Part 41 (1/2)
[Sidenote: THE SHOSHONE FAMILY.]
THE SHOSHONE FAMILY, which forms the fourth and last division of the Californian group, may be said to consist of two great nations, the Snakes, or Shoshones proper, and the Utahs. The former inhabit south-eastern Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and the northern portions of Utah and Nevada, are subdivided into several small tribes, and include the more considerable nation of the Bannacks. The Utahs occupy nearly the whole of Utah and Nevada, and extend into Arizona and California, on each side of the Colorado. Among the many tribes into which the Utahs are divided may be mentioned the _Utahs_ proper, whose territory covers a great part of Utah and eastern Nevada; the _Washoes_ along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, between Honey Lake and the west fork of Walker River; the _Pah Utes_, or, as they are sometimes called, Piutes, in western and central Nevada, stretching into Arizona and south-eastern California; the _Pah Vants_ in the vicinity of Sevier Lake, the _Pi Edes_ south of them, and the _Gosh Utes_, a mixed tribe of Snakes and Utahs, dwelling in the vicinity of Gosh Ute Lake and Mountains.
The Shoshones[608] are below the medium stature; the Utahs, though more powerfully built than the Snakes, are coa.r.s.er-featured and less agile.
All are of a dark bronze-color when free from paint and dirt, and, as usual, beardless. The women are clumsily made, although some of them have good hands and feet.[609]
On the barren plains of Nevada, where there is no large game, the rabbit furnishes nearly the only clothing. The skins are sewn together in the form of a cloak, which is thrown over the shoulders, or tied about the body with thongs of the same. In warm weather, or when they cannot obtain rabbit-skins, men, women and children are, for the most part, in a state of nudity. The hair is generally allowed to grow long, and to flow loosely over the shoulders; sometimes it is cut straight over the forehead, and among the Utahs of New Mexico it is plaited into two long queues by the men, and worn short by the women. Ornaments are rare; I find mention in two instances[610] of a nose-ornament, worn by the Pah Utes, consisting of a slender piece of bone, several inches in length, thrust through the septum of the nose. Tattooing is not practiced but paint of all colors is used unsparingly.[611]
The Snakes are better dressed than the Utahs, their clothing being made from the skins of larger game, and ornamented with beads, sh.e.l.ls, fringes, feathers, and, since their acquaintance with the whites, with pieces of brilliant-colored cloth. A common costume is a s.h.i.+rt, leggins, and moccasins, all of buck-skin, over which is thrown, in cold weather, a heavy robe, generally of buffalo-skin, but sometimes of wolf, deer, elk, or beaver. The dress of the women differs but little from that of the men, except that it is less ornamented and the s.h.i.+rt is longer.[612]
[Sidenote: DRESS OF THE SNAKES.]
The dress of the Snakes seen by captains Lewis and Clarke was richer than is usually worn by them now; it was composed of a robe, short cloak, s.h.i.+rt, long leggins, and moccasins.
The robe was of buffalo or smaller skins, dressed with the hair on; the collar of the cloak, a strip of skin from the back of the otter, the head being at one end and the tail at the other. From this collar were suspended from one hundred to two hundred and fifty ermine-skins,[613]
or rather strips from the back of the ermine, including the head and tail; each of these strips was sewn round a cord of twisted silk-gra.s.s, which tapered in thickness toward the tail. The seams were concealed with a fringe of ermine-skin; little ta.s.sels of white fur were also attached to each tail, to show off its blackness to advantage. The collar was further ornamented with sh.e.l.ls of the pearl-oyster; the s.h.i.+rt, made of the dressed hides of various kinds of deer, was loose and reached half-way down the thigh; the sleeves were open on the under side as low as the elbow,--the edges being cut into a fringe from the elbow to the wrist,--and they fitted close to the arm. The collar was square, and cut into fringe, or adorned with the tails of the animals which furnished the hide; the s.h.i.+rt was garnished with fringes and stained porcupine-quills; the leggins were made each from nearly an entire antelope-skin, and reached from the ankle to the upper part of the thigh. The hind legs of the skin were worn uppermost, and tucked into the girdle; the neck, highly ornamented with fringes and quills, trailed on the ground behind the heel of the wearer; the side seams were fringed, and for this purpose the scalps of fallen enemies were frequently used.
