Part 38 (2/2)
According to Hittel, there were six tribes in Napa Valley: the _Mayacomas_, the _Calajomanas_, the _Caymus_, the _Napas_, the _Ulucas_, and the _Suscols_; Mr Taylor also mentions the _Guenocks_, the _Tulkays_, and the _Socollomillos_; in Suisun Valley were the _Suisunes_, the _Pulpones_, the _Tolenos_, and the _Ullulatas_; the tribe of the celebrated chief Marin lived near the mission of San Rafael, and on the ocean-coast of Marin County were the _Bolanos_ and _Tamales_; the _Karquines_ lived on the straits of that name. Humboldt and Mulhlenpfordt mention the _Matalanes_, _Salses_, and _Quirotes_, as living round the bay of San Francisco. According to Adam Johnson, who was Indian agent for California in 1850, the princ.i.p.al tribes originally living at the Mission Dolores, and Yerba Buena, were the _Ahwashtes_, _Altahmos_, _Romanans_, and _Tulomos_; Choris gives the names of more than fifteen tribes seen at the Mission, Chamisso of nineteen, and transcribed from the mission books to the TRIBAL BOUNDARIES of this group, are the names of nearly two hundred rancherias. The _Socoisukas_, _Thamiens_, and _Gergecensens_ roamed through Santa Clara County. The _Olchones_ inhabited the coast between San Francisco and Monterey; in the vicinity of the latter place were the _Rumsens_ or Runsiens, the _Ecclemaches_, _Escelens_ or Eslens, the _Achastliens_, and the _Mutsunes_. On the San Joaquin lived the _Costrowers_, the _Pitiaches_, _Talluches_, _Loomnears_, and _Amonces_; on Fresno River the _Chowclas_, _Cookchaneys_, _Fonechas_, _Nookchues_, and _Howetsers_; the _Eemitches_ and _Cowiahs_, lived on Four Creeks; the _Waches_, _Notoowthas_, and _Chunemmes_ on King River, and on Tulare Lake, the _Talches_ and _Woowells_.
In their aboriginal manners and customs they differ but little, so little, in fact, that one description will apply to the whole division within the above-named limits. The reader will therefore understand that, except where a tribe is specially named, I am speaking of the whole people collectively.
The conflicting statements of men who had ample opportunity for observation, and who saw the people they describe, if not in the same place, at least in the same vicinity, render it difficult to give a correct description of their physique. They do not appear to deteriorate toward the coast, or improve toward the interior, so uniformly as their northern neighbors; but this may be accounted for by the fact that several tribes that formerly lived on the coast have been driven inland by the settlers and vice versa.
[Sidenote: PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES.]
Some ethnologists see in the Californians a stock different from that of any other American race; but the more I dwell upon the subject, the more convinced I am, that, except in the broader distinctions, specific cla.s.sifications of humanity are but idle speculations. Their height rarely exceeds five feet eight inches, and is more frequently five feet four or five inches, and although strongly they are seldom symmetrically built. A low retreating forehead, black deep-set eyes, thick bushy eyebrows, salient cheek-bones, a nose depressed at the root and somewhat wide-spreading at the nostrils, a large mouth with thick prominent lips, teeth large and white, but not always regular, and rather large ears, is the prevailing type. Their complexion is much darker than that of the tribes farther north, often being nearly black; so that with their matted, bushy hair, which is frequently cut short, they present a very uncouth appearance.[505]
The question of beard has been much mooted; some travelers a.s.serting that they are bearded like Turks, others that they are beardless as women. Having carefully compared the pros and cons, I think I am justified in stating that the Central Californians have beards, though not strong ones, and that some tribes suffer it to grow, while others pluck it out as soon as it appears.[506]
[Sidenote: DRESS IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.]
During summer, except on festal occasions, the apparel of the men is of the most primitive character, a slight strip of covering round the loins being full dress; but even this is unusual, the majority preferring to be perfectly unenc.u.mbered by clothing. In winter the skin of a deer or other animal is thrown over the shoulders, or sometimes a species of rope made from the feathers of water-fowl, or strips of otter-skin, twisted together, is wound round the body, forming an effectual protection against the weather. The women are scarcely better clad, their summer costume being a fringed ap.r.o.n of tule-gra.s.s, which falls from the waist before and behind nearly down to the knees, and is open at the sides. Some tribes in the northern part of the Sacramento Valley wear the round bowl-shaped hat worn by the natives on the Klamath.
