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.
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 classifications 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 asserting 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]
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 unencumbered 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 apron of tule-grass, which falls from the waist before and behindnearly 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 shells 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 fashions.[507]
PERSONAL ADORNMENT.
Tattooing is universal with the women, though confined within narrow limits. They mark the chin inperpendicular 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 abolishing 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 incumbrance 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 destitute 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.
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 overand 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 collectionof native huts is in California called aranchería, from rancho, a word first applied by the Spaniards to the spot where, in the island of Cuba, food was distributed to repartimiento Indians.
FOOD AND METHODS OF OBTAINING IT.
The bestial 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 grass 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, grass-seeds, berries and the like. These are eaten both raw and prepared. The acorns are shelled, dried in the sun, and then pounded into a powder with large stones. From this flour a species of coarse 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. Grasshoppers constitute another toothsome delicacy. Whenfor 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.
ACORNS AND WILD FOWL.
Grasshoppers are taken in pits, into which they are driven by setting the grass on fire, or by beating the grass 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 grass 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 woodpecker, orcarpinteroas 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 passing through a hole in the top of the pole on the bank where the fowler is concealed, is attached to thenearest 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 assert. Before the arrival of miners game was so plentiful that even the lazy natives could supply their necessities. The 'nobler 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 havebeen permitted to associate 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]
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 twang.
The arrows are short, made of reed or light wood, and winged with three or four feathers. The head is of flint, bone, obsidian, or volcanic glass, sometimes barbed and sometimes diamond-shaped. It is fastened loosely to the shaft, and can be extracted only from a wound by cutting it out. The shaft is frequently painted in order that the owner may be able to distinguish his own arrows from others. Spears, or rather javelins, are used, seldom exceeding from four and a half to five feet in length. They are made of some tough kind of wood and headed with the same materials as the arrows. Occasionally the point of the stick is merely sharpened and hardened in the fire.[521]The head of thefishing-spear is movable, being attached to the shaft by a line, so that when a fish is struck the pole serves as a float. Some of the tribes formerly poisoned their arrows, but it is probable that the custom never prevailedto any great extent. M. du Petit-Thouars was told that they used for this purpose a species of climbing plant which grows in shady places. It is said that they also poison their weapons with the venom of serpents.[522]Pedro Fages mentions that the natives in the country round San Miguel use a kind of sabre, made of hard wood, shaped like a cimeter, and edged with sharp flints. This they employ for hunting as well as in war, and with such address that they rarely fail to break the leg of the animal at which they hurl it.[523]
BATTLES AND WEAPONS.
Battles, though frequent, were not attended with much loss of life. Each side was anxious for the fight to be over, and the first blood would often terminate the contest. Challenging by heralds obtained. Thus the Shumeias challenge the Pomos by placing three little sticks, notched in the middle and at both ends, on a mound which marked the boundary between the two tribes. If the Pomos accept, they tie a string round the middle notch. Heralds then meet and arrange time and place, and the battle comes off as appointed.[524]Among some tribes, children are sent by mutual arrangement into the enemy's ranks during the heat of battle to pick up the fallen arrows and carry them back to their owners to be used again.[525]When fighting, they stretch out in a long single line and endeavor by shouts and gestures to intimidate the foe.[526]
Notwithstanding the mildness of their disposition and the inferiority of their weapons, the Central Californians do not lack courage in battle, and when captured will meet their fate with all the stoicism of a true Indian. For many years after the occupation of the country by the Spaniards, by abandoning their villages and lying in ambush upon the approach of the enemy, they were enabled to resist the small squads of Mexicans sent against them from the presidios for the recovery of deserters from the missions. During the settlement of the country by white people, there were the usual skirmishes growing out of wrong and oppression on the one side, and retaliation on the other; the usual uprising among miners and rancheros, and vindication of border law, which demanded the massacre of a village for the stealing of a cow.
Trespass on lands and abduction of women are the usual causes of war among themselves. Opposing armies, on approaching each other in battle array, dance and leap from side to side in order to prevent their enemies from taking deliberate aim. Upon the invasion of their territory they rapidly convey the intelligence by means of signals. A great smoke is made upon the nearest hilltop, which is quickly repeated upon the surrounding hills, and thus a wide extent of country is aroused in a remarkably short time.
