribe of
the gold
had never been gotten f
THE PAt'-A-WE (pATCH'-A-WE). This
is
the
name given by
the Chimariko to the Wintun, consequently
they will be treated of elsewhere. to the
Hupa.
mouth
of North Fork.
Tlieir habitat extended
They were
down
the Trinity
not in any degree subject to the
CHAPTER
.
THE Around Humboldt Bay
there
PAT' A-WAT. is
a broad margin of land which
out dispute the most valuable compact
poses in
all
The extraordinary exuberance
coast.
body of
the northern part of the State
phere of this region makes
it
X.
with-
is
for agricultural pur-
soil
— the very jewel of the California
of vegetation in the
humid atmos-
look ragged and unhandsome, with flaunting
brake and ferns by every roadside, and concealing every fence-row, and affording a lodging-place for great quantities of dust i-ichness of the
—that
soil
is
home
of
but the depth and
And
the wonderful thing.
almost u.nparalleled fecundity was the
;
yet this land of
some of the most degraded
races of Northern California.
The Patawat 29
live
on the lower waters of
boldt
Bay
They
are black-skinned
lives
stiff
hair
envy of
by
on the the
in
stature
;
down
as Eureka.
well cushioned with adipose
berry -like eyes, often bleared; low foreheads; harsh,
extremely timid and inoffensive
;
and a prey
their
all
Living on the richest and goodliest of lands, they were the
their poorer neighbors,
and were harried from time immemo-
the fierce Mattoal on the south, east,
common
shallow their
;
;
pudgy
Hum-
long to the most frightful and ghoulish superstitions I have heard
anywhere.
rial
River, and round
as far south as Areata, perhaps originally as far
tissue; with little
black,
Mad
and by the Chillula on
tlie
by
the fiercer Sai'-az and Whilkut
north.
They formerly
built either
Klamath lodge of puncheons, with a round, though now most of them imitate the American house and
conical hut, or the
cellar,
implements are about the same as everywhere.
;
The squaws
tattoo in
blue three narrow, pinnate leaves perpendicularly on their chins, and also 90
— FUR PtOBES— BILLY TDE CHIEF. lines
They make
of small dots on the backs of their hands.
robes of hare-skins, and
you may any time
97 beautiful
see a stout brave slumbering-
on the naked earth with his head piHowed on a convenient
wood and
body covered with a wild
his
envy
might
milhonaire
an
for
slaughter seventy-five hare
cat-skin ru^^
An
afghan.
tliat
Indian
trap
will
one of these robes, making
for
billet
of
a San Francisco
and
double,
it
with fur inside and out; and on one of the dank niglits wlien the sea-
wind howls dismally
in
from Humboldt Bay, or when
dense over the land that one can cleave a nft in these are very comfortable to tial
lie
They
under.
with his swung
it
make very
also
One day
long while with one Billy,
only son of the
last
an Indian with a good knowledge of English, and a
suit
I talked a
chief,
fist,
substan-
bamboo.
tule-mats, almost equal to the Chinese manufacture of
recognized
fog broods so
tlie
tlie
of clothing which was neat and chastened in tone and complete even to the
dapper ure
;
was
He was
necktie.
little
soft;
manner
his
He
pleasant smile.
gentle;
said he
He
man
of about five feet two inches in stat-
and
was
it
was long perhaps;
appeared
would be In
my
to
for
have
him
to
grow melancholy when the
sufiicient
his voice
round cheeks easily rippled into a
his
fully entitled to the succession
pretended to be chief; but the tribe was so wasted that
else
upon him, and he seemed
it
a
with a pudding-sack face broader than
acumen
to perceive
lie
subject
and nobody took nothing
was broached.
what a mournful farce
to strut in a little fifteen-man authority.
conversation with him I caught a glimpse of what might be
called hereditary imbecility
—
that
is,
the stunting of intellect which comes
of a few families marrying in and in for a long period of years. chief of the I-tok on Eel River (there
is
no
He
said the
tribe calling themselves that
he probably meant the Vi-ard) had lately died, leaving the succession to his son
;
but the latter was unfit to
him crazy", his
sound mind.
was
"Me no want
said.
Billy
placid
and vacuous
among
rule,
said Billy in explanation.
far
to
being a natural.
He
be chief;
me
too
from being crazy, but he was a
inutility
which we occasionally see
those born in the purple.
"White man
also said that himself
much
fine
call
was not
like play",
in
he
specimen of that
illustrated in
Europe,
THE PAT A WAT.
98
V
The Patawat have reduced mechanism
tolerably accurate
The average
punishment.
five strings of
and
erally average,
amount a
in
one matter at least
imposed
fine
for the
—
down
to
a
that of mulctuary
murder of a man
ten
is
of dllikochik, each string consisting of ten pieces, and for that of a
string's
squaw
the science and practice of law
to
As
equal length.
as
it
was
the pieces of this shell-money gen-
valued in American coin, these fines
at first
about SlOO and» $50, respectively.
more determinate Indian standard,
1
may
If
any one
is
curious to have
say that an average Patawat's
considered worth about six ordinary canoes, each of which occupies
life is
two Indians probably three months tantamou.nt to the labor of one California homicide has
in the
man
making
(that
of old), or, in
is,
for a period of three years.
all,
Many
a
escaped with no more than three years' " hard
labor" in the penitentiary.
A
wife
is
always acquired by purchase, and her market value
lated on a sliding scale, on
which the prices range
all
the
is
regu-
way from two up a Patawat
may
get his spouse for the equivalent of about nine months' labor, such as
it is,
Jacob wrought seven years
to fifteen strings.
or she
may
cost
him
The Patawat
much
as
also
for
Eachel
;
as five years' labor.
Imve the custom, which prevails among the Yurok,
of contractino- ''half-marriao^es."
This tribe has a superstition which, pires, is a close
approximation thereto.
chief, there are
innumerable spooks,
not actually a belief in vam-
if
According
in the
to
forms of
my
are in the habit of digging up dead Indians and carrying
the forest.
infernal alchemy, divers kinds of poisons,
in the destruction of other victims.
the dead and the living. in forests, catch
also
squirrels,
little
them away
into
There they extract from these dead bodies, by burning and by
some process of
They
veracious
men and women who
to turn
and other animals
ble measure.
These ghouls have equal power over
In the night they frequently give chase to people
them, and rob them with violence of
have power
;
These imps of
men and women
hell
do not appear
all their dlUkochik.
into dogs, coyotes,
and they often resort
that they are not dead Indians returned to
assuming the human form.
which they use
to
life,
to this
ground-
highly unjustifia-
be proper vampires, in
but pre-existing demons
:
MEDICINES— OLD GRAVEYARDS. All these things Billy related to
ness and good faith, and
many
me
99
with the most profound earnest-
other matters he added thereto, the recital of
which would make the hair of the human race stand on end.
now something
to record of
him which
One day
ligence and that of his tribe.
my
through the
Mad
on the practice of medicine he pointed out
little
chaperone,
my
to
me as we went He must have
attention to fifty different kinds of vegetation, all used
by
physicians for medicine, and to every one he gave a distinct name. is
have
and our conversa-
along every plant or shrub that possessed a healing virtue. called
I
I strolled leisurely several miles
tion turning
River forest with
But
greatly more creditable to his intel-
is
the
There
not the smallest moss or lichen, not a blossoming shrub or tree or root,
weed grow-
not a flower or vine, no forest parasite, bulrush, or unsightly
ing in the water or out, or any sea-weed or kelp, for which they have not a specific
name
and
;
seemed
it
to
me
one disease or another nearly half of copious and carefully defined
on "Aboriginal Botany.
Among
is
all
;
for
so
(See chapter
")
the Patawat the dead are always buried
There
is
and
their possessions
evidence to show that this cus-
tom long antedates the advent of the Americans,
me
we saw
the herbs or bushes
the Patawat materia medica.
placed in the graves with them.
to
good
that Billy pointed out as
^[r.
that in the early days of the settlements around
Hempfield related
Humboldt Bay, he
had seen old Indian burying-grounds containing hundreds of graves, each
marked with a redwood for its durabihty
rendered
it
;
Though
slab.
and the
a soft wood, the redwood
is
noted
and condition of some of these head-boards
size
probable that the graves had been made seventy-five or a hun-
dred years.
The Patawat to obtain various
are like the Yiard in almost every respect, and I
supplementary particulars of the
add here the numerals common
to
;
Koh'-tseh.
5.
2.
Di'-teh.
G.
Chil-6-keh.
3.
Di'-keh.
7.
A-tloh.
4.
Di'-oh.
8.
1-wit.
9.
10.
Sri-ro-keh.
Lo-kel'.
was able
so I will only
both tribes
Weli'-sah.
I.
latter
100
*
THE PATAWAT. ^
The pronunciation of the Patawat, like that of the Yurok, is quite Judge Rosborough states, in the letter above quoted, that one guttural. and the same language extends from Humboldt Bay to Waitspek, and that it is
'^not unpleasing to the ear,
being free from harsh and guttural sounds."
This does not correspond with
my
observation^.
The Patawat and Viard by
are undoubtedly identical with the Koquilth or Kowilth mentioned
Gibbs.
The Yurok
does»not extend as far south as
Fio.
9.
— ludiauB at sea.
Humboldt Bay.
CHAPTER XL THE Vl-ARD OK WI-YOT. The Viard Eagle
live
on lower Humboldt Bay and Eel River as
On
the north side of
Prairie.
extending-
down
Van
noted, are very nearly identical in customs
They appear
up
as
Dusen's Fork were the Whil-kut,
The
confluence of the streams.
to the
far
Viard, as above
and language with the Patawat.
have constructed both the conical and the Klamath
to
River wig'wam of hcAvn puncheons, in the making of which they displayed
They
some ingenuity.
took elk-horns and rubbed them on stones to
first
Then
sharpen them into axes and wedges. that
was
straight
and
free
some
selecting
fiiUen
redwood
from knots, with incredible labor they hacked a
notch a few inches deep and reaching perhaps a third or more of the
around the
of the
A
Next they brought the elk-horn wedges
tree.
and
for beetles,
split off
wigwam, two
veteran
of seven
woodman
feet.
or three inches in thickness
this
and four or
it
smooth with
puncheon observes the curvature of the
elk-
Very much the same process If the lodge
wood bark
;
five feet wide.
them of the enormous width
but on being exposed to the sun for a few days then dressed
into play, with stones
a kind of jacket-slab, long enough for the height
relates that he has seen
Of course
way
is
horn or
flint axes,
said to have
it
it
They for use.
been employed on the Klamath.
was conical they could employ
but only puncheons
flat.
was ready
warps out
and
tree,
set in the
slabs of the
huge red-
ground would make a
tolerably secure against the tempestuous winds of
Humboldt Bay.
shelter
For a
door they take one of these enormous puncheons, and with their elk-horn axes perforate a round hole through
passage of an Indian on
all
fours
;
it,
just large
enough
to
admit the
and on the inside they frequenth' place
a sliding panel, so that the door can be rendered baby-tiglit on occasion.
Being notably timid and unskillful
depended mainly on snares and traps
to
in
hunting the larger animals they
supply themselves with game. 101
To
THE VIARD OR WIYOT.
102
^
catch deer or elk they constructed two long lines of brush-wood fence, so slight as not to arouse the animals' suspicions, or
from tree to tree in a continuous
l)ark
simply tied single
two
string, the
strips of
lines gradually con-
verging until they compelled the elk to pass through a nan-ow chute. this point
down
to let
At
they placed a pole in such a mann^- that the animal was obliged
and thus he inserted
his horns to pass underneath,
the noose.
his
head into
This was made of grass or fibrous roots, twisted in a rope as
large as a man's arm, and w\as attached to a pole in such a fashion that the elk dragged
it
down, whereupon
contiguous bushes and anchored him
speedily
it
became entangled
in the
fast.
Sometimes, to their great dismay, they snared ''Old Ephraim," instead
Among
of an elk or a deer.
boldt
the earliest colonists in the vicinity of
Bay was Seth Kinman, who
relates the following incident
an Indian came running to his cabin with after a
hard six-mile stretch, and so cut in
all his
his
and
in a drip of perspiration as
sweat-house, he
made out
that
he could not divulge
and they ran back
by pantomime some time down his rifle
quickly caught
Arrived on the spot he found an enonnous
snared in the noose,
grizzly bear ajDOut,
together.
Kinman
Panting and
he had just emerged from the
if
to reveal his errand
before he recovered his wind.
Hum-
One day
might, desperately blown
wind
the matter of his business for a considerable space of time. puffing,
:
frantic
with rage,
roaring,
lunging
dragging down bushes and saplings with the pole, and throwing
when suddenly brought up by some tree. The Indian would not venture within rods of him. Kinman slowly approached and
himself headlong
waited for the mighty beast to become a
long though,
lest the
rope might chafe
off,
little
He
pacified.
waited not
and presently drew up and sent
The great brute fell, quivered, then lay was only when Kinman approached and stamped on his head
a bullet singing into his brain. quiet.
But
it
with his heel that the cowardly Indians were assured
;
and then from
all
From a score down in all haste. Not more than a dozen had when Kinman arrived on the ground, but now^ scores col-
the forest round about there went up a multitudinous shout.
of trees they scrambled
been
in sight
lected in a few minutes, gazing
wonder, not unmixed with
terror.
upon the enormous brute with owl-eyed
— EEL-FISHING— A POPULOUS TRIBE. Like sistence,
all
103
coast tribes the Viard depended largely on fishing for a sub-
and the lower waters of Eel River yielded them a wonderful
amount of
rich
and oleaginous
To
eels.
capture these they constructed a
funnel-shaped trap of splints, with a funnel-shaped entrance at the large
him
end, through which the creature could wriggle, but which closed on
and detained him
Traps of
inside.
kind they weighted down so that
this
they floated mostly below the surface of the water, and then tied them to stakes planted in the river bottom.
swish of the
Thus they turned about with the
keeping the large ends always against the
tide,
cui-i-ent,
that
the eels might slip in readily.
The
operation of driving these stakes into the river-bed as points of
Wading
attachment for eel-traps, illustrates a point of Indian character.
out into the stream the fisherman gripes the top of the stake firmly in one
from being splintered, and with a stone
hand
to prevent
softly
and carefully beats
saws
it
it
about, tapping
it
into the
gently the while
it
sometimes for hours on one nothing can root
out,
it
;
but drives
pile,
and
where a white man, with
sledge-hammer, would have battered
it
into a
works and
in this fashion
down
it
the other
in
He
hard-packed shingle.
he labors
at last so solid that
his impatience
hundred
slivers
and
and
his
failed
Mr. Dunganne relates that in former times the great number of
totally.
these stakes driven into the river-bed in
summer made
it
look like an old,
deserted corn-field.
Besides this they practiced
by
salmon and smelt
They by observing
the Yurok.
water bayous, and large quantities of
thing
fish for
little
flat
fish
also drive
in all the various
down
little
resembling the eastern perch, but some-
diff'erent.
The amazing fecundity grave-yards, above referred
Humboldt l^ay The populousness of the ancient
of both land and water about
to, is
testimony of the oldest settlers
one proof thereof
;
is
conclusive.
eyes were often
But
their
filled
and the concordant
— Dunganne, Duncan, Kinman, and others
as to the multitudes living on the shores of this noble
their
Aveirs across tide-
the ebb and flow of the waters capture
once sustained a dense Indian population.
rived,
methods
manner of
bay when they
smelt-fishing in the surf,
ar-
whereby
with brine, and the high, sand-driving winds
:
The viard or wiyot.
104
^
which prevail
at certain seasons
much ophthalmia amongMighty that he
when
them, and eventually a great deal of blindness.
eaters are the Yiard
was once hunting
the latter beat
condition,
about the estuary of Eel River, occasioned
upon
company with
in
Mr. Robinson relates
occasion.
four Indians and a white man,
up and shot an elk wh^ch proved
to
He
and which he consequently abandoned.
be not
gave
in
good
to the In-
it
at once*kindled a fire
hard by to protect them against the
assaults of grizzly bears,
made every
preparation for a vigorous campaign
on the tough and ancient
flesh of the animal,
dians,
and they
and then
fell
In
to lively.
twenty-four hours they accomplished the whole matter, and picked the
bones clean.
Chancing
to ])ass the place
again at the expiration of that
period of time, he found the Indians lying in a torpid sleep, and nothing left
but the skeleton.
like pork,
and a
fat
Now
the flesh of the elk
very solid and weighty,
is
and full-grown buck on Humboldt Bay not unfrequently This one was lean but large-boned, and these
weighs 600 or 700 pounds.
four Indians, at a low computation, must have devoured 150 pounds of meat
Perhaps their dogs helped.
within twenty-four hours.
was
It
often a source of
wonder
to
me how
the delicate arrow-heads
used on war- arrows, with their long, thin points, could be made without
The Viard proceed
breaking them to pieces.
Taking a piece of
jasper, chert, obsidian, or
in
the following
common
sharp-cornered and with a conchoidal fracture, they heat cool
it
slowly, which splits
and gives
He
mer. fit
it
it
then sHps over his
and
in his right
hand he takes a
the point with a thong.
ing or wrenching motion.
may
is
it
to prevent the
flint
in a
in
his left
a tiny fragment with the pincers
The
to
hand from being wounded),
piece
is
hand he
by a
twist-
often revei'sed in the hand, so that
Arrow-head manufacture
arrow -making, medicine, and other
Paul Schumacher,
takes a flake
with a kind of ham-
pair of buck-horn pincers, tied together at
be worked away symmetrically.
specialty, just as
it
and then
hand a piece of buckskin, with a hole
Holding the piece of
breaks off from the edge of
it
left
which breaks
in the fire
The arrow-maker then
in flakes.
an approximate rough shape by striking
over the thumb (this buckskin
flint, it
manner
communication
to the
is
a
arts.
Smithsonian Institution,
gives the following account of a different process in use
among the Klamath
MAKING ARROW HEADS—THANKSGIVING DANCE. "*
Kiver Indians:
one and a half
shaft
and raised
to
shown with being
The motions
with but
little
bone
*
^
wooden
fastened to a
is
be made- with
To guide
held between the
is
*
which
this
is
crooked
instrument are
emjdoyed
the force
the instrument with a steady
arm and
the breast, while the point,
play-room, assisted by the thumb, works on the edge of the
which again
is
held for greater safety in a piece of deer-skin.
the two sides have been is
to
two principal angles,
the time solely pushing.
all
of
feet in length, the working- point of
an edge.
the
hand, the handle
flake,
Apiece
*
^
105
worked down
to a point, then another instrument
which the barbs and projections are broken
required, with
After
a needle or awl of about three inches length, and
by
This
out.
is
a pushing motion the
desired pieces are broken out similar as with the first-mentioned tool".
Judging by
worked
one
like
this description,
the tool here mentioned
made and
is
saw among the Washo of Nevada.
I
Besides the ordinary dances of enjoyment, of friendship,
Viard have an annual thanksgiving dance foraneous tribes,
affair like
but
is
in
autumn.
It is
etc.,
the
not an extra-
most of the great anniversary dances of the northern
held in a large assembly-hall.
A
number of men,
fifteen or
twenty, according to the room, and two or three maidens, constitute the performers,
all
whom
of
are arrayed in barbaric splendor, with feather
head-dresses, fur robes, strings of abalone shells, beads, etc. in a circle
around the
fire,
They dance
chanting their monotonous and meaningless
choruses, as usual, with occasional improvised recitative, as the spirit
move them, but not
may
The observant reader
Ideating time to their singing.
has probably remarked that most of the tribes so far mentioned do not
cadence their harmony, although they keep remark-
employ the baton
to
ably good time
but south of Humboldt
;
Bay most
of
them beat time
to
their chanting.
But the great feature of the occasion "old
man
eloquent".
At a
is
the oration pronounced
by some
certain turn of the celebration he proceeds to
make them
a set liarangue, in round and sonorous phrasing, wherein he
sums up
the bounties and triumphs of the year.
fat,
all
lie enumerates all the
firm-fleshed elk they have snared or shot, all the cotton-tailed deer they
have run down, the cougars,
if
any, their braves
may have killed,
the grizzly
— ;
V
THE VIARD OR WIYOT.
106
bears they have snared, the bear, otter, and seal skins they have tanned dwells with unction on the bushels of rich and oily eels they have captured red-fleshed salmon they have, speared, the smelt, the
in their traps, the
perch, the squaw-fish, the red-fish they have taken in their nets for winter let
;
gives an account»of the rich, sweet hazel-nuts, acorns, the scar-
manzanita-berries, and the purple whortleberries they have stored up in
the attics of their
wigwams
describes with pride the
;
canoes they have launched, the Fig. 9
and dried
graceful
slender,
new wigwams that have been
built,
and the
fine stock of bows, arrows, nets, baskets, tule-mats, bear-skin rugs, fish-
and beads they have accumulated
gigs, grass ropes,
marriages, but carefully refrains from
;
tells
any naming of
of the births and
the dead
;
glorifies
the victories they have achieved over their enemies, and the heads they
have cut
off,
combines
in this
but patriotically slurs over their defeats,
In short, he
etc.
one speech the President's message, Department reports,
and the municipal and health
officers' statistics,
and adds
to the
whole a brief
thanksgiving homily, exhorting them to good behavior, decency
—
in short,
the practice of the whole limited decalogue of Indian virtues.
This oration conclusion of
it is
is
received with stolid solemnity
giving sermon would be in Trinity Church. that
is
lacking.
feeding.
There
The dance
winding up
and
silence,
and the
no more disturbed by indecorous applause than a thanks-
is
is
But the thanksgiving dinner
no feasting on dainties
resumed
until the
at night is celebrated
by
—nothing but
company have
their
fill,
common and the
a carousal, wherein they violate the
moral precepts of the chief to the top of their bent.
CHAPTER XIL THE MAT-TOAL. The Mat-t6al have their main habitat on the creek which bears thenname (Mattole) and on the still smaller stream dignified with the appellaFrom the coast they range across to Eel River, and tion of Bear River.
by immemorial Indian usage and bank of Viard
this river
from about Eagle Prairie
—up southward
bounded by
One form the
prescriptive right they hold the western
to the
— where
they border upon the
mouth of South Fork, where
their
first
is
notable in regard to the Mattoal, and that
were always a terror
The Tolowa,
in
Del Norte County, have
Lower Klamath time out
to the Chillula,
and the
Viard on Humboldt Bay; but here the rule
is
The Yurok
of mind.
latter to the
reversed,
Patawat and the
and a southern
afterward, the Mattoal harried the feeble folk about the bay;
day, excepting the whites alone, there
name
of the Mattoal."
because living principally
sist
in
The
is
on
fish, eels,
And
whip mercilessly the
and roots
no other so
latter
and
to this
bugbear
terrible
form an exception
to
to this law,
a valley secluded from the cold, raw ocean
and subsisting more on a strong meat
ciently well fed to
tiibe
Before the whites came to meddle, and for years
masters a northern.
fogs,
that they
is
exception and the termination to the law of supremacy which
beaten the Yurok on the
as the
is
that of the Lo-lon'-kuk.
thing
prevails all along the cpast above.
them
domain
diet,
tribes
they are fighting men,
suffi-
on Humboldt Bay, who sub-
to a greater extent.
here I would venture most respectfully to suggest that Professor
Agassiz's theory of a phosphoric fish-diet being nutritive above all others to the
human
brain,
is
not corroborated
by the
facts ])revailiiig
among 107
these
THE MATTOAL.
108 Not only do
races.
by
coast tribes
the interior tribes almost invariably lord
over the
it
force of arms, but I have found not only the most beautiful
legends, but about
there are of
all
any
one or two layers
description, at-^east
of tribes back from the sea, -while these fog-sodden i-chthyophagi have the
most revolting and incredible
As above feeble Viard
superstitions.
noted, the Mattoal were ever
and Patawat, and
enlarged their operations to include theni
had
tribes generally
fine-spun distinctions which
''Mattoal he
heap; run
no
um
Bay
boldt
characteristic of the sincere but illogical
is
do.'
came
steal
um,
in their
'You
White man
steal um.'
say,
'You
is
Injun say,
Injun he run.
lie.'
with great its
simple
cow, chicken; steal
He
cuss.
'N-o,
way
touching in
steal hoss, pig,
White man get heap mad; he
off".
Injun,
come
on the
that profound disregard of
Their story, as related by a Viard,
impartiality.
raids
into the country they
For this the unfortunate bay
With
pioneers, they sacrificed whatever Indians
pathos:
came
also.
bear the blame.
to
making predatory
after the whites
say one
Humme
no; one Mattoal;
White man run
after
The Americans forbade the Viard and the Mattoal from quarreling; but when the latter wished to see their hereditary foes suff'er, they had only to make a foray and steal some Ameri-
him; he shoot um;
kill
heap Injun."
can horses in the Viard territory, and the thing would speedily be done.
The Mattoal language the
30
two
tribes
differs
from that of Humboldt Bay so much that
cannot understand each other until they have conversed
together -some months.
Though
the Indians that
same
the
it is
the case, the Mattoal
I
have no specimens of
to
to the
wigwams, implements, tliere is
is
This being
holding their rich low-
but the
all sides
are like tliose around
superior to anything
not excepting Spalding's patent.
strain.
by
sea.
them every-
nothing of special interest to be noted save the glue
they manufacture, which
their bows,
etc.,
told
Humboldt Bay tribes would still
them on
lands against the invaders surrounding
where, and
am
Athabascan races who made the
be a remnant of the true Californians,
Tlieir
I
as the Wai-lak-ki of Eel River.
would belong
great invasion of Northern California, while the
seem
it,
With
it
made by
civilized processes,
they glue their
strips of
sinew on
which render them quite infrangible by any ordinary reasonable
Bend
the
bow
with the strength of a Ulysses, yet the sinew cleaves
1
THEORY OF TATTOOING—BOUNDARY STUDIES. tight, for the
The
glue neither cracks nor scales np until the
secret of
composition
its
is
known
not
wood
109
itself is
broken.
to the whites.
In another regard, also, the Mattoal differ from other tribes, and that is
that the
men
Their distinctive mark
tattoo.
The squaws
center of the forehead.
In respect to
is
tattoo pretty
a round blue spot in the
much
matter of tattooing there
this
is
all
a theory entertained
by some old pioneers which may be worth the mention. the reason
why
the
women
alone tattoo in
own
they are taken captives, their
when
people
all
may
over their faces.
They hold
other tribes
that in case
is
be able to recognize them
There are two
there comes an opportunity of ransom.
that
which
facts
One is that the California divisions, any one of which may
give some color of probability to this reasoning.
Indians are rent into such infinitesimal
be an-ayed
in
deadly feud against another at any moment, that the slight
differences in their
A
squaws.
second
dialects
would not
that the
is
the captive
suffice to distinguish
squaws almost never attempt any ornamental
tattooing, but adhere closely to the plain regulation-mark of the tribe.
Besides the coyote stories with which gifted squaws amuse their children,
and which are common throughout
all this
In the
graphical study.
aries of all the tribes
and
in fact
defined
by
first
place,
it is
among the name of geo-
region, there prevails
Mattoal a custom which might almost be dignified with the
necessary to premise that the bound-
on Humboldt Bay, Eel Eiver, Van Dusen's Fork,
everywhere, are marked with the greatest precision, being
certain creeks, canons, bowlders, conspicuous trees, springs,
each one of which objects has
its
own
individual name.
an Indian to be found outside of his tribal boundaries, wherefore
him well
in
hand
to
make himself acquainted with
etc.,
It is perilous for it
stands
the same early in
Accordingly the squaws teach these things to their children
in a
life.
kind of
sing-song not greatly unlike that which was the national furore some time
ago
in rural singing-schools,
wherein they melodiously chanted such pleas-
ing items of information as this: "California, Sacramento, on the Sacra-
mento River." bowlders, ings.
etc.,
Over and
over, time
and again, they rehearse
describing each minutely and
Then when
by name, with
the children are old enough, they take
beat the bounds like
Bumble
its
all
these
surround-
them around
the Beadle; and so wonderful
is
to
the Indian
3
THE MATTOAL.
110
memory
naturally,
and so
been
faithful has
their instruction, that the little
shavers generally recognize the objects from the descriptions of them previously given
32
by
their mothers.
If
an Indian knows but
little
of this great
world more than pertains to boundary bush and bowlder, he knows small fighting-ground infinitely better than learn
own
it.
It is
above remarked that no Indian in war-time can cross
proper metes and bounds on penalty of death. of the herald, whose person
So
his
any topographical engineer can
inviolable
is
far as his dialect is spoken,
There
"wide
is
his
own
one exception, that
as the Indian idiom rings."
he can pass with impunity on en*ands of
weighty business, and especially with a declaration of war, protected by
He
the aegis of his sacred function.
simply whispers two mysterious and
may
sacred words as a countersign, which no other Indian
utter even
under
What these words are my informant, Mr. Burleigh, did not know they are taboo to the vulgar herd. The Mattoal burn their dead, thus showing their relationship with the Upper Eel and Russian River races rather than with the northern. They
his breath. ;
hold that the good depart to a happy region somewhere southward in the great ocean, but the soul of a
which they consider, of
all
bad Indian transmigrates
Creation, according to this tribe,
The Big Man
ditious manner.
first
The one lone
bleak.
It
was accomplished
aboriginal of humanity
upon a
gladden
time, suddenly there
and smoke, and the Indian
When
the tempest passed
his
filled all
fell flat
away he
upon
it
and dark and
silent
roamed over
desolate
it
his face in
drifting
is
to-day
—the
all this
The work
beasts,
terror.
pleasant
earth swarded with
green, lush grass, and dappled with sweet flowers, the forests already
and inhabited by
which
sand and dust
an unspeakable !
and
Then,
swift whirlwind,
heaven with
arose and looked, and lo
world was finished and perfect as
very expe-
eyes or appease his hunger.
came a strong and
sucked up from the ground and
in a
with the exception of
life,
was a huge, black world,
cheerless, finding nothing to
sin.
fashioned the naked ground, without
form and void, destitute of animal and vegetable one solitary Indian.
into a grizzly bear,
animals, the cousin-german of
and the great sea teeming with
its
of creation having been thus consummated
grown
finny flocks.
all
on a sudden,
:
TRADITIONS— LEGEND OF SATTIK. they hold that there
among up
its
the animals.
