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The Nez Percés 'possess the country on each side of the Lewis or Snake River, from the Peloose to the Wapticacoes, about a hundred miles – together with the tributary streams, extending, on the east, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 212; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 551. 'On both sides of the Kooskooskia and north fork of Snake river.' Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 416; and Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 217. 'A few bands of the Nez Percés Indians occupy the Salmon river and the Clearwater.' Thompson, in Id., p. 282. 'The Nez Percés country is bounded west by the Palouse river and the Tucannon; on the north by the range of mountains between Clear Water and the Coeur d'Alene; east by the Bitter Root mountains; on the south they are bounded near the line dividing the two Territories.' Craig, in Id., 1857, p. 353. The Buffalo, a tribe of the Nez Perces, winter in the Bitter Root Valley. Owen, in Id., 1859, p. 424. 'Upper waters and mountainous parts of the Columbia.' Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108. 'Country lying along Lewis river and its tributaries from the eastern base of the Blue Mountains to the Columbia.' Palmer's Jour., p. 55. Nez Percés or Sahaptins, 'on the banks of the Lewis Fork or Serpent River.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 54. 'Chohoptins, or Nez-Percés, … on the banks of Lewis River.' Cox's Adven., vol. ii., p. 143. 'Rove through the regions of the Lewis branch.' Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 30. 'The Lower Nez Percés range upon the Wayleeway, Immahah, Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains.' Irving's Bonneville's Adven., p. 301. Some Flatheads live along the Clearwater River down to below its junction with the Snake. Gass' Jour., p. 212. Country 'drained by the Kooskooskie, westward from the Blackfoot country, and across the Rocky Mountains.' Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 533. 'Près du fort de ce nom, à la junction des deux branches du fleuve.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Junction of Snake and Clearwater. Parker's Explor. Tour, Map. Chopunnish. Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 331, and map. Copunnish. Bulfinch's Oregon, p. 144. 'The Nez-Percés are divided into two classes, the Nez-Percés proper, who inhabit the mountains, and the Polonches, who inhabit the plain country about the mouth of the Snake River.' Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 256. Chopunnish, 'on Lewis river below the entrance of the Kooskooskee, on both sides.' 'On the Kooskooskee river below the forks, and on Cotter's creek.' Bands of the Chopunnish; Pelloatpallah, Kimmooenim, Yeletpoo, Willewah, Soyennom. Morse's Rept., p. 369.
The Palouse, or 'the Palus, usually written Paloose, live between the Columbia and the Snake.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vi. 'The Peloose tribe has a stream called after it which empties into Lewis River.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. Upon the Peloose River. 'Entrance of Great Snake River and surrounding country.' Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105, 245. 'Properly a part of the Nez Percés. Their residence is along the Nez Percé river and up the Pavilion.' Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 310. In three bands; at the mouth of the Pelouse River; on the north bank of Snake River, thirty miles below the Pelouse; and at the mouth of the Snake River. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 222-3, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 150-1. Palouse, or Pelouse, 'reside on the banks of the Palouse and Snake rivers.' Mullan's Rept., pp. 18, 49. 'La tribu Paloose appartient à la nation des Nez-Percés … elle habite les bords des deux rivières des Nez-percés et du Pavilion.' De Smet, Voy., p. 31. Selloatpallah, north of the Snake, near its confluence with the Columbia. Lewis and Clarke's Map. Same as the Sewatpalla. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.
