ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 14:2 ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY BY THOMAS R. GARTH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 195 3 ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY BY THOMAS R. GARTH ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. 14, No.2 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS EDITORS: R. L. OLSON, T. D. MCCOWN, J. H. ROWE Volume 14, No. 2, Pp. 129-2I2, plates 8-15, 13 figures in text, map Submitted by editors June 26, 1952 Issued February 27, 1953 Price, $1.25 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA .0- CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS Page Introduction .......................... - . 129 History ............ 129 Territory and intertribal relationships . 130 Economic life ........... 132 Hunting ........................................ .132 Fishing .135 Vegetable and insect foods .137 Medicines, herbs, secular curing ....... .............. 140 Work ideals and division of labor ........ .............. 141 Material culture .................................... 143 Houses ................ ..................... 143 Clothing .................. ................... 144 Personal adornment ................................. 146 Skin dressing .................................... 147 Blankets ......... ... . . 148 Snowshoes ........ 148 Baskets ........ 148 Twine and nets ........ 151 Carrying devices ........ 152 Weapons and armor ........ 152 Stone implements ........ 154 Canoes and rafts ........ 154 Fire-making outfit ........ 155 Craft specialization ........ 155 Life cycle ........ 157 Birth and infancy ........ 157 Names and status terms ........ 159 Childhood ........ 160 Puberty ........ 161 Marriage ........ 163 Death ................. 165 Social life ................. 168 Kinship ................. 168. Etiquette ................. 170 Abnormals ................. 170 Social gatherings ................. 171 Music and musical instruments ........ ............... 172 Games . ...................................... 173 Tobacco and smoking ....... 175 Political organization and wealth ......... ................ 176 Villages . ..................................... 176 Chiefs . ...................................... 177 Crimes and torts .................................... 179 Warfare . ..................................... 180 Trade .............. ....................... 182 Wealth and inheritance . .............................. 184 The supernatural ..................................... 186 Religion . ...................................... 186 Guardian spirits and their acquisition ...... ............ 187 Shamans . ...................................... 188 Charmstones ....................................192 Ghosts and souls ................................. 193 Cosmogony and reckonings .............................. 195 Cosmogony ................................... 195 Natural phenomena ................................... 195 Time, directions, and numeration ........ ............. 196 Conclusions ............. ..................... 198 Bibliography ............ ..................... 200 Plates ................................. 203 MAP Atsugewi Territory ................ facing 129 INFORMANTS In the body of the report informants' initials have been used to show the origin of statements. ATSUGE DB Dave Brown, aged 80 to 85; good knowledge of old culture; fairly reliable; my most important informant for the Atsuge. SB Sarah Brown, aged about 73; good informant. She was ill during part of my visit and was used for only a day and a half. Her daughter, Hattie Wyn, acted as interpreter. KB Kleeman Boney, aged about 45; remembered myths but little else. JS Johnny Snook, aged 90 to 95; had lived in the old village near Cassel before its disruption by the whites. His mind was still fairly clear. He was best on material culture. His daughter, Mattie Bernal (MB), and her husband, Stile Rivers (SR), acted as interpreters and contributed valuable facts on their own initiative. BW Boquita Wilson, aged about 55; did not remember much of the old culture but was quite reliable in what she knew. APWARUGE JL John LaMar, aged 72; Apwaruge mother and French father; was quite intelligent; had lived at Fall River Mills with his mother until he was 22 years old, when he moved perman- ently to Dixie Valley; fairly reliable. BM Bill McClennan, aged about 75; memory and reliability about the same as John LaMar's. BN Bill Norman, aged about 60; gave little information of value. IP Ida Peconom, aged about 68; a shaman; was quite intelligent and proved to be my best informant. LR Lucy Rivers, aged between 55 and 60; fairly reliable; good supplementary information. GM Gomez Mullen, aged between 35 and 40; did not remember much. MW Mary Wilson, aged about 70; a good informant, but rather deaf; used only for half a day. JW Jerry Wilson, aged about 72; co8perative; gave good supple- mentary information. PHONETIC SYMBOLS AND DIACRITICS The orthography is taken from the simpler system of Sapir's Phonetic Transcription of Indian Languages (1916, b) with some modifications as follows: a as in father o as in note a as in hat I like the "o" in no ai as in aisle u as in rule e like the "a" in fate u as in but i as in pique E ch as in church I as in pin 8 sh as in ship B D E ot (approx.) intermediate between b and p, short duration intermediate between d and t, short duration as in met There is usually a slight rolling of the "r" sound, especially at the end of a word. -- --- rl--- --- -- --- 3 4 z Jo>/ X / I 4 ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY BY THOMAS R. GARTH INTRODUCTION The Pit River tribes have been neglected ethno- graphically.1 Dixon's notes on the Achomawi-Atsugewi give a good but brief sketch of the culture, De Angulo has written on the religion of the Achomawi, and both Merriam and Kniffen have published excellent reports on the geography of the region, but there has been no comprehensive study of these people which adequately places them in the Californian cultural milieu.2 It was with the purpose of making such a study that the writer spent two months in Atsugewi country in 1938, followed by three weeks in 1939, with funds furnished by the University of California. Atsugewi territory lies in northeastern California just north of the Sierra ranges and immediately south of the Pit River. A chain of mountains separates it from the Sacramento Valley on the west; to the east the lava-studded Atsugewi lands extend beyond Eagle Lake, becoming progressively drier until they assume an aspect much like that of the Great Basin. The country is mountainous, rising from an elevation of 3,000 feet along Hat Creek to 5,000 feet or more in Dixie Valley. (See map.) The Atsugewi are divided into two major groups, the Atsuge or pinetree-people, who occupy Hat Creek Valley, and the Apwaruge - from apwarliwa, the name of Dixie Valley - who live to the east in and around Dixie Valley. Sometimes the Apwaruge are called mahuopani, juniper-tree-people, a name which reflects the dry and barren nature of their territory. Today little remains of the old material culture ex- cept the occasional practice of eating acorns and epos roots, the making of basketry, and the use of cradles and a few other items. Although shamans are still active, the white doctor is considered at least equally efficient. The old shamans are dying off and no trainees are taking their places. Native cultural standards have been largely rejected by the young, who are often reluctant even to speak the old language. Only my oldest informants re- membered much of aboriginal life and nearly all inform- ants could speak some English. However, a factor of considerable importance in maintaining certain aspects of the old culture is that most informants lived at or near their old village sites and thus used'the old place names and frequented the old localities. Occasional gatherings at the root-digging grounds or to sing and play the hand game also helped preserve some of the cultural traditions, at least among the older generation. 1 Powers (1874. P. 416) seems to have been the first to mention the Atsugewi as separate from the pther Pit River tribes. He refers to the "Pacamallies of Hat Creek," from Paqamala, the Achomawi designation for the Atsuge. 2 Kniffen, 1928; Merriam, 1926. Among themselves the older people spoke only their native tongue. The element-list surveys of tribes in the western United States and Canada sponsored by the University of California have been very helpful in writing this report, especially Voegelin's for the tribes of north- eastern California, which served as a useful check on my own findings.3 The ethnographies of Du Bois, Spier, Dixon, and others on tribes surrounding the Atsugewi have also been invaluable for comparative purposes.4 HISTORY The Atsugewi, because of their somewhat secluded mountain habitat, were spared contact with white civili- zation until the middle of the nineteenth century. Although there were vague reports of contact with Spanish ex- plorers or Mexican bandits, these could not be verified. Peter Skene Ogden may have been the first white man to visit the area (1827-1828). Besides the trappers, Fre- mont, Greenwood, and other explorers probably skirted Atsugewi country. Peter Lassen passed through Achomawi- Atsugewi country in opening the Pit River route of 1848. He was soon followed by a stream of white migration from the east which was devastating to the Indians and their culture. Prospectors entered the Lassen region in 1851, and not long afterward came white settlers. By about 1859 the Indians were felt to be a menace to the whites in the area and were rounded up by militia and taken to the Round Valley Indian Reservation. Unsatisfactory conditions at the Reservation caused most of them to leave in 1863 and return to their old haunts along Hat Creek and in Dixie Valley.5 Joaquin Miller reports an uprising in 1867 of the Pit River and Modoc Indians, who had made up old differences and were now fighting together.6 A number of whites were massacred. Miller speaks of an Indian camp being made on Hat Creek in the war that followed.7 It is not thus improbable that the Atsuge participated in that war. After a year or so of fighting the Indians suffered a final crush- ing defeat and surrendered. This last engagement may be the one at Six Mile Hill, spoken of by informants, in which a large number of their people were cornered in a cave and massacred by soldiers. After this, many of the 3 Voegelin, 1942. No attempt was made to compare findings systematically. Only dubious points were checked with Voegelin's list. 4 Du Bois, 1935; Dixon, 1905a; Spier, 1930. 5 Report of the Commisaioner of Indian Affairs, 1863, p. 93. 6 Miller, 1873, pp. 272-273. 7Ilbid. p. 324. [129] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Indians were again removed to Round Valley.8 Those remaining and some who subsequently returned from the Reservation maintained friendly relations with the whites. Today most Atsugewi live on allotments in their old territory, the younger Indians often working for their white neighbors or for the lumber mills. The census of 1910 gives a population of 240 for the Hat Creek Indians. This figure may also have included the Dixie Valley Atsugewi, since they are not mentioned in the census. The present population is probably half that or less. TERRITORY AND INTERTRIBAL RELATIONSHIPS The geographical features of Atsugewi country have been ably discussed by both Merriam and Kniffen, and there is little need of my adding to their accounts.9 As to the boundaries of Atsugewi territory, in general my findings agree with theirs. Atsuge holdings included territory from the western rim of Burney Valley to the tableland east of Hat Creek and extended north to about a mile below Cassel and south to Snag Lake, including the northern half of Mount Lassen. Apwaruge territory extended east of a line drawn from Bald Mountain through Blacks Mountain to Poison Lake to include Hayden Hill, part of the Madeline Plains, Horse Lake, and Eagle Lake to about half of Willow Creek Valley. (See map.) My informants differed from both Kniffen and Merriam10 in ascribing Susanville and the land north of the Susan River as far east as Johnsonville to the Apwaruge. 11 This territory was also claimed by the Northeastern Maidu. 12 My informants said that they made yearly trips to the falls near Johnsonville to fish, but reported no Apwaruge settlements along the river. One of Merriam's informants did mention two Apwaruge settle- ments in this area and gave their names, but a second informant thought that these settlements belonged to the Maidu. 13 Although the area in question may have been claimed and used by the Atsugewi, it seems more prob- able that they merely fished here by invitation from the Maidu to whom the land belonged. The Indians had a tendency to claim land on which they once hunted and fished. Dixon reports that the Maidu made a doubtful claim to Eagle Lake territory, 1 where they occasion- ally fished, but Merriam, Kniffen, and myself are agreed that this is undoubtedly Apwaruge territory. Intermarriage was the chief means of cementing friendships with surrounding tribes. Sometimes kin- ship bonds were strong enough to subordinate intra- tribal ties. One disaffected group of Atsuge moved per- manently into Big Meadows country, joining Maidu rela- tives. On another occasion some of the Apwaruge were ready to join Achomawi (Big Valley) relatives in a fight against the Atsuge. At times, too, feuds developed be- tween kin groups which were almost as bitter as war- fare with neighboring tribes. Strong kinship ties and a common language were the only factors that united the Apwaruge and Atsuge divisions of the Atsugewi. a There are still two families of Pit River Indians, either Achomawi or Atsugewi, living at Round Valley. 9 Merriam, 1926, pp. 1-52; Kniffen, 1928, pp. 297-332. ' Kniffen, 1928, pp. 316-317; Merriam, 1926, pp. 38-39. "JL, BM, and IP gave this information. 12Dixon, 1905a, p. 124. 13Merriam, 1926, p. 39. 1 Dixon, 1905a, p. 124. There was no chief over the whole group. The following example of the kinship ties leading to the establishment of friendship is typical. The Paiute finally made peace with the Apwaruge after a long series of destructive raids on Apwaruge villages. In about the year 1875 an Apwaruge woman was taken captive, becoming the wife of her Paiute captor. Later she managed to escape. Her Paiute husband had become very fond of her and through pEtskuame, an Apwargue chief who could speak Paiute, arrangements were made to let the Paiute man have the woman on condition that the two tribes become friendly. This was done. A large party of Paiute came, bringing presents, among which were one or two horses. On their arrival in Dixie Valley they were royally entertained. After a week or so the party returned home, loaded down with more presents than they had come with. After this, visits between the two tribes became more frequent and some trading was carried on. On several later occasions the Paiute avanged wrongs done to their friends in Dixie Valley. (J.L. ) Informants emphasized the former (before 1875?) lack of intercourse between the Paiute and Atsugewi, a situation reflected in the name for the Paiute, i.e., hen-a (strangers) One informant translated the term as "someone who is not your cousin." Surrounding tribelets were often named from some geographical feature. The Narious Achomawi groups were recognized and given names, as follows: dicowi owte From dicowiwa, Fall River Valley; owte, people. Kniffen's Achomawi. bomari owte Pit River people; the Achomawi between between the Atsuge and the Pit River; Bomara, Pit River. Kniffen's Itsatawi. akui owte Valley people; Big Valley Achomawi. Kniffen's Atwamsini. apishi From the name of a place near the headwaters of the Pit River; the people living near Likely. Kniffen's Hammawi. astakwaini owte Hot springs people; Achomawi group living near Alturas. Kniffen's Kosalektawi. apahezarini Goose Valley Achomawi. Kniffen's Ilmawi. DB gave two names for Kniffen's Madesi group; dakyupeni for the people llving just west of Goose Valley along the Pit River and psicamuci for those llving around Big Bend. The translations for these terms were not given, but the names probably refer to particular localities rather than to Achomawi tribal divisions. I was told by DB and JW that the name matslame, fish-eaters, was applied to the Warm Springs people; the group referred to was probably Kniffen's Astariwawi, one of the northern Achomawi groups.15 The practice of naming a people by the food they eat is a typical Shoshonean trait. Very possibly the name of fish-eaters given above is the result of Shoshonean influence. The Atsugewi found the related Hokan language of the Achomawi unintelligible but relatively easy to learn. As a rule, the Atsugewi were on good terms with their immediate neighbors and intertribal marriages were common. Relationships were particularly friendly between the Atsuge and the Northeastern Maidu (called dlqsui) and 15 Kniffen, 1928, p. 309. The name Astariwawi means "hot springs" and refers to some hot springs about 4 mi. east of Canby. I ll? 130 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY likewise between the Apwaruge and the Big Valley Acho- mawi. 16 DB (Atsuge) said that he had more relatives living at Big Meadows (Maidu) than he had on Hat Creek itself. It was quite common for a person to visit his "friends" - usually relatives - in those tribes, and when the Atsugewi were in trouble the other tribes could be counted on to give aid. The Yana (Dimawi) and the Achomawi groups from Big Bend to Big Valley, as well as the Atsugewi and Big Meadows Maidu, all co6perated in the economic exploita- tion of their lands - probably a necessity because of an uncertain food supply. If the acorn crop at Hat Creek failed, the Atsuge went to Montgomery Creek (Yana) or to Big Bend for acorns. In return, the Yana and Acho- mawi were free to use the Atsugewi lands during the root-digging season. If the root crop failed in both Hat Creek and Dixie Valley, the Atsugewi went to Big Valley or to Big Meadows to dig. At salmon-spawning time the Pit River Achomawi welcomed the Atsugewi when the latter came to fish for salmon, and allowed them to use some of the best fishing places. Shamans from one tribal group were not infrequently called upon to cure a diffi- cult case in another group, and during "Big Times" these same six or eight tribal groups met together. r; Captain Jim, a Big Valley chief, was said to have had consider- able authority in Dixie Valley, he being related there through his mother. The Apwaruge and Maidu had become alienated to some extent. The Big Valley Indians attacked a Maidu village. The Maidu thought the Dixie Valley people were responsible and attacked them. This led to a small war. One could almost make the corollary that the farther away a tribe was from the Atsugewi the less friendly did it tend to be rated. The more distant Likely and Alturas Achomawi were often at odds with the Atsugewi, as were the Modoc. The Wintu of Sacramento Valley were like- wise unfriendly, and were said to be continually sending supernatural "pains" into Atsugewi country to cause epi- demics. The Wintu about Anderson were called maskYk- swini. The translation for this term may be "spirit people" (from maski, spirit), a likelihood strengthened by the fact that Atsugewi souls were thought to journey toward Anderson. (See p. 193.) There was very little contact with the Shasta, who were called waiiki wte (Shasta Mountain people), the mountain itself being a prominent landmark on the northeastern horizon. The people west of the Shasta and Wintu were lumped under the term "kolola." No distinction was made between the Modoc and Klamath, the term vutsahone being applied to both. It was probably the Modoc who carried out most of the slave raids into Atsugewi country. DB reported the name maquadrusa'i (Deer Creek people) for the Mill Creek Indians, but added that the Atsugewi never had much contact with them. IP said they were treacherous fighters who fought with the Big Meadows Maidu but not with the Atsugewi. Today the Atsugewi have a fair present-day knowledge of somewhat distant tribes, gained probably at the Round Valley Reservation and through travel and intercourse since 1880. Informants told of an early trip for acorns (probably before 1850) as far west as the Sacramento Valley, but this was exceptional. Ordinarily the Atsuge ventured no farther than friendly Achomawi, Maidu, and Yana country. 131 ECONOMIC LIFE HUNTING Hunting was man's most important activity and means of gaining wealth and prestige within the community. Atsugewi society promoted the ideal that men should be almost continually at the chase, starting out in the early morning and not returning until a deer or other game had been obtained, perhaps two or three days later. To re- turn empty-handed was a definite disgrace. Deer hunting. -Deer (maqu) were the most sought after game animals. This is attested by the variety of methods used to hunt them as well as the frequent men- tion of them as a source of wealth and prestige. The most commonly cited means of attaining wealth was to acquire "deer power" so that one could kill many deer and get valuable buckskins.' The actual importance of deer in the food economy, however, was probably less than that of fish, especially among the Atsuge. The methods used in hunting them have a wide distribution in California and elsewhere. Three common methods are as follows: pEciyas, use of deer-head disguise: The hunter wore the head of a deer and often the skin also. He adjusted the head part of the disguise - by a strap under the chin - when in the vicinity of the deer and sneaked up to them behind bushes, waving the head back and forth to simulate the movements of a buck. Sometimes a mountain lion jumped on the hunter, mistaking him for a deer. If the hunter was fortunate, he might shoot two or three deer before they were frightened. Arrows were aimed at a spot slightly behind the foreleg. yunasii, fire circle around a mountain: Hunters en- circled a mountain with a ring of fire, leaving gaps at intervals where bowmen hid in holes. As entrapped deer came through the gaps, they were shot. JL and Apwaruge often conducted these burnings together. JL stated that the Atsugewi burned five or six mountains a year. cidupipiacu, use of tule rope: Tules were pulled up in bunches and tied together in long strings with streamers hanging down. These were put in a line a half-mile or so long with gaps between different sec- tions. Here hunters hid in shallow pits. Deer were frightened by the streamers and headed for the open- ing, being shot as they came through. This method of hunting was used either in the day or night and by one or several men. Other hunting methods include surrounding a mountain and driving the deer toward waiting hunters, shooting deer fromn ambush (perhaps from a brush blind) by a deer trail, and capturing them by nooses set along the trail. Trails were also favorite places to dig deer pits (yapski), about nine feet long with heavy poles reinforcing the edge on each side. Pits were wider at the bottom than at the top to make it difficult for a deer to jump out. Two con- verging wings of brush or rock served to guide deer into the pit. Sometimes natural pockets in the lava rock were covered over and used as deer pits. Plate 13, c shows one of these-pits with two converging walls of rock leading 'Deer power refers to a guardian spirit which enab*s a ma to kill deer. to it. Entrapped deer were strangled with a rope. A hun- ter might, with a grass stem, imitate the sound of a fawn so that its mother would come within range of his arrows. Bucks, according to DB, were not called in any way. A lone hunter might track a deer for a day or more before he tired it out and killed it. If a deer were wounded, the chase might be abandoned for the day and continued on the day following. Men with supernatural power over flint could predict exactly when the flint would kill a wounded deer and could tell where the deer was to be found. Occasionally a chief, organized a communal hunt (yis wni) on his land, and asked people from other villages to participate. He sent knotted strings to remind them of the appointed day. Often the chief himself did not hunt, but shared in the game brought in by others. If he did hunt, he was given a favorable position so that he would be certain to kill a deer. On the evening before the hunt the chief called a "sweat," after which there was a meet- ing at which plans were made and there was "power" singing. A man with strong deer power might tell who was to kill a deer on the morrow or he might guarantee that every man in the party was to kill a deer. BM told of a Hat Creek woman who could do this. She had a type of spirit guardian that ordinarily belonged to men. A prac- tice reported in Dixie Valley was to throw half-dried deer dung in the fire. The man toward whom it popped as it burned was to kill a deer. DB said that ten or fifteen deer might be killed in one hunt. On the morning of a winter hunt one of the best hunters took the bows and arrows of the other men to a designated meeting place and warmed them over a fire. DB explained that this was to prevent the equipment from breaking in the extreme cold. On another occasion he said that the warming made the weapons more effective. The operation was not neces- sary in summer, nor did a lone hunter specially warm his equipment. Voegelin reports that the hunter might smoke himself over the fire also.3 The hunters might string out in a long line and drive deer toward men in ambush or they might track a deer until it floundered in the snow and could be shot. The first man to wound a deer, if ever so slightly, got credit for making the kill.4 He received the skin, some- times the backbone and sinew therewith, and sometimes one or more of the legs.5 The next man to see the deer after it was killed got the head and neck, and the third man to see the deer received the entrails (DB). Two men hunting together might butcher the deer on the field; one would then carry the carcass and the other would carry the head and guts. A lone hunter carried the deer home before butchering it. Usually he shared the meat with other villagers, but he might keep it all if he so desired. When a deer was to be divided it was brought into the chief's house and laid on pine branches or brush. An old man assigned to do the butchering counted the persons present and cuit pieces accordingly, the butcher being entitled to a particularly choice piece for his services. Then the chief, or sometimes theL headman, distributed the meat. Frequently, in an effort to appear generous, 2 See discusion of knot,td string. p. 171. Vosgelln. 