The custom of scalping, though not universal in California, was practiced in some localities. The yet more barbarous habit of cutting off the hands, feet, or head of a fallen enemy, as trophies of victory, prevailed more widely. They also plucked out and carefully preserved the eyes of the slain.
It has been asserted that these savages were cannibals, and there seems to be good reason to believe that they did devour pieces of the flesh of a renowned enemy slain in battle. Human flesh was, however, not eaten as food, nor for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on or showing hate for a dead adversary, but because they thought that by eating part of a brave man they absorbed a portionof his courage. They do not appear to have kept or sold prisoners as slaves, but to have either exchanged or killed them.[527]
IMPLEMENTS AND MANUFACTURES.
They are not ingenious, and manufacture but few articles requiring any skill. The principal of these are the baskets in which, as I have already mentioned, they carry water and boil their food. They are made of fine grass, so closely woven as to be perfectly water-tight, and are frequently ornamented with feathers, beads, shells, and the like, worked into them in a very pretty manner. Fletcher, who visited the coast with Sir Francis Drake in 1579, describes them as being "made in fashion like a deep boale, and though the matter were rushes, or such other kind of stuffe, yet it was so cunningly handled that the most part of them would hold water; about the brimmes they were hanged with peeces of the shels of pearles, and in some places with two or three linkes at a place, of the chaines forenamed ... and besides this, they were wrought vpon with the matted downe of red feathers, distinguished into diuers workes and formes."[528]The baskets are of various sizes andshapes, the most common being conical or wide and flat. Their pipes are straight, the bowl being merely a continuation of the stem, only thicker and hollowed out.[529]
NO BOATS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
It is a singular fact that these natives about the bay of San Francisco and the regions adjacent, had no canoes of any description. Their only means of navigation were bundles of tule-rushes about ten feet long and three or four wide, lashed firmly together in rolls, and pointed at both ends. They were propelled, either end foremost, with long double-bladed paddles. In calm weather, and on a river, the centre, or thickest part of these rafts might be tolerably dry, but in rough water the rower, who sat astride, was up to his waist in water.[530]It hasbeen asserted that they even ventured far out to sea on them, but that this was common I much doubt.[531]They were useful to spear fish from, but for little else; in proof of which I may mention, on the authority of Roquefeuil, that in 1809-11, the Koniagas employed by the Russians at Bodega, killed seals and otters in San Francisco Bay under the very noses of the Spaniards, and in spite of all the latter, who appear to have had no boats of their own, could do to prevent them. In their light skin baidarkas, each with places for two persons only, these bold northern boatmen would drop down the coast from Bodega Bay, where the Russians were stationed, or cross over from the Farallones in fleets of from forty to fifty boats, and entering the Golden Gate creep along the northern shore, beyond the range of the Presidio's guns, securely establish themselves upon the islands of the bay and pursue their avocation unmolested. For three years, namely from 1809 to 1811, these northern fishermen held possession of the bay of San Francisco, during which time they captured over eight thousand otters. Finally, it occurred to the governor, Don Luis Argüello, that it would be well for the Spaniards to have boats of their own. Accordingly four were built, but they were so clumsily constructed, ill equipped, and poorly manned, that had the Russians and Koniagas felt disposed, they could easily have continued their incursions. Once within the entrance, these northern barbarians were masters of the bay, and such was their sense of security that they would sometimes venture for a time to stretch their limbs upon the shore. The capture of several of their number, however, by the soldiers from the fort, made them more wary thereafter. Maurelle, who touched at Point Arenas in 1775, but didnot enter the bay of San Francisco, says that "a vast number of Indians now presented themselves on both points, who passed from one to the other in small canoes made of fule, where they talked loudly for two hours or more, till at last two of them came alongside of the ship, and most liberally presented us with plumes of feathers, rosaries of bone, garments of feathers, as also garlands of the same materials, which they wore round their head, and a canister of seeds which tasted much like walnuts." The only account of this voyage in my possession is an English translation, in which "canoes made of fule" might easily have been mistaken for boats or floats of tule.[532]Split logs were occasionally used to cross rivers, and frequently all means of transportation were dispensed with, and swimming resorted to.
