Part 41 (2/2)

[Sidenote: LAWS AND GOVERNMENT.]

Boats, as a rule, the Shoshones have none. They usually cross rivers by fording; otherwise they swim, or pa.s.s over on a clumsy and dangerous raft made of branches and rushes.[625] By way of compensation they all, except the poorest, have horses, and these const.i.tute their wealth. They have no regular currency, but use for purposes of barter their stock of dried fish, their horses, or whatever skins and furs they may possess.

They are very deliberate traders, and a solemn smoke must invariably precede a bargain.[626] Although each tribe has an ostensible chief, his power is limited to giving advice, and although his opinion may influence the tribe, yet he cannot compel obedience to his wishes. Every man does as he likes. Private revenge, of course, occasionally overtakes the murderer, or, if the sympathies of the tribe be with the murdered man, he may possibly be publicly executed, but there are no fixed laws for such cases. Chieftains.h.i.+p is hereditary in some tribes; in others it is derived from prestige.[627]

The Utahs do not hesitate to sell their wives and children into slavery for a few trinkets. Great numbers of these unfortunates are sold to the Navajos for blankets. An act which pa.s.sed the legislature of Utah in 1852, legalizing slavery, sets forth that from time immemorial, slavery has been a customary traffic among the Indians; that it was a common practice among them to gamble away their wives and children into slavery, to sell them into slavery to other nations, and that slaves thus obtained were most barbarously treated by their masters; that they were packed from place to place on mules; that these unfortunate humans were staked out to gra.s.s and roots like cattle, their limbs mutilated and swollen from being bound with thongs; that they were frozen, starved, and killed by their inhuman owners; that families and tribes living at peace would steal each other's wives and children, and sell them as slaves. In view of these abuses it was made lawful for a probate judge, or selectmen, to bind out native captive women and children to suitable white persons for a term not to exceed twenty years.[628]

Polygamy, though common, is not universal; a wife is generally bought of her parents;[629] girls are frequently betrothed in infancy; a husband will prost.i.tute his wife to a stranger for a trifling present, but should she be unfaithful without his consent, her life must pay the forfeit. The women, as usual, suffer very little from the pains of child-bearing. When the time of a Shoshone woman's confinement draws near, she retires to some secluded place, brings forth una.s.sisted, and remains there for about a month, alone, and procuring her subsistence as best she can. When the appointed time has elapsed she is considered purified and allowed to join her friends again. The weaker s.e.x of course do the hardest labor, and receive more blows than kind words for their pains. These people, in common with most nomadic nations, have the barbarous custom of abandoning the old and infirm the moment they find them an inc.u.mbrance. Lewis and Clarke state that children are never flogged, as it is thought to break their spirit.[630]

[Sidenote: GAMBLING AND DRINKING.]

The games of hazard played by the Shoshones differ little from those of their neighbors; the princ.i.p.al one appears to be the odd-and-even game so often mentioned; but of late years they have nearly abandoned these, and have taken to 'poker,' which they are said to play with such adroitness as to beat a white man. With the voice they imitate with great exactness the cries of birds and beasts, and their concerts of this description, which generally take place at midnight, are discordant beyond measure. Though they manufacture no intoxicating liquor themselves, they will drink the whisky of the whites whenever opportunity offers. They smoke the _kinikkinik_ leaf when no tobacco can be procured from the traders.[631] In connection with their smoking they have many strange observances. When the pipe is pa.s.sed round at the solemnization of a treaty, or the confirmation of a bargain, each smoker, on receiving it from his neighbor, makes different motions with it; one turns the pipe round before placing the stem to his lips; another describes a semicircle with it; a third smokes with the bowl in the air; a fourth with the bowl on the ground, and so on through the whole company. All this is done with a most grave and serious countenance, which makes it the more ludicrous to the looker-on. The Snakes, before smoking with a stranger, always draw off their moccasins as a mark of respect. Any great feat performed by a warrior, which adds to his reputation and renown, such as scalping an enemy, or successfully stealing his horses, is celebrated by a change of name. Killing a grizzly bear also ent.i.tles him to this honor, for it is considered a great feat to slay one of these formidable animals, and only he who has performed it is allowed to wear their highest insignia of glory, the feet or claws of the victim. To bestow his name upon a friend is the highest compliment that one man can offer another.

