Part 54 (1/2)

[607] _Boscana_, in _Robinson's Life in Cal._, p. 317.

[608] In spelling the word Shoshone, I have followed the most common orthography. Many, however, write it Shoshonee, others, Shoshonie, either of which would perhaps give a better idea of the p.r.o.nunciation of the word, as the accent falls on the final _e_. The word means 'Snake Indian,' according to Stuart, _Montana_, p. 80; and 'inland,' according to Ross, _Fur Hunters_, vol. i., p. 249. I apply the name Shoshones to the whole of this family; the Shoshones proper, including the Bannacks, I call the Snakes; the remaining tribes I name collectively Utahs.

[609] See _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. i., p. 249; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, pp. 228-9; _Remy and Brenchley's Journey_, vol. i., p. 124; _Chandless'

Visit_, p. 118; _Farnham's Life in Cal._, p. 377; _Carvalho's Incid. of Trav._, p. 200; _Graves_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 178; _Beckwith_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. ii., p. 42; _Farley's Sanitary Rept._, in _San Francisco Medical Press_, vol. iii., p. 154; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 298; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 88; _Hesperian Magazine_, vol. x., p. 255; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. v., p. 197; _Prince_, quoted in _Cal. Farmer_, _Oct. 18, 1861_; _Townsend's Nar._, pp. 125, 133; _Bryant_, _Voy. en Cal._, pp. 152, 194; _c.o.ke's Rocky Mountains_, p. 276; _Fremont's Explor. Ex._, pp. 148, 267; _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 312; _Figuier's Human Race_, p. 484; _Burton's City of the Saints_, p. 585. Mention is made by Salmeron of a people living south of Utah Lake, who were 'blancas, y rosadas las mejillas como los franceses.' _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101. Escalante, speaking of Indians seen in the same region, lat. 39 34' 37'', says: 'Eran estos de los barbones, y narices agujeradas, y en su idioma se nombran Tirangapui, Tian los cinco, que con su capitan venieron primero, tan crecida la barba, que parecian padres capuchinos...o...b..lemitas.' _Doc.

Hist. Mex._, serie ii., tom. i., p. 476. Wilkes writes, 'Southwest of the Youta Lake live a tribe who are known by the name of the Monkey Indians; a term which is not a mark of contempt, but is supposed to be a corruption of their name.... They are reported to live in fastnesses among high mountains; to have good clothing and houses; to manufacture blankets, shoes, and various other articles, which they sell to the neighboring tribes. Their colour is as light as that of the Spaniards; and the women in particular are very beautiful, with delicate features, and long flowing hair.... Some have attempted to connect these with an account of an ancient Welsh colony, which others had thought they discovered among the Mandans of the Missouri; while others were disposed to believe they might still exist in the Monkeys of the Western Mountains. There is another account which speaks of the Monquoi Indians, who formerly inhabited Lower California, and were partially civilized by the Spanish missionaries, but who have left that country, and of whom all traces have long since been lost.' _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex.

Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 502-3. 'On the southern boundary of Utah exists a peculiar race, of whom little is known. They are said to be fair-skinned, and are called the ”White Indians;” have blue eyes and straight hair, and speak a kind of Spanish language differing from other tribes.' _San Francisco Evening Bulletin_, _May 15, 1863_. Taylor has a note on the subject, in which he says that these fair Indians were doubtless the Moquis of Western New Mexico. _Cal. Farmer_, _June 26, 1863_. Although it is evident that this mysterious and probably mythic people belong in no way to the Shoshone family, yet as they are mentioned by several writers as dwelling in a region which is surrounded on all sides by Shoshones, I have given this note, wherefrom the reader can draw his own conclusions.

[610] _Beckwith_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. ii., p. 42; _Heap's Cent.

Route_, p. 102.

[611] Speaking of women: 'their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and stomachs were covered with red mastic, made from an earth peculiar to these rocks, which rendered them hideous. Their only covering was a pair of drawers of hare-skin, badly sewn together, and in holes.' _Remy and Brenchley's Journ._, vol.

ii., p. 386; see also vol. i., p. 127, and vol. ii., pp. 389, 404, 407.

'The women often dress in skirts made of entrails, dressed and sewed together in a substantial way.' _Prince_, in _Cal. Farmer_, _Oct. 18, 1861_. Hareskins 'they cut into cords with the fur adhering; and braid them together so as to form a sort of cloak with a hole in the middle, through which they thrust their heads.' _Farnham's Life and Adven._, p.

