Part 37 (1/2)
[Sidenote: NATIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.]
THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIANS, the first tribal group, or division, of which I shall speak, might, not improperly, be called the Klamath family, extending as they do from Rogue River on the north, to the Eel River south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary east, and including the Upper and Lower Klamath and other lakes. The princ.i.p.al tribes occupying this region are the _Klamaths_,[426] who live on the headwaters of the river and on the sh.o.r.es of the lake of that name; the _Modocs_,[427] on Lower Klamath Lake and along Lost River; the _Shastas_, to the south-west of the lakes, near the Shasta Mountains; the _Pitt River Indians_; the _Eurocs_ on the Klamath River between Weitspek and the coast; the _Cahrocs_[428] on the Klamath River from a short distance above the junction of the Trinity to the Klamath Mountains; the _Hoopahs_ in Hoopah Valley on the Trinity near its junction with the Klamath; numerous tribes on the coast from Eel River and Humboldt Bay north, such as the _Weeyots_,[429] _Wallies_, _Tolewahs_, etc., and the _Rogue River Indians_,[430] on and about the river of that name.[431]
The Northern Californians are in every way superior to the central and southern tribes.[432] Their physique and character, in fact, approach nearer to the Oregon nations than to the people of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. This applies more particularly to the inland tribes. The race gradually deteriorates as it approaches the coast, growing less in stature, darker in color, more and more degraded in character, habits, and religion. The Rogue River Indians must, however, be made an exception to this rule. The tendency to improve toward the north, which is so marked among the Californians, holds good in this case; so that the natives on the extreme north-west coast of the region under consideration, are in many respects superior to the interior but more southerly tribes.
[Sidenote: PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES.]
The Northern Californians round the Klamath lakes, and the Klamath, Trinity, and Rogue rivers, are tall, muscular, and well made,[433] with a complexion varying from nearly black to light brown, in proportion to their proximity to, or distance, from the ocean or other large bodies of water; their face is large, oval, and heavily made, with slightly prominent cheek-bones, nose well set on the face and frequently straight, and eyes which, when not blurred by ophthalmia, are keen and bright. The women are short and some of them quite handsome, even in the Caucasian sense of the word;[434] and although their beauty rapidly fades, yet they do not in old age present that unnaturally wrinkled and shriveled appearance, characteristic of the Central Californians. This description scarcely applies to the people inhabiting the coast about Redwood Creek, Humboldt Bay, and Eel River, who are squat and fat in figure, rather stoutly built, with large heads covered with coa.r.s.e thick hair, and repulsive countenances, who are of a much darker color, and altogether of a lower type than the tribes to the east and north of them.[435]
[Sidenote: DRESS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.]
Dress depends more on the state of the climate than on their own sense of decency. The men wear a belt, sometimes a breech-clout, and the women an ap.r.o.n or skirt of deer-skin or braided gra.s.s; then they sometimes throw over the shoulders a sort of cloak, or robe, of marten or rabbit skins sewn together, deer-skin, or, among the coast tribes, seal or sea-otter skin. When they indulge in this luxury, however, the men usually dispense with all other covering.[436] Occasionally we find them taking great pride in their gala dresses and sparing no pains to render them beautiful. The Modocs, for instance, took large-sized skins, and inlaid them with brilliant-colored duck-scalps, sewed on in various figures; others, again, embroidered their ap.r.o.ns with colored gra.s.ses, and attached beads and sh.e.l.ls to a deep fringe falling from the lower part.[437] A bowl-shaped hat, or cap, of basket-work, is usually worn by the women, in making which some of them are very skillful. This hat is sometimes painted with various figures, and sometimes interwoven with gay feathers of the woodp.e.c.k.e.r or blue quail.[438] The men generally go bare-headed, their thick hair being sufficient protection from sun and weather. In the vicinity of the lakes, where, from living constantly among the long gra.s.s and reeds, the greatest skill is acquired in weaving and braiding, moccasins of straw or gra.s.s are worn.[439] At the junction of the Klamath and Trinity rivers their moccasins have soles of several thicknesses of leather.[440] The natives seen by Maurelle at Trinidad Bay, bound their loins and legs down to the ankle with strips of hide or thread, both men and women.