The moccasins were also of dressed hide, without the hair, except in winter, when buffalo-hide, with the hair inside, answered the purpose.
They were made with a single seam on the outside edge, and were embellished with quills; sometimes they were covered with the skin of a polecat, the tail of which dragged behind on the ground. Ear-ornaments of beads, necklaces of sh.e.l.ls, twisted-gra.s.s, elk-tushes, round bones, like joints of a fish's back-bone, and the claws of the brown bear, were all worn. Eagles' feathers stuck in the hair, or a strip of otter-skin tied round the head, seem to have been the only head-dresses in use.[614] This, or something similar, was the dress only of the wealthy and prosperous tribes. Like the Utahs, the Snakes paint extensively, especially when intent upon war.[615]
[Sidenote: DWELLINGS AND FOOD OF THE SHOSHONES.]
The Snakes also build better dwellings than the Utahs. Long poles are leaned against each other in a circle, and are then covered with skins, thus forming a conical tent. A hole in the top, which can be closed in bad weather, serves as chimney, and an opening at the bottom three or four feet high, admits the occupants on pus.h.i.+ng aside a piece of hide stretched on a stick, which hangs over the aperture as a door. These skin tents, as is necessary to a nomadic people, are struck and pitched with very little labor. When being moved from one place to another, the skins are folded and packed on the ponies, and the poles are hitched to each side of the animal by one end, while the other drags. The habitations of the people of Nevada and the greater part of Utah are very primitive and consist of heaps of brush, under which they crawl, or even of a mere shelter of bushes, semi-circular in shape, roofless, and three or four feet high, which serves only to break the force of the wind. Some of them build absolutely no dwellings, but live in caves and among the rocks, while others burrow like reptiles in the ground.
Farnham gives us a very doleful picture of their condition; he says: ”When the lizard, and snail, and wild roots are buried in the snows of winter, they are said to retire to the vicinity of timber, dig holes in the form of ovens in the steep sides of the sand-hills, and, having heated them to a certain degree, deposit themselves in them, and sleep and fast till the weather permits them to go abroad again for food.
Persons who have visited their haunts after a severe winter, have found the ground around these family ovens strewn with the unburied bodies of the dead, and others crawling among them, who had various degrees of strength, from a bare sufficiency to gasp in death, to those that crawled upon their hands and feet, eating gra.s.s like cattle.”[616]
Naturally pusillanimous, weak in development, sunk below the common baser pa.s.sions of the savage, more improvident than birds, more beastly than beasts, it may be possible to conceive of a lower phase of humanity, but I confess my inability to do so.
Pine-nuts, roots, berries, reptiles, insects, rats, mice, and occasionally rabbits are the only food of the poorer Shoshone tribes.
Those living in the vicinity of streams or lakes depend more or less for their subsistence upon fish. The Snakes of Idaho and Oregon, and the tribes occupying the more fertile parts of Utah, having abundance of fish and game, live well the year round, but the miserable root-eating people, partly owing to their inherent improvidence, partly to the scantiness of their food-supply, never store sufficient provision for the winter, and consequently before the arrival of spring they are invariably reduced to extreme dest.i.tution. To avoid starvation they will eat dead bodies, and even kill their children for food.[617] A rat or a rabbit is prepared for eating by singeing the hair, pressing the offal from the entrails and cooking body and intestines together. Lizards, snakes, gra.s.shoppers, and ants are thrown alive into a dish containing hot embers, and are tossed about until roasted; they are then eaten dry or used to thicken soup. Gra.s.shoppers, seeds, and roots, are also gathered and cooked in the same manner as by the nations already described. The Gosh Utes take rabbits in nets made of flax-twine, about three feet wide and of considerable length. A fence of sage-brush is erected across the rabbit-paths, and on this the net is hung. The rabbits in running quickly along the trail become entangled in the meshes and are taken before they can escape. Lizards are dragged from their holes by means of a hooked stick. To catch ants a piece of fresh hide or bark is placed upon the ant-hill; this is soon covered by vast swarms of the insects, which are then brushed off into a bag and kept there until dead, when they are dried for future use. Among the hunting tribes antelope are gradually closed in upon by a circle of hors.e.m.e.n and beaten to death with clubs. They are also stalked after the fas.h.i.+on of the Californians proper, the hunter placing the head and horns of an antelope or deer upon his own head and thus disguised approaching within shooting distance.
