ANT HRVlPOLOGICAL RJECOR1S-

@   2:2

BeEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY.,

BY

GLADYS AYER NOMLANID

UNIfVERSITY OF CAUFOINIA PRESS

WRKEIE -CALIFORNIA

1938

BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY

BY

GLADYS AYER NOMLAND

ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Vol. 2, No. 2

ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

EDITORS: A. L. KROEBER, R. H. LowIE, R. L. OLSON

Volume 2, No. 2, PP. 91-I 24, plates 7-8, i map

Transmitted February I6, 1937

Issued March 17, 1938

Price, 50 cents

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON, ENGLAND

The University of California publicationis dealinig with anthro-
pological subjects are 110W issued in two series.

The series in Americani Archaeology and Ethnology, which
was established in I903 conitinues unchanged in format, but is
restricted to papers in which the initerpretative element outweighs
the factual or which otherwise are of general initerest.

The new series, knowni as Anthropological Records, is issued
in photolithography in a larger size. It conisists of monographs
which are documentary, of record nature, or devoted to the
presenitation primarily of new data.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

Page

troduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   .  91
rritory and villages .................................... . 91

istic and other relations ................................ . 92
ligion ........................................... . 93

Spirits,  souls,  and  dreams  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  93
Shamanism  ....  .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .  .   .   .   .  .   .   .   .  94
Familiar spirits . . . . . . . . . ............................ . 98
ses of life ........................................ . 98

Puberty customs ..................................... . 98

Marriage and divorce ................................ .                   100
Pregnancy and birth ................................... . 101

Death and burial  .....   .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .   .  .  .   .  .   .  103
ship; social organization ................................. . 103
erty and inheritance ................................... . 104
eftainship ........................................ . 104

. .. .  .  .. .  .. .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .. ..... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . 104
de  . .  .  .  .  ... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  .  . .  105

.e .     .   .   .   .   .   .  00 0 .   .   .   .   .   .  * .  .   .   .   .   .   .  0 .   .  * .  .  & .   .   . . ..................... 106
ses  .    o .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  o & - - o o o o - o .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  o .   .   .   .   .   .   ............... 106
es and adornment ..................................... . 107
iting customs ....................................... . 108

ces . 9. .  ....... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .. ... .  .  .  .  . .. .  .  .  .. . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  .  .. .  108

.......................   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  0 .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   ... 108
8istence .......................................... . 109

Vegetable foods ..................................... . 109
Hunting ......................................... . 110
Fishing ......................................... . 112
actures ..    ............            ..................... . 113

Basketry ........................................ . 113

Objects  of wood, bone,  and  stone  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 114
Miscellaneous manufactures ............................... . 115
Skin dressing ...................................... . 115

MLsical  instruments  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  115
rements of time; seasons; counting ........................... . 115
cheraft .......................................... . 116

i    cine and medical practices ................................ . 116
ellaneous beliefs ..................................... . 117

8    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  . .... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ... .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .. .  118
Lanation of plates .................................... . 124

Plates

abitat views; elkhorn purse and shell beads ..................... .       125
Shamn and her paraphernalia ...........-'.I..-I.. .                        126

3ear River territory (according to Nora Coonskin) ......................facing 92

[Liii]

CENTERVILLE              OFERNDALE

GRIZZLY BLUFFe

CAPE

RIO D

pPA 121 E

A

SCOT [A
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. I CH)

CAPETOWN          ANCO)j<AKA)

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3EHT-L

?55-E-Am)

'13514

-AP

C?PE

OC

Af T PIEPCE
3278'

PAINSOW PE

ol&/ 3432 F

TA YL OR S PEA X

34601FT

SOUTH RAINBOW

3510 Fr

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0

Oel-

Map 1. Bear River territory                (according    to Noral

BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY

BY

GLADYS AYER NOMLAND

INTRODUCTION

Stiulus received from the faculty of the De-      river. It includes northern Bull creek and Rio

&nt of Anthropology of the University of        Dell (Eagle Prairie) areas which here adjoin

fornia encouraged this attempt to collect        Nongatl and Lassik western boundaries. Beyond Rio
ever fragmentary material could be obtained      Dell, the southeastern boundary extends from the

the fast disappearing Athabascan groups of      confluence of Bull creek with the Eel river to

them California.                                  the source of the North Fork of the Mattole river,
During the summer of 1928 diligent search for     where it meets the northern boundary of the Mat-

mats was rewarded by friendly contact made       tole area; thence westward, following the drain-
representatives of the Sinkyone,l Nongatl,2     age of Davis creek, to the Pacific ocean.

le,3 and Bear River tribes.                        The area as a whole is mountainous with narrow
e sole Mattole informant is only about 65       riverain valleys between the ranges. One contin-

r old, but the extreme age and poor physical     uous range extends the full length of central Bear
ition of the informants of the other three       River territory, where the highest peaks attain

sp convinced me that work must be begun im-      an altitude of more than 3500 feet. The mountains
ately if a record of their respective cul-        drop off sharply to the edge of the river on the

s was to be obtained. To that end the summers    northern side, but to the south slope more or lesF
928, 1929, 1930, and 1931 were divided into      gradually into rough, rolling country, which ex-

.working periods, each of which was given to     tends through the southern boundary of the Bear
of these groups.                                 River territory and on to the Mattole valley.

1929 my Sinkyone informant died at an ad-         On the northern slopes the mountain ranges are
ed age. In 1931 one very old Nongatl inform-     heavily timbered, whereas the less precipitous

died, and, since the accompanying paper has      southern exposures are covered with a rank growth
prepared for publication, my Bear River in-     of grass and smaller shrubs. There is no snowfall

t has passed away (Dec. 22, 1935).             in the lower river drainage, but in severe win-
atever sketchiness is noticeable in the ma-     ters there may be several inches in the higher
lal got from the above-mentioned groups must      mountains to the north and east (pl. 7a-d).

ttributed to the fact that the cultures de-          The annual rainfall of the area is very heavy,
Ibed have long since ceased to exist except       amounting to 120 inches a season in some locali-
he rather hazy memories of the several in-       ties. Fogs blow in from the ocean almost every

ts. Physical disability and death has made     night during the summer, and heavy ocean winds
obtaining of data more difficult.                sweep up the valleys and over the highlands in

both summer and winter.

The entire area is marked off from that of

TERRITORY AND VILLAGES                   surrounding tribes with the greatest precision.

Natural land configurations, such as mountain
e most important part of the territory of       peaks, rocks, creeks, trees, canyons, springs,

Bear River Indians is in the Bear River          and so on, are used as boundary marks which are

age of southwestern Humboldt county, Cali-      respected by the adjoining tribes.

ia. The long, narrow valley lies, for the           All village sites have been plowed up and de-

part, on the northern side of the river and     stroyed by white settlers. They were usually situ-
imues over the hills to the north as far as      ated on the north bank of the river with a hinter-
ners creek, some miles south of the present      land of narrow valley. All villages were named.

of Ferndale. At this point it adjoins the       The largest and most westerly one of the entire
t southern boundary. The northeastern side       area, including the flat at the mouth of Bear

e valley continues up the slope of the Bear     river, was called Tc'alko', which means Bear River
r mountains, extending back to the east as       people. It was protected from the north and south
as Monument, and including Mount Pierce.         by hills on both sides but open to the upper val-
here it runs southeasterly in a line about      ley on the east and to the sea on the west.

miles south of Scotia, to the Van Duzen         Chil-sh6ck was the next village above Tc'alko',

situated on the site of the present town of Cape-

town. Chil-en-che was the next village above Chil-
lG1adys Ayer Nomland, Sinkyone Notes, UC-PAAE     shc,na       h   rsn     orsnrnh          es

149-178, 1935.shc,nathprsn                                                  orsnac.Se-

3Gladys Ayer Nomland, MS, unpublished.            che'e-ch, a site now marked by a large red rock,
?Gladys Ayer Nomland, MB, unpublished,           was about three or four miles up the river from

[91 ]

92                                        ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Chil-en-chU. Tlanko was also above Chil-sheck,          the Crescent City and Smith River Tolowa, Soht-
and Esta-kana (now Gear's place) was on the             sona'wa. All, except the Yurok, affiliate lii-
largest flat in the upper valley above Tlanko.          guistically with the Bear River.

Seht-la was about seven miles upriver from Cape-           In checking words given by Goddard' with m

town, and was the next village above Esta-kana.        Bear River informant, Nora Coonskin, it develo
The last one upriver, Me'ss-e-ah, was a natural         that most of his information (gotten from Nora
amphitheater surrounded by large pines, and was        uncle, Peter) was not in accordance with hers.
important as the training place for shamans. No        Upon close questioning, the latter told me tha
one lived within this ampbitheater, but a few          her uncle preferred to speak Mattole. I checke
families lived in the grove surrounding it.             Peter's words later with Isaac Duncan, my Matt

informant, and found this to be true.

The Bear River and Mattole were very frien
LINGUISTIC AND OTHER RELATIONS                They aided each other in wars against the Wiyo

a common enemy. The Bear River intermarried f

Bear River dialect is distinct from, but             ly with the Mattole, Sinkyone, Nongatl; less f
closely related to, that of the other Athabascan        ly with others. They were almost completely ex
dialects. It differs somewhat from Mattole and          terminated in their struggle with the whites,

Sinkyone, on its southern and eastern borders,          were also the Mattole and the Sinkyone. Manyw
respectively, and from the other Athabascans of         sent to the Smith River reservation, in northe
the Eel and Mad River drainage.                         California and southern Oregon, from where the

Pliny Earle Goddard4 discussed the linguistic        escaped and gradually trickled back to their

relations of these people as follows:                   mer habitat. Now all are dead except Mrs. Prin'

"The people who lived in these villages spoke       who is so old that her memory is almost gone.

a distinct dialect, differing somewhat from that        niece, Nora Coonskin, my informant, has since

of the Mattole  thei neighborstotheaged 70 years. She was born at Bucksport, near,
of the Mattole  their neighbos to the south  Eureka, when her parents were making their way
and from that of the Athapascans on Eel river and       back f    hen Smt prier resration to thei      B

back from the Smith River reservation to the
its tributaries. There was, however, one village        R            .    S

at the mouth of Van Duzen creek which was allied         iear Morrison's rh. Hearifmon          was han

to Bear river both in its dialect and politically,      down from'heramo   he    Ho       was

.         .     * d~~~cownl from her mother, who was a fullbloocl Bear
Only a short distance away, just over the ridge         R

of the Bear River mountains to the north, were          River  .and alf M   er Married to a Wiot      s
the Wiyot, mentioned above, a people speaking a         spoer bot her MownandrthedWi     ot languaes.
language wholly different .... In other respects,       had be      p     d her own       peop   soug o
the Bear river dialect resembles the southern          that much of          her ion i      eo  and sol
Athapascan group of California, which includes          thig   she has entirely    ior       so tatdh

the Nongatl, Wailaki, Kato and Sinkyone. The            thmgs she has entirely forgotten, so that he
lexical difference between this group and the           account is, at best, fragmentary. She had adao

many Wiyot ways and could not always distLu
Hupa is marked, and the agreement of Bear River         many Wiyotw      and  coul  not . alas di -s

the~~~ sot  inti,eset..         between Wiyot and Bear River usages. The oust,
is definitely with the south in this respect ....-      of her daily life, learned by precept and per

Dr. Fang-Kuei Li' also discussed the Bear            P--^ience, are clearly defined; she knew ve

River dialect:                                           CP 'e of male activities. Linguistic data ar

"The dialect is identical with Mattole in           a-.,v fragmentary; because she had forgotten

"The dalectis idntia   wit  Matl     in .      words, information could not always be mocres
morphology, and probably in vocabulary, and dif-

fers only in a few phonetic respects. .                 or checked by the aid of language. However,h

shamanistic data are very detailed and comple
However, my Bear River, Mattole, and Sinkyone in-       because she had been practicing shamanism for
formants insisted that, although many words were        years prior to her death. As a child of 10 ox
the same, all dialects were different. In spite         years she was trained for a shaman by her mo

of this, they said they were able to understand         also a shaman, but had not put her training t
most of what was being said by any of the related       use. In the summer of 1929 she said that spir
tribes.                                                 came to her and told her she must doctor sic

The Bear River people called themselves and         people. They also told her they would help h
the Mattole by the same name, Ni'ekeni', but they       and give her power equal to that of her dead.
said that their own language extended only as far       er, but that if she refused to doctor she wo'
as Davis creek, their southerr boundary, and Van        soon die. Her feeling against becoming a sh
Duzen and Mad rivers on their east. They called         held her back from practice for some time, b
the Wiyot, Ena'chak; the Klamath Yurok, I'iw5;          compulsion of the spirits and encouragement

friends finally overcame her reluctance.
4The Bear River Dialect of Athapascan, UC-PAAE      _____
24: 291-293, 1929.

5Mattole)t An Athabaskan Language, p. 2. Univ.          80p. cit., 313-323.
Of Chicago, 1930.

NOM1AND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  93

RELIGION                         Such a shaman would then be considered so power-

ful that all others were afraid of her. If, how-
=   Spirits, Souls, and Dreams            ever, the spirit was forced off the bridge, the

ery individual was thought to have a spirit,   shaman knew that she was doomed. Upon returning

usually a short time before death, left       to consciousness, she would say, "I will not last
ody and was taken toward the rising sun by     long, I will die soon," but she might live for as
spirits. Shamans' spirits could return to     long as four months.

*and communicate with the living; only the         During a long faint, the spirit was thought to
olent spirits of common people ever returned.  be lost and unable to find its way back to the

latter might return to camp and hover about   body. A shaman was then called in, who sang and

atime, bringing catastrophe to their enemies,   danced. Her spirit searched out and grappled with
y a special ceremonial shamanistic dance        the lost spirit and returned it to its body. Some-
could be sent away permanently. Malevolent     times the lost spirit escaped the searching spirit
ts returned to earth not only in human         and found its way to the afterworld by the aid of
i, but also transformed into insects, such      other friendly spirits. Then the person died.

ies, bugs, and so forth.                           "When my brother was killed, I was sick, but
e spirit in human guise was thought to be      went to the burial. I fainted. Doctor said I was

a shadow-like substance, but a small creature   dead, but he sang and danced and brought my spirit
t2 feet high - strictly human in appearance,    back and I recovered. During the sickness and
a, and actions. It could be seen by shamans     death of my mother, I saw a woman about 2 feet

their trances, and by common people only      tall, who I knew was my mother's half-sister, come
in a faint or coma. Spirits were believed       to earth again. She died when I was very young,

ravel during sleep and fainting spells of in-   but I recognized her with the help of other sha-
duals; they saw things hidden to conscious      mans' spirits. She was dressed in a blue cloud
s. Nora called all souls, ghosts, and spir-     and wore feathers on her head. She spoke to me

y the name of spirit, but contradicted her-     and said: 'You have trouble now, so I came to see
when she gave the different Bear River words    you.' Then she walked into the brush. I looked
each. She insisted, however, that the names     around at other people to see if they had seen

interchangeable. She said that the spirits      the spirit, but no one had seen or heard anything."
to her in the Bear River language, and she         Nora accounted for her ability to see spirits
repeated some sentences which were enigmatic    which were invisible to other people by saying:
her at that time. She said that she had for-         "I was trained for a doctor, so I could see.

en much of her own language, and that she        That sick half-sister of my mother was a powerful
t think out the meaning of the message before    doctor, too, so she could come back. That woman

could understand the words and know what had    never grew very large because she had too much

communicated to her. She also said that the     power. That is her belt that you have7 and it was
rits talked to her in unknown languages and      my mother's before me. One time my mother's half-
had then to repeat the communication to some     sister doctored with that belt and saved a man

er of that group for translation before she      after he was dead. When she took out the pain, she
iunderstand it.                                  jumped right into the fire and danced; scattered
Deceased shamans' spirits were believed to go     coals everywhere, and burned people. They thought

a special afterworld. They went toward the east   she was crazy, but her feet weren't burned, so she
ough three thicknesses of clouds: two thick-     must have been a powerful doctor. She had too much
ses of white clouds and one of blue. Blue         power, she died."

us always belonged to the shamans. Their spir-      Nora also related another story, which illus-
were accompanied to the afterworld by other      trated her use of the word spirit:

sls spirits; never by those of common people.      "When my mother died she said, 'I must go away,
in people's spirits went to a different after-   my daughter, I must leave you now. Spirits came

ad from those of the people who died a natural    this morning and they are going to take me away.

th. They went to the "blood home" or red clouds   I'm not sick. Hold me up, my daughter. Be good to
were taken there by spirits of other slain       your children, teach them what is right, do right
le.                                              by everybody. There is a blue cloud on my chest

Shamans' spirits were said to travel during       which the spirits have put there, I suppose I'll

ams, faints, and trances, and also during the     have to wear that now. Now the spirits have put on
ining dance for new shamans and the curative      two more blue clouds for me to wear. I'm going to
ce for the sick. During its wanderings the        a better place, so do not worry any more, my

rit traveled over a high bridge toward the        daughter. Doctors' spirits will wash the place

erworld; any malevolent shaman's spirit might     from where I go, and thunder and lightning will

t it there and push it off, because of jealousy   come when I travel away. I have to go now.' Then
s upernatural power. Only the most powerful sha-  my poor mother died there in my arms. And sure

culd resist having her spirit forced off the       7Sein 1-74         inteMsumo         nho

de; when her spirit returned to her body , sh e pology, University of California; illustrated in
pld then tell who had tried to push her off.       plate 8b here.