1942. p. 54. I n conceivale that ths custom. a very widespread practice, resulted from the fact that poison was put on the arrow points. DDB said that he might get all four leg. [132] GARTH: AISUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY he left very little for himself. If two chiefs were present, each received half the deer and then divided the meat among his own people (DB). The butcher cut through at the joints, the backbone forming one piece as did the separate ribs and the shoulder sections. The hams were divided in two. The large outside muscle was cut off; then the bone was removed, leaving the remainder as a second portion.6 Sometimes the meat was cut in strips to be dried. The lower jaw and the horns could not be broken but must be hung in a tree, or the hunter would lose his luck. A hunter whose arrows continually missed their mark tied a thong about his upper arm and made several short cuts in his forearm with a sharp flint, rubbing charcoal into the wounds. This produced marks similar to tattooing and was an effective cure for the difficulty (DB). When a man resumed hunting after a "lay-off" of some duration, he had to hit the first thing aimed at or suffer poor luck thereafter. This was particularly true of fathers who had observed the taboos on hunting coincident with the birth of a child. The difficulty might be overcome by shooting at a rotten log at close range. The common Californian attitude toward the relation between sexuality and hunt- ing prevailed. Contact with menstruant women and young children was considered very detrimental to a hunter's luck. A hunter would not touch his child until it was two or three years old. He also avoided intercourse before a communal hunt. In the meeting beforehand all women and children were required to be in bed (DB). The following methods of storing and cooking deer meat were employed. In summer, camp was made at a favorable hunting place. As the meat was procured it was dried on long poles tied between trees. Later it was cooked a little and stored near winter quarters. In winter, meat was dried inside the earth lodge, being draped over a pole above the fire. Partial smoking of the meat took place but was not considered necessary for its preserva- tion (JW). Dried meat was piled in bales about one foot high, tied up, and stored in a tree or other storage place. JS stated that it might be pounded a little (to soften it) and stored in baskets. These were probably hung in trees. In the field a man might cook the lights and liver or one of the ribs of a deer. According to DB, nothing else would be eaten. JW (Apwaruge) reported that a hunter in the field might use the skin as a basin, in which snow and hot rocks were put to boil the meat. Kelly reports a similar prac- tice for the Surprise Valley Paiute.7 The custom has a Plains connotation and seems un-Californian, although it may be a point which was not inquired about elsewhere in CaLifornia. Cooking in the carcass by putting water and hot rocks inside was not remembered, although Kelly re- ports it for the Surprise Valley Paiute.8 Meat was often broiled or boiled and eaten with acorn mush without salt. BW said that meat was sometimes eaten half raw. Long bones were broken up and the marrow scraped out. Boil- ing removed the rest of the marrow, which was eaten or used as a grease for the face and hands. The deer's head was cooked in an earth oven. Meat was removed by seiz- ing the lips and pulling back. The paunch was filled with grease, cooked in hot ashes, and then sliced and eaten. A number of meat taboos were observed, although it is doubtful whether all of them were known and practiced in every village. A pregnant woman should not eat the ears of a deer or her baby's ears would be large. Similarly a child's hnormation on butchering given largely by DB. K Kelly. 1932, p. 91. ears would grow large if it ate a deer's ear. A young girl or pregnant woman was forbidden the meat around the deer's pelvic bone (litlop) on penalty of difficult parturition. If a pregnant woman ate deer eyes, these would kill the baby; if she ate of the deer's head, the baby's head would be large. Men relished the deer eyes, which were thought to give them sharp vision. A boy should not eat the muscle on the lower leg of deer or he would get cramps in his own legs -" the sinew of the muscle would draw the boy's legs up." Neither a boy nor a girl should eat the white tendon in the deer's neck or the boy's bow and arrows and the girl's root-digging stick would break. Boys could not eat the deer's nose or the deer would smell them when they hunted; to eat the lights and heart of a deer would cause a boy to become short- winded. If a person ate the tail of a deer, he would travel too much. "He will go here and there like a deer's tail does." Antelope hunting. -Antelope (wasti) were plentiful in Apwaruge territory, especially in Grasshopper Valley, but were rare to the west. This was probably why antelope-charming was found only among the Apwaruge. The Atsuge practiced a simplified form of deer-charming whereby a singer stupefied small groups of deer, causing them to stand docilely while he walked up and killed them. According to DB, the deer were already dead, having first been killed by the hunter's guardian spirit. Antelope- charming, a practice more highly developed to the east among the Paiute,9 allowed the whole village to partici- pate in the slaughter of antelope. The "power" man sings all night with the help of some of the men. Towards morning the antelope ap- proach close to the singers. The fellow singing says, "It's about daylight. We will quit now." They had rope of twisted buckbrush in two piles as high as your head. The "power" man then told two men to take opposite ends of the rope and to run around so that the rope en- circled the antelope. The antelope wouldn't escape. Occasionally the rope, which had little strands hanging down from it, was wagged up and down to scare the antelope back. Then everybody prepared to kill ante- lope. Even women could participate in the kill because the antelope were all doped. The "power" man was some distance outside the enclosure during the killing. When the people had enough they let many of the ante- lope go. (IP.) JW asserted that the people themselves encircled the antelope after they had been charmed by the singing. He considered weasel power especially efficacious for the charming. Deer were never charmed in this manner. Antelope were also stalked with an antelope-head disguise. BM said that a deer-head disguise might be painted with red spots to simulate an antelope skin and used for ante- lope. Antelope were pursued until they became exhausted and were then shot, but according to JW they were never driven over cliffs. Even among the Apwaruge, deer were a far more important source of food than antelope. Bear hunting. -Bears were found for the most part in Hat Creek and Little Valley territory, seldom east of Dixie Valley proper. The small brown bear (oatapi) was killed whenever encountered. When a hibernating bear was discovered in his cave, two men crawled in, one carrying a torch, the other a bow and arrow. As they progressed, b Ibid.. p. 92. 133 9 Ibid., pp. 83-86. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS they rolled a large block of wood before them. On sight- ing the bear, the bowman shot it, and the two men made a quick retreat. In trying to get out the bear stumbled over the block and often died within the cave. If he came out, he was shot by other hunters waiting at the entrance. Grizzly (birdigi) hunting was a more serious matter. The animal was tracked to his cave by the hunter and the cave's mouth was blocked with debris until additional men could be sent for. Before the party arrived at the cave they held a meeting at which a shaman sang and foretold the outcome of the hunt. A grizzly usually needed little urging to make him come out of his lair. Men never crawled in after him, but stood outside and talked (using kin terms) to him until he came out. Two poles were crossed in front of the cave entrance. One or two men held each pole, a very dangerous job. As the grizzly sought to climb over the poles, these men pried up on the poles and forced the bear's body against the cave roof so that he could be easily shot. If this did not work, a brave man incited the bear to rush at him while other men shot arrows into it. Hunters used especially sharp and heavily poisoned arrow points for killing grizzlies. A man-eating bear was said to hold its paw up to shield its eyes from the sun when it was wounded. A bear which ate man would not be eaten, although no qualms existed about eating bears which were not man-eaters. The man who killed the bear got the hide, which, besides being valuable, gave him much prestige. The hide was hung up outside the village on a tree and was worked with a scra- per until it was fairly soft. In Burney Valley, men took turns hitting the hide with a short stick saying "O! jls, O! jis," each time they hit. This was thought to make them lucky in love. There was no dancing when the hide was prepared, as there was among the Wintun. 10 The hide might be dried and made into bearskin armor or tanned further and used as a blanket. The meat was di- vided among those who participated in the kill. The in- testines were discarded, and no one in particular claim- ed the claws. Bear-claw necklaces, if there were any, were not important.1' DB said that a man who drank the fresh blood of a bear would be very healthy thereafter, but he could do so only if he had a strong stomach. Other- wise it might kill him.12 Other animals hunted.-Elk (wlmniki) were rare.13 They were hunted much as were single deer. There were vague reports of buffalo, but it is doubtful if they were ever important in the Atsugewi food economy. Merriam'4 lists buffalo as having been present in the neighboring Big Valley Achomawi area. This is entirely probable for historic accounts tell of nUmerous buffalo herds in the Snake River region of the Great Basin as late as 1826.15 Mountain sheep were occasionally hunted. Mountain lions (raklmita) were valued for their skins and meat. They were tracked in the snow, treed, and shot. A hunter might entice the animal to jump at a set of deer horns which he held and manipulated behind some brush, as though it were a feeding deer. As the lion turned after his leap he was shot. This procedure was dangerous, for the 10 Du Bois, 1935, p. 11. 1' See p. 147. 12 The data on bear hunting were given mainly by DB and JS, both Atsuge. 13 The term w(mhli was also applied to buffalo and mountain sheep, but most commonly to elk. There may have been some conftion as to the term. 14 Merriam, 1926, p. 13. 1 Ellott, 1909, p. 3568. wounded feline was likely to attack and kill the hunter. JL considered mountain lions even more dangerous than grizzlies, but this opinion did not appear to be general. Wildcats (ordia'sui?) were tracked and shot after dogs had brought them to bay. Rabbits (cottontail, arepaki; jack rabbit, lknEki) were common only in the eastern area. The Apwaruge drove them into nets set in a long straight line and held up with sticks. Rabbits which be- came entangled in the net were clubbed to death. Rabbits were also tracked down and killed with arrows in winter. A hunter after a good day might have ten or more animals with their heads stuck under his belt (BM). DB described a drive when hunters moved up and down a field in semi- circular formation, shooting rabbits or other game that was flushed from the brush. Chipmunks, squirrels, and other small game were hunted with the bow and arrow, this being a favorite sport among young boys. Gray squirrels (waswari) were plentiful near Hat Creek, but were rare to the east. They could be called by making a noise with pursed lips - sucking in. The same call was used in the spring for rabbits. It might also attract a coyote, weasel, or wildcat. If a hunter found several squirrels in one tree, he shot the one lowest down first, then the next lowest, and so on until he might have killed six or seven (DB). Squirrels on the ground were run down and stepped on. Such animals as the ground-hog (poyiqi), badger (hweya), skunk (hai'yUna), and rabbits were smoked or drowned out of their holes. A stick with a cleft end was entangled in the fur of a cottontail and used to drag the animal from his hole; this method was probably used on other animals also. Skunks were said to be very fine eating if they were killed with smoke and not violently. Sometimes badgers were dug out of their holes. DB stated that the hunter first urinated around the hole in the belief that this would keep the animal from digging in farther. A sinew string was slipped on the badger's leg to pull him from the hole. Ground squirrels (he'twadok) were run down with dogs, or were smoked out of trees or out of their holes (BW). A wood rat's (Dopida) nest was jumped on. Dogs caught the animal when it ran out (BN). The porcupine (6hui) was considered a delicacy and was killed with a club when encountered, or it might be tracked with dogs to a tree or hole and killed. Men and boys who threw stones accurately might use this method to kill small game Such animals as the wildcat, raccoon (ja.hawhats), coyote skunks, and red fox were skinned and cooked in an earth oven. A pit sometimes as much as six feet wide was lined with rocks and heated by a fire, which was removed before the animal was laid in the pit on a layer of pine needles. A large heated rock was put inside the animal and smaller rocks under the fore and hind legs, which were then bound tightly in a bunch. A flat heated rock was placed on top of the animal, and the whole was covered first with pine needles and then with hot ashes and left to cook for half a day or so. Blood and fat might be put in the intestines of wildcat and cooked in the ashes. The quills of a porcupine and the hair of a badger, squirrel, or other small animal might be burned off before they were cooked, often in an earth oven. Sometimes they were skinned first. Ground squirrels were gutted and roasted in the ashes. When they were fat, they were considered quite palatable. BW said that rabbits were roasted over coals and then broken into pieces to be eaten. Turtles (a'pits)were cooked alive in the hot ashes. If they crawled-out, they were pushed in again (BW). In a myth, two Gopher brothers kill Weasel and put him away to season for a time before eating him: "When he gets spoiled a little he will taste good." However, DB, who told the myth, did not remember that meat was ever so treated. Ducks (ohwai) and mud hens (alujuk) abounded in Eagle Lake, Poison Lake, and other small lakes in the region. I 'I 134 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Ducks, geese (silum), and swans (kopu) were shot with the bow and arrow, the hunter hiding in the tule. Young ducks were watched until they were nearly ready to fly, then men and boys ran them down. This was best done in the early morning when there was little wind and the movements of the ducks through the grass could be follow- ed. In the fall, mud hens were so fat that they could not fly. They were pursued with rafts (BM). Pintail ducks (anantu) were speared at night by torch light (BW). Duck eggs also, and especially the eggs of the mud hen, were gathered in large quantities. DB said that the eggs (maEca) were roasted in an earth oven and then brought back to camp. Eggs were also boiled and might keep for a week or more. Informants denied that birds were ever dried and stored. Grouse (wemanaiwa) and such small birds as the meadowlark (Ditskola), robin (tsickok'kok), and black- bird (tsokui) were eaten, being shot with blunt-pointed arrows. A woodpecker's nest was watched until the young were nearly ready to fly, when it was raided. The birds were gutted, their feathers were burned off, and their bills were tied up. Then they were cooked in a pit oven. However, most birds were roasted over open coals. A noose might be set near the customary perch of a chicken hawk, which was valued for its feathers. Young eagles were taken from their nests when nearly ready to fly. They were tethered by a string attached to a leg, according to IP. DB reported that a crude cage was built to hold them. Eventually they were killed for their feathers. DB listed the following animals as not being eaten: pine marten (kiu), mink (yotapuri), bullfrog (aq'kSnidi), gray fox (Bus), buzzard (ca'ti), crane? (teuqop), crow? (a- ' aisi), magpie (hEcicisi), eagle (itwi), rattlesnake (asteomi), lizard (skwil a), and beaver (ha'iyar). BW, however, spoke of the fat tail of the beaver as being much relished. The Apwaruge ate cranes and, according to JL, owls. He added that doves were not eaten, for if a man ate dove, all but two of his children would die, be- cause a dove lays only two eggs. Miscellaneous traps and snares.-wotsmakeceas (throws him off), was a common type of snare put on logs lying across streams. Two uprights were set one on each side of the log, and a stake was driven in below and at right angles to one of the uprights. A noose was arranged between the uprights. The end of the noose was tied to a heavy rock balanced on the stake at the side. Then a trip string was put between the uprights. When an animal-a coyote, fox, or raccoon-hit the trip string, it unsettled the heavy rock which would fall and draw the noose tightly about the animal's neck, throwing him into the water where he would drown (DB). (See fig. 1.) pohnadari was the name given several forms of a deadfall trap used for small animals. In one form a rock was supported by a thinned section of an acorn. When a rodent gnawed through the acorn, the flat rock fell and crushed him. In'another form the acorn was tied on the end of a small stick. This stick was laid flat on the ground, acorn end in, and another upright stick, which supported a flat rock, was rested on the recumbent One. When the acorn was moved, the sup- ports gave way and the rock came down. A third form had only one supporting upright stick, in which three or four holes were bored. Acorn were inserted in the holes. When an animal tried to pull out an acorn, the stick was unsettled. In a fourth form the upright stick holding up the rock rested on an acorn. wa-cas, a common snare for aquatic birds, con- sisted of two ropes strung together across a pond or stream about three feet above the water. Short poles at twenty-foot intervals supported the ropes. Nooses hung from the rope at short intervals. One end of the noose was tied to the double roqe; the loop end was held open by being wedged between the two supporting ropes, As a duck arose from the water it would put its head through the noose, making it come loose and tighten on the bird's neck. A hunter might place these snares every fifty yards or so along a stream and then come down the stream in his canoe, scaring the ducks so that they flew into the snares. ciepi was another device for catching ducks. A widely forked pole was selected and a net was attached between the forks. After the butt of the pole had been stuck in the b,ank the pole was bent until the net was under water. A trip string was arranged so that, when a duck hit it, it would release the pole, which would fly up and catch the duck or ducks above it (DB). A method used in snaring quail (tuito'isi) was to con- struct a blind of bark and brush near a spring. The hunter lay prone in the blind and manipulated a slender stick with a hair noose attached to one end. The noose was slipped over the heads of quail as they came to drink. DB stated that a man might obtain ten or twelve birds in a day by this method. Dogs in hunting. -Dogs (ohema) were used only for hunting; they were not eaten. They looked much like coyotes except for their short hair, being small and having sharp pointed ears like a coyote. DB (Atsuge) stated that there might be only one or two dogs in an entire village and that, when someone wanted to go hunting, he would borrow a dog from its owner. BM (Apwaruge) was of another opinion, however, saying that every family had two or three dogs. He said that dogs were useful in hunt- ing ground hogs and added that they could chase a wounded deer and bring it down by jumping and seizing its ear. One Apwaruge dog was named watswam-ir (hunter in the flat). Atsuge dogs were also named. In winter, dogs commonly slept on the sweathouse roof where it was comparatively warm. FISHING The Atsugewi, although outside the area of the salmon runs, depended heavily on fish for food. In spring trout swarmed out of Manzanita Lake near Mount Lassen and Eagle Lake in the eastern area and swam up small streams to spawn. Parties of fishermen awaited them on the banks, spearing them, setting small gill nets for them overnight, or dipping them out with loosely woven baskets or dip nets. At times the fish were so numerous that a man impaled two or three on his spear at one thrust, and along Pine Creek, which empties into Eagle Lake, a man could catch 135 Fig. 1. Snare set on a log lying across a stream. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS the fish with his hands and throw them out on the bank. Enough fish might be obtained to keep the group in meat for a month or more (from 2 to 10 baskets of fish per man). IP said that there might be enough to last almost until winter. As fish were caught they were strung on willow withes which passed through the gills and mouth. Fish one and a half feet long were not uncommon; they were also very fat. Some people enjoyed eating this fat raw. Most of the fish were dried, but they were not smoked. Their heads were cut off, they were split along the back to remove the guts and backbone, then they were strung on a pole to dry. JW said that a twig might be stuck through the tails of two fish so that they could be draped on either side of a drying pole tied between two trees. Dried fish were moved to the village or camp by stages in round baskets, each about three feet wide by three feet deep. The Atsuge tied the fish into small bales with skunkbrush cord and stored them in pits or in the cookhouse for winter. JW (Apwaruge) said that the fish were sometimes stored in long narrow baskets. In the fall the Atsugewi made expeditions to the Pit River for salmon. They paid the Achomawi chief here for the use of his territory by giving him part of the catch. Fish were divided evenly among members of the fishing party; in a good year each man might get five fish (DB). BW said that her grandfather laid; down alter- nate layers of willows and salmon until a good-sized load had been built up, which he then carried with a pack strap on his back. Salmon were cooked in an earth oven and then dried and crumbed. True salmon-calling - described by Powers for the Achomawi - did not occur, but there was a form of fish-charming.'6 Billy Bennet laid his harpoon by the side of the stream. Then he stood about ten feet away and sang and danced a little. Soon a big salmon came up and swam slowly near the bank. Billy harpooned it and took it out. He did this one time after another until he had plenty of salmon. The water-ouzel was his helper. He told me that when he had gone for a swim in the river'one hot evening, this power had come to him. Natural falls were favorite fishing places. One of these, located about a mile below Caasel on Rising River, was called ani (salmon) wec6ici (jump up). Another, near the town of Johnstonville on the Susan River, was called nadi wec6eci (nadiyi, trout). The Atsugewi did not construct racklike weirs, as did the Achomawi, but used only the simple method of suspend- ing baskets (about 3 ft. wide) from limbs which jutted out over the falls. Fish trying to jump the falls fell into these baskets. Falls were about the only important fish- ing places privately owned, an exception being Jack's Hole in Dixie Valley (see p. 137). For granting them per- mission to use the falls men gave the owner part of the catch. The Achomawi, who owned weirs at Burney Falls and other places, often traded salmon for Atsugewi seeds and epos roots. Fishing was carried on intermittently during the summer season. The Apwaruge obtained large pike (lesa), small pike (lescip), large suckers (BiLki), small suckers (diur), whitefish? (bot-api), and trout in their part of the Pit River above Fall River Mills. Salmon seldom came up this far; they were likewise rarely seen on Hat Creek. Chub (ni'uDi) were common in Rising River and Hat Creek. KB said that a man fishing in Rising River might obtain one or two hundred chub in one haul with his net. Minnows (sakyow) were numerous in Pine Creek and Eagle Lake. They were taken in fine- meshed nets when the water was low, and were roasted in hot ashes. The guts and backbone were removed by seizing the head and pulling; then the minnows were eaten. BW said that trout were boiled or roasted over coals and that chub were cooked and eaten whole, guts and all. Fish eggs were dried, pounded up, and made into mush (JW). The following equipment and methods of fishing were employed. A sharp bone point tied at an acute angle to a section of twig (about 1 1/2 in. long) served as a fishhook (wulemes). A series of these hooks baited with minnows was set out overnight, each being attached to a line about three feet long leading to a short pole. The butt of the pole was stuck in the mud bank or tied to the tules. Some- times a line was tied directly to the tules. Women some- times fished with hook and line.'7 Spearing fish from canoes by torch light was, and still is, practiced. From two to four persons rode in a canoe, the paddler in the stern and the spear man or men in front. A woman might go along to paddle or to tend the torch, but she did none of the spearing. The torch (manui) consisted of four mountain mahogany sticks about two feet long, tied to- gether at one end. Pitch was put between the sticks. The harpoon (wenas) was a double-pronged affair with a red fir handle to which serviceberry prongs were tied. Each prong carried a hollow-based, bone-pointed toggle (pit'cuda) with a line leading from its center to the har- poon handle. The toggles are similar in construction to the one pictured by Du Bois for the Wintu. 18 In modern times fish spears are often pointed with four short notched prongs of wire. Both JW and BM denied that the Apwaruge used harpoons in early times. This may have been true of the eastern Apwaruge groups, but seems improbable for those living near the Pit River. DB (Atsuge) alone remembered a short many-pronged spear used to hold chub or suckers down to the stream bottom until they expired. He was supported in this statement by Voegelin's Atsuge informant. 19 The spear was probably similar to one described by Barrett for the Modoc.20 DB denied that fish were ever shot with the bow and arrow. Gill nets (ikarow), varying from fifteen to thirty feet long and about three feet or more high, were used. DB stated that only the Atsuge possessed gill nets, but JW reported their use in Eagle Lake. They were not common in the eastern area, however. Three or four nets might be strung across a river, with boatmen stationed between to manage them. Two such net lines would approach each other, corralling the fish between them. Fish were speared as they came near the canoes. Such fishing was best carried out in the early morning when there was little wind and the fish could be seen. The chief or the owner of a net divided the fish caught in it. Often, in an effort to appear generous, he gave others a larger share than he gave himself. Suckers were distributed first, steelhead, the more desirable fish, last. Large sacklike nets with a rectangular mouth held open by a pole on each side were commonly used for chub. The net was held with1 its mouth facing upstream, and the fish were driven into it. Large dip nets (rasas) were made by bowing a willow rod and attaching the edge of the net sack to it. A stick 17 Fihhbook. were denied by both JL and BM for the Apwaruge, but IP reports their use. They were probably used by the Little Valley and Pit River Apwaruge, at leest. 