The Walla-Wallas 'occupy the country south of the Columbia and about the river of that name.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vii. 'A number of bands living usually on the south side of the Columbia, and on the Snake river to a little east of the Peluse.' Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 402. 'Are on a small stream which falls into the Columbia near Fort Nez-percés.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. 'Inhabit the country about the river of the same name, and range some distance below along the Columbia.' Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 310. 'Upon the banks of the Columbia, below the mouth of the Lewis Fork are found the Walla-wallas.' Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 535. 'Oualla-Oualla, au-dessus du fort des Nez Percés.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. 'Under this term are embraced a number of bands living usually on the south side of the Columbia, and on the Snake river, to a little east of the Pelouse; as also the Klikatats and Yakamas, north of the former.' Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 223. 'On both sides of the Columbia river between Snake river and Hudson Bay fort, Walla-Walla.' Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 374. Walla Wallapum. Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7. 'Les Walla-walla habitent, sur la rivière du même nom, l'un des tributaires de la Colombie, et leur pays s'étend aussi le long de ce fleuve.' De Smet, Voy., p. 30. Wollaw Wollah. South side of the Snake, at junction with the Columbia. Lewis and Clarke's Map. Wollaolla and Wollawalla, 'on both sides of Col., as low as the Muscleshell rapid, and in winter pass over to the Taptul river.' Morse's Rept., pp. 369-70. 'Country south of the Columbia and about the river of that name.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vii. Walawaltz nation about the junction of the Snake and Columbia. On Walla Walle River. Gass' Jour., pp. 294-8. 'On both banks of the Columbia, from the Blue Mountains to the Dalles.' Farnham's Trav., p. 151. Wallah Wallah. Cox's Adven., vol. ii., p. 142. 'About the river of that name.' Nicolay's Ogn. Ter., pp. 143, 151. Wallawallahs, 'reside along the lower part of the Walla Walla, the low bottom of the Umatilla and the Columbia, from the mouth of Lewis River for one hundred miles south.' Palmer's Jour., pp. 58, 124. 'On the borders of the Wallahwallah and Columbia.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64; Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 35.
The Sciatogas and Toustchipas live on Canoe River (Tukanon?), and the Euotalla (Touchet?), the Akaïtchis 'sur le Big-river,' (Columbia). Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., pp. 74-8. The Sciatogas 'possède le pays borné au sud-est par la Grande-Plaine; au nord, par le Lewis-River; à l'ouest par la Columbia; au sud par l'Oualamat.' Id., 1821, tom. xii., p. 42.
THE CAYUSES AND WASCOS.
The Cayuses extend from John Day River eastward to Grande Ronde Valley. The Cayuse, Cailloux, Waiilatpu, 'country south of the Sahaptin and Wallawalla. Their head-quarters are on the upper part of Wallawalla River.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 214, map, p. 197. 'The country belonging to the Cayuse is to the south of and between the Nez Perces and Walla-Wallas, extending from the Des Chutes, or Wanwanwi, to the eastern side of the Blue mountains.' Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 218; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 416. 'On the west side of the Blue mountains and south of the Columbia river.' Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 282. 'Occupy a portion of the Walla-Walla valley.' Dennison, in Id., 1857, p. 374; Cain, in Id., 1859, pp. 413-14. 'À l'ouest des Nez-perces sont les Kayuses.' De Smet, Voy., p. 30. The Kayouse dwell upon the Utalla or Emnutilly River. Townsend's Nar., p. 122. 'West of the Nez Percés.' Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 309, and map. 'Rove through the regions of the Lewis branch.' Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 30. 'Kayouses. Près du grand détour de la Colombie.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Waiilatpu, Molele, called also Willetpoos, Cayuse, 'western Oregon, south of the Columbia river.' Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 199; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. Caäguas 'inhabit the country bordering on Wallawalla river and its tributaries, the Blue mountains and Grand round.' Palmer's Jour., pp. 54-6. Wyeilat or Kyoose, country to the south of Walla Walla. Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-5. The Skyuses 'dwell about the waters of the Wayleeway and the adjacent country.' Irving's Bonneville's Adven., p. 388.
The Willewah 'reside on the Willewah river, which falls into the Lewis river on the S.W. side, below the forks.' Morse's Rept., p. 369. In Grande Ronde Valley. Lewis and Clarke's Map; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.
The Umatillas 'live near the junction of the Umatilla and Columbia rivers.' Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 97. Umatallow River and country extending thence westward to Dalles. Tolmie, in Id., p. 245. 'The Utillas occupy the country along the river bearing that name.' Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 374.
The Wahowpum live 'on the N. branch of the Columbia, in different bands from the Pishquitpahs; as low as the river Lapage; the different bands of this nation winter on the waters of Taptul and Cataract rivers.' Morse's Rept., p. 370; Lewis and Clarke's Map. On John Day's River. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.
The Wascos include all the tribes between the Cascade Range and John Day River, south of the Columbia. 'They are known by the name of Wasco Indians, and they call their country around the Dallas, Wascopam. They claim the country extending from the cascades up to the falls of the Columbia, the distance of about fifty miles.' Hines' Voy., p. 159. 'The Wascos occupy a small tract of country near to and adjoining the Dalles.' Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 372. On both sides of the Columbia about the Dalles are the Wascopams. Map, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 200. Eneshur, Echeloots, Chillukkitequaw and Sinacshop occupy the territory, on Lewis and Clarke's Map; Morse's Rept., p. 370. The Tchipantchicktchick, Cathlassis, Ilttekaïmamits, and Tchelouits about the Dalles. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 26; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.
