The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft Part 38

Polygamy is almost universal, the number of wives depending only on the limit of a man's wealth. The loss of one eye, or expulsion from the tribe, are common punishments for adultery committed by a man. A string of beads, however, makes amends. Should the wife venture on any irregularity without just compensation, the outraged honor of her lord is never satisfied until he has seen her publicly disemboweled. Among the Hoopahs the women are held irresponsible and the men alone suffer for the crime.[483] Illegitimate children are life-slaves to some male relative of the mother, and upon them the drudgery falls; they are only allowed to marry one in their own station, and their sole hope of emanc.i.p.ation lies in a slow acc.u.mulation of allicochick, with which they can buy their freedom. We are told by Mr Powers that a Modoc may kill his mother-in-law with impunity. Adultery, being attended with so much danger, is comparatively rare, but among the unmarried, who have nothing to fear, a gross licentiousness prevails.[484]

Among the Muckalucs a dance is inst.i.tuted in honor of the arrival of the girls at the age of p.u.b.erty. On the Klamath, during the period of menstruation the women are banished from the village, and no man may approach them. Although the princ.i.p.al labor falls to the lot of the women, the men sometimes a.s.sist in building the wigwam, or even in gathering acorns and roots.[485] Kane mentions that the Shastas, or, as he calls them, the Chastays, frequently sell their children as slaves to the Chinooks.[486] Dances and festivities, of a religio-playful character, are common, as when a whale is stranded, an elk snared, or when the salmon come. There is generally a kind of thanksgiving-day once a year, when the people of neighboring tribes meet and dance. The annual feast of the Veeards is a good ill.u.s.tration of the manner of these entertainments. The dance, which takes place in a large wigwam, is performed by as many men as there is room for, and a small proportion of women. They move in a circle slowly round the fire, accompanying themselves with their peculiar chant. Each individual is dressed in all the finery he can muster; every valuable he possesses in the way of sh.e.l.ls, furs, or woodp.e.c.k.e.r-scalps, does duty on this occasion; so that the wealth of the dancers may be reckoned at a glance. When the dance has concluded, an old gray-beard of the tribe rises, and p.r.o.nounces a thanksgiving oration, wherein he enumerates the benefits received, the riches acc.u.mulated, and the victories won during the year; exhorting the hearers meanwhile, by good conduct and moral behavior, to deserve yet greater benefits. This savage Nestor is listened to in silence and with respect; his audience seeming to drink in with avidity every drop of wisdom that falls from his lips; but no sooner is the harangue concluded than every one does his best to violate the moral precepts so lately inculcated, by a grand debauch.

The Cahrocs have a similar festival, which they call the Feast of the Propitiation. Its object is much the same as that of the feast just described, but in place of the orator, the chief personage of the day is called the Chareya, which is also the appellation of their deity. No little honor attaches to the position, but much suffering is also connected with it. It is the duty of the Chareya-man to retire into the mountains, with one attendant only, and there to remain for ten days, eating only enough to keep breath in his body. Meanwhile the Cahrocs congregate in honor of the occasion, dance, sing, and make merry. When the appointed period has elapsed, the Chareya-man returns to camp, or is carried by deputies sent out for the purpose, if he have not strength to walk. His bearers are blindfolded, for no human being may look upon the face of the Chareya-man and live. His approach is the signal for the abrupt breaking up of the festivities. The revelers disperse in terror, and conceal themselves as best they may to avoid catching sight of the dreaded face, and where a moment before all was riot and bustle, a deathly stillness reigns. Then the Chareya-man is conducted to the sweat-house, where he remains for a time. And now the real Propitiation-Dance takes place, the men alone partic.i.p.ating in its sacred movements, which are accompanied by the low, monotonous chant of singers. The dance over, all solemnity vanishes, and a lecherous saturnalia ensues, which will not bear description. The G.o.ds are conciliated, catastrophes are averted, and all is joy and happiness.[487]

[Sidenote: SPORTS AND GAMES.]

A pa.s.sion for gambling obtains among the northern Californians as elsewhere. Nothing is too precious or too insignificant to be staked, from a white or black deer-skin, which is almost priceless, down to a wife, or any other trifle. In this manner property changes hands with great rapidity.