94                                       ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

enough, it rained and the thunder rolled when she    mies on the opposite. Talk became bolder and
traveled away."                                       acrimonious until a rifle shot was finally f

Spirits returned-to-earth usually were seen        at one of Nora's friends. Threats of killing
only by the shaman. Sometimes a common person        were made publicly and the law was appealed
also saw them, but this was considered a very bad    both natives and whites to put a stop to ace
omen and indicated that he or some member of his     tions and shaman dances and to jail Nora.

family was doomed to die or that some catastrophe        I was privileged to be included in a grou.
was coming to his people.                             sixty natives of various tribal affiliations

The afterworld was said to be in the clouds       ing a discussion on what could be done to ciu
to the east, toward the rising sun. Shamans were     the activities of the evil persons to whom w
the only ones who could see the place. Nora, be-     attributed responsibility for the deaths. The
ing a shaman, was questioned about the appearance    sult of the discussion showed, beyond doubt,
of the place, the activities carried on there,       the people had implicit faith in shamanism

and so on, but she could not, or would not, give     supernatural power and that there was no int
any information, except to say that it was a bet-    tional charlatanism or deception. Nora heate

ter place than the world and that she did not        maintained that it was her duty to expose the
know how the spirits lived.                          guilty persons and declared that she would go

Dreams were believed to be the recollections      jail   if the authorities wanted to put her

of experiences which the freed spirit of the         but that she was right in revealing what the
sleeper had encountered. When an event occurred,     spirits communicated to her. Threats of assa
of which the sleeper had dreamed, he always said,     nation did not dismay her, because, she assure
"That is what I saw when I dreamed." Dreams of       the spirits would reveal danger coming towar
tan oak, fir, or pepperwood were believed to be      and protect her against treachery.

a certain sign that the person was to become a          Being called upon for an opinion, I advis
shaman. Dreams of flying were a positive indica-     not mentioning names of evildoers, as that w
tion that the person was being tested by the         without the law, and also suggested that, s'

spirits to see if he should become a shaman; they    Nora was a very powerful doctor, she would be
were considered an exceptionally good sign that       able to penetrate the evil intentions of such
such a person had great supernatural power. When     persons and so outwit them and protect the pe
a shaman became ecstatic during the dance, he saw    This advice Nora finally consented to abide
things which were thought to be revelations of       but the people present were restive and want
supernatural happenings communicated to his spir-    know how then they were to protect themselve
it for the benefit of mankind. They always came      sonally against sickness and death by evilmA
true. He could tell what he had seen, where he had nation when the perpetrator was unknown to t
been, and what was in the past and the future.       When Nora volunteered her willingness, and va
Nora related her own experience during an ecstasy:   for her own ability to cope with such a situ

"I saw a big lake, where spirits told me I        the high feeling diminished, but it did not
must go to get the best power. I have to go          pletely subside for more than a year after.
there twice to dance and sing and swim in that

lake. That lake you call Clear lake. When I go                            Shamanism
there once more, spirits say that I am finished

and I shall have great power. I can then doctor         Shamans played an important part in Bear
without singing and dancing. I can cure sick          daily life, and in ceremonials they were par
people by putting my hands on them or by spitting    They were considered superior beings because
on my hands and rubbing the place where the pain     their spiritual contact with supernatural p
is located. After I go once more, I can go any       and their supposedly great influence for goo
place and dance and sing whenever I want to. I       evil. The benign shaman was venerated ana lo.
cannot do arnthing more to gain power. My spirit     whereas one who was suspected of nefarious p
travels and travels when I sleep, and when I dance    tices was hated and feared.

and sing it tells me what I have to do and where         The first indications of supernatural pow
I must go, and what is going to happen to me."       were excessive drooling of a sleeping child..

During the summer of 1930 in the Wiyot group      if that child experienced dreams of flying,,i
into which Nora had married feeling ran high be-     considered an infallible sign that he had gr
cause of an unusual number of deaths from tuber-     latent supernatural ability. Such a child be
culosis. Mutterings of malevolent persons within     be trained at an early age, ten to twelve ye
the group broke out into verbal accusations, be-     and especially at puberty. Shamans were usu

cause to Indians, death is never attributable to     women; men were thought to be less powerful.
cause and effect, as in our own culture. Two            Training of the initiate (a five-day affa
persons were actually named by Nora as "devils."     was under the supervision of an older, succe
A schism in the group living at Lighthouse reser-     ful shaman. She appointed the time for the U
vation and environs rapidly developed into open ceremony, which must be held at Me' ss-e-ah,

enmity. Friends and supporters of Nora, the only which was attended by all the people. Membet
shaman, ranged themselves on her side, and ene-      the group sat in a circle around a central fi

* -                           NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  95

ite fir boughs built in the middle of the      belt; they wore the same headdress as female sha-
theater, but took no part in the ceremony      mans, only the feathers hung behind the shoulders.

to assist the selected singers who offi-     Only male shamans smoked the short, tubular pipe.
a for the five nights of the dance. The        The initiate wore a wide elkhide belt around the
house was not used. The initiate stood at     waist of her everyday buckskin dress.

ide of the central space and the shaman oc-       After the initial training at Me'ss-e-ah, the

the position nearest the fire, beginning     novice could finish her training in another lo-

remony by smoking the tubular pipe. She       cality and be trained by another shaman. Commands
a few puffs, laid the pipe aside, and danced   received from the spirits at the first ceremony

the fire with the initiate, supporting her   had to be carried out by the initiate. Some per-
dance as she became faint. At the onset of    son must volunteer to cut her a staff (tuts)

as, the initiate saw small white flies       necessary in her further training and later in
toward her and felt them fly into her        her practice of curing the sick. This staff was
*. She became choked but continued dancing.    supposed to be the body of her first training

supernatural powers were great enough she     doctor, whose spirit returned to the cane each

remove the intrusive flies from her own       time it was used and helped in curing. The volun-
t by passing her hand in front of her face.    teer was usually a person who thought he had la-

had only limited power, the training sha-     tent supernatural power and would become a shaman.
t remove the flies for her. This the sha-    He "felt" the time and the place where the staff

ad by passing her hand over the initiate's     should be cut. Smith Brainard cut Nora's cane near
t, touching her tubular pipe to the throat,    Bull Creek.

cing one end of her doctoring belt against       Nora took her cane with her to Clear Lake dur-
itiate's chest and sucking the intrusive      ing her novitiate. She held it in front of her as
to out at the other end. These small flies,    she walked toward the lake for her ceremonial

ible to the onlookers, never entered the       swim before the dance. At the edge of the water

of a person unless she had supernatural       she stuck it into the mud and addressed it: "You
. If the initiate did not experience faint-    know what you are going to do. This is your wash

a choking during the dance, it was useless   basin. You were the first doctor. You are supposed
tinue training, because she would never       to do all the work. You were the first one to

`upernatural power. After the initiate had     cross water. You were the first to point to the
oted the flies from her throat, she and the    sick. You were the first to cure the sick." The
Ig shaman excreted quantities of stringy       assistant then poured water over her head and

e. The novice used a small, new basket for    back from a special basket. The water was rubbed
llection of the spittle. No significance      downward from the top of the head to the feet in
tached to the collected spittle during the    order to remove all bad influences; then a fresh

ceremony, but later on in curative          supply was poured over her in order to "give her
it was carefully examined for intrusive       a fresh, new start." As soon as this purification
ts in the shape of stones, flies, snakes,      bath was completed, the novitiate addressed the

o forth. The initiate fasted during the five- moon: "You are going to help me. You are going to
riod (although she could drink water); she     look after me. I'm going to start curing now. If
dreamed her songs during the fast. One song    I don't do right, do not help me. If I do right,
ually favored as being the most potent and,    give me power to cure these sick people."

B the patient expressed a desire for another,     Next morning at sunup the ceremony and prayer
mg thereafter when the shaman was curing.      were repeated.

same ceremony took place each night for           Supernatural power might be augmented if the
nights. Dancing began at dark and continued    novitiate went to a large rock at Me'ss-e-ah or
Lght, the participants sleeping during the     Rio Dell (Eagle Prairie; where many eagles fly)
he training doctor ate everything except       and obtained one of the shed feathers.

foods during this period. At the completion       The novitiate, or shaman as she was now, was

ceremony a feast was supplied by the family not supposed to expose her full supernatural pow-

lends of the novice. Everybody ate and an      ers for from two to five years, lest she be harmed
t of festivity entered into the proceedings.  by it. Shamans could not eat anything fat, even

l after, the assemblage broke up.              deermeat; they only ate fawn which was split and
ing the dance the training shaman wore an      roasted over the fire so that all fat dripped off
ry buckskin dress with the hair on the out-    and was burned.

wrapped around the waist and extending only       A regular shaman must go on any sick call, even

knees. She wore a headdress consisting of     though she knew that there would be no payment. If
kin headband to which was attached on each    she refused and the patient died, she must pay

braided buckskin with a large bunch of         heavy damages. The new shaman was accompanied by
tra, which hung in front of the shoulders an old one for the first two or three times to

la-c). Rattles, split sticks, or other in- assist her in event of need. If the patient paid
nts were not used. Male shamans wore a buck- immediately and in full, the older shaman took

hirt girded around the loins by an elkhide only a part of the money from the first cases, to

96                                      ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

repay for the training of the new shaman; if the      in Eureka to extract pain from a patient in
patient paid only a part of the fee, she took all    Mattole.

the money, and continued to do so with each new          The basket used by the shaman for the colle
case until she had been paid in full. Thereafter     tion of spittle during a curative dance was ma
the new shaman went on cases alone and collected     by any of the patient's family or any friend.

all the money.                                        the patient died, the basket could never again

Fees were from two hundred to three hundred       used for anything. The shaman then could either
dollars in Indian money (i.e., six to eight.         give it away or keep it.

strings of dentalia; two or three boats; some-          When pains were extracted the shaman saw th
times one or two red or black obsidians; rabbit-      in the spittle as tiny blue or red flies. They
skin blankets, etc.).                                would fly away only in the direction from which

A curing shaman danced and sang from sundown       they came, so she held them in her hands ana

till ten or eleven o'clock; then slept. She doc-     turned from point to point until the right dire
tored for two consecutive nights; she could not      tion was found. They then went back, to the plao
go over or under that time. Different songs were      from which they came. When the intrusive pain

tried out for their potency. If a patient liked      caused by the conjuring of a malevolent person,
one song especially, it was sung repeatedly in       it assumed the form of a ball of fire which, wi
the belief that it was the most powerful song        sent away, traveled in a straight line to the

for that individual patient; otherwise the shaman    house of the person who sent it. Nora said she
selected the song she judged the most effective.     had seen both the flies and the ball of fire

She might sing her own or anyone's song.              therefore believes this is true. The shaman wa

If the patient was cured, he paid more than       the only one who could see the flies, but othe
the usual charge; if he died within two months       claimed to have seen the ball of fire travelig
after, the shaman was compelled to return the en-    to its destination.

tire amount. In olden times Nora's mother re-           When a family called the shaman to doctor,

ceived payment comparable to five dollars for the    there were many preliminaries to be attended t
two nights' ceremony. That was considered good       Eels and fish must be caught by the patient's
pay, although nowadays the average is ten dollars     family or friends for the feast following the
a night.                                             ceremony. The shaman was barred from having

There were some shamans who could see pains       thing to do with these activities. People of

in a patient but could not remove them. Such a       group must be informed so that a good attendan
one must call another more powerful doctor to ex-    would be assured; singers must be obtained; a
tract them. The "seeing" doctor was called           supernaturally powerful pipe must be procured

Isna'sta and was not paid as much as the extract-    the shaman if another than her own was desired,
ing shaman. It is the idea of shamans that they      assistants who possessed the necessary eagle

must be paid a high price for their services be-      feathers and angelica root must be pledged by
cause, having so much supernatural power, the        shaman; and lastly, all menstruating women mus
spirits will soon come for them--they will die       be warned to stay away, because it was thought
before they are able to enjoy the blessings of        they would be a harmful influence, and would 9
the money. The shaman was compelled by the spir-     the throats of the shaman and singers.

its to practice her profession, otherwise she           A detailed description of the modern curati
would die.                                            dance, which I was privileged to witness, foli

In olden days the shaman did not suck out the        The dance was held in a vacant house, where
pain, but used only the elkhide belt, the pipe,      heating stove had been installed and a bed fo

and the laying on of hands for the extraction of     the sick boy, a tuberculosis patient about sir
pains. Nora's mother and her mother's half-sister,    teen years old. He was so emaciated and weak
both powerful shamans, used this method. Nora's      had to be carried in from the automobile and
followers believed that that was the kind of         into the bed. Chairs and benches were arrange
power coming back to her. It was believed that       around the room and two lanterns hung on the

this method of curing showed the shaman possessed    at opposite corners. The floor had been swept,
greater power than one who must resort to suck-       dampened. A special chair was placed for the
ing. This particular kind of power has not been      shaman facing east, with a rush mat in front.
given to any shaman since the old days of Nora's         The doctoring ceremony began about 8:30 p.
mother. She told me, "My mother and her step-         The shaman first removed shoes and stockings
sister could lay the belt on the ground 10 feet      put on a cotton dress, then smoked an old tub
from the patient and hold the other end and bring    pipe about 6 inches long. This pipe had a fe
the pain out without touching the sick person."      of polished stone about 2 inches wide at the

Although it is now in the Museum of Anthropology      end and a smooth wooden mouthpiece inset with
at the University of California, Nora claims that    diamond-shaped pieces of abalone shell. At ea
she can use that particular belt for extracting puff she exhaled with a hissing sound and cal
pain, but, the tail of the belt must be hung down out in a loud voice, "Tsa!" ("sickness get as
and the blunt end secured above for her to get go back from where you came"), looking upward
power from it. She also asserts she is able when all around the room. The spectators kept sile

NOMIAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                   97

smoked five or six puffs and handed the pipe      pose of the pain, which she sent away supposedly
an old woman assistant who sat on her right.       in the direction from which it came. The spec-

assistant held out the pipe in her right          tators sang with her until she sent the pain away;
Land began to recite, in a loud voice, a          then everyone stopped singing, talked of everyday

la prayer,8 calling upon the spirits to aid      happenings, smoked, and Jested. The shaman rested,
shaman and give her power. Immediately after      smoked cigarettes, and talked.

prayer the shaman began to sing, very low,           The second part of the ceremony began with the
the spectators accompanied with a second part     reciting of the prayer by the assistant. The sha-
the song. She sang louder and louder, her as-     man sang a different song, danced as before. In-
tant singing the same part with her, while the     stead of burning angelica root, the assistant

otators sang the second part. As she sang          stood in front of the shaman's chair and danced
Ler and faster she reached behind her for her     with two eagle feathers in her right hand. She

lwood staff,9 which was about 5 feet long,        sat down as the shaman began panting and started

held it out from her with her right hand,         to extract the pain. The shaman received the pain

the floor as a pivot for one end and shak-      from the patient so swiftly the second time, that
it in a circular motion as she sang. As soon      she was knocked over flat on her back, the sup-

the spiritual power became strong enough, she     porting men failing to catch her. She fell so hard

an dancing on the mat in front of her chair,      she became unconscious, but revived after a cup of
ding out the staff in different directions        water was thrown in her face. She then began to

first her right and then her left hand,          moan and groan and contort with all the appearance
ping in time to the music. Occasionally she       of great suffering. The men dragged her to her

pped singing and let the assistant and spec-      chair, where she rested, moaning, and then, as be-
rs carry on, breaking in to sing at intervals.    fore, coughed and vomited up the pain, stood up

ohe became more excited she handed the staff       and began dancing and singing again, accompanied
-a man sitting on her left and danced toward       by the spectators."? After regaining her breath,

erent parts of the room, sometimes singing,       she opened her hands and looked at the pain,
ysfacing east, holding up first one arm,          laughed again, and got down on all fours and

L the other, and sometimes both. At this point,   walked like a dog. She danced, on all fours, to

assistant took out some live coals and put        the door, which was opened for her, and took the

on top of the stove; and burned angelica         pain (dog) "outside, where it belonged" and sent
tupon this until its smoke penetrated all         it in the direction from which it came. She ex-
t of the room. The shaman finally danced to       plained to me afterward that poison is made by
corner where some children were sleeping and      cutting off the end of a dog's nose and putting
a little girl. Holding her in front by the        it on the end of a stick or string and dangling

hands lifted above the child's head, she          it in front of the sleeping victim's nose or open
ed with her to the patient's bed and back and     mouth. Or it can be made by boiling the nose, and
h a few times. She then released the child,       using the water to sprinkle on the ground where

went back to bed, and danced to the side of       the victim steps on it, or breathes the evaporat-
room in front of the patient's bed, holding       ing liquid. The person administering the poison

her hands toward him. By this time she was so     puts on a dog's skin and goes out among people at
ted and exhausted that she was panting audibly    night to find his victims. He is counted as a

two men stood behind her ready to catch her       "devil." The conception of a devil, however, is

she fell. Suddenly she threw herself back-       intrusive from the Wiyot; it was not familiar to
toward the floor, screaming piercingly. The      the Bear River Indians in olden times.

caught her and eased her to the floor. The           The third pain was extracted by the same cere-
ing stopped abruptly. Her hands grasped her       mony, except that instead of the burning of an-
at and her legs and body contorted as if in       gelica or the assistant's dancing with the two

pileptic fit. The men held her to prevent in-     eagle feathers, the shaman opened the stove, as

and finally partly lifted and dragged her       she danced, and took out a handful of live coals,

r chair as the paroxysm lessened. She half       put them on top of the stove, and, with bare hands,
ined, resting and moaning, then began to         used them to light her pipe, which she smoked

ough, cough, retch and vomit, holding her two     while dancing. She again took the little girl and

in her mouth, until she extracted the pain      danced with her, taking the pain out of the patient
she believed she had received from the pa-      through the child's hands.1
t's body through her hands. She then stood up       1i

Ahel hertwohand  clspedtogeherwiththeWithout doubt the physical and nervous strain
held her two hands clasped together with the    of going into many shamanistic trances aggravated

between the palms. As soon as she had re-        the heart condition from which Nora died.
a her breath, she opened her hands cautiously      11

examined the pain, laughed a little, and              This little girl had been accused of pushing

ted to sing and dance again in order to dis-      the Burt's little grandson off the pier and

drowning him, four days before. By drawing the

This formula is always the same and precedes      pain from the patient to her own body through the
fsinging and dancing of the shaman.               child, the shaman was proving that the little

;                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~girl was innocent of the charge. She said that if
Young pine also may be used where hazelwood       the girl had been guilty she could not have drawn
tot available,                                    the pain through her.

98                                      ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

The next two pains were extracted by repeating    this feast has taken place, although she is pr
the ceremony with again some variation. The as-      hibited from suggesting who give the feast, les
sistant shouted out the prayer, then the shaman      the whole ceremony prove futile.

sang a different song, and danced but failed to         Dancing and singing by the shamans is also a
finish taking out the pain.'2 She went back to       const.ant feature when there is sickness in oth
her chair, smoked the pipe, and began all over        tribes. The regular curative dance is made for
again with the same song, this time carrying the     disease prevention, just as in event of intrus
ceremony through to the end.                         sickness in the individual.

After the fifth pain was extracted, the regu-
lar shaman's treatment for the patient was fin-

ished and she sat down and smoked cigarettes                          Familiar Spirits
while the assistant gave the last dance.

The assistant smoked the doctoring pipe and          The sun, the moon, the clouds, white rattle
at each expulsion of smoke called out 'Tsa!" and     snakes, and a white, woolly, coyote-shaped ani-
looked upward and around the room. She took out      mal, were Nora's familiar spirits. The sun fol
her two eagle feathers and held them in her right     lowed her around, gave her power in curing and',
hand. With her left hand she threw a basket,         prophesying, and told her everything that was
about 8 inches in diameter, onto the floor in        going to happen and that people said. When an
front of her feet. She began to sing, the spec-      enemy waited on the trail to kill her, the sun
tators accompanying her; finally she got to her      overpowered him and caused him to sleep. The m
feet, picked up the basket and began to dance,       was her guardian spirit at night; it caused an
waving the feathers and making a scooping and         enemy waiting on the trail to kill her to fain
brushing motion with them and the basket, all        The clouds (which are the shaman's dress, espe
the while singing and ejaculating "Tsa!"   She       ally the blue clouds which belong to the shaman
danced all over the room--always facing east--       the white rattlesnake and the white, woolly,

into the corners, calling out "Tsa!" and at last     coyote-shaped animal told events about to happ
danced to the door, opened for her, where she           On a moonless night the shaman builds a fire
waved, brushed, and scooped with basket and           and the shadows from it are considered as effi
feathers and sang for some time, crying "Tsa!        cious in seeing enemies and coming events as

Tsa!"  Then the door was closed and everyone         shadow cast by the moonlight. Thunder, clouds,

stopped singing. This dance was explained to me      and lightning belong to shamans; the thunder ro
afterward as always being the finish of the cura-    and the lightning flashes when doctors' spirits
tive ceremony; it is made to drive out all evil      talk or travel in the sky home.

spirits that may be hovering around the room or         The sun is believed to be a man, the moon a
house.                                               woman; clouds are the dress of doctor spirits,

Everyone talked and smoked as soon as the         and lightning makes their fires. The sun has o
assistant finished dancing, and although it was      one eye, which closes during an eclipse.
1:30 a.m. and raining, the shaman went to the

river and swam. After she returned everyone went

to the patient's parents' house, where boiled                           CRISES OF LIFE
eels, fish, eggs, bread, coffee, etc.,were served.