'The residence of the Molele is (or was) in the broken and wooded country about Mounts Hood and Vancouver.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 214. The Mollales have their home in the Willamette Valley. Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 492.
'The Tairtla, usually called Taigh, belong … to the environs of the Des-Chutes River.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vii.
'The Des Chutes … formerly occupied that section of country between the Dalles and the Tyich river.' Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 373.
'The Tyichs … formerly occupied the Tyich valley and the country in its vicinity, which lies about 30 miles south of Fort Dalles.' Ib.
'The John Day Rivers occupy the country in the immediate vicinity of the river bearing that name.' Ib.
'The Dog River, or Cascade Indians reside on a small stream called Dog river, which empties into the Columbia river, about half way between the Cascades and Dalles.' Id., p. 371. The Cascades dwell 'on the river of that name.' Nicolay's Ogn. Ter., p. 143.
The Yakimas occupy the valley of the Yakima River and its branches. 'The upper Yakimas occupy the country upon the Wenass and main branch of the Yakima, above the forks; the Lower upon the Yakima and its tributaries, below the forks and along the Columbia from the mouth of the Yakima to a point three miles below the Dalles.' Robie, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 350. Three bands, Wishhams, Clickahut, and Skien, along the Columbia. Id., p. 352. 'The Pshwanwappam bands, usually called Yakamas, inhabit the Yakama River.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vii. Lewis and Clarke's Chanwappan, Shaltattos, Squamaross, Skaddals, and Chimnahpum, on the Yakima River. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. The Yakimas 'are divided into two principal bands, each made up of a number of villages, and very closely connected; one owning the country on the Nahchess and Lower Yakima, the other are upon the Wenass and main branch above the forks.' Id., p. 407. Yackamans, northern banks of the Columbia and on the Yackamans river. Cox's Adven., vol. ii., p. 143. On the Yakima. Hale's Ethnog., U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. 'South of the Long Rapids, to the confluence of Lewis' river with the Columbia, are the Yookoomans.' Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 313. Pishwanwapum (Yakima), in Yakimaw or Eyakema Valley. Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7. Called Stobshaddat by the Sound Indians. Id., p. 245.
The Chimnapums are 'on the N.W. side of Col. river, both above and below the entrance of Lewis' r. and the Taptul r.' Morse's Rept., p. 370; Lewis and Clarke's Map. The 'Chunnapuns and Chanwappans are between the Cascade Range and the north branch of the Columbia.' Nicolay's Ogn. Ter., p. 143.
The Pisquitpahs, 'on the Muscleshell rapids, and on the N. side of the Columbia, to the commencement of the high country; this nation winter on the waters of the Taptul and Cataract rivers.' Morse's Rept., p. 370.
The Sokulks dwell north of the confluence of the Snake and Columbia. Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 351, and map; Morse's Rept., p. 369. At Priest Rapids. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.
THE KLIKETATS.
The Kliketats live in the mountainous country north of the Cascades, on both sides of the Cascade Range, and south of the Yakimas. Klikatats 'inhabit, properly, the valleys lying between Mounts St. Helens and Adams, but they have spread over districts belonging to other tribes, and a band of them is now located as far south as the Umpqua.' Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 403. 'Roilroilpam is the Klikatat country, situated in the Cascade mountains north of the Columbia and west of the Yakamas.' Gibbs, in Pandosy's Gram., p. vii. 'Wander in the wooded country about Mount St. Helens.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. 'In the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia.' Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. Klikatats. 'Au-dessus du fort des Nez-Percés.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. 'The Kliketat, a scion from the Sahaptans, who now dwell near Mount Rainier and have advanced towards the falls of the Columbia.' Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. On Lewis and Clarke's Map the Kliketat territory is occupied by the Chanwappan, Shallatos, Squamaros, Skaddals, Shahalas. Also in Morse's Rept., p. 372. Whulwhypum, or Kliketat, 'in the wooded and prairie country between Vancouver and the Dalles.' Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 245.
The Weyehhoo live on the north side of the Columbia, near Chusattes River. (Kliketat.) Gass' Jour., p. 288.
CHAPTER IV.
