Part 40 (1/2)
[Sidenote: DRESS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.]
A short cloak of deer-skin or rabbit-skins sewed together, suffices the men for clothing; and sometimes even this is dispensed with, for they think it no shame to be naked.[567] The women and female children wear a petticoat of skin, with a heavy fringe reaching down to the knees; in some districts they also wear short capes covering the b.r.e.a.s.t.s.[568] On the coast and, formerly, on the islands, seals furnished the material.[569] The more industrious and wealthy embroider their garments profusely with small sh.e.l.ls. Around Santa Barbara rings of bone or sh.e.l.l were worn in the nose; at Los Angeles nasal ornaments were not the fas.h.i.+on. The women had cylinder-shaped pieces of ivory, sometimes as much as eight inches, in length, attached to the ears by a sh.e.l.l ring.
Bracelets and necklaces were made of pieces of ivory ground round and perforated, small pebbles, and sh.e.l.ls.
Paint of various colors was used by warriors and dancers. Mr Hugo Reid, who has contributed valuable information concerning the natives of Los Angeles County, states that girls in love paint the cheeks sparingly with red ochre, and all the women, before they grow old, protect their complexion from the effects of the sun by a plentiful application of the same cosmetic.[570] Vizcaino saw natives on the southern coast painted blue and silvered over with some kind of mineral substance. On his asking where they obtained the silver-like material they showed him a kind of mineral ore, which they said they used for purposes of ornamentation.[571]
They take much pride in their hair, which they wear long. It is braided, and either wound round the head turban-like,[572] or twisted into a top-knot; some tie it in a queue behind. According to Father Boscana the girls are tattooed in infancy on the face, breast, and arms. The most usual method was to p.r.i.c.k the flesh with a thorn of the cactus-plant; charcoal produced from the maguey was then rubbed into the wounds, and an ineffaceable blue was the result.[573]
[Sidenote: DWELLINGS AND FOOD.]
Dwellings, in the greater part of this region, differ but little from those of the Central Californians. In shape they are conical or semi-globular, and usually consist of a frame, formed by driving long poles into the ground, covered with rushes and earth.[574] On the coast of the Santa Barbara Channel there seems to have been some improvement in their style of architecture. It was probably here that Cabrillo saw houses built after the manner of those in New Spain.[575] It is possible that the influences of the southern civilization may have extended as far as this point. Father Boscana's description of the temples or _vanquechs_ erected by the natives in the vicinity of San Juan Capistrano, in honor of their G.o.d, Chinigchinich, is thus translated: ”They formed an enclosure of about four or five yards in circ.u.mference, not exactly round, but inclining to an oval. This they divided by drawing a line through the centre, and built another, consisting of the branches of trees, and mats to the height of about six feet, outside of which, in the other division, they formed another of small stakes of wood driven into the ground. This was called the gate, or entrance, to the vanquech. Inside of this, and close to the larger stakes, was placed a figure of their G.o.d Chinigchinich, elevated upon a kind of hurdle.
This is the edifice of the vanquech.”[576]
Almost every living thing that they can lay their hands on serves as food. Coyotes, skunks, wild cats, rats, mice, crows, hawks, owls, lizards, frogs, snakes, excepting him of the rattle, gra.s.shoppers and other insects, all are devoured by the inland tribes. Stranded whales, animals of the seal genus, fish, and sh.e.l.l-fish, form the main support of those inhabiting the coast. Venison they are of course glad to eat when they can get it, but as they are poor hunters, it is a rare luxury.