The assemblage broke up at 2:30 a.m. (The patient                       Puberty Customs

died five weeks later.)                                 Girls' adolescence ceremonies were well dev

After the death of a patient there must be a      oped and have many characteristics of the cen
purification ceremony of songs and dances for two     California type. Puberty was of importance and
nights before the shaman could again doctor, else     terest to the group and all took part in the c
it was believed she would lose all following cases   monies instituted for the future well-being of
because of contamination. The purification dance      girl. At the appearance of the first menses th
is exactly the same as the curative dance, except    girl was designated by a special name (Tsnu lt
that the power received from the spirits in this     She was sent into the house to sit in some far
dance is thought to be the force that knocked the    corner of the general living room with her hai
shaman into a trance, whereas the pains that the     pulled over her face. She could not look aro
shaman extracted from the patient in the curative    upward, nor into the distance for five days.

dance were considered to be the force there.         bers of the group were notified, and came each

A feast after the dance is compulsory, and        night for five nights to dance and sing. There
must be provided by someone outside the shaman's     were song leaders, and special songs were sUng
family. It is in the nature of a free-will offer-    for the commencement of the ceremony. The firs
ing to the shaman so that she will be purified       night's song was called kanta'ktcneltn, "yeste
and continue her efforts in behalf of the members    brought me back," the significance of which w
of the tribe. She will not doctor until after not known to my informant. After the first nig

other songs could be sung, with special ones f
'2The shaman said she was "looking the pain        dancing. On the third night a special song was

over" before extracting it.                          sung for the dance in the house; on the fourtha

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  99

night another special song, always the same,    the same place. Later adolescent ceremonies were
sung as the girl and all of the accompanying    held in the parents' dwelling.

danced toward the river for the final bath.       Reasons for the fasts and taboos were told to
ing each night and morning was obligatory.      the girl at the beginning of the ceremony. The

the dances the girl was supported by an       maternal uncle was usually selected for this of-
woman, who sometimes rocked her. There was     fice, but when not available any other man or
.-day complete abstention from food and         woman who knew the stories could instruct her.
r, after which food could be taken in small     The girl was told not to eat deermeat "because

titles but only enough water should be drunk    deer go to many bad places, rocks, waters; they
t the mouth until the end of the tenth day.     eat bad grasses which harm young girls, especi-
this purpose there was a special, small bas-    ally at this time." If a girl should eat deer-

afterward kept as a cherished possession.       meat she was believed to contract "deer spells,"
was not allowed to eat deermeat for a period    a sickness which caused her to act like a deer,

Le years, nor fish for from two to three        snorting, rolling the eyes, and jumping around.

Usually this prohibition was broken after     The instructors always told the following story
first year or two, but such a practice was      to the girl:

st prescribed usage and dire catastrophes         "Wolf chased deer into the ocean. Deer swam out
predicted for the offender. Obedient girls      of his reach. Wolf could not swim but when Deer
ished for robust health observed the entire     returned to land, Wolf killed him. People took

,a of fasting.                                  Deer away from Wolf and cut it up and suspended

ing the first five-day fast the girl cov-      it in baskets from the house poles. In the night
her face with her unbound hair. Another per-    that [menstruating] girl got up and ate all the
usually an old woman, combed it for her. A      fat meat. In the morning the people accused her,
a scratcher was used for the head and entire    but she did not answer. Later they found where

during the fast. It was made from ironwood      she had vomited the fat over the ground. People
na tied to the girl's wrist, so that it         immediately sent for her grandfather, who was a

not be misplaced or its use neglected. They    powerful doctor, but he could do nothing. He said
ve that a girl would have sores or become       that the next day she would walk away like a deer
dif she used her fingernails for scratching.    and die. Sure enough it came true; she walked

a thirty-day prohibition against looking       away the next day, and was never seen again."

the sky, a strip of mink or wildcat skin           The informant explained that the people tried
4isted into a stiff ring and worn around        to do right by the girl, but she would not be-
ead to hold the hair in place. This was worn    lieve in their teachings. They pulled her hair

by women of marriageable age. One year after    over her face, but she threw it back and looked

first menstrual ceremony there was a second     around. Finally she ate the deermeat and paid the

fly, exactly like the first, after which       penalty for her unbelief. "That is why girls do

girl was called Ci'ci. She could then remove    not eat venison while menstruating, nor women at
wisted hide ring and wear a basketry hat as     any time of life during their menstrual periods."

of adult status.                                 Adolescent girls were not allowed to eat eels
r a year after the first ceremony the girl      because it was believed that:

not look piercingly at anyone or into the         "A woman, like Eve, split an eel lengthwise.
ce, otherwise she would have poor sight or     She threw one half into the water and the other

become entirely blind; nor could she show      half on land. The part thrown into the water be-
eeth, laugh, or make any loud noise. Men-       came an eel, and the part thrown on land became

ting girls were forbidden to go near water      a snake. Girls cannot eat salmon because the layer
se it was thought the water would become        of fat under the skin looks like clouds; also be-

imperiling fishing and hunting boats.         cause salmon go to bad waters, rocks, etc. For a

rmerly menstruating girls were taken to the     girl to look at cirrus clouds and sand ripples is
ie near the present Rio Dell for their          the same as to eat fish and eel fat: it is very
lng. Later the place of training was moved     bad for her and clouds the throat when she wants
er downriver to Me'ss-e-ah, because the         to sing, even though she does not 'get sick and
r place was ruined through the disobedience     act just like salmon and eels before they die'."
girl during her first menstrual period.            Nora related the following to illustrate the
y say that in old times Rio Dell was like      effect of breaking this taboo:

cean. A whale came up there, and a menstru-        "Hazel lives at Lighthouse now. She has deer

.girl looked at it. The whale turned into a    spells. She has fits. She twists and puts her

and the people turned into trees which         hands with the fingers together so they look like
their heads and droop (all except the girl,     deer hoofs: her tongue hantgs out; she froths at

ther, grandmother, and grandfather). That      the mouth; she snorts like a deer; and her eyes
1was called Eagle Prairie. That is why it      roll and get big. She is terrible looking [epi-
longer used for girls' dances.                 leptic]."

is indicates that adolescent ceremonies and       Any man who knew the stories for the adolescent

-training ceremonies were formerly held at    girl's instruction could cook for her, but it was

100                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

usually her maternal uncle who cooked salmon,            Girls usually married four or five years aft
fish, and deer for breaking her fast at the end       puberty. But sometimes when a man was unable to
of the long taboo. Five small pieces of the fish      pay a debt, he gave his daughter to the debtor'
or meat were cooked in a new basket and given to      son as payment. In such a marriage agreement,

her. She must eat very slowly, but after the          mother of the destined bridegroom reared the g
first meal could eat all she wanted. Men always       until after puberty and one or two years after'.
cooked fresh meat and fish because women were al-    ward married her to the son without the usual

lowed to handle or cook only dried game.              gifts or ceremony. The first child of the uniou

There was no puberty ceremony for boys, nor        of a man and a "debt girl" was said to be "bon,
was circumcision practiced.                           of the blood," "somebody great," and bore a ve

high name.

Marriage and Divorce                 A widow had to marry the oldest living unmaia
Marriage and Divorce                  ried brother. If she had children, she might r
Monogamy was the accepted rule, but polygyny,      pay the bride price, and she could then choose
although prohibited to all but chiefs, was known.     any other mate not barred by kinship rules. Wh
It was, however, frowned upon, and the offspring      a wife died her parents had to supply another
of such a union were considered illegitimate.         wife for the man or repay the bride price if t

Marriages were arranged by a go-between. A         were no children. No repayment was made if she
man or his parents sent some old man or woman         borne children. Parents-in-law could also supp
friend to the girl's parents with presents of         the widower with a younger sister or close fe
skins, boats, dried deermeat, tarweed, money,         relative of the deceased wife, in which event
and so on. If these were considered sufficient,       there was no repayment of the bride price. Qn
they were accepted tentatively and the girl con-      other hand some additional presents had to be

sulted. She was not forced into marriage with a       given to the parents for the new wife, especia
man she disliked. If she refused the suitor, the      if she was not a widow or divorced. It was not
parents returned the presents, and negotiations       compulsory for the man to marry a younger membe
were definitely off. Otherwise the ceremony was       of the wife's family. However, if he did not ao
carried through. If the suitor's gifts were con-      so, the bride price was not refunded, but he w
sidered insufficient he offered more until ac-        at liberty to marry another woman.

ceptable. After the formal acceptance of the             A divorced woman took all children until th
presents, word was sent out to the members of the    were large enough for the man to rear. Then, if
family and friends. All responded by bringing         she was at fault, the husband could claim one

presents for the couple to the girl's parents'        two or all. If the man was at fault she retain
house. A feast partaken by everyone present, was      them without returning the bride price; if he
given by the girl's parents. It was followed by       paid a large bride price he might force the re
dancing and singing. The next day the girl's fa-      of some of the children in lieu of repayment.

ther, mother, and brothers escorted her to the           A woman might leave her husband for mistrea
bridegroom's house, or, if he were too poor to        ment, lack of support, or for injuring or kill
establish a home at once, to the house of his        her brother or male cousins. In such an event,,
parents. The girl's relatives remained there with     took all the children as her right and did not
her for five nights, during which she was not al-     pay the bride price. If the man wanted to rega
lowed to have marital relations with her husband.     the woman after having injured her relatives,

Then they returned home and the couple could as-     must again make payment for her, and this seco
sume marriage relations. The parents of both the     payment must be larger than the first. If the

bride and the groom helped them build their           jured relative was a male cousin or brother, s
house, and also donated baskets, utensils, and        did not return under any circumstances. Any c
blankets.                                             born after such a second payment of the bride

A larger payment was made for a girl whose         price was also said to be "born of the blood"

mother had commanded a large bride price. If, be-     like the first child of the union of a man and
sides, the girl was industrious, modest, and a        "debt girl."

virgin, she was regarded as eminently desirable,         Maltreatment of wives was rigidly prohibite
and her parents could demand a large amount for       in the Bear River area in contradistinction tol
her. lWidows and divorced women were less desira-     the Wiyot, where for real or suspected infidel!
ble than virgins, therefore the bride price was       a man might whip or even kill his wife without
smaller. Nora told me that the bride price given     fear of reprisal from her family. Among the Be
by her second husband included four strings of        River a mistreated wife could return to her p
Indian money, fifty dollars in cash, twelve          ents and be upheld in the separation. If the

fathoms of olivella string, one breech-loading        treatment reached serious proportions, the wo
shotgun;  after the first child was born, four       father and brothers might kill the offending h
hundred dollars was paid. She did not know how          band without reprisal from his family. If, ho
much was paid by her first husband. I believe the the mistreatment followed upon the discovery oi
large bride price to be an exaggeration on Nora's infidelity, the husband was permitted to beat

part, in order to show that she was held in great both culprits, but he was not Justified in dit
e steem.

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  101

the woman or killing her paramour. If the       and a good climber. However, rats were believed to
ban allowed the unfaithful woman to go with-    make the baby cross and fretful at night and were
manual punishment and she returned to her        eaten only when panther meat was not obtainable.
nts, they were compelled to refund the bride    Quail were eaten to make the baby a good walker.
e, otherwise the husband could demand custody   A pregnant woman must not look at anything like

e children.                                     crossed sticks, nor at the cloudy appearing fat
rents of the couple made occasional visits,    which lies under the skin of the salmon, nor at
of which was obligatory or ceremonial in        the ripples of sand, which were said to resemble

acter. They might make gifts of food, which     the salmon fat, nor at small cirrus clouds, other-
returned in kind.                              wise the baby would be crooked or cross-eyed. She
pe of a girl, or intercourse with an unmar-    was expected to work and lift up to the time of

woman with her consent, must be paid for        confinement. She ate everything as usual, only in
heavily, otherwise the father and brothers      smaller quantities, so that the baby would not be
e girl had a right to kill the guilty man.      too fat, thus making delivery hard and prolonged.
man raped a married woman, the husband, fa-        A man -did not observe any food taboos during

ana brothers banded together and killed him    his wife's pregnancy or childbirth, but after the
Qut reprisal from his family. This penalty      birth he bathed in the river before entering the
always carried out for such an offense.         house.

arents-in-law taboos were not marked, but          A pregnant woman was not allowed to go near

o was some suggestion of them. Although a       water because she was thought to make the water

in-law might talk with his mother-in-law, he    rough causing boats to capsize. No preference was
.expected not to joke with or ridicule her.      expressed for the sex of a child, girls being as

larly a mother-in-law spoke to her son-in-      welcome as boys. Twins, which were very rare, were
only as she entered his house and not again     not liked, although they were not considered a

Lshe took her departure. A woman and her fa-    misfortune if of the same sex; if of opposite sex
-in-law exhibited the same restraint as be-     they were believed to become incestuous in later
la man and his mother-in-law.                   life, and, although tolerated, were not welcome.
Llegitimate children were reared by the mother  They were carefully guarded against incest.

her family, but they were considered a great       Before the birth the woman prepared four or

race and were said "to put the family down to   five spotted fawn-skins in which to wrap the baby,
ground," as was true of incest.                 a rush mat like that used by shamans in dancing,

cest was held in horror and was guarded        and a first cradle. As the time of birth drew near
st by brother-sister training and taboo, and   she carried a small flint knife tied around her

very other device at the mother's command. If   waist with a buckskin thong whenever she went into
:her of several girls died, her parents always  the fields alone. If the baby should be born while
some member of the family to stay with the     the woman was away from camp, she attended to the

ad and brothers to prevent incestuous rela-    cutting of the navel cord herself and buried the

between them and the girls. A man who com-     placenta before making her way to camp for further
ad incest was called "dog." In spite of the     care. Usually she did not go far from home as the
ant care exercised, incest occurred. In this    time of parturition drew near. She was then cared
ction Nora told the following:                 for by experienced women who were selected to as-
man living in another place had a nice look-    sist her.

ister. Many men wanted to buy her because         At the time of birth the assistant placed the

as nice looking and could cook and make bas-   prepared mat on the floor of the house and laid a
but the brother said he would not take money block of wood about 6 inches wide and a foot long
or. He was living with that sister but no one  at one edge of the mat. The parturient woman

that. By and by she had a baby.   This put     squatted over the mat with the block of wood under
aily down to the ground because everybody      the end of the spine, while two attendants stood
that the child belonged to her brother. No     behind holding her by the under arms. The midwife
ould buy her after that. It gave the family    sat in front and held her knees. Two attendants

bad name. "                                   alternately lifted her and rubbed downward over

oh parent had a share in the training of       the abdomen with great pressure to aid in the ex-
en. A boy's father or uncle and the shaman    pulsion of the child. If the labor was long and

uted him in hunting and fishing, religious    hard, the midwife made a digital examination to de-
ices, and so on; the mother trained her        termine dilatation of the cervix, and slipped the

ter for household tasks and crafts such as     cord over the child's head if necessary. If breech
try, and so forth.                             presentation was causing long labor, the attendants

turned the woman upside down, held her by the knees,
and shook her gently in order to turn the child,

*Pregnancy and Birth                       after which the pressure was again applied to the

abdomen. In extreme cases, where birth was delayed
ing the first months of pregnancy the woman for some days, the midwife cut the perineum with a
uther meat and rats to make the child quick sharp flint. However, this procedure was rare, and

102                                      ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Nora said that she knew of only two cases where       lying-in. Then wildcat skins were used, the fa
it had been necessary to resort to such an opera-     skins being given away to friends. It was bel
tion.                                                 that if the fawnskins were used after the five

The child was expelled onto the prepared mat,      days, or were used for covering the second chi
and the midwife grasped the umbilical cord be-        of the same mother, they could c-ause immediate
tween her fingers, close to the child's body,         death to the infant. Other people could use th
and pressed it firmly for a moment before cutting    without harm to their children, so they were ex
it with a sharp flint knife. The cord was cut         changed within the family and with friends.

about 2 inches from the body and the end was im-         The baby was suckled whenever it awakened.
mediately tied with grass string. The other end       period of nursing continued for about a year o
was handed to one of the attendants who held it       until the child walked. They gave some food, s
securely until manipulation for the expulsion of      as acorn mush and dried mashed clams for the

the placenta had accomplished its purpose. Down-      child to suck on, as soon as the teeth erupted.
ward squeezing of the abdomen was employed to ex-     A teether of ground abalone shell with a hole
pel the placenta after an infusion of golden seal     one end was tied around the baby's wrist. Its
had been swallowed by the patient. Golden seal       was thought to make the teeth strong and good
was said to cause expulsion without manual manip-        The first cradle was used only for the firs
ulation. In cases of stubborn expulsion, the          five days, or during the period that the child
midwife inserted the hand into the vagina and         was wrapped in fawnskins. When the fawnskins wX
pulled it loose by a close grip on the umbilical      changed to wildcat skins, the cradle was simul
cord. Steamed moss and yarrow were used as com-       taneously changed to a larger one which would
presses for pain after birth. The placenta was        commodate the child until it was able to walk.
buried deep in hard ground at some distance from      first cradle was kept for the next child or gi
the house so that no animal could dig it out and      to a friend.

eat it. Such a catastrophe was thought to cause          The end of the umbilicus, which sloughed fr
the death of the newborn child. The midwife          the body, was rolled up and put in the cradle
washed the baby and wrapped it in the spotted         safe keeping and as a preventative against dis
fawnskin, fur side to the body, and put it in the        Midwifery was taught a woman by her mother.
cradle.                                              was more or less an hereditary office. These

The mother lay down for five days, drank hot       trained women were called upon to officiate in
water night and morning so that the abdomen would     births in the group. Other women did not know
decrease in size and thus avert sickness. She did    birth practices and men were not allowed to k
no work for twenty days or until hemorrhage           about them or to be present during parturition
ceased. The husband cared for her during this        Women thought it was highly improper for men t
time. She washed herself night and morning with      know too much about childbirth. However, there
hot water. She could not eat deermeat for thirty      seems to have been some teaching of boys in t
days nor fish and eels for five to ten days, but      practices and in the care of the mother, beca
could eat a small portion of acorn mush or other      the husband was obliged to aid his wife when

light vegetable food. After the five-day fast the     family lived at too great distance to obtain f
husband, male cousin, or paternal uncle cooked        male help.

fish for the patient and put it into a new basket.       Men were very much afraid of newborn childr
She was allowed to eat all she wanted, but she        and would not touch them. Nora said her first
must eat by herself in order not to contaminate       was born so quickly that she could not get to
the remainder of the family. After thirty days a     bed and the baby rolled under the stove. She t
small portion of deermeat was cooked for her by      make her husband get it for her but he was af
the same person, and she could then eat anything.     to pick it up, and went outside and called in
A head scratcher must be used for thirty days         father, who reached under the stove and rescu
lest the mother and child suffer from sores on        the infant. Nora herself cut the umbilical co
the head and body.                                    and with the help of her father, washed and

The infant was not fed for three or four days,     the baby. Her father wrapped it in a skin and
or until the milk came into the mother's breasts.     it in the cradle, then buried the afterbirth.
If this period was too prolonged, a nursing woman        Barrenness in women was rare, but when chi
was hired to suckle the baby. For the service the     less women wanted children they went to certa
wet nurse was paid an Indian dress, a basket hat,     places in the river, in pools or on rocks, an
a rabbitskin blanket, or some other article ac-       bathed and drank to assure themselves of pre
cording to the length of time she nursed the baby.    There were no prayers nor amulets for promot'

The infant was washed by the midwife in the       fertility. Contraception and abortion were no
morning and wrapped in a spotted fawnskin. Moss       practiced. Nora said she never heard of such
and soft spruce ends were used for diapers; these     thing until after the whites came and then "p
must be thrown away and allowed to rot; they did all sorts of queer things that they learn
could not be burned without harm to the baby. The from the whites."

fawnskins were washed and kept clean. They were          Names were given soon after birth and were
used only for the five-day period of the mother's ally those of some deceased relative or partic

place or phenomenon.

NONLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 103

Death and Burial                      preparation and interment there was the purifica-

tion of the house by the burning of pepperwood
ath from accident, violence, or disease         leaves. The personal eating utensils of the de-
elieved to result from broken taboos or         ceased were crushed and burned. This hint of

olent magic. Only those who did not live       property destruction by burning, which is preva-
^lives met such fate.                           lent among the central California tribes, was

levolent persons were supposed to insert in-    said not to have been in any way ceremonial but
ye objects, such as stones, snakes, flies,      simply a prophylactic measure used both after

po on, into the body of an enemy by magical     death and during a patient's convalescence. They

ads. my informant said there was a woman who    thought there was something evil in the continued
omething evil with little, smooth stones.      use of baskets belonging to a dead or sick person;
a several of these which she kept in a bag     a sick person's chances for recovery were better
a shaman's pipe and some eagle feathers.       when new, clean baskets were used.

she wanted to make a person die, she took          There was no general destruction or burial of
tones out and did something with them. Nora     property with the deceased. Personal belongings
hot know what, but she said she did know that   were not burned. Pipes, belts, bows and arrows,

old lady spoke the name of the person she       and so on, were cleaned and hung inside the house,
a to kill, while she manipulated the stones    where they were especially reverenced by the fam-
secret manne-r. Only the shaman could remove    ily. Shamanistic regalia was feared but neverthe-

ive material from the body of the patient.     less cleaned and hung up; the things must not be

en death occurred, the family immediately       burned or destroyed. Cemeteries were treated with

a shrill wailing, and relatives and           great respect; children were prohibited from going
ds hurried to their assistance. Friends        near them and adults must not make a loud noise

cut the hair of all the relatives, while       or walk across them.

.old man or woman immediately began to pre-        The name of the dead person was not mentioned
the body for burial. The corpse was care-       for a period of two to three years or until young
washed with an infusion of nettle leaves       people of the family had a child, when the name
oaproot in order to prevent contamination      was given to the child.

e living. It was then wrapped in a rabbit-         There seem to have been no mourning rites or
erskin blanket and allowed to remain in the     gifts to the bereaved family, as among other

until the next day. During the time the        California peoples. Crying for the dead must take
.was being prepared, the family, except the     place mornings and before sundown. There was no

ren who were not allowed near a dead body,      crying after dark except by ill-intentioned persons
around the corpse and wailed; distant rela-     who wished to cause a death either in their own or

of friends moved necessities for daily         some other person's family. After crying for the

outside, and after the body was buried        dead, everyone must go to the river and wash his
iourners camped there for a day or two.         face.

ial was compulsory. The day after death a

e was prepared by a certain old man who knew

exact procedure. The gravedigger must face                 KINSHIP; SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
while digging; he must climb out backward

his face toward the east; and he must not          Kinship based on blood relationship extended

the grave deeper or shallower than the dis-     to the second cousins. Sons-in-law and daughters-
from the feet of the deceased to the first     in-law were regarded as blood relatives so long
Redwood boards hewn to size were lowered       as they were living with a blood relative. Thus

the pit for the bottom of the coffin, and       all families in a small community were bound to-
rnds and two side boards inserted back of       gether by some kind of family tie. When husband
dges of the bottom board to keep them up-       or wife separated, however, the one who left was

t. The boards, or coffin, were not fastened     no longer considered a member of the family group,
ther.                                           nor were any children that were taken along by

soon as the grave was ready the body was       the departing spouse. The children who remained

led from the house. The helpers of the per-     were incorporated in the family of the father (or
ho prepared the body for burial carried it      the mother) and were then on a par with other
e cemetery some distance from the village.      children of the household.

* it was lowered into the grave with thongs        Marriage of cousins was not permitted, first
okskin; a redwood coffin-cover, fitting         and second cousins being classed with brothers

the side boards, placed in position; and the    and sisters. Children of cousin marriages, accord-
filled and marked around with stones.          ing to native belief, would be idiots, or would
rious prophylactic measures were observed       die early, or would be crooked and out of shape.
aIately after the burial. For the men and       Third cousins were not considered relatives and
who had handled the body, there was a puni- were allowed to marry.

tion swim before they returned to the village. The basis of all social life was the family
hfe family who had camped out during the        with the extended family usually forming the

104                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

village group. There were no moieties or clans.       the tribe chose another man for his wealth s
An individual recognized affiliations only with       ability. Such a person was usually the son of
his immediate relatives and with the tribal           wealthy man and a debt girl, and was said to
group. The family consisted of husband and wife,      "born of the blood." He was held in high este
children, and any other unmarried relatives up        for either his hunting, war, or doctoring abi
to second cousins. The parents and parents-in-        and was assisted by a council of old and infi
law with their families usually lived in a small      tial men.

group within the same village but not necessarily        A chief advised members of the tribe in pe
so.                                                   sonal grievances, public offenses and debts;

A man generally lived with his parents even        decided when there should be war; how much sh
after marriage. He established his own home after     be paid by the enemy as indemnity; settled di
the first child was born. If the man had suf-         putes between members of the tribe and those
ficient means to pay outright for his wife and        side the group; and acted in a general adviso
establish a home at once, this was considered         capacity.
the preferable course. My informant said: "They
were just like white people, they did not stay

in the same house, nor too close together, be-                               WAR
cause they didn't get along well."

When the man was unable to pay outright for           War was carried on in retaliation for mur
his wife, temporary matrilocal residence ob-          or injury of tribal members or for abduction-
tained. He then lived with her parents until he      women and children.

had paid the bride price by such services as             Internecine warfare was usually caused by
hunting and fishing.                                  jealousy over women and was settled by the c

Aged and infirm parents formed a part of the       arrangement for indemnity.

married children's family and were cared for by          When war was impending, the old men and c
them. Daughters took care of their aged parents      held a council in the sweat house to decide

by turns if there were no sons in the family.         whether to accept payment or to kill in reve'
Both men and women were expected to care for          Deliberations might go on without definite d
parentless, or even motherless, infants of rela-      cision for a year or two, but when the counc
tives as far distant as second cousins.               finally agreed to accept payment for an offe

negotiations were immediately begun through
hired go-between, accompanied by an assistan
PROPERTY AND INHERITANCE                 The latter was sent along to make sure the"

mediary was dealing fairly with the people hl
All land was held by the tribe. The family         represented. The assistant had nothing to s
house was owned by both husband and wife equally.     during the negotiations; he simply reported
All individually made articles were personally        go-between's activities. Delegates might be

owned. Male members of the family could not bar-      either men or women, the only requirement be
ter the woman's or children's things without con-     that they must be good talkers. After it wasa
sent, nor vice versa.                                 cided to accept payment, word was sent to th

Male property consisted of red and black ob-       enemy and a place of meeting designated for

sidian knives, canoes, skins, bows and arrows,        settlement parley. There the go-betweens met,
dentalia, olivella and abalone shell strings,         enemy representatives and settled upon the

dance dresses, shamanistic regalia, dried veni-       when payment was to be made. Both tribes the.
son, and so forth.                                   moved to the place designated, usually a wel

Children inherited one-half of the parents'        known prairie, and camped on opposite sides

property; the other half invariably reverted to       the plain. The go-between's work was then fi
the deceased person's family. If there were no        ished, and the ceremony of payment taken up.
children, all property reverted to the family of      the chief and council in stereotyped order..
the deceased and was equally divided among the        a settlement, witnessed by Nora at Lighthoua
father, mother, brothers, and sisters. Except in      described as follows:

the single instance of the family dwelling, com-        "They had a big camp; everybody came. In
munity-owned, husband and wife never inherited        morning each side sent out both men and won
from each other.                                      They met in the center of the ground and c

over between each other, then returned to

own sides. All had sharp sticks and arrows.]

CHIEFTAINSHIP                      Usually two women took the lead when they      l

over. As they passed each other, one side s
A chief must be wealthy, wise, able to advise      "We don't want trouble!" The other side rep'

his subjects, and able to aid in war payments.        "We don't want trouble." When they had erosl   l
The office was, roughly speaking, hereditary,         over and back, all sat on the ground facing    |
from father to oldest son, provided the son ful-      other and the family of the murdered man ha
filled all requirements; otherwise the old men of big cry. Then the other side began to carry

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 105

5 over to pay them. When they carried over     brother told her. She and her husband went to
, they all stopped crying, and all were        Bear river to visit her parents and when they

as again. They visited and said, "Now we are    passed Davis creek, the people met them there and
ds." Then they ate, and had a big time. If      killed the man. The woman lived with her people

didn't give enough payment, they fought.!       after that. Briceland people were going to fight
en payment was insufficient and they decided    the Davis Creek people, but when the chief heard
gt, a ceremonial dance was first held at       what the man had done, he said, "That's right, we
-e-ah. Two headmen and the shaman danced and    cannot kill people because that man was bad."

for an hour or so, praying for the success        Bear River people had one serious war with the
o undertaking. During the actual fighting      Wiyot. As the result of a personal grievance, a
came within arrow's range and spread out in     Davis Creek man killed a Wiyot. The latter re-

se line. They jumped about to dodge the ar-     taliated by stealthily entering Bear River terri-

Nora said that usually few people were         tory, slaughtering the sleeping people, and throw-
ea in an intertribal war, not more than four    ing their bodies into Davis creek. The survivors

lye, but many were killed when they fought      made war on the Wiyot and killed about twenty be-
the Centerville (Wiyot) people, because         fore a money settlement was arranged.

always had trouble with them anyway."             Nora said the only trouble her people had with
victory dance was held at Me'ss-e-ah follow-    the whites was caused by Redwood Indians (Whilkut)
uccess in war. Two headmen danced and sang      stealing and killing the whites' cattle at Hydes-
the whole tribe assembled. Scalps were not     ville. The whites retaliated by raiding a dance

. Each side was permitted to search the        at Blue Lake and killing the guilty and innocent

efield for the dead and wounded without        alike. Most of the Bear River people were attend-
tation. The slain were carried home by          ing and consequently were slaughtered. The sur-

ds and buried with regular observances.        vivors were driven to the Smith River reservation
r weapons were chiefly bows and arrows and     by the soldiers from the military garrison at
e-edged stone knives. Clubs of hardwood with   Bucksport.
pointed heads were used for hand-to-hand
nters. They also threw rocks by hand and

said to be able to throw with the speed of                           TRADE
let.

cording to Nora, the Bear River were more         Trade was principally with the Hupa, even

ful than the surrounding tribes, and war       though they were the farthest removed from the
frequent, but they sometimes aided the Mat-   Bear River country. However, Bear River people

in their disputes with the Sinkyone and        traded with all their neighbors to a greater or

One war with the Sinkyone, at Upper Mat-      lesser degree. There was a well-known trail lead-
was brought on because both Sinkyone and       ing to the Hupa and their neighbors--from the

le claimed the discoverer's right to a whale   mouth of Bear river northward over the present

had washed onto the beach south of Center-    Wildcat Ridge road, thence easterly through Monu-
, in the Bear River territory. The Bear        ment and the intervening Wiyot and Nongatl terri-
people aided the Mattole in that war as        tory. Sporadic commerce with the Sinkyone was

as in other wars with the Wiyot and whites.    carried on over the Mattole trade route, but such
did not, generally, unite with the Mattole     trade was slight and did not extend on to the

t tribe's disputes with the Briceland and     Lassik and Wailaki territory. There seems to have
or Cove people (Sinkyone). They considered     been an antipathy between the Lassik and Bear
wars as of a private nature and of no con-     River people. Lassik people were said to have
to the Bear River people.                      killed traders on the slightest provocation.

next most frequent cause for war was in-         Journeys were made on foot and trade goods

by her husband to a woman's brothers or male   transported on the back. With the Hupa they traded

s. The following tale related by Nora il-     angelica root, wild tobacco obtained from the Mat-
ated this point clearly.                       tole river (considered very superior), abalone

man from Briceland married a Bear River        shell, and various foodstuffs, receiving in ex-

He went away for two or three days, tell-     change hill grass with which to make rope and

er he was going to hunt deer. He went to       carved pine nuts for beads; with the Wiyot they

river and drowned his little brother-in-law.   traded abalone shell, wild tobacco, and foodstuffs
River men tracked him. They sent another       in exchange for canoes and other foodstuffs. How-

wife's brothers to Briceland and he told      ever, trade must have been limited by the fact

e told her not to cry or let her husband      that the tribes had many articles in common. The

hat she knew anything about the murder, but    principal localized products were wild tobacco on
ng her husband on a visit to her parents.      the Mattole river and the Hupa pine-nut beads.
o told her to carry her little baby her- Black and red obsidian money was common to the
Xo that nothing could happen to it. Then the whole area.

p r went back to Davis creek and they made an According to Nora, "We did not trade with the

for the husband. The woman did just as her Covelo (Wailaki) people and but little with the

106                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Briceland (Sinkyone), because we always had              The dwelling house and the sweat house we
trouble with them. We were afraid of the Covelo       lean-to structures built over a rectangular

people because they made a special kind of poison     cavation, for the dwelling house about 2 ft.-
that we did not know, and when people went there,     for the sweat house about 4 ft. Other dimens
they poisoned them. They lived only one week or       of the dwelling house varied with the size o
perhaps two weeks."                                   family. The sweat house framework was covere

with split slabs of wood or bark, an opening
ing left in the front wall for entrance. A s

MONEY                            opening in the long, sloping roof served as a

smoke hole.

Knives of red and black obsidian, woodpecker          Houses were of redwood preferably, but oth
scalps, and yellowhammer-feather headbands were      woods could be used. The soft, straight-gran
considered as treasure. They were heirlooms and       redwood could be more easily worked with thei
were not transferred except under dire necessity.     primitive implements; also a single tree was

Actual money for purchasing commodities was        than sufficient for a large house.

valued in the following order: Small dentalia,           Procuring lumber was a truly arduous task..
large dentalia, small and large olivella strings,    was obtained from the upper reaches of the Be
small clamshell strings, and abalone-shell            river, near Rainbow ridge. Trees were burned
strings.                                              and cut into the desired lengths by hacking

Trade was carried on by exchange of canoes,        chipping with the stone adz. Boards were spli
rabbitskin blankets, deer-hide blankets, elkhorn      off by setting elkhorn wedges close together
purses, bows and arrows, and baskets, etc. All        a row straight across the diameter of the tre
articles in daily use, even food, were bartered.      Beginning at the top of the log, the wedges w

Treasure obsidian, woodpecker scalps, and          reset for each succeeding board until the ent
yellowhammer feather bands were displayed during      trunk was worked into lumber. Finally, the ro
the important dance ceremonies. Red and black         split slabs were trimmed with the flint adz.

obsidian was chipped into knives from 4 to 10 in.    were floated downstream held together with ba
in length. Woodpecker scalps were evenly sewn to      rope or buckskin lashings.
a strip of buckskin about 2 in. wide. These bands

were tied around the forehead and treasured for          Two forked posts first sunk into ground at
ostentatious display as well as for their intrin-     corners of the front end of excavation. Large
sic worth. Yellowhammer tail feathers were sewn       timber selected for ridgepole, laid on ground
flat to a band of buckskin, with the pointed ends     front of end posts. Poles for front of build'
forming a serrated edge on both margins. They         cut in lengths of about 8 or 9 ft. Those for
used this band for the same purpose as the wood-      bined rear, roof in about 14-to 16-ft. lengt

pecker-scalp headdress.                               Short front poles and long back poles laid on

Dentalia were measured shell by shell to de-       posite sides of ridge with ends meeting. Then
termine the worth of a string. Very small, per-       separated into pairs, using one front and one
fect dentalia were more valuable than the long        pole, lashed to ridgepole with buckskin thong
shells. Both wuere strung on iris grass. A string     Heavy ridgepole then raised and ends slipped
was measured from the grasp of the middle finger      forked upright end posts. Lower ends of front
and thumb to the three tattooed marks on the          poles stuck into ground and long roof poles 1
left forearm; and was valued according to the         in unbroken line to ground to back of excavat'
number of shells contained in that length.            Triangular side spaces between roof and groun

Olivella and clamshells were perforated and        filled with poles cut to measure imbedded in
strung into long strings, which were worn by          of the excavation at one end, lashed to roof
women at dance ceremonies. Abalone shell was          at other. Skeleton framework then solidly cro
broken and the pieces ground into uniform size        lashed with hazel brush, broad wooden slabs 1
before they were perforated and strung. (P1. 7e.)     upright against frame. Boards for side cover'

reached from ground to sloping roof poles. La
ends covered by other narrower pieces of wood
HOUSES                           strips of bark.

On rear sloping side, close to ridgepole,

Bear River houses were of three types: tem-        space about 2 ft. wide by 4 ft. long left ope
porary shelter, dwelling house, and sweat house.      a smoke hole.