'Du Bois. 1935, p. 128 and fig. 6. Voegelin. 1942, p. 5. Barrett, 1910, p. 251. " Powers, 1874, p. 413. 136 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Fig. 2. Bow-type net. then tied to the center of the bow string for a handle, in figure 2. The net was held so that its mouth faced tream, the bowstring side of the net adapting itself cely to an uneven stream bed. A second type of dip net apkas) had a circular rim about two feet in diameter. e handle was either a single pole bisecting the rim or s composed of two poles forming a V, one tied to each de of the rim. The sack part of the net was about two t deep. Several men might swim down the river and rve fish into nets. Open-twined basketry traps (stoho), about five feet og, were in common use. The mouth flared out to a idth of a foot or more and enclosed a smaller basketry .one which allowed the fish to get in but not out. The fish ere removed from the small end of the trap by untying cord which bound the willow warps together there, losing the opening. A V-shaped approach of sticks and rocks guided fish into the trap, which was set in the riffle water. Wild parsley (B6hom) was used for poisoning fish; buckeye was not used. The parsley root was pulverized and the powder was poured into a quiet pool, which might be closed off from the rest of the stream by a temporary dam. The poison turned the water blue and soon caused the fish to float, stomach up, on the surface where they could be dipped out with baskets. Another method of ob- taining fish was to construct a dam (bohta) to divert water from one branch of a stream. Sometimes the whole stream was temporarily diverted into another bed. DB said that this was done in August. Probably it was done when the water was low and the supply of fish from the spring run had been depleted. Dip nets or baskets were used to take the fish out of the pools left here and there in the old bed. In making the dam two large logs were laid from opposite banks and were tied together where they met at the center of the stream. Stakes were driven vertically into the stream bed next to the logs and the structure was filled in with rocks and debris. Often the dam was set at an angle to divert the water in a certain direction. If a person started after the fish in the old stream bed before the chief gave the order, few fish would be caught. At the given signal everyone ran to ,claim a good pool for himself. By placing his dip net in a pool a man established his right to the fish in it. Others could not fish here without his permission.21 The owner of Jack's Hole (Dixie Valley) invited others to share in the catch when the stream here was diverted. The frame- work of a dam on Horse Creek near the south end of tfle Valley was left intact from year to year, it being iReported by DB (Atauge). Information from IP suggests that a 1inaiar practice prevailed amog the Apwaruge. filled in with sticks, rocks, and mud when it was to be used again. When the dam was no longer needed, a few sticks were pulled from the center to allow the water to go through (IP). A single pool might be separated from the creek by a dam. My father, who lived in Little Valley, had a pool walled off from the creek by rocks. In spring, trout came in through an opening to escape the muddy waters of the creek. My father would sneak down in the early morning and put a net over the opening. Then he dipped out the fish with a basket. Sometimes he got as much as two baskets and two nets full of fish. (IP.) There was a taboo against a fisherman's eating hot fish before setting out to fish in the morning or after getting back in the evening. To do so would cause the fish in the stream to become hot (DB). When men were away fishing, the children at camp were cautioned to be quiet and not to run around. Otherwise the fish would hear their fathers fishing (SB).22 Mussels (slisiqa) were found in Jack's Hole in Dixie Valley and in Pit River. A man placed a flat rock on his back and dived for the mussels, gathering them in a basket. Crawfish (racas) were also eaten. Rocks were turned over to get them, and they were caught with the bare hands. A survey of fishing methods and equipment shows that the Atsugewi in these respects differ little from other tribes of northern California, although the Atsugewi devices are never very complex. Their substitution of suspended baskets for weirs is unexpected in view of their good knowledge of Achomawi weirs. The baskets were probably effective, at least in spring, since the spawning fish tended to travel up the sides of the stream near the bank, where the water was less muddy. Fishing was definitely more important in the western area than to the east, where fishhooks, harpoons, and gill nets were either rare or lacking. VEGETABLE AND INSECT FOODS The Atsugewi made good use of the vegetal resources of their country. This was a necessity, for no one staple, such as acorns or fish, was abundant. JW, who had an interest in numbers, said that he had counted 140 differ- ent food plants formerly used. The 50 plants here re- corded, I am certain, far from exhaust the list. Acorns.-As in the rest of northern California acorns formed a large part of the vegetable diet. Even in the eastern area where there were few oaks, and sunflower and other foods became more important, the natives made long trips into Atsuge and even to Yana country for acorns.23 The Atsuge, likewise, went outside their terri- tory for acorns when their own crop was poor. Sometimes the first snowfall caught a party of acorn-gatherers at some distant locality and forced them to spend part of the winter there in temporary bark huts. Men or agile girls climbed oak trees and knocked down acorns with sticks or they stood below and used long sticks for the purpose. One man might strip two or three trees in a day. Women gathered the fallen acorns in baskets. White acorns (tsldiu) were not gathered much, the black acorns (d:qi) being much preferred. Acorns were not considered best if picked when slightly green. At present long acorns (kadikiy:w) are sometimes gathered from the vicinity of n This compares with other accounts of the effect of the action of parent and child on one another. 23 The Apwaruge also got acorns from the Atsuge in trade. i 137 41 i il 15. I 11- 1, a?- I ? 4 'O 1? i; . r ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Redding and Anderson, acorns being an important article of diet even today. Acorn-filled baskets (about the size of a nail keg) were moved by stages to winter quarters. Many of the acorns were dried in the shell on slabs of bark and stored in pits or granaries. Shelled acorns (yohpagi) were stored in large baskets (honor) in the cookhouse or outside covered over with bark. Acorn shelling was a social occasion; young people had contests to see who could shell ten acorns the fastest. They shelled the acorns with their teeth or by pounding the up-ended acorn with a rock, using another rock as an anvil. One person might do the cracking and another might take the shells off; either sex participated. The split acorns were dried on platforms (rapErehe) of branches and pine needles, supported on four posts about three feet high. On rainy days a fire was built underneath to dry the acorns. Acorns were prepared for consumption by being pul- verized in a basket hopper. The flour was sifted by jarring it on a board (jupdas) or flat basketry plaque (jupdas ka par) until the larger pieces were separated out, to be pounded over again. DB stated that sifting boards (about 1 1/2 ft. square) used to be made from sections of hollow trees ground to the required thick- ness with stones. The flour was leached, formerly in a basin in the sand but nowadays in flour-sacking put over a basket. After cold water had seeped through the meal two or three times, warm water was used until the meal tasted right. The prepared meal might be stored until needed. In making mush, flour and water were put in a basket along with hot stones, which had first been dipped in water to remove adhering ashes. Two forked sticks (twafwas) were used to lift hot stones. There was no looped stick mush stirrer or tongs. A plain uncarved stick served as a mush stirrer. Mush was ordinarily eaten with meat, each person having his own small basket and conveying the mush to his mouth with index and sec- ond fingers. Spoons were unknown. The mush was thicker than that of the Maidu, who were said to drink it from the baskets. In making acorn bread (bwcowi) some of the meal was mixed with water and a small quantity of earth. It was then molded into small biscuits or larger loaves and wrapped in sunflower leaves. The bread was cooked all night in the earth oven; it might keep a week without spoiling, and was often taken by men on hunting expedi- tions. Nuts.-Buckeye nuts (B'ass) were not important. They were gathered when ripe, shelled, and pounded, the pieces being put into a loose-woven basket and soaked until the juice was gone. The pulpy mass was squeezed dry and might be eaten without cooking (DB). The trees were rare or absent in the eastern area. Sugar pine nuts (ac6w) were highly regarded as food. Men climbed trees and shook limbs with their legs until the cones dropped. Cones were placed on end and covered with dry grass, which was burned until the pitch was gone. Nuts then came out easily when the spines were pulled back. They were shelled and cooked in an earth oven; then they were eaten or stored (buried in baskets) for later use. Trees were plentiful just west of Hat Creek, on Wilcox Mountain, and back toward Logan Lake. A person finding a heavily loaded tree might lean a long pole against a lower limb to claim ownership. Others could not get nuts from this tree without his permission. Lumps of sugar pine resin were eaten as candy. There was no intentional gashing of trees to get the sap, how- ever. Digger pine nuts (wzkcar) were obtained in the same way except that after the burning the cone was hit with a rock to make the nuts come out. Bole pine cones were gathered, put on end in rows, and let dry until they broke open. The nuts (itskagi) were eaten plain or pounded up and used. They were stored for winter in the shell. Roots.-Epos roots (pEtsku, Pteridendia bolanden) were one of the staple foods. They were plentiful east of Hat Creek on Murken Bench and around Government Lake, but especially so in Dixie Valley, where they are still abundant. The roots were placed in a shallow bas- ket (kopwar) with damp sand and worked back and forth with the feet until the skins came off. They were then dried on large flat rocks, being turned over now and then. If rained on, drying roots would mildew. Dried roots were stored for the winter. When used, they were pounded in a basket hopper and made into either soup or bread. Bread was sometimes wrapped in grass, hung up to dry, and then stored. Fresh roots had a fine meaty flavor and might be ground with the mano-metate. Cleanel dried roots were called Betiu; pounded dry roots, cetake; pounded green roots, hoh'caki. Bohwari, cammassia (qamash), were cooked in an earth oven. A pit was lined with rocks and a fire was built in it. The ashes were raked out and the bulbs were placed on top of a layer of pine needles and covered with pine needles and a layer of dirt. Then a fire was built on top. After cooking all night they were taken out and mashed and then made into cakes, vary- ing from a foot in diameter to biscuit size. These wer again cooked in the pit. When done, they had a sweet taste. These cakes might be dried and stored, being soaked when they were to be used. They were not made into soup. purumi, another variety of camassia (japwi, Brodiaea multiflora), and BoskitTra (Brodiaea hya- cinthina) were cooked in an earth oven in the same manner as Bohwari. Tiger Lily (skapow, Lilium pardalinum), was cooked in an earth oven and eaten immediately. It was said to be very delicious. The bulbs were obtained around Thousand Lakes and along Lost Creek. jahtu (unidentified) had roots similar to a slender carrot. These were cleaned and dried, pounded up, and made into flat cakes which were placed on a layer of grass and dried. They were stored in this form. jahtu were also eaten raw when fresh. wohtur (Agoseris ?) was cooked in an earth oven and eaten immediately without mashing. Wild onion (suyi) was cooked together with Bohwari gusgi (Lomatium triternatum) roots were said to taste similar to epos roots. They were cooked in the earth oven. wra'ya (Brodiaea coronaria) roots were boiled in water and sometimes cooked in the earth oven. Berries.-Manzanita berries (wehyar, Arctostaphylo8 patula), were gathered in July and August, being knocke into burden baskets with a stick. They were stored in pi pounded up when needed, sifted, and made into fine flour which was molded into biscuit-size cakes and put away until wanted. Cakes were eaten plain or put into water drunk. Cakes were sometimes made of a mixture of man zanita and wild plum flour. Cider was made by adding water to pounded berries and was conveyed to the mouth with a deertail sop. Berries were plentiful near Hat Cr but were rare in Apwaruge territory. Baijisur (unidentified) had red berries simnilar to manzanita which were prepared and stored in the sa way. Cider made from them tasted more sour than manzanita cider. I 138 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Skunk berries (kopcir, Rhus trilobata), were gathered in midsummer, washed, dried, and stored. They were pounded into flour in a mortar basket, mixed with manzanita flour and water, and drunk. Recently a kind of jam has been made by adding sugar. Wild plums (Batiku, Prunus subcordata, Sierra plum) were prepared by removing seeds and drying the pulp, which might be pounded up and stored for winter in small cakes. Chokecherries (cuiwap, Prunus demissa?) were put into a tule basket when ripe and mashed. Water was added to form a paste, which was eaten without cooking. Serviceberries (pikni, Amelanchier alnifolia), were prepared like chokecherries. They were also dried in berry form and stored, and were soaked in water when they were to be used. Elderberries (warakui, Sambucus velutinus) were mashed and mixed with manzanita flour and stored in dried cakes. Huckleberries (an anyats), gooseberries (loklopi or popupi), currants (pl'sudir), buckthorn berries (yuhaiup) (Rhamnus rubra?), hEstlkida (rolled between two rocks to take the spines off) (Ribes roezlii) were all berries which were gathered and eaten while fresh. Juniper berries (mahuop, Juniperus occidentalis) were eaten fresh and were also dried, pounded into flour, and stored. Seeds.-Sunflowers of at least five varieties were used: iwitslnyami (Balsamorhiza sagittata); tamtiye (B. hookeri); uitslnyami (B. deltoidea); and ax6lki, gicwi, and kasnatchwup (these three unidentified). Seeds were gathered in July by beating them into a burden basket with a seed beater. They were parched in a flat tray (tipwlrohi) and then put into a shallow basket and the skins removed by abrasion against the side of the bas- ket with a rock. After the seeds were winnowed and ground with the mano-metate, they were ready to be eaten. The flour might be molded into cakes the size of a biscuit, which were eaten without cooking. Sun- flowers were formerly plentiful on mountain slopes, especially in burned-over areas. A burden basketful of seeds was said to be a good day's harvest for one woman. The gathering might last two weeks. aiwici (Amsinkia parviflora); kasaii, mustard (Sisymbrium pinnatum); pEru'we (Chenopodium carina- tum?); karowisus seeds (unidentified); and wild barley, hatasur, were all gathered and prepared as were sun- flower seeds. Miscellaneous.-Wild parsley, B6hom (Ligusticum grayi?) leaves were eaten in the spring when tender. They were soaked in water and then cooked in an earth oven and might then be stored in the cooked form. They were used as a meat substitute when acorns were eaten. Clover, kat6iti, tops were eaten raw; the roots were cooked in the earth oven. Thistle, ca'a-ko (Cirsium drummondii?), stalks were eaten raw when young and tender. kiB (Lomatium utriculatum) leaves were eaten raw. watini (Lomatium nudicaules and Pteridium aguilinum) leaves and tender stems were eaten raw. Moss, tstiti, was gathered in streams with the feet; bugs were shaken out; then the moss was cooked and eaten. Mushrooms (kramcai) were also eaten. Salt.-Salt was rarely if ever used as a seasoning on meat. DB (Atsuge) said that salt occurred on certain meadow grasses, which were picked and eaten as they were. The grass or weeds which grew near Rising River were never burned to extract the salt. 24 SB said that the salt was dusted off the grass stems into a basketry pan in the early morning. The main place to obtain salt, according to this informant, was at iuDiwa (from iuDi, salt) near Montgomery Creek. The Montgomery Creek people traded the salt and also allowed their friends in other tribes to come and gather it. JW (Apwaruge) stated that salt was not used by his people; only the Montgomery Creek people used it. However, the Apwaruge probably made some use of salt, obtaining it in trade, as BM stated. Insect foods.-As in the rest of California, certain insects were highly regarded additions to the bill of fare. Yellow jackets (mumumisi) nests were located by attaching a white flower to a dismembered grasshopper leg set as bait. When a yellow jacket carried the bait away, its flight was followed to the nest in the ground. Here the insects were smoked with pine needles until dead. A circle was made around the hole with the fingers. This was said to increase the size of the nest, making it the dimensions of the drawn circle. The nest, containing grubs, was roasted over the coals. When it browned on one side, it was turned over and cooked on the other side. Jerusalem crickets (honigi) came in large swarms. They were obtained in the early morning when numb with cold. The natives first watched to see where they stopped overnight. They were scraped from trees and rocks with sticks into baskets, cooked in an earth oven for an hour or so, and put away to dry for two days. Then they were eaten or stored. If stored, they were pounded up when they were to be eaten. JL thought that the crickets came every thirty years. Grasshoppers (cmacigur) were plentiful in Grass- hopper Valley. To gather them willows were tied together to make a strip thirty or forty feet long to which dry grass was tied at short intervals. After setting the grass on fire, two men raced across the field carrying the flaming willow line between them. Grasshoppers jumped into the flames and perished; they were easily gathered afterwards (BM). Another method was to knock them off bushes with a stick into a burden basket in the early morning when the insects were numb. They were prepared in the same way as crickets. Salmon flies (unutpi or halipwa) were plentiful along Pit River and Lost Creek. They were obtained in spring, being picked by hand from the banks, in the early morning before the wind arose. The wings were removed, and the body was boiled and eaten. (DB.) To obtain ant (sinasita) eggs red ant hills were dug into and the eggs were shaken out into a basket. They were eaten in the eastern area but not in the western area, according to DB. Angleworms (miusi) were eaten by the Apwaruge, but not by the Atsuge. A digging stick was inserted in the ground and shaken to make worms come up. Implements, storage, and cooking of food.-The modern digging stick (haswa) consists of an iron bar about three feet long sharpened at the end and with a wooden cross- piece at the top for a handle. To dig up a root, a woman put the point of the stick near the base of the plant, pushed down, and worked the tool back and forth until the root became loose in the soil. Then she pried the root up and, putting the "T" handle of the stick under her right armpit, she leaned down and picked up the root, which she cleaned of dirt and tossed into the burden basket on her back. She might also have her cradled child in the burden basket. In former times, digging sticks were made of green mountain 24 Burning to extract salt from the weeds was a Wintun custom (Goldschmidt, 1951, p. 411). 139 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS mahogany wood sharpened to a point which was hardened in the fire. DB asserted that they were formerly double pointed. Cooking utensils were kept in the cookhouse. Here a large flat-topped rock about a cubic foot in size was buried until nearly level with the ground, and on this the hopper basket was put. In using the hopper a woman sat next to it and held it in place with her half-bent legs, which pressed down on the rim. One hand wielded the oblong pestle (jupu), and the other hand brushed particles to be pounded to the center of the hopper between des- cending blows of the pestle. From time to time the pestle was changed from one hand to the other. A small brush (warasmas), about five inches long, was used to brush the flour from the hopper and mortar rock. This brush was made from soaproot bulbs pounded to remove the fleshy part, the fibrous part being left to form the brush when it dried and became stiff. Several roots were tied together to form one brush. When a depression much more than an inch in depth had been worn in the rock base on which the hopper sat, the rock was discarded and a new one obtained. There are many discarded mortar rocks of this sort in Dixie Valley. True stone mortars were lacking, nor do they occur archaeologically. Bed- rock mortars (yohcaki) were used, especially near streams, for grinding roots and other materials. The mano (tsawa) and metate (caskut) were used mostly for seeds. The user knelt at one end of the metate, which was flat on the ground before her, and pushed the mano across the metate. Sometimes roots were first pulver- ized in the basket hopper and then ground fine with the mano-metate. In winter, food was usually cooked inside the sweat- house, probably because the heat supply was conserved in this way. Each family in a house cooked for itself and had its own utensils, although occasionally two families did their cooking together. If there were four families, there might be four baskets of acorn mush beside the fire. Stores of food, however, were used communally, at least within one house. Each family in turn obtained food from its store and divided it among the other families. A common method of storing food was in pits (yapski), preferably in porous sandy soil on some slight elevation with good drainage. These pits were four or five feet wide and three feet or so deep, lined with pine needles and bark. Acorns or other foods were poured in and covered with successive layers of pine needles and bark, dirt, and stones to keep out burrowing animals. A boxlike acorn granary (cipi) was used in the western area; it was about four by six feet at the base and five feet high. Four posts, one or two of which might be slen- der trees, served as a framework on which bark slabs were tied with buckbrush withes. The flooring and roof were also of bark. Acorns were poured in on top of a thick layer of pine needles, which covered the floor. DB (Atsuge) also described a conical granary made by laying bark slabs over a framework of poles. Basal diameter and height were about six feet. The floor consisted of bark slabs covered with pine needles. The acorns were held in bark-walled bins. Food storage in trees was especially popular in the eastern area. In the higher branches of a juniper tree, comparatively free of lower limbs, a platform about ten feet square was built of poles and slabs of bark tied together with serviceberry withes. The bark often had to be carried a long distance, since pine trees were rare in the Apwaruge area. Dried meat, hides, or other foods were put on the platform and covered with bark slabs to keep out moisture. To pre- vent mice from climbing the tree, bark was stripped from the lower trunk to make it smooth. A small tree with many branches was leaned against the storage tree (rakireci) as a ladder. In the western area the base of a small tree used for storage was blazed around so that pitch would accumulate and prevent ants from climbing the tree. Food was also stored in pliable baskets, sewed along the top and hung from the branch of a tree. MEDICINES, HERBS, SECULAR CURING Medical herbs could be prepared and administered by anyone who knew how, whether he was a shaman or not. Some of the most common herbs are listed below. There were no doubt others which were forgotten or held back by informants who did not want to part with cherished medicinal secrets. Chokecherry (cuiwap) leaves were effective as a poultice for curing cuts, sores, and bruises, includ- ing black eyes. The green leaves were gathered, pounded in a mortar basket, and applied to the wound in the form of paste held on with a cloth; a fresh application was made every morning and evening until the injury was healed. Leaves might be dried and put away for future use. The bark might be scraped from a limb, pounded up, and then boiled; the liquid was good for bathing wounds, causing them to heal more rapidly. Black moss, applied as a poultice, was used for reducing swellings. The moss was taken from pine trees, dried, and pounded up. It was then boiled, or sometimes was used dry. Wild parsley (Bohom) was one of the most widely used remedies for colds, coughs, children's stomach aches, and other ailments. The root was chewed, or was scraped, when dry, into warm water and drunk. It was also used as a poultice on the chest or back to prevent a cold. "The cold wouldn't get in. It didn't like the smell of the Bohom." The imputed qualities o this plant appear to be magical. Shamans found the smeli of the root displeasing; if a shaman was carry- ing his pains and smelled the root, he suffered a hemorrhage and fell over unconscious: "He nearly dies." The pains avoided a person who had Bohom with him. However, it was denied that people ever carried B6hom to prevent pains from attacking them. Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) was used for bad colds and rheumatism. The leaves were boiled and the resulting solution drunk. The leaves were also *pounded and used raw as a poultice on cuts. During a sweat bath the crushed leaves might be rubbed over the body. Mountain balm (natatsirop, Eriodictyon californi- cum) was used for colds and rheumatism. To cure rheu.matism a fire was built in a long pit. The patient was wrapped in a blanket and laid on the bed of pine needles and mountain balm branches and leaves, whi were placed over the coals in the pit. The steam he absorbed from the plants cured him. For colds, and also for whooping cough, the mountain balm was chewed and the juice swallowed. (DB.) Wormwood(?) (wiksop) leaves and stems were pounded up and boiled to make a tea, which was drunk to prevent blood poisoning. It was also used for cuts. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos patula) leaves were pounded up and boiled. The solution was good for cuts and burns. Oak bark (takiopmi'wi, Cambrium), was boiled and the solution drunk by women to prevent blood poisoni or catching cold during the birth ordeal. It was not used for cuts. Galls on oak trees (yowcipuniwas) were boiled and I 140 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY the resulting decoction drunk to prevent blood poisoning or catching cold during childbirth. Juniper (mahuop) berries were chewed raw to cure a cold. If there were no berries, the leaves and bark were boiled to make a kind of tea and the mixture was drunk. Sugar-pine sugar (ac w) was obtained from the sap, boiled, and given to a person unable to urinate. It was said to be an effective remedy. It was also considered good for stomach trouble, especially in young children. Angelica root (Butsui) was considered useful in preventing snake bites. Adults carried a piece of the root with them, and children's legs were rubbed with the chewed root. Snakes avoided the root because they did not like its smell. Shamans smoked angelica in their pipes; their guardian spirits liked to smell the pungent smoke. Before digging up a root, a person addressed it as follows: "I came to see you. Be good to me. Give me good luck." (JW.) If the root liked the person, it would consist of a single tap root; if not, the root would be bushy and branching. Pine gum was pounded, chewed, and then used as a poultice or to draw boils. Gum was also chewed to allay thirst when water was not available. Other miscellaneous therapeutic practices are listed below. To cure consumption the sufferer caught a snake, holding its head down with a forked stick while he cut out its gall (?), which he swallowed. Then he told the snake to go off with the sickness. (JL.) For general good health a man chewed the top shoot off a young pine tree. Especially was this done by a father after his wife bore a child. Broken limbs were set as best they could be. Then splints were bound on each side of the injured member with rawhide or some other material. . To remove a cataract from the eye, fine finger- nail shavings were pulverized and put in the eye, per- ; haps twice a day. When the eyelid moved, the material k abraded the malignant growth until it peeled off. (IP.) To cure toothache some sagebrush bark was chewed and mixed with deer manure to make a small pack ( (yapcisehiyi), which was placed on the jaw over the -affected tooth and set afire. The operator, a person of either sex who had a reputation for luck in such * matters, then pronounced certain unformalized words, as "yahatsa hel atsupa yahatsa" ("Get away bad thing, get away"). IP claimed that the worms (the supposed cause of a toothache) were burned and made to pop. ;,The operation often left a scar on the patient's face. -A similar pack was prepared and put over the knee ;joint to cure rheumatism. The operator and the speak- ling of certain words were both necessary to effect a euccessful cure. No attempt was made to keep the words a secret (anyone could learn them if he so esired) nor were the words formalized. For these 2reasons the pronouncement can hardly be called a formula, even of the somewhat unformalized type ound in Northwestern California. The efficacy of the Sure seemed to come as much from the fact that the erator was lucky - I was told that he might or ight not possess. a spirit guardian - as from the ency of the words uttered. Sometimes the operator as given a basket or some other gift as a reward for services. To keep snakes away a turtle's liver (upsi) was *rubbed over the legs or a turtle's head was carried ttached to a woman's skirt. Snakes disliked the smell of turtles (JS). 25 WORK IDEALS AND DIVISION OF LABOR Diligent work the year around was an ideal strongly promoted in Atsugewi society. There was no feeling that women worked or should work harder than men, although women were considered superior in the quantity of food produced. (This may have resulted from the fact that gathering normally produced more food than hunting and fishing.) In summer, at least, women seem to have worked harder than men. There was strong social dis- approval of the woman who stopped work to gossip or to rest - the ideal woman dug at some distance from the others so that gossiping was not possible, and she did not eat any of her roots until she returned to camp in the evening. There was considerable competition among woman to see who could dig the most roots or gather the most seeds, and one who outshone her neighbors was highly regarded. On the contrary, men might gamble all day while their wives dug roots, although they were said to do so only when sufficient animal food had been ob- tained.26 Sometimes they went so far as to wager the roots dug that day by their wives. An interesting device, perhaps to relieve the strain of zealous and unceasing work (at least by those who prac- ticed the cultural ideal), was the calling of a rest day (yEmlwlka) by the chief every six days or so, "whenever they felt they needed a rest." Some informants confused this with our Sunday.27 Actually, it was often little more than a change of activity. The woman stayed home from their gathering occupations and prepared foods, pounding, cooking, etc., while the men worked on their hunting equipment or occasionally gambled. In winter the rest day might be a preliminary to a communal hunt. A trait shared with much of California and some surrounding areas was a strong sexual division in labor - the men concerning themselves with animal products and the women with vegetable products. This occupational cleavage extended to manufactures and to cooking. Men tanned skins and made all blankets, clothing, and other articles of skin. Women practiced the highly important art of basketmaking and wove mats, skirts, and other objects of vegetable fiber. Yet there was some overlap- ping in occupations. A man might help his wife dig roots or gather other vegetable foods - there was no stigma attached to his so doing - but it was not something ex- pected of him. The same statements apply to the carrying of acorns and other foods back to the winter camp; the men might help if they had nothing better to do. Although men cooked meat, a woman might do so if male members of the family were absent. Likewise women occasionally fished, and one woman hunted.28 Most informants, how- ever, denied that women ever hunted. The strong obliga- tion of providing meat rested on men and was no concern of women. Men might weave the coarse baskets used in 25 Most informants objected to killing snakes. There was a feeling that if snakes were not bothered, they would do no harm; a person who continually killed snakes was liable to be bitten by a snake. 26 The spring fish run probably furnished enough animal food so that hunting activities could be slackened for a time. Normally there was strong social pressure on men to hunt daily to provide enough animal food (See Garth, 1945.) 27 There is a stk-ong possibility that the rest day became more institutionalized and formalized after contact with whites. Originally, it was probably merely a day of preparation before a communal hunt. 28 IP said that she had frequently hunted with a gun when she was young. 141 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS their own work - the basket traps for fish and large storage baskets. Sometimes a woman would start one of these for a man and let him finish it. I observed an Apwaruge woman fleshing a hide and on another occas- ion making a net, both normally men's activities. This may have been a modern transgression of the old mores (as perhaps was the case of hunting by another female informant) for even cord was said to have been formerly made only by men. Miscellaneous activities were nearly equally divided between the sexes. It was the duty of men, especially in winter, to gather firewood. DB said that old men some- times spent most of the day bringing in wood. In summer a woman might lay a stick or two of wood on top of her burden basket when returning to camp, but she was not expected to bring in very much, since this was a male chore. In winter the women fetched water, but in sum- mer the men'did so, since the women were busy gathering. The carrier rested the basket on one shoulder and sup- ported it on that side with his hand. By reaching over his head with his other hand he held the basket upright. Women sometimes carried the water basket in their conical burden basket on their back. Both sexes parti- cipated in the transport of goods when camp was moved. The men carried mats in which mano-metates and other objects had been rolled. Trail-makn and bridges.-In winter women, using baskets, shoveled the soft new snow away from around the earth lodges and made paths in between. Men made trails with their snowshoes to important hunting places. On the night before a hunt two men were sent ahead to break a trail. On the following morning the trail was frozen hard so that the hunting party could walk on it without showshoes. Summer trails led to favorite camp- ing and hunting places. According to DB (Atsuge) trails were sometimes built up with rocks, straightened, and repaired to a certain extent, but IP (Apwaruge) denied that this was ever done. Possibly the more open Apwaruge country did not necessitate well-made trails as did the rugged Atsuge area. Trees were sometimes felled across streams to make bridges, but usually trees which accidentally blew down across a stream were utilized. 142 MATERIAL CULTURE HOUSES The Atsugewi, like Central Californian tribes, used a semisubterranean earth-covered lodge (cimaha) as their winter home. Although all earth-covered lodges were built on the same general plan, those belonging to a chief or rich man were usually much larger and served as communal meeting houses where dancing and sweating took place. The framework of one of these houses, built about 1880, is still to be seen at the west- ern end of Dixie Valley, approximately fifty yards above the valley floor.' The oval excavation was about twenty- five feet long by twenty feet wide by three feet deep. Debris has probably reduced its original depth to some extent. About ten feet from the back wall the large cen- ter post (wepw:w) - about ten feet high - was set in, and from its top two lateral beams were laid to opposite sides of the embankment. The ventilator aperture, or low front doorway as it came to be in such late struc- tures, was framed by two heavy posts set three feet apart at the front (eastern) end of the excavation. From the lintel laid between these two posts stringers (BEmEkmai) were carried to rest on and extend beyond the two heavy supports which flanked the center post. (See pl.8, b) The area between the stringers was covered -with short planks, and longer split logs and bark (now mostly rotted or fallen in) were laid from the embank- ment to the supporting framework. Originally the roof was covered with a thick layer of grass and dirt. According to informants, an opening was left in the roof in front of the center post to serve as an entranceway and smoke hole. A ladder (rupai), about two feet wide, was put vertically next to the center post. The rungs were tied on with serviceberry withes. JL denied that a notched log was ever used as a ladder, as was some- times the practice in Central California. Adults of both sexes used the roof entranceway and climbed in and out facing the ladder, but children, as a rule, used the ventilator aperture. JL, however, said that women used only the front entrance. He must have been refer- ring to the more recent dance houses with their large ventilator doors; the apertures in the old houses were small (less than 2 ft. high), a man being barely able to squeeze through. This would have been a difficult feat for the often more portly women. The ventilator open- ing was closed with a screen (tsamirea) of woven willows or tules. Grass was stuffed behind the screen at night to shut off the drafts; the fire would then burn down to coals and keep the lodge warm all night without additional fuel. The fireplace (there was no fire pit) was ituated two or three feet in front of the center post. In in or snow the roof entrance was covered with a slab bark. At various village sites in Hat Creek Valley numerous e pits were recognizable, both large and small. ere was evidently no attempt to group the smaller oses of commoners around the larger chief's house. summer, I was told, windbreaks were all grouped ound that of the chief.) Crude measurements of house are given below. These were paced out, since no e measure was at hand. Its location on the slope was necessitated by the dampness of valley floor. [ Village Length Width (ft.) (ft.) t'si: Rising River Chief's house .. .. 34 Site I: Lost Creek 1 house .......... 1 house .......... 3 houses ......... 1 house .......... 16 16 12 9 kacietsui: Lost Creek 2 houses ......... 20 11 houses ......... 12-10 capsutigi: Lost Creek 1 house .......... 1 house .......... 2 houses ......... Dance house just W of LaMar farm- house, W end of Dixie V.......... 18 18 15 When built 25 Late 15 13 11 8 18 10-8 15 17 14 36 Dance house, ca. 1/4 mi. S of preceding; part still standing 25 31 20 Early Early Early Early Early Early Early Early Early ca. 1890 Late As shown above, fifteen of the twenty-three houses at Lost Creek were twelve feet or less in length, and six of the number were fairly large by comparison, being eighteen and twenty feet long.2 The number of large houses may indicate the proportion of rich men in the group - informants insisted that only rich men had large houses - but it may also indicate only the per- centage of families that lived three or more to a house. Later, dance houses increased in size. DB said that formerly only small beams and posts (about 8 in. thick) could be cut with available tools, so that it was impos- sible to build large structures. The largest house en- countered (length, 36 ft.) had been built for the Ghost Dance revival of 1892. Pit outlines changed from the almost square type (with rounded corners) or early houses to the oblong type of recent dance houses. Tech- nical difficulties in construction probably brought this about; in making larger structures it was easier to in- crease the length than the width. A shaman's house, according to three informants asked, was no larger than anyone else's unless the shaman was rich.3 Of course, most shamans may have been rich, but this is not ap- parent from my data. JS, whose father was a rich sha- man, denied that there was any painting, carving, or other special decoration of the shaman's house.4 According to two Apwaruge informants, houses were always oriented with the ventilator door to the east, and this was true of the three Dixie Valley house pits I could 2 The early houses at Lost Creek are typical. Other early houses at Rising River are of similar size and outline. 3 Spier (1930, p. 198) reports that Klamath shamans had large houses. 4Klamath shamans decorated their houses. (Ibid., p. 109.) [143] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Fig. 3. House interiors; each letter indicates the space occupied by one family. check up on. BM maintained that the purpose of this orientation was so that people could see the sun rise. DB gave a more plausible explanation for the orienta- tion of Atsuge houses, saying that the ventilator door faced either the east or the south, but usually the latter direction because it was from here that the wind usually came. In the one pit in which the ventilator door was recognizable it faced the east. House furnishings were meager. A thin layer of grass was spread over the floor, care being taken to have a clear space around the central fire pit. 5 To pre- vent dirt from coming down, the walls of the excavation were sometimes covered with tule mats held in place by short pegs. In two Lost Creek house pits the dirt walls on two sides had been reinforced by a facing of rock. The wall might support a low shelf constructed by in- serting stakes in the wall, on which boards or slabs of bark were laid. There were no stools or seats except mats, which, along with sleeping blankets, were rolled up and put to the side when not in use. The space behind the center post was called hEtswita; the space in front of the post was called Bu'tawi goka (Bu'tawi, ventilator door; goka, to go over there). There was no name for the whole floor. Each family in the house - I was told there might be up to six - had an allotted space of its own. The smallest earth lodges held only one family. The various methods of apportioning space are shown in figure 3. IP remembered how her father, the Little Valley chief, had his house arranged. Two brothers, each with a large family, occupied opposite sides of the rear half of the house, and the chief's family and his son's family occupied opposite sides of the front half of the house. When visitors came, the chief gave his place to them and moved with his family to the back of the house. Everybody slept in a circle around the fire, the feet toward it and the head to the wall. Friends and relatives helped a man build his earth lodge and expected no pay for the service.6 If the man had plenty of food, he fed the workers; otherwise they furnished their own food. Building a chief's large sweat- house was more of a communal undertaking. DB said that it might take more than a week for fifteen to twenty- five men to build a large sweathouse. In building small earth lodges, which might take two weeks, only three or four men would help.7 Men obtained poles and bark and built the superstructure; women dug the pit with their digging sticks and threw the dirt from the pit with bas- kets or slabs of bark. As the center post was being set IP and JS both reported a simple broom, warasmas (possibly copied from a European model), made by tying a small bundle of willows around a stout central stick. DB stated that no special broom, but anything which came to hand, such as a leafy branch, was used for sweeping. 6 They expected the man to help them in return when they built a house. SB said that her father and his brother had built their small sweathouse. up, the owner exhorted it to stand up straight and stronf There was no other ceremony at this time. When the house was completed and a fire had been built, someone took the basketry plaque (tsamirea) which was to close the ventilator aperture and called over it "cadiu, cadiu, which meant "Don't hold smoke." If this were not done, the house would be smoky and the fire would not draw well. There were also bark houses, inhabited, so I was told, by the poorer families. Bark houses were either conical or had a rectangular ground plan and sloping sides coming together along a central ridge. The latter type, called yowtinkai, was fifteen feet or so long by about twelve feet wide, the size depending on the number of families which were to live in it. An excavation about one-half foot deep was made, four posts were set up at the corners; then crosspieces were laid between the posts and tied to form a boxlike frame. The roof con- sisted of split poles with bark placed on the framework, making a tentlike structure with rounded ends (hip-roofe Dirt was then piled high along the base to help keep out the cold. A fireplace (Baylci) was located in the center o the floor under a smoke hole in the roof. In the middle of one of the longer sides a doorway was left, which was closed with a tule mat. A short pole against the mat held it in place at the top so that it could be lifted up for entrance. A similar structure (y:wdi'qci) but of poorer construction was used as a cookhouse, in which the cooking equipment was kept. The conical house (tatmiu), which also might serve as a cookhouse, was eight or nine feet high and up to fourteen feet in basal diameter. Accor ing to JW, the framework was made by placing the butts long willow poles in the ground in a circle and tying the ends to a willow hoop near the apex of the cone. A door was left on one side, and the remaining surface was covered with bark; the Apwaruge sometimes used tule mats for the purpose. The door might also be closed with a tule mat. The conical house, especially when it was mat covered, was very similar to the Paiute form and probab- ly was borrowed from them. JW referred to it as a Paiute house type. Summer camps were little more than circular enclo- sures of brush, juniper limbs, or rock, ten or fifteen feet across with an opening on the east side. There was no roof, although branches and bark might be put over in rainy weather. If a person was caught in a sudden shower he made a shelter by leaning bark slabs from the top of a, log or rock to the ground. CLOTHING In summer men commonly went about with an apron of white coyote fur about ten inches wide -doubled over the belt and hanging almost to the knees -in front and with the tail (w6pnikaii) of the coyote hanging behind. The breechclout was not used. The woman's costume consistei ,.I 144 GARTH: ATSUGEW] the Californian double apron, made from shredded cedar bark or fringed buckskin. Both the front and back parts of the apron were called jusa, the same name as for the man's apron, and were about eight hes wide, hanging to the knees. It is probable that e front and back sections were one continuous strip I fringed material with fewer strands over the hips elsewhere. When a woman sat down she tucked the on between her legs, which were left bare. IP said women wore the front apron alone, over a buckskin rt. The more well-to-do women covered the strings their aprons with pine nuts, which made a more valu- e apron, or with sections of deer rib or wildcat bone -half inch thick. A man might help his wife make her ron by taking along a handful of half-burned pine nuts perforate and clean out while he talked to a friend. ends of the nuts were rubbed off on a rock. Some- es women wore wrapped skirts (ce-skup) of shredded ebrush fiber twined into a mat. Coyote skins might o serve as a wrapped skirt. Blanketlike cloaks, leggings, mittens, fur hats, and cial waterproof moccasins lined with powdered dry s made up Atsugewi winter equipment; warm clothing a necessity in the rigorous winters of the Mount Las- region. There were two kinds of cloak, the tikir and ilitsi. The tikir, a robe of skins worn hair side. out, tied at the neck and belted at the waist. Holes were at the shoulders for the arms. The isitsi was simm- except that no armholes were cut. The arms held overlapping parts of the cloak in place over the ast. When a man wanted to free his arms, he threw k the cloak, which remained belted at the waist and at the neck. The buckskin belt, about one inch wide, tied in front. When small animals, such as squirrels rabbits, were killed, their heads were tucked under belt. Three coyote skins or five wildcat skins made iitsi; the feet were left dangling on the outside as oration. Nothing was worn under the tikir or isitsi, both garments were worn by either sex. When a er slept out, he turned his cloak hair side in. He on his side facing the fire with the cloak protecting back. DB asserted that a poor woman might have to her tkldr in the hot summer, if she had no other g. This was to prevent her becoming sunburned. ao described a shawl made of two marten or two hides with the heads tied together. This was put d the neck and tied in back with string so that the hung down the wearer's back. e Atsugewi differ little from other Californian s in the clothing heretofore mentioned, but to this have added the buckskin shirt typical of the Great and Plains. This created a hybrid costume, es- y for women, who wore their buckskin double and basketry hat along with the Plains -type shirt. ver, buckskin shirts were not common and were y worn only on special occasions so we may consider ary costume typically Californian. The possess- f a buckskin shirt was a mark of wealth and distinction. erately rich man might have two such shirts, one r everyday and the other, his best-looking shirt, ar on social occasions. The man's shirt formerly to the middle of the thighs, nothing being worn neath. It was of the poncho type, made from a single buckskin with a head hole cut in the center. sewed up under the arms and might be fringed at i oulders. DB reported that only women's shirts ifringed along the bottom and added that a belt was (only in cold weather. Shirts of the present day have es to the elbow or wrist and are made from two or three buckskins instead of one.8 Buckskin trousers n skin for the front, one for the back, and a third for the I ETHNOGRAPHY 145 of European design have also been added.9 Very commonly the cuffs and bottom edge of present-day shirts are cut in fringes and a fringed piece is added around the collar. DB denied that collars of old-style shirts were so fringed. Old-style shirts were painted with red ochre or they might have porcupine quills in a row on the sleeves and shirt front, but the only dec- oration of this sort that I saw on modern buckskin clothing was a red line painted along the outside seam of a trousers' leg.'0 Women's shirts were short and only slightly overlapped the buckskin skirt (wuwoweiyi). More highly decorated skirts with dewclaws on the bottom fringes were called diyasi; these were also fringed along the sides. The belt was inserted through slits in the top of the skirt. 1' More recently one-piece gowns (Dw6kawi) of buckskin have been adopted. These are often well decorated with beads and fringes (see pl. 12, b). Spier considers the buckskin shirt a recent acquisition among the Klamath.'2 My Atsugewi data likewise give no evidence of great antiquity for the shirt. Its occurrence solely in northern and eastern California where there are strong Plains influences argues for its recency. 13 Several traits adopted by the Atsugewi appear to be particularly recent, i.e., the triangular flap below the neck of modern shirts (a typi- cal Plains' trait), the one-piece woman's gown, and possibly also the smoking of buckskin. (See p. 147.) Moccasins (keunar) fall into three main types, as shown in figure 4. 14 azz 'I I II~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I Ii I~~~~~~~~~~I L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I 1 i I I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I - -C u'- A c i~~~~~~~ Fig. 4. Moccasin patterns: a, Paiute moccasin pattern from Hat Creek; b, Pailute moccasin pattern from Dixie Valley; c, moccasin pattern used in Dixie Valley, called a Maidu pattern; d, Apwaruge moccasin pattern. Informants thought these were aboriginal; they may have de- veloped from, or have been confused with, the hip-length leggings. 10 Quills were boiled with juniper moss to color them green. The black tips of the quills were so placed as to form the design. These green quills were also used for the designs on women's basket hats. Sometimes a man decorated a buckskin belt with quills. (IP.) 1 According to DB, the skirt overlapped when wrapped around the waist. 12 Spier, 1930, p. 207. 