When they did hunt the deer they resorted to the same artifice as their northern neighbors, placing a deer's head and horns on their own head, and thus disguised approaching within bow-shot. Bear-meat the majority refuse to eat from superst.i.tious motives.[577] Gra.s.shoppers are eaten roasted. Acorns are sh.e.l.led, dried, and pounded in stone mortars into flour, which is washed and rewashed in hot and cold water until the bitterness is removed, when it is made into gruel with cold water, or baked into bread. Various kinds of gra.s.s-seeds, herbs, berries, and roots, are also eaten, both roasted and raw. Wild fowl are caught in nets made of tules, spread over channels cut through the rushes in places frequented by the fowl, at a sufficient height above the water to allow the birds to swim easily beneath them. The game is gently driven or decoyed under the nets, when at a given signal, a great noise is made, and the terrified fowl, rising suddenly, become hopelessly entangled in the meshes, and fall an easy prey. Or selecting a spot containing clear water about two feet deep, they fasten a net midway between the surface and the bottom, and strewing the place with berries, which sink to the bottom under the net, they retire. The fowl approach and dive for the berries. The meshes of the net readily admit the head, but hold the prisoner tight upon attempting to withdraw it. And what is more, their position prevents them from making a noise, and they serve also as a decoy for others. Fish are taken in seines made from the tough bark of the tione-tree. They are also killed with spears having a movable bone head, attached to a long line, so that when a fish is struck the barb becomes loosened; line is then paid out until the fish is exhausted with running, when it is drawn in. Many of the inland tribes come down to the coast in the fis.h.i.+ng season, and remain there until the shoals leave, when they return to the interior. Food is either boiled by dropping hot stones into water-baskets, or, more frequently, in vessels made of soap-stone.[578]
In their cooking, as in other respects, they are excessively unclean.
They bathe frequently, it is true, but when not in the water they are wallowing in filth. Their dwellings are full of offal and other impurities, and vermin abound on their persons.
[Sidenote: WEAPONS AND WAR.]
Bows and arrows, and clubs, are as usual the weapons most in use. Sabres of hard wood, with edges that cut like steel, are mentioned by Father Junipero Serra.[579] War is a mere pretext for plunder; the slightest wrong, real or imaginary, being sufficient cause for a strong tribe to attack a weaker one. The smaller bands form temporary alliances; the women and children accompanying the men on a raid, carrying provisions for the march, and during an engagement they pick up the fallen arrows of the enemy and so keep their own warriors supplied. Boscana says that no male prisoners are taken, and no quarter given; and Hugo Reid affirms of the natives of Los Angeles County that all prisoners of war, after being tormented in the most cruel manner, are invariably put to death.
The dead are decapitated and scalped. Female prisoners are either sold or retained as slaves. Scalps, highly prized as trophies, and publicly exhibited at feasts, may be ransomed, but no consideration would induce them to part with their living captives.[580]
Among the few articles they manufacture are fish-hooks, needles, and awls, made of bone or sh.e.l.l; mortars and pestles of granite, and soap-stone cooking vessels, and water-tight baskets.[581] The clay vessels which are frequently found among them now, were not made by them before the arrival of the Spaniards. The stone implements, however, are of aboriginal manufacture, and are well made. The former are said to have been procured mostly by the tribes of the mainland from the Santa Rosa islanders.[582] The instruments which they used in their manufactures were flint knives and awls; the latter f.a.ges describes as being made from the small bone of a deer's fore-foot. The knife is double-edged, made of a flint, and has a wooden haft, inlaid with mother of pearl.[583]
On this coast we again meet with wooden canoes, although the balsa, or tule raft, is also in use. These boats are made of planks neatly fastened together and paid with bitumen;[584] prow and stern, both equally sharp, are elevated above the centre, which made them appear to Vizcaino ”como barquillos” when seen beside his own junk-like craft. The paddles were long and double-bladed, and their boats, though generally manned by three or four men, were sometimes large enough to carry twenty. Canoes dug out of a single log, sc.r.a.ped smooth on the outside, with both ends shaped alike, were sometimes, though more rarely, used.[585] The circulating medium consisted of small round pieces of the white mussel-sh.e.l.l. These were perforated and arranged on strings, the value of which depended upon their length.[586] I have said before that this money is supposed to have been manufactured for the most part on Santa Rosa Island. Hence it was distributed among the coast tribes, who bought with it deer-skins, seeds, etc., from the people of the interior.
[Sidenote: GOVERNMENT AND PUNISHMENTS.]
Each tribe acknowledged one head, whose province it was to settle disputes,[587] levy war, make peace, appoint feasts, and give good advice. Beyond this he had little power.[588] He was a.s.sisted in his duties by a council of elders. The office of chief was hereditary, and in the absence of a male heir devolved upon the female nearest of kin.