All were built on the same plan, but differed in         Door in front wall a space between upright
size and elaboration.                                 poles with no cross lashings; covering was s

Temporary shelters were raised on unexcavated      or removable board slab. Space between top or
ground; brush and grass covering substituted for      doorway and ridgepole covered with bark boar
the wooden slabs of the permanent house; the          lashed to under structure with buckskin strip
smoke hole was enlarged to such an extent that

the structure was almost ?uofless. These shelters

did not last more than one season.|

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 107
DRESS AND ADORNMENT                      Men and women both had their ears pierced in

early life. Women wore abalone-shell ornaments

The everyday dress of both sexes was unorna-      in the ears; men wore unornamented hardwood sticks

ed buckskin. Men wore a soft buckskin shirt,     about an inch long and an inch in diameter,

ing midway between the thigh and knee,           rounded on the outside and flat on the side next
ted at the waist with a girdle of elkhide.        to the head.
shirt was cut from two hides, the widest

, where the legs emerged from the body, be-         Tattooing.--Both sexes tattooed for purposes

used for the shoulder part of the shirt. The     of identification and adornment. The male identi-

ran on the shoulders and underarm. Sleeves     fication pattern had either been forgotten by my
attached only for winter. Sewing perfora-       informants or was not particularly noted. They

s were punched with a bone awl and lacings       said when boys or girls became separated or stolen

of deer sinew. The front opening was also       from the tribe, they could always be identified
together with buckskin string.                  by their tattoo marks. Men tattooed on the fore-

or dance costumes men wore buckskin shirts       head; also on the left wrist with horizontal lines
oidered with white iris-grass string, aba-       about 1 in. long, one above the other, for measur-
shell, and beads. The shirt was tucked high     ing money strings. These marks were called "three
a the thighs in order to give freedom for       pieces." Zigzag tattoo patterns running from

ing. Male dancers wore a headband of raccoon     shoulder to shoulder in the form of a necklace
ray squirrel skin decorated with whole skins    were also used by men for ornamental purposes.
hmingbirds and woodpecker scalps. Sometimes        Women were tattooed at their first puberty

ridual feathers of these birds were sewn flat    rite. They did not use the zigzag pattern nor the

e band; or for a shaman's dance a headband      "three pieces" marks of the men. There was no par-
raided buckskin was tied at the back, adorned    ticular ceremony or taboo connected with tattoo-

two bunches of mixed yellowhammer, bluejay,     ing. Pine pitch was burned in the hollow of a

e, and grouse feathers at each side. Ground      rock and the soot gathered on an inverted stone.
one shells were tied into the bunch of feath-   When a sufficient amount had been collected, one

with seal and sea-lion whiskers. Male shamans    particular woman, who knew the technique, did the
wore necklaces of seal and sea-lion teeth.      tattooing. She pricked incisions close together

lankets of whole deerskin with the hair on       on the face with a sharp flint and rubbed the soot
worn for winter protection. Leggings were       into the wounds. This was repeated from time to
orn, but moccasins of elkhide were used in      time until the design was completed.

r hunting as protection against snakes, hot        Goddard"3 quoted Gladys Reichard's informant,

, and sand. How these were cut and made, my     Mrs. Prince, as saying: "I was tattooed by Nora's
rnnt did not know.                              mother. Someone sat on my legs and held my arms
omen ordinarily wore a plain buckskin dress:    and head." This statement was contradicted by

aprons, the back overlapping the front, fas-     Nora: "My mother did not know how to tattoo, only
d to the waist with buckskin strings. A short    certain women knew how to tattoo and they always

shirt, with sleeves attached, reached just      did it."

the waist and completed the costume. It was       Their characteristic marks were two lines run-
from two small deer hides, which were joined    ning from the outer edge of the nostrils to the
e shoulders; the sides were then sewn to-       bottom of the chin following the lines at the

r. After the sleeves had been attached at       corners of the mouth. From these long lines, there
houlder, the underarm seam was made.            were short (half-inch), horizontal lines. Besides,

summer women wore the basket hat; in winter,   a straight line ran from the center of the edge

lpe ring of twisted deerskin to keep the        of the lower lip to the bottom of the chin. None

n place. Before puberty girls were not al-      of the lines were wide as in Wiyot tattoo pat-
to wear basketry hats, the ring being worn     terns.

hole year. The girl's ring was ornamented          Nora described tattoo marks of the surrounding
beads and pieces of abalone shell suspended     peoples--the Wiyot, the Mattole, and the people

ant of the ears; the women's was plain.         on the east side of the town of South Fork, prob-

en's dance dresses were fringed along the      ably the Lassik. According to her the Wiyot made
11 and decorated with shells and beads in       three broad bands from the lower lip to the chin
rms sewn with white mountain grass. The wild-   and two smaller lines upward from the corners of
acket used by girls was similarly decorated.    the lips halfway to the outer angle of the nose.
emale shaman's dress was the ornamented type    (I was able to verify this by personal observa-
for all ceremonies except the curative dance.   tion.) The Lassik (?) tattooed a bridle pattern

e latter the plain buckskin dress was worn     on the side of the face from above the outer angle
twith the shaman's headdress. The male sha-    of the lips to the upper front of the ear: two

inecklaces of seal and sea-lion teeth were parallel lines, about an inch apart, crosshatched

illowed to be worn by female shamans; instead with narrower lines in a diamond pattern. They had
Msed strings of olivella shells of different

F;of ground, crenated abalone shell, and of        130p. cit., 295.
wdpine nuts.

108                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

no chin tattooing (which statement is doubtful        or more shamans danced around a center fire.
since all of these people were consistently chin     able-bodied men and women danced in a circle
tattooers). The Mattole tattoo marks consisted       the shamans; the aged and the very young sat

of three more or less broad marks on the chin,       an outer circle surrounding the dancers and he
as among the Wiyot, with the addition of a series    with the singing. The performance lasted for f
of dots from the corners of the mouth to the low-    days and nights and was of such a serious nat
er edge of the ears and a row of dots across the     that loud talking or fun of any kind was forbi
forehead. Isaac Duncan, my Mattole informant,        Nora was horrified when clowns were suggested
denied the forehead tattoo marks: "They did not      part of the activities. At the end of the five
tattoo the forehead except when they put a single    period the first acorns of the year were poun
round dot on the forehead between and just above     and cooked by women selected for that task. S
the eyebrows. They did this when a man had com-      mans instructed them in the proper procedure o
mitted a crime and a person so marked did not         cooking. The whole group partook of the break
live in the village. He hung around the outside      of new acorns. Everyone must eat or it was be
and could not buy himself a wife.'                   lieved death would result. Immediately after

Powers14 states: "In another regard also, the     broke camp and went home.

Mattoal differ from other tribes and that is that       Warriors danced at Me'ss-e-ah for the succe
the men tattoo. Their distinctive mark is a          of their enterprises and later in celebration
round blue spot in the center of the forehead.       victory. These, as well as dances for hunting
The squaws tattoo pretty much over their faces."     gambling luck, were strictly masculine, altho

One of my Sinkyone informants, Jenny Young,       the male shaman and headmen were the only per-
of Westport, said that "My nephew, born in Mat-      formers. The congregated men merely helped s'

tole, had a mark on his forehead, just one short        Both sexes participated in the dance during
line running up and down between the eyebrows,       puberty ceremony, which was always held in the
and also one little piece of a perpendicular         parents' house. There was no ghost dance, alth
line about an inch long from his underlip onto       Nora said the South Fork (Lassik ?) had it.
his chin. I could tell that he was Mattole by
these tattoo marks."

Head deformation was not practiced.                                      GAMES

There were few games. Four gambling games m
VISITING CUSTOMS                    tioned by Nora were: hand game, ring-and-pin g

small-sticks game--played by both men and wom
W:Then visiting, men sat crosslegs with the       and a special button game played by women alon
knees drawn up in front and the arms around the          The hand game was the most important and wa
knees. This was polite posture. The accepted          identical with that of central California;

sitting posture for women while visiting was             Six players sat crosslegs, opposite each

cross-legged with the hands in the lap. When one     other (4 or 5 ft. between). Log laid in front
was invited to eat, it was considered impolite        players served as drum. Each side drummed, s

to eat much; eating should be slow with no ap-       favorite gambling songs when in possession of
pearance of hunger. Refusal of a second helping       dice. Dice were four pieces of wood, half rown
was compulsory. Women observed the same rules as      about 2 1/2 in. long by 1 in. in diameter. Fiv
the men; furthermore, they must not look around      pieces ornamented by burning and one plain ace
the room or directly at the host.                    Two dice wrapped in grass and held one in each

hand of a player; opposite side guessed by po'
ing to hand which believed held ace. Pointing.
DANCES                         with one finger extended, remainder of hand

closed, indicated right hand; with index and
Dances were few. The one annual dance for the     tle finger extended, remainder closed, indica
assurance of prosperity and the increase of crops     left hand. As soon as guess was to be made, s
for the following year was held in the summer.        ing stopped. Unsuccessful guess cost penalty,
War dances, puberty dances, shaman training, and      dice not passed; correct guess drew a penalty
curative dances, were held with the concurrent       players and loss of dice.

event. Only war dances and those for hunting and         Ring-and-pin game played with six coalesce
gambling success were held in the sweat house.        salmon vertebrae and 8-inch whittled stick at

An annual dance was held when the first acorns    tached to larger end of vertebrae by about s
were ripe. The shaman set the time and place of       length of string. Count made when player s

meeting and officiated as master of ceremonies.       vertebrae onto point of stick. Details of co

A large brush enclosure was erected and the dance     ing not known. Play was sometimes high, as wa
began as soon as the acorns were harvested. One       true in all other games.                      ;

The small-sticks game was played with a bu

'Stephen PoesCNAE 3: 109, 1877.                   of about twenty sticks, presumably marked, but

Poes                                  tails of the game were not available.

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  109
women!s special gambling game was played      time of first pounding. Acorn meats ground into
buttons of clamshell, which they snapped        fine flour, poured into winter storage basket.
a larger disk into a cuplike depression in         White, yellow tarweed gathered by meansof

round. The first one getting all the buttons    oval elongated basketry fan with handle about 2
n. The play was passed when a player failed     ft. long. Fanned seeds toward them into deep,

core.                                            flaring, conical basket slung in front by rawhide

ot racing seems to have been popular with       thong around waist. Emptied full basket into

boys and girls. There was no football,         larger conical basket. Pigweed seeds, wild oats

or stilt-walking. Boys shot at targets       similarly gathered and prepared.

diminutive bows and arrows. Little girls           Seeds parched by shaking and rotating with hot
dolls of leaves, but most of their time was     rocks in large flat basket. Cooled rocks removed,

imitating their mothers' activities.           others substituted until seeds evenly browned.

acorn buzzer was used by small children.       Hulls then easily removed and seeds partly dried,
corns were strung on iris grass knotted be-     more easily pounded into pinole, flour. Parched
;each acorn to prevent slipping. They were      seeds pounded with stone pestle in deep flaring

ed on the teeth by stretching the string at     hopper basket. Basket placed over large, slightly
end, and the resultant noise regulated into     hollowed-out stone slab. Pounded meal removed
rent tones by the lips of the player much as    from grinding basket into large flat winnowing

lays the jew's-harp.                            basket. Winnowing basket rotated, shaken, blown

upon to remove all hulls and flour then stored
SUBSISTENCE                        in large baskets for winter.

Sunflower seeds gathered, dried in sun. Peeled,
rRdno agriculture, depend-  eaten raw, or parched, pounded, winnowed, stored
arRivere upeop wle haeds, grin,   ndnus         for winter. Red clover leaves eaten raw with meat

nirely upon wild seeds, grains, and nuts       adohrfos             t   ea. a      evso       ry
egetable food, and upon hunting and fishing     and other foods. Ate seeds, raw leaves of gray-

mabl food. All varieties of edible seeds       flowered clover with roasted pepper nuts. Grass

rains were used.                               nuts eaten raw, considered great delicacy. Indian

potatoes (camas) dug with digging stick, prepared

Vegetable Foods                      in two ways for storage. Stored raw in baskets

slung to tree trunks or hung inside of house for
od and root-gathering activities were sea-      immediate use. Winter supply assured by roasting

The whole tribe migrated to the hills dur-    before packing in baskets; these camas kept all
arvest time. There was a sharp division of      winter.

women gathered and prepared for storage           Roasting by hot rocks and sand. Hole in sand

egetable food; men did the hunting and fish-    about 1 1/2 ft. deep lined with even-sized stones.

Fire built on top. When rocks on bottom thoroughly
fling of all food was by means of hot rocks     heated, fire scraped out and hot rocks covered

ad into baskets partly filled with water.      with layer of young alder leaves and grass. Camas

arranged evenly, covered with alder leaves, then

t stones handled with hazel-brush tongs,        hot sand and rocks. Cooked one day and night, then
B substituted for cooled ones until water       cooled, packed in storage baskets for winter.

d, then seed flour added, a little at a         Young alder leaves used in cooking said to make
:until thin gruel or thick mush resulted,       camas sweet, better flavored.

dmg to taste of cook.                              Soaproot used for hair, basketry, body washing.
pening acorns and buckeyes were watched for     Considered edible when properly cooked. To remove

while out hunting. As soon as these foods     strong taste, cleaned thoroughly and peeled, then
to fall, the hunters reported to the head-     wrapped in alder leaves and cooked in ashes with

t they were ready for gathering. Men          camas.

& into the trees and shook the limbs to           Wild onions prepared same way. Onions stored

e the nuts. Women picked and stored them      for winter but not soaproot. Pepperwood nuts

rarily in large conical baskets.                roasted in ashes, packed in small baskets for

rall were gathered, they were boiled with     winter. Used for pepper, eaten with meat, vege-
,on, shelled, and pounded coarsely to break    tables.

t. Group of women dug large hole in sand,         Unidentified stalks and roots are listed as

broken nuts in it, another poured heated      follows:

over broken nut meats in sand pit. Vihen nuts     Yakh'ala (grows flat to ground, has blue
lently leached, adhering sand washed off,      flowers on top, shaped like onion set).

iea in sun, packed in baskets for winter.        Su'le (roasted in fire, eaten as soon as

s not pounded into flour until immediately    cooked, sweet, resembles tule stalks, about 2 ft.
-cooking. Were eaten raw on arduous trips      high).

ie they were said to "taste cold as ice           Kuitcla'oan (grows in marshy places, looks like
p thus served to quench thirst and satisfy     calla-lily bulb; bulbs roasted with camas, not

* Acorns treated exactly as buckeyes up to     stored for winter).

110                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Nowadays no more camas, sole, kuitcla'oan, or         For good luck charms, a hunter used a deer'
yakha'la, due to cultivation of fields, sheep,        front leg bone hung around the neck by a str'

and cattle grazing.                                  also angelica root, which he rubbed in his hai

All kinds wild berries gathered by women.         and on his hands. He sometimes carried a small
Blackberries, manzanita berries, elderberries,       piece of angelica root about his clothes or s
thimbleberries, huckleberries, salmonberries,        pended from his neck.

picked over in special basket. Some eaten raw            Success in hunting was acquired more by ski
with meat, but most varieties sun dried on large      than by supernatural aid, but hunters went to
flat leaves, or on flat baskets. Women stirred,      Me'ss-e-ah and danced for one night before go

turned them. When evenly dried, packed in deep       on a dangerous hunt. To protect themselves aga
baskets between layers of leaves. Baskets stacked     contamination, they scrupulously observed a ta
one on top of other, with concave basketry cover     on sexual intercourse for a day and a night be
on top of bottom basket, into which bottom of        going on any kind of hunt. A man did not hunt
upper basket fitted. Small even-sized pieces of       five days during the time of his wife's menst
wood held lower basket off ground, prevented          period lest all game should escape, or actual
contents from molding.                                turn and attack him. They believed that withou

Dried berries cooked in acorn cakes, eaten        sex abstinence, deer would scent and sight the
with meat or resoaked and eaten with acorn mush,      from a distance and would snort and run away;

tarweed seed, etc. Strawberries not dried, eaten     also, that the black and grizzly bear would at
raw in season. Madronia berries eaten raw or         such a man on sight and tear him to pieces. If
roasted like pepper nuts. Wild cherries not          should go on the water, either river or ocean,
plentiful, long trips made to gather, sometimes      would become so rough that his boat would alwa
into Mattole country, where more abundant. Dried,    upset, and he be drowned. This prohibition aga
packed like berries. Considered great delicacy as     sexual intercourse held for five days after th
accompaniment to all varieties of meat.              killing of a deer, to protect women against si

Seaweed gathered, dried in sun, packed in bas-    ness. Fishing, however, was permissible during'
kets for winter. Not resoaked or cooked, only         that period because, from the native point of
heated slowly by fire to soften before eating.        fish were so much lower in the scale of mental

Salt made from sections dried kelp. Scraped       that they allowed themselves to be caught as
off outside of kelp. Stored in dried sections,       readily at that time as at any other.

tied at end with rawhide thong.                         Bows and arrows were relied upon in the cha

Snares of iris string and rope were used for
Hunting                         catching deer and elk.

Large game, such as bear, elk, and deer, and         Snare loops -suspended from bent-over branch
many kinds of small game were plentiful throughout staked or tied at side, bottom to hold open. S
the Bear River territory. Hunting was of the          snare in well-traveled trail leading through

greatest importance. The people depended upon the     brush. Four or five men surrounded game, drove
flesh of animals for food and upon the hides for      toward snare. When sprung, stout limb JerkedDn
clothing, blankets, and other skin-made articles.    upward over animal's neck, sometimes breaking
They used the sinew for their bows and the bone       other times holding until hunters arrived.
and horn for many of their implements. Game was       ately slit throat, cut body down, dressed.

shot with bow and arrow, netted, snared, trapped.        Animal skinned, gutted; heart, liver, stom

Boys began training for the hunt at about the      tied with thong for handpacking. Hind quarters
eighth to the tenth year. From their elders, who      cut off, slung over shoulders by a thong, carr
were skilled in these arts, they learned to make      to camp. Front quarters either slung to tree 1
traps, snares, bows, and arrows. They were taught    by rope against animals, or covered with leave
the arts of trapping, snaring, and fishing, and      grass against flies, left in shady place until
all the accompanying activities such as skin         hunter returned. If animal not too large, hun
dressing, string and net making, etc. Small boys     packed whole at once, after 'ride, entrails re
practiced shooting at targets with miniature

bows and arrows. Before they were allowed to par-       When two men shot the same deer, the one Wf
ticipate in a serious hunt, they were instructed     arrow was found in a vital spot was entitled
by the shaman for a long time. He taught them the     the game, but he must give portions to all o

lore of hunting and fishing, along with moral        participants. He always kept the ears and ton
and social precepts, as well as the taboos and       which were considered great delicacies, as we
songs and dances which would aid them in their       as the antlers, hoofs, brains, hide, tendons,
pursuits. At the age of about fifteen a boy might    part of the meat. The butchering and portion'
be allowed to accompany a man on a real hunt,         of the meat was left until the carcass had be

and, if successful, could then continue alone or packed to camp. They cut up the meat outside1
be included in the regular hunting members of the    house, using what they required for their    m
group. Men hunted in groups of twos and threes ate needs. The remainder was cut into stripsi
or sometimes more, but never in large numbers.       dried for winter.

NOILAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                   111

Pieces 1 in. thick, 3 in. wide, 6-8 in. long.      over vegetable food, dried berries. Said to make
ps of meat, tongue, ears strung on long           berries sweeter, more tasty.

er pepperwood stick, supported over fire by         Rats, field mice thrown into fire whole, singed,
ronged sticks. Meat then smoked over small       cleaned, washed, wrapped in leaves, cooked in hot
of young willows about two days, packed in-      ashes. Gophers eaten only by sick or convalescent

onical baskets. Meat storage baskets stacked      persons. Relatives, friends dug them out of ground
:deep, same as berry storage. Upper basket         at patient's request. Prepared same as rats, mice.

red with basketry lid tied in place with             June bugs, black caterpillars thrown into fire,
ide. Over lid large piece deer hide drawn         roasted, eaten at once. Angleworms, black cater-
on body of basket, fastened securely with        pillars used together or separately, for making
de thongs wrapped round and tightly tied.        thin soup. Grasshoppers not eaten by Bear River
moved brains, tongue, eyes, and antlers          people, although neighbor tribes ate them.

head of deer or elk; skinned, cleaned re-           Ground squirrels not eaten because lived with
er; roasted whole with butchered carcass.        rattlesnakes. "In olden times there were no rat-
e, ears eaten roasted, or smoke-dried, kept      tlesnakes in Bear River territory, but now there
inter. Brains used for tanning. Antlers for      are some.
s, fish hooks, etc.

Coyote was not killed because he was believed
n always cut up and cooked the meat. Women       to have been a person. For the same reason fox
not allowed to handle any raw meat but           and wolf, coyote's closest relatives, were al-

cook it after it was smoked or dried.           lowed to live unmolested.

ooking pits were similar to those used for           Grizzly bear was killed for its pelt but the

table foods. Some of the hunters prepared         flesh was not eaten. Raccoon and skunk were shot
roasting pit while others cut up the carcass.     and snared for their skin but the flesh was not

eaten because it was too strongly flavored.

at covered with young alder leaves, hot             Seals and sea lion were hunted for their flesh
, sand on top. Left all day undisturbed.         and oil. Unstable canoes15 and primitive equip-
cooked, meat exposed by scraping off hot         ment made their capture a very hard pursuit.

, sand, and top layer of leaves. Meat lifted        The fact that a hunter must venture into the
pit with hazel-brush tongs, put on curved        ocean where the seal or sea lion could demolish
ark platters. Then ready for individual serv-    or overturn his boat, made this type of hunting
in basketry plates. Stored dried meat cooked     so dangerous that all possible precautions were

skets by stone boiling, same as seeds.           taken. Hunters first observed the taboos against

, raccoon, cottontail, squirrel snared,          sexual intercourse; then they made a pilgrimage

Skinned as deer, elk. Slit open, cleaned,       to Me'ss-e-ah where they danced and sang for one
d over fire by sticks of young willow, pep-      night. Upon their return to the village, they
od, about same size and length, stuck fan-       took a sweat bath; swam in the river after the
into ground at such an angle that upper ends     bath; rubbed angelica root into their hair and

directly over fire. Ends pierced flesh at        on their hands and tied their charms of deer bone
rent points, so meat well spread and evenly      or angelica root round their necks. A raccoon-
d. Birds cooked over fire by same method.       skin quiver was selected to hold the equipment

such as arrows, rope, harpoon points, etc., be-

ins of animals such as cottontail, rabbit,       cause it was thought to give luck to the hunter.

at, fawn, and others were used variously.       Quivers of wildcat skin, used in land hunting,

1animals were thought to have been human        were barred because they were believed to cause
* time and to have had the power of speech.     rough water. Menstruating women were forbidden
bear and dog are supposed to be the only        to approach the shore for fear they would make
ho have retained that ability, but they         the water rough and cause the boats to capsize.
rely speak to people, and when they do, it      Propitious weather was determined by the old

disaster and death to the person. Black         people, who climbed to the top of a high rock,
wildcat, and panther were never snared but      called Sugar Bowl, on the northern side of the

[shot with the bow and arrow. Bear was          mouth of Bear river. There they washed their hands
ed up to the time of cooking as were deer       and faces in a beneficent spring at the side of

, except that its flesh was cut up and the     the rock. One hair from the head was pulled out
cooked like the whole of smaller animals.      and held to the wind. If the hair did not blow,

they knew it would be a good day for hunting, and
of meat put over fire at angle, fat drip-      the hunters immediately put out to sea in their

to large clam, abalone shell underneath.        largest canoes, using four to five paddlers. The
removed when filled, others substituted.       hunting grounds were the rocks some distance off

il poured into sections of previously dried     shore. Beacon fires were kept going on the cliffs
elp retainer about 3 ft. long which was          15~dad      e.ct,24:"hr             er   ecne
t bottom with buckskin. Whnen filled, top en Bear river. The sturgeon did net ceme up the

ied, stored for winter. Fat warmed, poured river and there was ne way of fishing in the ecean. "

112                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

and beach while the hunters were out,which might be meshes. Redwood rafts of eight to ten logs lash
all night. The animals were hunted with a long        together were used for reaching the rocks where
harpoon shaft equipped with a detachable head of      young shags lived in greatest numbers. Birds t

deer bone. A long bast rope was attached to the       young to fly were simply gathered and placed in
spear point and coiled over the left shoulder.        a netted bag with a basketry cover attached to
When the animal was struck, the spearhead was im-     top. This sort of hunting was carried on at ni
bedded in the flesh and detached itself from the      by the aid of a light on the rocks where they
shaft. The shaft was quickly thrown back into the    nested. The light was supposed to have superna
boat, and the game was towed to shore by means        ral power. It was made by some secret process o

of the attached rope. They did not attempt to         of special materials. My informant did not know..
kill the animals while they were in the water,        how it was made because young people were not a
but towed each one to the beach and clubbed it        lowed to know the process.

to death. There they gouged out the imbedded har-        All birds were thrown into the fire and si
poon head, and returned to the hunting grounds        then split open, cleaned, and cooked over the
for the next kill. When they had killed all the       impaled on a stick. Sometimes the stick was he
game they required or could get, they returned        in the cook's hand and sometimes it was stuck
to land and divided the booty evenly among the        the ground at such an angle that the upper end

hunters. The game was then skinned, cleaned and       directly over the fire. Small birds were alsop
butchered, the flesh and oil prepared exactly as      into the cleft end of a stick and cooked over
was a bear. The whiskers were saved to tie to the     fire in the usual way.

feather headdress for dances, and the teeth were        Various kinds of birds' eggs were eaten. Sha
strung for a necklace to be worn on such occa-       eggs were cooked in hot sand at the site where
sions. Only men were allowed to wear these orna-     they were gathered. Nora said they were not goo
ments. There is no record that the hides of these     to eat unless cooked very soon after they were
animals were used, but the oil was tried out and      taken. Eggs of quail, grouse, geese, duck, and
packed in sections of dried kelp. It was used on      other birds were stone boiled.
any kind of dried berries containing seeds and

also for medicine. The tried-out flesh was browned                         Fsi
over the fire and packed for winter use.                                   Fis

Whales were often washed ashore at Lighthouse,        Dependence upon fishing as a means of suste-
near the mouth of Bear river at a place where the    nance was next in importance to hunting. Seaso
boats put out to sea for seal hunts. They were        runs of large fish such as king salmon and ste
the property of everyone. The man who discovered     head provided an abundant supply for winter pr
the whale had the right to select his portion of     ervation. The whole tribe camped on the banks

the carcass, and after that, all shared alike in     the streams during the run, which usually cont'
the division of the meat. The flesh was tried        for a period of from four to six weeks. Men ca
out over the fire, and the collected oil stored      the fish and women cleaned, smoked, and dried
the same way as bear and seal oil. It was used       for winter. Smaller varieties, such as trout,
for the same purposes as the other animal oils       suckers, bullheads, and so forth, were caught
described. Whale meat was subjected to further       throughout the year. They were roasted and eat
cooking over a fire of green alder or white willow   at once. Fish also were shot with bow and arro
and thimbleberry brush, until it became very thin    speared, netted, and angled.

and assumed a glassy appearance. This was consid-       Nets were many shapes and sizes, from small
ered a delicacy and was stored for winter use.       nets to large salmon nets, with their correspo

Bear River people used almost all kinds of         ingly finer and coarser meshes.

birds for food except crow, eagle, dove, bluejay,        Salmon were shot with the bow and arrow and
hummingbird and yellowhammer. Crow and dove were      speared with a double-pronged fish spear, the

said to be people, and were not molested, while      point of which was elk or deer bone and the sh
bluejay, yellowhammer and hummingbird were killed    was spruce. Salmon and steelhead were caught i
for their feathers alone. Shags, ducks, quail,       great quantities with large nets which were se
grouse, geese and pigeon were all netted. Some-       in the eddies of the stream by means of a cano
times a very good hunter could bring down geese      Grass ropes fastened to the upper ends of the

and some of the larger birds with the bow and        were tied to trees or brush on the bank or hel
arrow, but they depended mostly upon snares for      taut by men in canoes. The lower edge was wei
that kind of game. These snares were made of         with stones tied into the mesh so that it woul
iris string in the shape of bags which were          sink into the water. They were usually stretc
stretched open and held up by a trigger to which     across the stream, immediately below an eddy.
a long string was attached. Food was scattered       ing the height of the run netting continued f

on the ground beneath the bag, and a watcher,        daybreak until dark. Nets were left out a very
concealed behind brush or a rock, waited until       short time before being pulled by the fisherme
the birds gathered under it and then pulled the      Too many large salmon caught in a net at one t
string attached to the supporting trigger, where- could damage it beyond immediate repair or cou
upon the bag collapsed, catching the birds in its carry it away from its moorings. In olden time

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  113

ople were afraid to fish at night because they         For catching suckers, bullheads, trout, other
ought if they did so the fish would not run         small fish, used net about 3 ft. square held in
e next year. After the coming of the whites         riffles by two men, one at each end. Lower edge
ey fished at all times, although they still        weighted with rocks. Ends and middle held open

intained the taboos and rules of olden days.       by willow sticks. Other men drove fish downstream
There was no taboo against sexual intercourse      into nets. Dip nets used for smelt, surf fish.

r prohibition of fishing during the wife's          Loop of human hair wound around index finger for

nstrual period as in hunting, but it was neces-     angling trout. Loop tied at end of line, bait in-
ary that the first salmon caught be treated with    serted into the opening. Sea fishing of minor im-

eat care in cutting and cooking. The fish must      portance. Used the baited deer-bone hook at end

out slanting, never straight across, with a        of line held in hand. Smelt smoked, dried, packed
int knife used only for that purpose. It could      in baskets for winter. Surf fish sun dried with-
t be cooked whole, but must be cut into diag-       out smoking, stored. Crabs caught with dip net
a strips which were cooked and eaten at the         into which bait had been placed. Net sunk down
re of the river before sundown. First salmon        into water and left some hours before pulled.
at not be cooked after dark. There was no           Cooked fresh, eaten as soon as cooked. Clams,

ecial ceremony or other taboo; no special per-      mussels, shrimps, abalone stone-boiled, eaten im-

was required to catch the first fish, nor         mediately. Also dried, packed for winter with
ed a shaman be present. There was no dance.         subsequent soaking, boiling. Devilfish netted,
e requirement was merely that the first salmon      stone boiled. Seal and sea-lion teeth kept as

prepared in this manner until the time when        medicine against rattlesnake bite. Sea urchins,
o first geese began to fly. Afterward, the          called sea eggs, gathered, eaten raw or cooked
sh could be cut straight across with any in-        on hot stones. Considered great delicacy, not
rment and could be cooked after dark. This          saved for winter.
reful treatment was thought to be necessary to

sure a good run for the next season.                                  MANUFACTURES
Great numbers of eels were caught in special                            Ba
1 baskets which were set in the eddies. First

iLs were subjected to the same special care in         Bear River people were essentially a basket-

tting as were the first salmon. They must not      making people like the central Californian tribes.
skinned or caught after dark, otherwise it         Apparently all baskets were made in simple twin-

sbelieved they would not come up the river          ing, but the old art has died out, and my inform-

next year. After the coming of the whites         ant has now forgotten the exact technique. How-
hing was carried on after dark and the other       ever, as all questioning failed to reveal other

boos disregarded.                                  recognizable methods, it seems justifiable to sup-

pose that twining was the common technique.

Salmon slit open, heads cut off, saved for            The body of the tight baskets, such as eating,
Ing glue. Body smoked, sun dried. Packed in       water, and cooking baskets, was always of smooth
rge baskets, which stacked two deep, with in-      spruce roots with the overlay design of five-

rening concave basketry lid separating two.        fingered fern stems. The more loosely made baskets
iea fish prepared by first soaking, then stone     had hazel-brush warps with spruce or willow-root
iling. Fresh salmon cleaned, cooked whole by       fiber wefts. Water baskets, about the same size
rbecue method same as deer, elk, etc. Salmon       and shape as a modern water bucket, and small

s taken from spawning fish, dried for winter.      drinking baskets were identical in weaving tech-
Dams of rocks, sticks built across river about     nique to the other tight baskets.
ft. below riffles, baskets fastened to sticks

intervals of 2, 3 ft. Baskets about 3 ft.             New baskets filled with ashes, which rubbed
ep, 2 1/2, 3 ft. in diameter. Left several         into mesh. Ashes removed, inside scraped with

rs before emptied into boat and reset for next     mussel shell. Filled with water, allowed to stand
ch. Enclosed dam of loosely piled rocks, about     overnight, washed with soaproot, fresh water.
ft. long, below riffles. Eels squeezed through     Large water containers had basketry lid, not

ka, caught in enclosure. Dam left unmolested       treated with ashes. Circular tray baskets used
2, 3 days after which rocks gradually removed.    for berrypicking, washing food, hand packing;

each eel appeared, was speared with a sharp,       more loosely made than same style basket used for

ted deer bone at the end of a spruce shaft        washing eels, fish, eating. Various sizes, from

thrown onto bank. Great skill required to         very small spit basket used by shaman in curative
ar, throw eels onto bank. If not thrown very       dance to large, flat winnowing basket 3 or more

okly, would escape into water again. Eels          feet in diameter. Loose baskets for storing dried
aned, split, cooked in cleft stick over low        meat, fish, seeds; about 3 ft. deep by 3 ft. in

?!Also roasted on hot rocks. Bulk of catch        diameter at top, 2 ft. at bottom. Hoppers with
iked, dried, packed in baskets for winter,         flaring sides about 8 in. to 2 ft. in diameter,

led meat roasted on hot rocks until fat ran out. 10 in. to 2 ft. deep. Fitted over smooth or hol-

hbecame soft before eaten.                        lowed-out rock for pounding nuts, seeds.

114                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Besides the small spit basket of the shaman,       elkhorn wedge and then whittled out with a fI
there were others slightly larger for washing         knife. They had straight handles and a single
out the mouth, and for individual eating baskets.     blade rounded on the lower edge. According to
Loosely woven basketry hats were worn by the          informant, "Paddles of any kind of tough woo
women.                                                would make the boat go." They were used for

Carrying baskets (used by women only) had a        canoes and rafts. Both kinds of craft were po
wide strap of iris grass, woven over the under,       in shallow water.

with the ends of the strap braided where it was          Curved fir bark cut in lengths of about 2
attached to the basket. The strap passed across       were used for meat platters. Drinking cups w
the forehead, over the basketry hat. Men always       cut from madrofia wood. The limb was severedc
bore packs in a net (shaped like modern shopping      to the tree and cut into short lengths. It w
bag), with the buckskin thong across the chest,       whittled out on the outside with a flint kni
never forehead. Men made their own carrying nets      and the exterior ground with wet sand before
as well as their own baskets for catching fish        interior was hollowed. These cups served as

and eel, even though basket-making was strictly       ing vessels or for receptacles in which leav
a feminine occupation.                                were crushed for making medicine. Gourds were

Basketry cradles wiere of flat, split hazel        used only after the advent of the white sett
brush, with a spruce root weft. A round basket           The bow was of yew with small pieces of t
attached at the top protected the baby's face         same wood glued on the back as reinforcement.
from the sun. The first cradle always had a seat,

but the second or larger one, used until the baby        Glue prepared from stewed fish heads. Bow
could walk, was without it.                          whittled out with double-edged flint knife,

ished with wet sand. Arrows made of snowball
Objects of Wood, Bone, and Stone             point of sharp yew, flint. Point fastened to)

by iris string covered with pitch. Arrow shaf
Implements of wood were few, although easily      straightened by repeatedly drawing between op
worked wood was plentiful. Canoes, rafts, pad-        ing stones, maker sighted down shaft. Polish
dles, platters, drinking cups, bows and arrows,      with wet sand. Three split feathers applieda
rabbitskin frames, head scratchers, and shaman       equidistant intervals, wrapped to shaft with:
pipes were the only wooden implements made by        string. Each man's arrows identified with ma
the Bear River people.

Canoes were made from redwood floated down-           Carved headscratchers for menstruating git
river from Rainbow Ridge. The cut lengths were       and for women after childbirth were made of

gouged out with an adz; when a sufficient number     wood (?) cut out with the flint knife and st'
of chips had accumulated, they were laid in the          Long wooden pipes for female shamans were,
cavity and set on fire and allowed to burn until     of yew or dogwood, whittled out with a flint
the underneath was so charred that it could          and ground smooth with sand. The opening was

easily be dug out. When the required depth was       burned out, then shaped with a knife, and a.i
reached, the bottom and ends were shaped on the      rule of white, polished stone inserted in t
outside and the vessel finished by inserting          large end. Short pipes, made exactly like t
seats fore and aft. These vessels must have been     ones, were used by male shamans. Wooden fr
at best crude, unstable affairs because frequent     for making rabbitskin blankets were of youn

mention is made of their upsetting and the occu-      and consisted of four pieces, in the shape    l
pants drowning. My informant told me that "that       square, lashed at the corners.

was one of the reasons that all Indians had to           Stone hammers, with no hafting, were use

be good swimmers." Canoes were used for setting      wood work such as splitting boards for house'
fish and eel nets and baskets; spearing salmon;      struction, driving stakes, and so on. Shape
hunting seal and sea lion; and for ferrying.          stones for mortars and stone pestles were e

The canoes had two to five paddlers,which in-     for grinding seeds and nuts. Natural stones..
dicates their large size. Whenever there was dan-    required size and shape were hollowed in th
ger of capsizing, which was frequent, the boatmen    long axes for use as arrow straighteners. S
slapped the boat on the side and spoke the name      sinkers, circled with a central shallow dep?
of a mythical boat believed to have been so sea-     were used as weights for line and net fish'

worthy that speaking its name had power to prevent    Flint knives, both single- and double-edge-

their boat from upsetting. People did not venture    made by pressure chipping. They were used      l
into the ocean except under the most favorable       whittling implements of wood; also as war

conditions.                                             Implements of elk and deer horn, such as

Rafts of redwood logs lashed together with        daggers, fishhooks, spear and harpoon poin     l
rawhide thongs were used to skirt the cliffs         spoons, etc., were in general use. Wedges,

along the beach and to visit the near-by rocks       daggers, fishhooks, spear points were madeil
for gathering eggs or young shags.                   the front leg bone of deer or elk. The we2

Paddles were made of oak, spruce, or other        a triangular piece of bone ground to a poi1
hardwood. They were first roughly shaped with an one end. Daggers were various sizes, doubi,

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 115

p-pointed. The bone fishhook for ocean          Fire was made by drilling with an upright dry
was about 6 to 8 in. long, pointed at        alder shaft on a hearth of dry redwood root. Dry
>8., with the line tied in the middle.        grass, spongy wood, or tree moss was used for the

and harpoon points were about the same      tinder onto which the spark was dropped. The flame
the arrowpoint, but they were used as       was fanned and blown into a blaze and transferred
ashed to the end of a hazelwood shaft.        to dry grass and sticks.
re attached at an acute angle, wrapped

ai string, and pitched with pine gum.                             . D

rn spoons were made from the part of the                       Skin Dressing

there it branched from the head. They            All animal skins except seal and sea lion were

t'st cut out, then ground on the outside      dressed. The technique followed a stereotyped pat-
being polished on the inside, just as was     tern. Men and women both knew the process and par-
r wooden cups. The horn spoons were            ticipated in the work; women did the tailoring.
and used by men only. Women used the

-shell spoon, similarly made, although not       Hides cut around neck under lower jaw. Slit
A mush stirrer of deer or elkhorn was        down belly to tail on inside of legs to hocks;

arved and ornamented. Elkhorn purses, from     completely around the top of hoofs so that whole

in. long, had a flange at both ends and a    hide could be removed in one piece, leaving head,
oh slit along the concave surface of the     hoofs attached to carcass. Dehairing, hide soaked
'The edges of the slit were incised for a      in solution of hot water, deer brains, thimble-

e of about an inch. (P1. 7e; mus. spec.      berry shavings, hair removed with stone scraper,

skin rolled tightly, left for two days. Unrolled,
washed with soaproot, re-scraped, again rolled.
Miscellaneous Manufactures               Allowed to remain another 2, 3 days until fat,

connective tissue decomposed; washed, scraped

<Bear River people made quivers of several     again. Hide wrung by attaching one end to tree,

f skin. Wildcat-skin quivers were used        post, twisting other end through which stick was

|&vely for hunting small land animals. It      thrust. Skin pegged on ground, left to dry in sun.
lieved they made the hunter stealthy and       As soon as drying began, worked hide between
tracking and stalking. They could not be      hands, 2, 3 times a day until soft, pliable.

or seal and sea-lion hunts because it was         Dressing skin with hair on, used deer brains,

d they brought rough water causing hunters    thimbleberry shavings in solution of cold water.