The manner of dressing the hair varies; the most common way being to club it together behind in a queue, sometimes in two, worn down the back, or occasionally in the latter case drawn forward over the shoulders. The queue is frequently twisted up in a knot on the back of the head--_en castanna_--as Maurelle calls it. Occasionally the hair is worn loose, and flowing, and some of the women cut it short on the forehead. It is not uncommon to see wreaths of oak or laurel leaves, feathers, or the tails of gray squirrels twisted in the hair; indeed, from the trouble which they frequently take to adorn their coiffure, one would imagine that these people were of a somewhat aesthetic turn of mind, but a closer acquaintance quickly dispels the illusion. On Eel River some cut all the hair short, a custom practiced to some extent by the Central Californians.[441]
[Sidenote: FACIAL ORNAMENTATION.]
As usual these savages are beardless, or nearly so.[442] Tattooing, though not carried to any great extent, is universal among the women, and much practiced by the men, the latter confining this ornamentation to the breast and arms. The women tattoo in three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the centre and corners of the lower lip to the chin. In some tribes they tattoo the arms, and occasionally the back of the hands. As they grow older the lines on the chin, which at first are very faint, are increased in width and color, thus gradually narrowing the intervening s.p.a.ces. Now, as the social importance of the female is gauged by the width and depth of color of these lines, one might imagine that before long the whole chin would be what Southey calls ”blue, darkly, deeply, beautifully blue;” but fas.h.i.+on ordains, as in the lip-ornament of the Thlinkeets, that the lines should be materially enlarged only as the charms of youth fade, thus therewith gauging both age and respectability.[443] In some few tribes, more especially in the vicinity of the lakes, the men paint themselves in various colors and grotesque patterns. Among the Modocs the women also paint. Miller says that when a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat.[444] Both men and women pierce the dividing cartilage of the nose, and wear various kinds of ornaments in the aperture. Sometimes it is a goose-quill, three or four inches long, at others, a string of beads or sh.e.l.ls. Some of the more northerly tribes wear large round pieces of wood or metal in the ears.[445] Maurelle, in his bucolic description of the natives at Trinidad bay, says that ”on their necks they wear various fruits, instead of beads.”[446] Vancouver, who visited the same place nearly twenty years later, states that ”all the teeth of both s.e.xes were by some process ground uniformly down horizontally to the gums, the women especially, carrying the fas.h.i.+on to an extreme, had their teeth reduced even below this level.”[447]
Here also we see in their habitations the usual summer and winter residences common to nomadic tribes. The winter dwellings, varying with locality, are princ.i.p.ally of two forms--conical and square. Those of the former shape, which is the most widely prevailing, and obtains chiefly in the vicinity of the Klamath lakes and on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, are built in the manner following: A circular hole, from two to five feet in depth, and varying in diameter, is dug in the ground. Round this pit, or cellar, stout poles are sunk, which are drawn together at the top until they nearly meet; the whole is then covered with earth to the depth of several inches. A hole is left in the top, which serves as chimney and door, a rude ladder or notched pole communicating with the cellar below, and a similar one with the ground outside. This, however, is only the commoner and lighter kind of conical house. Many of them are built of much heavier timbers, which, instead of being bent over at the top, and so forming a bee-hive-shaped structure, are leaned one against the other.
The dwellings built by the Hoopahs are somewhat better. The inside of the cellar is walled up with stone; round this, and at a distance of a few feet from it, another stone wall is built on the surface level, against which heavy beams or split logs are leaned up, meeting at the top, or sometimes the lower ends of the poles rest against the inside of the wall, thus insuring the inmates against a sudden collapse of the hut.[448]
[Sidenote: CALIFORNIAN HABITATIONS.]