Captain Phelps, in a letter to the author, mentions having seen skin boats, or baidarkas, on the Sacramento River, but supposes that they were left there by those same Russian employés.[533]Vancouver, speaking of a canoe which he saw below Monterey, says: "Instead of being composed of straw, like those we had seen on our first visit to San Francisco, it was neatly formed of wood, much after the Nootka fashion, and was navigated with much adroitness by four natives of the country. Their paddles were about four feet long with a blade at each end; these were handled with great dexterity, either entirely on one side or alternately on each side of their canoe."[534]I account for the presence of this canoe in the same manner that Captain Phelps accounts for theskin canoes on the Sacramento, and think that it must have come either from the south or north.
The probable cause of this absence of boats in Central California is the scarcity of suitable, favorably located timber. Doubtless if the banks of the Sacramento and the shores of San Francisco Bay had been lined with large straight pine or fir trees, their waters would have been filled with canoes; yet after all, this is but a poor excuse; for not only on the hills and mountains, at a little distance from the water, are forests of fine trees, but quantities of driftwood come floating down every stream during the rainy season, out of which surely sufficient material could be secured for some sort of boats.
Shells of different kinds, but especially the variety known asaulone, form the circulating medium. They are polished, sometimes ground down to a certain size, and arranged on strings of different lengths.[535]
CHIEFTAINSHIP AND ITS RIGHTS.
Chieftainship is hereditary, almost without exception. In a few instances I find it depending upon wealth, influence, family, or prowess in war, but this rarely. In some parts, in default of male descent, the females of the family are empowered to appoint a successor.[536]Although considerable dignity attaches to a chief, and his family are treated with consideration, yet his power is limited, his principal duties consisting in making peace and war, and in appointing and presiding over feasts. Every band has its separate head, and two or eventhree have been known to preside at the same time.[537]Sometimes when several bands are dwelling together they are united under one head chief, who, however, cannot act for the whole without consulting the lesser chiefs. Practically, the heads of families rule in their own circle, and their internal arrangements are seldom interfered with. Their medicine-men also wield a very powerful influence among them.[538]Sometimes, when a flagrant murder has been committed, the chiefs meet in council and decide upon the punishment of the offender. The matter is, however, more frequently settled by the relatives of the victim, who either exact blood for blood from the murderer or let the thing drop for a consideration. Among the Neeshenams revenge must be had within twelve months after the murder or not at all.[539]
RULERS OF NEW ALBION.
According to Fletcher's narrative, there seems to have been much more distinction of rank at the time of Drake's visit to California than subsequent travelers have seen;however, allowance must be made for the exaggerations invariably found in the reports of early voyagers. In proof of this, we have only to take up almost any book of travel in foreign lands printed at that time; wherein dragons and other impossible animals are not only zoölogically described, but carefully drawn and engraved, as well as other marvels in abundance. Captain Drake had several temptations to exaggerate. The richer and more important the country he discovered, the more would it redound to his credit to have been the discoverer; the greater the power and authority of the chief who formally made over his dominions to the queen of England, the less likely to be disputed would be that sovereign's claims to the ceded territory. Fletcher never speaks of the chief of the tribe that received Drake, but as 'the king,' and states that this dignitary was treated with great respect and ceremony by the courtiers who surrounded him. These latter were distinguished from the canaille by various badges of rank. They wore as ornaments chains "of a bony substance, euery linke or part thereof being very little, and thinne, most finely burnished, with a hole pierced through the middest. The number of linkes going to make one chaine, is in a manner infinite; but of such estimation it is amongst them, that few be the persons that are admitted to weare the same; and euen they to whom its lawfull to use them, yet are stinted what number they shall vse, as some ten, some twelue, some twentie, and as they exceed in number of chaines, so thereby are they knowne to be the more honorable personages." Another mark of distinction was a "certain downe, which groweth vp in the countrey vpon an herbe much like our lectuce, which exceeds any other downe in the world for finenesse, and beeing layed vpon their cawles, by no winds can be remoued. Of such estimation is this herbe amongst them, that the downe thereof is not lawfull to be worne, but of such persons as are about the king (to whom also it is permitted to weare a plume of feather on their heads, in signe of honour), and the seeds arenot vsed but onely in sacrifice to their gods." The king, who was gorgeously attired in skins, with a crown of feather-work upon his head, was attended by a regular body-guard, uniformly dressed in coats of skins. His coming was announced by two heralds or ambassadors, one of whom prompted the other, during the proclamation, in a low voice. His majesty was preceded in the procession by "a man of large body and goodly aspect, bearing the septer or royall mace;" all of which happened, if we may believe the worthy chaplain of the expedition, on the coast just above San Francisco Bay, three hundred years ago.[540]
HOW A BRIDE IS WON.