During the cold season a half-tanned deer-skin, or the rope garment above mentioned, is added. The hair is worn in various styles. Some bind it up in a knot on the back of the head, others draw it back and club it behind; farther south it is worn cut short, and occasionally we find it loose and flowing. It is not uncommon to see the head adorned with chaplets of leaves or flowers, reminding one of a badly executed bronze of Apollo or Bacchus. Ear-ornaments are much in vogue; a favorite variety being a long round piece of carved bone or wood, sometimes with beads attached, which is also used as a needle-case. Strings of sh.e.l.ls and beads also serve as ear-ornaments and necklaces. The head-dress for gala days and dances is elaborate, composed of gay feathers, skillfully arranged in various fas.h.i.+ons.[507]
[Sidenote: PERSONAL ADORNMENT.]
Tattooing is universal with the women, though confined within narrow limits. They mark the chin in perpendicular lines drawn downward from the corners and centre of the mouth, in the same manner as the Northern Californians; they also tattoo slightly on the neck and breast. It is said that by these marks women of different tribes can be easily distinguished. The men rarely tattoo, but paint the body in stripes and grotesque patterns to a considerable extent. Red was the favorite color, except for mourning, when black was used. The friars succeeded in abolis.h.i.+ng this custom except on occasions of mourning, when affection for their dead would not permit them to relinquish it. The New Almaden cinnabar mine has been from time immemorial a source of contention between adjacent tribes. Thither, from a hundred miles away, resorted vermilion-loving savages, and often such visits were not free from blood-shed.[508] A thick coat of mud sometimes affords protection from a chilly wind. It is a convenient dress, as it costs nothing, is easily put on, and is no inc.u.mbrance to the wearer. The nudity of the savage more often proceeds from an indifference to clothing than from actual want. No people are found entirely dest.i.tute of clothing when the weather is cold, and if they can manage to obtain garments of any sort at one time of year they can at another.
[Sidenote: DWELLINGS IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.]
Their dwellings are about as primitive as their dress. In summer all they require is to be shaded from the sun, and for this a pile of bushes or a tree will suffice. The winter huts are a little more pretentious.
These are sometimes erected on the level ground, but more frequently over an excavation three or four feet deep, and varying from ten to thirty feet in diameter. Round the brink of this hole willow poles are sunk upright in the ground and the tops drawn together, forming a conical structure, or the upper ends are bent over and driven into the earth on the opposite side of the pit, thus giving the hut a semi-globular shape. Bushes, or strips of bark, are then piled up against the poles, and the whole is covered with a thick layer of earth or mud. In some instances, the interstices of the frame are filled by twigs woven cross-wise, over and under, between the poles, and the outside covering is of tule-reeds instead of earth. A hole at the top gives egress to the smoke, and a small opening close to the ground admits the occupants.
Each hut generally shelters a whole family of relations by blood and marriage, so that the dimensions of the habitation depend on the size of the family.[509]
Thatched oblong houses are occasionally met with in Russian River Valley, and Mr Powers mentions having seen one among the Gallinomeros which was of the form of the letter L, made of slats leaned up against each other, and heavily thatched. Along the centre the different families or generations had their fires, while they slept next the walls. Three narrow holes served as doors, one at either end and one at the elbow.[510] A collection of native huts is in California called a _rancheria_, from rancho, a word first applied by the Spaniards to the spot where, in the island of Cuba, food was distributed to repartimiento Indians.
[Sidenote: FOOD AND METHODS OF OBTAINING IT.]