[Sidenote: NATIVE FISH-WEIR.]
Fish are killed with spears having movable heads, which become detached when the game is struck, and are also taken in nets made of rushes or twigs. In the latter case a place is chosen where the river is crossed by a bar, the net is then floated down the stream and on reaching the bar both ends are drawn together. The fish thus enclosed are taken from the circle by hand, and the Shoshone as he takes each one, puts its head in his mouth and kills it with his teeth. Captain Clarke describes an ingeniously constructed weir on Snake River, where it was divided into four channels by three small islands. Three of these channels were narrow ”and stopped by means of trees which were stretched across, and supported by willow stakes, sufficiently near to prevent the pa.s.sage of the fish. About the centre of each was placed a basket formed of willows, eighteen or twenty feet in length, of a cylindrical form, and terminating in a conic shape at its lower extremity; this was situated with its mouth upwards, opposite to an aperture in the weir. The main channel of the water was then conducted to this weir, and as the fish entered it they were so entangled with each other, that they could not move, and were taken out by emptying the small end of the willow basket.
The weir in the main channel was formed in a manner somewhat different; there were, in fact two distinct weirs formed of poles and willow sticks quite across the river, approaching each other obliquely with an aperture in each side of the angle. This is made by tying a number of poles together at the top, in parcels of three, which were then set up in a triangular form at the base, two of the poles being in the range desired for the weir, and the third down the stream. To these poles two ranges of other poles are next lashed horizontally, with willow bark and withes, and willow sticks joined in with these crosswise, so as to form a kind of wicker-work from the bottom of the river to the height of three or four feet above the surface of the water. This is so thick as to prevent the fish from pa.s.sing, and even in some parts with the help of a little gravel and some stone enables them to give any direction which they wish to the water. These two weirs being placed near to each other, one for the purpose of catching the fish as they ascend, the other as they go down the river, are provided with two baskets made in the form already described, and which are placed at the apertures of the weir.”
For present consumption the fish are boiled in water-tight baskets by means of red-hot stones, or are broiled on the embers; sometimes the bones are removed before the fish is cooked; great quant.i.ties are also dried for winter. Some few of the Utahs cultivate a little maize, vegetables, and tobacco, and raise stock, but efforts at agriculture are not general. The Snakes sometimes accompany the more northern tribes into the country of the Blackfeet, for the purpose of killing buffalo.[618]
In their persons, dwellings and habits, the Utahs are filthy beyond description. Their bodies swarm with vermin which they catch and eat with relish. Some of the Snakes are of a more cleanly disposition, but, generally speaking, the whole Shoshone family is a remarkably dirty one.[619]
[Sidenote: WEAPONS OF THE SHOSHONES.]