CALIFORNIANS
Groupal Divisions; Northern, Central, and Southern Californians, and Shoshones – Country of the Californians – The Klamaths, Modocs, Shastas, Pitt River Indians, Eurocs, Cahrocs, Hoopahs, Weeyots, Tolewas, and Rogue River Indians and their Customs – The Tehamas, Pomos, Ukiahs, Gualalas, Sonomas, Petalumas, Napas, Suscols, Suisunes, Tamales, Karquines, Ohlones, Tulomos, Thamiens, Olchones, Rumsens, Escelens, and others of Central California – The Cahuillas, Diegueños, Islanders, and Mission Rancherias of Southern California – The Snakes or Shoshones proper, Utahs, Bannocks, Washoes and other Shoshone Nations
Of the seven groups into which this work separates the nations of western North America, the Californians constitute the third, and cover the territory between latitude 43° and 32° 30´, extending back irregularly into the Rocky Mountains. There being few distinctly marked families in this group, I cannot do better in subdividing it for the purpose of description than make of the Californians proper three geographical divisions, namely, the Northern Californians, the Central Californians, and the Southern Californians. The Shoshones, or fourth division of this group, who spread out over south-eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and the whole of Nevada and Utah, present more distinctly marked family characteristics, and will therefore be treated as a family.
HOME OF THE CALIFORNIANS.
The same chain of mountains, which, as the Cascade Range, divides the land of the Columbians, holds its course steadily southward, and entering the territory of the Californian group forms, under the name of the Sierra Nevada, the partition between the Californians proper and the Shoshones of Idaho and Nevada. The influence of this range upon the climate is also here manifest, only intenser in degree than farther north. The lands of the Northern Californians are well watered and wooded, those of the central division have an abundance of water for six months in the year, namely, from November to May, and the soil is fertile, yielding abundantly under cultivation. Sycamore, oak, cotton-wood, willow, and white alder, fringe the banks of the rivers; laurel, buckeye, manzanita, and innumerable berry-bearing bushes, clothe the lesser hills; thousands of acres are annually covered with wild oats; the moist bottoms yield heavy crops of grass; and in summer the valleys are gorgeous with wild-flowers of every hue. Before the blighting touch of the white man was laid upon the land, the rivers swarmed with salmon and trout; deer, antelope, and mountain sheep roamed over the foot-hills, bear and other carnivora occupied the forests, and numberless wild fowl covered the lakes. Decreasing in moisture toward the tropics, the climate of the Southern Californians is warm and dry, while the Shoshones, a large part of whose territory falls in the Great Basin, are cursed with a yet greater dryness.
The region known as the Great Basin, lying between the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada and the Wahsatch Mountains, and stretching north and south from latitude 33° to 42°, presents a very different picture from the land of the Californians. This district is triangular in shape, the apex pointing toward the south, or southwest; from this apex, which, round the head of the Gulf of California, is at tide level, the ground gradually rises until, in central Nevada, it reaches an altitude of about five thousand feet, and this, with the exception of a few local depressions, is about the level of the whole of the broad part of the basin. The entire surface of this plateau is alkaline. Being in parts almost destitute of water, there is comparatively little timber; sage-brush and greasewood being the chief signs of vegetation, except at rare intervals where some small stream struggling against almost universal aridity, supports on its banks a little scanty herbage and a few forlorn-looking cotton-wood trees. The northern part of this region, as is the case with the lands of the Californians proper, is somewhat less destitute of vegetable and animal life than the southern portion which is indeed a desert occupied chiefly by rabbits, prairie-dogs, sage-hens, and reptiles. The desert of the Colorado, once perhaps a fertile bottom, extending northward from the San Bernardino Mountains one hundred and eighty miles, and spreading over an area of about nine thousand square miles, is a silent unbroken sea of sand, upon whose ashy surface glares the mid-day sun and where at night the stars draw near through the thin air and brilliantly illumine the eternal solitude. Here the gigantic cereus, emblem of barrenness, rears its contorted form, casting weird shadows upon the moonlit level. In such a country, where in winter the keen dust-bearing blast rushes over the unbroken desolate plains, and in summer the very earth cracks open with intense heat, what can we expect of man but that he should be distinguished for the depths of his low attainment.