Ill
only a certain limited number of
is
When
one departs
this life his spirit
spirits existing
immediately takes
abode in some other one just then entering into existence. never- ending cycle, qualis ah inceptOj
Thus they revolve through a
and
are of necessity immortal, though the Indians do not carry out the philoso-
phy
to these fine conclusions.
They have
also a tradition of the flood,
took place in their immediate vicinity.
and as usual
Taylor's
Peak
is
this
occurrence
the mountain on
which the surviving Indians took refuge. Frogs and white mice are reverenced by the Mattoal, and they never
on any account stitious
kill
or injure one of these sacred animals.
regard for frogs
is
illustrated in the
Their super-
legend following
LEGEND OF SATTIK.
Many snows ago
there
came up a white man out of the southland,
He was
journeying down Eel River to the country of the Mattoal. first
white
man who had
could not find
it
and had
the dust, and his heart
from
fallen in the trail with
Tims
man was
but he could not yet walk. for the white
revived,
Then
He
his
mouth
and
eat,
and
and he spoke kind words
his soul
was cheered within him,
the heart of Sattik was
man, and he took him on
in
took him and
fresh water to drink in his hands,
he gave him dried salmon to the
hunger with
was touched because of him.
him up, and he brought him his basket
to him.
down faint in the trail, and he came way an Indian who was called Sattik,
fallen
But there passed that
and he saw the white man
lifted
the
way and
For lack of food through many days he was sore
again.
distressed with hunger,
near dying.
ever come into that land, and he lost his
moved with
pity
back and carried him on the
his
They journeyed three sleeps down Eel River, but Sattik earned the white man on his shoulders, and he sat down often to rest. At the end of the third day they came to a large spring wherein were many frogs and way.
;
Sattik dipped
up water
but the white
man bowed down on
he caught a frog
in his
in his
hands
hand and
his belly
eat
the sight of this the Indian's heart
to drink, as the
it,
manner of Indians
and drank of the waters, and
because of the hunger he had.
became
is,
as water for terror,
and he
At fled
;
V
THE MATTOAL.
112
from the wrath of the Big Man,
lest,
because of
this
impious
come down quick out of heaven, and with
done, he should
rend a tree to splinters and smite them both dead
one day and two nights, and turned not neither did he
Then
rest.
he* climbed
his face
tlie
baok
up a redwood
thing- that
his red right
groimd.
was
hand
He
tree to the top of
but the tree was hollow, and he broke through at the top, and
ran
behind him,
to look
fell
it
down on
the inside to the bottom and died there.
Like most wild peoples, the Mattoal are exceeding generous upon the
moment
spur of the
—generous with —but they are sometimes
their parents.
casual comer
to-morrow
that thriftless disregard of
characteristic of savages
They will who has not
heartlessly indifferent to
divide the last shred of dried salmon with
of that exaggerated and supererogatory hospitality that savages use
when
their elders
household
st(^ck,
turn them
adrift.
will enable
them
and are only a burden on
They
are
;
but
made
to
they often
their scant larder,
understand that any assistance which
to shuffle off this mortal coil with dispatch will
be cheer-
among them,
says they
sufficiently affectionate
whites
;
too decrepit to contribute anything more to the
Mr. Burleigh, a long time resident
fully rendered.
were
grow
any
a shadow of claim upon them, except the claim
toward their parents before the arrival of the
but their sadly dwindled resources, and the hard necessities that
have griped them
As an
since,
have stunted
instance of black
filial
their piety.
ingratitude, I
saw an old squaw who had
been abandoned by her children because she was blind, and who was wandering alone in the Eel River Mountains. eternal to her sightless eyes,
she groped her
way about
and through
with a
staff in
Day was all
night and night was
hours of the twenty-four alike
each hand, going everywhere and
nowhere, turning her head quickly toward any noise with that piteous, appealing movement so pathetic in the blind, and uttering every few minutes a wild, mournful,
hare
when
to imagine
it is
pierced
any
and haunting
by
spectacle
wail,
which sounded
the fangs of the hounds.
like the cry of a
It is
more melancholy than that of
hardly possible this
poor blind
by all her natural protectors, and left to wander in a darkwhich knew no day through those forests and among those wild
savage, deserted
ness
canons.
By
the merest chance she had happened upon the bivouac of a
INSTANCE OF FILIAL IMPIETY. party of
men
conducting a pack-train, and they gave
she could take, and volunteered to guide her to ria
;
lier
what provisions
nearest Indian ranche-
but the poor soul could not understand a word they uttered, or
if
her chances of casual wdiites rather than throw
did, preferred to take self
tlie
113
she lier-
again on a people whose hearts a hard and bitter poverty had steeled,
or invoke again even that cheap humanity of blood-relationship which years
of calamity had destroyed.
THE LO-LOn'-KUK.
The Lo-lon'-lmk owning the
territory
live
on Bull Creek and the south fork of Eel River,
between those streams and the
Pacific,
along which
they have a prescriptive right to a certain length of frontage for fishing purposes.
They have
the same language and customs as the Mattoal, and
no separate description of them rupted
by the Americans
is
Their name has been corby which they are generally known.
required.
into Flonk'-o,
CHAPTER THE In
VVAl' LAK-KI, ETC.
Wintun language
tlie
XIII.
ivai signifies
"north," and
way
a language in any
related to the
lalJci
''tongue,"
But they do not speak
So these are the North People.
hence ''people."
Wintun; and are therefore another
name given them by a neighbor. mystery attaching to this tribe. They live along
instance of a California tribe bearing a
There
is
a certain
the western slope of the Shasta Mountains, from North Eel River (above
Round Valley)
to
the latter about to
Hay Fork along Eel and Mad Rivers, extending down Low Gap also on Dobbins and Larrabie Creeks. Hence ;
;
they are not north of the AYintun at the Sacramento
Wintun and
proper, belonging to the
as their
all,
Wintun
their geographical location, live
nation,
Ketten
is
Ken'-es-ti),
Pum
some former time; and
their
that they probably
may have
were yet their
north.
received their present
I see not
linguistic
114
Ketten
them 1
how
for
them-
Chow and
drawn from the
must have displaced the Wintun
own language being related
came from the
to the north of
name, and
On
that they
to
Blulf.
own name
places,
of
These geographical terms lying
their domain.
show
they
(their
and there are two names of
within their territory
tvest
The Wailakki
on the Sacramento above Red
(these should be spelled Hetten), w^hich are
Wintun language within
but
indicates,
and whose name corresponds
As remarked, they have a Wintun name selves
name
south of the Trinity Wintun.
Is
it
to the
at
Hupa shows
not possible therefore that
name from
the
Wintun while they
This supposition explains the origin of
else
it
can be explained.
and other grounds
I
am
inclined to believe that the
ORIGIN OF
NAME—MIGRATIONS.
115
Wailakki are the descendants of a former secession or offshoot from the
Hupa, who migrated up the Trinity many years ago, and acquired
name from
the
Wintun
wliile
tlieir
they actually were "North People," though
they continued to push on southward, displacing the Lassik (a tribe of
Wintun
now
affinities)
within the American period, until they lodged where they
whites became acquainted with the
"Wailakki" from them, and applied
name
to the
one
now
bearing
it,
it
and
33
The Wintun first, picked up the name without any regard to the tribe's own
and the whites came and arrested
are,
all
further migration.
has remained to this day.
it
If the
whites call a California tribe b}^ a certain name, no matter what, they soon learn to use that, whether speaking with whites or with one another.
The
fact that the
Wailakki dwell on small ineligible mountain streams
and the head- waters of one or two really
good valley
who had
to
to themselves,
wedge themselves
Judge Rosborough,
in
in
any one
swift rivers, without having
shows that they were once interlopers
where they could.
the letter referred to in a previous chapter,
advances the theory that there have been three principal lines of migration
from the north second,
— one along the
up the Willamet River,
ains into Scott
lakes and across I
coast, diverging slightly into the interior
am much
in
;
and a
third,
down
Klamath
this theory, and, indeed, before I
letter, I
had come
to
facts in
my
had
a similar conclusion in
regard to the line of southward migration along the coast
any
past the
lava regions to Pit River.
inclined to accept
ever seen Judge Rosborougli's
that time
a
Oregon, and over the Kalapuya Mount-
and Shasta Valleys tlie
;
;
but I had not at
possession as to the two other migrations, nor
even a suspicion that they had ever occurred.
I
had discovered already
that along the supposed track of this coast-line of migration there
is
a series
of tribes, begiiming in Del Norte County, and including the Tolowa, the Ilupa, and tribes),
some of
their tributaries (not counting in the
and the Wailakki, who speak languages closely
Humboldt Bay related.
It is a
singular fact that these languages are also closely related to the Navajo, of
New
Mexico, showing that the Navajo must have removed from the Pacific
coast within comparatively recent times.
The
following table of numerals
34
V
THE WAILAKKI,
116
ETC.
(The Navajo are taken from another work,
corroborates this statement.
and probably have the Eng-Ush sound of the vowels). TOLOWA.
WAILAkKL
IIUPA.
NAVAJO.
»
1
chlah.
chlah.
klai'-hai.
kli.
2 3
nakh'-eh.
nakh.
nok'-ah.
nahkee.
takh'-eh.
takh.
tok.
tah.
4
tenkh'-eh.
tinkh.
tenkli'-ah.
dteen.
5
swoi'-lah.
chw6-lah.
tus-kul'-lah.
estlahh.
6
os-ta-neh.
hos-tan'.
kus'-lak.
hostonn.
7
tse-teh.
okh'-kit.
kus'-nak.
susett.
8
la-ni-shi-tna-ta.
ka-nem.
kus'-tak.
seepee.
9
chla-ntukh.
no-kos'-tah.
kus-tenkli'-ah.
n eh' -sun.
minkh'-lah.
kwang-en'-ta.
nastyy. niznahh.
10
The Wailakki, though
so obviously
Hupa
in affinity,
owing
to their
nearness to the Wintun, have adopted some of their customs, as scalping,
and some other
the scalp dance, the clover dance, Fig. 10
hand they
things.
On
the other
by some somewhat
tattoo nearly like the Yuki, so that they are mistaken
for that singular people.
composite people
:
Hupa
Thus
it
will
in speech,
be seen that they are a
Wintun
in
name and
in several cus-
toms, and almost Yuki in tattooing.
depression slightly scooped out for a
wigwam of poles and bark, with a floor. One sees among them very
pretty strings of shell-money, called
to-7cal'-U,
They
build the
common
conical
disks about a quarter of an inch in diameter,
consisting of thin, circular
and resembling somewhat the
Catholic rosaries, in having one larger button or "Gloria Patri" to every
ten small ''Ave Marias".
I
have seen a Wailakki squaw with ear-drops or
pendants carved from the ear-shell {Haliotis) in the shape of
fish,
and exhib-
iting the glinting tints of that beautiful shell to great advantage.
only instance of fancy shell or bone carving, aside from the
money, that
I ever
remember
to
It is the
common
shell-
have noticed.
In the hot and sweltering interior of the State the Indians generally
warm winter lodges as soon as the dry season is well established, and camp for the summer in light, open wickiups of brushwood, which they
leave their
HAUNTS— MODES OF THE CHASE.
117
sometimes abandon two or three times during the summer for convenience in fishing, etc.
Immediately on
coast this
tlie
scarcely done at
is
all,
cause not necessary; but the AVailakki generally go higher up the
be-
little
streams in the heated term, roaming and camping along where the salmon trout {Salmo Masoni)
They
and the Coast Range trout (Salmo
capture those and other
When
minnows
iridea)
most abound.
in a rather ignominious
summer
and un-
up the streams
to stag-
nant pools they rub the poisonous soap-root in the water until the
fish are
Waltonian fashion.
stupefied,
when they
the
easily scoop
lieat dries
them up, and the poison
will not affect
the tough stomach of the aborigines.
In Ketten
Chow
cammas {Cammasia
Valley they used to gather immense quantities of
esculenta).
Then
there
a kind of wild potato grow-
is
ing on high and dry places (I saw no specimens of considerable extent, in addition to roots eaten
by
which they use
it)
all
to a
California Indians.
Win tun language, ''Hetten Chow" denotes ^'cammas valley," and 'MIetten Pum" means ''cammas earth". The Wailakki have also a very unsportsmanlike method of capturing They run them down afoot. This is not so difficult a matter as one deer.
In the
buck.
Deer have a habit of run-
in certain established trails,
and the Indians make these
might imagine in the case of a very ning pretty trails
much
a study, post relays of
tain to pass,
men
fat
at points
where the animal
and so give him continuous chase
until he
and thereby frequently get him so blown that he
An
takes to the water.
old hunter tells
capture a fine buck in this manner.
brushwood
lines of
hare and rabbits, and this
this snare.
is still
get together in a space of
beat the cover to flush the quarry.
and runs
burrow.
is
or
where a snare
A
slight
is set,
and
down
company
of Indians
or in an open wood, and
whoop and
Puss
is terrified
by
the nuiltitude of
wild, springs in tlie air, doubles, tacks, flings somersaults,
noise near
This
bay
Beside deer, they also run
ducks, leaps square off from a straight run even
makes a
out of his range,
either stands at
he has frequently seen them
more easily done.
meadow
pretty cer-
Then, again, they construct two
fence, converging to a point,
they chase the animal into
voices,
me
is
is
it,
great
and so beats s})ort for
itself
when nothing moves
completely out, or
the Indians.
They whoop,
sli})s
into
or its
laugh, scurry
— V
THE WAILAKKF,
118
the woods, jump, swing their arms, fling chibs,
tliroug-li
minutes, split a stick fine at one end, thrust its scut,
and pull
shoot
especially
it,
and make a deal of
have seen an Indian boy of fourteen run a rabbit to cover
I
noise.
ETC.
out
it
This was easier
alive.
if lie
down
it
misse^
thart
the hole, twist .it
in ten it
into
would have been to
it.
One of their favorite dances is the black-bear dance, which is celewhen one of the Wailakki braves has been so fortunate as to kill or trap one of these animals of happy omen, or has even succeeded in purchasing a skin of one. They stretch it up on stakes, and then caper and brated
chant around
it
in a circle, beating the skin with their fists as if
they were
tanning the same.
Another joyous occasion the season
when
the clover dance, which
is
performed in
is
The squaws
the burr-clover gets lush and juicy to eat.
deck themselves out in deerskin-robes and strings of pretty jingle
and
glint to their hopping, while
the soft white as his arm,
down
each
man
has a
shells,
which
circlet or coronal of
of owls around his head, twisted in a fluffy roll as large
and another very long one of the same description around
loins, tied
behind, with the two ends reaching
short, the
men endeavor
to
down
make themselves look
as
his
In
to the ground.
much
like the great
white owl as possible, and the main purpose of their numerous antics appears to
be to keep these long
the
men
inside, the
tails
women
flopping about.
outside; strike
They
stand in two circles
up the inevitable droning chant,
and the women dance by simply jumping up and down on both their partners in front of
them
certain turn of the chant they
leap, skip, brandish
all
jump up
shaking of bows and arrows, after which
their arrows,
together, with a loud tliere is
moments, when they commence chanting again da
feet,
while
and
at
a
whoop and
a dead silence for a few capo.
There
is
no
feast-
ing at any time. Filial piety or, in fact, of
cannot be said to be a distinguishing quality of the Wailakki,
any
Indians.
No
aged and decrepit are counted a battles,
sometime "lord of the
how high may be their station, the burden. The old man, hero of a hundred matter
lion heart
and eagle eye," when
eyesight no more can guide the winged arrow as of yore,
compelled to accompany his sons into the
forest,
is
his fading
ignominiously
and bear home on
his
COURSE OF TRAILS.
He may
poor old shoulders the game they have kilkd. feebly in behind them, their skill, while he
is
much
meek and uncomplaining, even speaking proudly
if
of
is
greatly
more able
they touch
to support, but
35
it
as one of their fingers.
Most people who have traveled especially
be seen tottering
almost crushed to earth beneath a burden which their
unencumbered strength not with so
119
they were on
in the frontier regions of California,
have probably been no
foot,
worried and
little
exasperated at the perversity with which the road-makers have run the
and roads over the summits of the
hills.
my
hill in all this
hot impatience, "If there
one
is
trails
Often have I said to myself in land that
is
higher than
another, these engineers and graders are never content until they -have carried the road over the top of this
than our engineers.
it."
But the Indians are more responsible
Time and again
I
have wondered Avhy the
mountain
so laboriously climb over the highest part of the
discovered that the reason
is
for
trails
but I afterward
;
because the Indians needed these elevated
points as lookout-stations for observing the m.ovements of their enemies.
They run
The
the original trails through the chaparral.
in their footsteps,
pioneers followed
and widened the path when need was, instead of going
new one on an easier grade; and in process when a wagon-road became necessary they often followed the line
vigorously to work and cutting a of time
of the ancient
trail.
When
the whole face of the country
the old Indian trails will be found along the streams; but
what open they invariably run along the crest
— on
the south side of
east side, if
it
it,
if
ridges, a rod or
the ridge trends east
trends north and south.
This
is
may
California Indians seek open
by
not be surprised either
bears, of
of
The
their
ground
enemies or
which beasts they entertain a lively
two below the
and west; on the
for the reason, as botanical
readers will understand, that the west or north side of a
wooded.
is wooded alike, when it is some-
hill is
by cougars and
idly fretted
;
away by
they
grizzly
terror.
The Wailakki are a choleric, vicious, quarrelsome race, Round Valley, whom they resemble and these two tribes
rascals of all that country.
most thickly
for their trails that
Naturally, therefore, the
the white men, and they
ti'ibc
like .the
Yuki
are the prime
has been rap-
would have been wholly
36
V
^
THE WAILAKKI,
120
ETC.
Round Valley
abolished before this time had they not been gathered on the Reservation.
An
by
adventure related
T. G. Robbins, of
shows that the Wailakki are not
stiff
One
and when Robbins and
his
of
comrades emerged on the bank, they saw him
fire,
he perceived
across,
so he concealed himself again.
and swam over
the water around him
would be death
it
to
like
run up the bank
Robbins stripped to the
As he came out
to tackle him.
He now
eddy of a bowlder.
struck out again, and the bullets spattered in
Once
soutli of
them being a poor swimmer lagged behind,
resting in the middle of the river, in the
hail.
His regiment, the
campaign against them
a bloody fight, and drove them pell-mell over
in
the river at Big Bend.
under
California volunteers,
lacking" in bravery.
Second Infantry, had been piishing a Eel River, routed them
t^ie
buff'
of the water the Indian
Both men were stark
dashed at him with an enormous root in each hand.
naked, except that the Wailakki had a shell-button and a dime hanging
from each
The
ear.
soldier struck at him, but his rotten billet of driftwood
splintered harmlessly over the savage's head.
blow
in return,
but the soldier threw up his
and the club broke over
it,
mighty
Tlie Indian aimed a left
arm
as in
sword
though the end slammed down on
practice,
his sconce,
causing him to perceive ten or twelve Indians and several hundred
The Indian
strucJ^:
stars.
with his second club, but Robbins parried again, and
the club bounced high in the
Both men were now disarmed.
air.
Instead
of closing in and grappling, as he should have done, the Indian
dive to recover his club.
Quick
as thought the soldier caught
made
a
up another,
and as the Indian stooped he dealt him a stunning blow on the base of the
The savage
ear.
fell all
along on the gravel, and lay quivering in every
nniscle, while the soldier, as
bone
in his
he says, ''beat him until there was not a whole
body", and the compan}^ on the other side looked on and
applauded.
This
trifling
relating only as races,
affiiir,
with
its
an instance of a
truly
fair,
Homeric termination,
naked
fight
courage, but was inferior in fencing.
worth
between men of the two
armed only with the Aveapons which nature
shows that the savage was the equal of the other
is
off'ered.
The upshot
in strength, agility,
and
THE LASSIK—A llOBBER THE
The waters
TEIBE.
121
LAS'-SIK.
Mad
Las'-sik formerly dwelt in
River Valley, from the liead-
down to Low Gap, or thereabout, where they bordered on the They took their name from their last famous chief As above
Whilkut.
narrated, a
by
little
before the whites arrived they were driven out of this region
the incursion of
tlie
Wailakki, whence they removed to
Fork and Dobbins and Larrabie Creeks.
They were
Van
Wintun
of
Dusen's affinities,
and
so here again they jostled against the original occupants, the Saiaz others,
and
in
every place where they tried to establish homes
numerary
in a crystallized population, beaten
their hearts full of rancorous bitterness
gypsies, or rather of thugs, houseless
was
Thus ousted from
hard-fought battles were routed again.
assassination,
and despair
enemy.
murdering.
It is said
and hands.
They even
with
—they became a band of
pillage.
Their hand was All the world was
hand against them.
They roamed over the
their natural
pillar to post,
and homeless nomads, whose calling
and whose subsistence was
against every man, and every man's
— crowded, elbowed, super-
about from
face of the earth, robbing
they took no scalps, but cut
off
and
a slain enemy's feet
penetrated into the distant valley of the Sacra-
mento, where they came in conflict with the newly-arrived white man, and
by bloody defeat and
fierce pursuit
they were hurled back over the mountains
whence they came. After
much tough and
bitter experience in this adoptive
the Lassik gradually ceased to
murder
in robbing,
method of life,
but continued to prose-
cute the latter occupation with undiminished vigor and brilliant success.
They would blacken forest near
their faces
and bodies with charcoal, then go
into the
some sequestered house, or by the wayside, and squat there
hours togetlier motionless as a stump. latter object
would pass
for
So closely would they resemble the
backwoodsman and hero of fifty figlits When some one came along at last them by unaware.
that the lynx-eyed
who was seemingly weak, and promised good picking, they would sally catch forth quickly strange how these stumps will get up and run! Day after the horse by the bit, and proceed to pluck the rider clean.
—
—
day,
week
after
week, they would come and squat in
some lonely house, with
this fashion
near
that infinite persistence of the Indian, watching
V
THE WAILAKKI,
122 tlie
ETC.
inmates as they came and went, counting them over and over again,
until they
were certain of their number and quality.
happy day, when
all
the signs of the zodiac, the
Then
ST^^.n
at last,
were favorable, and no owl screeched, and the spiders were
everybody was gone out
the house except perhaps
of*
summon courage
swaddled baby, they would
make
to
on some
and moon and
planets,
all still,
and
some old crone or a rush, capture the
and plunder the house with neatness and
solitary occupant, pinion him,
dispatch.
me an
Mr. Robinson related to
dered
by them
to a day.
instance where a certain house was plun-
three Aprils in succession, punctually to a week, and almost
was the property of a lone wild Irishman, a shepherd, who
It
was necessarily absent day-times with
on the mountains, thus
his flock
leaving his household substance an easy prey to the savages. t\vi3e
robbed
Paddy took unto
in succession,
and a defense
to
liis
possessions round about.
came when he looked not den
This she
did,
third tim^e the Lassik
garden fence, made a sud-
and knowing the propensity of women
cauglit the Irishman's wife, tied life.
But a
for them, scaled the
irruj)tion into the house,
After being
himself a wife for a bulwark
up her mouth
to talk,
and bade her escape
tight,
and they then proceeded without interruption
to
for
make
a choice selection of household goods, which they carried away.
This predatory gypsy
life
(they subsisted largely
this
way, not having
a right to any fishing-grounds), insured their speedy destruction whites.
In 1871
had returned
it
was
said there
were only three of them
Mad
to the ancestral valley of
by
the
these
left;
River, and were living under
protection of the whites.
THE
As nearly 37
SAl'-AZ.
as I could ascertain,
the
Sai'-az
•
formerly occupied the
tongue of land jutting down between Eel River and
They were
all
carried
so long dragged about
that they
away
to the
Van Dusen's
Fork.
Hoojoa Valley Reservation, and had been
between home, the Smith River Reservation, and
were dwindled away
to a
most
pitiful
could give no intelHgible account of themselves.
The only
can be stated with certainty
somewhere on the
bank of Eel
River.
is
this,
and miserable remnant, who
that they once dwelt
thing which east
THE SAIAZ— THEIR ABJECT CONDITION. It is the
who
testimony of white men,
123
liad l)ad a taste of their quality,
that they were once among- the bravest of the California Indians. after a
long and
heroic resistance that they
was indeed hard
it
thing manly.
They were
;
away
in
Iloopa Valley that I saw
they had ever done any-
It
was
the most abject of
from living eternally in the smudge, horribly protruding
was only
to believe then that
captive to the Smith River Reservation.
them, and
It
gave under, and were led
some with
w^ith
human
beings
—many of them
one or both eyes swollen and
their noses half eaten
away
;
all
with their
coarse black hair drooping over faces pitted and slashed, or purple, blotched,
and channel-worn with the dribblings of bleared and sodden
naked and unspeakably
filthy
Their
eyes.
board cabins stood on a hot mesa beside the
river,
with never a tree or a shrub to dapple their roofs with a sprinkle of
shade
;
the flaming sun
fouled earth this place of
swarming isiana, or
;
made
riot in the exhalations
bones, chips, skins, festering flesh
miasma
tatters,
staggering up from the
were strewn about
;
and
in
iind famine the ghastly beings lay about in their
basking in the sun like muddy-skinned caymans of Lou-
drowsily shelling a few acorns, for they received no rations.
Most
tribes of California either
them frequently
to escape
burn
their lodges annually or
from the vermin
;
abandon
but here, condemned to live
always on one spot and in the same lodges which they w^ere not taught how to cleanse, they are almost
devoured
alive.
bathe the entire person daily in cold ^vater foul, fair
reeking quarters, what
little
In their native state they always ;
but here, huddled together in
pride of person they ever had w^as in a
w^ay to be crushed out of them.
Judging from the wretched remnants that are
left,
the Saiaz resemble
most Eel River Indians, having rather squatty, adipose bodies, chubby heads, and long simian hands. outside of their legs
They
may
when they
Like the Kelta they frequently scarify the lose a -bet in gambling.
entertain a belief in what, out of contradistinction to Pantheism,
be called Pandemonism.
Most
tribes living near the coast believe
that the devils or evil spirits of the world pervade life,
many
forms of animal
or at least are able to assume those forms at pleasure for the torment-
ing of
men (though
all
of
them have some one or more animals,
as a
V
THE WAILAKKI,
124:
ETC.
white deer, a white mouse, a frog, a black bear, a black eagle, into which the devil never does enter)
but the Saiaz hold that these evil
;
spirits also
take possession of the vegetable world for the plag^i^ig" of mankind.
For their
instance, acorns, leaves, or twigs falling from trees
wigwams
ous influence
compass
on the roofs of
are all instincfwith the devil, replete with demoniac, poison-
and they think that the bad
;
When
their destruction.
spirits
the winter
assume these forms
lonesome, ghostly shriek, and brings the acorns and leaves rattling
on
their roofs, they shudder,
would think
enough in
and the timid squaws scream with terror.
most of
their villages, as
on open ground, though
hostile tribes
open ground.
the case throughout California, are
is
done rather with a view of preventing
this is
the Saiaz
and other Eel River Indians sometimes adopt
crossing swift and deep rivers in winter
to
is
stay under nearly two minutes, and
they can cross streams of some rods
by
in
pudgy stature,
physique in general
ances are deceptive.
These
;
They will
selecting smootli, gravelly places
width
this
way.
observations have been that the Indians of Eel and
of a rather short and
in
hold stones on their heads to
weight them down so that they can wade over on the bottom.
inferior
And,
from ambushing them.
One way
My
down One
would involve common sense
that an imagination so lively
to suggest the building of the lodges in the
fact,
built
to
wind goes over them with a
Mad
Rivers are
especially the Wailakki, and a decidedly
but the pioneers say that present appear-
tribes
have suffered nnich from wars with the
whites, and the remnants of them are the poorest specimens of their
race,
who took
little
two
than the Indians of Sacramento Valley and the Weaverville Basin,
taller
part in fighting.
and were much wits";
i.
c,
finer
men.
In an early day they averaged an inch or
The Wailakki
are called
by
the
Yuki -'Kak'-
"North People".
The Wailakki kuk, Tul'-bush.
call the Saiaz
Noan'-kakhl, and the Mattoal and Lolon-
All these tribes here mentioned originally spoke Wailakki.
CHAPTER THE To
the traveler arriving on the
YTJ-KI.
summit between Eden Valley and the
Middle Eel River, looking north, there ful is
and picturesque landscapes
is
presented one of the most beauti-
in California.
descriptive of this noble domain,
and there
an ocean of yellow grain and pasture white oak and encompassed on
XIV.
fields,
all sides
The name, "Round Valley", it lies,
far
below and beyond,
islanded with stately groves of
with a coronal of blue, far-sloping
mountains, dappled green and golden with wild-oat glades and shredded forest or chaparral.
There
something rich and generous, like ripened
is
corn and wine, in the landscapes of the Coast Range in autumn, and over all
bends the
soft
sky of
Italy,
and pours the wonderful
lilac chiaroscuro of
the atmosphere, which lends an inexpressible charm.
Here
in the heart of the lofty
Eel River Mountains, which shut
sixty or seventy miles from all the outer world,
a pure democracy, fierce and truculent.
unequaled
mere
in its loveliness
—the Yuki—were
by
all
that
is
was a
The said or
little
it
in
Indian cockagne,
inhabitants of this valley,
sung of the Vale of Cash-
indisputably the worst tribe
among
the California
Indians.
had a great deal of trouble
I
heard
about "Yuki" over in the Sacramento Valley, at Weaver^•ille, on
Hay
I
Fork, on
Mad
River, on
Van
always the "Yuki" were
At last
I
began
to
to
in finding this singular people.
Dusen's Fork, and
all
along Eel River, and
be the next tribe that
be skeptical of
their
I
would come upon.
very existence, and smiled an incred-
name "Yuki" mentioned. curious. The word i/uJii in the Wiutun
ulous smile whenever I heard the
The reason
for this
is
guage signifies "stranger", andlience, secondarily, "bad Indian" or
lan-
"thief";
THE YUKF.