I have already stated that on the possession of riches depend power, rank, and social position, so that there is really much to be lost or won. They have a game played with little sticks, of which some are black, but the most white. These they throw around in a circle, the object being seemingly to make the black ones go farther than the white.

A kind of guess-game is played with clay b.a.l.l.s.[488] There is also an international game, played between friendly tribes, which closely resembles our 'hockey.' Two poles are set up in the ground at some distance apart, and each side, being armed with sticks, endeavors to drive a wooden ball round the goal opposite to it.[489] In almost all their games and dances they are accompanied by a hoa.r.s.e chanting, or by some kind of uncouth music produced by striking on a board with lobster-claws fastened to sticks, or by some other equally primitive method. Before the introduction of spirituous liquors by white men drunkenness was unknown. With their tobacco for smoking, they mix a leaf called _kinnik-kinnik_.[490]

[Sidenote: MEDICAL TREATMENT.]

The diseases and ailments most prevalent among these people are scrofula, consumption, rheumatism, a kind of leprosy, affection of the lungs, and sore eyes, the last arising from the dense smoke which always pervades their cabins.[491] In addition to this they have imaginary disorders caused by wizards, witches, and evil spirits, who, as they believe, cause snakes and other reptiles to enter into their bodies and gnaw their vitals. Some few roots and herbs used are really efficient medicine, but they rely almost entirely upon the mummeries and incantations of their medicine men and women.[492] Their whole system of therapeutics having superst.i.tion for a basis, mortality is great among them, which may be one of the causes of the continent being, comparatively speaking, so thinly populated at the time of its discovery. Syphilis, one of the curses for which they may thank the white man, has made fearful havoc among them. Women doctors seem to be more numerous than men in this region; acquiring their art in the _temescal_ or sweat-house, where unprofessional women are not admitted.

Their favorite method of cure seems to consist in sucking the affected part of the patient until the blood flows, by which means they pretend to extract the disease. Sometimes the doctress vomits a frog, previously swallowed for the occasion, to prove that she has not sucked in vain.

She is frequently a.s.sisted by a second physician, whose duty it is to discover the exact spot where the malady lies, and this she effects by barking like a dog at the patient until the spirit discovers to her the place. Mr Gibbs mentions a case where the patient was first attended by four young women, and afterward by the same number of old ones. Standing round the unfortunate, they went through a series of violent gesticulations, sitting down when they could stand no longer, sucking, with the most laudable perseverance, and moaning meanwhile most dismally. Finally, when with their lips and tongue they had raised blisters all over the patient, and had pounded his miserable body with hands and knees until they were literally exhausted, the performers executed a swooning scene, in which they sank down apparently insensible.[493] The Rogue River medicine-men are supposed to be able to wield their mysterious power for harm, as well as for good, so that should a patient die, his relatives kill the doctor who attended him; or in case deceased could not afford medical attendance, they kill the first unfortunate disciple of aesculapius they can lay hands on, frequently murdering one belonging to another tribe; his death, however, must be paid for.[494]

But the great inst.i.tution of the Northern Californians is their temescal, or sweat-house, which consists of a hole dug in the ground, and roofed over in such a manner as to render it almost air-tight. A fire is built in the centre in early fall, and is kept alive till the following spring, as much attention being given to it as ever was paid to the sacred fires of Hestia; though between the subterranean temescal, with its fetid atmosphere, and lurid fire-glow glimmering faintly through dense smoke on swart, gaunt forms of savages, and the stately temple on the Forum, fragrant with fumes of incense, the lambent altar-flame glistening on the pure white robes of the virgin priestesses, there is little likeness. The temescal[495] is usually built on the brink of a stream; a small hatchway affords entrance, which is instantly closed after the person going in or out. Here congregate the men of the village and enact their sudorific ceremonies, which ordinarily consist in squatting round the fire until a state of profuse perspiration sets in, when they rush out and plunge into the water.

Whether this mode of treatment is more potent to kill or to cure is questionable. The sweat-house serves not only as bath and medicine room, but also as a general rendezvous for the male drones of the village. The women, with the exception of those practicing or studying medicine, are forbidden its sacred precincts on pain of death; thus it offers as convenient a refuge for henpecked husbands as a civilized club-house. In many of the tribes the men sleep in the temescal during the winter, which, notwithstanding the disgusting impurity of the atmosphere, affords them a snug retreat from the cold gusty weather common to this region.[496]

[Sidenote: BURIAL AND MOURNING.]