13 The buckskin shirt has been reported among the Yurok, Shasta, Tolowa, Klamath, Achomawi, Owens Valley 'Paiute, and Western Mono. 14 Only four specimens of moccasins, two of which were not typical, were available. Their number was augmented by patterns cut out by informants. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Patterns a and b are variants of the same general type, which is similar to Wissler's Pattern 8.15 The two halves are folded together and sewed at the heel and along the side, the seam, at least for a, being turned in. One pair of moccasins of pattern a examined at Hat Creek had the side seam about one-half inch above the sole; a long triangular-shaped tongue had been added as well as an extra sole. The second, sole was sewed on by rather coarse stitches, which went completely through both soles. (DB said that formerly an invisible stitch was used to attach the second sole, which was made of thick hide from a deer's neck.) Small abalone-shell beads were attached around the instep. Another distinc- tive feature was an extra pair of laces which were sewed near the tongue on either side. Patterns a and b were said to be of Paiute origin and were used at least by the Surprise Valley Paiute. 16 The fact that informants give a foreign origin for these patterns is interesting and probably indicates the recent adoption of these types by the Atsugewi. Type c, which is common in Central and Northwestern California, was a simple one-piece affair sewed up the toe and instep and the heel, with a rectang- ular extension (cuff) added at the top. JW identified this as a Maidu pattern and added that it was also commonly used in Dixie Valley. Although no actual examples of the typical Atsuge moccasin were seen, from descriptions it must have been very similar to type c. There were seams at heel and toe like those of c, the only difference being that the front (toe) seam was sometimes puckered, a trait likewise found on Northwestern and Central Cali- fornian moccasins. The old Atsugewi moccasins had a cuff of untanned strips of skin from the forelegs of deer; these strips were sewed one on top of the other, hair side out, making a cuff which extended to the middle of the calves or higher. These moccasins were smoked and were said to be quite waterproof. JW stated that type d was most typical of the Apwaruge. The seam, according to him, went along the bottom and up the back of the shoe. A slit was cut in the shoe top for the insertion of the foot, and a rather unusual type of cuff was added. The rectangular cuff was split almost its whole length. The split in the cuff was placed over the split in the shoe top, and then cuff and shoe top were sewed together (x sewed to x'y' and yz to y). The cuff was then bent up so that the seam was on the inside, and sewed up the back. An extra sole was added, as in other moccasins. Both sexes wore moccasins of the same type, but they were much more important to the men, especially in winter, for without them a man could do little hunting. Most of the women, it was said, went barefoot; only the richer men could provide moccasins for their wives. Informants denied the use of tule moccasins, but attri- buted them to the Achomawi of Fall River. When not in use, moccasins were hung outside the earth lodge on the end of a projecting roofpole to dry. In winter they were brought inside and heated a little before being used. Leggings were fashioned from a rectangular piece of mink or other skin, which was wrapped around the leg and tied at the top (about 2 in. above the knees) and at the bottom. They were attached to the belt by a thong to pre- vent their slipping down. Other leggings were of hip length. DB (Atsuge) described leggings made from a strip of coyote hide (about 2 in. thick), which was tied at the top and wrapped around the leg puttee-fashion until the moccasin top was reached. He asserted that women did not wear leggings, a statement which probably reflects is Wissler, 1910, figs. 78 and 142. 16 Kelly, 1932, pp. 110-113. the fact that men did most of the traveling in winter. Thumbless mittens (D6kobwi) were made from the cased skins of weasels, rats, or small cottontails. The mitten was tied to the wrist with a thong. Men wore hats of coyote, raccoon, mnink or other skin (rajasikni, buckskin hat). A band of skin was put around the head and sewed up on one side and at the top forming a bucket-shaped hat. JS had a raccoonskin hat (woh'mup- cai) made of a cylindrical band of fur topped with three fur strips sewed side by sid-e. The most common head covering for men, however, was the head net (ratsikna), which is similar to the type described by Dixon for the Northern Maidu. 17 A fine head net was a sign of wealth. Women, and never men, wore the Californian basketry hat (suwai), which served to prevent the carrying-strap from chafing the forehead. IP said that she first started wearing a basketry hat when she was a girl of ten or eleven. They are rarely seen nowadays. Women never wore fur hats, but at festive gatherings they sometimes wore a headband of mink or other fur, from which aba- lone or some other kind of beads were pendent. Children were allowed to run naked until they were five or six years old. Then their father, if he was well- to-do, made small buckskin jackets and moccasins for them. Otherwise they went without clothing until much later, possibly until they were fourteen or fifteen years old. In winter a small fawn skin might be tied over a child's shoulders as a cape (yislswi). PERSONAL ADORNMENT Both sexes allowed their hair to grow long, sometim almost to the waist. Women parted their hair in the mi and let it hang over the breast in two pigtails (rumitsi), wrapped with grass or strips of mink or deerskin. It is doubtful if the pigtails were ever braided; braiding was denied by two informants. At the side of the part, a str to which a shell might be attached, was tied to keep the hair parted and in place. JW (Apwaruge) said that some women had their hair banged in front, but this was deni by DB and JS (Atsuge). Men sometimes wore their hair pigtails, but the usual method was to comb it straight and to roll it up under hair nets. Some men and older let their hair hang loose down around their shoulders. Young boys of ten or less had their hair cropped short (this was to make the hair better-looking when it grew a top knot being left to which feathers might be attached. The hair was groomed with a brush (j skinikihEs) made from the tail of a porcupine. It was skinned and stuffed with grass, the opening was sewed up, and finally the sharp ends of the quills were burned off with a hot rock. Marrow from a deer's leg was rubbed on the hair to it soft. Men plucked out their beards with their fingersa and a beard was a rarity, enough 0so that one bearded individual was nicknamed (blewisi (whiskers). Tattooing (m c&hi) was common. Women might have three or more vertical lines from the mouth down acr the chin. BW and BM denied that men were ever tattoo on the face, but DB said that a man might have two or three lines radiating from the corners of his mouth. H added that a woman might have a line going back from outside corner of her eyes. The tattooing took place time when a child was young. IP had had six lines tatt on her chin when she was six or seven years old. Ch coal was rubbed on the area to be tattooed and a series punctures was made with a sharp bone needle or porc 17 Dixon, 1905a, pp. 159-160. I 146 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY quill to form the design. is Several of my informants exhibited small circles or crossed lines tattooed on their forearms. A Maidu girl with whom DB had been friendly in his youth had tattooed a "plus" sign about one inch in width on his arm. 19 No payment was made for the tattooing; a friend did it gratis. Several different kinds of paint were used both for body decoration and for painting bows and arrows, buck- skin shirts, and other objects. Red ochre (i'por) was dug up, cooked in a fire so that it turned more red, and then ground and mixed with deer grease. This paint was carried in a pouch (wracupasui) made from a deer peri- cardium turned inside out. It was the most valuable of the paints and was often acquired in trade from the Paiute or Achomawi. Women, before setting out to dig roots, smeared grease paint on their faces to prevent chapping and sunburn, red ochre being preferred for the purpose. Another red paint (kolk) was obtained by burn- ing the burl of a white fir tree; the resulting cake of material was saved and the paint scraped off as needed. A blue paint (suimtar) was scraped from a rock obtained at sumtar EhEu (blue-paint mountain) in Achomawi terri- tory. White paint (taii) was obtained from chalkish de- posits located at several places in the region. The badger doctor in mythical times buried chalk just west of Jack's Hole in Dixie Valley for the use of shamans and others. Another important chalk deposit was located where the Burney to Fall River Mills highway crosses Hat Creek. Black paint was made from charcoal. Paint decoration was applied by dipping two or three gers in the color and drawing them across the biceps n the legs as well as across the chest and cheeks. Any d of paint was used in dances, two or three lines being awn back from the corners of the mouth across the ek. JL reported that a man going to war might paint whole face either white or black and then scrape off ome of the paint with his fingernail to make a negative tern of lines. JS thought that red paint might also be ed in war, but this was denied by DB who said that te was the important war paint and that red was only r"style." According to him, young people might pull a certain weed called ja'kip, and, using the red part the base, paint a line from the corner of the mouth ck across the cheek and another vertical line form the uth to the cleft of the chin. This was for "style" and ght stay on all day. Colors j6h'gita'wi ........ black (joh'gi, charcoal; ta'wi, it looks like) ijuri ta'wi ........ blood-colored (rMuri, blood) simpalik ........ sorrel E'lkori .white j6h'gitigeksi ........ brown takta ..... ... buckskin-colored Beads and other ornaments were worn on social anions, such as feasts and gatherings. A man might r a dentalium shell through his nasal septulm. A rde buckskin thong might be strung through a 's ear with one or two clamshell, haliotis, aba- or dentalium beads strung on it as earrings. ella beads (jipki), which were plentiful and of little e, were used decoratively on cradles, clothing, and The tattooing produced swefling on "mean" girls, but not on girls (JW). V This was possibly a form of love-making. other objects. Whole abalone shells, received in trade, were manufactured into rectangular beads (i c inuci) three-quarters of an inch or less in length with a per- foration near one end. A sharpened chisel of deer horn was used for the cutting and probably a sharp stone point for the boring. Strings of clamshell beads (a ki), ob- tained in trade from the west, were much admired; at festivals three or four of these might be worn across the chest, over one shoulder and under the opposite arm. Bead bracelets were not worn. Small necklaces were made of pine nuts or small sections of duck bones, but none of my informants could remember necklaces of bear's claws or teeth, although Dixon reports their being worn by shamans 20 and Voegelin mentions them.2' Feathers (lasuka) were important articles of decoration. A chief wore eagle feathers, whereas a commoner used feathers of a magpie or some other bird. Three or four feathers might be bound together at the base and attached to the head net in an upright position at the back. A girl dancing the puberty dance had two feathers stuck in her headband, one over each ear. The chief sometimes wore a buckskin headband with feathers around its circumfer- ence and with two white feathers from under the eagle's wing hanging down in back. This headdress (wap6pkai) may represent Shoshonean influence. SKIN DRESSING Deer skins are still occasionally tanned and made into garments. The process was essentially the same over the whole Atsugewi area. The following account was given mainly by DB. A dry hide had to be soaked for a week before the hair would be loose enough to pull out. 22 The hide was then put over a large post which leaned slightly to one side, and an implement made of a deer's rib ground to an edge was used like a draw knife (except that the movement was away from the worker) to remove the hair and flesh. One end of the skin, which was still some- what wet, was tied to a tree. By tying the skin from two legs together a loop was made through which a short stick was passed. This stick was then twisted, and the hide was pulled taut from time to time until most of the water was wrung out of it. Deer brains were boiled in water, and the skin was put in this mixture to soak overnight. (Dried deer brain was kept in cakes until needed in tanning.) In the morning the skin was wrung out again. Then, as the skin dried in the sun, the operator stretched it and worked it back and forth between his hands to make it soft and pliable. To smoke the buckskin a fire of moist rotten logs or green juniper boughs was made in a shallow pit, over which a dome-shaped framework three or four feet high was con- structed of willow wands. The skin was laid on this frame to smoke and was turned from time to time during the process. A well-smoked buckskin would remain soft even after being washed. JS, who was my oldest informant, and IP said that skin-smoking was unknown in the early days, but two other informants thought differently. The matter deserves to be investigated further. Skin-smoking has a very scattered distribution in Cali- fornia, being absent in most of the southern and coastal sections. Its occurrence in northern California and in the Sierra country (Driver mentions it in 8 of 23 groups in the southern Sierra Nevada region) may indicate its recent introduction from the Great Basin and possibly also from Dixon, 1208a, p. 219. 21 Voegelin, 1942, p. 85. 22 According to JW, a green hide could be tanned immediately. 147 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Oregon. 23 Further evidence of its recency among the Atsugewi lies in the statement by DB that men did not like to get their buckskin shirts wet in former times, for then they got hard and had to be reworked; only the best "dress" suits were smoked - those worn every day were not smoked.24 (At present the skins are said to be made waterproof by the smoking process so they are not particularly damaged by getting wet.) The rea- son for not smoking all buckskins to make them water- proof does not seem obvious unless it was because the process was a relatively new one. Possibly the water- proofing qualities of the smoking process were not yet recognized. I think it may be definitely concluded that the smoking process was a recent introduction; it prob- ably had a close connection with the introduction of buck- skin clothing itself, but for this I have no direct evidence. The dome-shaped smoking frame is not reported for the Paiute. 25 The nearest example reported occurs among the Kalapuya in northern Oregon.26 The Kalapuya also smoke for the purpose of waterproofing the hide and have a method of smoking very similar to that of the Atsugewi. Although the dome frame has not been reported for the intervening area, it may well have occurred there. The evidence is strongest for its diffusion from the north, although Spier reports only a tepeelike smoking frame for the Klamath.27 DB (Atsuge) gave the following account of the tanning of small furs and skins other than buckskin. After being fleshed with a flint scraper, the furs were laid out to dry, and deer brains were then rubbed in with a piece of rotten wood. The skins were set aside for two or three days, after which they were moistened slightly, worked back and forth between the hands, and rubbed with a half-rotten log until they were soft and ready for use. They were not smoked. Skins were sewed with a bone awl (laput'sa) and deer-sinew thread, which was fi-rst rolled on the thigh. BLANKETS Rabbitskin blankets (caturi) were more commonly made in the eastern than in the western area. According to JS, the fresh cased skins of rabbits were cut spiral- fashion into a continuous strip, which was twisted and dried. The twisting was accomplished by tying one end of the skin strip to a tree and the other end to a small stick which was turned with the finger. BW described a reel - made from a limb with two secondary branches coming out parallel to one another - on which the skin strips were wound until needed (see fig. 5). A crude loom was constructed by tying poles between adjacent trees, one pole forming the upper rung and the other the lower rung. The skin strips were wound back and forth between the poles to form the warp, and then rows of string (wlrasur) were twined across as the weft. Accord- ing to BW, the distance between the rows of twining was four inches or more. The completed blanket was wide enough for a person to sleep on one half and have the otheF half over him as a cover. A blanket made by BW's grandfather was later covered with cloth by her mother. 23 Driver, 1937, pp. 15, 70, 234; Voegelin, 1942, p. 81; Driver, 1939, p. 325. 24 One purpose of the smoking was to give the skins a creamy tan color. Kelly, 1932, p. 119; Steward, 1941; Stewart, 1941. 26 Jacobs, MS. 27 Spier, 1930, p. 173. Fig. 5. Reel for twisted rabbit skin. Coyote skins were sometimes woven into similar blankets. The Achomawi of Fall River Valley, but not the Atsugewi, were said to have woven blankets from duck skins cut into strips. Other blankets, called yisict, were made by sewing the whole skins of animals together. Five or six coyote skins made a good blanket; the skins of antelope, wildcat, deer, and other animals were likewise so used. A well-tanned bear skin made an excellent mattress. SNOWSHOES Snowshoes (widE) were almost a necessity for winter travel. To make the hoop frame a green juniper limb was heated in a fire and bent into a near circle, the ends being spliced and tied together with rawhide. Cross-lashings were of deer hide with the hair left on. It took some skill for the wearer to step so as to throw the snow to the side and behind him and not on his own legs as he walked. BASKETS Basketry was the chief medium of art expression. The majority of older women still make baskets, the sale of which has been an important source of income. Twined basketry was formerly made exclusively, but in the last fifty years coiled basketry has been introduced. Baskets were made in a variety of shapes and sizes, and recently several new and eccentric shapes have appeared. Baskets with an oblong cross section were said by Mary McClennaz to be a new fashion on Hat Creek. Also the process of covering bottles with basketry has become popular. According to SB, a Western Achomawi woman named Ellen Halsey invented the process and taught it to SB's daughter, who in turn taught it to SB. SB then introduced the process to the other Hat Creek basketmakers. Julie Bob, Voegelin's informant, made a goblet-shaped basket. She seems to have been an innovator, for she also used a design from a Navajo blanket on another of her baskets. These innovations were not copied by anyone else so far as I could determine. The first general class of basketry, grouped by manu- facturing technique, was the close twined ware. Of this class, decorative baskets (tohodi), formerly used for carrying water and possibly also for cooking, are most commonly seen today. Baskets varied from five or six inches across to others two feet in diameter and almost as high. Cup-size baskets (kawai) were used to drink from and possibly to hold acorn mush. The shape most commonly seen is globular with a flattened or concave base. These baskets have a willow warp, a pine-root weft, an overlay of Xerophyllum tenax (mahow, white grass), and a design in redbud or maidenhair fern. Materials were gathered and prepared as follows. Sections of pine root three feet or more in length and about four inches wide were baried in hot ashes - large ones a full day and small ones a half day. Afterwards they were repeatedly split in halves with a digging stick or stone chopper. When sections as thick as a pencil had been achieved, the maker split one end with a knife, grasped one half of the split portion in her teeth, and I I I 148 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY pulled the other half until it split off, moving her left hand along the rod just in front of the splitting portion. In this fashion the pine root was repeatedly split until it was the right size; then it was rolled up and put away until needed. Slender willow ends (Salix hindsiana) called wipi were gathered in spring and were used unsplit, after being peeled. The white grass (mah-,w) is now only to be found in the Northern Maidu country near Grenville. Special expeditions were made to get the grass, which was dried and stored in bundles until needed. Redbud r(katatop) for the design was gathered in the fall, second- growth stems being preferred. The bark (iwi) was re- moved, split, and stored in coils. All materials had to be soaked before being used. In beginning a decorative basket the pine-root twin- ing element was given three or four turns around the midsection of four willow warps laid side by side. Four additional warps were laid on top at right angles and Were bound down with pine root. The weft was then twined circular fashion in and out between the warps, and, er one or two rows of twining, new warps were in- rted. Each of these was put by the side of an old warp bound to it by a twine stitch. The basket was held up until the up-curve of the sides was begun; it was turned bottom down. At this point also the e grass was added, it being twined along with the -root weft and on top of it so that it showed on the ide as an overlay. Twining proceeded counterclock- when one looked into the basket. Special willow rts were put vertically every inch or so along the of the basket to keep it in shape and were removed the basket neared completion. The top of the basket completed by adding a rim of chokecherry, willow, in modern times, a length of wire, the rim being wrapped with redbud. Often the bottom of baskets d an inverted cone an inch or more in depth at the cal burden baskets (qopai) also belong in the of close-twined basketry. An old burden basket I examined was started by crossing three willow with three others. (I was told that sets of either or four willows might be thus crossed at the start.) of pine root was wound over the top group of warps and under the bottom three to hold them to- Then the weft was wrapped twice under the top a over the bottom three warps as in figure 6. this the warps were bent up until almost doubled elves; then twining was commenced in gradually circles so that the basket assumed the proper pe, new warp elements being added as needed. t about two inches from the base the overlay of ass was started. The decoration consisted of zontal ends of redbud about one inch wide en- the basket at spaced intervals. The rim was com- th a chokecherry withe wrapped with redbud. The was fifteen inches high and about sixteen inches in at the top. A buckskin carrying strap was tied whide strings inserted between the twining. A sket seen during manufacture had circular wil- at intervals in the interior to help it hold its il it was finished. Well-made burden baskets d to hold water. apar or basketry pan, a shallow undecorated th no white grass overlay, served as a general ket for winnowing seeds, manzanita berries, basketry plaques used for sifting acorn meal in the same fashion. kketry hopper (knohwa) was made like the e baskets, but of more sturdy materials. (See . Three pine-root wefts were twined around of willow warps to make a circle about four Fig. 6. Method of starting a conical burden basket. inches in diameter. Then successive courses of twining were added in gradually widening circles as in the bur- den basket. On a hopper basket owned by BW two rein- forcing rods of chokecherry, held in place by the twining which went around them, had been put around the outside of the base, one about one and a quarter inches and the other about two inches from the bottom. About three inches from the base the three-strand twining was dis- continued, and the white grass overlay was added in its place over the two-strand twining which remained. The top of the hopper was finished with a heavy rod of second growth chokecherry bound on with redbud bark. The wil- lows at the base below the twining had been broken off so that the article assumed the shape of a truncated cone. A section of buckskin had been folded so that it covered one inch along the bottom of the hopper on both the inside and outside; it was sewed in place with a rawhide thong. This hopper was the only one seen with a buckskin reinforce- ment of this kind at the base. The hopper was fourteen inches across the top and stood nine inches high, being still in good condition although it had been in use for eight years. SB had a basketry hopper made by the coiling pro- cess (see pl. 11, a), the only example of its kind seen. The Apwaruge made their decorative baskets from tule, which was used both for warp and weft. Tule stems were split into strips, which were twisted singly on the thigh with the palm and then wound into a ball or on a stick and put away until needed. The design was made from a tule root called dalim, which was colored black by being boiled in mud. The one tule basket (pololtmi) which I saw was twined (counterclockwise when one looked into the basket) and covered with a white grass overlay. One difference in the weave, a characteristic of all tule baskets, was that in making the twine stitch the twining element lying inside the basket was twisted over the outside element as they changed places. In pine-root and willow baskets the re- verse was true - the outside element was twisted over the inside element. The top of the tule basket had not been finished. Its shape was somewhat aberrant, the basket having an oblong cross section. Basketry hats (suwai) were made of tule. These are rarely seen nowadays, and I was unable to find one of them. Other forms of tule bas- kets included the hemispherical gambling basket (nistiu), which was ten inches or more across, and the ta nar, described by IP, which was about four feet long, three feet wide, and not much over a foot high, with sides curv- ing in toward the top. The sides served as a receptacle for storing buckskin clothing, beads, and other valuables. Tule baskets were always soft and pliable. The Atsuge 149 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS obtained them in trade from the Apwaruge. The recently introduced coiled basketry (taruga) con- stitutes a second general class of basketry. SB asserted- ly introduced the art. 28 We started making coiled baskets when I was young. I went to Big Meadows [Northeastern Maidu] for a visit. I admired their coiled baskets, and one day one of my friends there taught me how to make them. When I re- turned to Hat Creek all the women my age used to come and sit around and watch me make coiled basketry. Be- fore long they learned how to make it themselves. (SB.) The diffusion of coiling seems a simple enough event. One wonders why it did not occur earlier - especially if, as informants assert, there was much social intercourse with the Maidu. In making coiled basketry stems of red- bud obtained in the spring were split (in the same manner as the pine root), peeled, and thinned down for use as a sewing element. 