126 and
was applied by
it
that people to different tribes around tliem, just as
the ancient Greeks called
many
of old
all the.
outside world
tribes contiguous to
barbarians". There were them who actually were "bad Indians"
compared witk the peaceful Wintun
but the
;
latter applied the epithet so
indiscriminately that the Americans, not troubling themselves to investigate the matter, got confused on this subject.
As a matter
called *'Yuki".
whites and Indians
and use
"Yuki"; but
call
HeJace the number of tribes
of fact, there are several tribes this tribe alone
"Yuki"
to
me
as terrific fellows,
Range Mountains, dwelHng they
and
ley"),
own name for those
nom (meaning
in caves
for themselves is
;
by
the
but there
instance,
at
Red
savage giants living in the Coast
Uk-um-nom (meaning
Wintum is
"in the val-
Those over on the ocean are
It is possible that the wordi
into yuki, their present
no ceremony
in
the head-chief of the
on the reservation Captain Mike, a child does not
bestowment of the
is
the Americans
is
For
seem
to
frequently given to
name.
I
became
Their present
Pam-mem'-mi
well, or otherwise
virile
cor-
in infancy, the other in later
when
Y\iki,
called
lucky under one name, another
uhwn was
connection with the christening.
When
grow
called
name.
quainted with them, was Toal-ke-mak' or Wil-osh'.
to the
Bluff described
and dens, horribly tattooed (which
Most of them have two names, one given life
title
on South Eel River speaking the same language, Hilch'-
"outside the valley").
IJk-hoat-nom ("on the ocean"). rupted
acknowledge the
and cannibals.
are),
Tlieir
38
both
it.
The unphilosophical and double-seeing Wintun the
whom
ac-
chief,
or Oal'-wal-mi.
be prosperous and This
it.
is
previous
have not often in California found
name bestowed on account of circumstances in the person's history but it is done among the Yuki, though genei^ally a child takes its father's or grandfather's name. Thus Mil-choi-mil (I talk) was given to a talkative a
child
;
;
another was called Wo-nun'-nuli (Blue Head)
;
and another Mai-
el-hoat-meli (Big Legs).
The Yuki and intellect,
Indians.
the Wailakki are considered of a rather low grade of
and on the Round Valley Reservation they are the butt of the other
The common saying regarding
these two tribes
is
that
"they do
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. not want to
know
127
They both prefer against each other the who had no friends were dragged away
anything".
charge that, in old times, the dead
into the brush, or hidden in hollow logs, or barely covered with leaves, &c.
Hence the Yuki had few friends among their neighbors, except the Wailakki, and they had more intercourse with them than with any otliers, although
They joined Round Valley and North Eel River, and The a progeny called Yuki-Wailakki.
they occasionally fought each other with a hearty good-will.
about half-way bet^\'^en
territories
they intermarried, giving
rise to
Yuki were unrelenting enemies of the N6am-lak-ki (Wintun), and often fought them on the summit east of trees
up there and wait
Round
Valley.
N6am-lak-ki
for hours for a
They would climb come along, when
to
they would imitate the grouse, the California quail, or some other choice
They were
game-bird, and so lure them within arrow-shot. bitter against the whites,
their
squaws who went
The Yuki have
also especially
and seized an early opportunity to
to live
kill
disproportionately large heads,
mounted
cannon-
like
on smallish, short bodies, with rather protuberant abdomens.
balls
eyes are a
trifle
green- wood
under-sized, but keen
smudge
in
which they
swollen and horribly protruding. the nares expanded short,
;
and
restless,
live in winter
and from
and hence bushy-looking.
Their noses are
They
tlie
Their
execrable
they are not unfrequently stout, short,
and they have heavy shocks of
stiff,
and
straight,
bristly hair, cut
are variously complexioned, with-
out any perceptible law, from yellowish-buff to
They
any of
with them.
brown and almost
are a truculent, sullen, thievish, revengeful, and every
black.
way bad
Two of them from whom I attempted to get their numerals consider me bent on some devilish errand, and they lied to me so
but brave race. chose to
systematically that I did not get a single numeral correct.
most desperate persistence
where a
tribe
seemed
to
in pursuit of revenge.
to
was
the
told of an instance
have decreed that a certain offending pioneer and
hunter, formidable with the
them who were sent
I
They have
rifle,
must be
killed,
do the work, were one
and more than a dozen of after another slain
by
liim
before they accomplished their purpose.
On
the reservation at the present
piece of ground which
day the Yuki quarters are on a low
was once occupied
as a burying-ground, hence the
39
;
THE YUKI.
128 place
infested with miasmatic exhalations
is
gines were better sanitarians
they built their lodges
bench or
all
series of knolls,
when they had
to
They had
is
The
vmhealthy.
abori-
the control of these matters
around the edge of the valley, on the
and not on the plain
was of the Sacramento Valley from one
and
at
first little
Their assembly-hall
all.
order, dome-shaped, capable of containing
two hundred persons, thatched with grass and covered with
earth.
the mountain style of lodge, conical-shaped and built of poles,
bark, and puncheons, but often thatched in winter.
Most of the
tribes in
in their lodges, espe:.ually
Northern California use wood almost exclusively
on the Coast Range, and near the redwood
but in the coast valleys and on the great plains of the earth are used for roofing.
mia and blindness prevail
As a
partial consequence,
we
find that ophthal-
more than
in the latter region
belt;
thatch and
interior,
in the former,
on
account of deficient ventilation.
There have been various estimates of the aboriginal population of
Round
Valley.
I
am
set foot in the valley,
At
5,000 souls.
Sam. Kelsey, the
told that
and a man accustomed
this figure there
first
American who ever
to Indians, estimated
would have been one Indian
acres in the valley, or IGO to the square mile
!
And
to
yet this
is
it
at
every four not at
all
improbable, because the Indians lived wholly in the valley (except for brief seasons in the summer), while they had usufructuary possession of a vast
circumjacent area of mast-bearing forest, besides
On
streams.
the
many
same reasoning, the above conjectural
must by no means be applied
miles of salmon
rate of j^opulation
to the great, naked, arid plains of the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin.
As
the Yuki were so often involved in war, martial matters necessarily
engage a great deal of their attention, and occupy a large part of versation. rate.
Mrs.
Their customs and usages in
Dryden Laycock, one
described to fantastic
and
me
of the pioneer
women
terrible spectacle.
The
warriors to the
little
naked (though
costume consisted of
;
of
Round
Valley,
a Yuki war-dance, that she once witnessed, which was a
hundred assembled behind a
cloths)
their con-
were quite elabo-
this direction
their aboriginal
hill,
number of
several
where they stripped themselves little
else
but breech-
then they smeared their bodies with pitch or some other sticky
W A R DANCE— BATTLES. and sprinkled on
material,
they
lieads
bows and arrows, and
their
eagle-down from
^vhite
bushy })lumes and eoronals of larger
j)ut
On
tip to toe.
Then,
feathers.
their
seizing*
slinging their quivers over their shoulders they
rushed over the brow of the
and down upon the plain
hill
disorderly throng, uttering unearthly yells ishing their
129
weapons above
and chanting
their heads,
in a
wild and
and whoops, leaping, and brandtheir war-songs.
Before a battle takes place the heralds of the two contending parties
meet on neutral ground and arrange the time and place of the
The night
before going out they dance
the warrior possesses a wide elk-skin belt he ties
but otherwise he
vitals,
warrior
is
the
is
About
quite naked.
complement of ammunition
it
around him
to protect his
The Wailakki, on
for a raid.
The body
wide enough to shield two or three men. to
inconmiode the warrior in
turns his
back
to
it,
battle,
of the skin
It is
is
stiff",
may
strike
him
in the legs
he ducks.
the battle-field at daybreak. is
be
stung by a yellow-jacket,
If a it is
is
left
so as not
his friends, if
they choose, screen
They time
their
Yuki stumbles and
a bad
it
or around
an arrow^ coming so low that
omen
;
march
falls
it
so as to be at
on the march, or
he must go home, or he will
killed.
During the
battle
they simply stand up in masses in the open ground or
amid the chaparral, and shoot of
and
and wdien he sees an arrow coming he
and two or three of
If the shield- bearer sees
it.
the
and tough,
worn on the back,
themselves behind his shield, at the same time shooting over the sides of
If
three hundred arrows to the
other hand, wear shields of tanned elk-skin, which are very thick
and proof against most arrows.
conflict.
night to inflame their courage.
all
them expressed
on the
field
it;
at
each other until they "get enough," as one
then they cry quits and go home.
If
any dead
are left
both parties return afterward and carry them away and bury
them (they burn only those not invariable)
;
whom
but a pioneer
they do not honor, though
states that
he has seen Yuki dead
this rule is left
on the
a prey to beasts and birds.
fleld,
The Yuki say
that they never scalped white men, but they take scalps
from Indians.
When sleep
;
the
men
are absent on a
war expedition the women do not
they dance without ceasing, in a
circle,
and chant and wave wands
THE YUKI.
130
They say
of leaves.
y
AVhen they return they join
the time".
Eacli
that of the Avonien.
woman
flour over him, to
and waves a wisp of leaves over him
ing,
rain falls in
to
come
keeper turns her mind to a good her
''
groom and
rest him,
to cool him.
autumn enough
and the angle-worms begin
all
in the dance, in a circle within
behind her own husband, and she wets
is
him with water, and sprinkles acorn
When
dance
their luisbands ''will not get tired if rfiey
thorough soak-
to give tVie earth a
Yuki house-
to the surface, then the
Armed
basket of worm-soup.
woman-stick," the badge of her sex
— which
is
with
a pole about six feet
long and one and a half inches thick, sharpened and fire-hardened at one
end
— she seeks out a piece of
rich,
moist
soil,
and
the pole into the ground about a foot, she turns
and so
tion,
numbers
agitates the earth that the
for a radius of
two or three
them home, and cooks them which
celli,
is
much esteemed by
After this lickerish mess
is
the
and
good
work.
around
worms come
feet around.
into a rich
sets to it
fiat
hair,
She gathers and
oily soup,
tlie
carries
an aboriginal vermi-
wife's family.
eaten, perhaps she discovers that the youngest
piece of stone and a sharp-edged bone
while with
Thrusting
every direc-
to the surface in large
boy's hair needs cutting, and she brings out the scissors.
a
in
bone she haggles
;
the stone
This consists of is
held under the
Then with a
off as best she can.
it
coal of fire she evens off the ends around quite nicely.
Tattooing
is
done with pitch-pine soot and a sharp-pointed bone.
the designs have been traced on the skin, the soot Fig. 11
is
rubbed
After
In
in dry.
another place the reader will find a series of tattoo patterns employed
by
different tribes.
Candidates for the degree of M. D. pass their competitive examination in
assembly
tlie
liall
—an
examination more severe than the contention
between Doctor Clierubino and Doctor Serafino Salern
".
It consists
*'
the great School of
simply of a dance, protracted through day and night
without cessation, until they
all
fall
then admitted to practice the healing
One method
in
of procedure
is
utterly exhausted except one,
is
art.
as follows
:
The
i)atient is
ground stark naked, face upward, and two doctors take his feet,
who
one directly behind the other.
placed on the
their stations at
Striking up a crooning chant, they
;
THE POISON DOCTOR.
131
down the unfortunate individual with their legs advancing by infinitesimal jumps all the way up to his
hopping- up and
commence
astride of him,
backward
head, then
to his feet
—both
keeping close together and hopping
in regular accord.
The The
''poison doctor"
hereditary
office is
member
the most important
is
a
;
little
child
is
of the profession.
prepared for holding
it
by being
poisoned and then cured, which in their opinion rendei'S him invulnerable
Of course
ever afterward.
will
it
be understood that a great part of
tliese
supposed cases of poisoning are merely the creation of their suj^erstitious
They
imaginations.
are
somewhat homeopathic
in their practice
cure poisoning with poison, expel a cold with cold water,
by
of a white
and
cepted, tliirty
woman volunteered man who was friendly
where a
related
at the
with the
tails,
;
woman
to the
was
proposition
by
fiber,
a train of about
a beautiful wild-cat skin robe tasseled
gay
feather in the end of
tall
it.
eagle feathers,
She carried
simulated great effort in drawing out
down and
while she ejected a
flint
and assured the
humbug, so
in
She was described
Walking round and round the
to the children of the sun.
wound and
course),
ac-
she was dressed sumptuously in fringed leggings,
with her attendants, and chanting, she repeatedly apj^lied her
P^inally she stooped little
Her
middle to tremble with her motions.
witli a
is
of a majestic presence, graceful with that unstudied cliarm
which belongs })atient
in the
wand
entitled
instance
an arrow-point from the body
and a rich otter-skin bandeau, supporting
which were cut her hand a
to extract
to the Yuki.
appointed time she arrived followed
female attendants
a tlu-ead petticoat of milkweed
as a
An
but they expect and generally receive presents.
to a fee,
They go
etc.
Female doctors are not absolutely
the rule, no cure no pay.
they
;
transparent,
applied her lips to the
tlie
wound
;
and
from her mouth (previously placed
man
he would
and yet
now
so insinuatingly
wand
arrow-head.
speedily recover.
a
after
tliere
For
of
this
and elegantly administered,
she expected no less a present than a gayly-figured bandana handkerchief
and
five
pounds of sugar.
When but
if
their
own
friends fall sick they give
an old person has no blood-relations he
attended.
Public
spirit is
a thing unknown.
them
is
sufticient attention
generally
left to
die un-
THE YUKI.
132 There
by
the
is
phenomenon among-
a curious
the CaKfornia Indians called
and by the Pomo
i-tva-musp (man- woman),
Yuki the
heard of them elsewhere, but never saw one except in
was a human
beino- in the
Yuki
villai2^e
and was tattooed (which no man
have
I
class.
There
this tribe.
on the reservation who wore a dress
but he had a man's (querulous) voice,
is),
and an unmistakable thoug-h very short and sparse whisker.
At
my
in-
stance the agent exerted his authority and caused this being to be brought to headquarters
and submitted
the fact that he
was a human male without malformation, but apparently and
destitute of desire
performed
all
He
virility.
lived with a family, but voluntarily
the menial tasks imposed upon a squaw, and shirked
tions appertaining to a
Agent Burchard informed me
man.
at one time four of these singular beings
and Charles Eberle, a pioneer, stated
When
Quien sabef
away
that they do
it
when
func-
that there were
that, in his opinion, there were, in
questioned about
but
;
all
on the Round Valley Reservation,
Yuki
early day, as high as thirty in the
the matter
This revealed
medical examination.
to a
it
Why
tribe.
do they do
an
this
?
the Indians always seek to laugh
pressed for an explanation they generally reply
because they wish to do
or else with that mystifying
it;
circumlocution peculiar to the Indian, they answer with a long rigmarole, of which the plain interpretation
moves them his heart
to
do
which
it,
tells
or, as
him
to
women
that, as
do
it.
phenomenon
:
;
still
a kind of order of priests or teachers.
;
This
last
Others
among
the
men-women once to the Mis-
Yuki have been known
devote themselves to the instruction of the young tales.
it is
theory has some ap-
Sonon>a County and "preached"
sion Indians in Spanish.
legends and moral
another, that
another, that they are set apart
pearance of confirmation in the fact that one of these to
burning in
feels a
one, that they arc forced to
as a penalty for cowardice in battle
went down from Pit River
spirit
There are several theories advanced by
done as a punishment for self-abuse {IS
a Quaker would say, the
an Indian would say, that he
the whites to account for this dress like
is,
They have been known
by
the
to
narration of
to shut themselves
up
in
the assembly-hall for the s[)ace of a month, with a few brief intermissions, living the
life
of a hermit, and spending the whole time in rehearsing the
tribal history in
a sing-song monotone to
all
who
chose to
listen.
;
BUlilAL—ANNIVERSARY DANCE. Ncvertlieless, I consider
simplest this
—namely, that
unnatural
lite
manhood; and
tlie
Indian explanation the best, because the
this folly is
all
133
voluntary; that these
men
choose
merely to escape from the duties and responsibilities of
tliat tlie
whole phenomenon
ilhistration of that strang-e capacity
is
to
be regarded as another
which the California Indians develop
doing morl)id and abnormal things.
for
The
Pit River Indians
mon-women
have a regular ceremony for consecrating these
chosen
to their
life.
When
an Indian shows a desire to shirk
1ms manly duties they make him take his position in a circle of fire, then a bow and a ''woman-stick" are offered to him, and he is solemnly enjoined
in
the ])resence of
tlie
ever afterward to abide
From
witnesses assembled to choose which he will, and
by
his choice.
the outrageous character of this tribe, wliite
about their religious beliefs and ideas. Great the
]\Ian
first
of the Yuki
man
in
it.
But
mythology this
;
Tai-ko-mo
men know very is
name
the
little
of the
he created the world and was himself
42
has probably been ingrafted from the Christian
story.
The Yuki bury feet
dead
their
in a sitting posture.
deep sometimes, and at the bottom of
recess in
which the corpse
There
is
is
it
They
''coyote" under,
dig a hole six
making a
little
deposited.
an anniversary dance observed by them called the green-corn
dance, though this manifestly dates only from
taught them to cultivate corn.
period
tlie
The performers
when
the Spaniards
are of both sexes
;
the
men
being dressed with a breech-cloth and a mantle of the black tail-feathers of eagles,
cumbering the arms of shells,
hop
down
reaching from under the shoulders
etc.,
to the
;
to the thighs,
but not en-
while the squaws wear their finest fur robes, strings
and hold gay-colored handkerchiefs
in their hands.
music of a chant, a chorister keeping time with a
The men split stick
but the squaws, standing behind their respective partners in an outside cle,
cir-
simply sway themselves backward and forward, and swing their hand-
kerchiefs in a lackadaisical manner.
Thievery the thief
is
sly
is
a virtue with them, as
enough not
often treat their
women and
it
was with the Spartans, provided
to get caught.
Turbulent and choleric, they
children with cruelty, whereas most California
43
THE YUKI.
134
They were
Indians are notable for their leniency.
deadly feuds among
frequently involved in
themselves, and were seldom off the war-path in former
and domestic Pomo being their constant victims. woodman related to me a small circumstance which illusremarkable memory of savages. One time he had occasion to piece of labor in a certain wood where water was very scarce,
times, the pacific
A
veteran
trates the
perform a
and where he was grievously tormented with have seen a worth
little
his while
without success,
thirst.
He remembered
spring somewhere in that vicinity, and he considered
under the circumstances
when
there
search for
to
came along a Yuki woman,
it
to
years, and, like himself, probably
it
two days, but
whom
he made
Although she had not been near that place
mention of the matter.
to
for six
had never seen the spring but once, yet
without a moment's hesitation or uncertainty she led him straight to the
Probably there
spot.
is
no other thing
in this country, so arid
through the
long summer months, of which the Indians have better recollection than of the whereabouts of springs.
THE YUKI DEVIL.
On
who was so thoroughly bad in every respect that he was generally known by the sobriquet of The Yuki Devil. He committed all the seven deadly sins and a good many more, if not every day of his life, at least as often as he could. One time the reservation there once lived an Indian
he wandered
by
off a considerable distance
from the reservation, accompanied
two of his tribal brethren, and the three
dered three squaws.
fell
They were pursued by
upon and wantonly mur-
a detachment of the garrison,
overtaken, captured, carried back, manacled hand and foot, and consigned to the guard-house.
break
In some inexplicable manner the Devil contrived to
his fetters asunder,
and then he
tied
them on again with twine
in
such fashion that when the turrdcey came along on a tour of inspection he perceived nothing amiss.
Being taken out
soon afterward, he seized the opportunity to
some purpose or other wrench off his mamicles and for
He was speedily overtaken and brought down with a bullet, which wounded him slightly, taken back to the guard-house, heavily ironed, and
escape.
cast into a dungeon.
Here he feigned
death.
For four days he never
— THE YUKI DEVIL. swallowed could
l)e
;i
criiinl)
135
of iintrlineiit, tasted no water, breathed no breath that
To
(hscovered, and lay with every muscle relaxed like a corpse.
was dead, except that his bod}' did not become At last a vessel of water was placed on a table hard by, rij^id or cold. information of that fact was casually imparted to him in his native tongue, ;dl the attendants withdrew, the dungeon relapsed into silence, and he was all
human
perce})tion he
secretly watched.
when profound
After a long time,
prevailed,
stillness
and when the watchers had begun to believe he was in a trance at least, he cautiously lifted np his head, gazed stealthily all around him, scrutinized every cranny and crevice of table,
taking care not to clank his chains the while, took doAvn the pitcher
and drank deep and long. so
then softly crawled on all-fours to the
light,
They rushed
in
upon him, but upon the
fatuous was the obstinacy of the savage
shot,
was quite too thin
for
as if he
instant
had been
But he was now informed that
and again sinudated death.
terfuge
—he dropped
any
further purposes,
and as soon
this sub-
as the gal-
lows could be put in order the executioners entered and told him plainly that the preparations sign.
were fully completed for
duct him forth to the scaffold.
they
lift
hihi
He made
no
All limp and flaccid and nerveless as he
upon the platform; but
and exhibits no consciousness of is
his taking-off.
Then, half dragging, half carrying the miserable wretch, they con-
all
still
these stern
and grim preparations.
supported in an upright position between two soldiers, hanging a
burden on their shoulders;
his
head
is,
he makes not the least motion,
is lifted
up from
his breast
He
lifeless
where
it
droops in heavy helplessness; the new-bought rope, cold and hard and pj'ickly is coiled
about his neck, and the huge knot properly adjusted at
the side; the merciful cap
which shuts
off these heart-sickening preparations
from the eyes of the faint and shuddering criminal in perfect readiness.
The solenm
spectacle about to be enacted falls
upon the few
everything
is
is
dispensed with, and
stillness befitting the
spectators; the fatal signal
is
given; the drop swiftly descends; the supporting soldiers sink wdth
if
about
to vanish into the earth
and hide
awful
their eyes
it,
as
from the tragedy; with
a dead, dull thud the tightened rope wrenches the savage from their upbearing shoulders into pitiless mid-air, and the Yuki Devil, hanging there -without a twitch or a shiver quickly passes from simulated to unequivocal and
unmistakable death.
:
TUE YUKI.
136
THE In the
Some
Pomo language
CIIU-MAl'-A.
it is
a good commentary on our
zation that, in frontier parlance, "stranger"
but in the Indian tongues
hence ''enemy".
cJiu-mai'-a signifies ''stranger'',
remarked that
writer has finely
it
seems
to
is,
synonymous
civili-
witli "friend";
be generally tantamount
"enemy".
to
The Chu-mai'-a are simply Yiiki; the more "southerly bands of them, in Eden Valley and on the Middle Eel, south of Round Valley, are sometimes called the Spanish Yuki, because their range
them
in contact
with the Spaniards from
was southward and
whom
brought
tliis
they acquired some words
and customs. The}' and the Yuki were ever on the war-path against the peaceful and
Pomo, and
inoffensive
the brunt of their irruptions generally
on the
fell
Potter Valley Pomo, because the mountains here interposed slighter obstacles
At the head of Potter Valley the watershed
to their passage.
the pass
easy, so easy that
is
of civilized there to
is
mark
to this
lenge the their ends
it
Pomo and
this cairn.
could readily be traversed
;
is
very low and
by heavy masses
the summit, a rod or two from a never-fjiiling spring,
day a conspicuous
the boundary
caught beyond
on
On
troo})s.
it
and
if
cairn,
which was heaped up by the Indians
member
a
he suffered death.
of either tribe in war-time
When
the
Chumaia wished
to chal-
to battle, they took three little sticks, cut notches
in the middle, tied
If the
Pomo
them
in a fagot,
was
around
and deposited the same
took up the gauntlet, they tied a string around the
middle notches and returned the fagot to
its
Then
place.
the heralds of
both tribes met together in the neutral territory of the Tatu, a living at the foot of the pass,
little
and arranged the time and place of the
which took place accordingly.
William Potter, the
first
tribe
battle,
settler in Potter
Valley, says they fought with conspicuous bravery, employing
bows and
arrows and spears at long range, and spears or casual clubs when they came to a square stand-up fight in the
open
field.
They
frequently surged upon
each other in heavy, irregular masses.
The
following almost incredible occurrence was related to
responsible citizen of Potter Valley, and corroborated
whose names could be given
if
necessary
by
me by
a
another, both of
TUE TALE OF BLOODY KOCK.
137
STORY OF BLOODY KOCK.
became
After the whites be4,
Thomas in 1873. But it by Ben. Wright, even
petrated
frightful to contemplate,
not the province of this work to enter into
no more black and infamous massacres recorded
sioner
is
]\Iodo]v,
its details.
There are
in history than those of the
and that of General Canby and Commisis
well not to forget that the butchery per-
as related
by a
friendly countryman, was
92
;
THE MODOK.
254
v
committed under circumstances every whit as damning and treacherous as
and that the war of 1864, according
either of the above;
to the old chief
by
Skon'-chin, (an Indian universally believed and respected to this day),
was begun by the whites simply
The
of some horses.
Modok
victims of
dreds, along the old emigrant-trail
names
in retaliation for the loss
treachery ,^e in scores, ay, in hun-
which leads up along the east
Tule Lake, past Big Bloody Point and gestible
Bloody Point
Little
But, on the other hand, I have
!
the whites
—
side of
terribly sug-
more than once when
sit-
ting at the- fireside in winter evenings, listened to old Oregonians telling
how when
with laughter
out hunting deer they had shot
down a "buck"
and merely
for
amusement, although the
they belonged were profoundly
at
peace with the Americans
squaw
or a
let
at sight,
tribe to
which
After that,
!
us say no more.
The Modok were always
churlishly exclusive,
reciprocity with other tribes like the joyous inviting none to their dances,
having no cartel or
and blithe-hearted Wintun,
and receiving no
invitations in return.
In
they have hardly any merry-makings, chiefly the gloomy and trucu-
fact
and of death.
lent orgies of war, of the scalp,
of old
;
They were
like
Ishmael
hand was against every man, and every man's hand was
their
They
against them.
attained in early years to a great infamy as slave-
being the timid, simple, joyous races of
dealers, their principal victims
California, especially
the
Pit
River
(Klamath Lake Indians) are said
to
They and
tribes.
have got
the
Muk'-a-luk
their first stocks of
cayuse
ponies in exchange for slaves, which they sold to the Indians on the Co-
lumbia River, about The Dalles.
They have About 1847 forever at
vened
;
and yet less
a toughness of vitality which corresponds to their character.
the small-pox destroyed
150 of their number;
war with the Shastika and other
tribes
they were
until the whites inter-
and they fought two terribly decimating wars with the Americans in 1872
they were slowly increasing again.
numerous than the Shastika
;
but just before the
In 1851 they were last
great outbreak
they numbered about 250 souls, while the Shastika had only 30 or 40.
were
like the
In
when he signed the treaty, "Once my people sand along yon shore. Now I cnll to them, and only the
1864 brave old Skonchin
said,
DWELLINGS, ANCIENT AND MODERN— CANOES. Four
wind answers. with the wliltes let us,
;
only 80 are
and be friends
We
left.
And
forever."
For a foundation from 2
be good
will
out with rne to M ar the white
if
man
will
individually he kej^t his word.
Modok
to his dwelling- the
4 feet deep, then erects over
to
men went
Iniiulred strong- young-
255
it
excavates a circular space
a rounded structure of poles and
puncheons, strongly braced up w ith timbers, sometimes hewn and squared.
The whole is warmly co\ eredwith earth, and an aperture left atop, reached by a center pole. Before the coming of the whites secured them against and incursions of
the constant assaults
slighter, consisting g-enerally
overspread.
It
was not
the great, arid, volcanic,
it
Hence
some sluggish
lucid, fresh,
nomenon
should lose
make
was an object of prime importance
ply of water. lake or
the}'
desert stream,
it
geologically a part of
to the aborigines to get a sup-
Modok always
the lodges of the
stand beside some
and they were notably fond of the
and wholesome waters of Lost River
in this land of acrid
all their labor-
and sage-bush plains which sweep over the
northeast corner of California, and which
Nevada,
were
w^orth their while to build ver}' substantial struc-
marauding expedition
tures, lest in the next
On
their enemies, their dwellings
of a frame of willow poles, with tule matting-
—that
sage-bush and lye-burnt
Both sexes always dressed themselves w^armly
pel-
so singular phe-
soil.
in skins
and
furs.
For
gala robes they took large skins and inlaid them with brilliant-colored duck-scalps, sewed on in various patterns, forming very beautiful
if
rather
evil-smelling, raiment.
They formerly had rude and unshapely
" dug-outs",
affairs
generally
made from
the
fir,
quite
compared with those found on the Lower Kla-
math, but substantial, and sometimes capable of carrying a burden of 1,800 pounds.
Across the bow^ of one of these canoes a fish-seine was stretched,
bellying back as the craft was propelled through the water, until the catch
was
sufficiently large,
when
it
was
lifted
up and emptied.
In these canoes they also gathered the plant with a floating leaf very ter of
seeds.
which
is
much
ivo'-hus.
This
is
an aquatic
like that of the pond-lily, in the cen-
a pod resembHng a poppy-head, full of rich farinaceous
These are pulled
in great quantities,
and the seed thrashed out on
shore, forming an excellent material for bread or panada.
Americans some-
— THE MODOK.
256
v ^
fimes gather and parch them, theii.eat
a dish which
very relishable.
is
them
in a
bowl of milk with a spoon
forms a large source of winter provis-
It
ions for this tribe.
Another thing which
of
is
much importance in
their stores
or kes, a root about an inch long and as large bitter-sweetish is
and agreeable
a variety of cammas.
and
scatter
something
taste,
June they
Eai*ly in
With
near the edge of swamps.
squaw
like ginseng.
quit their
warm
is
the
Jcais,
finger, of a
little
I
presume
it
winter-lodges,
about in small parties or families, camping in brush-wood booths,
They
for the purpose of gathering this root.
munching
children are
find
in moist, rich places
it
a small stick, fire-hardened at the end, a
more
will root out a half bushel or
men and
one's
it
all
in a day.
day
—or
eaten raw
It is
—the
dried and sacked up for
winter.
They were formerly accustomed to cache large quantities of tvoMs and cammas in the hills for safe-keeping during the winter. Forty years ago or more, as they
on the level
an unprecedented snow,
relate, there fell
plain, so that for
many days and weeks
deep
7 feet
together they were
unable to reach the caches, and there came upon them a grievous famine.