The bow and arrow are universally used by the Shoshones, excepting only some of the most degraded root-eaters, who are said to have no weapon, offensive or defensive, save the club. The bow is made of cedar, pine, or other wood, backed with sinew after the manner already described, or, more rarely, of a piece of elk-horn. The string is of sinew. The length of the bow varies. According to Farnham, that used by the Pi Utes is six feet long, while that of the Shoshones seen by Lewis and Clark was only two and a half feet in length. The arrows are from two to four feet, and are pointed with obsidian, flint, or, among the lower tribes, by merely hardening the tip with fire. Thirty or forty are usually carried in a skin quiver, and two in the hand ready for immediate use. Lances, which are used in some localities, are pointed in the same manner as the arrows when no iron can be procured. The Snakes have a kind of mace or club, which they call a _poggamoggon_. It consists of a heavy stone, sometimes wrapped in leather, attached by a sinew thong about two inches in length, to the end of a stout leather-covered handle, measuring nearly two feet. A loop fastened to the end held in the hand prevents the warrior from losing the weapon in the fight, and allows him to hold the club in readiness while he uses the bow and arrow.[620] They also have a circular s.h.i.+eld about two and a half feet in diameter, which is considered a very important part of a warrior's equipment, not so much from the fact that it is arrow-proof, as from the peculiar virtues supposed to be given it by the medicine-men. The manufacture of a s.h.i.+eld is a season of great rejoicing. It must be made from the entire fresh hide of a male two-year-old buffalo, and the process is as follows. A hole is dug in the ground and filled with red-hot stones; upon these water is poured until a thick steam arises. The hide is then stretched, by as many as can take hold of it, over the hole, until the hair can be removed with the hands and it shrinks to the required size. It is then placed upon a prepared hide, and pounded by the bare feet of all present, until the ceremony is concluded. When the s.h.i.+eld is completed, it is supposed to render the bearer invulnerable. Lewis and Clarke also make mention of a species of defensive armor ”something like a coat of mail, which is formed by a great many folds of dressed antelope skins, united by means of a mixture of glue and sand. With this they cover their own bodies and those of their horses, and find it impervious to the arrow.” I find mention in one instance only, of a s.h.i.+eld being used by the Utahs. In that case it was small, circular, and worn suspended from the neck. The fis.h.i.+ng spear I have already described as being a long pole with an elk-horn point. When a fish is struck the shaft is loosened from its socket in the head, but remains connected with the latter by a cord.[621] Arrows are occasionally poisoned by plunging them into a liver which has been previously bitten by a rattlesnake.[622]
[Sidenote: MANNER OF MAKING WAR.]
The tribes that possess horses always fight mounted, and manage their animals with considerable address. In war they place their reliance upon strategy and surprise; fires upon the hills give warning of an enemy's approach. Prisoners of war are killed with great tortures, especially female captives, who are given over to the women of the victorious tribe and by them done to death most cruelly; it is said, however, that male prisoners who have distinguished themselves by their prowess in battle, are frequently dismissed unhurt. Scalps are taken, and sometimes portions of the flesh of a brave fallen enemy are eaten that the eater may become endued with the valor of the slain. He who takes the most scalps gains the most glory. Whether the warriors who furnished the trophies fell by the hand of the acc.u.mulator or not, is immaterial; he has but to show the spoils and his fame is established. The Snakes are said to be peculiarly skillful in eluding pursuit. When on foot, they will crouch down in the long gra.s.s and remain motionless while the pursuer pa.s.ses within a few feet of them, or when caught sight of they will double and twist so that it is impossible to catch them. The custom of ratifying a peace treaty by a grand smoke, common to so many of the North American aborigines, is observed by the Shoshones.[623] The pipe, the bowl of which is usually of red stone, painted or carved with various figures and adorned with feathers, is solemnly pa.s.sed from mouth to mouth, each smoker blowing the smoke in certain directions and muttering vows at the same time.
The only tools used before iron and steel were introduced by the whites were of flint, bone, or horn. The flint knife had no regular form, and had a sharp edge about three or four inches long, which was renewed when it became dull. Elk-horn hatchets, or rather wedges, were used to fell trees. They made water-proof baskets of plaited gra.s.s, and others of wicker-work covered with hide. The Snakes and some of the Utahs were versed in the art of pottery, and made very good vessels from baked clay. These were not merely open dishes, but often took the form of jars with narrow necks, having stoppers.[624]