But although the poverty and barrenness of his country account satisfactorily for the low type of the inhabitant of the Great Basin, yet no such excuse is offered for the degradation of the native of fertile California. On every side, if we except the Shoshone, in regions possessing far fewer advantages than California, we find a higher type of man. Among the Tuscaroras, Cherokees, and Iroquois of the Atlantic slope, barbarism assumes its grandest proportions; proceeding west it bursts its fetters in the incipient civilization of the Gila; but if we continue the line to the shores of the Pacific we find this intellectual dawn checked, and man sunk almost to the utter darkness of the brute. Coming southward from the frozen land of the Eskimo, or northward from tropical Darien we pass through nations possessing the necessaries and even the comforts of life. Some of them raise and grind wheat and corn, many of them make pottery and other utensils, at the north they venture out to sea in good boats and make Behemoth their spoil. The Californians on the other hand, comparatively speaking, wear no clothes, they build no houses, do not cultivate the soil, they have no boats, nor do they hunt to any considerable extent; they have no morals nor any religion worth calling such. The missionary Fathers found a virgin field whereon neither god nor devil was worshiped. We must look, then, to other causes for a solution of the question why a nobler race is not found in California; such for instance as revolutions and migrations of nations, or upheavals and convulsions of nature, causes arising before the commencement of the short period within which we are accustomed to reckon time.
TRIBAL DIVERSITY.
There is, perhaps, a greater diversity of tribal names among the Californians than elsewhere in America; the whole system of nomenclature is so complicated and contradictory that it is impossible to reduce it to perfect order. There are tribes that call themselves by one name, but whose neighbors call them by another; tribes that are known by three or four names, and tribes that have no name except that of their village or chief.423 Tribal names are frequently given by one writer which are never mentioned by any other;424 nevertheless there are tribes on whose names authorities agree, and though the spelling differs, the sound expressed in these instances is about the same. Less trouble is experienced in distinguishing the tribes of the northern division, which is composed of people who resemble their neighbors more than is the case in central California, where the meaningless term 'Indians,' is almost universally applied in speaking of them.425
Another fruitful source of confusion is the indefinite nickname 'Digger' which is applied indiscriminately to all the tribes of northern and middle California, and to those of Nevada, Utah, and the southern part of Oregon. These tribes are popularly known as the Californian Diggers, Washoe Diggers, Shoshone Diggers of Utah, etc., the signification of the term pointing to the digging of roots, and in some parts, possibly, to burrowing in the ground. The name is seemingly opprobrious, and is certainly no more applicable to this people than to many others. By this territorial division I hope to avoid, as far as possible, the two causes of bewilderment before alluded to; neither treating the inhabitants of an immense country as one tribe, nor attempting to ascribe distinct names and idiosyncrasies to hundreds of small, insignificant bands, roaming over a comparatively narrow area of country and to all of which one description will apply.
NATIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
The Northern Californians, the first tribal group, or division, of which I shall speak, might, not improperly, be called the Klamath family, extending as they do from Rogue River on the north, to the Eel River south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary east, and including the Upper and Lower Klamath and other lakes. The principal tribes occupying this region are the Klamaths,426 who live on the headwaters of the river and on the shores of the lake of that name; the Modocs,427 on Lower Klamath Lake and along Lost River; the Shastas, to the south-west of the lakes, near the Shasta Mountains; the Pitt River Indians; the Eurocs on the Klamath River between Weitspek and the coast; the Cahrocs428 on the Klamath River from a short distance above the junction of the Trinity to the Klamath Mountains; the Hoopahs in Hoopah Valley on the Trinity near its junction with the Klamath; numerous tribes on the coast from Eel River and Humboldt Bay north, such as the Weeyots,429 Wallies, Tolewahs, etc., and the Rogue River Indians,430 on and about the river of that name.431
The Northern Californians are in every way superior to the central and southern tribes.432 Their physique and character, in fact, approach nearer to the Oregon nations than to the people of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. This applies more particularly to the inland tribes. The race gradually deteriorates as it approaches the coast, growing less in stature, darker in color, more and more degraded in character, habits, and religion. The Rogue River Indians must, however, be made an exception to this rule. The tendency to improve toward the north, which is so marked among the Californians, holds good in this case; so that the natives on the extreme north-west coast of the region under consideration, are in many respects superior to the interior but more southerly tribes.
PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES.