She could marry whom she pleased, but her husband obtained no authority through the alliance, all the power remaining in his wife's hands until their eldest boy attained his majority, when the latter at once a.s.sumed the command.
A murderer's life was taken by the relatives of his victim, unless he should gain refuge in the temple, in which case his punishment was left to their G.o.d. Vengeance was, however, only deferred; the children of the murdered man invariably avenged his death, sooner or later, upon the murderer or his descendants. When a chief grew too old to govern he abdicated in favor of his son, on which occasion a great feast was given. When all the people had been called together by criers, ”the crown was placed upon the head of the chief elect, and he was enrobed with the imperial vestments,” as Father Boscana has it; that is to say, he was dressed in a head-ornament of feathers, and a feather petticoat reaching from the waist half-way down to the knees, and the rest of his body painted black. He then went into the temple and performed a pas seul before the G.o.d Chinigchinich. Here, in a short time, he was joined by the other chiefs, who, forming a circle, danced round him, accompanied by the rattling of turtle-sh.e.l.ls filled with small stones.
When this ceremony was over he was publicly acknowledged chief.
As I said before, the chief had little actual authority over individuals; neither was the real power vested in the heads of families; but a system of influencing the people was adopted by the chief and the elders, which is somewhat singular. Whenever an important step was to be taken, such as the killing of a malefactor, or the invasion of an enemy's territory, the sympathies of the people were enlisted by means of criers, who were sent round to proclaim aloud the crime and the criminal, or to dilate upon the wrongs suffered at the hands of the hostile tribe; and their eloquence seldom failed to attain the desired object.[589]
[Sidenote: MARRIAGE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.]
The chief could have a plurality of wives, but the common people were only allowed one.[590] The form of contracting a marriage varied. In Los Angeles County, according to Mr Reid, the matter was arranged by a preliminary interchange of presents between the male relatives of the bridegroom and the female relatives of the bride. The former proceeded in a body to the dwelling of the girl, and distributed small sums in sh.e.l.l money among her female kinsfolk, who were collected there for the occasion. These afterward returned the compliment by visiting the man and giving baskets of meal to his people. A time was then fixed for the final ceremony. On the appointed day the girl, decked in all her finery, and accompanied by her family and relations, was carried in the arms of one of her kinsfolk toward the house of her lover; edible seeds and berries were scattered before her on the way, which were scrambled for by the spectators. The party was met half-way by a deputation from the bridegroom, one of whom now took the young woman in his arms and carried her to the house of her husband, who waited expectantly. She was then placed by his side, and the guests, after scattering more seeds, left the couple alone. A great feast followed, of which the most prominent feature was a character-dance. The young men took part in this dance in the roles of hunters and warriors, and were a.s.sisted by the old women, who feigned to carry off game, or dispatch wounded enemies, as the case might be. The spectators sat in a circle and chanted an accompaniment.
According to another form of marriage the man either asked the girl's parents for permission to marry their daughter, or commissioned one of his friends to do so. If the parents approved, their future son-in-law took up his abode with them, on condition that he should provide a certain quant.i.ty of food every day. This was done to afford him an opportunity to judge of the domestic qualities of his future wife. If satisfied, he appointed a day for the marriage, and the ceremony was conducted much in the same manner as that last described, except that he received the girl in a temporary shelter erected in front of his hut, and that she was disrobed before being placed by his side.
Children were often betrothed in infancy, kept continually in each other's society until they grew up, and the contract was scarcely ever broken. Many obtained their wives by abduction, and this was the cause of many of the inter-tribal quarrels in which they were so constantly engaged.
If a man ill-treated his wife, her relations took her away, after paying back the value of her wedding presents, and then married her to another.
Little difficulty was experienced in obtaining a divorce on any ground; indeed, in many of the tribes the parties separated whenever they grew tired of each other. Adultery was severely punished. If a husband caught his wife in the act, he was justified in killing her, or, he could give her up to her seducer and appropriate the spouse of the latter to himself.
[Sidenote: CHILD-BIRTH.]