Slavery in any form is rare, and hereditary bondage unknown.[541]Polygamy obtains in most of the tribes, although there are exceptions.[542]It is common for a man to marry a whole family of sisters, and sometimes the mother also, if she happen to be free.[543]Husbandand wife are united with very little ceremony. The inclinations of the bride seem to be consulted here more than among the Northern Californians. It is true she is sometimes bought from her parents, but if she violently opposes the match she is seldom compelled to marry or to be sold. Among some tribes the wooer, after speaking with her parents, retires with the girl; if they agree, she thenceforth belongs to him; if not, the match is broken off.[544]The Neeshenam buys his wife indirectly by making presents of game to her family. He leaves the gifts at the door of the lodge without a word, and, if they are accepted, he shortly after claims and takes his bride without further ceremony. In this tribe the girl has no voice whatever in the matter, and resistance on her part merely occasions brute force to be used by her purchaser.[545]
CHILD-BIRTH AND THE COUVADE.
When an Oleepa lover wishes to marry, he first obtains permission from the parents. The damsel then flies and conceals herself; the lover searches for her, and should he succeed in finding her twice out of three times she belongs to him. Should he be unsuccessful he waits a few weeks and then repeats the performance. If she again elude his search, the matter is decided against him.[546]The bonds of matrimony can be thrown asideas easily as they are assumed. The husband has only to say to his spouse, I cast you off, and the thing is done.[547]The Gallinomeros acquire their wives by purchase, and are at liberty to sell them again when tired of them.[548]As usual the women are treated with great contempt by the men, and forced to do all the hard and menial labor; they are not even allowed to sit at the same fire or eat at the same repast with their lords. Both sexes treat children with comparative kindness;[549]boys are, however, held in much higher estimation than girls, and from early childhood are taught their superiority over the weaker sex. It is even stated that many female children are killed as soon as born,[550]but I am inclined to doubt the correctness of this statement as applied to a country where polygamy is practiced as extensively as in California. Old people are treated with contumely, both men and women, aged warriors being obliged to do menial work under the supervision of the women. The Gallinomeros kill their aged parents in a most cold-blooded manner. The doomed creature is led into the woods, thrown on his back, and firmly fastened in that position to the ground. A stout pole is then placed across the throat, upon either end of which a person sits until life is extinct.[551]A husband takes revenge for his wife's infidelities upon the person of her seducer, whom he is justified in killing. Sometimes the male offender is compelled to buy the object of his unholy passions. In consequence of their strictness in this particular, adultery is not common among themselves, although a husband is generally willing to prostitutehis dearest wife to a white man for a consideration. The Central Californian women are inclined to rebel against the tyranny of their masters, more than is usual in other tribes. A refractory Tahtoo wife is sometimes frightened into submission. The women have a great dread of evil spirits, and upon this weakness the husband plays. He paints himself in black and white stripes to personate an ogre, and suddenly jumping in among his terrified wives, brings them speedily to penitence. Child-bearing falls lightly on the Californian mother. When the time for delivery arrives she betakes herself to a quiet place by the side of a stream; sometimes accompanied by a female friend, but more frequently alone. As soon as the child is born the mother washes herself and the infant in the stream. The child is then swaddled from head to foot in strips of soft skin, and strapped to a board, which is carried on the mother's back. When the infant is suckled, it is drawn round in front and allowed to hang there, the mother meanwhile pursuing her usual avocations. So little does child-bearing affect these women, that, on a journey, they will frequently stop by the way-side for half an hour to be delivered, and then overtake the party, who have traveled on at the usual pace. Painful parturition, though so rare, usually results fatally to both mother and child when it does occur. This comparative exemption from the curse, "in sorrow shalt thou bring forth," is doubtless owing partly to the fact that the sexes have their regular season for copulation, just as animals have theirs, the women bringing forth each year with great regularity. A curious custom prevails, which is, however, by no means peculiar to California. When child-birth overtakes the wife, the husband puts himself to bed, and there grunting and groaning he affects to suffer all the agonies of a woman in labor. Lying there, he is nursed and tended for some days by the women as carefully as though he were the actual sufferer. Ridiculous as this custom is, it is asserted by Mr Tylor to have been practiced in western China, in the country of the Basques,by the Tibareni at the south of the Black Sea, and in modified forms by the Dyaks of Borneo, the Arawaks of Surinam, and the inhabitants of Kamchatka and Greenland.[552]The females arrive early at the age of puberty,[553]and grow old rapidly.[554]
CALIFORNIAN DIVERSIONS.