376. The remaining authorities describe them as naked, or slightly and miserably dressed; see _Stansbury's Rept._, pp. 82, 202-3; _Chandless'

Visit_, p. 291; _Heap's Cent. Route_, p. 100; _Irving's Bonneville's Adven._, p. 255; _Bryant's Cal._, p. 194; _Forney_, in _Ind. Aff.

Rept._, 1859, p. 365; _Dodge_, _Ib._, pp. 374-5; _Fenton_, in _Id._, 1869, p. 203; _Graves_, in _Id._, 1854, p. 178; _Burton's City of the Saints_, pp. 217-18, 272-3, 581, 585; _Fremont's Explor. Ex._, pp. 148, 168-9, 212, 218, 225, 227, 267; _Bulfinch's Oregon_, p. 129; _Saxon's Golden Gate_, p. 251; _Scenes in the Rocky Mts._, p. 197; _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 539; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 331.

[612] _Townsend's Nar._, pp. 125, 133; _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 25; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 325; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, pp. 228-30, 308-9; _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. i., pp. 249-50, 257-8, vol. ii., pp. 22-3; _Chandless'

Visit_, p. 118; _Carvalho's Incid. of Trav._, p. 200; _White's Ogn._, p.

377; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 298; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. ii., pp.

244, 281.

[613] 'The ermine is the fur known to the north-west traders by the name of the white weasel, but is the genuine ermine.' _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 313.

[614] _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, pp. 312-15.

[615] 'On y rencontre aussi des terres metalliques de differentes couleurs, telles que vertes, bleues, jaunes, noires, blanches, et deux sortes d'ocres, l'une pale, l'autre d'un rouge brillant comme du vermillion. Les Indiens en font tres-grand cas; ils s'en servent pour se peindre le corps et le visage.' _Stuart_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1821, tom. xii., p. 83.

[616] 'They remain in a semi-dormant, inactive state the entire winter, leaving their lowly retreats only now and then, at the urgent calls of nature, or to warm their burrows.... In the spring they creep from their holes ... poor and emaciated, with barely flesh enough to hide their bones, and so enervated from hard fare and frequent abstinence, that they can scarcely move.' _Scenes in the Rocky Mts._, p. 179. Stansbury mentions lodges in Utah, east of Salt Lake, which were constructed of 'cedar poles and logs of a considerable size, thatched with bark and branches, and were quite warm and comfortable.' _Stansbury's Rept._, p.

111; _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 334; _Irving's Bonneville's Adven._, p. 255; _Remy and Brenchley's Journ._, vol. i., pp. 80-1, 129, vol. ii., pp. 362, 373; _Salmeron_, _Relaciones_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101; _Farley_, in _San Francisco Medical Press_, vol. iii., p. 154; _Farnham's Life in Cal._, p. 378; _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 538; _Heap's Cent. Route_, pp. 98-9; _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 28; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 247, vol.

ii., pp. 256-7; _c.o.ke's Rocky Mountains_, p. 257; _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. ii., p. 117; _White's Ogn._, p. 376; _Irving's Astoria_, pp. 257, 290; _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 305; _Fremont's Explor. Ex._, 1842-3, pp. 142, 212, 218; _Townsend's Nar._, p. 136; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 325, 331-2, 337-8; _Bulfinch's Oregon_, p. 179; _Farnham's Trav._, pp. 58, 61-2; _Simpson's Route to Cal._, p. 51; _Burton's City of the Saints_, p. 573; _Knight's Pioneer Life, MS._

[617] _c.o.ke's Rocky Mts._, p. 275; _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 29; _Dennison_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 375; _Saint-Amant_, _Voyages_, p. 325.

[618] 'They eat the seed of two species of Conifers, one about the size of a hazel-nut, the other much smaller. They also eat a small stone-fruit, somewhat red, or black in colour, and rather insipid; different berries, among others, those of _Vaccinium_. They collect the seed of the _Atriplex_ and _Chenopodium_, and occasionally some gra.s.ses.

Among roots, they highly value that of a bushy, yellowish and tolerably large broomrape, which they cook or dry with the base, or root-stock, which is enlarged, and const.i.tutes the most nutritious part. They also gather the napiform root of a _Cirsium acaule_, which they eat raw or cooked; when cooked, it becomes quite black, resinous as pitch and rather succulent; when raw, it is whitish, soft, and of a pleasant flavour.' _Remy and Brenchley's Journey_, vol. i., p. 129. The Shoshones of Utah and Nevada 'eat certain roots, which in their native state are rank poison, called Tobacco root, but when put in a hole in the ground, and a large fire burned over them, become wholesome diet.'

_Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. vi., p. 697. 'Of the roots used ... the pap-pa, or wild potatoe, is abundant.' _Id._, vol. iv., p. 222; see also, _Id._, vol. v., pp. 199-200. At Bear River, 'every living animal, thing, insect, or worm they eat.' _Fremont's Explor. Exp._, p. 142, see also pp. 148, 160, 173-4, 212, 218-19, 267, 273. Inland savages are pa.s.sionately fond of salt; those living near the sea detest it.

_Stuart_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1821, tom. xii., p. 85. The Utahs eat 'the cactus leaf, pinon-nut, and various barks; the seed of the bunch-gra.s.s, and of the wheat, or yellow gra.s.s, somewhat resembling rye, the rabbit-bush twigs, which are chewed, and various roots and tubers; the soft sego bulb, the rootlet of the cat-tail flag, and of the tule, which when sun-dried and powdered to flour, keeps through the winter and is palatable even to white men.' _Burton's City of the Saints_, p. 581, see also pp. 573, 577. The Pi-Edes 'live princ.i.p.ally on lizards, swifts, and horned toads.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1865. p. 145; see also _Id._, 1854, p. 229; 1856, p. 234; 1861, p. 112; 1859, p. 365; 1866, pp. 114; 1869, pp. 203, 216; 1870, pp. 95, 114; 1872, p. 59. The Snakes eat a white-fleshed kind of beaver, which lives on poisonous roots, whose flesh affects white people badly, though the Indians roast and eat it with impunity. _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. ii., p. 117, see also vol. i., p. 269-72; _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 539; _Farnham's Life and Adven._, pp. 371, 376-8; _Irving's Bonneville's Adven._, pp.

255, 257, 401-2; _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. v., p. 501; _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., p. 219; _Bryant's Cal._, p. 202; _Stansbury's Rept._, pp. 77, 148, 233; _Kelly's Excursion_, vol.

i., p. 238; _Saxon's Golden Gate_, p. 251; _Smith_, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1828, tom. x.x.xvii., p. 209; _Scenes in the Rocky Mts._, p. 178-9; _Townsend's Nar._, p. 144; _White's Ogn._, p. 376; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 228-31, 309; _c.o.ke's Rocky Mts._, p. 277; _Irving's Astoria_, pp. 258, 295; _De Smet_, _Voy._, pp. 28-30, 127; _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 334; _Farnham's Trav._, pp. 58, 61; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 242, 270, vol. ii., pp.

19, 60, 61, 64, 244, 311; _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. ii., p. 534; _Simpson's Route to Pac._, pp. 51-2; _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, pp.

270, 288-9, 298-9; _Bigler's Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS._

[619] The Wararereeks are 'dirty in their camps, in their dress, and in their persons.' _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. i., p. 250. The persons of the Piutes are 'more disgusting than those of the Hottentots. Their heads are white with the germs of crawling filth.' _Farnham's Trav._, p. 58.

'A filthy tribe--the prey of idleness and vermin.' _Farnham's Life and Adven._, p. 325. Bryant says, of the Utahs between Salt Lake and Ogden's Hole, 'I noticed the females hunting for the vermin in the heads and on the bodies of their children; finding which they ate the animals with an apparent relish.' _Bryant's Cal._, p. 154. The Snakes 'are filthy beyond description.' _Townsend's Nar._, p. 137. 'J'ai vu les Sheyennes, les Serpents, les Youts, etc., manger la vermine les uns des autres a pleins peignes.' _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 47. 'The Snakes are rather cleanly in their persons.' _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. ii., p. 61.

[620] 'A weapon called by the Chippeways, by whom it was formerly used, the poggamoggon.' _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 309. Bulfinch, _Oregon_, p. 126, says the stone weighs about two pounds. Salmeron also mentions a similar weapon used by the people living south of Utah Lake; concerning whom see note 187, p. 423.

[621] The Utahs 'no usan mas armas que las flechas y algunas lanzas de perdernal, ni tienen otro peto, morrion ni espaldar que el que sacaron del vientre de sus madres.' _Escalante_, quoted in _Salmeron_, _Relaciones_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, ser. iii., part iv., p. 126. 'Bows made of the horns of the bighorn ... are formed by cementing with glue flat pieces of the horn together, covering the back with sinewes and glue, and loading the whole with an unusual quant.i.ty of ornaments.'

_Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, p. 309. At Ogden River, in Utah, they work obsidian splinters 'into the most beautiful and deadly points, with which they arm the end of their arrows.' _Thornton's Ogn. and Cal._, vol. i., p. 343. 'Pour toute arme, un arc, des fleches et un baton pointu.' _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 28. 'Bows and arrows are their (Banattees) only weapons of defence.' _Ross' Fur Hunters_, vol. i., p.