The square style of dwelling is affected more by the coast tribes, although occasionally seen in the interior. A cellar, either square or round, is dug in the same manner as with the conical houses. The sides of the hole are walled with upright slabs, which project some feet above the surface of the ground. The whole structure is covered with a roof of sticks or planks, sloping gently outward, and resting upon a ridge-pole.
The position of the door varies, being sometimes in the roof, sometimes on a level with the ground, and occasionally high up in the gable. Its shape and dimensions, however, never alter; it is always circular, barely large enough to admit a full-grown man on hands and knees. When on the roof or in the gable, a notched pole or mud steps lead up to the entrance; when on the ground, a sliding panel closes the entrance. In some cases, the excavation is planked up only to a level with the ground. The upper part is then raised several feet from the sides, leaving a bank, or rim, on which the inmates sleep; occasionally there is no excavation, the house being erected on the level ground, with merely a small fire-hole in the centre. The floors are kept smooth and clean, and a small s.p.a.ce in front of the door, paved with stones and swept clean, serves as gossiping and working ground for the women.[449]
The temporary summer houses of the Northern Californians are square, conical, and inverted-bowl-shaped huts; built, when square, by driving light poles into the ground and laying others horizontally across them; when conical, the poles are drawn together at the top into a point; when bowl-shaped, both ends of the poles are driven into the ground, making a semi-circular hut. These frames, however shaped, are covered with neatly woven tule matting,[450] or with bushes or ferns.[451]
[Sidenote: HUNTING AND FIs.h.i.+NG.]
The Californians are but poor hunters; they prefer the snare to the bow and arrow. Yet some of the mountain tribes display considerable dexterity in the chase. To hunt the p.r.o.ng-buck, the Klamath fastens to each heel a strip of ermine-skin, and keeping the herd to the windward, he approaches craftily through the tall gra.s.s as near as possible, then throwing himself on his back, or standing on his head, he executes a pantomime in the air with his legs. Naturally the antelope wonder, and being cursed with curiosity, the simple animals gradually approach. As soon as they arrive within easy shooting-distance, down go the hunter's legs and up comes the body. Too late the antelope learn their mistake; swift as they are, the arrow is swifter; and the fattest buck pays the penalty of his inquisitiveness with his life. The Veeards, at Humboldt Bay, construct a slight fence from tree to tree, into which inclosure elk are driven, the only exit being by a narrow opening at one end, where a pole is placed in such a manner as to force the animal to stoop in pa.s.sing under it, when its head is caught in a noose suspended from the pole. This pole is dragged down by the entangled elk, but soon he is caught fast in the thick undergrowth, and firmly held until the hunter comes up.[452] Pitfalls are also extensively used in trapping game. A narrow pa.s.s, through which an elk or deer trail leads, is selected for the pit, which is ten or twelve feet deep. The animals are then suddenly stampeded from their feeding-grounds, and, in their wild terror, rush blindly along the trail to destruction.[453] The bear they seldom hunt, and if one is taken, it is usually by accident, in one of their strong elk-traps. Many of the tribes refuse to eat bear-meat, alleging that the flesh of a man-eating animal is unclean; but no doubt Bruin owes his immunity as much to his teeth and claws as to his uncleanness.
[Sidenote: FIs.h.i.+NG BY NIGHT ON THE KLAMATH.]
Fis.h.i.+ng is more congenial to the lazy taste of these people than the n.o.bler but more arduous craft of hunting; consequently fish, being abundant, are generally more plentiful in the aboriginal larder than venison. Several methods are adopted in taking them. Sometimes a dam of interwoven willows is constructed across a rapid at the time when salmon are ascending the river; niches four or five feet square are made at intervals across the dam, in which the fish, pressed on by those behind, collect in great numbers and are there speared or netted without mercy.