. their game; or boats to break or capsize    Skin soaked only once. Scraped off fat, connective
o men to drown; or other catastrophes.         tissue, washed thoroughly with soaproot. Dried in

-skin quivers were used on these hunts be-    sun, worked with hands to soften.
Athey were believed to bring good luck and

-water.MuiaIntmes
aration of the skin for a quiver followed                     Musical Instruments

otyped pattern. The only cuts made in it         Musical instruments were few and simple. Split
ound the neck and hocks. The whole skin       sticks were used in the puberty dance ceremonies.
n inverted and tanned, leaving the tail       They were about 3 ft. long, split to within 2 or

sgs attached for ornamentation. When tanned,   3 inches of the handle, and decorated with various
flings were closed by sewing them with        vegetable stains. These instruments were struck

b The neck was left open, the fur edge         across the hand as accompaniment to the dance songs.

over, and the whole skin again turned with    The drum was beaten during the small-sticks game.
Ir outside. A rawhide thong was attached to    The drum frame consisted of a piece of white oak,
n end and the whole slung over the left       1/2 in. thick by 4 in. wide, bent into a circle

while the wood was green and the perforated ends

of tule about 3 ft. square were woven in     laced together with buckskin thongs. When the frame
rboard style with double wefts. They might     was thoroughly dry, a piece of wet deerskin was

en by any person who knew the technique        stretched over the head and bound down with buck-
lre said to be very warm. They were used       skin and allowed to dry. Deer-hoof rattles and

the shaman during the curative ceremony.     whistles were not used, although known from sur-
and string were made from white iris-        rounding tribes.
fiber gathered from the mountains. It was
.. shredded, bleached in the sun, and the

then wet and twisted into strands by roll-         MEASUREMENTS OF TIME; SEASONS; COUNTING
\the thigh with the palm of the hand. Ma-

n gathered and prepared by women. All rope        Three seasons only were recognized. No distinc-
tring made by men.                             tion was made between fall and winter.

* at, ground, abalone-shell teether for           T1ola'ntitiak.(Suinmer. When grass is white.)

t;about as large as an adult index finger,       Naiha'nt4. (Wzinter. When leaves drop and rain
yrforated and tied to the infant's wrist,      comes.)

116                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

Nemtaiha'ia.(Spring. When leaves open.)            lieved to go out of the pipe in a cloud of mii
The day is divided as follows:                     or smoke, and travel to the victim named, whe
Tci'nta.(Daybreak. When the light comes.)          it settled over him. The poison could see whe
Dwbinonau(Noon. Persons always motion upward       it was going because the rattlesnakes were ki
when pronouncing the word.)                           during their seeing months. One small drop wa

Gii'tklak. (After dark and through the night.)     said to kill the person named in one year; t

Tci'nta.(Daybreak, and all through the day.)       drops in two years, etc. The poisoner usually,
Na'clagiltklak.(Last night.)                       used more than two drops of the poison so tha
Ka'nta. (Yesterday.)                               the victim's death would occur after a period
Naka'nta.(Day before yesterday.)                   a few years and thus lessen the chance for di
Naka'tevr.(Tomorrow.)                              covery of him as the culprit. One large drop
Near sundown and after sundown are other divi-        might kill a person named by the next day. O
sions of the day whose names Nora had forgotten.      of the first indications that a person was po

Time reckoning usually referred to some event      soned was a roaring in the ears, like the so

of importance which distinguished that year           of a rattlesnake. If one puts his ear to a se
from all others.                                      shell he can hear a comparable noise; also sa

Counting was done on the fingers, but Nora         to be like the roaring of the ocean. This poi
said that she did not learn to count in her own       must be made exactly right or it would not wo
language and that she knew only the following         Nora said that Sally Bell used to make it to
numbers:                                              but later when Sally was questioned, she eith

1, T}a'c                                           did not know anything about it or pretended i
2, Nahka'                                          norance. Nora related the following story, al
3, Dakha'                                          told by others:

4, Tui'cka                                           "Mrs. P. put that kind of poison into oatme
5, Tcilava'ntla                                    porridge which her grandson ate by mistake, n
6, Ne'sian                                         knowing it was meant for another person. He

Seven and 8 she did not know. She said that they      from eating it. The poisoned porridge was se
counted by fives and tens, motioning with the         back in the cupboard; the boy came home late
open hand to indicate the number of fives within      ate it. Mrs. P. was terribly upset when she ?
the spoken number. For 5, one hand upheld with        he had eaten it, and made a great rumpus with
the fingers spread; for 10, both hands flung up,      about it. He died some two months afterward,
backs outward and fingers spread; for 15, both        everyone knew she had that poison ready to gi

hands were held as for 10,after which one hand        someone. Other doctors saw that that was what-
added.                                                happened to him."

Directions were given by motioning. There were        A shaman who attempts to poison another P
distinct names for them, including zenith and         without reason runs the risk of having the s
nadir, but Nora could not remember them.              ness come onto his own family and kill them,

though the intended victim also was killed bg
poison. If the shaman's victim has lived a bi
WITCHCRAFT                         less life, the poison does not affect him.

Rattlesnake poison, with which people were

"doped" and killed, came from rattlesnakes caught             ]MEDICINE AND MEDICAL PRACTICES
during July, August, or September (when they can

see at what they are striking; other months they         There were three distinct methods of cur

are said to be blind and will strike at anything      The first and most important was the shamanis
they hear). The snake was hung by the head in the     curative dance, given only for very grave sic
sun, or sometimes over a small fire, and the          ness of unknown origin; the second was practi
grease caught in a clam or abalone shell. The per-    herbalization; and the third, by magical med
son making the poison then cut a stick and               Care of the sick devolved on a child of t
smoothed and sharpened one end. It must be smooth     family or an old lady who had experience wit

enough so that the grease would not go into the       ness. The sick were never left alone and thei
roughened wood and thus into the body of the          wants were supplied whenever possible. They

manipulator and kill him. He then stirred the         isolated from the family as much as possible.
grease with the smooth stick and added to it the      to this end, special bedding and eating vess
powdered skins of the rattlesnake, which had been     were provided, both for their protection aga
shed in the spring, and weasels' toe nails. This      contaminating influences and also for proteci
mixture was then put into a kelp container. A         of the family against them. Children were ke
drop of the mixture was placed in an elderwood        away unless needed to fan away flies or to
pipe which had been fastened onto the end of a        errands.

shaman's pipe. The person wishing to poison              In grave sicknesses of unknown origin, tho
another then spoke the name of the intended victim patient was sung and danced over by the sh

and blew outward on the pipe. The poison was be- and the pains extracted (already described);.

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 117

illnesses where the cause was known, such     over the gastric region with the leaves of wild
gunshot wounds, sores, etc., remedies were     mint. Pains of a rheumatic nature and others

or given internally. Many herbs were         which did not incapacitate the patient were also
but Nora has forgotten or is unable to find    treated with steamed yarrow.

oause of the grazing of cattle and sheep         The sweat bath was used for any kind of fever,
* plowing of the land has destroyed them.      cold, or general ill feeling, unless it became

[preventive medicines seem to be magical.      acute, in which event shamanistic treatment was

sh flesh was eaten for prevention of rat-     resorted to. The sweat house was used by all ail-

bite--rattlesnakes were supposed to run     ing members. They sweated and then swam in the

person who had eaten such flesh when        river, returning to the sweat house to get warm
'For curing rattlesnake bite, the teeth of     again before going home. Sometimes they stayed

ilfish were used to open the wound and al-    all night. They never built a fire in the sweat

poison to escape. The wound was scratched    house for the bath, but heated rocks outside and

ked until it bled, then a rattlesnake but-    carried them in, then put spruce boughs on top of
burned and the ashes rubbed onto the         the rocks and poured water over to produce the

flesh. Chicken-hawk feathers used for       steam.

the bite were believed to increase the          Convalescence was hastened by washing the pa-
y of the devilfish treatment.                 tient with soaproot, feeding with soft foods and
roken bone was treated by steaming the         broths, and quiet and rest. When a sick person

f the break with yarrow all night. The        requested gopher for food, it was interpreted as

the bone was bound up with steamed          a very good sign for recovery. The family or

strips about 4 in. wide, which were al-     friends got the gopher, usually by digging him

Wto dry into a tight, supporting cast. All     out, and cooked him for the patient. If the family

g of medicine used for compresses was ac-     disregarded the patient's request and failed to

hed by heated white rocks which were kept     obtain gopher for him, it was believed the patient
ry family for such purpose only.               would die.

as, such as arrow shots, knife wounds,

t wounds, etc., were washed with a chicken-

*ther from the tail or wing of the bird,                    MISCELLANEOUS BELIEFS
ompresses of chewed alder bark or yarrow

plied until the inflammation subsided.           To the native mind there was nothing anomalous
h were treated with chewed alder bark,         in attributing human traits to animals, or in as-
has therapeutic value because of the tannin    cribing activities to inanimate objects. The for-
lent; however, there seemed no recognition     mer spoke, and the latter possessed influence for
? value, it being considered solely a          good or evil. Origins and natural phenomena were

medicine which had been derived from         also satisfactorily explained by these attributes.
the first one to chew and apply it to           When dogs talked they spoke the Indian lan-
Other remedies for cuts and sores were:      guage, and when a dog answered the person who

compresses; spiderweb, which was said to      spoke to it, that person soon died. There is a

poison from the wound, stop bleeding,       place on Eel river, called Natlsa'tat in the Bear
l without inflammation setting in; burned     River dialect and Na'xtax in Wiyot dialect, where
hes, said to be very strong medicine, ef-     both tribes say they could see little, hairless
ous in healing. Sores and boils were opened    dogs in the pool. This pool is east of George
a flint sliver and squeezed out, then          Hanson's place, and about a mile west of the

d with burned kelp ashes or desiccated         present town of Fortuna. The creek leading into

leberry leaves, which were powdered and         Eel river formed the pool. It is now called Pumice
as a compress to draw out the pus and heal      creek. The pool has been destroyed by a shift in

3re.                                           the Eel river and the dogs are gone, but in the

I kinds of throat troubles were treated         olden times, they said, the little dogs came out
the same bear, seal, or whale oil which         of the pool and sunned themselves on the sticks.
aten mixed with other food. Two or three        They were about 5 inches long and had no hairy

of the oil were swallowed.                     covering. Young people were not allowed to look
eth were never extracted, but were allowed      into that pool because there was danger that

cay in the mouth. Toothache was treated         their babies would have hair growing on the shoul-
et or steamed moss compresses on the out-       ders.

of the jaw.                                        There was another place near Morrison's ranch,
ver patients were washed with soaproot tied     on Bear river, where Indian dogs are said to have
11 bundles. They were also given a purge       come out of a deep pool and stood on the bank.
,mg alder-bark infusion. This is an emetic,     These dogs looked like coyotes and they always

:hen it is swallowed and retained, a strong     stood facing the sun. After the whites came they

*                                              were supposed to have been such a disturbing in-
omach trouble was usually treated with an       fluence that all the Indian dogs died.

i on of steeped yarrow. Children were rubbed        The Bear River people say that there are people

118                                     ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

living under all running water. They can hear        will not live more than two or three days. Thi
them talking. These people have their own dogs        standing up is called gowi'le and means "dodg
and those were the ones that came out and stood       earthquake."

on the river bank at Morrison's place. The under-        Shape of the world they never talk about.

the-water people they called Daxki'an. The shaman     are afraid to talk about it. They do not want
saw them when she traveled during a trance in her    young people to know about that story. Only o
dreams, but common people only hear them talking.     people knew about it. I was too young (Nora s

All persons, especially shamans, starting on       I never learned that story, and I do not know
a journey must look back when some distance from      they don't want young people to know about it
home and say, "I am coming back this way," or         Ages of people they don't talk about either.

they will never see their homes again. If they        don't like to mention ages. They only say whe
start traveling toward east, they must return by      person is old, but they don't say anything ab
the same route, otherwise they may never reach        that at other times.

home if they attempt to return a new way.                All Indians swim in every lake they come t

Rain is supposed to come from an underground       First they put coals of fire on a small piece,
lake. The clouds take it up; get full; then it       wood and then put angelica root on the coals

rains.                                                set the piece of wood afloat. If the smoke ro

Thunder and lightning are made by dead sha-        straight up, it was a sign that the water was
mans' spirits. When both north and south thunder      bad water, so they swam.

answer each other, there will be good weather;           Big spotted spider is never hurt because h
when one does not answer, inclement weather will      told the woman to make a basket when flood wa
result.                                               coming. When he comes down in front of a pers

Good and bad places were known to all. Certain    he brings good luck.

pools, rocks, and so forth, were believed to             Crow cawing early in the morning means in
promote fertility in barren women; other places       dian language: "Hurry up, get up, company com
were believed to be beneficent to the visitor in      and sure enough, company or friends will alwa
various ways: promoted success in undertakings;       come.

or cured disease. On Morrison creek Nora found a        White Indians with curly hair used to be a
round hollowed-out rock where water had collected.   Bucksport before the white people came. They
Her mother told her a person who washed his hands     light skins and were big people, tall and goo
and face there would be lucky.                        looking. My mother and father were big, light

There are not many bad places on Bear river.      skinned, curly-haired people.
Mountain Glen creek, running into Eel river is a
bad creek. If people drink from it or wash the

face in it, they will go blind. This side, north                            TALES
of Capetown, there is a bad rock that halloos

like a person and that means that someone always                            Flood

gets killed. A chickenhawk's cry at that rock            Spider talked to a woman. He told her to

means the same thing. Two other rocks halloo like     a big basket. She worked one year making that
a person. This side of Capetown, one of them, the    basket. She made it wide at the bottom with a
northern rock, is called Ts'enlit (the young          for the top and pitched it all over the outsi
woman who never lied). [The name of the southern     When the flood came the woman and her brother
rock Nora did not know.] Mohil rock, at Mattole,      saved in that basket. They put food in the b
is the sister rock of the big rock at Crescent       and got in and closed the lid. They floated
City beach, and, when small, high, fluffy clouds     and by and by the basket bumped and bumped.

show in the sky, they talk to each other. The        did not know how long they were in the basket
woman rock is always to the south, and the man is    when they felt it bump and bump, the man said
always to the north. Crescent City people know        "There must be land, must be rocks somewhere,
the story about these rocks. [Nora did not know      the lid and look." Then they felt the basket

it.]                                                 and they looked out. They saw mud and coon tr

Explanations of natural phenomena followed the     in the mud; they saw dove fly. They moved out
general line of thought, drawn from the folk          the basket and camped. The woman told the m

tales; such phenomena usually were attributed to     build a house because the rain began to fallf
supernatural causes. Nora related the following:     said: "This house has a leaky roof." The man

Ocean was on the east side first, and the land    "Where?" and she did not answer him. He saida
on the west side. That is why the hills look         suppose that you want me to call you wife, t
wavy and you find shells in the ground. The west     you will answer." She said, "Yes, that is wha
land is the only place where the trees grow. The     want." So they lived together and had childr
breakers came from the east and the water, too.      that is how people came on earth after the t

Earthquake is called Ninitu'ku, which means       the flood. Everyone is related to that woman,
"shake ground." A mother makes her children get      that man. That is why the big, spotted-back

up and stand, so they will not fall through the       is never killed, never harmed, and is thought
earth. If they lie down, they will go through and bring good luck.