29 To smooth and thin down the strands a piece of glass or a knife was held between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, and the strand was drawn through the space between the glass and the third finger, the strand being pulled away from the body. Each coil stitch was made with an awl to split the stitch below and included the top rod of the course below. The awls used nowadays are often made from an umbrella spoke filed to a point and set in a wooden handle. According to BW, baskets were worked on bottom up even after the curve of the sides had been reached. Coiling proceeded counter- clockwise. A new length of stitching material was insert- ed between one of the rods and the other two, after which the coiling proceeded as before. As most coiled baskets were flat trays which were best seen from above, the loose ends of the different sections of sewing material were on the outside, which was much coarser looking than the interior of the basket. With twined baskets the reverse was true, loose ends being on the inside. Red- bud peeling (iwi) was used for the design as in twined baskets. A third class of basketry was the utility ware, which was necessarily of stronger materials and coarser (often openwork) weave. To this class belong the scoop-shaped fishing and root-cleaning baskets (kopwar), carrying and storage baskets (honor), fish traps (stoho) (pl. 11, b), cradles, and seed beaters (tipwirohai). The kopwar might be round or scoop-shaped. The most common and strongest material for construction was juniper (mahuawop), but willows might also be used for the warp, and occasionally pine root served as a weft. Juniper limbs with few branches were roasted on top of hot coals and were split into squar- ish strands about three feet long. In making the round kop- war, according to SB, eight warp strands were laid side by side and a weft strand was twined around them, dividing them into groups of four as in figure 7, a. Another row of twining then divided the warps into twos, this being done on both sides of the first course of twining. After this, six new warps were inserted at right angles to the previous eight warps, three to a side, each group of three bound down by a twine stitch. On the next course of twining the warps were divided into twos. SB said that after every two rounds of twining new warps were added. Each new warp was placed by an old warp and bound to it with a twine stitch. Every second one of the old warps had a new warp placed beside it. New warps were added every two rows until the curve of the sides was commenced. However, in ajuniper-root basket made by SB four years previously 28 Her husband, DB, was the first to mention this fact. Fig. 7. Basketry techniques: a, method of starting the round root-cleaning basket; b, de- tail of side wall of basket showing openwork weave. new warps were added haphazardly and not at all with the regularity prescribed in her description of the pro- cess of manufacture. Although I did not call her atten- tion to the discrepancy, she told me she had made the basket in a hurry and that it was not one of her best. It seems doubtful, however, that any utility basket would have exhibited the regularity of manufacture which she prescribed, and her description may represent the ideal rather than the actuality of manufacture. SB's basket was started as in her description, but when it came time to add new warps, these were doubled and inserted. The remainder of the basket was finished by successive rows of twining three-quarters or more inches apart. Every twine stitch encompassed two warp elements (diagonal twining). In each new course of twining the warp strands which had been twined together were separated, each being then joined to one of the pair of warps next to it, giving a diamond-shaped effect. This effect is lacking in other kopwar made in plain twining technique. The rim was finished by adding a hoop of serviceberry, whic was bound down to the last row of twining by being wrapped around with a thin flat strand of juniper materi The basket was about seventeen inches across at the top, which flared widely; the depth was six inches. / // / / Fig. 8. Method of starting the scoop-shaped kopwar. The bark was discarded. ?i 'tI-1 I I 150 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY The method of manufacture of the scoop-shaped kop- war is somewhat different. Instead of beginning at the center, weaving began at one end. At first, ten willow warps were laid down. Then, with each twine stitch in- cluding two warp strands, four rows of twining were made back and forth across the warps, the rows being about one-quarter inch apart. (See fig. 8.) After this, four new warps were added on one side at right angles to the original ten. The next course of twining started one-half inch away from the others and formed a half- circle, binding down the four new warps on its way. Another half-circular row of twining was made next to the previous one and back to the start again. The ends of the four new warps projected on the inside of the bas- ket and were cut off close. From here on the twining proceeded in double rows with a gradually increasing distance between the pairs of rows until at the center some rows were as much as three-quarters of an inch apart. Each row followed a half-circular path from the rim of the basket to the bottom and back up to the rim on the opposite side. New willows were added as the work proceeded until the basket assumed the correct scoop shape. Willows were dropped (broken off) toward the butt end of the basket where it narrowed down, and finally the end was finished by simply cutting off the willows in a straight line. There was no regular border- ing rim of heavier wood as in many such baskets. Basket cradles were woven in much the same fashion as the scoop type of kopwar, except for a somewhat dif- ferent shape and a more careful weave. The warps on all those I saw were of willow. (See pl. 12, a; also fig. 26 in Kroeber's Handbook.) 30 A unique element enters into the manufacture of the ,.carrying and storage baskets called honor (see pl. 10, c); this is the use of wicker technique (rare in California) on the basket bottoms. In one such basket, made entirely of juniper, eight (sometimes 6, the number probably varies) bundles of two or three warps were put side by Jide and eight other warps were woven in between in icker fashion. After this, regular twining with juniper wefts was commenced. Warps were first divided into twos by the twining and then ones as the bulge of the sides was reached. In making the constriction toward the neck warps were broken off. The top was completed h the addition of a chokecherry hoop, wrapped in ce with a flat strand of juniper root. This basket was elve inches high and fourteen inches across at its dest point near the base. The twining progressed ounterclockwise when one looked into the basket. Accord- to BM, everyone made baskets twined in this direc- , a statement confirmed by all baskets which I had opportunity to examine. A buckskin strip had been ded to the back of the basket for carrying (it had been d to contain freshly dug roots). Large globular bas- , also called honor, were made for the storage of rns and other things. The basket in plate 10, c was of low._ No example of a seed beater could be located, but ording to descriptions it was a paddle-shaped imple- at from one and a half to two feet long with a willow p and with openwork twining, also of willow (spaced t three-quarters of an inch between rows), across blade. The handle was wrapped either with willow pa or with buckskin. ats (karuwar) were made of twisted tule material. usual method was to make double rows of twining as the tule warp, allowing a space of one-half inch nore between each double row of twining. Each twine h took in two tule warp elements. I was able to see Kroeber, 1925, p. 317. c C b Si Fig. 9. Basketry designs: a, pine cone; b, flint; c, intestines; d, lizard's claw. only one tule mat, the dimensions of which were about three feet by four feet. The weft was of blue cloth twisted into a string and twined around every two twisted tule warps. A space of aboVt one inch separated the single rows of twining. Designs.-No systematic study was undertaken of the basketry designs. For a more detailed discussion of the subject see Dixon's paper on northern Californian bas- ketry. 31 On Hat Creek baskets there was a strong ten- dency to repeat the same few designs over and over again with slight variations. The lizard's claw design (cukitana, lizard; micur, claw) was particularly popular (fig. 9, d) and the design for flint (miqde) was but slightly less s0 (fig. 9, b). Designs which incorporated a zigzag line, like figure 9, c, were called pitsur (intestines of small ani- mals). Occasionally designs made an approximation to realism, representing a bird, such as a night hawk. The pine cone design (fig. 9, a) also has a vague semblance to realism. The spacing between designs was often irregular. On the hopper described on page 149 the spacing between the three steplike designs on the body of the basket varied from two inches to almost six inches. Mattie Bernal, a woman in her forties and the best basketmaker in the Hat Creek region, was the only one that I heard of who counted the stitches between her designs. She has been to school and worked out the spacing arithmetically. TWINE AND NETS Twine was made from Indian hemp (wirasur) 32 and from milkweed (lumok), but not from nettles or iris fiber. JL was the only informant to report private ownership of hemp plots. He said that the owner would jealously watch his plot until the plants ripened and then hurriedly harvest them for fear others might get them first. The plants were dried, stripped of leaves, and scraped to free the fibers, which were stored in this form until needed for string making. String was made by placing the fibers on the thigh and rolling out two strands of the material with the hand moving either up or down the leg. On the back stroke the two strands were twisted together into one string. Rope, 31 Dixon, 1902. 32 Apocynum cannabinum. 151 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS often made of milkweed fiber, was manufactured by successively combining double strands of string on the thigh in the manner described above. As the strands were twined together they were wound up on the left hand, the rolling being done with the right hand on the right thigh (BM). JL made a dip net in the following manner: A re- taining cord was strung between two supports. A second cord was tied near one end of the retaining cord, looped over a mesh stick, and tied again in two half-hitches to the retainin- cord. The process was repeated at inter- vals of the .. .dth of the mesh until the opposite end of the retaining cord had been reached (see fig. 10, a). Then the retaining cord was turned around and a second course was begun, this time putting the half-hitches in the center of the loops of the first course, as in figure 10, b . The process was repeated until a net of the de- sired size had been made. The two sides of the net were then folded together and tied along the sides and bottom, making a sacklike net, which might be attached to the circular wooden rim of a dip net. JL said that a mesh measure (ikaras lkmas), a flat stick about four inches long, might or might not be used in making a net. A gill net (ikirDw) seen at Hat Creek was about fifteen feet long and two and a half feet wide; the mesh, which was slightly over an inch wide, made the net suitable for catching small chub. Tule floats, made by doubling a strip of tule on itself (twisting it at the bend) so that it included the top cord of the net, were attached every foot or so along the net. JS stated that plain unperforated and ungrooved rock sinkers were to be added along the bottom of the net, one below each tule float. (Notched sinkers were denied by ali informants asked.) A net shuttle (jutsumi), a slender seven-inch stick with a deep cleft at each end (fig. 10, d), had been used for the weav- ing; a mesh measure was also used. c d Fig. 10. Nets. a, b, stages in net making; c, tule float; d, net shuttle. CARRYING DEVICES Men used a net (ikiritsi or pini) like a handbag for transporting small game, eggs, and similar things and did not use the burden basket (qopaii), the woman's prime means of conveyance. Carrying nets of varying mesh (BM said that the mesh might be as small as 1/2 in.) were in the form of a square sack from one to two feet wide and deep, which was carried on the back by a buck- skin strap, attached at the sides. The sack had a draw- string at the top. When empty, the sack was slung across one shoulder and under the opposite arm. The pack strap (wasi) was used almost universally for transporting loads. It consisted of a strip of buckskin somewhat wider in the middle, where it was to pass over the carrier's forehead. The carrier held the strap over his (or her) breast or, if he had an especially heavy load, he passed it over his forehead. WEAPONS AND ARMOR The bow and arrow was the only important Atsugewi weapon. JS (Atsuge) reported that a few warriors armed themselves with four-foot spears (winas) for fighting at close quarters, but other informants universally denied the existence of such a weapon. JS possessed a decora- tive spear which he used in a recent revival of a war dance. 33 The spear, however, may have been copied from Maidu or Wintu examples. A large, laterally notched point, possibly a spear point, was found archaeo- logically in Dixie Valley. Nevertheless, as the evidence now stands, the existence of spears seems doubtful. If they were used, it must have been only rarely. Three Apwaruge informants reported a stone ax (wohkatas). IP said that her uncle, a young aspiring shaman, had been killed with such an ax. The stone head was set in the split end of a twelve-inch oak or mountain mahogany handle and was bound fast with sinew. Accord- ing to JL, the ax head was a chipped blade about four inches long. JW stated that any kind of thick rock could be used for the ax head and that the ax itself was used in cutting wood. The handle had a rawhide loop which went around the wrist or could be lengthened to go around the neck. Dixon reports the use of stone axes by the North- eastern Maidu and pictures a grooved stone ax (an archaeologicalfind)infigure 5 of his monograph.34 One of Kelly's Paiute informants mentioned an ax attached to the wrist and attributed it to tribes to the east, but Stewart reports a tomahawk of this sort (?) only among the Paiute of Pyramid Lake and vicinity (among the Kuyui).35 Such axes -rere apparently rare or lacking among the Paviotso and most other Paiute groups to the east. In Central California the flaked ax was used by the Pomo, 36 River Patwin,37 Wappo, 38 and Chimariko.39 Only the Wappo and Chimariko hafted it, however. Its occurrence among the Apwaruge may indicate that it had a wider distribution in earlier times, it being a survival in the few places found. There is little archaeological evidence to confirm the antiquity of the flaked ax, but this may be because it is difficult to recognize archaeo- logically. According to Heizer, the grooved stone ax came into California at a relatively late date from the Southwest. 40 It may even be that the hafting of the flaked ax was an invention stimulated by a knowledge of the grooved ax- or even of the white man's steel axes. Stone axes were denied by the Atsuge. No special clubs were used other than sticks which happened to be handy. Knives were occasionally used in warfare, but daggers were disclaimed by all informants except JL, who described a bone dagger having the same name as an awl (laput'sa). 33 The spear was 4 1/2 ft. long. A heavy, 3-in.-long, uniface blade of black obsidian was bound in a cleft in the end of the shaft. A ring of pendent arrow points was tied just below the haft, and 6 in. farther down light feathers were bound around the shaft with a band of red hide. A single coccoon was tied amid the feathers as a rattle. A strip of red hide was wound in a spiral for two-thir of the remaining length of the handle. 3 Dixon, 1905a, p. 134. 35 Kelly, 1932, p. 138; Stewart, 1941, p. 433. 36 Stewart, 1943, pp. 48, 53. Kroeber, 1932, p. 283. 38 Driver, 1936, p. 192. 3 Idem, 1939, pp. 326, 390. 40 Heizer, 1946, pp. 190-192. I i 152 1 1 a I DO`D<\ t b GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY c Fig. 11. Designs on bows: a, b, designs in red on bows from Goose Valley; c, design drawn by DB, outer zigzag line of red, inner line green. Bows, called Dumidiyi, were broad, flat, sinew- backed affairs much like those of the Yurok. 41 The best bows were made by the Atsuge, who had a supply of yew wood (bacui) along the western borders of their territory. The Paiute were anxious to trade for Atsuge bows and considered them much superior to their own. In making the bow a piece of yew wood was selected, split, and shaved down with flints and pumice stone to the required form and thickness. After it had been wrapped in green grass and roasted in hot ashes, the bow was bent to the required shape (re- curved tips with a slight incurve at the middle), which it retained when it cooled off. Sinew, taken from the back of a deer, was softened by chewing and was then glued on the back of the bow in short strips, which were rubbed out as flat as possible with a smooth piece of bone. Salmon skins were boiled to make the glue. The designs painted in green and red on the backs of bows are among the few examples of masculine art. The painting was done with a feather tip. The sinew for the bowstring (yitscai) was chewed to make it soft and then it was made into a two-ply cord on the thigh. After salmon glue was rubbed in to make the fibers stick to- gether, the string was stretched by tying a rock to one end and allowing it to hang down from some support. A tassel (yoh'tib1qi) of mole skin might be attached to the -end of the bow for decoration (DB). Flint-tipped arrows (kapsti) were made of cane or rose and had foreshafts of service, or they might be entirely of service wood. Cane arrows (hadiyi) with a sharp-pointed foreshaft of service were commonly used for small animals and birds; they might be unfeathered. DB recalled a bird arrow called tEqdis with a barbed wooden point. Deer-bone pointed arrows were sometimes used for killing deer and other game. Voegelin reports that these arrows were also sometimes barbed.42 Flint- tipped arrows were about thirty inches long. According to BN, cane arrows were of the same length, but JS thought that all arrows for small game were somewhat shorter than flint-tipped arrows. JL made a sample arrow of green rose, twenty-five inches long. He ex- plained that the wood was ordinarily dried before it 41 A bow, conforming in most respects to descriptions of Atsugewi bows, was seen in the neighboring Goose Valley (Achomawi). It was 37 in. long and about 1.75 in. wide at its widest part, 11 in. from the end; it was somewhat pinched in at the center. A fairly constant thickness (0.5 in.) was preserved throughout its length. The area just below the notch for the bow- string had been tightly wrapped with rawhide, and the notched area itself had been covered with salmon skin. The grip at the center was wound with buckskin string for a distance of 4 in. arid a red design had been painted over the sinew backing. The bow- string, of 2-ply sinew, was tied at one end; a loop at the other end could be slipped off the top notching of the bow when it was to be unstrung. 42 Voegelin, 1942, p. 71. was used. The end of the service foreshaft was cut into a dowel which was inserted in the soft pithy center of the main shaft, the juncture being wrapped with sinew. A notch one-fourth of an inch deep was cut in the butt. A laterally notched obsidian arrow point was inserted in the split end of the foreshaft and bound on with cross lashings of sinew. The binding was ordinarily water- proofed with pitch. Two small grooved pumice stones (ju'rias) were used to smooth arrow shafts. The foreshaft was painted red as an indication that poison had been applied to the point. Other bands or stripes of color toward the nock end of the arrow served as ownership marks. JL stated that the stripes might run spirally as on a stick of candy. DB mentioned red, blue, white, "all kinds of colors" as being used for painting arrows. Feathers were split along the midrib anc, were glued to the shaft, about a finger's width below the butt, with pitch. Sinew wrappings bound down each end of the feathers, three of which - about four inches long - were used to an arrow. The edge of the feather was burned smooth with a hot coal. Feathers of hawks or I: ;-A similar birds were used on or- dinary arrows, but for the finest arrows - those to be used for Fig. 12 b ear and deer - eagle feathers Stone arrow-shaft were employed. An arrow wrench straightener of bone or wood was used for straightening arrows; or they might simply be straightened by using the teeth as a vise. A flat antelope horn might be perforated and used as an arrow wrench (BM). JL had a small triangular stone with a hole in the center (see fig. 12), which, he said, was heated in the fire and was used for straightening cane arrows. Although the flint points themselves were considered poisonous, an arrow poison was often used for larger game as well as in war. The usual method of making poison was to take the liver or pancreas of a deer and allow it to rot; the material was then smeared on the arrow point. (Informants denied ever allowing a rattle- snake to bite liver to poison it.) JL (Apwaruge) gave a more elaborate recipe for preparing poison, which in- cluded a deer pancreas, the gall of a coyote, the air bladder (watok) of a fish, red paint (cahok), and rattle- snake teeth, the whole being mixed together in a mortar and allowed to rot. "If a man cut himself with flint which had this poison on it, it would make him swell up." IP said that rattlesnake heads and chopped-up roots.of wild parsnip were put in a skin with a number of arrow points. "This made them [the points] all get the germ." The slightest wound from a poisoned arrow was said to be enough to kill an animal. Poisoned arrows were not seg- regated from others in the quiver (JS). The bow, in shooting, was held almost horizontally. The Atsuge used the primary release. The arrow was held between the index and third fingers, which caught and pulled back on the string. The thumb was opposed on the other side of the arrow. The bow was flexed until the arrow butt came almost to the chin. DB (Atsuge) said that the arrow was let fly between the index and third finger of the left hand, which held the bow. Many arrow points were uniface and were curved slightly to one side. According to JL, the point was always set so that when the arrow was on the string the flat side of the point would be parallel with the bowstring. A hunter, when shooting at a distant object, turned the arrow so that the point curved up; when shooting an object close by, he turned the arrow so that the point curved down. A hunter carried at least one arrow in his left hand with his bow. Extra arrows were carried in a quiver (witstas), which was made of 1 53 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS coyote, raccoon, or other skins. Ordinarily the hunter carried his quiver on his back, but if he wanted to be able to reach the arrows easily, he hung it on his left shoulder so that it fell under his left armpit. Arrows were taken from the quiver with the right hand. A qui- ver owned by an Apwaruge man living in Goose Valley was made from a cased raccoon skin turned fur side in. (See pl. 11, d.) The nose and mouth were covered with a piece of buckskin, fringed at the ends. A buckskin carrying strap was attached to the top of the quiver and to a point in line with the front legs. (Some quivers had this strap tied from the front legs to the hind legs.) To the end of the tail, which hung down decoratively at the side, a fringed piece of buckskin was sewed. Each fringe was sheathed in woven Xerophyllum grass. Knives (dumehE) were thin biface blades from four to six inches long and as muich as three inches wide. A four-inch knife dug from an old village site near -Dixie Valley was made of white chert mottled with brown. Knives were either hafted to a short wooden handle or were used unhafted, the butt being wrapped with sinew or string (or dressed down) to prevent its cutting the hand. Long double-pointed knives like those so highly valued in Northwestern California were lacking, although mention was made in a myth of a knife two feet long. A man carried one or two knives in his quiver or in a skin sack slung around his neck. JL said that some men carried two or three knives of different sizes, and also that a woman might have a knife to -lse around camp al- though she would not carry it with her. Defensive armor included rod armor (tunutsa), gowns (sqaluim?) of dried elk or bear skins, and skin helmets which came down over the forehead and ears, "so a man could just see out of it." The skin armor extended to the ankles or lower; it was worn over one shoulder so that it protected onlv the side of the body turned toward the enemy. Rod armor, made of service withes twined to- gether with buckskin string, was high enough to come up to the neck under the chin and extended two or three inches below the belt.43 The Plains shield, although found among the Surprise Valley Paiute and other Paiute tribes to the east, was lacking among the Atsugewi. 4 STONE IMPLEMENTS Flint (miqde), the name applied to any flakable rock, was conceived of as having inherent power of some sort. "Flint is poison." Flints of a certain color were said to be especially suited for killing certain animals. 45 Ac- cording to JW, an arrow point of crystal was best for bear, and smoky black flint (obsidian) was best for deer. He added that all different kinds of flint had names but that he could not remember them. A certain kind of flint might be lucky for one man and unlucky for another. JS thought that the various kinds of flint were worth about 3 In a modern example owned by Sampson Grant (Apwaruge man living in Goose Valley), common string was used as the twining element. Fringed strips of buckskin were sewed along the top and bottom and horizontally across the center. The withes were shorter at the sides so that the garment would fit under the arms. The armor, which went all the way around the body, was tied in back and was held up by two buckskin shoulder straps. Men wearing armor were stationed at important points along the battle line. i Kelly. 1932, p. 187. Stewart (1941, pp. 385-386) lists the shield in 6 of 14 groups. 