The Snakes, and some of the Utahs, are skillful riders, and possess good horses. Their horse-furniture is simple. A horse-hair or raw-hide lariat is fastened round the animal's neck; the bight is pa.s.sed with a single half-hitch round his lower jaw, and the other end is held in the rider's hand; this serves as a bridle. When the horse is turned loose, the lariat is loosened from his jaw and allowed to trail from his neck. The old men and the women have saddles similar to those used for packing by the whites; they are a wooden frame made of two pieces of thin board fitting close to the sides of the horse, and held together by two cross-pieces, in shape like the legs of an isosceles triangle. A piece of hide is placed between this and the horse's back, and a robe is thrown over the seat when it is ridden on. The younger men use no saddle, except a small pad, girthed on with a leather thong. When traveling they greatly overload their horses. All the household goods and provisions are packed upon the poor animal's back, and then the women and children seat themselves upon the pile, sometimes as many as four or five on one horse.[632]

[Sidenote: DISEASES AND BURIAL.]

The poorer Utahs are very subject to various diseases, owing to exposure in winter. They have few, if any, efficient remedies. They dress wounds with pine-gum, after squeezing out the blood. The Snakes are much affected by rheumatism and consumption, caused chiefly by their being almost constantly in the water fis.h.i.+ng, and by exposure. Syphilis has, of course, been extensively introduced among all the tribes. A few plants and herbs are used for medicinal purposes, and the medicine-men practice their wonted mummeries, but what particular means of cure they adopt is not stated by the authorities. I find no mention of their having sweat-houses.[633]

Concerning the disposal of the dead usage differs. In some parts the body is burned, in others it is buried. In either case the property of the deceased is destroyed at his burial. His favorite horse, and, in some instances, his favorite wife, are killed over his grave, that he may not be alone in the spirit land. Laceration in token of grief is universal, and the lamentations of the dead person's relatives are heard for weeks after his death, and are renewed at intervals for many months.

Child-like in this, they rush into extremes, and when not actually engaged in shrieking and tearing their flesh, they appear perfectly indifferent to their loss.[634]

[Sidenote: SHOSHONE CHARACTER.]

The character of the better Shoshone tribes is not much worse than that of the surrounding nations; they are thieving, treacherous, cunning, moderately brave after their fas.h.i.+on, fierce when fierceness will avail them anything, and exceedingly cruel. Of the miserable root and gra.s.s eating Shoshones, however, even this much cannot be said. Those who have seen them unanimously agree that they of all men are lowest. Lying in a state of semi-torpor in holes in the ground during the winter, and in spring crawling forth and eating gra.s.s on their hands and knees, until able to regain their feet; having no clothes, scarcely any cooked food, in many instances no weapons, with merely a few vague imaginings for religion, living in the utmost squalor and filth, putting no bridle on their pa.s.sions, there is surely room for no missing link between them and brutes.[635] Yet as in all men there stands out some prominent good, so in these, the lowest of humanity, there is one virtue: they are lovers of their country; lovers, not of fair hills and fertile valleys, but of inhospitable mountains and barren plains; these reptile-like men love their miserable burrowing-places better than all the comforts of civilization; indeed, in many instances, when detained by force among the whites, they have been known to pine away and die.

TRIBAL BOUNDARIES.

[Sidenote: NORTHERN CALIFORNIANS.]

To the NORTHERN CALIFORNIANS, whose territory extends from Rogue River on the north to Eel River south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary east, including the Klamath, and other lakes, are a.s.signed, according to the authorities, the following tribal boundaries: There are 'the Hoopahs, and the Ukiahs of Mendocino;' 'the Umpquas, Kowooses or Cooses, Macanootoony's of the Umpqua river section, Nomee Cults, and Nomee Lacks of Tehama County; the Copahs, Hanags, Yatuckets, Terwars and Tolowas, of the lower Klamath river; the Wylaks and Noobimucks of Trinity county mountains west from Sacramento plains; the Modocs of Klamath Lake, the Ylackas of Pitt River, the Ukas and Shastas of Shasta county.' _Taylor_, in _Cal. Farmer_, _June 8, 1860_.