They
ate
perished the
up
all their
rawhides, thongs, and moccasins, and would
all
have
had not happened that a herd of antelope, struggling through
if it
snow down
Rhett Lake, got upon the ice and broke
to
were captured, and
their flesh saved
one village alive to
in,
when they
the tale.
tell
In Lost River they find a remarkable supply and variety of
There are black,
and speckled
silver-sided,
trout, of
which
individuals are said to be caught w^eighing twenty-five
from
five to
twelve pounds
and appearance, time the
fish
and very
;
for they are
first
pounds
large, fine suckers, such
no bonier than ordinary
fishes.
;
fish.
two species buffalo-fish,
only in name In spawning-
run up from Clear Lake in extraordinary numbers, so that the
Indians only have to place a slight obstruction in the stream to catch them
by
thousands.
Herein
which the Modok tribes,
lies
felt for
one good reason for the passionate attachment
Lost River.
they had not, for that royal
rapids below I^ower
gravel suitable for
it
fish
spawn
in.
ascends the Klamath only to the
first
Above them there is no deposit of They do not smoke-dry for winter con-
Klamath Lake. to
But the salmon, king of the finny
BABY BASKETS AND FLATTENED SKULLS. sumption any considerable amount of purpose being" the small white
lake-fish.
pretty baby-basket of fine willow-
work, cylinder-shaped, with one-half of
back; hence the infant
saw
this
cut awa}' except a few inches at
it
,
intended to be set up against the wall, or carried on the
It is
lashed perpendicular in
is
and the other covering
in one end,
the principal kind used for this
fish,
The Modok women make a very the ends.
head
his
it,
Avith his feet
si)irally
standing
Fig.
In one I
like a small parasol.
canopy was supported by small standards,
strips of
257
wrapped
\vitli
gay-colored calico, with looped and scalloped hangings between.
Let a mother black her whole face below the eyes, including the nose, shining black of the nose
thrust a goose-quill three inches long through the
;
don her
;
and
close-fitting skull-cap.
septum
town with her baby-
start to
basket lashed to her back, and she feels the pride of maternity strong within
The
her.
little
fellow
is
wrapped
all
around
like a
but his head, and sometimes even that
visible
may sleep standing. From the manner in which
nmmm}', with nothing
bandaged back
is
tight, so
that he
occasionally results that forty-five degrees.
it
the tender skull
back on a
line
Klamath Lake Indians
the
is
all
it
at
an angle of about
I
have seen a man,
gone, the head sloping right
with the nose, yet his faculties seemed nowise impaired.
The conspicuous painstaking which baby-basket
thus bandaged back,
grows backward and upward
Among
years old perhaps, whose forehead was
fifty
is
Modok squaw expends on her And, indeed, the Modok are abundantly attested by many
the
an index of her maternal love.
strongly attached to their offspring
—a
fact
sad and mournful spectacles witnessed in the closing scenes of the war of
On
1873.
baby
efi'ects, it is
call
the other hand, a California
in a deep, conical basket, the
leaving
him
loose
totally devoid of it
and
squaw
in
It is
;
and one
among
carelessly sets her
often
which she If she
liable to fall out.
ornament
" the dog's nest
same
carries her
household
makes a baby-basket,
tribe, the Mi'-wok,
contemptuously
Indians like these that
we hear
of
infanticide.
One
ancient aboriginal custom observed
pretty and poetical rose.-
—
by
the
At early da} light, before any one had
come
Modok was
morning
rather
l)ofore
they
out of his wickiu]),
they
that of intoning an orison in the
96
:
'
258
THE MODOK.
y ^
all sat
up
in their
couches and chanted together, in the loud, harsh voice in
which they are accustomed
to sing,
some unmeaning chorus.
This was
me by N. B. Ball, a soldier of Capt. Jesse Walker's company in who listened to it one morning with a thrill of strange and superstiawe as he lay close on his face on the brdftv of an overlooking hill
related to
1854, tious
waiting for the daylight to reveal the nick in the sights of his tory to a charge on the
The Modok have
rifle,
prepara-
villa*ge.
a hereditary chieftainship, and are less democratic
and independent than the California Indians, though there reveals
A
occasionally a surly and intractable character.
casual observer cannot
perceive any great difference between the nobility and the
twenty years ago the Modok were
savages, while
now more
speak good English. is
;
B. F. Dowell, for instance, all
roving, hostile, barbarous
than half are loyal, very kind, and
Their " loyalty
nothing else but fear
'',
is
many
of
them
as with a great majority of Indians,
they are neither more nor
less
as savages, if anything less generous to one another
which
riffraff.
Indians improve in moral character after
It is often asserted that the
they become acquainted with the Americans. states that
itself
;
kind than they were
and m}^ observation,
not limited, gives painful proof of the fact that the younger and
English-speaking generation are less truthful,
And
than the old simon-pure savages.
less honest,
this is the
whose knowledge of the race has been gained by
and
contact.
In a lecture delivered in San Francisco, Hon. A. B. the following statement concerning
"Within the confines of
less virtuous
testimony of everybody
Meacham made
Modok marriages
this State
nearly
all
the
young women
are the
men have the money to pay for them. Remonstrance on the part of a young woman is out of the question, because she is threatened constantly with the spirit of her father. Young men all over the country have old wives. A poor j^oung man has not fifty horses, wives of old men, because the old
He
and he must take an old woman. old
woman
lygamy allowed.
is
;
but,
becoming
rich,
accepts the situation and marries an
he takes
to himself a
young woman.
Po-
many reasons why it should be spirit-land women are very small that
allowed, and the Indians give
They say
that in the
;
OLD WIVES they are scarcely
woman
that
known
YOUNG ONES— A
vs.
at all
man
that one
;
can take care of several female
lie
is
SUICIDE.
259
much
greater than a
so
spirits
that in this
;
life
he
requires one to keep house, another to do hunting-, another to dig roots.
Tlien the
women
to the idea of
Of the
themselves are opposed to any change, and are opposed
manning
unless they are bought."
California tribes, this assertion that the old
young men old
wives, and the
wives,
is
untrue.
It
men may
all
have young
be true of the
Modok I doubt if it is even partially true. Horses were not so numerous among the Modok that it required fifty to purchase a woman farther up in Oregon they may have been. Of their religion, he states that a new one had been introduced within tribes in
Oregon, but of the
;
a few years past.
The substance back
to
where
The
new
of the
there he ought to die.
central idea of this
religion
that wherever a
neighbors, the Shastika, to
live, die,
will
man
body
is
born,
will not
go
wander around.
by no means new it has always among the Modok, as well as their
is
been one of the most passionate desires
Some
is,
and both body and soul
originated,
it
religion
If he changes his habitation, his
;
and be buried where they were born.
of their usages in regard to the dead and their burial
may
be gath-
ered from an incident that occurred while the captives of 1873 were on their
way from
the
witness.
Curly-headed Jack, a prominent warrior, committed suicide with
a
His mother and female friends gathered about him and
pistol.
dismal wailing
by
Lava Beds
;
to Fort
Klamath, as
life.
her lap, and scooped the blood from his ear his heart,
these poor old
was described by an eyeset
up a
they besmeared themselves with his blood, and endeavored
other Indian customs to restore his
hand upon
it
and a
third
women whose
terrible in its sadness.
blew
grief
;
The mother took another old
in his face.
The
his
woman
head in
placed her
sight of the group,
was unfeigned, and the dying man, was
Outside the tent stood Bogus Charley, Iluka Jim,
Shacknasty Jim, Steamboat Frank, Curly-headed Doctor, and others who
had been the dying man's companions from childhood,
When
all affected to tears.
he was lowered into the grave, before the soldiers began to cover
the body, Iluka
Jim was seen running eagerly about the camp, ti'ying to bill of currency for silver. He owed the dead war-
ex(ihange a two-dollar
THE MODOK.
260 rior that
amount of money, and
would be of any use national currency
from one of the
!
had grave doubts whether the currency world
in the other
— sad
commentary on our
desired to liave the coin instead.
he cast
soldiers,
dead man's other
him
to
—and
lie
-
and seemed greatly
it in,
consisting of clothingj trinkets,
effects,
were interred with him, together with some rc^t-flour journey to the It
it
All the
relieved.
and a half
dollar,
as victual for the
spirit-land.
does not come within the purpose of this report to narrate the Indian
wars of California
;
only those incidents are selected which throw some light
on aboriginal customs, habits, and
and by the Hon. A. 97
Procuring
B.
Meacham
into their last terrible outbreak
restored to
life
and come
ideas.
It
was asserted by some
by a
dead were about
belief that their
to their assistance,
cans would be swallowed up in the earth.
and
writers,
Modok were
in his lecture, that the
at the
led
to
be
same time the Ameri-
This curious expectation pre-
vailed not only
among them, but among
in fact all over
Northern California, as far down as Lower Russian River
and American River, and perhaps
farther.
imparted to them the information that the top of
Mount
and
the Yurok, Karok, Shastika,
The Shastika
all their
Shasta, waiting a favorable
crow had
said a
dead were hovering about
moment
to descend.
The
Karok prophets announced that the re-embodied dead of their tribe were already on the march from the east, myriads of pigmies, coming to overthrow the Americans.
But the
I
do not believe
Modok into
this
the rebellion.
prophecy had any active inlluence
To
their credit, a great majority of the In-
dians refused credence to their soothsayers in this thing.
was
infinite talk
about
ter of superstition,
it,
as there
in driving
always
is
To be
sure, there
among savages about any mat-
but they took good care not to attempt any rash thing
against the whites in the expectation that they
would be sustained
the w^ar through the force of
—
pared and made inevitable by events long antedating
There
is
no doubt, however, that
influence over them, both before the stance,
when an
attack
in
The Modok simply drifted circumstances a war which had been
the timely arrival of the revivified dead.
was ordered
by
into
pre-
outbreak.
their sorcerers exercised a baneful
war and
to
its
it
after
it
was begun.
For
in-
be made on the Lava Beds by 400
"
:
;
INDIAN MILITARY ENGINEERING— CAPTAIN JACK. men, January
when
and a dense fog overhung the face of the earth
17, 1873,
Modok beheved
the time arrived, the
brouglit
it
aged and kept hearty
Of
were favorable
that the spirits
;
firmly that their sorcerers had
them, and they were encour-
to
in the fight.
consummate
the
and daring with which they fought, when once
skill
who
and conscientious correspondent, Mr. Bunker, Beds soon
whom I have no man versed in
military engineers with
emphatic in their opinion that
Lava Beds
selected a fortress in the
Where
than this same stronghold.
careful
famous Lava
apparent defect.
It is a fact that
talked upon the subject are military tactics could have
better adapted to the ends of defense
nature has not fulfilled the requirements
of the situation, the Indians have piled
fifty
visited the
they were captured, writes
after
The
A
both soldiers and civilians bear abundant testimony.
in the war,
261
up the
lava,
and
so
remedied every
no soldier could have climbed within
yards of the stronghold while the Indians were in possession without
looking into the muzzles of guns; and nothing but a gun would be seen.
Modok has surpassed all draws warm commendation from
The ingenuity neering
Every
skill
of the
picket-post
is
arranged to cover a
understanding.
Their engi-
the best talent in the camps.
.thoroughly protected from assaults
by
riflemen,
and
The avenues are even more complicated than Even the Modok could not trust to
retreat.
the labyrintliian streets of Boston.
memory
in this fortification,
marked by
bits of
wood
hero,
a better leader than they had.
and does not deserve
and lied Jacket.
A
to
!
Captain Jack was not a
be mentioned with Tecumseh and Pontiac
full-blooded
withstanding), born at the
localities
They could not familiarize them-
sizes.
two hundred yards square
selves with a pile of rocks
They merited
and as a matter of precaution had
of difterent
Modok
(all idle tales to
mouth of Lost
the contrary not-
Eiver, he entered the last great
struggle of his tribe about thirty-five or forty years of age, in the full
ma-
turity of his powers.
A man
about
five feet eight inches high,
compactly and strongly built
a large, square head and massive cheek-bones; hair parted in the middle, and reaching
down
to the shoulders,
eyelashes, but no beard
;
where
it
was cut off even
dark, piercing, sinister eyes
;
all
around
;
long
the thin lips of an
THE MODOK.
262 insincere
and cowardly man
—such
was
having an undecided and irresohite
air.
"
his physique.
At the
last,
command
to overcloud his fortunes, he signally failed to
and even
his followers,
than led the bolder
is
described as
when adversity began
in the height of his prosperity
the obedience of
he rather followed
spirits.
He had an evil record from the beginning,\a record showing his native He ascended to the supremacy only by rebelling against his baseness. lawful chief, old Skonchiia, and tribe
Mukaluk ;
to the worst elements of his
on the reservation.
Soon
up
by pandering
after
he
left
the reserve he
gambled with Captain George, a
he lost twenty-one ponies, then refused to give them
chief, until
because his following was the larger of the two, and
and, finally,
Captain George's was unarmed, he began to bluster, threatened George's life,
and
at last coolly
There
drove the ponies away.
no doubt that he originally opposed the scheme of massacre-
is
ing the commissioners, but he was overborne of his band, and he
become
weakly allowed himself
by to
the fiery
young
warriors
be led into the plot and
the chief actor in that perfidious butchery
;
and then,
in his
speech, he proposed that a relation should be executed in his stead
dying ;
and
when the proposition was rejected cravenly followed after General Wheaton Two to know if there was not yet a prospect that it would be accepted !
passages in his speech reveal the to die.
When
death."
And
I look at
this
Scarface Charley to
:
is
man he was
my heart
I
would
"It
:
like
is
terrible to think I
to live
till
have
I died a natural
"I always had a good heart toward
the white people.
a relative of mine
am, and
;
he
is
worse than
I
I
propose
make an exchange and turn him over to be executed in my place." John Skonchin, brother to old Skonchin, desperado that he was, should
go down war.
to posterity as the real chieftain
and moral hero of the Modok
He
In his last speech he pleaded not for himself
children, that they
of his brother.
young men. and
said
was
in force
:
might be tenderly cared
for
and given
pleaded for his into the charge
He expressed himself willing to die for the misdeeds of his He was much moved by the words of the "Sunday Doctor",
"Perhaps the Great
among
Spirit will say,
the whites, ha& killed you.'
'Skonchin, *
*
*
my
law,
which
You have
tried
BOSTON CHARLEY— MURDER OF THE COMMISSIONERS. the law
me and know whether
on
will try to believe that the President did
Spirit in
not
condemning me
Yon
die.
love of ter of
it
^
to die.
are doing a great
am
or not I
*
heart
]\|y
my
to take
tells
that Indian stoicism of
Thus
life."
which poets and romancers
who
only Indian of the four
mere boy
in years, but
perfectly smooth
;
him the
should
his natural
a
more
Boston Charley.
he alone manifested
;
tell
And, fiend-
us.
justice to say that he
and of a splendid physique
a head small and round
human being with
real, tlian
cool
;
little,
—there
women. with me.
fierce eyes, set
;
A
a face
deep in
it
and reckless unconcern, not feigned but
In his speech he said
'^Although I
:
am
a boy,
am a man. When I look at the others I feel When I die and go to the other world I don't want them to go I am not afraid to die. I am the only man in this room to-day." that they are
Speculating on the purpose the
Modok had
murdering the commis-
in
an ingenious writer advanced the theory
that,
judging the Ameri-
themselves, they believed that the death of our leaders
terror into the hearts of their followers,
Probably the motive
dismay.
was the
never went to the scaffold
I feel that I
by
I
did not die with a falsehood in his mouth.
tall, athletic,
and gleaming with a devilish expression
cans
me
but he went to his death without any weakness.
;
incarnate though he was, let us do
sioners,
l
contended with his philosophic calm, sometimes getting the Let-
life
Boston Charley displayed the nerve of a devil
a
*
*
according to the will of the Great
^
wrong
^
a good man.
263
must be sought from two
and cause them
for this to us almost
sources.
would
strike
to disperse in wild
unaccountable act
they doubtless considered
First,
it,
educated in savage ideas as they were, as only a righteous retaliation for the massacre perpetrated
by
Ben. Wright
many
years before, in which
Captain Jack's father and the fathers or near relatives of ished.
Second, there
Indian that
if
is
a sentiment dwelling in the breast of every brave
Boston Charley, and perhaps of one or two others,
unreckoning malice and hatred.
any of them expected by the deed continent
others per-
he can only destroy the greatest, or at least a very great
out of the enemy's camp, he will die in battle content.
unreflecting,
many
flight.
They had
lived
to
put
among
all
it
It is
In the case of
was undoubtedly not at
man
all
pure,
probable that
our hundreds of soldiers to in-
the Americans too long
and knew
THE MODOK.
264 them too well
They knew
for that.
There was a burst of
Wright did the same is
and the person of an
thing, the
the use of talking
very same
is
the simple reason that in a struggle for
when
But when Ben.
the ''code of warfare"?
In
day of Miles Standish,
many
times on both sides, for
civilized
men
Disguise
war has
sides
been on both
men,
that, since the
except a war of extermination. practically
all
to recognize as sacred,
are arrayed against uncivilized
ceases to be civilized warfare, or
life, it
bloody,
this
disregarded what
aHii)assador.
the "code of warfare" has been broken very
men
so far
thing,' in all essential particulars,
any more about
and painful truth
the plain
Modok had
have universally agreed
civilized,
to wit, a flag of truce
where
we ^n^w them,
on two continents when
indig-nation
treacherous thing was done; that the
fact,
us better than
were concerned.
as fighthig qualities
savage as well as
-
it
as
we may,
any other
that
is
kind,
what the
from the settlement of the continent
to this hour.
Notwithstanding their acts of barbarous ferocity there
something
is
melancholy in the whole history of the Modok.
Seceders in the
from the Mukaluk, they drew down upon
heads the bitterest hatred
of the parent stock,
who became
their
their irreconcilable enemies.
offshoot without hereditary presciiptive rights
regarded
by
all
outcasts
and outlaws
and a patrimony, they were
that in this fact lay the secret of
much
upon
Thus they be-
whole Indian world, and who
to the
place
Being an
the surrounding nations as interlopers, and warred
accordingly, as was the case with the Lassik in California.
came
first
shall
doubt
of the rancorous cruelty and im-
placable revenge with which they afterward always prosecuted their wars
Finally they came upon the great
enemy who
leveled
all tribes
him, and in two bitter, bloody wars, in which they saw their
?
before
young men
away before some strange and dreadful weapon, they were utterly broken down to the earth, and consented by treaty to go upon a reservation. melt
But unhappily
for
them
this reservation
was
situated on the ancestral soil
of their old enemies, the Mukaluk, and their troubles began afresh.
They
had been able before
tradi-
tional rights
to take care of themselves,
on Lost River
;
but
now
and had established
a second time they were taunted as
A SCRAP OF RESERVATION interlopers,
and they were helpless
to
HISTORY.
defend themselves.
that savai^^es are so inixenious to invent their lives
Their
women were
})unity
;
scoffed
heaten and insulted whenever
their springs
were shot
and
were made it
were whipped
;
way
In every
hitter to them.
could be done with im-
and streams were muddied or poisoned
their children
;
265
their ponies
;
themselves were stoned and
flouted.
Their brave and honest old chief Skonchin had given his word to the
Government,
in 1864, that
The
to the letter.
he would stay on the reservation, and he kept
and wails of
cries
his sorely-persecuted people
it
came up
to his ears as did the lamentations of the children of Israel in the desert to
Moses.
But he was helpless
to save them.
He
when they
reservation authorities for relief, and
could only appeal to the
did nothing he
was forced
therewith to be content.
Finally Captain Jack arose as a would-be deliverer.
he pictured and magnified
to the long-sufi*ering
Modok
In fiery orations
the griefs which they
knew all too well. He gathered about him a band of reckless young men who chafed under the restraints of the reservation. He made common cause with them and united them to his fortunes.
At length,
in 1870,
em-
boldened by the imbecility which reigned on the reserve, he struck camp
and boldly marched away, taking with him one hundred and
Modok
about three-fifths of the
He went down
fifty followers,
tribe.
Lost River, the ancestral home of his race, and re-oc-
to
cupied the rich grazing lands which the Government had sought to secure to the settlers
by
the treaty of 18G4.
Troubles continually arose with the
The
air
was burdened with
their complaints.
settlers.
become impudent and
insolent
farce of the reservation
;
management.
Herein lay the great and
fatal
mistake of the American authorities,
that they did not deal firmly with the savages. to
urge them to return
The Modok had
they had learned to despise the wretched
They
sent agents to
;
they wheedled, then they threatened again, and so on through inefiicient
and
fiircical
to
all
the
round which has generally characterized the deal-
ings of our reservations with the
Modok
them
they threatened, they coaxed, they made promises,
contemn them.
American Indians.
They
taught the
All their lives they have done nothing but read
"
THE MODOK.
266 faces,
and they are consummate judges of human nature.
when
there
is
weakness
in
In
fact,
that the this
whom
he
Xliey
They judged
the enemy's camp.
Father in Washington by the sons
^
know
well
the Great
sent.
Captain Jack w^ent back to the reservation once on condition
Mukaluk should not be allowed
abuse began again.
him
to insult
M
guarantee was not kept, the old course
Jack withdrew a second
But
as a coward.
ignominious taunts and
time, declaring he
would not
remain in a home which was no home, and with an agent who had no heart.
There were changes of agents and changes of
knew
not what to depend on.
Skonchin and
his faithful
They were
The Indians
policies.
disgusted and defiant.
hundred were removed
to a
new
Old
reservation at
Yainax, where they were out of the reach of their hereditary tormentors,
and were allowed
to live in peace.
But
this
change came too
late.
In a sudden spasm of vigor a detachment of thirty-five soldiers was sent to Jack's camp,
him by
surprise.
lighted,
and
alleled
it
and on the
fatal
29th of November, 1872, they took
There was bloodshed.
The torch of the Modok war was They fought with unpar-
flamed up with a fearful burning.
heroism for their homes, but were crushed
their fallen
chiefs
were held
to a stern
by
superior
which they had no hand or voice in making, and whose
had been
as
power
and awful accountability spirit
;
and
to laws
and substance
wantonly violated by the conquering race as by themselves.
;
CHAPTER THE The
same
valley,
Clm-ma-wa;
in
tribe
The
in
Hot Spring
is
name
first
from
es-ta-Jx',
is
is
on the
Valley, the Es-ta-ke'-warh ;
(also
in
Round
Valley,
called sometimes
derived from a-cho'-ma, "the
river, opposite
Fort Crook, are
simply and pre-eminently "the river"; other
streams have their special names.
geographical nomenclature so
;
"hot spring".
on the south side of the Pit River
called Il-ma'-wi.
;
Big Valley, the A-tu-a'-mih
and Estakewach
Another
of tribes, of which the
below Hot Spring, the Han-te'-wa
the Ha-mef-kut'-tel-li). river";
number
In Fall River Basin, the A-cho-ma'-wi
:
South Fork, the Hu-ma'-whi
the
A-CnO-MA'-WI.
Pit River Indians are divided into a
principal are the following
in the
XXYIII.
In accordance with that minuteness of
common
in California,
they are not content
with designating the river as a whole, but everj/ reach, every cataract, every bend, has a
name
to'-keh, the next
There
is
to itself
bend below
Thus a
little
rapid above Burgettville
is
Cho-
Lo-ka'-lit.
a remarkable difference between the physique one sees in
Hot Spring Valley and that in Big Valley, only twenty miles below. It is partly caused by the meager supply of aboriginal food in the former valley
;
partly the deplorable result of generations of slave-wars and slave-
Modok and the Mukaluk, and partly the result of the awful scourging given them by General Crook, and the deportation of the heart of the tribe to a distant reservation. The Hot catching prosecuted against them
by
the
Spring Valley Indians are the most miserable, squalid, peaked-faced, mendicant,
and mendacious wretches
their teeth project
I
ever saw in California.
forward into a point, and when their
are wrinkled tight over
them
like a
drawn
purse.
Frequently
lips are closed
When
they
eating there 2C7
is
99
TDE ACnOMAWI.
268 often
tlie
same
and
grin,
rapid, mumbliTig-
Squatted on
.squinvl.
tlieir
Nibbhng
he.
motion one
may
observusicians
this sweet,
I not.
have given to
weird piece of savage
melody WO'-LOK-KI AND YO'-TO-WI.
Wo'-lok-ki and Yo'-to-wi were
young
children
One morning
away
a hole
iii
flight,
many
The boy
and these children with others were
followed and revealed their hiding-place.
for the purpose,
little
and afterward
snugly packed on the
and was halted and
floor,
as
slightly searched
young
quails
lie
With
deer-skins, bear-skins,
by
and
the officers of the law, but nothing
the strange instinct of their race, the
move a muscle, but lay as when the hawk is hovering over-
suffered to proceed, but in another
town
it
was
more thoroughly, and the young Indians brought
was gently mulcted
away It
his
in the
sum
of SlOO, and the good citizens of the place
captives from him, and they
chanced that our
little
became ^^apprenticed" unto
hero and heroine thus passed into the pos-
session of a great philanthropist of those regions,
been mightily
He
lifted
up
it
be a prosecution of the kidnapper, and he
w^as necessary that there should
trade''.
others, all
For the vindication of the excellent majesty of American law,
to light.
!
fortune they were
huge saddle-bags, made
wagon, with a number of
in the chaparral
halted and searched again,
them
dog had not
captives did not cry out, or whimper, or
The wagon was
took
in a
and covered with
was discovered contraband.
head.
By some good
in a pair of
sister therein so
their
In passing through a town the wagon attracted suspicion,
other peltries.
still
if
away
one suspended on each side of the horse, with their heads
just peeping out;
young
and
the w^hites.
had, in ten minutes' time, torn
the chaparral, and hidden himself and his
first,
sister,
their native village, their
completely that they would not have been discovered
not separated, but were carried,
and
Ji^cquainted with
was made on
w^ere killed,
into captivit5\
Indians, brother
became
their tribe first
at daylight a foray
parents put to cai'ried
when
Konkau
whose voice had often
in denunciation of the infamies of this
"Indian slave-
kept them some time, and finally transferred them to a negro
barber in exchange for a stove, did
this philanthropist
keep them long, but sold them
$25
for
!
The barber did not
apiece, the usual price of
an Indian
THE RETURN OF THE CAPTIVES. boy
to another until seven or
had elapsed, and they were grown nearly
eight years still
Thus they passed from one
in those times.
280
to maturity; hut they
remained iinseparated.
At the end of
this period
they regained their liberty, and at once they
set out together to return to their native valley.
they traveled
for them, for
but at
afoot,
last
was many days' journey
It
they arrived in sight of the
By some means
news of
their escape
and return had preceded them, and the parents now learned
for the first
village wherein they
were born.
time that their long-lost children were
the
still alive.
The wanderers now approach the village. They enter, and are guided by friends to the paternal wigwam, for there are many changes since they saw the village last. Ascending the earthen dome, they go down the wellworn ladder in the center, and seat themselves without a word. The father and mother give one hasty glance
What
uttered.
at
them, but no more, and not a word
the exceeding great joy of their hearts
themselves alone
know
passionless faces, he
;
but from
is,
heaven and
the spectator can read in their
all
is
would not know that they had ever borne any
still,
chihh-en,
or mourned them for years with that great and unforgetting sorrow that
An
savages sometimes know.
hour passes away, and
still
not a word
is
The returned captives sit in motionless silence, while the father and mother move about the lodge on their various duties. An hour and a half is gone. The spoken, not even a single glance of recognition exchanged.
parent:] turn
now and
Two
children.
and bolder.
It is
now perhaps
yet not a whisper.
and savage
then a sudden and stolen look upon their waiting
etiquette
But is
They
them, they
three hours since the captives entered,
at last all the fullness of
rounded and complete.
aged father and mother are tears.
The glances become more frequent
hours or more elapse.
full
to bursting.
turn and speak to their children
fall
upon
their necks,
and
time of savage custom
The waiting
hearts of the
Their eyes are
by name.
and together they mingle
filled
They
with
rush to
their tears, their
strange outcries of joy, and their sobs.
To
the reader this niay seem extravagant and imi)ossible, but, with the
exception of a few minor particulars,
custom of this singular race.
it is
a true story, illustrating a social
In receiving a guest, the
Konkau
frequently
THE MAIDU.
290
-
Thk substance
wait two or three hours before they addi-ess him.
above story was related
me by
to
of the
an American, who was an eye-witness of
the captives' return.
LEGEND OF THE FLOOD.
Of
old the Indians abode tranquilly in the Sacramento Valley,
were happy.
was a nighty and
All on a sudden there
waters, so that the whole valley
The
can measure.
became
like the
Indiaifs fled for their lives,
Thus
all
swiftly after them,
fertility
many were
over-
Also, the frogs
and they ate many Indians.
drowned but two, who escaped
the Indians were
But the Great Man gave these two
man
Big Water, which no
but a great
taken by the waters, and they slept beneath the waves.
and the salmon pursued
and
swift rushing of
into the foot-hills.
and blessed them, so that the
From these two there sprung many tribes, even man was chief over all this nation a chief greatly
world was soon repeopled. a mighty nation, and one
known
—
inhabited
by
and over
in his
think
only:
and
his
knoll, turning over
waters, and he strove to
sleeps he lay without food, for
mind was always thinking of
did this deep water cover the face of the world'"?
the end of nine sleeps he for
Nine
the land.
knoll over-
that they covered fertile plains once
mind the thoughts of these great
his thoughts alone,
How
knew
Nine sleeps he lay on the
his ancestors.
how they came upon
he lived on
Then he went out on a
renown.
in the world, of large
looking the wide waters, and he
was changed.
He was no more
this
And
at
like himself before,
now no arrow could wound him. Though a thousand Indians should shoot
at him, not
Great
Man
one flint-pointed arrow would pierce his in heaven, for
skin.
He was
no man could slay him forevermore.
spoke to the Great Man, and commanded him to the plains which his ancestors
had inhabited.
let the
water flow
The Great Man away
rent open the side of the mountain, and the water flowed
like the
Then he off
from
did this; he into the
Big
Water.
The following legend Nevada County":
is
taken from Bean's ''History and Directory of
THE LION AND THE It
was a long time
ago.