45 Quartz, chert, jasper, and obsidian were all utilized for implements. Black obsidian was by far the most commonly used for arrow points. According to informants, flints were colored white, mottled white, red, black, and tan. the same. Obsidian was obtained at Glass Mountain (satit) to the north in Achomawi territory. JL said that the Alturas Achomawi and the Paiute got their flint from the Warner Mountains - "Gray Fox left flint at different places for all the Indian nations." Men, who journeyed to Glass Mountain in groups of three or more, were care- ful to ask the Achomawi owners before gathering any of the stone. Large chunks of obsidian, varying from the size of a man's fist to a foot or more in diameter, were wrapped in grass and were carried home in large deer skins. Then the stone was divided among the men of the village, an event which DB claims he witnessed as a boy. The men put the flint, which was wrapped in long grass, on a large deer hide on the ground. Everyone said "heee! " as the flint was put down. Each man then picked out the flint that he wanted - the kind that shot best for him. The men worked on the flint, breaking it up and making arrow points. I don't remember howthey broke up the flint. After four or five days of such work the chief said, "I am going to have something to eat to- night. I have something to say." Then the women began fixing food. In the evening everyone ate. Then the men sweated and made plans for a communal hunt on the following day. Women and children had to stay away when the men worked on the flint; the flint was danger- ous - it was to be used to kill grizzlies and brown bears. Also if women and children came near, the flint would not shoot well thereafter.46 (DB.) Pressure flaking was used to shape arrow points and other flaked tools. The stone to be flaked was placed on a bit of buckskin on the palm and the fingers were clamped over it. According to DB (Atsuge), flakes were removed by using the thumb as a lever on top of the stone and by prying up on the under edge with a slender six-inch flaking tool (ju'umes). He considered the flaking of arrow points hard work: "A man might not be able to make more than two or three in a day." JW (Apwaruge) thought that the flaking was accomplished by pressing down on the edge of the stone with the flaking tool. Both methods may have been in use. Pecking and chipping were the means by which long cylindrical pestles and metates and manos were made. A mano found near Willow Creek was almost cylindrical in form; one side was worn smooth by use. Metates were flattish unsquared slabs of stone, untroughed. Both manos and metates were made of porous lava rock. A mountain near Willow Creek, north of Susanville, was said to fur- nish especially fine rock for making metates. Pestles were made of various hard, fine-grained rocks; often they tapered slightly toward one end. A pestle said to have come from near Eagle Lake had on one end a crude animal head resembling that of a gopher or other rodent. CANOES AND RAFTS Except for the occasional splitting of planks for earth- lodge roofs and the manufacture of dugout canoes, wood- working was negligible. Trees were. felled by using a deer- or elkhorn pick (psukar) to cut a notch at the base, where a fire was built that burned out the dry heart of the tree and left the green wood. A person was not to look up when felling a tree thus, or the flames would climb and This did not prevent women from visiting Glass Mountain. JL's mother swam for power on the mountain at the completion of her puberty ceremony and brought back a large block of obsidian that indicated the power she had obtained. JL showed me this obsidian block, which was hidden near his home in Dixie Valley. 154 I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY burn the upper branches.47 According to BM, the picks (about 7 in. long, tapering to a point) were used as wedges to split logs. Two or three such wedges, which were sometimes of mountain mahogany or other hard wood, were driven into the log at spaced intervals with a heavy stick. Branches were removed from a fallen tree with picks or by being pounded off with a heavy rock. The Atsugewi, like the Northwest Californian tribes, possess the dugout canoe (gipi), although Atsugewi canoes were crude by comparison. Another more arbi- trary similarity to Northwest California is the fact that, if the. owner of a boat saw a man wanting to cross a stream, he had to ferry the traveler over free of charge. The Atsuge, but not the Apwaruge - except possibly those who lived adjacent to Pit River - used canoes. Canoes are still in occasional use on Rising River. Ac- cording to DB, they increased considerably after steel axes were acquired. He said that in his youth there were as many as twelve boats on Rising River Lake alone and two at Manzanita Lake. He thought that boats were made only of yellow pine. A suitable log was laid upon cross poles and carried to camp by six to eight men. Here it was hollowed out with fire and hot rocks; sharpened sticks or horn picks served to remove the burned wood. Two or three men worked together in making a boat. DB asserted that in the old days boats seldom split, because they were not allowed to dry out. Leaks were stopped with pitch. Modern canoes are crude even in comparison with those of the Klamath. The usual length is about six- teen feet, the width that of the log (20 in. or so), the original round shape of the log being preserved. The thickness is about one inch, increasing to four inches or more near bow and stern. IP described a much longer canoe which was three feet or more wide, but since she had only heard about this canoe, it seems probable that its size was exaggerated. Both paddles (dwaiwas) and poles (lokaraCui) were used in propelling canoes. The single blade of the paddle was moderately broad and tapered toward the handle. Paddles were well made and finished (DB). The occu- pant or occupants of a canoe usually sat toward the stern so that the bow was lifted some inches out of the water, making the canoe easier to manipulate. With a maximum load of four people, three might sit at the sterrn with the poleman at the bow or there might be a paddler at bow and stern with two passengers in the middle. Sometimes two-man races were held, with a poleman standing at the bow and a paddler sitting at the stern. The paddler paddled (taiwi) alternately on one side of the canoe and then on the other. Women knew how to paddle and occa- aionally used boats to gather tule, or they might paddle hile a man speared fish by torch light. Anyone could borrow a boat if he first asked the owner's permission. e reciprocated by giving the owner part of his catch of |8h or birds. Log and tule rafts were excellent for gathering eggs d for hunting ducks and mud hens in the shallow lakes f the region.49 Two or three ten-foot logs about a foot diameter were bound together with service withes or In a myth, Coyote, when he was burning a tree, disobeyed rey Fox and looked up. As a result a burning limb fell on him. A boat with a rather blunt bow and stern, examined at Rising ver Lake, was 17 ft. long. Center width was 20 in., and inside th at center was 10 in. (DB said that the old boats were not so p because of the difficulty of hollowing them out.) The boat was pelled by a crude single-bladed paddle about 6 ft. long, which ad been made from a board. Tule balsa canoes were unknown. Tule rafts are not certain kr. the Atsuge. skunk-brush rope to make a log raft. Tule rafts were made by tying dried tules into bundles about eighteen inches thick, four of which were laid side by side and tied together (BM). The capacity of such a raft was not more than one or two persons. FIRE-MAKING OUTFIT A fire drill (yodiqhdi) about two feet long of sagebrush, buckeye, or cedar was used on a juniper-wood hearth (westicis) in which there might be as many as six drill holes. The fire maker, usually a man, placed mixed powdered-grass and juniper-bark tinder near the drill hole and rotated the drill between his hands, perhaps saying as he did so, "Come down as tight as you can." Sometimes a strong woman made fire. Wood was piled tipi-fashion on the ground before being lit. Hunters often carried a slow match (yololi) of shredded juniper bark tied in a slender bundle about one foot long. The fire- making outfit, wrapped in a soft skin to keep it dry, was carried in the quiver for use in case the slow match went out. Fire fans (wDwhoguas) were often made from the wing of a goose or other bird. DB described a fan ten inches long which was similar to a seed beater (see p. 151) except that the weave of the blade was close together so that air would not get through. A man carried a fire fan tied to his belt and used it to force smoke into the bur- rows of small animals or to fan smoldering coals into a blaze. CRAFT SPECIALIZATION Craft specialization, a Central Californian trait, is found among the Atsuge, but in only a slightly developed form. Certain individuals, usually elderly men, special- ized in making bows, arrows, or nets.50 Often such in- dividuals had some spirit guardian to aid them in their work. Dknarehe, an old Atsuge man, did little but make bows and arrows, which he traded for beads and other goods. He never hunted, and fished only occasionally. His arrows were prized for their fine quality. DB thought he had a spirit which made him get up early. Canoes were made and sold, but I did not learn whether individuals specialized in boat manufacture. It seems unlikely, con- sidering the former scarcity of canoes. There was no specialization in skin tanning, in the making of clothing, or in flint chipping - everyone chipped out his own knives and arrow points. DB alone remembered something about a flint chipping power. A man dived into a spring and fell through the roof of a spirit's house in which there was a workshop. The spirit then showed the man how to flake arrow points. When the man returned to the village, he could make arrow points very rapidly, the way the spirit had showed him. Men without power work slowly and may break the point before they are half finished. A man with power can make arrow points which are sharp and pretty. (DB.) Atsuge women of certain families were especially pro- ficient at making baskets. 51 Their skill was attributed to the possession of a guardian spirit which could be inherited. s A bow-making power or an arrow-making power might be acquired (JS). s IP mentioned a basket-making power for the Apwaruge, but failed to state whether or not it could be inherited. 155 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS JS declared that a woman might rub the hands of her daughter or granddaughters and thus transfer the power to them. In other instances, a lizard, the guardian ani- mal, was drawn across the girl's palm and up her fore- arm. If the lizard remained quiescent during the pro- cess, the girl was to get the power, but if it kicked and squirmed, the girl would not get the power - "the lizard did not like her." The possession of craft powers by cer- tain families is reminiscent of the Patwin functional families, each member of which owned a charm and shared magical formuals and ritual, aiding in the per- formance of certain dances, crafts, or economic pur- suits such as salmon fishing. 52 However, among the Atsugewi the family power depended on the eccentrici- ties of a spirit guardian rather than on ownership of formulas and ritual. It is possible that the power to make good bows, arrows, and nets could be passed from father to son. Indeed, it is likely, since this is true of most guardian spirits. However, detailed evi- dence is lacking. Although it was highly important that a person be able to make his own weapons and paraphernalia, there was little formal training in craftmanship. One learnedi by observation. Occasionally formal instruction wag given, usually by a close relative, but never did a teacher receive pay for his services. McKern, 1922, pp. 246-258. 156 LIFE CYCLE BIRTH AND INFANCY Atsugewi birth customs differ little from those of surrounding tribes. Children were much desired, and a barren woman was looked down on socially. Accord- ing to DB, a barren woman would not be welcome in other people's houses.' To induce pregnancy Apwaruge women drank the scrapings of certain shells in water. LR stated that when Grey Fox created the first people women were impregnated in this way, but Coyote ob- jected and instituted intercourse as a preliminary to conception. She added that abalone-bead scrapings would make a boy and clamshell-bead scrapings would make a girl. JL and IP said that olivella beads were used. DB (Atsuge) denied the use of any drink to aid conception, but declared that certain doctors had the power to induce pregnancy.2 In one case a doctor found a bullsnake in a woman's stomach, which prevented her bearing a live child. After the doctor had removed the snake, the woman bore several healthy children even though she was rather elderly by this time. Intercourse was usually discontinued at pregnancy and was resumed from one to six months after a birth. DB stated that sometimes a couple continued intercourse almost until the time of the birth and added that this might be the reason some women had twins. Possibly the fear of having twins was one reason for the abeyance of inter- course during pregnancy.3 No contraceptive potions were known, but by not leaving a cord from the cradle to the surface when her , child was buried or by allowing a gopher to eat the pla- centa a woman might presumably avoid having progeny. Or a girl might, during her puberty dance, put some of the menstrual blood in a badger hole and become barren as a result (LR). However, such practices were denied ;by the majority of informants, since children were ordi- narily much desired. The idea of intentional abortion eemed new to most informants, and all denied that such thing ever happened among their people. Abortions ere said to occur only accidentally when a husband eat his pregnant wife or when the wife fell. In similar en infanticide was denied; even deformed children ere allowed to live. DB had a crippled and evidently entally deficient brother who lived to the age of about even. Although disgrace attached to the unwed mother ausitsi), I was told that a woman in such circum- ces would not kill her child: "They say, 'Raise him ad he may make a living for you. "' Twins were not desired because they were too hard take care of, but there was no feeling that they brought luck, and never was one of the pair killed. Twins e rare; they were said to be caused by the mother's double nuts of some kind. A woman who repeated- athered double nuts or fruits was also likely to have . A psychic bond was believed to exist between ? If one died, the other was thought likely to die A barren woman had no womb; an impotent man carried water ad of semen (JL). A regular doctoring performance was held for the woman. There is some evidence to the effect that a child was thought formed in the mother by the accumulation of the father's en. However, it was not learned whether twins were formed accumulation of excessive semen. A pregnant woman had to observe the following pre- cautions.4 She had to avoid snakes and had to throw dirt over a snake's track before stepping over it or the baby would be bewitched and die. She could not touch milkweed or the baby would foam at the mouth. She could not eat meat chewed on by a fox, coyote, or marten, or the baby would be poisoned. She must avoid eagle and buzzard manure or it would kill the child at birth. She could not eat sinew or the navel cord would not come off quickly. Neither a woman nor her husband could kill owls or eat their flesh or the baby would resemble an owl when born and would soon die. She could not go near a tree struck by lightning or the baby would become dried up and dead like the tree. Graveyards, as well as a corpse in the village, must be avoided by both parents for fear of the ghosts and devils who would kill the baby after it was born. On awaking in the early morning the woman should scatter her covers to the side and jump up. This would make an easy delivery. She could not eat too much or the child would be- come large in her stomach and refuse to be born quickly. She had to move around briskly and work all the time. This would make the baby want to be born quickly. If the woman was lazy, the baby would grow large inside her and might rise up inside and kill her. The behavior of both parents during the pregnancy was important to the future development of the child. Neither parent should become angry or fight or t'Ve baby would be "mean" and give the woman trouble at birth. The husband could not smoke or the child would sicken, and at the time of the birth he could not hunt, he had to abstain from meat, and he performed certain acts - to be discussed later - which aided the child. The close relationship between man, wife, and child is shown in the following account. When my daughter was pregnant her husband drank all the time even though people told him not to. When the baby was about to be born, he didn't come out. After six days my husband tried to help her by lifting and shaking her. She was nearly dead. Finally, when the baby was born, it lay without moving. After a time the baby moved and got over his drunkenness. (IP.) In this incident the baby had become drunk because the father had been drinking. When the time for birth approached, the woman went to live with her mother (at least for the first child). If it was winter, her parents cleaned out the old cooking-house and insulated its walls against the cold by putting a layer of grass, held down by mats, on the outside. In summer the birth took place in a roofless brush enclosure (ju'tsjahe). The girl's mother dug a shallow pit in the house and, as soon as labor pains started, built a fire here, covering it over afterward with dirt and then with grass. The expec- tant mother took her place on this hot bed (amiwi) Then she was covered with blankets. A hot rock wrapped in grass 4Probably most of these applied also to the husband. [157] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS was placed on her stomach to keep her blood running freely. It was feared that large lumps of blood would develop in the woman's stomach and press toward her heart, swelling her stomach and killing her. JL con- sidered this some kind of blood poisoning and said that women often died of this. Only hot drinks, usually hot water mixed with dirt from a gopher hole or with ashes, were given the woman. Her mother or another woman massaged her stomach, rubbing downward to keep the blood down and to prevent clots from forming. Also a buckskin belt about three inches wide was put tightly around the patient's waist to prevent the blood from rising. The husband kept the fire going and had a special sleeping place on the opposite side of the house from his wife. He left when the actual birth commenced. At this juncture the woman assumed a sitting posture with her legs spread out in front of her and grasped a digging stick in each hand. She was attended by her mother and one or two women who had a reputation for inducing quick easy births. These midwives, if they can be called such, received no presents for their services. One of the women got behind the expectant mother and began to squeeze and to work her hands around to help force the child out. The other woman stayed in front and called encouragement. The unborn baby was thought to be recalcitrant at times and had to be coaxed to come out: "It's nice weather outside and there is plenty to eat." If a baby started to emerge feet first, this was called cinehwu Bokci (the sun she met); it resulted from the mother's having slept well past sunrise. The mid- wife sought to work the baby around so that the head would emerge first. If parturition was difficult, a man with deer power was sent for. The deer power, said to be in the doctor's hand, entered the womb and kicked the baby out. Sometimes the doctor merely blew smoke over the woman and caused the child to be born. "The child becomes frightened when it knows the doctor is coming and turns around within the womb ready to come out." The deer power would also cure a woman who had sore breasts. A true curing doctor would not attend the woman because he feared the malignant effects of her blood. Men were never present at a bir4i unless labor was difficult. In such a case even a mai ith no spirit power might assist by getting behind the iiother and squeezing around her waist. After the birth the umbilical cord (ciipd1s) was pinched to force the blood out, and then it was tied about two inches from the baby's stomach with a twisted string of the mother's hair which had been saved for the purpose. LR stated that the white middle fiber from a buckbrush stem might also be used. The cord was then cut with an obsidian knife. The placenta (atuhsta) was deeply buried or was burned on a hot rock and the ashes scattered. The sooner it was disposed of the less likely the mother was to incur pain from it. If it were simply thrown away and a gopher ate it, the woman would have no more chil- dren. Immediately after the birth the mother ran a hun- dred yards or so to clean out the remaining blood and then returned to the hot bed with the baby. At this time also the husband was whipped with a coyote tail and made to run to the mountains. It was his duty to keep active and to collect wood by breaking off dead limbs, which he carried in a bundle on his back as if it were a deer; this would make him lucky in hunting, and would also help his wife and child. A new skunkbrush pack rope had to be made for each load of wood. The procedure following the birth was almost identi- cal to that in the girl's puberty ceremony. The same restrictions applied to the young mother as to the pub- escent girl, i.e., no meat, use of the head scratcher, prohibition against looking at the sky for fear of causing I rain, and no basketmaking. The same dances were per- formed as in the puberty ceremony. DB stated that onl a few people would dance to help the couple out. Appar ly the dancing (wac'umi) was not nearly such a social oc casion as it was in the puberty ceremony. The husband (in the puberty dance the betrothed boy) had to travel around in the mountains all day and then dance all night. At sunrise he ran toward the east and continued to the mountains again. When his wife was able she also danc the dancing continuing until the umbilical cord dropped. Under the circumstances, it was natural to want the co to come off quickly, and there were several means to speed the process. The Apwaruge husband brought two small flat rocks, about three inches across, to his mother-in-law, who chose one of them. She warmed stone, wrapped it in fur, and placed it over the baby's navel, tying it in place with a belt of wildcat fur. If in three or four days time the cord had not come off, som dried cottontail manure was pulverized, mixed with grease, and applied as a salve around the navel cord. Sand might also be added to cut the cord and cause it to come off. Still other methods used by both Atsuge and Apwaruge were to apply pitch or wild parsley chopped up fine and warmed. Repeated applications might be made. If a child pulled at his navel cord, he would sick, if he pulled it off, he would die. As soon as the cord dropped off, the man ran to the mountains for a final swim. The woman, after having a solution of pounded pine needles poured over her head, ran toward the east and then returned to the birth house for the rest of the day.5 On the next morning she washe the green material off and washed the baby for luck also although none of the green solution had been poured on him. After a sweat bath and swim, the mother was thr with her restrictions.6 The girl's mother then prepared breakfast for the young couple, who could now eat meat. The husband addressed a dog as follows, "You and I are' going to eat." Then the couple chewed and spit out their first bite of meat so that the dog could get it. This was for luck. BM stated that it would prevent consumption. The umbilical cord was placed in a small buckskin sack (or in a deer hoof [JS]) which was hung on the baby's cradle shade. If it were thrown away, the cord would cl and cause the baby to cry continually and put his ear to ground to listen to the cord. However, MB asserted tha the navel cord of a cranky and "mean" baby would be thrown in the water: "The meanness would go down the stream with the cord." There were several ways of dis- posing of the navel cord after a child reached maturity; it might be put away in the house (IP), thrown away or given (for luck?) to a dog (LR), or hung in a tree in the mountains (MB). The baby was fed as soon as it seemed to want nouri ment. The girl's mother kneaded her breasts and sucke out the colostrum to get the milk to flow. Then the nipp was put into the baby's mouth, and he was encouraged suck. If the mother died, it was difficult to find a wet nurse, and the baby was likely to die of starvation. The sister of the dead woman might suckle the child, but if she did so she could not have intercourse with her hus- band or her milk would taste queerly and the baby would become sick. This was also true of the baby's mother, who could not have relations with any man but her husba (or the husband with any other woman) or the baby would get deathly sick: "The outside man's or woman's blood sThe use of this green solution was reported only by Apwar informants. The Atsuge mother seems only to have gone for a f swim. 6 The dancing and some of the restrictions were necessary only after the birth of the first child. 158 I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY would be bad for the baby." 7 Babies were not weaned until they were three or four years old. The mother forced out some of her milk on a hot rock, the purpose peing to make her breasts dry up quickly (BM). Shortly Ffter the birth some of the mother's milk was put in the baby's eyes and on his face to take the red roughness . Even adults who had eye trouble used the milk for eir eyes. Feathers were burned over a sickly child smoke was blown on him. As a last resort a doctor as called. He usually found the cause of the sickness be the breaking of some taboo by the parents during pregnancy. The maternal grandmother made the baby's first adle (cinekow), a small, oval, basketLike affair with shade (jutumikas) at the top.8 The baby, wrapped in furs, sat on the lower end of the basket with his extending over the edge, being bound in with inter- ced buckskin thongs. When the baby became too large r this basket cradle, a large, flat, ovoid cradle frame 'pri) with a pointed bottom was made. This cradle very similar to the Northeastern Maidu type.9 Olivella ds, which could be rattled to please the infant, were n hung from the cradle shade. The child sat on a 1m roll of padding about a foot from the bottom of cradle, and formerly a soft buckskin band was placed r the child's head to hold it up. It is doubtful if this uced head deformation, since informants denied and themselves exhibited few signs of the practice. ugh two cradles usually sufficed, a third was some- es made in the same pattern as the second, but larger. series of lozenge-shaped figures woven in the cradle de denoted a girl's cradle; a series of chevrons rep- enting arrow points woven in the shade denoted a 's cradle. Sometimes a diminutive bow was hung by boy's cradle as an ornament. BM (Apwaruge) stated a girl's cradle was wider than a boy's cradle - a also found among the Klamath. 