Much ingenuity and labor are required to build some of the larger of these dams. Mr Gibbs describes one thrown across the Klamath, where the river was about seventy-five yards wide, elbowing up the stream in its deepest part. It was built by first driving stout posts into the bed of the river, at a distance of some two feet apart, having a moderate slope, and supported from below, at intervals of ten or twelve feet, by two braces; the one coming to the surface of the water, the other reaching to the string-pieces. These last were heavy spars, about thirty feet in length, and secured to each post by withes. The whole dam was faced with twigs, carefully peeled, and placed so close together as to prevent the fish from pa.s.sing up. The top, at this stage of the water, was two or three feet above the surface. The labor of constructing this work must, with the few and insufficient tools of the natives, have been immense. Slight scaffolds were built out below it, from which the fish were taken in scoop-nets; they also employ drag-nets and spears, the latter having a movable barb, which is fastened to the shaft with a string in order to afford the salmon play.[454] On Rogue River, spearing by torch-light--a most picturesque sight--is resorted to. Twenty canoes sometimes start out together, each carrying three persons--two women, one to row and the other to hold the torch, and a spearman. Sometimes the canoes move in concert, sometimes independently of each other; one moment the lights are seen in line, like an army of fire-flies, then they are scattered over the dark surface of the water like ignes fatui.
The fish, attracted by the glare, rise to the surface, where they are transfixed by the unerring aim of the spearmen. Torchlight spearing is also done by driving the fish down stream in the day-time by dint of much wading, yelling, and howling, and many splashes, until they are stopped by a dam previously erected lower down; another dam is then built above, so that the fish cannot escape. At night fires are built round the edge of the enclosed s.p.a.ce, and the finny game speared from the bank.[455] Some tribes on the Klamath erect platforms over the stream on upright poles, on which they sleep and fish at the same time.
A string leads from the net either to the fisherman himself or to some kind of alarm; and as soon as a salmon is caught, its floundering immediately awakens the slumberer. On the sea-sh.o.r.e smelts are taken in a triangular net stretched on two slender poles; the fisherman wades into the water up to his waist, turns his face to the sh.o.r.e, and his back to the incoming waves, against whose force he braces himself with a stout stick, then as the smelts are washed back from the beach by the returning waves, he receives them in his net. The net is deep, and a narrow neck connects it with a long network bag behind; into this bag the fish drop when the net is raised, but they cannot return. In this manner the fisherman can remain for some time at his post, without unloading.
Eels are caught in traps having a funnel-shaped entrance, into which the eels can easily go, but which closes on them as soon as they are in.
These traps are fastened to stakes and kept down by weights. Similar traps are used to take salmon.
When preserved for winter use, the fish are split open at the back, the bone taken out, then dried or smoked. Both fish and meat, when eaten fresh, are either broiled on hot stones or boiled in water-tight baskets, hot stones being thrown in to make the water boil. Bread is made of acorns ground to flour in a rough stone mortar with a heavy stone pestle, and baked in the ashes. Acorn-flour is the princ.i.p.al ingredient, but berries of various kinds are usually mixed in, and frequently it is seasoned with some high-flavored herb. A sort of pudding is also made in the same manner, but is boiled instead of baked.
They gather a great variety of roots, berries, and seeds. The princ.i.p.al root is the camas,[456] great quant.i.ties of which are dried every summer, and stored away for winter provision. Another root, called _kice_, or _kace_,[457] is much sought after. Of seeds they have the _wocus_,[458] and several varieties of gra.s.s-seeds. Among berries the huckleberry and the manzanita berry are the most plentiful.[459] The women do the cooking, root and berry gathering, and all the drudgery.
The winter stock of smoked fish hangs in the family room, sending forth an ancient and fish-like smell. Roots and seeds are, among some of the more northerly tribes, stored in large wicker boxes, built in the lower branches of strong, wide-spreading trees. The trunk of the tree below the granary is smeared with pitch to keep away vermin.[459] The Modocs are sometimes obliged to cache their winter h.o.a.rd under rocks and bushes; the great number of their enemies and bad character of their ostensibly friendly neighbors, rendering it unsafe for them to store it in their villages. So cunningly do they conceal their treasure that one winter, after an unusually heavy fall of snow, they themselves could not find it, and numbers starved in consequence.[460]
Although the Northern Californians seldom fail to take a cold bath in the morning, and frequently bathe at intervals during the day, yet they are never clean.[461]