Incremation obtains but slightly among the Northern Californians, the body usually being buried in a rec.u.mbent position. The possessions of the deceased are either interred with him, or are hung around the grave; sometimes his house is burned and the ashes strewn over his burial-place. Much noisy lamentation on the part of his relatives takes place at his death, and the widow frequently manifests her grief by sitting on, or even half burying herself in, her husband's grave for some days, howling most dismally meanwhile, and refusing food and drink; or, on the upper Klamath, by cutting her hair close to the head, and so wearing it until she obtains consolation in another spouse. The Modocs hired mourners to lament at different places for a certain number of days, so that the whole country was filled with lamentation. These paid mourners were closely watched, and disputes frequently arose as to whether they had fulfilled their contract or not.[497] Occasionally the body is doubled up and interred in a sitting position, and, rarely, it is burned instead of buried. On the Klamath a fire is kept burning near the grave for several nights after the burial, for which rite various reasons are a.s.signed. Mr Powers states that it is to light the departed shade across a certain greased pole, which is supposed to const.i.tute its only approach to a better world. Mr Gibbs affirms that the fire is intended to scare away the devil, obviously an unnecessary precaution as applied to the Satan of civilization, who by this time must be pretty familiar with the element. The grave is generally covered with a slab of wood, and sometimes two more are placed erect at the head and foot; that of a chief is often surrounded with a fence; nor must the name of a dead person ever be mentioned under any circ.u.mstances.[498]

[Sidenote: BURIAL CEREMONIES AT PITT RIVER.]

The following vivid description of a last sickness and burial by the Pitt River Indians, is taken from the letter of a lady eye-witness to her son in San Francisco:--

It was evening. We seated ourselves upon a log, your father, Bertie, and I, near the fire round which the natives had congregated to sing for old Gesnip, the chief's wife. Presently Sootim, the doctor, appeared, dressed in a low-necked, loose, white muslin, sleeveless waist fastened to a breech-cloth, and red buck-skin cap fringed and ornamented with beads; the face painted with white stripes down to the chin, the arms from wrist to shoulder, in black, red, and white circles, which by the lurid camp-fire looked like bracelets, and the legs in white and black stripes,--presenting altogether a merry-Andrew appearance. Creeping softly along, singing in a low, gradually-increasing voice, Sootim approached the invalid and poised his hands over her as in the act of blessing. The one nearest him took up the song, singing low at first, then the next until the circle was completed; after this the pipe went round; then the doctor taking a sip of water, partly uncovered the patient and commenced sucking the left side; last of all he took a pinch of dirt and blew it over her. This is their curative process, continued night after night, and long into the night, until the patient recovers or dies.

Next day the doctor came to see me, and I determined if possible to ascertain his own ideas of these things. Giving him some _muck-a-muck_,[499] I asked him, "What do you say when you talk over old Gesnip?" "I talk to the trees, and to the springs, and birds, and sky, and rocks," replied Sootim, "to the wind, and rain, and leaves, I beg them all to help me." Iofalet, the doctor's companion on this occasion, volunteered the remark: "When Indian die, doctor very shamed, all same Boston doctor;[500] when Indian get well, doctor very smart, all same Boston doctor." Gesnip said she wanted after death to be put in a box and buried in the ground, and not burned. That same day the poor old woman breathed her last--the last spark of that wonderful thing called life flickered and went out; there remained in that rude camp the shriveled dusky carca.s.s, the low dim intelligence that so lately animated it having fled--whither? When I heard of it I went to the camp and found them dressing the body. First they put on Gesnip her best white clothes, then the next best, placing all the while whatever was most valuable, beads, belts, and necklaces, next the body. Money they put into the mouth, her daughter contributing about five dollars. The knees were then pressed up against the chest, and after all of her own clothing was put on, the body was rolled up in the best family bear-skin, and tied with strips of buckskin.

Then Soomut, the chief and husband, threw the bundle over his shoulders, and started off for the cave where they deposit their dead, accompanied by the whole band crying and singing, and throwing ashes from the camp-fire into the air. And thus the old barbarian mourns: "Soomut had two wives--one good, one bad; but she that was good was taken away, while she that is bad remains. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!" And the mournful procession take up the refrain: "O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!"