'The _Tototins_ are divided into twelve bands; eight of them are located on the coast, one on the forks of the Coquille, and three on Rogue river.' 'The Tototins, from whom is derived the generic name of the whole people speaking the language, reside on the north bank of the Tototin river, about four miles from its mouth. Their country extends from the eastern boundary of the Yahshutes, a short distance below their village, up the stream about six miles, where the fis.h.i.+ng-grounds of the Mackanotins commence.' 'The country of the Euquachees commences at the ”Three Sisters,” and extends along the coast to a point about three miles to the south of their village, which is on a stream which bears their name. The mining town of Elizabeth is about the southern boundary of the Euquachees, and is called thirty miles from Port Orford. Next southward of the Euquachees are the Yahshutes, whose villages occupy both banks of the Tototin or Rogue river, at its mouth. These people claim but about two and a half miles back from the coast, where the Tototin country commences. The Yahshutes claim the coast to some remarkable headlands, about six miles south of Rogue river. South of these headlands are the Chetlessentuns. Their village is north of, but near, the mouth of a stream bearing their name, but better known to the whites as Pistol river. The Chetlessentuns claim but about eight miles of the coast; but as the country east of them is uninhabited, like others similarly situated, their lands are supposed to extend to the summit of the mountains. Next to the Chetlessentuns on the south are the Wishtenatins, whose village is at the mouth of a small creek bearing their name. They claim the country to a small trading-post known as the Whale's Head, about twenty-seven miles south of the mouth of Rogue River. Next in order are the Cheattee or Chitco band, whose villages were situated on each side of the mouth, and about six miles up a small river bearing their name.... The lands of these people extend from Whale's Head to the California line, and back from the coast indefinitely.... The Mackanotin village is about seven miles above that of the Tototins, and is on the same side of the river. They claim about twelve miles of stream. The s.h.i.+stakoostees succeed them (the Mackanotins). Their village is on the north bank of Rogue river, nearly opposite the confluence of the Illinois. These are the most easterly band within my district in the South.' _Parrish_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, pp. 283-9. 'Dr. Hubbard, in his notes (1856) on the Indians of Rogue River and South Oregon, on the ocean, before alluded to, gives the following list of names of Rancherias and clans of the Lototen or Tutatamys tribe. Masonah Band, location, Coquille river; Chockrelatan Band, location, Coquille forks; Quatomah Band, location, Flore's creek; Laguaacha Band, location, Elk river; Cosulhenten Band, location, Port Orford; Yuquache Band, location, Yugua creek; Chetlessenten Band, location, Pistol river; Yah Shutes Band, location, Rogue river; Wishtanatan Band, location, Whale's head; Cheahtoc Band, location, Chetko; Tototen Band, location, six miles above the mouth of Rogue river; Sisticoosta Band, location, above Big Bend, of Rogue river; Maquelnoteer Band, location, fourteen miles above the mouth of Rogue river.' _Cal. Farmer_, _June 18, 1860_. The Tutotens were a large tribe, numbering thirteen clans, inhabiting the southern coast of Oregon.

_Golden Era_, _March, 1856_. 'Toutounis ou Coquins, sur la riviere de ce nom et dans l'interieur des terres.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p.

335. 'On the lower part of the Clamet River are the Totutune, known by the unfavorable soubriquet of the Rogue, or Rascal Indians.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., p. 221. The bands of the Tootooton tribe 'are scattered over a great extent of country--along the coast and on the streams from the California line to twenty miles north of the Coquille, and from the ocean to the summit of the coast range of mountains.' _Palmer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 259. Taylor places the Tutunahs in the northwest corner of Del Norte County. _MS. Map._

The _Hunas_ live in California a little south of Rogue River, on the way north from Crescent City. _Pfeiffer's Second Journ._, p. 314.

_Modoc_, by some _Moadoc_, is a word which originated with the Shasteecas, who applied it indefinitely to all wild Indians or enemies.

'Their proper habitat is on the southern sh.o.r.e of Lower Klamath Lake, on Hot Creek, around Clear Lake, and along Lost River in Oregon.' _Powers_, in _Overland Monthly_, vol. x., p. 535. They own the Klamath River from the lake 'to where it breaks through the Siskiyou range to the westward.' _Id._, vol. xi., p. 21. In the northern part of Siskiyou County. _MS. Map_. 'The Modocs of the Klamath Lake were also called Moahtockna.' _Cal. Farmer_, _June 22, 1860_. East of the Klamaths, whose eastern boundary is twenty-five or thirty miles east of the Cascade Range, along the southern boundary of Oregon, 'and extending some distance into California, is a tribe known as the Modocks. East of these again, but extending farther south, are the Moetwas.' 'The country round Ancoose and Modoc lakes, is claimed and occupied by the Modoc Indians.'

_Palmer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, pp. 262-3. 'The Modocs (or Moadoc, as the word is p.r.o.nounced) known in their language as the Okkowish, inhabit the Goose lake country, and are mostly within the State of California.... The word Modoc is a Shasta Indian word, and means all distant, stranger, or hostile Indians, and became applied to these Indians by white men in early days from hearing the Shastas speak of them.' See _Steele_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1864, p. 121.

The _Oukskenahs_, in the north-western part of Siskiyou County. _MS.

Map._

[Sidenote: THE TRINITY RIVER TRIBES.]

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