The b.e.s.t.i.a.l laziness of the Central Californian prevents him from following the chase to any extent, or from even inventing efficient game-traps. Deer are, however, sometimes shot with bow and arrow. The hunter, disguised with the head and horns of a stag, creeps through the long gra.s.s to within a few yards of the unsuspecting herd, and drops the fattest buck at his pleasure. Small game, such as hares, rabbits, and birds, are also shot with the arrow. Reptiles and insects of all descriptions not poisonous are greedily devoured; in fact, any life-sustaining substance which can be procured with little trouble, is food for them. But their main reliance is on acorns, roots, gra.s.s-seeds, berries and the like. These are eaten both raw and prepared. The acorns are sh.e.l.led, dried in the sun, and then pounded into a powder with large stones. From this flour a species of coa.r.s.e bread is made, which is sometimes flavored with various kinds of berries or herbs. This bread is of a black color when cooked, of about the consistency of cheese, and is said, by those who have tasted it, to be not at all unpalatable.[511]
The dough is frequently boiled into pudding instead of being baked. A sort of mush is made from clover-seed, which is also described as being rather a savory dish. Gra.s.shoppers const.i.tute another toothsome delicacy. When for winter use, they are dried in the sun; when for present consumption, they are either mashed into a paste, which is eaten with the fingers, ground into a fine powder and mixed with mush, or they are saturated with salt water, placed in a hole in the ground previously heated, covered with hot stones, and eaten like shrimps when well roasted. Dried chrysalides are considered a bonne bouche, as are all varieties of insects and worms. The boiled dishes are cooked in water-tight baskets, into which hot stones are dropped. Meat is roasted on sticks before the fire, or baked in a hole in the ground. The food is conveyed to the mouth with the fingers.
[Sidenote: ACORNS AND WILD FOWL.]
Gra.s.shoppers are taken in pits, into which they are driven by setting the gra.s.s on fire, or by beating the gra.s.s in a gradually lessening circle, of which the pit is the centre. For seed-gathering two baskets are used; a large one, which is borne on the back, and another smaller and scoop-shaped, which is carried in the hand; with this latter the tops of the ripe gra.s.s are swept, and the seed thus taken is thrown over the left shoulder into the larger basket. The seeds are then parched and pulverized, and usually stored as pinole,[512] for winter use.[513]
When acorns are scarce the Central Californian resorts to a curious expedient to obtain them. The woodp.e.c.k.e.r, or _carpintero_ as the Spaniards call it, stores away acorns for its own use in the trunks of trees. Each acorn is placed in a separate hole, which it fits quite tightly. These the natives take; but it is never until hunger compels them to do so, as they have great respect for their little caterer, and would hold it sacrilege to rob him except in time of extreme need.[514]
Wild fowl are taken with a net stretched across a narrow stream between two poles, one on either bank. Decoys are placed on the water just before the net, one end of which is fastened to the top of the pole on the farther bank. A line pa.s.sing through a hole in the top of the pole on the bank where the fowler is concealed, is attached to the nearest end of the net, which is allowed to hang low. When the fowl fly rapidly up to the decoys, this end is suddenly raised with a jerk, so that the birds strike it with great force, and, stunned by the shock, fall into a large pouch, contrived for the purpose in the lower part of the net.[515]
Fish are both speared and netted. A long pole, projecting sometimes as much as a hundred feet over the stream, is run out from the bank. The farther end is supported by a small raft or buoy. Along this boom the net is stretched, the nearer corner being held by a native. As soon as a fish becomes entangled in the meshes it can be easily felt, and the net is then hauled in.[516] On the coast a small fish resembling the sardine is caught on the beach in the receding waves by means of a hand-net, in the manner practiced by the Northern Californian heretofore described.[517] The Central Californians do not hunt the whale, but it is a great day with them when one is stranded.[518] In reality their food was not so bad as some writers a.s.sert. Before the arrival of miners game was so plentiful that even the lazy natives could supply their necessities. The 'n.o.bler race,' as usual, thrust them down upon a level with swine. Johnson thus describes the feeding of the natives at Sutter's Fort: ”Long troughs inside the walls were filled with a kind of boiled mush made of the wheat-bran; and the Indians, huddled in rows upon their knees before these troughs, quickly conveyed their contents by the hand to the mouth.” ”But,” writes Powers to the author, ”it is a well-established fact that California Indians, even when reared by Americans from infancy, if they have been permitted to a.s.sociate meantime with others of their race, will, in the season of lush blossoming clover, go out and eat it in preference to all other food.”[519]
In their personal habits they are filthy in the extreme. Both their dwellings and their persons abound in vermin, which they catch and eat in the same manner as their northern neighbors.[520]
[Sidenote: CALIFORNIAN WEAPONS.]
Their weapons are bows and arrows, spears, and sometimes clubs. The first-named do not differ in any essential respect from those described as being used by the Northern Californians. They are well made, from two and a half to three feet long, and backed with sinew; the string of wild flax or sinew, and partially covered with bird's down or a piece of skin, to deaden the tw.a.n.g.
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