Again the ancient chief: "Soomut has a little boy, Soomut has a little girl, but no one is left to cook their food, no one to dig them roots. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!" followed by the chorus. Then again Soomut: "White woman knows that Gesnip was strong to work; she told me her sorrow when Gesnip died. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!" and this was kept up during the entire march, the dead wife's virtues sung and chorused by the whole tribe, accompanied by the scattering of ashes and lamentations which now had become very noisy. The lady further states that the scene at the grave was so impressive that she was unable to restrain her tears. No wonder then that these impulsive children of nature carry their joy and sorrow to excess, even so far as in this instance, where the affectionate daughter of the old crone had to be held by her companions from throwing herself into the grave of her dead mother.

After all, how slight the shades of difference in hearts human, whether barbaric or cultured!

As before mentioned, the ruling pa.s.sion of the savage seems to be love of wealth; having it, he is respected, without it he is despised; consequently he is treacherous when it profits him to be so, thievish when he can steal without danger, cunning when gain is at stake, brave in defense of his lares and penates. Next to his excessive venality, abject superst.i.tion forms the most prominent feature of his character. He seems to believe that everything instinct with animal life--with some, as with the Siahs, it extends to vegetable life also--is possessed by evil spirits; horrible fancies fill his imagination. The rattling of acorns on the roof, the rustling of leaves in the deep stillness of the forest is sufficient to excite terror. His wicked spirit is the very incarnation of fiendishness; a monster who falls suddenly upon the unwary traveler in solitary places and rends him in pieces, and whose imps are ghouls that exhume the dead to devour them.[501]

Were it not for the diabolic view he takes of nature, his life would be a comparatively easy one. His wants are few, and such as they are, he has the means of supplying them. He is somewhat of a stoic, his motto being never do to-day what can be put off until to-morrow, and he concerns himself little with the glories of peace or war. Now and then we find him daubing himself with great stripes of paint, and looking ferocious, but ordinarily he prefers the calm of the peaceful temescal to the din of battle. The task of collecting a winter store of food he converts into a kind of summer picnic, and altogether is inclined to make the best of things, in spite of the annoyance given him in the way of reservations and other benefits of civilization. Taken as a whole, the Northern Californian is not such a bad specimen of a savage, as savages go, but filthiness and greed are not enviable qualities, and he has a full share of both.[502]

[Sidenote: THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIANS.]

THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIANS occupy a yet larger extent of territory, comprising the whole of that portion of California extending, north and south, from about 40 30' to 35, and, east and west, from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary.

[Sidenote: NATIONS OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.]

The Native Races of this region are not divided, as in the northern part of the state, into comparatively large tribes, but are scattered over the face of the country in innumerable little bands, with a system of nomenclature so intricate as to puzzle an Oedipus. Nevertheless, as among the most important, I may mention the following: The _Tehamas_, from whom the county takes its name; the _Pomos_, which name signifies 'people', and is the collective appellation of a number of tribes living in Potter Valley, where the head-waters of Eel and Russian rivers interlace, and extending west to the ocean and south to Clear Lake. Each tribe of the nation takes a distinguishing prefix to the name of Pomo, as, the _Castel Pomos_ and _Ki Pomos_ on the head-waters of Eel River; the _Pome Pomos_, Earth People, in Potter Valley; the _Cahto Pomos_, in the valley of that name; the _Choam Chadela Pomos_, Pitch-pine People, in Redwood Valley; the _Matomey Ki Pomos_, Wooded Valley People, about Little Lake; the _Usals_, or _Camalel Pomos_, Coast People, on Usal Creek; the _Shebalne Pomos_, Neighbor People, in Sherwood Valley, and many others. On Russian River, the _Gallinomeros_ occupy the valley below Healdsburg; the _Sanels_, _Socoas_, _Lamas_, and _Seacos_, live in the vicinity of the village of Sanel; the _Comachos_ dwell in Rancheria and Anderson valleys; the _Ukiahs_, or Yokias, near the town of Ukiah, which is a corruption of their name;[503] the _Gualalas_[504] on the creek which takes its name from them, about twenty miles above the mouth of Russian River. On the borders of Clear Lake were the _Lopillamillos_, the _Mipacmas_, and _Tyugas_; the _Yolos_, or Yolays, that is to say, 'region thick with rushes,' of which the present name of the county of Yolo is a corruption, lived on Cache Creek; the _Colusas_ occupied the west bank of the Sacramento; in the Valley of the Moon, as the _Sonomas_ called their country, besides themselves there were the _Guillicas_, the _Kanimares_, the _Simbalakees_, the _Petalumas_, and the _Wapos_; the _Yachichumnes_ inhabited the country between Stockton and Mount Diablo.

