Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Part 37

Gibbs was the first to employ this name, which he did in 1853, as above cited. He states that it is "the name of the princ.i.p.al band on the Klamath, at the junction of the Trinity," adding that "this language prevails from a few miles above that point to the coast, but does not extend far from the river on either side." It would thus seem clear that in this case, as in several others, he selected the name of a band to apply to the language spoken by it. The language thus defined has been accepted as distinct by later authorities except Latham, who included as dialects under the Weitspek language, the locality of which he gives as the junction of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, the Weyot and Wishosk, both of which are now cla.s.sed under the Wishoskan family.

By the Karok these tribes are called Yurok, "down" or "below," by which name the family has recently been known.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

For our knowledge of the range of the tribes of this family we are chiefly indebted to Stephen Powers.[109] The tribes occupy the lower Klamath River, Oregon, from the mouth of the Trinity down. Upon the coast, Weitspekan territory extends from Gold Bluff to about 6 miles above the mouth of the Klamath. The Chillula are an offshoot of the Weitspek, living to the south of them, along Redwood Creek to a point about 20 miles inland, and from Gold Bluff to a point about midway between Little and Mad Rivers.

[Footnote 109: Cont. N.A. Eth., 1877, vol. 3, p. 44.]

PRINc.i.p.aL TRIBES.

Chillula, Redwood Creek.

Mita, Klamath River.

Pekwan, Klamath River.

Rikwa, Regua, fishing village at outlet of Klamath River.

Sugon, Shragoin, Klamath River.

Weitspek, Klamath River (above Big Bend).

WISHOSKAN FAMILY.

> Wish-osk, Gibbs in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 422, 1853 (given as the name of a dialect on Mad River and Humboldt Bay).

= Wish-osk, Powell in Cont. N.A. Eth., III, 478, 1877 (vocabularies of Wish-osk, Wi-yot, and Ko-wilth). Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 162, 1877 (indicates area occupied by family). Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 437, 1877.

> Wee-yot, Gibbs in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 422, 1853 (given as the name of a dialect on Eel River and Humboldt Bay).

X Weitspek, Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 77, 1856 (includes Weyot and Wishosk). Latham, Opuscula, 343, 1860.

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Derivation: Wish-osk is the name given to the Bay and Mad River Indians by those of Eel River.

This is a small and obscure linguistic family and little is known concerning the dialects composing it or of the tribes which speak it.

Gibbs[110] mentions Wee-yot and Wish-osk as dialects of a general language extending "from Cape Mendocino to Mad River and as far back into the interior as the foot of the first range of mountains," but does not distinguish the language by a family name.

[Footnote 110: Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 1853, vol. 3, p. 422.]

Latham considered Weyot and Wishosk to be mere dialects of the same language, i.e., the Weitspek, from which, however, they appeared to him to differ much more than they do from each other. Both Powell and Gatschet have treated the language represented by these dialects as quite distinct from any other, and both have employed the same name.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

The area occupied by the tribes speaking dialects of this language was the coast from a little below the mouth of Eel River to a little north of Mad River, including particularly the country about Humboldt Bay.

They also extended up the above-named rivers into the mountain pa.s.ses.

TRIBES.

Patawat, Lower Mad River and Humboldt Bay as far south as Arcata.

Weeyot, mouth of Eel River.

Wishosk, near mouth of Mad River and north part of Humboldt Bay.

YAKONAN FAMILY.

> Yakones, Hale in U.S. Expl. Exp., VI, 198, 218, 1846 (or Iakon, coast of Oregon). Buschmann, Spuren der aztek. Sprache, 612, 1859.

> Iakon, Hale in U.S. Expl. Exp., VI, 218, 569, 1846 (or Lower Killamuks). Buschmann, Spuren der aztek. Sprache, 612, 1859.

> Jacon, Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, c, 77, 1848.

> Jakon, Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, 17, 1848.

Berghaus (1851), Physik. Atlas, map 17, 1852. Gallatin in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 402, 1853 (language of Lower Killamuks). Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 78, 1856. Latham, Opuscula, 340, 1860.

> Yakon, Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 324, 1850. Gatschet, in Mag. Am.

Hist., 166, 1877. Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 441, 1877. Bancroft, Nat. Races, III, 565, 640, 1882.

> Yakona, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 256, 1882.

> Southern Killamuks, Hale in U.S. Expl. Exp., VI, 218, 569, 1846 (or Yakones). Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, 17, 1848 (after Hale).

> Sud Killamuk, Berghaus (1851), Physik. Atlas, map 17, 1852.

> Sainstskla, Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 325, 1850 ("south of the Yakon, between the Umkwa and the sea").

> Sayuskla, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 257, 1882 (on Lower Umpqua, Sayuskla, and Smith Rivers).

> Killiwashat, Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 325, 1850 ("mouth of the Umkwa").

X Klamath, Keane, App. Stanford's Comp. (Cent. and So. Am.), 475, 1878 (cited as including Yacons).

Derivation: From yakwina, signifying "spirit" (Everette).

The Yakwina was the leading tribe of this family. It must have been of importance in early days, as it occupied fifty-six villages along Yaquina River, from the site of Elk City down to the ocean. Only a few survive, and they are with the Alsea on the Siletz Reservation, Tillamook County, Oregon. They were cla.s.sed by mistake with the Tillamook or "Killamucks" by Lewis and Clarke. They are called by Lewis and Clarke[111] Youikcones and Youkone.[112]

[Footnote 111: Allen, ed. 1814, vol. 2, p. 473.]