A
CAT.
California lion
and
his
younger brother,
THE LION AND THE WILD OAT. wigwam
the wild-cat, lived in a bigfleet
From
grizzly, or the serpent that crawled
He had
His young brother was wise.
the earth.
was strong and
lion
than a match for most of the animals he wanted
But he could not cope with the
to eat.
on
He was more
of foot.
The
together.
291
a wonderful power.
a magical ball of great beauty he deiived an influence potent to
destroy
One day
together, the cat going before.
went out
was
the animals his older brother
all
''There
to hunt.
is
killed in like
his skin for
its
it
was a long time ago
a bear", said the
the bear, said, ''Die", and the bear
and he was
—
dead.
fell
A
magical power.
little
the snake and took along
two
farther on
beautiful deer were found feeding together.
—the two
The cat, pointing to They next met a serpent,
lion.
They skinned
manner.
They hunted
afraid of
l^irge
and very
" Kill one of these for your-
boy brother to his man brother, "but catch me the other The lion gave chase, and at night he returned to his wigwam. "Did you bring me back one of the beautiful deer"? said the cat. "No", Then the cat said the lion, "it was too much work; I killed them both." was sorry, and did not love his brother. They were estranged. The cat would not go out to slay the bear and the snake any more, and the lion self", said the
alive."
would not go out
for fear of the bear
One day
the snake himself
with the It
ball,
and, tossing
—
it
Then
never came down.
hunting has been poor ever of the magical ball. for his loss
water run
all
wished for the
The
saw
it
— the
lion
The
the
wigwam
bear and
was
playing*
go up and up, and out of
cat to
to
was disconsolate
wander It
alone.
sight.
and the
for the loss
He
sorrowed
Big
was a long time ago.
Humbug, and
aw^ay up to the
He climbed a tree by the water. By and by he saw a beautiful ball hanging, He picked it off. It was very pretty. He keep it so it would not get away. He went
wild-cat went north.
lost ball.
buckeye, on a limb. in the snake-skin to
along the shore of the big water
on the other side cooking. tlu}
to kill the
the deer scattered all over the earth since.
left
put
rolled over in
and learn
was a long time ago
to find the ball again.
like a it
cat,
around from " Lankee" Jim
high mountains.
He
He
and looked
it
up, he
He thought he would
and the snake.
use the magical ball of his brother, the
water.
It
till
The
he could see across
ball
jumped out of
went across the
river.
it.
Two girls were
the snake-skin
One
of the girls
and
came
THE MAIDU.
292
down But
it
stream to get some water in her basket, and k^^^ the beantiful
to the
ball rolling
and shining
would
tiful ball,"
roll
away.
The
sister
She
in the water.
She said, " Sister, came.
They
tried to dip
np
it
in
her basket.
come and help me catch this beaulong time, but finally caught
tried a
it
They were afraid it would get away. One held it for a time, and then th^ other. They were very glad. At night they put it between them in the *bed. They kept awake a long time and talked about* their prize. But at last they fell asleep. They woke in the morning the ball was gone there was lying between them a full-grown young man. And that was the first man that ever came on the in the basket.
It
was bright and very
pretty.
,
—
—
This was a long time ago.
earth.
CREATION AND FALL OF MAN.
K6-do-yam-peh, the world-maker, and Hel'-lo-kai-eh, the from the east
Kodoyampeh
to We-le-u-deh.
but Hellokaieh told him he could not do
and dared
it,
But Kodoyampeh repeated that he could do two smooth, yellow
him
at evening,
sticks {ijo-ko-lon-chd)^
and said they would turn
the night, but they w^ould not
by
had tm-ned him
if
he
waked up
his
felt
selves
felt
them on the bed beside
man and woman
during
day.
Through
to bed.
companion and asked him
it
if
the
the night
two
sticks
would not happen.
the night passed away,
He
his
and early
as his sister
eat.
in the
morning Kodoyampeh
Looking up quick, he saw a man and a
body.
rose from his bed, and
and then come and
woman
it.
man and a woman yet. He made fun of him, and asked them move about in the bed. But Kodoyampeh replied that
two touches on
woman.
liim to attempt
to a
he must not trouble him, or
Thus
laid
into a
So the world-maker and the devil went the devil often
came
So he went out and got
it.
and
devil,
would make a man,
said he
made them
When
and the man
get up and go bathe them-
Hellokaieh came
as his brother-in-law.
in
he claimed the
Kodoyampeh
suf-
fered this for the time.
Then sticks
the devil said to
Kodoyampeh
that
if
he would give him two
he would do the same thing, and create a
Kodoyampeh
man and
a
woman.
did so, and the devil took the two sticks and laid them beade
TUE WORLD MAKER AND THE DEVIL. on
liini
Many
his bed.
had appeared
yet,
times during the night
At
but saw nobody.
last,
293
looked
lie
to see if
about daybreak, he
Presently he was awakened by two lusty thumps in the
jumped up
quickly, laughing, and saw two
man
a
fell asleep.
when he
ribs,
women, one with two eyes
He asked each one in turn, ''Are you "No, I am a woman we are two sisters."
and the other with only one.
man"?
But each
Then
replied,
He
without a man.
said
;
was sorely perplexed, because he could do nothing
the devil
Kodoyampeh
a
asked
Kodoyampeh why he had
not succeeded, and
was because he had laughed, whereas he had expressly
it
charged him not to laugh. The devil answered that he could not help it when he got two such sharp digs in the ribs. He asked Kodoyampeh if he would not make a man for him, but he refused. Then he asked him at least to make him a two-eyed woman but Kodoyampeh said he could not ;
do
were dead.
until they
it
and women are seen
This, then,
is
After this Kodo3^ampeli sent on the earth the created to gather food from the face of
and
all
the
the earth
had been tame, so
among them and been
prolific
fish
him
foi'
man whom he had
air,
all
the
game
and the insects of
to reach forth his
Also the
his food.
hand
soil
had
to this time, 3delding all products,
acoms, manzanita ber-
and many kinds of rich grass-seed
for the sustenance of
he
saw"
nuts, seeds,
whom
he had made he
—of the game and the — these things he
and desired
and
berries
for all
One injunction only he laid upon him, and that was he should bring home to his house whatever he wished to cook, and for him.
the woods.
fire in
So the man went out
all
man had only
take whatever he wished
and the birds and the
not kindle a
him
that a
to take freely of all that
had created that
men
one-eyed
before this
So when Kodoyampeh sent forth the man
man. told
up
pine-nuts,
ries,
Now,
it.
the grasshoppers, the birds of the
fish,
why
the reason
world to-day.
in the
to
the
cook
in the
game and
when they saw More than that, acorns,
to catch
game, but the devil saw him and told
woods whatever he wished.
the
the
fish, all
smoke
the ground
in
And he
did
the grasshoppers, the birds, the woods,
was changed,
and the manzanita bushes no more
became
so.
Therefore
and the
so that the oaks }'ielded berries,
insects,
wild, as they are to-day.
no more
nor was there anytJiing
THE MAIDU."
294
man on
the food of
left for
and earth-worms. Also
the face of the earth, save Qnly roots, clover,
These three things were
Kodoyampeh changed
men had
that
all
the air so that
it
was no longer always the
same the year round, but now there was frost, and rain, and and drought, together with the pleasant days.
heat,
them
fire to
warm
to eat.
fog,
and wind, and
As a recompense he gave
themselves, whereas befor'evthey had had only stones to
He
press against their bodies.
established the seasons
—Kum'-men-ni
(the
rain season); Yo'-ho-me»-ni (the leaf seasonj; I'-hi-lak-ki (the dry season);
He
Mat'-men-ni (the falling-leaf season).
give them
any dances.
but he did not yet
to sing,
Before this time they had had no diseases and no
cooked and ate
deaths, but after they
also instituted the sacred ht'-ineh,
Konkau songs
the assembly-hall, and gave the
fever and pestilences, and
many
woods they became subject
in the
But Kodoyampeh
died.
told
them
to
that
if
they were good, at death they would go away to the spirit-land by the right-
hand path (yim'-dum-ho), which
away by
is
light
;
but
they were bad they would go
if
the left-hand path (dah'-Jcum-ho), which leads
away
into darkness.
LEGEND OF OAN-KOl'-TU-PEH.
An
old
man named
Pi-u'-chun-nuh, long ago, lived at We-le'-u-deh
(above Oroville near Cherokee Flat).
wholly on clover,
no acorns, no praying
nuts,
roots,
the river.
He
and earth-worms
no grasshoppers.
to hear a voice
prayed
;
went
oak and looked
to the
;
there
was no game, no
he prayed to the woods, and
in the assembly-house,
to see if
it
fish,
Piuchunnuh went about everywhere,
might hear a voice answering his prayer. to the
In those days che Indians lived
to the rocks,
and listened
if
But he heard nothing.
bore acorns, but
and
He went
had only leaves
it
manzanita bush and looked for berries, but
it
to
perchance he
had only
he
;
leaves.
He
brought the leaves in the house and he prayed three days and nights
but
still
no answer, no
Far away
to the north, in the ice-land, there lived
kut-wo-to-peh (the
great
Piuchunnuh resolved the
boy went
like a
;
voice.
to
one\
and Woan'-no-mih
send for them.
He
sent a
two old men, Hai'(the
boy
humming-bird, and reached the ice-land
These two old men lived
in a
death-giver).
to see them, in
house and they were asleep inside
and
one day. (it
was
in
;
THE TWO OLD MEN OF THE ICE-LAND. the daytime), each in his
—the
overhead
own
attic of the
295
bed, placed on poles which reached across
Their hair was so long that as they
wigwam.
The boy went in. The old men awakened and asked him what he had come for. He told them he was sent by Piuchunnuli to ask them to come to him. They asked him if he had no other errand. He said he had not. They knew all this before, but they asked The boy offered to wait and show the boy to see what he would answer. told him to go on back for they knew the way and them the way, but they would come alone. They told him they would be there that night that lay
reached
it
down
to the floor.
;
they must wait until evening before starting, because they never traveled in the daytime
and did not wish
be seen by an^^body.
to
So the boy started home, and as soon two old men got down out of
was
and put on
earth,
their
went out of the house the
and the noise of
their beds,
They shook
like thunder.
as he
their alighting
out their long hair which reached to the
mystic garments, and prepared for their flight to the
south.
overhead, each in his
homeward way like a humming-bird all day They asked him, "Did they let you "They were asleep in high beds placed on poles own bed and their hair reached to the ground.
Their house was
of all kinds of food
But the boy sped on long,
and
"Yes", he
in"?
his
he reached home.
at night
said.
full
;
berries, grasshoppers, dried flesh
cooking."
When
said further,
in
voice.
he shall
must be
it,
and
all
If
any
light
is
That night
was made
with ashes
acorns, pine-nuts, manzanita
"They
will
come
women and no
to-night at midnight.
silent
and dark.
;
the old
There must be no
made and any one beholds
all
the old Indians
at
lest it
it
light
those two old
one side of
came together
men and
men
it,
should give a
but when
it
burned low
They came
out of
it
A
was covered over
light. left their
home
Their house was not like a house at
mountain.
into the assembly-hall
looking and waiting for the two old men.
That night the two old men land.
—
but there were no
;
die."
but some were on top of fire
fish
they come the assembly-house must be ready for them
must be no
And he
and
it
and
all,
in the far north, in the ice-
but
it
was
like a little
set their faces to the south,
low
and they
THE MAIDU.
296 sped on their
home
way
humming-bird; and
like a
They
of Piiichunnnh.
Indians were assembled
"
at midnigiitjhey
and, as they touched the top of
;
reached the
alighted on the assembly-house wherein the
opened and
it
it,
who were within beheld The}^ cried Qut, "Make room for us", and an open spaed \before the fire. And when
parted asunder in every direction, so that those the blue heavens and the stars.
they came down and stood in they
lifted
a tree
up their voices
to
speak the house was
The
of singing blackbirds.
full
full
of sweet sounds, like
heart of Piuchunnuh
was
filled
with joy.
One which
of the old
men had
in his
others since have been
all
hundred cocoons, dry, and
this,
and when
it is
modeled
—a
this rattle
spirit of
shaken your songs will sound
when Piuchunnuh had prayed, he had
waved them.
stick
whereon were
tied a
He said to
them,
with you, and
The
show you.
But the old men
said,
"The
be made
let it
sweet music
it
Have this them or when
leaves are not good.
was Woannomih who uttered
tofore
all
not so eloquent, but he stood behind
Woannomih further
put a word in his mouth.
you have
let all
your boys grow up
after
in this
Always before
better."
with you when you pray for acorns, and you will get you pray for grasshoppers, and you will get them. The leaves no fruit when you pray with them."
Now,
is
held leaves in his hand and
rattle
man was
from
rattle (sho'-Jo-yoh),
of acorns and grass-seed.
full
"Always when you sing have the pattern which I noAv rattle,
hand the sacred
these words
;
will bring
the other old
Woannomih and sometimes said to
Piuchunnuh, "Here-
like a wild tree in the
you have taught them nothing; they have gone
;
their
own way.
mountains
;
Henceforth
you must bring every youth, at a pi-oper age, into your sacred assemblyhouse, and cause him to be initiated into the ways and knowledge of man-
You
shall teach
him
to
which
I shall ordain in
my
honor."
dances
among the Konkau, nothing but we shall teach and instruct you.
hood.
nights
worship me, and to observe the sacred dances
voice in this house or 3^ou will listen.
We
need no light
;
die.
we have
your hearts; you need neither
to see
(Before this there had never been any songs.)
He
further said,
There must be no
light
Three nights you must be light in us.
You
nor to touch us."
shall
"Three and no
silent
know
and
us in
THE TEACHINGS OF VVOANNOMIH. Thus
two
for
chuunuli was
full
they taught the Konkau, and the heart of Piu-
nig-lits
of joy continually so that he could not utter
the third niglit, before the old Indians
come
But on
it.
together, there crept into full
of
Standing outside of the house they had overheard some of
mischief.
Woannomih's words, and they some pitch-pine and make a see
said one to another,
light in the night
what they look
and so did they.
hearts
liad
whose hearts were black and
the assembly-house two wicked boys,
men and
297
;
"Let us get
we can
then
in
and take
see these old
Thus they wickedly devised
like."
in their
Secretly they crept into the house and carried
with them some pitch-pine.
In the fire
niglit
when Woannomih was
and threw on the pitch-pine, when suddenly the house was
a strong light, and the old
had on
their
men
stood out plain in the sight of
heads woven nets {ho-noang' -wi-la j covered
of abalone-shell shining like the sun ch
'i)
talking these boys raked open the
of black eagle's feathers reaching
edges
shell-spangled breech-cloths
;
moccasins
{slw'-loh)
abalone-shell.
over with bits
they wore long mantles {ivu'-shwi-
;
;
buckskin
tight leggings of
deer; in another, antelope,
and they shone
his office to stand
They
stood revealed
like fine obsidian.
on top of the assembly-house
claim the approaching dance to the villagers. speech, he stood behind
the house.
to the
ground
;
but
Piuchunnuh covered
it
light,
in the
when
Also,
him and repeated
AVhen he saw the two boys making the and flung them
and low
in another, grasshop-
;
etc.
Near Piuchunnuh there was standing a harlequin or herald was
;
covered with red woodpecker's scalps and pieces of
in clear, bright colors,
it
with
They
below the knees, with acorns around the
Their flesh was salmon in one place
per; in another,
all
filled all.
all
his
{pe'-i-pcli)
made a
his chief
words
to the
people.
he grasped them in his hands
was too
late,
the light flamed vq) in
his face with his hands, so as not to
Woannonnli, and he groaned aloud a groan of
;
evening and pro-
behold
But Woannomih spoke quietly on a moment more: "Keep the sacred dance-house, as I
have told you, while the world endures.
honors.
and not hills
be
Keep
the sacred rattle
in the daylight. full
bitter despair.
Never neglect
and the dances.
Worship me
In the daytime I will none of
of acorns and nuts
;
your valleys
my rites
it.
and
my
in the niglit,
Then
sliall
your
shall }'ield plenty of grass-
seed and herbs
be
"
THE MAIDU.
298 ;
your
Then he ceased and went up
heaven
restrained her curiosity, but if
and
When
noon there
;
they lay
the still
There wa^valso a woman who had not
had groped about the house, feeling with her
men
She
also fell on the
died.
The people went out rejoiced.
Very soon
were stricken with death
fire
perchance she might touch the two old
floor quickly
rose through the roof,
Qii-jpi-ning' hoy-o-di').
and breathed no more.
floor,
men
speaking, and the two old
to the valley of
two boys who had kindled the
hands,
of salmon, and y^our hearts shall
full
Farewell."
rejoiced.
on the
be
rivers shall
fell fire
and washed
in the morning,
the sun was
their bodies,
up they took food and were
out of the sun upon the village, and burned
uttermost house, and
all
up
it
and
But
glad.
at
to the
the villages of that land round about, and all the
men, women, and children, save Piuchunnuh alone. covered his face with his hands when the
fire
Pie escaped because he
was kindled by the two boys,
but he was dreadfully burned, almost unto death.
Now, long before
all
these things happened, there lived at Ush'-tu-
ped-di (near Chico) a tribe of Indians whose chief was Ki-u-nad'-dis-si.
But Hai'-kut-wo-to-peh, one of the two old men of the north, came down and gambled with him.
They
two marked.
the players held If
lie
They had
rolled
four short pieces of bone, two plain and
them up
up one of them
in little balls of
in each hand,
matched them, he counted two There were sixteen
counted one.
got the sixteen he was winner.
;
if
dry grass
then one of
;
and the other h6ld up
his.
he failed to match them, the other
wood
bits of
and when one
as counters,
Haikutwotopeli used a trick
his
;
arms were
hollow, and there was a hole through his body, so that he could slip his ])ieces across
wished peli
from one hand
to bet
to the other
and win every time.
bows, arrows, shell-money,
etc.,
as usual
would not bet anything but men and women.
whole
tribe
;
Kiunaddissi
but Haikutwoto-
So he won Kiunaddissi's
from him, and carried them away to the north, to the
Tliere remained only Kiunaddissi, his daughter, and an old
So Piuchunnuh went down
to
ice-land.
woman.
Ushtupeddi, and abode there, because
they spoke the same language as himself
He
taught them
all
the things
BIRTH OF OANKOITUPEH. wliicli
Woannoniih had
299
and they observed them, and had plenty
told him,
of acorns and fish to eat, and were happy.
One
day, as the sun was setting, Kiunaddissi's daughter went out and
saw a beautiful red
cloud, the
most lovely cloud ever seen, resting
bar along the horizon, stretching southward.
come and
''0, father,
went back
He
see this beautiful cloud!"
house they heard, right in their
into the
the sweetest music
She cried out
man ever
heard.
It
continued
did
ears,
all
gather clover to
seemed
into the plain to
While picking the clover she found a very pretty
eat.
After gazing at
wonder, she turned to look at her basket, and there beside
who
Red Cloud),
was called Yang-wi'-a-kan-tih (the
resplendent to look upon that she was abashed
I love
If
you
;
you see you love me look
last
night
;
;
you love me, take and
me at
man knows
stranger.
Then
afraid."
all
she said,
away in But when
returned to her, behold she had given birth to a son
And
abashed, and Avould not look in his
full
but she was
air,
a swoon,
girl fell
and lay a considerable time there upon the ground.
fixce,
He
"
the pinole vanished in the
Thereupion the
whither.
and
is setting.
eat this basket of grass-seed pinole
touched the basket, and in an instant
going no
be not
;
man
other
hung down
am not a
every night Avhen the sun
me
awhile
it
stood a
so bright
she modestly
;
said to her, " I
But he
her head and uttered not a word.
it
who was none
He was
than the cloud she had seen the day before.
You saw me
they
to them,
tell
arrow, trimmed with yellow-hammer's feathers. in
a
the time without stop-
what caused it. Next day the daughter took a basket and went out and none of them could
ping,
When
so.
it
like
to her father,
man
the
the girl
was
of great joy
And Yangwiakanuh was glad when he looked at the babe, and he said to her: You love me now that is my boy, but he is not of this world. You were born in Ushtupeddi your father was born in Ushtupeddi. I know all that, but this, my son, is not of this world."
because of her new-born son.
;
;
Then he placed
the babe in her basket,
ons which arc used
saw
it.
come
And forth
lie
by
Indians
said to the
mother again
from the basket.
have power over
all,
and with him he put
—bows, arrows,
He
shall
:
weap-
—but no man
''In less than five days he shall
be greater than
and not fear any that
in also all
spears, slings
lives.
all
men
;
he shall
Therefore shall his
name
THE MAIDU.
300
Whenever you
be Oan-koi'-tu-peh (the Invincible). This boy has no
Then to
go
his
me
apart from
life
mother took
he
;
which the babe
this basket, in
to her father's house,
see him, think of me.
myself."
is
but when she had gone a
and started
lay,
little
way
she turned
to look back, and behold Yangwiakanuh was gone out of sight, and no man ever saw him more. She took her babe home, and secretly went into the assembly-house,
and hid him
bug on
of a
the wall.
But the
behind the great basket of acorns.
in the basket
was quick with
child's heart
and the beating of
life,
When
was
like the ticking
Kiunaddissi, the child's grandfather, heard
the noise, he said to his daughter, ''What noise
At
such a noise as that before."
it
that the girl
that?
is
I
never heard
was greatly ashamed, but
she held her peace.
On
the fourth night Kiunaddissi
house, and there was a hot it,
and
fell
upon the basket
fire
in
made
a sacred dance in the assembly-
A
of willow- wood.
coal snapped out from
which was hidden the young
man
through the basket, and the child came forth a
child.
It
burned
grown, and came
full
down and stood upon the floor. He knew his grandfather, and called him by name. But the old man was overcome with astonishment. He ran and called to his daughter, saying,
here
;
he
me
calls
"Come
grandfather, but I
came
in all haste,
knew
the five days were not expired,
When
child.
not
my
to
know
me
quick; there
and she feared
the lad spoke to the old
My
man
evil
He
full of joy.
He
to
them
sat there
took note of
beasts, the diseases, the fatal
and he said
meant
all
"You
are
out,
"My
;
all
he looked
my
son!
his face
around
all
son!"
and hands, ;
he
knew
the deadly snakes, the deadly
quagmires wherein men sank and perished,
that all the
men who had
other times had gone to the land of good Avhat
befall her
again, he replied,
But when the mother entered, she cried
things beforehand.
would
daughter has no husband."
She led him and seated him on a clean board, washed
all
His mother
nothing of him."
weeping, moaning, and wringing her hands, because she
grandson.
and her heart was
a stranger
is
perished
spirits.
the round pits about them.
He
He
by
these
means
in
nsked his grandfather
told liim that
people had lived there, but their chief had gambled them
all
once a great
away
in cap-
;
THE EXPLOITS OF THE DERO. tlvitv,
and
way
which
in
He wished
this
and begged him with
it,
am
I
gambling was done, and
greater than
all."
which Haikutwotopeh had won attempt
But
it.
mother did
his
There was an old at pleasure
He wanted
do
He wanted
to
show them
knew
to hmi,
though
But he went
you were born without a
She wanted
ing acorns in
his
begged him
war-weapons (which have been
father.
But
I
She said
saw you
to him,
;
He
touched
"Poor
child!
nobody helped yon
I can straighten
your back
if
you
will
He
and prayed
The
to do.
as she
which had a hole
middle of
and he
listened for the great voice of
him
that she
Nature
meant
to kill him,
lie
and stood over him, and if to
made by poundShe led him
to
in his
back
to put
him what
him on
his guard.
;
lifted
a stone far up almost to the sky, and brought
crush him with one tremendous blow.
second time she
to tell
but that he must do
down on the rock face upward but the old hag' down back upward. This he did, and then she came
back, and lay
as
it,
tins day.
bow and arrows, his sling, spear, belt, and Then he went a little aside, knelt down by a rock,
so.
voice told
him he must
down
in the
to lay off his
did
bade him, and have an eye
He came told
;
Chico, a straight, smooth rock, just
This rock can be seen here to
it.
and told him
feathers.
A
to
"Oankoitupeh! Oankoitupeh!"
his grandfather earnestly
^\\tll all
in the foothills near
the length of a man,
it
he could
in her heart that
me."
There was,
it,
to
she-devil, as tall as a great pine in the mountains,
you were born with a crooked back.
let
him not
it.
to the earth before him.
fell
by
the trick
models to the Konkau ever since), and met the old she-devil.
and she
know
said, " I fear
But he
it.
assume the form of man or woman.
to the forest,
not to follow her.
her,
to
showed him.
his grandfather
tears not to
not, for she
She called
as a speckled fawn.
and lured him
told
all this
She could, when she pleased, look young and beautiful
Oankoitupeh.
kill
He
stood.
Oankoitupeh knew
the tribe, but they besought
all
not die, because his father had said
who could
had
their houses
his people.
luck with Haikutwotopeh, but they earnestly warned
to try his
him against no man.
and
he asked, to hear what they would reply.
hefore, but
the
were the places where
tliosc pits
also the story of Piuchuiiiiuh
liini
301
lifted the great stone into the sky,
He
did not wmce.
but again he did not
^
THE MAIDU.
302
A
wince when she brought
it
earnest, but just before
reached him he turned quickly on his
it
down.
third time she bi^ou^ht
down
it
side,
in
and
the mighty stone, descending, smote on the rock close beside
him with the
noise of thunder, and splintered
The hag was
amazement and
stricken with
tupeh, drawing his knife of lungs,
and taking them on
his grandfather
many
fear
she
;
fell
thousand pieces.
prone upon the earth.
them home and gave them
to
but the old hag he burned.
;
black eagle in that country which had
fierce
Oankoitupeh wished
to
but his grandfather begged him with tears not to attempt
it.
killed
Oankoi-
with one plunge cut out her heart and
flint,
his spear carried
There was a large and
it,
into a
it
Indians in former times.
he prayed and listened for the great voice of Nature to
go and
him what
tell
kill
But again to do.
Before that they had sought to snare the eagle with a net, but he always
broke
it
Now Oankoitupeh
and destroyed many Indians.
prepared a
trap,
with which he caught him as he issued from the hole in the tree where he lived,
and
carried
so he killed him.
them
to his
Then he ripped out
grandfather
his heart
ashes there arose the woodpecker as
we
see
it
to-day.
These two exploits of Oankoitupeh were received by
unbounded joy
;
and lungs and
but the body he burned, and out of the
;
each time, as he returned home after
it,
his friends
with
he was welcomed
with a dance and with songs of triumph.
He was now
ready to go on
his great mission to the north, to
expose
the trick of Haikutwotopeh, and recover his grandfather's lost tribe from
bondage.
All four of his friends wished to go with him, but he said they
could not go with him unless they
and they
set out together
So they
first died.
with him, leaving the old
died, three of them,
woman
behind.
They
waded on the bottom underneath the great Haikutice to the home of Haikutwotopeh.
traveled far over the earth, then
and deep
sea,
then across the
wotopeh knew that he was come, and than himself
come.
He
Perhaps you are greater than
have done nothing gambling, and
all
felt
said to Oankoitupeh,
great."
your land
I."
Kiunaddissi is full
in his heart that
"I
felt in
my
he was greater
heart that
But Oankoitupeh said, "
of people."
You won
all
said,
my
you had
"No; I by
tribe
Haikutwotopeh answered,
WAGERING TRIBES ON A GAME.
303
You may gamble and win them back if you can. You are free to do but you cannot carry them away by force or fraud." So they sat down together in the assembly-house, Oankoitupeh and
that,
Haikutwotopeh,
gamble
to
and Piuchunnuh against the
his grandfather
game, and Oankoitupeh
lost.
Oankoitupeh
staked her.
that one counter.
First,
his opponent's
Oankoitupeh staked
They played
tribe.
Then he had only
his
mother
one counter after another, until fate of his
mother and of her
Haikutwotopeh became bold
moment Oankoitupeh
through
lost
The
teen were gone but one.
this
for the lost tribe.
;
He
arm and body, and opened one
now won back
piece after piece
was won;
his
mother was saved, and the whole
came over
to their rescuer with shouts of great
ous as the trees of the thick
and he
all
the six-
tribe
hung on At
he played recklessly.
asserted his secret power.
;
a quick
left,
stopped the hole
He
in his own.
The game redeemed. They
he gained the whole sixteen. tribe
joy
;
they were as numer-
forest.
So they came out of the icy assembly-house, and the friends of Oankoitupeh rejoiced over his splendid victory. a second game, and offered to bet his tribe tribe.
He
and won
You gambled with my grandfather in other days, tribe. You ought to have been satisfied to bet bows, but you would bet only men and women. You might
said to him,
his Avhole
arrows, money,
etc.,
Then Oankoitupeh proposed against Haikutwotopeli's own
"
as well have bet the earth
itself,
the rivers, the mountains, the rocks
you could not have carried these away if you had won them. I gamble with you for your lands and your rivers, but only for your
;
only
will not
people."
down in the assembly-house again and played, and OankoiEven before the game was ended, the tribe of Haikutwotopeh were eager to go over to Oankoitupeh, but he said to them, "No; you must wait; my people did not wish to come over before they were won". Then they all set out together for the far distant Ushtupeddi. But long before they arrived, the old woman who was left behind knew that They
sat
tupeh won.
Oankoitupeh was alive and had gained the
head plume
went
in her house,
out- doors, she
and she saw
it
victor}^.
waver and
saw the grass and flowers
There was a flutter
;
also,
quail's-
when
in a gentle tremor.
If
she
he
;
TDE MAIDU.
304 had been dead
or beaten in the game,
these things
all
would have been
lifeless.
When
they arrived at Ushtupeddi there was great rejoicing among the
Oankoitnpeh was then surely known
long-lost tribe over their restoration. as the son of the
was restored
Red Cloud, and he was held
the face of the earth,
back
yam-peh
now assembled
and pointed out
to
all
also called
of
tribe
place on
valley received
by Ko'-do-
first
Woan'-no-mih.
the people together in a great convo-
He
related to
tory of both these two men's tribes, and showed them
commands
own
them Piuchunnuh and Kiunaddissi
for their perpetual imitation or avoidance.
the
its
Every
and there was no confusion.