According to Hittel, there were six tribes in Napa Valley: the _Mayacomas_, the _Calajomanas_, the _Caymus_, the _Napas_, the _Ulucas_, and the _Suscols_; Mr Taylor also mentions the _Guenocks_, the _Tulkays_, and the _Socollomillos_; in Suisun Valley were the _Suisunes_, the _Pulpones_, the _Tolenos_, and the _Ullulatas_; the tribe of the celebrated chief Marin lived near the mission of San Rafael, and on the ocean-coast of Marin County were the _Bolanos_ and _Tamales_; the _Karquines_ lived on the straits of that name. Humboldt and Mulhlenpfordt mention the _Matalanes_, _Salses_, and _Quirotes_, as living round the bay of San Francisco. According to Adam Johnson, who was Indian agent for California in 1850, the princ.i.p.al tribes originally living at the Mission Dolores, and Yerba Buena, were the _Ahwashtes_, _Altahmos_, _Romanans_, and _Tulomos_; Choris gives the names of more than fifteen tribes seen at the Mission, Chamisso of nineteen, and transcribed from the mission books to the TRIBAL BOUNDARIES of this group, are the names of nearly two hundred rancherias. The _Socoisukas_, _Thamiens_, and _Gergecensens_ roamed through Santa Clara County. The _Olchones_ inhabited the coast between San Francisco and Monterey; in the vicinity of the latter place were the _Rumsens_ or Runsiens, the _Ecclemaches_, _Escelens_ or Eslens, the _Achastliens_, and the _Mutsunes_. On the San Joaquin lived the _Costrowers_, the _Pitiaches_, _Talluches_, _Loomnears_, and _Amonces_; on Fresno River the _Chowclas_, _Cookchaneys_, _Fonechas_, _Nookchues_, and _Howetsers_; the _Eemitches_ and _Cowiahs_, lived on Four Creeks; the _Waches_, _Notoowthas_, and _Chunemmes_ on King River, and on Tulare Lake, the _Talches_ and _Woowells_.

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.

[Sidenote: 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 cla.s.sifications 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 a.s.serting 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]

[Sidenote: 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 unenc.u.mbered 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 ap.r.o.n of tule-gra.s.s, which falls from the waist before and behind nearly 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 sh.e.l.ls 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]

[Sidenote: PERSONAL ADORNMENT.]

Tattooing is universal with the women, though confined within narrow limits. They mark the chin in perpendicular 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 inc.u.mbrance 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 dest.i.tute 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.

[Sidenote: 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 over and 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 collection of native huts is in California called a _rancheria_, from rancho, a word first applied by the Spaniards to the spot where, in the island of Cuba, food was distributed to repartimiento Indians.

[Sidenote: FOOD AND METHODS OF OBTAINING IT.]

The b.e.s.t.i.a.l 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 gra.s.s 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, gra.s.s-seeds, berries and the like. These are eaten both raw and prepared. The acorns are sh.e.l.led, dried in the sun, and then pounded into a powder with large stones. From this flour a species of coa.r.s.e 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. Gra.s.shoppers const.i.tute another toothsome delicacy. When for 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.

[Sidenote: ACORNS AND WILD FOWL.]

Gra.s.shoppers are taken in pits, into which they are driven by setting the gra.s.s on fire, or by beating the gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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 woodp.e.c.k.e.r, or _carpintero_ as 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 pa.s.sing through a hole in the top of the pole on the bank where the fowler is concealed, is attached to the nearest 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 a.s.sert. Before the arrival of miners game was so plentiful that even the lazy natives could supply their necessities. The 'n.o.bler 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 have been permitted to a.s.sociate 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]

[Sidenote: 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 tw.a.n.g.