Most important events, such as the seasons of hunting, fishing, acorn-gathering, and the like, are celebrated with feasts and dances which differ in no essential respect from those practiced by the Northern Californians. They usually dance naked, having their heads adorned with feather ornaments, and their bodies and faces painted with glaring colors in grotesque patterns. Broad stripes, drawn up and down, across, or spirally round the body, form the favorite device; sometimes one half of the body is colored red and the other blue, or the whole person is painted jet black and serves as a ground for the representation of a skeleton, done in white, which gives the wearer a most ghastly appearance.[555]Thedancing is accompanied by chantings, clapping of hands, blowing on pipes of two or three reeds and played with the nose or mouth, beating of skin drums, and rattling of tortoise-shells filled with small pebbles. This horrible discord is, however, more for the purpose of marking time than for pleasing the ear.[556]The women are seldom allowed to join in the dance with the men, and when they are so far honored, take a very unimportant part in the proceedings, merely swaying their bodies to and fro in silence.
Plays, representing scenes of war, hunting, and private life, serve to while away the time, and are performed with considerable skill. Though naturally the very incarnation of sloth, at least as far as useful labor is concerned, they have one or two games which require some exertion. One of these, in vogue among the Meewocs, is played with bats and an oak-knot ball. The former are made of a pliant stick, having the end bent round and lashed to the main part so as to form a loop, which is filled with a network of strings. They do not strike but push the ball along with these bats. The players take sides, and each party endeavors to drive the ball past the boundaries of the other. Another game, which was formerly much played at the missions on the coast, requires more skill and scarcely less activity. It consistsin throwing a stick through a hoop which is rapidly rolled along the ground. If the player succeeds in this, he gains two points; if the stick merely passes partially through, so that the hoop remains resting upon it, one point is scored.
But, as usual, games of chance are much preferred to games of skill. The chief of these is the same as that already described in the last chapter as being played by the natives all along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, and which bears so close a resemblance to the odd-and-even of our school-days. They are as infatuated on this subject as their neighbors, and quite as willing to stake the whole of their possessions on an issue of chance. They smoke a species of strong tobacco in the straight pipes before mentioned;[557]but they have no native intoxicating drink.[558]
MEDICINE AND SWEAT-HOUSES.
The principal diseases are small-pox, various forms of fever, and syphilis. Owing to their extreme filthiness they are also very subject to disgusting eruptions of the skin. Women are not allowed to practice the healing art, as among the Northern Californians, the privileges of quackery being here reserved exclusively to the men. Chanting incantations, waving of hands, and the sucking powers obtain. Doctors are supposed to have powerover life and death, hence if they fail to effect a cure, they are frequently killed.[559]They demand the most extortionate fees in return for their services, and often refuse to officiate unless the object they desire is promised them. Sweat-houses similar to those already described are in like manner used as a means of cure for every kind of complaint.[560]They have another kind of sudatory. A hole is dug in the sand of a size sufficient to contain a person lying at full length; over this a fire is kept burning until the sand is thoroughly heated, when the fire is removed and the sand stirred with a stick until it is reduced to the required temperature. The patient is then placed in the hole and covered, with the exception of his head, with sand. Here he remains until in a state of profuse perspiration, when he is unearthed and plunged into cold water. They are said to practice phlebotomy, using the right arm when the body is affected and the left when the complaint is in the limbs. A few simple decoctions are made from herbs, but these are seldom very efficient medicines, especially when administered for the more complicated diseases which the whites have brought among them. Owing to the insufficient or erroneous treatment they receive, many disorders which would be easily cured by us, degenerate with them into chronic maladies, and are transmitted to their children.[561]
Incremation is almost universal in this part of California.[562]The body is decorated with feathers, flowers, and beads, and after lying in state for some time, is burned amid the howls and lamentations of friends and relations. The ashes are either preserved by the family of the deceased or are formally buried. The weapons and effects of the dead are burned or buried with them.[563]When a body is prepared for interment the knees are doubled up against the chest and securely bound with cords. It is placed in a sitting posture in the grave, which is circular. This is the most common manner of sepulture, but some tribes bury the body perpendicularly in a hole just large enough to admit it, sometimes with the head down, sometimes in a standing position. The Pomos formerly burned their dead, and since they have been influenced by the whites to bury them, they invariably place the body with its head toward the south.