World-Maker), wlio was
(the
O.ankoitupeli cation,
village to
OAvn proper inhabitants, as was ordained at the
its
Every
in great honor.
and every
to its old original place,
as
examples
them the sad
how
his-
disobedience to
Woannomili had brought ruin and death upon them.
He
rehearsed to them their history in the dreary ice-land, and pointed out the beautiful contrasts of their restored.
He
they were
now
own
land, to
which they were now happily
adjured them to remember the precepts of the religion which to receive
old chiefs and himself their ancestors,
who
them rather pray
to
from Woannomili through the
lipa of these
two
Let them never return to the brutish worship of
})i-ayed to the rocks, the rivers,
AYoannomih.
He
told
the assembly-hall, the house of religion
and the
them never
hills
;
but
let
to forget or neglect
and of the sacred song and dance
they should never suffer any village to be without one while the world If they continued faithful in the worship of Woannomili,
endures.
any time
their
oak
them salmon, and
and
at
trees did not yield acorns, or their rivers did not afford their prophets
prayed
to him,
they should receive abun-
dance.
He to
have
said all
it
would be allowed
to
them
kinds of songs and dances
scalp dances skill
with the
ball
and
to
have their pleasures as before;
—dances
war and
of
and acorn dances;
to indulge in foot races
bow and arrow and
the sling, and
racket, with
gambling and
betting, etc.
all
of friendship,
and
in trials of
kinds of plays with the
But
in betting
they must
bet only such articles as were counted property, and must never more wager
men and women,
as their foolish ancestors did, thereby losing their tribe.
VARIOUS TKECEPTS—THE OEDER OF MANHOOD. Let the
man bo
his tribe in a
accursed wlio should ever bet his father or niother or any of
"ame of
cliance.
must no longer burn
lie told tliem also that they
them
305
Last of
in the earth.
their dead,
but
bmy
he appointed unto them four great dances
all,
namely
or festivals, to be held once a year as long as the world endures,
these: Ilok'-tom-we-dah (the open-air festival), in the spring; L-lak-kum-
we-dah (the dry-season burning
to the dead),
(the winter festival),
When
festival),
about the
about the
about the first
last of
of July;
first
Ush'-ti-moh (the
of September; and Yak'-kai-we-dah
December.
Oaiikoitupeh had made an end of speaking to his people, he
disappeared from before their eyes, rose upward toward the valley of heaven,
and was seen no more on earth in human form.
But when
his people cried
out and wailed in bitterness of heart, and ran after him, wringing their hands, to comfort them he appeared once
more
in the
form of a great and
splendid rainbow, spanning the earth from side to side.
them a moment
in this form, then
faded
He lingered
In accordance witli the injunctions in the above legend, the establislied
and have maintained
day a
to this
secret society
which
Konkau is
Ku'-meli (literally the ''assembly-house" or "dance-honse", though
be rendered the "
Order of Manhood").
age of about twelve,
Not
younger.
members
are
all
or, in
are initiated into
may
at the
youths are taken into membership, although the older
good propagandists, and use strenuous exertions
the youngsters of their acquaintance.
drowned, and their
it
called it
case of sober, thoughtful boys, a year or two
join they will be devoured
is
Boys
before
the skies.
avv'a}' in
by wild
spirits will
They
tell
them that
if
to
bring in
they do not
beasts, or IVUI over precipices, or
go the left-hand path into darkness.
be
Nothing
revealed to them beforehand, and boA's are often reluctant to join, having
heard from outsiders fearful stories of the doings inside.
There
When
a
is
no grip or password for admission
member approaches he simply says
ye'-2)om-mi hi'-mcli^ (I tai'-i-teh.
When
belong
a neophyte
to the order). is initiated,
meml)ers
in turn place their right
his virile
name, which
is
into
the sacred house.
to the doorkeeper, ^^Ni'-liai
The
services are called iva-
after the services are over the old
hands on
his left shoulder.
generally that of his
fiither or
A new name,
some other near
— THE MAIDU."
306 relative,
tiation
is
then added to
liis
he must refrain from
For ten day following the
baby-name. all flesh
ini-
meat, and eat nothing but acorn-por-
ridge.
As a 13
Konkau on Round Valley
special favor the
Reservation per-
mitted a few of us to witness (or rather hear) one of their secret meetings, for
everything
is
shrouded in profound
darkn'i^ss.
lodge of Tuni'-yan-neh (Captain George)
When we
entered the
—they had no assembly-house There was a feeble
they requested us to extinguish our lanterns.
fire in
the middle of the house, but before anything was done one of the sextons
covered
it all
up,
and several times during the
possible spark of fire bectime visible through the ashes,
thing creep stealthily over
There was a
it
and
it
would wink
some minutes
silence of
when the smallest we would see some-
exercises,
out.
in the impenetrable darkness,
then
the sacred rattle (described in the above legend) began a low, ominous quiv-
ering close to
tlie
ground, in which there was sufficient suggestion of a
snake to make one
feel chilly
about the
rattle-
Presently one of the four
scalj).
performers, apparently lying on his belly and holding his
mouth
close to
the ground, began to give forth a series of blubbering, gurgling sounds and
nasal whining, with frequent intermissions, growing shorter
At the same time the
the tone of his voice rose.
ing a
little
in force, until finally
it
shot up
all at
rattle rose
all
up
the while as
slowly, gain-
once, and seemed to dart
about the top of the room with amazing rapidity, giving forth
terrific rattles
and low, buzzing quavers, now and then bringing up against the post with a thud of the holder's
One bling, to
or
by
fist.
of the performers
now
begins to utter petitions with a rapid
which another responds simply
repeating the petition.
minutes, then
all
heli!
(yes), or with a
few words,
This strange fanfaronade goes on for several
of the four performers strike
up a verse of the sacred songs
(given below), which they repeat six or eight times, accompanied the house, in a low voice ''tiger". is
This
taken up.
is
;
then there
done four or
When
mum-
is
five times
by
a sharp sh! quickly followed ;
all in
by
a
then another verse of the song
they have sung for about half or three-quarters of an
hour without cessasion the
rattle
goes tunk, tunk, tunk on the
grows
i)ost
fast
and
furious, the performer's
fist
with great violence, the singers' voices
SACRED PERFORMANCES IN THE ASSEMBLY-DOUSE. sink into a long-drawn, dying wail
a tremendous " tiger". close over
it,
The
then
;
rattle
;dl at
once comes a sharp sh! and
drops to the ground and seems to hover
darting in every direction, and only two of the performers are
heard, groveling on the ground and muttering petitions finally the rattle dies slowly out, the voices hush, is
and
and responses,
all is over.
quickly raked open, straw and splinters are thrown on
up, laughing
and talking begin again, and
The Indians tribe,
and the
it,
until
Tlie fire
a blaze springs
cigarettes are lighted.
seize this breathing time to interpret to us the songs,
to explain that the petitions
uncovered.
307
were
for the blessings of
petitions last heard v/ere for blessings
Woannomih on
on the
fire
about
After smoking and chatting a few minutes they cover
and their
to
be
up the
and the programme above given is repeated; but the second we find it monotonous and wearisome. The reader will understand, if he knows anything about Indian habits, that there was a great deal introfire
again,
time
duced
into this
performance which no
man
and
terable groans, liissings, mutterings,
can describe or imitate
repetitions,
so delights to envelop his sacred exercises.
SACRED SONGS OF THE KONKAU. RED cloud's song. [Heard by the mother of Oan-koi'-tu-peh.J
Yang-wi'-a-kan-u mai'-dnm-iii. I am the Red Cloud. Hi-pi-nicig' koi-o-di' uik bai'-sbum
My
me
father formed
yan'-u-nom mai'-dum-ni. out of the sky,
Lu'-lul yan'-dih oi'-yih nai. I biug
[amoug] the mouutaiu
flowers.
Yi'-wi ynn -dih oi'-yih nai.
sing [among] the flowering chamize of the mountains. Wek'-wek yan'-dih ti'-yib nai.
I
I sing in the
mountains [like] the wek'-wck.
Wek'-wek o'-di so'-liu nai. I sing [among] the rocks [like] the Lai'-dam yan'-dih we'-wo In the
morning
cry in the mountains.
I
Lai'-dam ho u'-yo
morning
icek'-icelc.
nai.
nai.
walk the path. Lai'-dam liil'-luh we'-wc nai. I cry [to] the morning stars. In the
I
OAN-KOl'-TU-PKIl'S SONG.
Yn-dik-no' hel-ai-no', na'-knm yo'-wo, ha'-lo ni. I go to the north. I will win all, I begin [to gamble].
—unut-
with which the savage
THE MAIDU.
308
"
^
Yo'-wo, yo'-wnn nim, ynu' ni-iii. I will win, I will win, I will win.
Dum'-lan-no
^
di kiil'-leng wo'-rpan-di.
Tbe women weep
in tbe
shadows [of
tlio
assemlilj -hall].
Lai'-dam lil'-litn win nai'-uai ku'-leui ui. I twinkle [like] the morning star, my father (i. Hi-pi-uiug' koi-o-d'i', ko-wi'-cho-uung koi-o-di'.
The
.
e.,
am
I
vanishing in the sky).
valley of heaven, I apj)roach the valley [of heaven],
Hi-pi-ning' koi-o-di' ye'-wo nai.
[Now]
I
'
^
ran up the valley of heaven.
s
Hi-pi-niug' koi-o-di', nik'-ki koi-o-di'.
The
valley of heaven, mine [is] the valley [of heaven].
Hi-pi-uing' koi-o-di' lel'-ung-ku-ku
wuh'-wuh toan
I strike the heaven-reaching, sounding string,
nai.
(literal, tn/Ti-irM^-string).
THE ACORN SONG. Hu'-tim yo'-kim koi-o-di'. The acorns come down from heaven. Wi'-hi yau'-ning koi-o-di'. I plant the short acorns in the valley.
Lo'-whi yau'-ning koi-o-di'. I plant the long acorns in the valley. Yo-ho' uai-ni', hal-u'-dom yo nai, yo-ho' nai-nim'. I sprout, I, the black-oak acorn, sprout, I sprout. Pl-U' CIIUN-NUn'S SONG.
We-le'-u-deh Pi-u'-chuu-nuli I,
Pi-u'-chun-nuh,
am
uai'-i-ui.
in Wc-le'-u-deh.
Wi'-no niai'-keh we'-we
Dai.
I cry everywhere, like the boys
{i.e.,
the young chori^ters).
We-le-leh' tiim-bo'.
Foggy
is tbe path to \Ve-le'-u-deh. Wiu'-na, win'-na koi-o-di'. Bright, bright is the valley. Lu'-yeh, lu'-yem yan'-dih. All, all [are in] tbe assembly-hall. Pal'-a-kum bo u'-yo nai.
I
walk the red-feather path.
mam bo u'-ye nai. walk the white-feather path.
Pok'-al I
Ko'-i nie'-lu me'-ln nai.
[Like] the white goose I sing, I sing. Vu'-yem yan'-dih yu'-ycm nai. I put out all from tbe assembly-hall. Tai-a-raan -iug ya-ma-na' loi'-e-nio to nai'-i-uih. I throw together the mountains and the west mountains Coast Range).
(?.
c, the Sierra
Nevada and tho
ki-u-nad'-dis-si's song. Yo-in' nin-nim' yo-in' nin-nim'. I
am
the only one, the only one
[left].
Wa'-pum dat'-pan ka'-no-mai, si'-wing kn'-no ka'-no-mai, en'-ak wi'-wung ka'-no-raai. An old man, I carry the gambling-board; an old man, I sing the gambling song. Wai'-i pen'-noam so-loap'-kuin.
SO>GS AND TUElli INTEliPKETATION. The
roots
I
309
cat of the vnlley.
Su'-i-baug kut-diil-lul'.
Tbo pepper-ball
is
round.
Mo'-raih til-lak' til-lak'-keh.
The water
trickles, trickles.
Ta-a'-ti-ti yiu-uo-di' ti'-is
bum'-bum.
Tbe water-leaves grow along the
river bank.
Wi-li-pesb-o-yeb' nau'-iiib, buk-wi-lai'-lai. I rub tbe hands, I wiggle tbe tail (». e., Yo'-mih mai'-i-ni, yo'-mib mi'-mi-teb. I
am
a doctor,
I
am
I
am gambling, from
tbe motions made).
a doctor.
HAl'-KUT-WO-TO-PEH'S SONG. [Sung when Oan-koi'-tu-pcb appnianhed.J
Yu-dik-noam' bo u'-ye ni
Do you come from
?
tbe uortb
Ko-mo-wim' bo u'-ye ni? Do you come from the east
?
(lit.,
tbe patb to tbe north).
?
Tai bo u'-ye ni ? Do you come from tbe west? Ka'-nai bo u'-ye ni ? Do you come from the south? Hi-pi-ning' bo-o-di' u'-ye-ni?
Do you come from above ? Ko'-do ka'-na-neh u'-ye ni?
Do you come from below
?
In the acorn song, as above given,
it
will
be observed that
it
appears
be spoken by two different persons. The first three verses are attributed by some Indians to Oankoitupeh, and by others to the Red Cloud. The latter would seem to be more poetically correct. Then the last line is evidentl}^ spoken by the acorn personified. I have grouped both these together, and called it all the acorn song, but the Indians sing them some-
to
what confusedly,
as indeed they do the other songs
more or
less.
a great deal of patient labor to construct order out of their chaos
now to
I
am
that a
is
sometimes a
number
little
I
and even
men and
Besides that, the interpre-
uncertain, principally, I think, for the reason
of the ^vx)rds either belong to an occult, priestly language, or
are so antiquated that the
old
;
required
not always positive, for some Indians will attribute a given verse
one of the personages and others to another.
tation
It
modern
Indians, in the absence of most of their
prophets, are unable to agree absolutely
have tabulated below
all
upon
their
meaning.
the archaic forms occurring in these songs, the
meaning of which the Indians were agreed upon.
—
.
THE
310
.AIAIDIJ.
ARCHAIC.
MODKRjN.
Sing.
Flowering chamize. i^^ very where.
SO
-lin.
01 -yih,
ill
-bi.
yi'-wi.
1
-bi-den.
\
me
-lu.
wi'-no.
briglit.
yo -nak-muk-ka.
win^-na.
Level. North.
muh'-pi-teh. no'-to.
yo'-nah. yu-dik-no'.
jLast.
ko -mo.
ko-mo-wim
Jratn.
bo.
bo-o-di
Throw.
hoar-yell. VV 1 Iv
loi'-e.
mo'-to.
JtV^JLl,
All.
lak'-o.
lu'-yeh.
Grow.
hii'-no.
bum'-bum.
I.
ni'-hai.
nai.
The reader has pronoun of the
doubtless observed the great
first
person
.
number
of forms for the
nai, mai'-dum-ni, nim, ni'-ni, nai-nim', nai-ni\
nan'-nih, mai'-i-ni, mi'-mi-teh.
The white goose is sacred among the Konkau they call it "God's Its name ko'-i is formed from its cry Tiaiih! They and other tribes the Maidu (especially about Yuba City) make beautiful robes of its ;
bird".
of
down.
The Indians use the same word, house" and "mountain"
;
it is
yandih, in the song, to denote "assembly-
abbreviated from ya'-man-deh.
In the same assembly- hall where these sacred
rites are
sometimes have comic entertainments which correspond part of our circuses.
It is
necessary to
state,
observed they
to the acrobatic
however, that they are inferior
even as purely muscular performances to the corresponding displays of ization.
Among
othel* things the
civil-
Indians themselves admit that they never
witnessed or conceived of either a handspring or a somersault before they
became acquainted with the Americans and ;
that the gymnastic feats
they see in our circuses surpass anything ever compassed
by
which
their
own
athletes.
The performer
in those
shows
is
called pc-i-peh,
which
is
also the title
COMIC ENTERTAINMENTS. of the prompter or repeater to
One
a tumbler or an athlete.
He
tlie chief.
811
more properly a clown than
is
of his most "taking" performances
tend that a bear has crawled under the hollow slab which
whereupon he
up
straAvs
him
fastens
represent his
and
effort,
and
but
carry
tries to
by
and seizing something which
it,
falls
basket of soup, pretending that
smacks
mouth over
his
and licking lips
it
up so
is
very, very heavy.
of
its tail,
it
and places
some soup out of
legs tangled
after
many
all
false starts
and absurd
which
is
all
its
while a
his
to
it
in with a
fish flounces
about
men
to
to land
tug frantically at the spear, and finally they get their fall
in a
heap together.
Another performance they have
The
more properly acrobatic than those previously described. in feathers
and hangs head downward from a cross-bar and
Four men stand
company dance underneath.
join hands; then four others climb
four
it
it
snout to the utter-
clown (sometimes two), showily and fantastically arrayed paint, climbs a pole
and
flourishes he
purpose, driving
way through from yard beyond. The
the
and perhaps a
up and
it
that he falls
it
such a degree that he reqiiires the assistance of eight or ten him, and these
smells
perhaps, he mounts the roof of the house with a
and
comically surperfluous force tip
He
as if taking swallows of
the receiver takes
thrusts his spear into a fish prepared for the
most
on his back,
along on his belly, crushed to
all
far in the effort to get
Now,
over backward.
fish-gig in his hand,
it
Then when
his lips.
he raises
finger,
little
lifts it
Next, he offers somebody an (empty)
and makes motions
it,
supposed to
is
bundle about as large as one's
sprawling
drum,
Then he binds
lustily.
grunting and staggering, he
enormous burden.
his
Bruin roars
until
it
splinters into a
and with prodigious
the earth
in,
he twists
tail
used
is
to pre-
is
for a
more on top of
and
sings,
close together
and
up on their shoulders, standing up, and
these; then those underneath
walk about, and the
twelve join in singing. All this tumbling and tomfoolery goes under the general kuk'-kun,
and "brings down the house" with
name
of
irrepressible laughter, for the
simple savages are very easily amused.
Another
feat, called yan'-i-nih, is
Three or more men stand
them together
in
in a ring,
executed in the following manner:
and by bending
their legs they
such a manner that each of them stands on one
foot.
hook In
THE MAIDU.
312 tliis
attitude tliey
generally end
by
"
hop arouiid the house, singing and falling
down
in
a.
There
heap.
ma^iii^g-
is still
which these aboriginal merry-andrews draw upon, and that names.
Thus Captain George was
who prays humorous
to the rocks).
called
by
the
They generally bring
allusion to an idiosyncrasy,
These performers are not
to call nick-
into these
(he
nicknames some
which pi^oduces much merriment.
professionals,
etc.
is
name 0-ku-dik-noam
and no stated admission-fee
charged, but the audience Yhich may be rendered "easters", "easterns", and "easterners". tracted are their journeyings and their knowledge tliat they do not need a complicated system of names. miles it
away they
for
me
to learn
fixed
names of
American River, north
are the Pu-su'-na, at the moutli of to'-a, at Placerville;
any
living
twenty
In consequence of this
are not aware of their existence.
was almost impossible
There
tribes.
side;
the
Kwo-
the Ko-lo'-ma, at Coloma; and the Wa-pum'-ni, near
Indeed, I doubt
Latrobe.
any people
If there are
if
there
is
any considerable number of
tribal
names, for they are such a nomadic nation (within small limits) that they
They move
exist in a continual chaos.
camps
their
not even names for them, properly speaking; that
so often that they
have
no name separate and
is,
apart from that of the spring, bowlder, tree, creek, or what not, where they
happen
at
any
Hence,
particular time to be camping.
another, they always use the points of the compass tai
(north, south, east, west)
l\iver
always add
—in various forms;
Ixau (place),
as Ta'-sing-kau,
in designating
and those
one
lo'-nw, no' -to,
to' -slum,
living near
Bear
Ko-moang'-kau, No-toang'-
kau, Taing'-kau.
There are also some curious peculiarities
One can very seldom though they
learn an Indian's
will tell their
American
in regard to personal names.
and never a squaw's Indian name,
titles
readily enough.
breach of decorimi to ask a squaw her name than lady her age.
I
a squaw's Indian
name from her own
name on any account, and it is by no other provocation than that.
lips.
will reveal her
she can think of
A
husband never
said that divorces It is
between feminine human nature in the
half the
among
own name, but
amusing
calls his wife
have been produced Fig. 27
al)original
and the
civilized state.
her neighbors'
that,
For the reason above given many people believe
that
squaws have no names
was mentioned
Num'-num
us to ask a
to note the resemblances
at
all.
she will
So
tell all
far is this
from the truth that
every one possesses at least one and sometimes two or three. chi-chit
greater
have often made the attempt and never yet have learned
b}'
No squaw
it is
It is a
of three.
have no significance,
as an instance of two;
As usual
in California
being merely
and
Iler-la Ni-o'-
Ile'-wal-la Kle'-gli
a great majority of the names
such collections of sounds as are
TBE
316 euphonious to
Ni«ni:>A]\t:
If one has
tlieir ears.
any meaning
it is
name
generally the
of some animal.
Following
is
a formidable
of villages which once lined the banks
list
of Bear River from Sacramento up to the foot-hills, a
must have been dense: Ha'-nii-ting-Wo'-li-yuh,
the population an, Ta'-lak,
pa,
Mu-lam'-cha-pa (long' fjond by the
In'-tan-to,
So'-lak-i-yu,
(this*
Shu'-ta-mfd,
crossing),
was near the California and Oregon railroad
Chu'-em-duh, O'pel-to (the forks), Pu'-lak-a-tu,
Ka'-pa-ka, Yo-ko'-lim-duh and Toan'-im-but-tuk
These and the
are, in fact,
list
may
old Indian of
along
Le'-li-ki-
trees), Lid'-li-
Ka'-lu-plo, l^i'-kan-chi, Sho-kum-im'-lep-pi (wild potato
Bu'-sha-mul
place),
shows that
list wliic^li
only the names of
pine).
localities wliere
not include a half or a third of
good memory could
(little
all
On Bear
recall.
camps once
stood;
the camp-sites which an River, and in fact
the low bottom-lands in the Sacramento Valley, there are fre-
all
quently to be seen house-sites to keep
flat,
wide mounds which were raised by
them ;ibove the reach of
It is often asserted
alent along Bear River
by Californians
tlie
Indians for
floods in the rainy season.
now
prev-
in the great interior basin
date
that the malarial diseases
and other streams
only back to the beginning of the mining operations, which caused great
masses of debris to accumulate in the river-beds, thereby throwing the water out over the lowlands.
among
neers,
On
the contrary,
others Claude Cheney,
that the Indians even at that
who
it is
asserted
settled
the earliest pio-
on Bear River about 1846,
day were much subject
other diseases resulting from malarial influences.
by
to fever
To
and ague and
avoid these they not
only built the low mounds for their houses above mentioned, but the lowland tribes,
went up
the summer.
make had
this
to
by permission
of those living in the foot-hills and mountains,
into the latter regions to
But, of course,
it
spend a portion of the hotter months of
was only a part of any
tribe
annual migration, and that principally the hunters, for
remain behind
in sufiicient force to gather the
wliich were their principal food-supply,
that could tlie
women
wild grain and seeds
and which they required
for ex-
cliange with the mountaineers in return for aconis and mazanita berries.
And
yet, notwithstanding the rather
lands, large families of children
unhealthy condition of the low-
were common
in early days.
:
LOW
THEIR Bear River they
em
call
(greater river)
Se'ii
Cha'-pa-di
;
em Ya'-mun Both
ABORlGlNxVL CONDITION.
Nem
the plains, Tii'-kli-di
;
in
tlie
Sacramento, Nep'-
the timber-land, Cha'-pa,
;
the foot-hills, Ya'-muii, Ya'-mun-di
the Sierra Nevada, Nep'-
;
(greater hills); the Coast Range, Tai'-a-mun (western hills).
customs and in their
social
in their
Nishinam must be ranked on a
They had
Se'-u (great river);
317
the misfortune to
lovf grade,
political organization
probably the lowest
the
in the State.
occupy the heart of the Sierra mining region,
consequence of which they have been miserably corrupted and destroyed.
Indians in the mining
reasons not necessary to specify, are
districts, for
always worse debauched than those fact that
in the agricultural regions.
And
the
most observers and writers have seen the Indians of the diggings
more than
whole California race
an)^ others has contributed to bring the
unmerited opprobrium.
into
Let the following facts bear witness to their low aboriginal estate
Robert Gordon, a responsible
Auburn
surface-mining from
citizen of
up
as far
Auburn,
as the
states that in
1849 he was
North Fork of Feather River,
and that a great proportion of the men and women who entered were costumed
strictly after the fashion-plates of
his
camp
This was in a
Eden.
region pretty well up in the mountains, where the aborigines had not yet
come
in contact
Both sexes and
with Europeans.
camp, absolutely in
all
ages
moved about
with that perfect freedom and inno-
jiuris naturalibus,
cence which betoken unconsciousness of any impropriety.
unswathed mountaineers, according
ple,
often of a magnificent physique,
tall,
his
to the
But these sim-
same good authority, were
sinewy fellows, who would have made
the scale-beam kick at 180.
Most
tribes in the State lay considerable
emphasis on the formal estab-
lishment of marital relations in their way, that
is
by
those relations are faithfully observed afterward or not.
may
be said to
set
up and
do the brute beasts.
No
his shoulder, his
way
which
is
stipulated is
payment
bound
to say, he will
perhaps fling
But the Nishinam
dissolve the conjugal estate almost as easily as
seeking to become a son-in-law to the family,
purchase, whether
it
off
is
made
for the wife.
A man
make
presents
to cater {ye'-lin) or
come along some day with a deer on
on the ground before the wigwam, and go
without a single word l)eing spoken.
Some days
later
he
may
THE NISHINAM.
318
ham
bring along a brace of liare or a
He
a string of ha'-wok. if
he
of grizzly-bear meaf, or some
continues to
make
or
these presents f^r awhile, and
not acceptable to the girl and her parents they return
is
fish,
him an
equivalent for each present (to return his gifts would be grossly insulting;)
but
he finds favor in their eyes they are quietly appropriated; and in
if
due course of time he comes and leads her away, or comes
to live at
her
house, for both practices prevail.
When
a Nishinam wife
is
sympathizing female friends
childless her
sometimes make out of grass a rude image of a baby, and
tie it in
a minia-
Some day, when the home, they carry this grass baby and
ture baby-basket, according to the Indian custom.
woman and lay
her husband are not at
in their
it
holds
wigwam.
When
she returns and finds
to her breast, pretends
it
nurse
to
is
effect of
causing the barren
I will relate
woman
to
become
him
to his wife,
from her
up,
have the
will
an incident which shows the despotic and arbitrary power
A man
Wolf
living on
had performed the simple
Creek, a tributary of Bear River,
bring her home.
it
lullaby-songs.
fertile.
that a husband, even before marriage, exercises.
fled
it
done as a kind of conjuration, which they hope
All this
entitled
she takes
it,
and sings
it,
acts
which
and the day had arrived when he determined
to
But she loathed him, and when she saw him coming she
wigwam and
father's
with a motherly old
sought refuge, trembling and weeping,
widow who sympathized with
her.
The widow
con-
cealed her as well as she could, then hastened out to confront her pursuers.
When
they came up she told them the
from the
village.
search, baffled
where the
They
had passed that way and escaped
hurried on in pursuit, but returned after a long
and angry, and asked the widow's
fugitive was.
her mother's wigwam. their
girl
The
child innocently told
As soon
as they
bows and arrows and shot
the
They were not molested, bridegroom owned the girl, and that
little
widow
to
the
of kidnapping, for which the penalty
is
she
knew
them she was hidden
had dragged her
forth,
in
they drew
death in the middle of the
for the general
village.
girl if
feeling
was
that the
widow in concealing her was
guilty
death.
The Nishinam are the most nomadic of all the California tribes within They shift their lodges perpetually, if only a rod, prob-
narrow bounds.
WANDEEING HABITS— ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT. ably to give the vermin the
one they abandon
slip
Nomadic
it.
habits
after a death has occurred in
among savages
aged and
better than death to the
little
and always
;
319
infirm, for
of a low grade are
they cannot
I'eadily fol-
low, and the few j)Oor conveniences and comforts which they collect around
themselves
when
stationary have often to be abandoned.
In
would
fact, it
way of ridding themselves of those The spectacle which is sometimes pre-
be hard for a tribe to devise a better
whom
they accounted burdensome.
among
sented
the mining towns of poor, old, purblind, tattered wretches,
perhaps laden with
they can carry, feebly tottering after the stronger
all
They wander about much more now than they did before the Americans came among them, because they have been jostled out of their ancient narrow limits, are fewer in numones,
is
a melancholy and pitiable one indeed.
ber,
and can roam widely without trespassing on the
ing
little
really
Then,
village.
amount
to nothing, for
a Nishinam, after
flat
soil
of some neighbor-
be remembered that these removes
they go to and
fro,
and
very seldom that
it is
migrations, dies a mile from the place
a home), like
all
California Indians.
for their political organization, like the snakes of Ireland,
described in three words captains, or
dowy
it
are thoroughly home-loving and home-keeping (count-
ing a certain valley or
As
let
all his infinite little
They
of his birth.
too,
headmen,
:
there
none.
is
in the villages,
can be
it
True, they have their hereditary
but their authority
is
the most sha-
thing in the world.
The
origin of
government
is
something like
this
:
We
will
suppose ,
there large,
is
a secession, and a village establishes an independent existence.
round dance-house
friends in
it
is
built,
and the prominent men entertain
in a succession of feasts,
far as the viands are concerned.
which are very bald
They make
The more
is
earnest and grave old
among
the
young fellows.
on a certain day he
is
affairs indeed, so
etc.
Always
at
a great deal of petty bickering and quarreling.
men of
the tribe notice these matters
observe the aspirant whose personal influence order
their
presents to their followers
according to their wealth— shell-money, bows and arrows, these gatherings there
A
He
is
is
most successful
finally pitched
in
;
they
keeping
on as the leader, and
informally proclaimed in the dance-house and makes
a talk to them, wearing or displaying
all his
beadery.
If he has not
enough
THE NISHINAM.
320 him
to enable strings,
to
make
For murder there nuist be
They
blood.
can take
This, however,
them
after the proclamatioil".