The Northern Californians round the Klamath lakes, and the Klamath, Trinity, and Rogue rivers, are tall, muscular, and well made,433 with a complexion varying from nearly black to light brown, in proportion to their proximity to, or distance, from the ocean or other large bodies of water; their face is large, oval, and heavily made, with slightly prominent cheek-bones, nose well set on the face and frequently straight, and eyes which, when not blurred by ophthalmia, are keen and bright. The women are short and some of them quite handsome, even in the Caucasian sense of the word;434 and although their beauty rapidly fades, yet they do not in old age present that unnaturally wrinkled and shriveled appearance, characteristic of the Central Californians. This description scarcely applies to the people inhabiting the coast about Redwood Creek, Humboldt Bay, and Eel River, who are squat and fat in figure, rather stoutly built, with large heads covered with coarse thick hair, and repulsive countenances, who are of a much darker color, and altogether of a lower type than the tribes to the east and north of them.435
DRESS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Dress depends more on the state of the climate than on their own sense of decency. The men wear a belt, sometimes a breech-clout, and the women an apron or skirt of deer-skin or braided grass; then they sometimes throw over the shoulders a sort of cloak, or robe, of marten or rabbit skins sewn together, deer-skin, or, among the coast tribes, seal or sea-otter skin. When they indulge in this luxury, however, the men usually dispense with all other covering.436 Occasionally we find them taking great pride in their gala dresses and sparing no pains to render them beautiful. The Modocs, for instance, took large-sized skins, and inlaid them with brilliant-colored duck-scalps, sewed on in various figures; others, again, embroidered their aprons with colored grasses, and attached beads and shells to a deep fringe falling from the lower part.437 A bowl-shaped hat, or cap, of basket-work, is usually worn by the women, in making which some of them are very skillful. This hat is sometimes painted with various figures, and sometimes interwoven with gay feathers of the woodpecker or blue quail.438 The men generally go bare-headed, their thick hair being sufficient protection from sun and weather. In the vicinity of the lakes, where, from living constantly among the long grass and reeds, the greatest skill is acquired in weaving and braiding, moccasins of straw or grass are worn.439 At the junction of the Klamath and Trinity rivers their moccasins have soles of several thicknesses of leather.440 The natives seen by Maurelle at Trinidad Bay, bound their loins and legs down to the ankle with strips of hide or thread, both men and women.
The manner of dressing the hair varies; the most common way being to club it together behind in a queue, sometimes in two, worn down the back, or occasionally in the latter case drawn forward over the shoulders. The queue is frequently twisted up in a knot on the back of the head —en castanna– as Maurelle calls it. Occasionally the hair is worn loose, and flowing, and some of the women cut it short on the forehead. It is not uncommon to see wreaths of oak or laurel leaves, feathers, or the tails of gray squirrels twisted in the hair; indeed, from the trouble which they frequently take to adorn their coiffure, one would imagine that these people were of a somewhat æsthetic turn of mind, but a closer acquaintance quickly dispels the illusion. On Eel River some cut all the hair short, a custom practiced to some extent by the Central Californians.441
FACIAL ORNAMENTATION.
As usual these savages are beardless, or nearly so.442 Tattooing, though not carried to any great extent, is universal among the women, and much practiced by the men, the latter confining this ornamentation to the breast and arms. The women tattoo in three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the centre and corners of the lower lip to the chin. In some tribes they tattoo the arms, and occasionally the back of the hands. As they grow older the lines on the chin, which at first are very faint, are increased in width and color, thus gradually narrowing the intervening spaces. Now, as the social importance of the female is gauged by the width and depth of color of these lines, one might imagine that before long the whole chin would be what Southey calls "blue, darkly, deeply, beautifully blue;" but fashion ordains, as in the lip-ornament of the Thlinkeets, that the lines should be materially enlarged only as the charms of youth fade, thus therewith gauging both age and respectability.443 In some few tribes, more especially in the vicinity of the lakes, the men paint themselves in various colors and grotesque patterns. Among the Modocs the women also paint. Miller says that when a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat.444 Both men and women pierce the dividing cartilage of the nose, and wear various kinds of ornaments in the aperture. Sometimes it is a goose-quill, three or four inches long, at others, a string of beads or shells. Some of the more northerly tribes wear large round pieces of wood or metal in the ears.445 Maurelle, in his bucolic description of the natives at Trinidad bay, says that "on their necks they wear various fruits, instead of beads."446 Vancouver, who visited the same place nearly twenty years later, states that "all the teeth of both sexes were by some process ground uniformly down horizontally to the gums, the women especially, carrying the fashion to an extreme, had their teeth reduced even below this level."447
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