MOURNING FOR THE DEAD.
A scene of incremation is a weird spectacle. Thefriends and relatives of the deceased gather round the funeral pyre in a circle, howling dismally. As the flames mount upward their enthusiasm increases, until in a perfect frenzy of excitement, they leap, shriek, lacerate their bodies, and even snatch a handful of smoldering flesh from the fire, and devour it.
The ashes of the dead mixed with grease, are smeared over the face as a badge of mourning, and the compound is suffered to remain there until worn off by the action of the weather. The widow keeps her head covered with pitch for several months. In the Russian River Valley, where demonstrations of grief appear to be yet more violent than elsewhere, self-laceration is much practiced. It is customary to have an annual Dance of Mourning, when the inhabitants of a whole village collect together and lament their deceased friends with howls and groans. Many tribes think it necessary to nourish a departed spirit for several months. This is done by scattering food about the place where the remains of the dead are deposited. A devoted Neeshenam widow does not utter a word for several months after the death of her husband; a less severe sign of grief is to speak only in a low whisper for the same time.[564]
Regarding a future state their ideas are vague; some say that the Meewocs believe in utter annihilation after death, but who can fathom the hopes and fears that struggle in their dark imaginings. They are not particularly cruel or vicious; they show much sorrow for thedeath of a relative; in some instances they are affectionate toward their families.[565]
CENTRAL CALIFORNIAN CHARACTER.
Although nearly all travelers who have seen and described this people, place them in the lowest scale of humanity, yet there are some who assert that the character of the Californian has been maligned. It does not follow, they say, that he is indolent because he does not work when the fertility of his native land enables him to live without labor; or that he is cowardly because he is not incessantly at war, or stupid and brutal because the mildness of his climate renders clothes and dwellings superfluous. But is this sound reasoning? Surely a people assisted by nature should progress faster than another, struggling with depressing difficulties.
From the frozen, wind-swept plains of Alaska to the malaria-haunted swamps of Darien, there is not a fairer land than California; it is the neutral ground, as it were, of the elements, where hyperboreal cold, stripped of its rugged aspect, and equatorial heat, tamed to a genial warmth, meet as friends, inviting, all blusterings laid aside. Yet if we travel northwardfrom the Isthmus, we must pass by ruined cities and temples, traces of mighty peoples, who there flourished before a foreign civilization extirpated them. On the arid deserts of Arizona and New Mexico is found an incipient civilization. Descending from the Arctic sea we meet races of hunters and traders, which can be called neither primitive nor primordial, living after their fashion as men, not as brutes. It is not until we reach the Golden Mean in Central California that we find whole tribes subsisting on roots, herbs and insects; having no boats, no clothing, no laws, no God; yielding submissively to the first touch of the invader; held in awe by a few priests and soldiers. Men do not civilize themselves. Had not the Greeks and the Egyptians been driven on by an unseen hand, never would the city of the Violet Crown have graced the plains of Hellas, nor Thebes nor Memphis have risen in the fertile valley of the Nile. Why Greece is civilized, while California breeds a race inferior to the lowest of their neighbors, save only perhaps the Shoshones on their east, no one yet can tell.
When Father Junípero Serra established the Mission of Dolores in 1776, the shores of San Francisco Bay were thickly populated by the Ahwashtees, Ohlones, Altahmos, Romanons, Tuolomos, and other tribes. The good Father found the field unoccupied, for, in the vocabulary of these people, there is found no word for god, angel, or devil; they held no theory of origin or destiny. A ranchería was situated on the spot where now Beach street intersects Hyde street. Were it there now, as contrasted with the dwellings of San Francisco, it would resemble a pig-sty more than a human habitation.
On the Marin and Sonoma shores of the bay were the Tomales and Camimares, the latter numbering, in 1824, ten thousand souls. Marin, chief of the Tomales, was for a long time the terror of the Spaniards, and his warriors were ranked as among the fiercest of the Californians. He was brave, energetic, and possessed of no ordinary intelligence. When quite old he consented to be baptized into the Romish Church.
YOSEMITE VALLEY INDIANS.