That
no punishment but individual revenge.
is
which steps
in
after the nnnxler, for thei'e
is
a kind of
then and forbids any further seeking of
consider that the keenest and niost bitter revenge which a is
is
not to slay the murderer himsblf, but his dearest friend.
probably only the sentiment of casual Indians, though
would comport well with For kidnaping, is
to
had within twelve moons
statute of limitations
man
a suitable aj^pearance, his friends^ lend him a few-
and they are returned
as
tlie
above mentioned, the punishment was death.
named number of women from
It
Ba-kar-lim-pun, living near Bear River, in
related that a chief,
1851, kidnaped a
it
subtle Asiatic character of the race.
On
the Spaniards for infamous uses,
his
own
detecting
tribe,
him
and sold them
Indians put him to death, and then hacked him into a thousand
They would throw an eye
to
to
in his villainies the little
pieces.
one of his fellow-villagers, a fiuger-joiut to
another, a toe-joint to another, etc.
It should,
however, be borne in mind
that the California Indians did not torture persons while alive.
For adultery with a foreigner the penalty was are few other tribes in the State of
whom
this
also death
can be affirmed.
and there
;
In 1850, a
by her people on Dry Creek, near Georgetown,
squaw was
sacrificed
this offense,
committed with an American, though there was really no crim-
inality her,
on her
and
all
They
part.
The
profanation of the loathed foreigner was upon
her tears and cries were of no
did not
mark
their boundaries
had them defined with the greatest (yamun), valleys {liunumcliuha)^
member fish or
au-zi,
by
artificial
They
by
signs,
springs
it,
they greatly dreaded.
they demanded
The
hills
did not ordinarily destroy a
frequently at war with the Pai-u'-ti,
whom
though they
(j^oJiJian),
of another tribe for trespassing on their territory, but
and
gressors,
avail.
strictness
etc.
game, or gathered acorns on
They were
for
whom
if
he caught
reparation in kind
they called Moan'-
Paiuti were al^^'ays the ag-
and came over armed with savage wooden knives, with which
they slaughtered the feeble Californians (they seldom cared to take prisoners),
and scalped the dead by cutting
of the head.
off a small
round patch of hair on top
WAR AND WEAPONS—COLLECTING
DEBTS.
321
In war, upon coming into close quarters, the Nishinam sought to stab the
enemy under the
They took no
arm, aiming at the heart.
scalps.
When
going into battle they frequently waxed and twisted out the fore-hair of their heads into
and painted
two devilish-looking horns, topped
their breasts black.
I
their
heads with feathers,
once heard an aged Indian descnbe
by appointment with when they were yet so numerous that beside the beautiful Yuba. They fought
with wonderful vividness a fight which his nation had the Maidu, their hosts
many
a long year ago,
darkened
the plains
all
a great part of a summer-day, and, according to his account, there was a
mighty deal of thwacking, prodding, and bloody
affair at all.
and ran away
He
himself,
killed a
Maidu
;
though
hustling,
it
was not a very
then presently he turned his back
and got a spear jabbed
into his heel.
He
described
both circumstances with the same simple honesty and remarkable vivacity,
which showed he was
telling the truth,
and which contrasted so strongly
with the boastful arrogance of the Algonkin, that never acknowledges
Their male captives they tied to trees and shot to death without
defeat.
lingering tortures, and the ried,
and sometimes put
when Cahfornia
tribes
women
they sometimes whipped and then mar-
A
to death.
named
chief
Sis'-ko told
that
had a battle they occasionally exchanged prisoners This
afterward, but did not do so with the Paiuti.
may have been done
have had an influence among them, but
since the whites
me
I
doubt
if it
was
before.
Their war-spear was quite a rude shaft of
flint-head similar to the arrow-head,
sinew wrapped around
They have another, itor to tle
it is
method.
his
and
way
;
it
a curious
He
way
consisting simply of a rough split at
taste, if
as the brutal
to the shaft with
When
an Indian owes
not positively insulting, for the cred-
Saxon does
number
of
;
so he devises a
little sticks,
tosses into the delinquent's
wigwam
It is a
more sub-
according to the
and paints a ring around the end of each.
whereupon the other generally takes the
destroys the sticks.
the end to receive a
which was fastened
of collecting debts.
prepares a certain
debt,
little
in a crease cut for the jourpose.
held to be in bad
dun the debtor,
amount of the carries
affair,
wood, eight or ten feet long, a
These he
without a word and goes hint,
pays the debt, and
reproach to any Indian to have these (hnming
THE NISHINAM.
322 sticks
thrown into
his
wigwam, and the
creditor does not resort to the meas-
ure except in case of a hard customer.
That
their treatment of superannuated parents
may
tenderness
be gathered from the following
immense concourse of them
concerted attack on the whites.
should follow
being, as
all
some coming even
was then supposed, a
Preparatory to this gathering and what
numbers of them put
aged and decrepit
to death the
camps who would have been an incumbrance, though
of their this
it,
In 1858 there was an
at a place called Spenceville,
from the Coast Range, the purpose of 118
not remarkable for
is
fact:
was done
at the instance of
Being so nomadic
commissary
many
They
was
they have brought the savage
in their habits,
to perfection.
it
said
of the victims themselves. field-
discovered the substantial principle of the
famous Prussian pea-sausage long before the Pickelhauben
When
did.
about to go on a journey the squaws pack in their deep, conical baskets a quantity of acorn-mush,
made by
processes heretofore described, which
food in as condensed a form as they could
They
pliances.
generally start from
camp
two by sun (the Californians are poor
it
to last
while they are dancing
As most of
and
tliirty
panada
— the
pounds.
hardest
fortnight,
work an Indian does
About 11
—nor
and
that
will her
o'clock they call a halt for the
camp again
until 2, 3, or
even 4
after.
was from the Nishinam that Captain John A. Sutter procured
his laborers, I
wish here to make mention of a matter which
properly within the scope of this narrative.
who came
this
In this manner a squaw
but when started march until night-fall or long it
once or twice
rest
two persons nearly or quite a
heat of the day, then they do not break o'clock,
scientific ap-
morning, an hour or
with large additions of water, making a cool, thick, rich
enough
burden exceed
without
Taking out some of
porridge, which they drink from small baskets. will carry
it
late in the
travelers),
during the forenoon, always by a spring.
they dilute
make
is
It is related
here in 1849 and subsequently (there
slight pique
is
to this
between the ante forty-niners and the
by
several
falls
men
day frequently a
forty-niners, the land
pioneers and the gold pioneers] that the captain was accustomed in clover-
time to compel his " slaves", as they field for their rations.
call
them, to go out into the clover-
In view of the amount of labor they performed for
:
CAPTAIN SUTTER AND HIS "SLAVES". him, this charge,
if true,
would be a grave one.
But
American families blossoms
will, if
a fact abun-
all their lives
when
permitted, in the season
is
it
dantly substantiated that Indians Avho have been reared
323
in
the savor of the
wafted sweet as honey on the breeze, go afield for dinner in
is
preference to the most lickerish viands ever cooked.
have been told by
I
Americans that they themselves had often eaten California clover boiled
and
salted,
and accounted it altogether a desirable mess of the season.
out doubt, then, this story
is
a true one; that
preferred to eat clover for a change and a relish,
do
That he was a kind master
it.
It
test.
folds of
ried
it
was shown
me by
to
to
them
the owner of
and he simply
let the
it,
With-
Captain Sutter's Indians
is.
—
them
let
following document at-
who had
it
wrapped
in
many
paper and inserted inside the lining of his hat, where he had car-
nearly ten years as a sacred treasure.
of the captain's major-domos,
and
He was said
to
have been one
have had charge at one time of nearly
to
two hundred Indians
The bearer
of this, Tucollie, chief of the
sented himself before
good behavior, and
me
it is
has pre-
with the request to give him a certificate of his
^
fellow-citizens,
tribe,
with pleasure that I comply with his wishes, as
know him over (22 twenty-two therefore I can recommend him to I
Wapumney
and particularly
years as a good and honest Indian the benevolence and kindness of
;
my
to those residing in his native country.
''Very respectfully, ''J.
A.
SUTTER,
Special Indian Agent.
''Hock Farm, August
UtJi, 1862."
Unlike several tribes in the northwest part of the State, these are not misers, but quite the contrary, as are all the Southern California Indians.
They never hoard up shell-money, factitious value, unless
it is
for the
great chieftain on his funeral pyre.
and store up years
;
gamble
in
beads, trinkets, or anything of a merely
purpose of bui-ning them in honor of some In a bountiful acorn harvest they gather
wicker granaries (sukin)
sufficient to last
them two or three
but they frequently use the surplus above the winter's supply to on,
and often gamble away even the provisions which are imme-
diately necessary.
No
Indian
is
despised so
much as one who
is
close-fisted;
119
THE NISniNAM.
324 nothing
more
is
will divide with
certain than that, if an Indian
him
to the uttermost
comes
hungry, they
al^ong
crumb.
The Indians immediately south of Bear River observe the following The most important is the first -grass dance (Jcoju' -Min^ the generic word for ''dance", hence the dance of the year), which is held in
fixed dances
autumn or
:
winter, after the rains have fully set in
and started the
grass.
None but a resident of California can appreciata^tlie joyfulness of the ing which gives rise to this drought, the
first
and the naked green.
when,
commences
cool rain
after the long,
trickling
down on
dance-house together, both
in the
feel-
weary summer
of
the parched plains
and they clothe themselves again with a
foot-hills,
Assembled
festival,
pale
soft,
men and women,
the
men dance
with such extraordinary enthusiasm and persistence that they
sometimes
fall
exhausted and
The next
is
in a trance for hours.
the second-grass dance (yo'-miis-si), which the grass takes
its
Hence
like the
first,
inside, the
open
this is held in the
in the other
— the
accompanied with plenty of good reeds,
the more sweet and full
blossoming
its
Otherwise
fete cJiampetre.
It
etc.
men
The musicians
eating.
ravisliing his strains are held to be. all
one
in
at this
dance play
in his
mouth
If he has his
mouth
pitched on the same key, and giving forth
from alternate sucking and blowing of the breath, then he has
tained the perfection of
it
continues three or four days,
and the more of them an Indian can get
from corner to corner,
blasts
—a
former decorated with feather mantles,
the latter more modestly with beads,
on whistles of
air
the dancers being in two concentric circles, the
women
celebrated
is
second growth, after the dry season
well established, but before the clover has faded from
glory. is
is
when
in the spring,
lie
at-
art.
Pretty early in the spring there comes a gala-day, which sion of a great deal of enjoyment.
It is called tve'-da,
is
the occa-
though that
one and the most important of the exercises of the day.
Its
is
purpose
only is
to
prevent the snakes from biting them during the summer, and though held for so
momentous a purpose
sports are initiated in the
ballet-dance, performed
sports are).
There
is
it is
a very
gay and
morning by the
by
the
lian' -pa-iva-lio^
women and
extremely
little art
sportive
girls in the
in
it,
affair.
First, the
a grand spectacular
open
and nothing
air (as all the is
represented
A DA>'CE WOICH PROTECTS AGAINST RATTLESN'AKES. except the wild, extravagant joy of this genial season. sequestered mountain glade, where the gi-ass jirateful
shade around, with flowers in
is
825
Collected in some
green and the trees throw a
and
encircling their heads
fillets
woven in their hair, and habited (aboriginally) only with narrow cinctures of woven bulrushes about the waists, a great company of girls join hands in wilder and
whole
place.
der with screams and laughter, and every one of
with
self pelted
alone.
spectators finds him-
act in the spectacle is the lau'-da, a
dance performed by
After
and flowers.
it
over, a
is
number
presents of acorn-bread,
solicit
They break asun-
tlie
girls
The second to
faster,
wilder gi*ows the motion, keeping time with the accelerating
chant, until finally they run riot over the
men
Faster and
and begin a voluptuous, dithyrambic dance.
a circle
women go around
of
with baskets
shell-money, and other articles,
fish,
wherewith to pay the singers, and on the liberaHty with which the spectators contribute
depends their immunity from snake-bites during the coming
summer The third act, toward the close of the day, is the neda. A bevy of voung maidens dance around two young men in succession, singing a verv gav and lively chorus, and ever and anon they make a dash at him, catching him
by
the shoulders, laughing, stretching out their arms toward
him, tantalizing him,
etc.
around among the women,
when
the
selves
by
women
After this dance
is
ended, some old fellows go
soliciting presents for the singers, as above,
and
are about to contribute, thev are frequentlv seized them-
the old fellows and dragged along spoitively, to the vast amuse-
ment of the bystanders. But, with
all this
terror of rattlesnakes.
bear, they exclude
fun and horse-play, they entenain a very genuine
When
an Indian
is
bitten
him rigorously from camp
that the bear or the snake,
by
one. or lacerated
by
a
beHeving
for certain days,
having tasted his blood, will follow him
to
camp
and play havoc.
On
the
American River and below there
is
lo'-leh.
held in the winter, simply for amusement.
dance
{pai'-d) held in
autumn, which
scribed, only there
ai'e
occasion of a **big
eat''.
difterent steps
is
an indoor dance called
Then
there
is
like the grass-dances
and chonises
for each.
an acorn-
above de-
It is
made the
THE NISHINAM.
326 There
no regular
is
secret organization like that (^escribed
Konkau, but there are wandering prestidigitators who, for a
young men
among
the
gift,
initiate
into the mysteries of juggling described further along.
There
who are versed in spiritualism, and who are scarcely inferior wonderful Fox sisters in their influence over the spirits of the vasty More than that, they make practical.Use of the spirits to excellent
are also Indians to the
deep.
When
purpose. invite
him
extinguished,
fires are
and the congregation
Presently the gates of hell
ness.
who
ter,
an Indian gets troublesome to manage, the headmen assembly-house some evening, a dance
to the
rustles his pinions
and
yawn
sit
profoundly
He
speaks as
adds a
well,
little
feathers, raps
many words
still
in the dark-
open, and there issues forth a spec-
and ramps over the
then addresses the company in the best English,
men
held, then all the
is
"Good
fit
and
language as he can command
in that
Spanish perhaps, then makes a long discourse
which always happens to
floor,
evening, gentle-
in Indian,
upon the back of the
excellently well
offender.
Most Indians are thoroughly convinced of the genuineness of these apparitions,
and
that these
grim familiars have the
hang them by the neck instantly if they do not p's
a
and
in the
make
gift
of tongues, also power to
apex of the lodge, or disembowel them
presents to the chief and look well to their
Americans are rigorously excluded from these proceedings, but
q's.
man named Wilham
GriflBn,
understanding the language, overheard from
the outside what was said and done.
There
is
a kind of assembly-house called the toad' -lam
devoted exclusively to female occupation. diff'erent sections
vocal music.
meet together
It is
in
it
Deputations of
hum which
women
is
from
occasionally and engage in contests of
held that that band of
women who
are victorious wiU
thereby secure to their neighborhood the most abundant harvest of acorns.
Of in
course,
it is
not to be supposed that these musical rivalries are decided
accordance with those principles of high art which would regulate the
award song
is
in a
German
Liederkranz, but they are accounted triumphant whose
loudest and longest.
There
is
a social gathering which
ing to our dinner-party or tea-party.
may be called The
lages meet at a designated place in the open
the soup-part}', answer-
inhabitants of two or air,
more
\"il-
bringing acom-flour (now-
SOCIAL PARTIES— DEATH— WIDOWS. adays frequently wheat-flour), a soup
in
—nothing
what thicker than great quantity of
Nothing
else.
and baskets to cook and eat the
little salt,
en regie except the soup, an article some-
is
and thinner than mush.
gruel,
After they have eaten a
young people amuse themselves
the
this,
327
in dancing, while
and scandal of which the Indians are so
their elders indulge in the gossip
inordinately fond.
Among many services of a ciple "
No
California Indians
shaman
cure,
no
pay him
to
The
fee
it is
benefit
his patient generally consists in
usual for a
it is
Death
for his
collect
around him
manifest to
all
requiring the
which the man of drugs renders
sucking from him certain sticks and stones,
which he alleges were lodged just under the
When
man
in advance, but these hold to the prin-
skin, to his great detriment.
beholders that the sufferer has been marked
by
own, and that he cannot long survive, his friends and relatives
As
stricken silence.
and stand
in a circle,
his breath
grows
awaiting' the final event in
stertorous,
showing that he
is
awepass-
ing through the last grim struggle, one of them approaches reverently and kneels
by
his side.
counts
its
feeble pulsations as they
ceases to beat and
hand over the region of the
his
ululations.
as the corpse
is
burn, a devoted
Of
is
conveyed
widow never
for several months,
band.
it
When
own burning-ground, and
it
speaks, on
as soon
Around Au-
thither for incremation.
any occasion or upon any
pretext,
sometimes a year or more, after the death of her hus-
this singular fact I
had ocular demonstration.
Elsewhere, as on
As you
the American River, she speaks onl}^ in a whisper for several months.
go down toward the Cosumnes
head
he
the death-dance, with frightful wails
Ever}" family have their cold
heart,
grow slower and weaker.
ended, he turns to the waiting relatives and silently
all is
Whereupon they commence
nods.
and
Holding
only
this
custom disappears, and only the tarred
remark that the widow
is
generally
memory of her husband than the widower to and seldom disgraces human nature by remarrying in a week or
his wife's,
is
more
observed.
It
is
fair to
faithful to the
two, as he
not infrequently does.
Apropos, the following story lost
:
An
Indian woman, living on Wolf Creek,
her husband, and went to live with her mother,
One day
who was
also a
widow.
before the customary period of mom-ning had expired, during
THE NISHINAM.
328 which a widow
is
forbidden to do any work or attend a^dance, her mother
down into the ravine and gather sofl^Q clover. She by a young girl, one of her unmarried companions. Going- afield with her basket, she was observed by an Indian named Pwi'-no, her husband's brother, who watched where she went and for what purpose. He reported to his father, and by him was chq^rged to follow and strike her requested her to
g-o
went, accompanied
He
dead.
did so, following her for several
home without accomplishing
His father upbraided him bitterly as a coward and an ingrate
his errand for not
avenging the insult to
memory.
his brother's
moment
the paternal reproaches, in a
Stung
madness by
to
of furious passion he rushed away,
upon the offending widow, and smote her unto death.
fell
When
a mother dies, leaving a very
relatives to destroy
This
it.
who
or other near relative, it is
but he had no heart for
hofilrs,
the butcherly business, and he finally returned
is
young
generally done
it
to her breast until
We must not judge them too harshly for this. Some Nishinam hold
it is
smothered.
They knew nothing
any kind of milk whatever other than that the dead linger
on earth a while
that they have such a mortal terror of ghosts. after
custom allows the
the grandmother, aunt,
holds the poor innocent in her arms, and while
seeking the maternal fountain, presses
nurture, patent nipples, or
infant,
by
If they are
;
of bottle-
the
human.
hence
good
it is
spirits,
Happy Western Land until they are who have preceded them thither come to meet and bear them away from earth in a whirlwind. When an Indian
they have traveled toward the
weary, other good them,
sees one of those
spirits
little
dust-columns which are frequent in
mate, he thinks some beatific soul
is
ascending in
it
to the
this
windy
cli-
Happy Western
Land.
As above recorded, the dance for the dead is observed as far south as American River (not below), through the influence and example of the Maidu, who observe burned, with
some
tribal
all
it
As soon as life is extinct the body possessions. Then the ashes are conveyed
annually.
the person's
burying-ground, and slightly covered up, in the earth.
the dance for the dead
is
held
by appointment
the spring, the ashes are uncovered and a
The
first
fire
is
to
When
at each place, generally in is
made
directly over them.
evening and morning the mourning-women dance in a
circle
A "CRY" FOK THE DEAD— CAPTAIN TOM'S around the
holding in their hands their votive
fii'e,
SON.
ofFering-s
;
329 the second
evening and morning they burn the offerings during the dance.
But the southern Nishinam custom
to hold a ''cry" at various vil-
is
lages and various times throughout the year, according to appointment, at
which they
made
or effigies of the dead are rudely
about over the
hills
most accustomed ones,
and
fill
After this
is
An
a circle on the ground, weeping and wailing.
sit in
and through the
to resort during
of skins and cloths, and carried
valleys,
wherever the departed were
to recall the
life,
the breasts of the mourners with a
done the
effigy
memory
of the absent
more piercing soitow.
burned, as the real bodies would have
effigies are
been.
witnessed a scene of cremation on Bear River that was one of the
I
most hideous and
aw^ful spectacles of
which the human mind can conceive.
The mourners leaped and howled around
the burning pyre like demons,
holding long poles in their liands, which ever and anon they thrust into the
On American lump, the women
seething, blistering corpse, with dismal cries of " Wu-wii-tvu!
River, after the
draw holds
body
out of the
it it
reduced to a
is
little
smouldering
then each one in succession takes
fire,
"
it
in her hands,
high above her head, and w^alks around the pyre, uttering doleful
wails and ululations.
A
touching story
is
Dick was an incorrigible for
something or other,
for ten years.
boy, with
him
as
had bound
him away
tried,
wickedness.
one who
like eternity),
rascal,
and
it
Tom,
of Auburn.
finally fell out that
is
proved guilty, and sentenced to San Quentin
man
dead.
When turned
away
his
iron,
years to an Indian seems
behold him.
hobbled him
his family
mourned
for
Dick
arose, gathered together all the things that
them out
The white man
like a horse, carried
ends of the earth, and buried him
turned sadly away, and went back to his wigwam.
and
Dick became
head and wept.
(for ten
his old eyes
and ankles with
to the uttermost
Dick was manacled and taken away
Nevermore
nevermore should
his wrists
together, he
His son
he w^as arrested
This was a terrible bloAV to Captain Tom, for he loved his
all his
out of his sight, the old to
related of old Captain
as for one dead.
had ever belonged
to the family burning-ground, erected a pyre,
alive.
He
Mingling their tears
Then they
to him, carried
and placed them on
121
THE NISHINAM.^
330 it.
Years ago, a brother to Dick had died while they were
place,
and
where they were burned.
his ashes rested
brought and sprinkled over the pyre
(for
living' in
'^They
another
were now
such a grievous calamity had
never befallen the Indians before, that they should be compelled to
own body
one's possessions without his
troubled to think
how they
if his
tears
With
else
They were sadly Happy
he was gon4 and they thought, they
them
to
torch,
and prayed
waft the clothes and
their son
many whose
money quickly man had
poor Dick in that undiscovered country to which the white
conveyed him.
his spirit
these feelings in their breasts, but with
and sad misgivings, they applied the
ashes they had sprinkled on to
it).
were sprinkled on the pyre, perhaps
brother's ashes
might convey them.
accompany
could send Dijck's clothing to him in the
Western Land, or wherever hoped,
to
bum
CHAPTER XXXII. THE NISHINAM— CONTINUED. There are numerous games with which old and young,
amuse themselves.
men and women,
All of them, except one perhaps, are very simple, and
several are quite puerile
;
but they
comport well with the blithe-hearted,
all
simple-minded, joyous temper of the people
—who originated them.
—
so fond of gayeties, so fond
of gambling
bow and arrow, a game called he'-u-to, is a men and boys. A triangular wicket about two feet high
Shooting at a target with favorite diversion of is
set up,
The
and under
it is
placed a
wooden
which constitutes the
ball
contestants stand about fifty yards distant.
wi'-oh (shooting at long range) there
The men
stand several hundred yards
that the wicket
is
He
not visible.
Frequently an arrow
the wicket. it is lost.
is
is
off,
is
ball,
In the
lia' -dang-kau
and the wicket
is
ol-om-
higher.
sometimes a quarter of a mile, so
victor
flies
This long-range shooting
no
target.
who
lodges most arrows within
high and wide of the mark, so that to give
them
skill
against the
day of
battle.
The pos'-kd JmJc'-um-toh kom-peh' (tossing the ball) is a boys' game. They employ a round wooden ball, a buckeye, or something, standing at around from one to the other. If two and the third " crosses out" or hits either exchange corners,
three bases or corners, and toss of
them
start to
it
of them, he scores one, and they count pletes the
game.
boys and
Little
ing clover in the mouth).
A
large
girls
up
to a certain
play chi'-wi
number
number, which com-
oi'-doi to'-ho-peh (catch-
of them stand in a circle, a few
paces apart, and toss from one to the other a pellet of green clover, which
must be caught
in the
ment among
little
the
mouth.
shavers,
This game produces a vast deal of merri-
and he who laughs
loudest,
and consequently
THE NISHINAM.
332 has his month open widest,
then entitled to
As a
eat.
mouth open, while another substances,
and he
is
most likely
one 'will stand with
A^ariation, fires
wads
to catch the clover,
which he
his eyes shut
is
and
at the port-hole, or occasionally harder
not particular whether he hits the mouth, the nose, or
is
some other portion of
his
physiognomy.
The most common mode of gambling (Jii'-lai), used by both men and women, is conducted by means of four longish cylinders of bone or wood, which are wrapped site
in j)ellets of grass
and held
in the hand, while the oppo-
party guesses which hand contains them.
from several materials, but the Indians the phrases pol'-loam
hi'-lai
Jiin,
call
toan'-em
Mn, which mean respectively
gai'-a hi'-lai
minds
in the quality of the
employed, but what tions, prevails
of seeing
it
it
pretty
is
all
bones.
Thus they have
du'-pem
There
is
on the Gualala.
Jiin,
game, according
a subtile difference in to the kind of
bones
This game, with slight varia-
over California; and as I had opportunity
on a much larger scale on Gualala Creek, the reader
to the chapter
lii'-lai
gamble with buckeye bones,
I cannot discern.
much
all
hi'-lai Inn,
to
pine bones, deer bones, and cougar bones. their
These cylinders are carved
them
The
su'-toh is the
same game
is
referred
substantially,
only the pieces are shaken in the hand without being wrapped in the grass.
The ha is a game of dice, played by men or women, two, three, or four The dice, four in number, consist of two acorns split lengthwise together. They are into halves, with the outsides scraped and painted red or black. shaken in the hands and thrown into a wide, flat basket, woven in ornamental patterns, sometimes worth $25. versa^ score
nothing
;
One
two of each, score one
paint and three whites, or vice ;
four alike, score four.
The
thrower keeps on throwing until he makes a blank throw, when another takes the dice.
When
all
the players have stood their turn, the one
has scored most takes the stakes, which in this
say a "bit".
As the Indians
say,
"This
is
game
who
are generally small,
a quick game, and with good
luck one can very soon break another."
The tl'-hel ti'-lxl is also a gainbling game, for two men, played with a bit of wood or a pebble, which is shaken in the hand, and then the hand closed upon it. The opponent guesses which finger (a thumb is a finger
GAMES AND ENTERTAINMENTS. with them)
The and
is
it is
under, and scores one
They keep
misses.
ti'-hel is
from
ties,
nowadays of strong
and
cloth,
stali',
from four to
parties take their stations into the air,
is
Two
parallel lines are
drawn
equi-
a few paces apart, and along these lines the opposing par-
it,
strong
game they use, The piece is made shaped like a small dumb-
center of a wide, level space of ground, in a furrow
Each player
equal in strength, range themselves.
slight,
if lie
men and boys
hollowed out a few inches in depth. distant
or the other scores
almost the only really robust and athletic
It is laid in the
bell.
hits,
tally with eight counters.
played by a large company of
of rawhide, or
he
if
333
The two champions
six feet long.
on opposite sides of the
caught on the
stalf of
equipped with a
is
piece,
which
is
of the
then thrown
one or the other, and hurled by him
With
the direction of his antagonist's goal.
this send-off there
in
ensues a
wild chase and a hustle, pell-mell, higgledy-piggledy, each party striving to
bowl the piece over the
often race
are dead
These goals are several hundred
other's goal.
yards apart, affording room for a good
2:,
IX
YU-KI
I
PO-MO
o
•T-"'\
yu-Ki
\
MUT-SUN
YO'-KUTS .SAN
ANTONIO SHO-SHO'-NI
V
J...
SANTA BARBARA
YUMA
INDEX
courtship and marriage, 198
A-cho-ma-wi: belief in a future state, 272
habitat of the, 196
burial customs, 272
infanticide, 198
courtship and marriage, 270
language, 198
derivation of the term, 267
legends, 200
food of the, 269
medical practices, 196
habitat of the, 267
migrations, 197
infanticide, 271
physical characteristics of the, 198
language, 272
religious worship of the, 199
legends, 273
social
mental characteristics of
mourning ceremonies,
customs of
the, 198
superstitious beliefs of the, 202
the, 271
traditions, 196
271
with the Gal-li-no-me-ro, 197 wars of the, 196
numerals, 273
treaty
physical characteristics of the, 267
wives, rights of the, 199
social life of the, 271, 272
superstitious beliefs of the, 270
Assembly chamber,
trapping, 269
24,
139,
158,
163,
205, 241, 279
Athabascan
267
tribal divisions of the,
wars of the, 268 w^omen, subjection of
races, 16, 115, 244, 369,
435
Avarice, 56, 66, 176, 216, 323, 411 the,
270
Avery, Mr. B.
P.,
375
Acorn-granaries, 284, 323, 351
Amazons, 160
Ball,
Americans, sentiments toward, 63, 214, 224, 229, 263, 265, 277, 320
Bancroft, Mr. H. H., 62 Barclay, Mr. C.
Amusements,
Baskets, 47, 186, 257, 350, 377
179, 310, 333
Mr. N.
B.,
258
J.,
70
Annihilation, 287, 348, 383 Antiquity of the Indians, 140, 184
Bastards, 23, 75
Annual mourning,
Battle-grounds, 148, 196, 405
328, 355, 356, 384,
437
Bell,
309
156, 249,
Arts, 48, 57, 78, 96, 104, 108, 116, 186, 189, 205, 220, 373,
422
Ash-o-chi-mi: belief in a future state,
200
J.
H., 383
Beverages, 235, 415
Bloody Rock, Story of, 137 Bolander, Prof. H. N., 420 Boston Charley, 263 Boundary lines, 16, 66. 109.
bravery in hunting, 200 burial customs, 200
E. B., 381
Harvey, 184
Bethel, Mr.
Appetite, 104, 402
Archaisms, 31,
Bateman, Dr.
197, 252, 320, 371
Bunnell, Dr. L. H.. 365
467
148.
155.