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                   119

Raven and Crow                      Then she cried and sang a song. That love song is

the oldest song the Bear River people have. After
people can understand crow language. Crow     she came back to her family, her sister said,

0138n. She was Raven. They had a little        "What happened to you?" She said, "I've been all
yen put the baby in a basket. Crow went        cut up. I'll never follow another man." The tiny

deer and Raven took the baby basket and       abalone shells are the oldest girl's body. When

ting for mussels and seaweed. She set the     she arrived home south, the man was already there.

on the beach and began to hunt for mus-     She would not marry him, but he stayed there with
* n she found sea eggs and they were so        her and that is why abalone money stays at Trini-

t she ate sea eggs and ate sea eggs. She      dad and that is the reason women do not follow men

all about the mussels and seaweed. The         but have the men follow the women. Abalone is found

e up. She looked around; the baby basket      only where that girl stopped to swim when she trav-
a. She hunted and hunted for it and cried      eled, and it is always rough because she was all
ad. Her husband came back and found his        cut up by that man.

ne. He looked for her and found her sit-          [In all song stories, as well as in the regular
hind a rock crying for the baby. The man       tales, it is the grandmother who is important, and
ana looked for the baby but could not find     not the mother.]
said to the woman, "You've been eating

g8" He whipped her with ironwood until she

* black and he killed her. His brother-in-                       Coyote and Spider

* along and the husband told him that he          Coyote had a baby and put him in the sun. The

led his wife because she ate sea eggs and      sun was so hot that the baby died. Coyote stalked
e baby. The brother-in-law whipped the         the sun every morning. He went up and up, hunting
a until he turned black, and that's why         for the sun, and he wanted to get down. He saw

ad crow are black.                              everything at a distance under him. He did not

know how to get down. He spit down and the spit
fell and fell and fell and Coyote did not know
4   Origin of Abalone                 how to get down that far. Spider came along. He
rl came from the south--came and stood a       told Coyote he would let him down with his rope
y off from a man. He wanted to get her be-     if he would not look up and would not laugh.

he was covered with Indian money. He said       Spider let him down and down, but Coyote looked

grandmother, "How am I going to get that       up and he laughed because Spider's behind looked

" His grandmother said, "Sing a song to her     so funny, you krow how it works when he makes rope.
a will come to you." So the grandmother        Spider was angry and he drew him up, drew him up,

a song and he sang it to the woman. His      drew him up. Coyote promised not to do it again,
ther told him that he must be out hunting      so Spider let him down again, but Coyote looked

girl came. One day the grandmother heard     up again and he could not help but laugh because
on a dress and saw the girl coming. She        Spider looked so funny. Spider drew him up, drew

ll over with the abalone shell, she looked      him up, drew him up. He was angry. Coyote promised
ike a rainbow. Then the man came home          not to laugh again, so Spider let him down again.
i in finery, dressed just like a humming-       Coyote laughed again because Spider looked so

Re saw the girl was old and ugly, so he         funny. Spider broke the rope and Coyote fell and
his back on her. She went away; went to        fell and fell down and hit the ground and broke
rth, and his grandmother told the boy he        all to pieces. He broke every bone. He was all

wrong. The girl went a short distance        mashed up. Two girls came along and said, "That
e to a creek where she changed back to a       looks like Coyote!" One kicked the bones and

l young woman. He saw her and followed        Coyote came to life again.
in, but she went away from him and said
ld teach him a lesson. She told him she

lt have treated him so if he had come so                         Coyote and Spider16

her. She went on and on. She stopped at          Spider, with the pretty yellow back, is the one
river and he followed and caught up with      who did something to Coyote. Coyote had a little

re on the left side of the river. He           boy in the sand. He put him in the hot sun and the

er to go back with him but she said no.       little boy cooked. Coyote did not know what to do.
he would cut her up so that she would         He shot at the sun and he finally found himself up
pretty again. She would not go back, so      in the sky and did not know how to get down. He

her. He left then, and she went to Trini-      did not know what to do. He spit and the spit went
washed the blood and her body came back       so far he could not see it. He threw Indian pipe
tul again. That man saw her again and he        down. It looked so small. Spider came along and

'to get her. She came toward him and told      told him he would put him down if Coyote would not
It she would not go back with him but that     laugh at him and make fun of him. Coyote promised
ld always leave abalone shell for him to          '8Second version by the same infocrmant a year
that he should not come after her again,        later.

120                                      ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

that he would not laugh, but as he took hold of       grandmother lived. He traveled from there ag
the web and looked back, he laughed at the rope       his grandmother's will. He took young alder
coming out of the spider's behind. Spider drew        stripped leaves off and ate or chewed it. He
the rope up and said, "I thought you promised         he would always chew this alder when anyone
not to laugh." Coyote said, "I could n6t help but     him. He traveled east and came to a place w
laugh, you looked so funny." Spider let him down      he dressed like a pretty woman; dressed in

again. Coyote laughed again, and Spider again         money. A man wanted him because he thoughtC
drew up the rope. Spider let him down the third       was a woman. He wanted that woman but other
time. Coyote laughed and Spider cut the rope and      chased him off. Coyote went away again and
Coyote fell! Coyote flattened out on the ground       the same thing. They wanted to buy Coyote,

and two girls picking huckleberries kicked him.       escaped again. He tried to make a short cutl
Coyote said, "Yes, that's why I'm all mashed up."     the mountains and came to a place where the
That is why they say spider's web is so good for      plenty of people. He was hungry. He saw Ind
medicine. Eel river people (Wiyot) don't use it,      potatoes but he did not bother them. He wen
they think it is poison.                              ing and had plenty to eat. He saw more Inai

tatoes but he did not bother them. He came
old lady's house. He was very thirsty and

Coyote Stole the Sun                   for water. She said, "There is water." He s
In olden times there was no sun. One day a         "I want fresh water," so the old lady went

lazy person came along, dragging along, dragging      water and while she was away he ate all they
along. It was Coyote. People told him not to go       dian potatoes stored in the basket. She c

to a certain place, but he went anyway. They did      but he did not drink the water. He went. Sl
not know whether Coyote was a man or a woman. He      the basket empty of potatoes. She said, "Fo
took white clay and plastered it all over himself     you are going to pay by going crazy for wat
between his legs so he looked like a woman, then      She said, "I know that you are Coyote now."1
he put blackberry juice on himself to look like       came terribly thirsty while he traveled. H

blood. They thought he was a menstruating girl,       creek. He ran toward it but the creek reced
and they liked that girl and wanted to do right       him. He threw an alder stick into it, but t
by her, so they put him in a house to train. They     stick came out dry. He went on and met ano
all went away to gather food for the dance they       old lady making a basket. He asked for wat
were going to give for that girl, and left a lit-     said, "I have a well in there." Then she to
tle girl to watch and see that she did right and      to jump aside and there was a well under hi
did not look around. The sun was hanging up like      ote took a cup and tried to drink but that
a lamp in an old basket in the corner of the          work well, so he crawled into the well and
house. Coyote grabbed it and ran. He ran and ran      and drank. He drank so much he swelled up
and ran. They sent all fast runners to catch him.     burst but he still drank. Timber, stumps,

They sent bumblebee, hummingbird, hawk, and swal-     everything went through him and caused a f
low after him, but they could not overtake him        He did not know about this until a big wat
even when he dropped the sun. He dropped it many      came along. He saw it and closed his mouth.
times, but they could not catch him. Fish ducks       water dog said, "Now are you satisfied? I

finally almost caught him, so he threw the sun        go through you and fix you up. Whenever yo
against a rock and it broke all to pieces. Then       water near a spring, that's my water." Coyc
it was light.                                         raised up but felt that his behind was all

out by the timber and logs that had passed
Coyote Stole the Sun17                 him, so he talked to his tail and his test

and said, "What am I going to do now?" Th
Coyote traveled and traveled. There was no sun     and testicles said, "That's what you get f
at all. He traveled north first, and he did not       stealing the old lady's potatoes," but the
see the sun. He came back again. He went south        finally doctored him and fixed him and he

and traveled. It got warmer. He dreamed about the     to excrete again, whereupon he addressed t
sun. He wanted the sun. He tried to get it. He        crement and said he was going on. The exc
went over a bare mountain and came to a place         "No, I cannot go with you, I have to stay
where someone lived. [From this point the story       til I grow potatoes again." Then Coyote we
is a repetition of the first version.]                the excreta said to him, "Every freshet on

creek and river will take all of the timbe
Later the people shot at Coyote for what I
Coyote's Glutndoe

Coyote was traveling, he was everywhere. All

people knowv him because he traveled so much. He                     Cl

started from a big rock on Bear river where his                      Cyt     tl      oa

____________                              ~~~~~~~~Coyote came to another place and saw a1

girl and wanted her. He went to the river-
17Second. version given following year.             They were going to have a big Indian dancel

NOIAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                 121
a to see the dance and help with the                   Coyote Raped His Grandmother

'He dressed like an old man and went to

,arriving last. When he came in, they          Grandmother told Coyote to go out and hunt

he must sing. When he got up to sing,       fawn. He went away and he saw new Indian potatoes.
oung-looking again. He went and leaned       He stopped and asked his testicles if he should

a wide board and began to kick it to be-     go back and tell his grandmother there were plenty
Ssong. He sang well. More and more people     of potatoes and take her back there with the dig-

1l they pushed the walls of the house        ging stick so he could catch her and rape her.

y wanted to hear him sing. He stopped        His testicles told him that he could do that, so

and wanted to rest and have the remainder    he went back and told her there were many new po-

ople sing. That pretty woman he wanted      tatoes. She took her digging stick and went with
ked at him. He went to the river to         him and began digging. Coyote said, "Dig down

nt to another place. He thought about        deeper." So she dug deeper and deeper until her
l.They told him they were going to have     behind stuck up out of the ground. Coyote then

ce again, so he went back like an old       grabbed her and stuck her head down in the sand
in. He said, "I saw a nice-looking young     so she could not see and he copulated with her.

.singing." People said, "Yes, he was a       Then he ran so she could not see who did it, but
ger, we will go after him to sing again."    she knew it was Coyote. She called out, "I know

te said; "rLet me go ask him." So Coyote     you now, you are Coyote." He said, "No, grandmother,
himself like a pretty girl and went there.   I did not do that to you. I'm going to ask my

e a bigger house for the dance, so Coyote    testicles and penis if I did that to you and they
himself back into a good-looking young       will tell you." So he sat down and asked his tes-
sang again, everyone could hear him and      ticles and they did not answer, so he asked his
he cried. His tail, his ears, his foot,      penis and it said, "Yes, that is what you asked
excreta helped him sing. Everyone felt       me." Grandmother said, "I knew that, I know it

out his singing, so the girl he wanted        now. It is a good thing that I'm an old woman or
toward the door and Coyote took her and      I would be having lots of little coyotes." She

me to his grandmother. They chased him,       quit digging and went home. Coyote was so angry

t at him, but he chewed alder and cured      at his penis for telling on him that he was going
as. He told his frandmother he had brought   to mash it on a rock. He sat down and started to
woman. She said,  You stole her and now we    hit it with a rock, but the penis drew back.

ye war." He said, "Grandmother, hurry and     Coyote pulled it out again and tried to hit it

"So grandmother said that she had no         again, but it pulled back every time and Coyote
t field mice and asked the girl if Coyote     never succeeded in mashing it.
her. The girl said, "No, I thought he was

man, but he must be Coyote." Coyote said,                      Flight of Geese

for you, that is how I paid for you."

ght came he told her to go to bed. The           Goose came from the north to see his wife, but
d not want to eat field mice. When day-       she could not go back north with him because she
ame she noticed that Coyote was gone. She     was going to have a baby. She never did go north
a him and saw him jumping after June bugs,    with him because he did not pay enough for her,

knew that it was Coyote. She went back and    and she had to stay in the south to raise little
ina a log and then went back to the house     geese. He goes north to see his people and stays
logs in the bed and covered them over with   all winter. He takes the little geese with him
ers and went back to her own people. Coyote   but always goes back south in the spring to his
a to cry because he thought she had turned     woman.

log, but the old grandmother said that it

cause he had not fed her right. Coyote                            M

his tail, and the tail told him that that                         Magic Boat

ht. He followed her and overtook her when        There were many people, strangers, living among
nearly home. She told him that he was        the Bear River people and speaking their language.

and said she could not eat his food, so       They lived with the Wiyot too. They were very small
got ashamed and curled up and started for     people who looked exactly like the Bear River

hat is why Coyote hobbles when he runs. He    people. They left in a boat from Eureka Bay at Hum-
i grandmother he was going to make an ar-      boldt Point, and they never came back. No one knows

of his shin bone and go back the next year   where they went. Eel River and Mad River people

that woman back. Grandmother said, "No,       know this too. We do not know why they went away

do that, you must use deer bone." Coyote       nor where they went. They had that good boat I was
gown leg on a rock and hit it and broke        telling you about. It was not an Indian boat, and
ne. He suffered and suffered and rolled       it would never, never tip over. Once ten people

but when it healed he was small and thin     went out hunting sea lion and they caught seal and
legs and went half crippled. He did not       it took them out too far so they cut the rope and
at woman back.                                  then waited for daylight to come. They came across

122                                      ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

a big place where seaweed was thick; something                         Little Black Devils
raised up twice, they thought it was a snake.

They pulled the boat off the seaweed barrier and          One time an old maid stayed alone whileh
went north. They looked back and saw the snake         family went hunting weeds. She told her peo
standing up out of the water like a tree in the        when they came home that she heard someone
sky. It then fell over toward the boat but missed      the house, heard someone whistle. She said
it. The people came back safely. Later they used       she felt afraid but they thought that she w
that same boat to go away in. They went away for       old to take. That night she lay down in fro

good. This was long before the whites came. The        the fire in the brush camp. It was moonlight
Indians saw that same kind of a boat come in near      slept soundly and when she woke she felt as
Humboldt Point, but they went out again. They          there was a shadow on top of her. She tried:
say that it was the very same boat. That boat          get hold of it. She cried out and said that.
was so good it could not tip over when they iwent      was like a man. The shadow came and put his
on the ocean. If a man was going to tip over, he       between her knees and carried her away, hea
slapped his boat on the side and spoke the name        ging. A man saw him and shot him through th
of that good boat and that always saved them.          dle; he dropped the woman and went. They br
That boat's name was Ca'dahoh in the Eel River         her back to camp in a faint. Men took arrow
language and Juntu'nus in the Bear River lan-          hunted him but they found only blood drops.
guage. All of the little sea gulls left at the         woman was middle-aged and she did not want
same time as the small people. These little sea        married but her mother saw that she was pre
gulls did not like good-looking people and killed      The woman said she did not know who made he

them off. After they left with the little people,      way unless it was that man. They got two or'
there commenced to be good-looking people again,       Indian doctors who danced and sang. The doe
light-colored people like the people at Bucksport      said that she had been having intercourse w
and Davis creek. They were all big, tall men, es-      that devil for a long time and that he was,
pecially the Davis creek people, but they were         coming after her because she was going to

mean. They did not use arrows, knives, or sticks       baby. She disappeared for about four years,
to kill people, but broke necks and bones with         came back and told the people to put out sa
their hands.                                           eggs. She said that that was the only thing

children could eat. Later the people kille
child and the father. The woman's mother ti
Wild Men                          to go back to where she had been because h
Mothers alwrays warned their children to stay       children were going to be devils like their
close to camp so the wild men would not catch          ther. She went back then and they never sat
them. He catches women, young wriomen, not married     again, but sometimes they hear her children:
wromen, and little children. Wild women catch          ing in the night and they then go out and

young, unmarried men. They lost one girl that          salmon eggs on the tree limbs. In the mornx
way, that is howr they knew about it. She went         eggs are always gone. If a man or woman tel
dolwn to the river to swim and did not come back.      these black devils they have been living wi
They looked and saw where she came out of the          they will always die. These small people ar
;water and put on her clothes, but they could not      black and they stink. They live in the wood
find her tracks back to camp. Old people thought       people never caught them, but now the timbe
that she was killed. They were sick about it.          all gone and they have gone farther back.

Tow,iard mor-ring the old lady was crying over losing  take babies, too; that's why they never lea
the girl and they were all just going to wash          babies alone. It isn't good for unmarried

faces in the river after crying, when they heard       to sleep on the back on that account. They
someone call,   "Mother, father!" Other people         take married women.
heard it too. That lost girl came back, the shells

all off her dress. She came back and said that a                          Origin of Shamans
little man snatched and took her away. As they

went along she dropped shells off her dress.              A woman had a boy and they started for

That little man stunk. He went to hunt. He packed      river--a wicked place. The boy was very si
a big deer and cut it up and cooked for her. She       rolled him up in a deerskin and started tr
would not eat it. She asked him how he killed the      She stopped first at a house at Orrick and-
deer and he told her that he shot it with poison,      "I came to get my boy doctored; is there

that is why he cut out part of the deer. That          here?" They said, "No, go to the next place
night he laid his poison bone down and she stole       of here." She went to the next creek and t
it and pointed it at his mother and at him and         they told her to go on to the next creek,

then put it back w!here she found it. They both       went to the third creek. When she got ther

had headaches for the first time and laid down and told her to go on to the next creek, whichX

died. She followed her shells back to camp. She        called Little River. At Little River they      l
lived to be an old, old lady.                          her on to Mad river; the Mad Rive      r people

NOMLAND: BEAR RIVER ETHNOGRAPHY                                  123

Eureka bay, which was the seventh place                        Origin of Indian Dogs
topped. From Eureka bay they sent her to

hiver and from Eel river they directed her         A long time ago Indians had no dogs. They

,small lake at Centerville. There they told      could not shoot deer and get them, but must set

at they had never had a doctor, so she         snares and chase them. One time a younger brother
,the sick boy out from under her arm and         told his older brother that he would go hunting

him up for the people to see. She said, "We     with him. The older brother said, "No, you're too
had a doctor, so you see this boy is going     young," but the younger brother went along in

t and be a doctor." He stood up. He was as    spite of him. The younger brother went to sit

as a cane and he told the people that he        down, and the older brother said he was going to

leave his body for the new doctors and         sit too. Younger brother said he was going to be
I return his spirit into the cane of hazel-      a dog and for older brother not to be surprised

yew, or young pine which was to be used        if he heard a dog bark. Younger brother went and
uring sick people. He promised that he           ate older brother's excrement and turned into a
give power to the new doctor through the       dog. He chased deer and caught him. Other people
f the cane which was his body. He left his      said, "What is that?" They did not know dog.

in the water of the lake and went up to the     Older brother tried to tell them what it was but
He went first through lightning, then           only cried. Older brother told his wife to make
H thunder, then through low, middle, and        a big basket and to feed the dog outside. The

clouds to the sun and moon. The sun and moon    wife asked him where his younger brother was and
cLouds toma hesun and woma n. The o sun are   mon  the older brother told her he had turned into a

el; the lightning makes his fire and the        dog. That dog left for two or three months. He

er rolls when he goes up to the sky. After      could not talk any more, just shook himself all

rtored he used h   ands and a pipe to cure     over when he saw his older brother. He went away

The pipe was used first, and then, after        again and brought two dogs home with him from

The pipe was  uedy  fisusedt, a   then, ater   where he had been with Coyote. He had mated with

the sick boy, the hands. His spirit comes       Coyote and from then on Indians had dogs. That's
th   the sicane toohe the hand octprget power   what makes dogs so smart. Indians buy dogs. They

into the cane to help the doctor get            pay good money for them because they are so smart.

They pay maybe one boat or one string of Indian
money for them.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS USED

CNAE     Contributions to North American Ethnology.

UC-PAAE University of California, Publications in American

Archaeology and Ethnology.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES

Plate 7. a, b, upper Bear River territory.
c, mouth of Bear River. d, domed rock on the

coast in southern Bear River territory. e, elk-
horn purse (mus. spec. 1-27140), olivella and
ground abalone shell beads.

Plate 8. Nora Coonskin, last Bear River inform-
ant and shaman, since died (Dec. 22, 1935). a,
shaman's headdress, beads, eagle feathers and

staff. b, elkhide belt for extracting pains in the
curative ceremony (mus. spec. 1-27141). c, smoking
the shaman's tubular pipe. d, side view of inform-
ant.

[124]

[Nomland] Plate 7

Habitat views; elkhorn purse and shell beads.

[125]

Univ. Calif. Anthro. Rec.

I;    t    .

Shaman (informant) and her paraphernalia.

[126]

[Nomlandl Platel,