It has been suspected that the chief Marin was not a full-bred Indian, but that he was related to a certain Spanish sailor who was cast ashore from a wrecked galeon on a voyage from Manila to Acapulco about the year 1750. The ship-wrecked Spaniards, it has been surmised, were kindly treated by the natives; they married native wives, and lived with the Tomales as of them, and from them descended many of their chiefs; but of this we have no proof.
Yosemite Valley was formerly a stronghold to which tribes in that vicinity resorted after committing their depredations upon white settlers. They used to make their boast that their hiding place could never be discovered by white men. But during the year 1850, the marauders growing bold in their fancied security, the whites arose and drove them into the mountains. Following them thither under the guidance of Tenaya, an old chief and confederate, the white men were suddenly confronted by the wondrous beauties of the valley. The Indians, disheartened at the discovery of their retreat, yielded a reluctant obedience, but becoming again disaffected they renewed their depredations. Shortly afterward the Yosemite Indians made a visit to the Monos. They were hospitably entertained, but upon leaving, could not resist the temptation to drive off a few stray cattle belonging to their friends. The Monos, enraged at this breach of good faith, pursued and gave them battle. The warriors of the valley were nearly exterminated, scarce half a dozen remaining to mourn their loss. All their women and children were carried away into captivity. These Yosemite Indians consisted of a mixture from various tribes, outlaws as it were from the surrounding tribes. They have left as their legacy a name for every cliff and waterfall within the valley. How marvelous would be their history could we go back and trace it from the beginning, these millions of human bands, who throughout the ages have been coming and going, unknowing and unknown!
In theSouthern Californians, whose territory lies south of the thirty-fifth parallel, there are less tribal differences than among any people whom we have yet encountered, whose domain is of equal extent. Those who live in the south-eastern corner of the State are thrown by the Sierra Nevada range of mountains into the Shoshone family, to which, indeed, by affinity they belong. The chief tribes of this division are theCahuillasand theDiegueños, the former living around the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, and the latter in the southern extremity of California. Around each mission were scores of small bands, whose rancherías were recorded in the mission books, the natives as a whole being known only by the name of the mission. When first discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, the islands off the coast were inhabited by a superior people, but these they were induced by the padres to abandon, following which event the people rapidly faded away. The natives called the island of Santa CruzLiniooh, Santa RosaHurmal, San MiguelTwocan, and San NicolasGhalashat.
As we approach the southern boundary of California a slight improvement is manifest in the aborigines. The men are here well made, of a stature quite up to the average, comparatively fair-complexioned and pleasant-featured. The children of the islanders are described by the early voyagers as being white, with light hair and ruddy cheeks, and the women as having fine forms, beautiful eyes, and a modest demeanor.[566]The beard isplucked out with a bivalve shell, which answers the purpose of pincers.
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 breasts.[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 shells. Around Santa Barbara rings of bone or shell were worn in the nose; at Los Angeles nasal ornaments were not the fashion. The women had cylinder-shaped pieces of ivory, sometimes as much as eight inches, in length, attached to the ears by a shell ring. Bracelets and necklaces were made of pieces of ivory ground round and perforated, small pebbles, and shells.
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 ofthe 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 prick 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]
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 theinfluences of the southern civilization may have extended as far as this point. Father Boscana's description of the temples orvanquechserected by the natives in the vicinity of San Juan Capistrano, in honor of their god, Chinigchinich, is thus translated: "They formed an enclosure of about four or five yards in circumference, 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 god 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, grasshoppers and other insects, all are devoured by the inland tribes. Stranded whales, animals of the seal genus, fish, and shell-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 majorityrefuse to eat from superstitious motives.[577]Grasshoppers are eaten roasted. Acorns are shelled, 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 grass-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 tioñe-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 fishing 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.
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 Junípero 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 shell; mortars and pestles of granite, and soap-stone cooking vessels, and water-tight baskets.[581]The clay vessels which arefrequently 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 Fages 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, scraped smooth on the outside, with both ends shaped alike, were sometimes, though more rarely, used.[585]The circulatingmedium consisted of small round pieces of the white mussel-shell. 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.
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 assisted 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 assumed 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 god. Vengeancewas, 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 god 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-shells 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]
MARRIAGE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
The chief could have a plurality of wives, but the common people were only allowed one.[590]The form ofcontracting 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 shell 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 rôles of hunters and warriors, and were assisted 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.