INDEX
468 Burgett, William, 271, 272
Burial customs, 33, 58, 99, 133, 145, 148,
Crook, General George, 42 Cunningham, Mr. S. M., 367
152
Burying-grounds,
33, 34, 99,
219
Dances, 28, 31, 56, 67, 85, 105, 118, 128, 133, 143, 155, 158, 212, 285, 324,
Calitornia big
trees,
381, 437
398
Camp-sites, 219, 255, 283, 316, 370
Cannibalism, 181, 196, 344 Canoes, 47, 69, 93, 215, 255, 394 Captain Jack, description ot, 261 of,
432
Chase, Mr. A. W., 52, 57, 60, 69, 432 Chiefs, 45, 66, 97, 157, 164, 172, 174, 243, 246, 261, 352, 353, 371
Children, 21, 206, 222, 276, 316, 331, 354 Chil-lu-la:
Degeneration, theory
434
of,
"Diggers", 90, 204, 214 Diseases, 23, 92, 103, 128, 139, 169, 220 232, 316, 378, 380, 393, 417
Divorces, 56, 178, 239
Dogs, 379, 385 F.,
258
Dress, 20, 220, 233, 244, 255, 284, 317,
burial customs, 87
338, 351
habitat of the, 87
language, 87
Early accounts, 400, 405, 434
superstitious beliefs of the, 88 tributary to the Hu-pa, 87
Chi-mal-a-kwe:
Earthquakes, 28, 203, 209 Education, 109, 131, 132, 150, 271 Ely, Dr. E., 197
burial customs, 93
English, use
habitat of the, 91
of, 227, 245,
314
E-ri-o:
language, 92
amusements Hu-pa, 91
wars of the, 94 Cho-ku-yen, the 195 Chu-mai-a:
of the, 195
burial customs, 194
dances, 195 habitat of the, 194
language, 194
habitat of the, 136
wars of
Debts, 321, 438
Dowell, Mr. B.
tributary to the
33, 68, 78, 166, 171,
181/^16, 226, 239, 272, 327
Devil-raising, 159, 225
Carillo, Joaquin, 129
Ceramic remains, lack
Death and the dead,
religious ideas of the, 194
the, 136
Civilization, effects of,
186, 205, 210,
Fishing, 48, 50, 93, 103, 117, 205, 233, 256, 376
258, 317
Clannishness, 73, 221 Climate, influence of, 149, 170, 214, 435 Clothing, effects of, 92, 403
Fitch, Joseph, 177, 178, 181
Courtship and marriage,
Food and
22, 56, 85, 98,
157, 192, 198, 258, 317, 413, 438
Coyote, 35, 37, 147, 182, 226, 250, 379, 413
Cremation,
152, 169, 181, 194, 207, 216,
328, 329, 356
Fiske, Prof. John, 414
Fitch, William, 198
labor, 23, 46, 49, 89, 107, 117,
130, 150, 167, 168, 176, 187,
220
232, 234, 255, 269, 322, 353, 378, 421, 424, 430
Future
state, 34, 59, 68, 91, 110, 144, 154,
161, 171, 181, 200,
240
INDEX courtship and marriage, 192
Gal-li-no-me-ro:
amusements
469
customs, 193
ot the, 179
a peaceable people, 178, 180
dances, 183, 194
avarice ot the, 173
diseases of the, 192
belief in a future state, 182
food of the, 187, 188
burial customs, 181
gambling, 189
color of the, 175
gravity of the, 191
courtship and marriage, 178
habitat of the, 186
cruelty of the, 176
implements, ornamentation
dances, 179, 181
infanticide, 192
of,
187
derivation of the term, 174
language, 186
habitat of the, 174
maftner of gathering seeds, 187
hospitality of the, 176
manner of preparing acorn-flour,
industry of the, 175
physical characteristics of the, 192
infanticide, 177
pipes, 189
legends, 182
political organization of the, 193
licentiousness of the, 178
theory of creation, 194
medical practice, 181
wigwams, 186
moral feebleness of
women,
the, 174
mourning ceremonies,
subjection of the, 194
181, 182
odor of the, 176 ornaments, 179
Hair, 20, 280, 422
Half breeds,
physical characteristics of the,
175
149,
403
He-nag-gi, the, 65
physical characteristics of the, 175
Heralds and ambassadors,
political organization of the, 174
purchase of citizenship, 177 purchase of relatives, 177
386 Hermaphrodites, 132, 345 Home, fondness for, 231, 249, 382 Hopps, Mr. Charles, 187
punishment
188
of murder, 177
1
10, 129, 136,
159, 210, 237, 264, 297,
religious ideas of the, 182
Horses, 27,
social organization of the, 174
Hospitalities, 28, 78, 164, 176, 183, 289
timidity of the, 178
Hunting, Hu-pa:
wigwams, 175 Games and gambling,
90, 151, 189, 193,
bastards, 75
courtship and mariage, 75, 85
Geysers, 196, 200
dance of peace, 81
312
Goldsmith, Mr. W. C, 216 Gordon, Mr. Robert, 317 Government, 15, 21, 45, 97, 258, 319
dances, 78, 79. 81, 85 habitat of the, 72 156,
174,
Grizzly bear, 102. 155, 161,240,397.398
hospitality of the, 78
immorality of the, 75 implements, 73 language, 72, 76
Gua-la-la:
amusements
53, 93, 101, 117, 241, 279
burial customs, 83
298, 303, 323, 331, 377, 407
Gifts, 238,
18, 209, 251, 258, 372,
ot the, 193
laws and usages of
the. 74
436
1
1
1
INDEX
470 legends, 80
lacking in poetFy and romance, 408
lodges, 73
licentiousness of the, 412
medical practice, 86 mental characteristics
mourning ceremonies, 83
medicines of the, 418 mental characteristics of the, 401, 411 mental weakness of the, 402, 406
numerals,
16
not a martial race, 404
78, 79, 81, 85
not a race of hunters, 406
1
ornaments,
of the, 72
political organization ot the, 74
not tavVdry in dress, 408
primitive dress ot the, 73
odor of
puberty dance, 85
punishment punishment
•
the.
403
physically considered. 401. 412
of adultery, 75
predominance
of murder, 75
403
shell-money, 76
prevalence
tattooing, 76
the.
of girls
of
amongst
infanticide
tribal divisions of the, 73
religious ideas of the. 413
revenge of
wars of
the, 73
Hutchings, Mr.
the. 4
skill of the.
M., 362
J.
amongst
416
war customs
of the, 74
the.
1
416
thievery of the. 410
treatment of captives by the. 403 uncleanliness of the. 403
Immorality. 22, 31, 412
75,
157, 206, 286,
Infanticide. 177. 183. 198. 207.222,232,
239, 328. 382
Insanity. 345
Indian reservations, 123, 264 Indians of California: a comparatively healthy race, 417
Ka-bi-na-pek:
attached to their home, 410
assembly house. 205
avarice of the, 41
bravery of the. 205
capacity to endure suffering, 406
cause of the extinction of
compared with
the,
415
the Algonkins, 404
burial customs, 207 conception of a Supreme Being, 208 dances, 210
diseases of the, 417
endurance of
division of the, 403, 417
fishing, 205
division of labor
endurance of feasts of the.
amongst
the.
the,
405
416
the,
213
food of the. 205 habitat of the, 204
408
infanticide, 207
food of the. 417. 419, 421
language, 204, 206
foulness of language of the, 412
mental characteristics of
good nature of the, 407 have no conception of
mourning ceremonies, 207
Being. 413
humor
of the, 409
industry of the. 409
a
Supreme
the,
205
ornaments. 211. 213 political organization of the, 204
physical characteristics of the. 204 religious ideas of the. 206. 207
ingratitude of the. 41
revival. 208
imitativeness of the, 406
sensuality of the, 206
INDEX
471
Kai Porno. 148
language. 89
Ka-rok:
lodges, 89
assembly chamber. 24
political organization of the, 90
belief in a future slate. 34
superstitious beliefs of the, 91 tributary to the Hu-pa, 89
bravery ot the, 19 burial customs, 33
Kinman,
conception of a Supreme Being, 24
Klamath, Jim, story Ko-ma-cho:
courtship and marriage, 22
dance of propitiation,
28. 30
Seth, 102 of. 41
dances, 172
dances, 28, 30, 31, 42
habitat of the, 172
derivation of the term, 19
mourning ceremonies,
diseases of the, 23
self-torture of the, 172
division of labor, 23
superstitious beliefs of the, 172
Kom-bo:
dress of the, 20
bravery of the, 279
habitat of the, 19 lack of virtue of the, 22
burial customs, 279
language, 32
cropping the
legends, 35, 37. 38. 39
habitat of the. 278
hair,
lodges, 24, 45
lodges. 279
medical practice, 26
nearly extinct, 277
money,
172
280
not California Indians. 279
21
mental characteristics of
mourning ceremonies,
the, 21
torture of captives, 279
trapping, 279 Kon-kau: numerals of the. 313
33
numerals, 45
ornaments. 30 physical characteristics of the. 19
political organization of the, 21
Language. 32, 44, 74, 76,92. 100. 146, 198, 206.215.231,250.272,314.347
primitive dress of the, 20
Las-sik:
physical endurance of the. 28
promiscuous cohabitation of
shamans
the, 23
of the. 25
superstitious beliefs of the. 31. 32 tattooing. 20
vocabulary of
war customs weapons. 21
the,
448
of the. 21. 42
Pomo. 147 Ka-to Pomo, 150 Kas-tel
habitat of the. 121
migration of the. 121 murders and robberies by the. 121 war customs. 127 wars of the. 121 Laws and usages. 21. 74. 98. 153. 177. 246
Laycock. Mrs. Dry den. 128 Legends. 35, 59. 60, 62, 69. 80.
1
10. 144.
Kelsey, Mr. Samuel, 128
150. 162. 171. 182. 200. 226. 251.
Kel-ta:
273. 287. 290, 339. 357. 366. 383.
belief in future state, 91
burial customs, 91
395. 434
Lodges, 45, 73. 101. 127. 128. 139. 163.
food of the. 89
168. 174. 186. 215. 221. 241. 255.
habitat ot the, 89
350. 436
1
INDEX
472 Lo-lon-kuk:
Mat-toal:
v
habitat ot the, 113
belief in a future state,
language,
burial customs,
Luttrell,
1
13
Hon.
J. K.,
247
1
1
10
10
education of children, 109 habitat of the, 107
implements, 108 Mai-du:
ingratitude of the, 112
acorn-granaries, 284
knowledge
assembly house, 284
109
of topographic features,
dances, 285
language, 108
derivation ol the term, 283
legends,
dress ot the, 284
lodges, 108
entertainments ot the, 310
tattooing, 109
habitat ot the, 282
1 1
theory of creation, 110
wars of the, 107, 108 McKee, Col Redick, 247
language, 310 legends, 290, 292, 294
Meacham, Hon. A. B., 258, 260 Medicine-men and medicines,
lodges, 284
religious ideas ot the, 287 secret societies, 305
130,
26, 86,
141, 152, 167, 216, 420, 423
songs, 287, 307
Melancholy,
theory ot creation, 287
Memorial offerings, 170, 387, 391 Mental attributes, 55, 72, 96, 107,
traits ot
character ot the, 284
trapping, 285
282
348, 397, 400, 406
Men-women,
283
132
Midwifery, 239, 246, 281, 379 Migrations, 69, 115, 116, 316, 318, 394, 397, 435
Makh-el-chel: burial customs, 216
exclusiveness ot the, 214 habitat ot the, 214
Milk, 186, 271, 328
implements and
Mi-sal-la
utensils, 215
indigenous origin of
the,
215
Ma-gun:
derivation of the term, 183
infanticide, 214
habitat of the, 174
intelligence of the, 214
hospitality of the, 183
language, 214, 215
infanticide, 183
Mi-wok: assembly
legends, 215 lodges, 215
medical practice, 216
hall,
260
belief in annihilation of the soul, 348
mourning ceremonies, 216
burial customs, 349, 356
physical characteristics of the, 214
courtship and marriage, 348, 354
punishment
of adultery, 214
theory of creation, 215 treaty
with Cache Creek Indians, 216
women,
134,
140, 147, 153, 174, 178, 191, 261,
tribal divisions ot the,
village-sites,
184, 193
deference
to,
217
Maltby, Mr. Charles, 382
dances, 352, 354, 356 dialectic variation of the, 347
dress ot the, 351
eloquence of
the,
352
feebleness of national unity, 346
INDEX
473
food ot the, 348, 351
physical characteristics of the, 252
food, storage ot, 351
political organization of the, 258
habitat ot the, 351
primitive dress of the, 255
habitat ot the, 346
religious ideas of the, 259
honesty ot
the, 351
customs
social
of the, 254
idioms ot the, 348 implements, 352
sorcerers, influence of the,
infanticide, 354
treatment of the, by American author-
language, 346, 347
ities,
265
war customs, 253
legends, 356, 358
wars of
lodges, 350
Money,
medical practice, 354
mental weakness of
the,
348
migrations, 350
the, 252, 253, 260, 264
21, 56, 66, 76, 217, 335
Mono: amusements
of the, 397
mourning ceremonies, 355
bravery of the, 397
numerals, 360
color of the, 397
obscenity, 348
freedom from vice of
physical stature of the, 348
habitat of the, 397
physiognomy
mental characteristics of numerals of the, 399
of the, 350
political organization of the, 352
primitive dress of the, 348
Mounds,
sensuality of the, 356
Murder,
of the, 346
397
the,
the,
397
physical stature of the, 397
salutations, 347
soil, fertility
260
superstitious beliefs of the, 260
52, 233, 316,
432
75, 178, 320, 411
Music and singing,
31, 105, 211, 257,
296, 326, 407
sweat-houses, 360
M6-dok: bravery of the, 253, 261
Names,
burial customs, 259
126, 154, 243, 247, 282, 305, 314,
362
courtship and marriage, 258
Nelson, Mr. A.
deformation of
Nicknames, 312, 409
the,
257
S.,
derivation of the term, 252
Nish-fang, story
diseases of the, 254
Ni-shi-nam:
dwellings, 255
198
of,
83
amusements of the, 331 nomadic tribe, 318, 322
food of the. 256
a
habitat of the, 252
assembly house, 326
implements, 255, 257 melancholy history of the, 264 mental characteristics of the, 253
burial customs, 327, 328
courtship and marriage, 317
migrations, 256
dances, 324
belief in a future state, 328, 340
military skill of the, 261
derivation of the term, 313
mourning ceremonies, 259
diseases of the, 316
not improved by contact with whites,
258
numerals, 45
food of the, 322, 323
geographical names of habitat ol the. 313
the.
317
INDEX
474 intanticide, 328
Origin,
insanity, 345
Ornaments,
language, 314
19, 140, 156, 276, 280,
394
30, 78, 1T6, 179, 211, 212,
238, 297, 338
legends, 339, 341, 343, 344, 345 lodges, 316
medical practice, 327
Pai-u-ti: 252, 274, 320, 369
migrations, 316
mode
tribal divisions ot the,
of collecting debts, 321
mourning ceremonies,
a warlike people, 274
314, 327
not a miserly people, 323
393
Pa-ka-maKli:
*
triendly to the Pai-u-ti, 274
numerals, 313
habitat ot the, 274
ornaments, 338
language, 274
personal names of the, 315
Pal-li-ga-wo-nap:
political organization ot the, 317, 319
burial customs, 394
primitive dress ot the, 317, 338
diseases ot the, 393
punishment punishment punishment
of adultery,
physical characteristics ot the, 394
ot
habitat ot the, 393
320 kidnapping, 318, 320 ot murder, 320 religious ideas ot the, 339 secret organization, 326 shell-money ot the, 335 slaughter
ot,
by the Pai-u-ti, 320
Parents, treatment ot, 112, 118, 131, 153, 178,
232
Pat-a-wat:
social gatherings, 326
boundaries ot
lodges, 394
religious ideas ot the, 394
Parricide, 178, 207, 322
social customs, 317
tribal
legends, 395
the,
a degraded race, 96
314
treatment ot the aged, 322
burial customs, 99
villages ot the, 316
courtship and marriage, 98
v^ar customs ot the, 320, 321 wars ot the, 320 weapons, 321
dress ot the, 97
habitat ot the, 96
language, 100 lodges, 96
N6-zi:
numerals, 99
habitat ot the, 275
honesty, 276
physical characteristics ot the, 96
industry, 26
political organization ot the, 97
migrations, 276 numerals, 277 wars ot the, 275
superstitious beliefs of the, 98
Numerals,
45, 100,
shell-money, 98 tattooing, 96 116,
167, 232, 250,
273, 277, 313, 360, 378, 392, 399
wars of
the,
96
Pat-a-we, the, 95
Pat-win:
Observation ot nature,
Old towns,
168,
40, 99, 188,
219
Oratory, 105, 159, 352, 372
419
amusements, 224 burial customs, 226
camp-sites, 219
INDEX civil
wars
475
assembly house, 157
of the, 221
clannishness ot the, 221 color of the, 224
belief in a future state, 153, 154, 161
courtship and marriage, 221
conception of a Supreme Being,
burial customs, 148, 149, 152, 153
derivation of the term, 218
146,
161
habitat of the, 218
courtship and marriage, 157
language, 218
dances, 154, 158, 159
legends, 226
dialectic variations of the, 146
licentiousness, 219
disposition of the, 146
linguistic boundaries of the, 218
food of the, 150 games, 151
medical practice, 220, 225 mode of gathering and preparing food, 220
gam.bling, 152 habitat of the, 146, 148
mourning ceremonies, 225 no conception of a Supreme Being, 224
hospitality, 153
implements, 148 Kai, 148
numerals, 232
Kastel, 147
parental government of the, 222
Kato, 150
physical characteristics of the, 222
lack of virtue, 157
political organization of the, 221
language, 150
population of
the,
219
linguistic studies, 150
primitive dress of the, 220
legends, 162
prostitution of the, 224
lodges, 148, 150
purchase of
medical practices, 152
relatives, 221
memory
religious ceremonies of the, 225 tribal divisions of the,
of the, 153
numerals, 167
218
vendettas of the, 221
physical characteristics of the, 149
war customs, 221
physique, 146
weapons, 221
Poam, 156
wigwams, 221
political organization of the, 156
predominance
Personal habits, 20, 55, 104, 123, 193, 233, 403
quarrels of the, 149
Phenomena,
religious ideas of the, 161
Physique, 174,
224,
261,
272,
290,
357
19, 44, 66, 96, 120, 124, 127
superstitious beliefs of the, 154
192, 204, 214, 22, 231, 267,
system of names, 154
400, 416, 433 Pifia,
of girls, 149
tattooing, 148
Louis, 178
traits of character, 147
Pipes, 433
Points of the compass, 73, Polyglots, 73, 151, 198
Po-mo: acts of worship, 147
arrival at puberty, 149
treatment of parents, 153 151,
198
tribal divisions of the, 147. 155
war customs, 160 wars of
women, women,
the, 147
authority of the, 160 subjection of the. 159
INDEX
476
Secret societies, 15^, 305, 406
Population, density of
the, 59, 103, 128,
168,204,219,254,365,415
Selt-torture, 83, 169,
1-73,
181,
406
Se-nel:
.
Pottery, 433
beliet in a tuture state, 170, 171
Potter, William, 156, 158
burial customs, 169
dances, 169
Pre-historics, 432, 435 Priests
and
priestesses, 67, 82, 164,
428
tood Qt the. 168 habitaiV)t the, 168
Prostitution, 225, 247, 382, 413
lodges. 168
Quarrels and teuds, 21, 49,
74»,
221, 238,
mourning ceremonies,
169
political organizaiton ot the, 168
249
religious ideas ot the, 171
Rattlesnakes, 160, 325, 379, 380
selt-torture of the, 169
Retorms,
sterile
42, 205, 352, 381
Relations of
tribes, 72. 87, 147, 149, 177,
Shamans,
Relatives: 177, 192, 271, 348. 356
83,
174, 199, 224, 259,
Shas-ti-ka:
133,
147,
161,
413
an Indian, 208
Robbins, Mr. T.
courtship and marriage, 247 dances, 250 dress of the, 244
120
division of labor, 249
J. B., 62, 100, 115,
exchange of names, 247
B.,
Rosborough, Judge
24, 26, 27. 68, 78, 91, 142, 152,
burial customs. 249
purchase ot, 221 Religious ideas, 24,
,
of the, 169
181. 225. 239, 270, 345. 354
238, 254, 264, 275
Revival
women
superstitious beliefs of the, 169
Re-ho, the, 228
120
feuds, 249
245
Sacred objects. 78, 240. 398
food of
Sai-az:
language, 250
the,
diseases ot the. 123
lodges, 245 medical practice, 249
habitat ot the. 122
migrations, 244
language, 124
not California Indians,
lodges, 123
numerals. 250
physical characteristics ot the, 123.
original habitat of the, 243
bravery ot the, 123
124
Salmon
Billy. 53
246 political
organizations of the, 243
246
Salutations. 58, 176. 305, 347
primitive dress of the, 246
San Ratael: habitat ot the, 195
punishment punishment
language, 195
relationship to
Savage lite, 284, 418 Schumacher, Mr. Paul. 104
245
physical characteristics of the, 243,
superstitious beliets ot the, 123
uncleanliness of the, 123
15.
of adultery, 246 of murder, 246
Oregon Indians, 243
religious ideas of the, 251
sweat-house, 243
INDEX
477
theory of creation, 250
timidity of the, 140
war customs
war customs, 139
women, women,
of the, 248
wars of
bravery of the, 248 prostitution of the, 247
Skonchin John, 262 Slaves, 22, 75, 177, 254, 267, 288
Social gatherings, 205, 326, 355
Somes, Mr.
A., 31
Songs, 211, 213, 236, 237, 287, 296, 307,
the, 139
wigwams, 139 women, subjection of the, 141 Time and seasons, 77, 85, 235, 294,
305,
352, 438
Tobacco, 415, 426, 428 Tol-o-wa: avariciousness of the, 66
335
Spanish, 136, 175, 180, 271, 382
belief in a future state, 68
Spies, 74
cruelty of the, 65
Spirits, 24, 91, 154, 169, 286, 326, 328,
dances, 67
food of
345, 414 Steele,
Mr.
Sterile
women,
E.,
69
implements and
318
169,
Stone implements,
the, 67,
habitat of the, 65
243
49, 52, 79, 252, 302,
344, 376, 377, 395, 432
utensils, 69
language, 65 legends, 70
numerals, 116
Suicide, 259
Sunshine, fondness
for, 68,
176
Superstitions, 31, 57, 58,87,98, 124, 144,
physical
characteristics
of
the,
66
religious ideas of the, 68
reverence of the dead, 68
260 Sutter, Capt.
Sweat-house,
John
A.,
wars of
322
15, 93, 244, 394,
436
the, 65
Tortures, 279, 321 Traffic, 235, 316, 352, 375
Tales, 41, 60, 83, 134, 137, 184,208,217, 280, 288, 329
Ta-ta-ten, 65
Tattooing, 20, 76, 96, 109, 130, 148, 242 Ta-tu:
assembly
hall, 139, 141
belief in a future state, 144
Trails, 58, 119, 382
Traits of character, 21, 53, 55, 112, 119, 127,
133,
Trapping,
139,
146, 153, 253, 276
50, 101, 269, 285, 351
Treaties, 197, 216, 246
Trophies, 21, 57, 221, 238
Twins, 271
burial customs, 145
dances, 143, 144
Vi-ard:
diseases of the, 139
a timid race, 101
habitat of the, 139
dance of thanksgiving, 105
legends, 144
fishing-weirs, 103
medical practice, 141, 142 ornaments, 143
habitat of the, 101
quarrels of the, 140
language, 101
implements and
utensils, 101
religious ideas of the, 144
lodges, 101
secret society, 141
numerals, 99
superstitious beliefs of the, 144
snares and traps, 101
INDEX
478
burial customs, 23^9 contemplation of des^th, 239 courtship and marriage, 238 dances, 235, 236, 237, 239, 240 derivation of the term, 229 diseases of the, 232 dress of the, 233
Vices, 6, 415
Villages, 46, 284, 300, 365
Wai-lak-ki:
bravery of the, 120 carving,
dances,
16
1
18
1
derivation of the term, 114
fishing, 232, 233
fishing,
food of
food of
1
17
food,
the, 117
the, 232, 234,
mode
habitat of the, 114
habitat of the, 229
language,
infanticide, 238, 239
lodges,
1
14
1
language, 231, 232
16
mental characteristics of
the, 119
16
1
ornaments, 116 snares
and
tattooing,
16
of
filial piety,
118
Waite, Mr. E. G., 374
Wappo,
241
Wa-pum-ni, numerals of the, 313 War and weapons, 21 42, 52, 73, 94, ,
129, 136, 221, 253, 321,
Warner, Mr.
J. J.,
puberty dance, 235 108,
404
417
religious ideas of the, 240
sensuality of the, 229
songs, 236, 237
Water, modes of crossing, 93, 124, 275, 352
superstitions, 229
Water,
traffic
on, 51, 53, 216, 222
Whil-kut:
amongst
the,
235
treatment of the aged, 231
habitat of the, 88
tribal divisions of the,
language, 89 tributary to the Hu-pa, 88 wars of the, 88 Whiskey, 175, 176, 205, 397 White, Robert, 153
Widowhood,
tattooing, 232, 242
trapping, 241
burial customs, 88
33, 225, 327, 383
Win-tun: belief in a future state,
Women,
240
story of, 288
20, 23, 32, 141, 150, 152, 160,
199, 217, 244, 246, 248, 270, 318,
405 J.
G., 415
Yo-kai-a:
Supreme Being, 240
230
war customs of the, 241 weapons, 234, 241 W6-lok-ki and Y6-to-wi,
Wood, Mr.
bathing, 233 belief in a
237
physical characteristics of the, 231,
196
skill
229
numerals, 232 ornaments, 238
119
traits of character,
want
the,
mode of transmitting news, mourning ceremonies, 240
traps, 117 1
lodges, 241
medical practice, 239 mental characteristics of migrations, 229
migrations, 115, 116
numerals,
235
of preparing, 234
assembly house, 163 dances, 164
INDEX derivation of the term, 163
479
Indian terms tor geographic features in the, 362
dress of the, 165
legends of the, 366, 367
habitat of the, 163
villages in the, 365
implements, 167 lodges, 163
Yuba, numerals
medical practice, 167
Yu-ki:
mourning ceremonies,
164, 166
assembly
of the,
hall, 128
numerals, 167
burial customs, 133
ornaments, 165
dances, 128, 133 derivation of the term, 125
Y6-kuts: burial customs, 383, 383
devil, the, 134
courtship and marriage, 381, 382
diseases of the, 125
dances, 380
food ot
derivation ot the term, 369
habitat of the, 125
diseases ot the, 380
intellect of the, 126
tood,
313
mode
ol preparing,
376
the, 128, 130
lodges of the, 128
man-woman,
tood of the, 376, 378 gambling, 377
consecration of the, 133
medical practice, 130
habitat ot the, 369 implements, 373, 376, 377 infanticide, 382
memory
of the, 134
mental characteristics
of the, 127
physical characteristics of the, 127
language, 382
primitive dress
legends, 383
religious beliefs ot the, 133
love ot
home, 382
t
the, 128
system of names, 126
medical practice, 378, 379
tattooing, 130
mourning ceremonies, 384 names tor days ot the vc^eek, 378
thievery of the, 133
numerals, 378 original habitat ot the, 370 political organization of the, 370, 371
prophets of
the,
war customs, 128 weapons, 129
women,
129
Yu-rok: acquisitiveness ot the, 56
372
sacred animals, 379
amusements, 56
shell-money, 375
arts of the, 57
theory ot disease, 378
assembly chamber, 58
trapping, 377
bathing, 55
tribal
boundaries
ot the, 371
tribal divisions ot the,
wars
ot the,
373
369
belief in a future state, 58,
conception ot a Supreme Being. 64
weapons, 373
color of the, 44
wigwams, 370
courtship and marriage. 56
wizards, 372, 380
cunning
Yosemite Valley: Indian
name
(A the, 361
59
burial customs, 58
of the, 53
curiosity ot the, 54
divorce, 56
INDEX
480
opinion of the whjtes, 63 ornaments, 47, 52
fishing, 48, 49, 50, 51
tood ot the, 46, 49, 51, 59 habitat of the, 44
physical description of the, 44
hunting, 53
implements and
political organization of the, 45 utensils, 47, 48
salutations of the, 58
industry of the, 46
superstitious beliefs of the, 57, 63
language, 44
tattooing, 44
legends, 59, 60, 62
trapping)50 weapons, 52
lodges, 45
mourning ceremonies, 58 numbers of the, 59 numerals, 45
•
women, 50 Yu-rok's revenge, 60
V
tribeso'fcalifornOOstep IribesofcalifornOOstep
I
This classic of American Indian ethnography, originally published in 1877, is again available in its complete form. In the summers of 1871
and 1872 Powers California.
visited Indian
groups
in the
northern two-thirds of
A journalist by profession,
he was untrained in ethnography, but was nonetheless an astonishingly intelligent observer who had a gift for writing in a spirited manner. He reported faithfully what he heard and portrayed accurately what he saw among the native survivors of Gold Rush days in a series of seventeen articles published
mostly in The Overland Monthly. These were partly rewritten, added to, and reorganized by Powers to be published in 1877 as a report of the U.S. Geographical
and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain
Region.
Powers' book
is still
with native cultures. California
is
rare volume.
basic
and
The 1877
at last reprinted in
For
is
referred to by everyone
was not
edition
large,
response to growing
who
deals
and Tribes of
demand
for this
this edition all
of the original illustrations have been retained and the basic text printed in facsimile. Professor Robert F. Heizer has provided annotations throughout and an introduction to indicate
contemporary thought about the volume.
''Tribes
of California
one of the most remarkable reports ever was able to a greater degree than anyone before or after him to seize and fix the salient qualities of [is]
printed by any government. Powers
.
.
.
the mentality of the people he described the culture of the California Indian, for lights
book
For the broad outlines of its
values with
all
their high-
and shadows, [one] can It will
still do no better than consult the always remain the best introduction to the subject."
—A.L. Kroeber