10 A woman was cautioned never to leave her baby for instant when she was away from camp. This was im- esed upon women by a story of a young mother who her cradle in a tree while she dug roots a short tance away. Later, when she returned, she found a bullsnake had crawled into the child's open mouth only half its body protruded. The mother tried yto pull the snake out, and men at the camp were more successful. Finally they found it necessary to the baby open to remove the snake, the baby being d by this time. A woman sometimes carried a small et cradle in her burden basket while she dug roots. rger cradle was leaned against something or had its t stuck in the ground while the woman worked. A or girl of seven or eight might take care of the baby e the mother worked. When a child had outgrown cradle, it was either saved for other children or facing the east in a tree. A cradle might be loaned other woman on condition that she hang it in the when she was through using it. was probably connected in some way with the semicouvade tpt. This is the common sitting cradle of Northern California. 1.12, a. For a description and discussion of this type of cradle see r, 1925, pp. 534-537. Spier, 1930, p. 58. NAMES AND STATUS TERMS A child might receive a name when it was anywhere from one to six years old (MB): "When they get sense and can understand." Usually the father - but sometimes the mother, the father's brother, or a grandparent - would bestow the name. No ceremony was involved at the time. Informants maintained that there was only this one name, which was never changed. The existence of other names became clear only after considerable verbal prob- ing by the investigator. Consequently it seems probable that the first given name was the only one of importance. Informants could remember only a few nicknames, and they were probably not common. Names were the prop- erty of certain families. If an outsider tried to use a family name, the family could take it away from him. DB stated that family names belonged to a family as long as there wa s a male member of the family alive, like the possession of trapping land. Both DB and IP asserted that it might be twelve years or more after a person died before the name was reissued, but DB on another occasion mentioned two to three years as the time interval. There was a taboo against using the name of a deceased person for at least a year after his death. Anyone who violated this taboo was said to be rejoicing in the person's death. The deceased's kin would be angered, although they usually would not fight nor would a fine be demanded. After a year had passed the name might be spoken. Yet informants exhibited a slight reticence against using the names of close relatives who had been dead ten years or more. A dead person might be referred to as "that dead man who used to live in that place [name of locality]." BM denied the use of teknonymous terms in ordinary reference. Nicknames referred to some personal peculiarity, as uyamahi (side of face chewed off) and acawari ciluwig (Eagle Lake bachelor). Chiefs and headmen were usually named (probably a second name) from the place at which they lived. For example, Buckskin Jack, chief at Rising River, was called atspagi (where the water rises) and Bob Mullen, headman at the settlement of juke, was called jukeni. Doctors might receive what was called a power name in addition to their first name. Coyote Jack, Apwaruge doctor, was called miyaki bueski (panther dreamer) because he had the panther as his tutelary spirit. Some names had a meaning and others did not. k6maiwa Angry one wahanumca No particular meaning yosk5t To make roots pop out when they are being dug up pEtsku'ami Epos-root eater amohwi No particular meaning Bostinitskai witulqi A half-breed No translation Harry Wilson. He cried and kicked when a baby. An Atsuge chief Ben Wilson Dixie Valley chief amohwi Tom. He also had a nickname, blewixi (whiskers) John LaMar. (I am not certain whether this is a given name or a nick- name) The name of a man who was crippled by a bear. His nickname was ruc- mehe (lost the calf of his leg) 159 j, ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS tEtE Exclamation made by a per- son when he gets smoke in his face (tE! tE! raiwu'mi To pour some- thing out of a basket titkiyaita To walk in a wavering line w:'tur A kind of root woniki minu Sunset woman tululta The white tail of a running deer Mary McClennan(?) A woman's name Mary Rusberry Kate Phillips This was a "power" name which was passed on by a doctor to his or her daughter; the doc- tor had the sunset as a spirit guardian Lucy Rivers The following status terms were used. heuri-jar a child from babyhood until puberty Boswits a baby boy Busnut a baby girl kaswijar a male child until puberty ismitcljar a female child until puberty Braisujtukca a boy at puberty jawa-nas6he a girl at puberty cilwasitska bachelor rah'yeiki a young bachelor rah'yeiki hejar an old bachelor (hejar, old) lomewoka an unmarried woman mallstanpi.ma a person who marries a dead sibling's spouse yacomiwiho a widow; used only in indirect address yatcum a widow; used either in direct or in- direct address; a derogatory term ytwcicar an orphan; used if either parent or both are deceased; used in indirect address yoskitski an orphan; same use as above; direct address rapusitsi an unwed mother saylgti (some- a bastard; a derogatory term thing that was found) Children were often referred to as a one-year old or a two-year old (in actuality one winter old, etc.). Birth dates were recorded by some special event, such as, "just before the soldiers came for the last time," and so on. CHILDHOOD To encourage a child's growth the mother kneaded and stretched the muscles of his arms and legs every morni;g before setting out to work. This was continued from the time the child was a month old until he could walk (when he was taken from his cradle board). In Dixie Valley there was a special rock on which children might be -stretched to make them grow. JL attributed the six-foot stature of his son to the fact that he had been stretched on this rock. Near Hat Creek there was a spring in which a child might be bathed to aid its growth. Girls who fetched water sprinkled some of it on them- selves from waist to head while saying, "stro! stro!," a process that would encourage growth. Milk teeth were simply thrown away when they came out. BM said that. adults who lost teeth put them in a clump of bunch grass, but he could give no reason for the practice. If a lock of a child's hair were put under a stream boulder, a fish (konoya) would find it and cause the child's hair to grow luxuriantly. Through much of a person's life bathing in springs and short trips for "luck" were important. A baby might be taken to a "power spring" and allowed to play a little in the water. A child, when old enough to talk, ran to the east at every new moon. After traversing a short dis- tance he climbed on a stump or other object and, facing the moon, said, "Grandfather, see how tall I am," or "I'm going to be big and tall. I'm going to be tough." This action was called cinehwu wesku'me (moon power quest) (weskuime, power quest). The child did not obseri a meat taboo at this time nor could he get a guardian spirit until puberty, although a spirit might, if pleased with the child's industriousness, plan to become his guardian at puberty. 11 The cinehwu weskume observanc ended at puberty. Even after puberty boys and girls had to be careful of their actions in order not to become lazy On occasion boys were whipped with an animal tail or a bowstring to make them industrious. Then they were tol to dive into a pool or stream, perhaps in the dead of winter. Hard work was the key to success and wealth in the Atsugewi scheme of things. Children were admonished to think about work and not about lying around. Every morning the father talked to his son as follows: "Get wood. Keep active. Go hunting whenever you can," etc. The efficacy of this early training can be seen in the persons of some of my older informants, who, although over seventy years old, are better workers than many of the younger people. 12 A boy was trained by his father or a close relative, who might make a small self bow of juniper wood and teach the boy how to hunt with it.'3 A boy also learned certain crafts from his father and made a sample product under the latter's direction. When boyj got to be eight or nine years old they frequently went hunting for small game, which they added to the family larder. Girls, likewise, began to learn productive skills, early and went root digging with their mothers when they were about eight years old. They were expected to dig a day by the side of their mothers, who taught them how to handle a digging stick efficiently. In winter when there was little else to do a mother taught her daughter how to make baskets. Yet children often found time for play. They enjoyed playing in the water, and most of them learned to swim (yapcowi) when fairly young.'4 In winter snow slides we made down the roof of a sweathouse. There were imita games in which small bark houses with doors of sunflo leaves were built. Girls might set up housekeeping, go out with sticks and pretending to dig roots or pounding dirt as though it were acorns. On occasion, they made The spirit would watch the child. 12 This was particularly true of DB, who customarily worked all day long, chopping down trees, building fences, and doing other tasks, although there was no real necessity for his so do as he had a pension. He said that he feared he would get sicka lazy if he sat around very much; at first he begrudged the time spent giving ethnographic information. 13 DB, since his father did not want to bother with him, was trained by his uncle. 14 The sexes did not mix when swimming, but kept to themseli (IP). I I 0 I Pl. 160 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY crude copies of baskets out of pine bark. They also had wooden dolls, lacking arms or legs and wrapped with brush string to simulate a dress. Boys often played simple games, such as throwing rocks at trees - the one hitting the tree first being the winner. They also liked to play with slings (catima), but these were not use'd seriously in hunting. The moral training of children was considered very important. Young girls were taught to be bashful in the presence of the other sex, and both boys and girls were told to stay in the background when strangers came. Boys were told to be peaceful and to avoid trouble: "It is best not to fight. Even if a man insults you to your face, smile and forget it. A person who fights will get hurt. In his old age he will have many pains and aches." A liar acquired a bad reputation: "No one would believe anything that he said." One man was nicknamed kayeyEte (liar). His son was called aty6ge kaye (young liar), al- though he did not have the reputation of being a liar. Possibly some of the stigma carried over from father to son. Disobedient children were switched, a trait that is probably not aboriginal. 16 If a child was too mischievous, his ear was punched with a stick and his head was ducked in water for a moment. Tales of giants, spirits, and ghosts were used to good effect in child control. All children were to be in the house by sundown or else one of the giant women was liable to capture them. Other evil spirits also came out at night. Children could not shout too loudly around camp or the ghost in the sky would become displeased and punish them. The regula- tion that, for fear of supernatural consequences, boys were not to throw rocks or break limbs while the men were away hunting may likewise have had its root in the desire to have some control over the actions of the boys while the men were absent. PUBERTY Menstrual observanLes.-The girl's puberty ceremony, practically the only ceremonial of any importance, reached a high development among the Atsugewi. In this paucity of ceremonial development and in the pattern of the puber- ty ceremony the Atsugewi resemble their linguistic rela- tives, the Shasta. 17 When a girl had her first menses, her father sent her to the hills and called after her to the spirits of the mountains to give her aid. On returning in the evening she assumed paraphernalia appropriate for the dancing which was to start that night. She wore an old buckskin dress and moccasins; a twined buckbrush head- band (wap6pkas) about one inch wide, overlaid with Xero- phyllumtenax;'5 wristlets (rokaci) of the same material; ' ciiried a cane (lohkrinkai) about three feet long. On Hat Creek the two free ends of the headband, which was tied behind, were left hanging down to the middle of the back, but in Dixie Valley the ends of the band were much 5 Given by DB. 16 Switching was an important concomitant of the power quest and in this connection is undoubtedly precontact. The practice of whipping miscreants, whether adult or child, wa highly developed to the north among Plateau tribes such as the Nez Perce, Walla Wallas. Flathead, and Palouse, but was probably postcontact among these tribes also. The Northeastern Maidu likewise have a similar puberty ceremony, but the ceremonies of the Paiute to the east and the Wintu are quite different; both lack the round dance and several other important features of the Atsugewi ceremony. 1 A zigzag design or other design was worked into the headband, which might be made by the girl's mother. shorter and a large triangular cloak (lEhuime) - made by laying three bundles of buckbrush side by side and tying them at the top - was added. The cloak extended to the calves and was held in place by a short band of buckskin or woven buckbrush which went around the girl's neck. The Apwaruge girl, at least, wore a belt (rokwasi) of buckbrush and anklets (DokoBui) similar to the wristlets.'9 In summer a semicircular brush en- closure (jutstipkaiwi) about seven feet high and twenty or thirty feet across served as a dancing place; in winter a large sweathouse was used. On hearing that a dance was in progress people came from afar to attend, al- though no knotted strings were sent out as invitations. There might be as many as one or two hundred people in attendance. There were three separate dances. The silmitsabone, or woman's dance, was performed in the daytime, pos- sibly once in the morning, again at noon, and a third time in the evening. Women, who were the only partici- pants, formed a circle and took long gliding steps to the side, the purpose being to clean the menstrual blood from the girl. A woman singer sat in the center of the circle and beat time with a stick on another stick on the ground before her. The round dance, or paninabone, occurred in the evening and might last half the night. This was an important social dance which was often per- formed at other social occasions when no puberty dance was in progress. The pubescent girl was less the central figure of this dance than in the other two dances, and it seems less an essential part of the ceremony. In fact, it might occur while the woman's dance (and the girl's dance ?) was yet in progress. Its chief purpose may have been to entertain the spectators, who joined in a large circle, men alternating with women, about the fire. Dancing consisted of shQrt steps to the side followed by one or two jumps with the feet together. After the round dance the yokalbone or girl's dance was commenced. The pubescent girl danced back and forth by the fire, carrying her cane- and always facing toward the east. The boy to whom she was betrothed danced by her side, helping to support her when she tired, or two girls might lend her support, one on each side. 20 The singing, in which the whole group partici- pated, was led by a male singer wielding a deer-hoof rattle, who sat next to the enclosure fence, facing east. 21 In the short intervals between periods of dancing the girl was required to gather wood, or she might rest a little, but she could not sleep. Restrictions on sexual conduct relaxed during the dancing. Couples disappeared into the brush and returned to the dance a short time later. A man might acquire a wife in this manner, going home with the girl of his choice after the dance. 22 The father of the menstruant girl had to provide a meal for everyone at midnight and possibly again at breakfast time. The girl's vivacity and industry during the dance period was thought to be an index of her actions in later life; if she tired easily and became sleepy, this meant she would become a Brumui (a poor, lazy person). Every morning at sunrise an industrious woman lifted the girl from her feet, gave her a deer-hoof rattle, and sent her running toward the east. After traversing a certain distance the Anklets reported by MW. 20 The boy observed food taboos just as the pubescent girl did. 21 The yokilbone dance lasted all night. According to JW several important singers sat together next to the enclosure wall. 22 Moral laxity was said to have been avoided among the un- married at this time, for to lie with an unmarried girl was equi- valent to marrying her. A man so doing tookc the girl home as his wife. 161 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS girl stopped and gathered pine burrs assiduously to in- sure her proficiency at gathering vegetable foods in the future. In summer the girl had to work hard all day digging roots, which were given away, usually to the women singers. Only short daytime naps were allowed her, and she could drink only a few sips of water, which was poured from a basket into her mouth. A drinking tube was not used. On waking from a nap she had to jump instantly or she was liable to become lazy. She slept using a bark pillow. In winter the girl remained in the menstrual hut - really nothing but the cookhouse made over slightly - most of the day, but she was allowed very little sleep. Occasionally she went after a small load of wood. She could not touch her hair or it would come out or fray at the ends and she had to use a scratching stick, about four inches long, which was attached to a string and was stuck under the headband when not in use. 3 Informants denied that it was ever decorated, as was the Klamath custom.24 Some relative or friend combed out the girl's hair so that it hung to her waist. She had her own special cooking utensils, and her mother or a female relative cooked for her. She kept her nose stuffed with pungent leaves so that she would not smell things cooking, especially grease. Al- though meat was tabooed, she could eat most vegetable foods except wild plums, which might cause her to have bad teeth. Her head was not kept covered nor was her glance lethal except to a sick person, but if she looked at the sky or crossed a stream it was considered likely to rain. Clothing worn during the period was thrown away or traded for luck with another girl after the danc- ing had terminated. This same practice occurred after the first child was born. The first performance lasted from four to six days - possibly it ended when the menstrual flow stopped. On the final day the girl ran eastward as usual, and on her return her mother poured a solution of pounded pine needles and water over her. 25 She then stayed in the menstrual hut until the following morning, when she went for a swim, washed the green material off, re- moved her headband and other accoutrement, which she hung in the menstrual hut. The whole ceremony was re- peated at each of several subsequent menstrual periods, but would last only three days or so each time. 26 On the last day of the dance period the girl's ear lobes (cuya- rehe) or nose (iudi) were punched with a sharpened stick, which was left in the hole, the operator being some in- dustrious woman. If the wound showed a trickle of blood, this was a good sign.27 Girls sometimes spent their last night in the mountains, where they built a fire and piled rocks. Two girls might go together to keep each other company. According to BM, there were what were called girl's mountains to which only girls would go. 28 Dancing paraphernalia were disposed of in the mountains, being hung in a tree. During subsequent menstrual periods, after the danc- ing had terminated the girl ate in the menstrual hut, ab- stained from meat, stopped up her nose with leaves, and 23 The Apwaruge used the name "watokehes" and the Atsuge the name "katao" for the scratching stick. 24 Spier, 1930, p. 69. 25 The pine-needle solution was used only by the Apwaruge. 26 The number of dance periods varied. Some girls danced only two or three months; one girl was said to have danced for eleven months. MW: "She dances until she is a woman." Five or six months seem to have been the usual period danced. 27 See p. 196 for effect of ear-punching on weather. 25 Burney Butte (ap6aha) was a girl's mountain (MD). wore special old clothing, which she kept in the hut. She could not sleep with her husband or he would lose his hunting luck. He likewise suffered certain restrictions. He could not smoke or hunt until his wife recovered, nor would he even touch his bow for "the taint of her blood would weaken it." He also ate no meat, although he could eat in the sweathouse, and kept his nose stopped with leaves. The glance of either a menstruant woman or her husband was likely to prove fatal to a sick person. As a woman grew older, she stopped using the scratching stick and menstrual hut and ate with her family, but other restrictions remained in force. Power quest.-The first power quest undertaken by a boy when his voice changed was evidently equivalent in some measure to the girl's puberty ceremony; the boy was said to be having monthlies (aitseiki), he used a scratching stick, and he wore a skunk-brush belt. The father or another man who was a good hunter and worker, after lecturing the boy and telling him how to conduct himself on the quest, took a sharpened twig and punched it through the boy's ear lobes, inserting a short section of twig in each hole. He then whipped the boy on the legs with a skinned tail of some animal, such as a coyote, or with a bowstring and then sent him to the mountains. The operator called to the mountains and spirits to treat the boy kindly and to give him power, and then he performed tasks with much alacrity and stepped about in a lively manner, which actions were thought to help the boy on the quest. Usually the boy started out in the early afternoon, never looking back, and by evening he had reached the mountains, where he built fires and piled up rocks, going from one spring to another. He took only a sip of water at each spring visited. Before swallowing the water he had to gargle it with sand, which he spit out afterwards; other wise he would get a toothache (wamiopunitna). Sometimes he cut his legs and arms with a sharp flint. In the middle of the night he might lie down on a bark pillow to sleep a little, but when he awoke he had to jump up immediately or he would become lazy. He picked up rocks and threw them in all directions. If he were lucky, he would hear a fawn bawl when he hit it and he knew he now had some kind of hunting power. If he heard the groan of an old man (a spirit), he knew he was to be a doctor.29 He might dive down in a spring and leave the twigs which had been in his ears under a submerged log. He fasted during the two or three days of the quest. On his return he was met on the outskirts of the village by the operator, who gave him a little vegetable food to eat and water to drink. After a final swim in the river the boy was finished, unless he had received some doctoring power. Then his power mi impose further restrictions on him for a time. After the quest the boy gave away the first of each species of animal that he killed, that is, the first deer, the first quail. Then once each spring, before he could e epos roots, he had to take a lighted torch of juniper bark and run up a tall hill with it, lighting a series of fires as he went. At the top he built a big fire. 30 On returning in the evening he chewed up some epos roots and spit the pieces over his legs and arms, dancing up and down as he did so and saying something to this effect: "I hope I will be fast. I hope I will be light and healthy. I hope I will be here next year." Epos roots were said to carry sleep, and the boy must go to the hills to negate their influence. The procedure was continued every spring for the next six years (JL) - possibly until the boy got marri A boy who consorted with girls before his first quest was certain to be lazy and good-for-nothing. If a boy still 29 Reported only by Atsuge informants. 30 The lighting of fires up the hill was denied by DB (Atsuge). I i 162 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY proved to be lazy after his quest, he might be sent to t}e mountains a second time. Youths especially desir- ous of being industrious and healthy made subsequent trips to the hills at monthly intervals, staying only for the day and returning in the evening. They did not build fires. MARRIAGE The Atsugewi are similar to Northern and some Central Californian groups and differ from Basin tribes in having the concept of bride-purchase. However, this concept was poorly defined at best. It was usually only on second thought that informants spoke of a man "buy- ing his wife," and several informants did not mention it at all when discussing the gift exchange. Certainly there was no idea that the marriage was a negotiated transac- tion as in Northwestern California. A marriage entailed the exchange of presents between the contracting families, theoretically as long as the couple remained alive, but probably as the couple grew older gifts became more and more infrequent. The value of the gifts exchanged was probably nearly equal as a rule. After receiving a gift a family reciprocated with a gift nearly equal in value at a later date. However, if either family gave more, it was apt to be that of the husband. 31 Informants had no idea of how much a man might give for a wife, but a good woman was "worth big money. She would rustle get more food than a man would." Rights to a widow Ight be bought for two or three strings of clamshell ds, this being the nearest approach to a direct bride- e. A man gained in prestige by making many gifts to wife's people and consequently tried to give as much possible. A niggardly man was held in contempt: ople think he is a poor man." Usually the man's kin p helped him furnish the necessary presents. 32 others and even cousins might provide gifts, and larly, presents were given to the brothers (and aps cousins) of the parents-in-law. There seems have been an exchange of presents between the two -groups rather than solely between the respective aes and their parents-in-law. In fact, the marriage ed a whole series of reciprocal visits and mutual gtions between the two kin groups. There were no clans nor was there exogamy in the L village group.33 The only limitation on marriages that of blood relationship. Marriage with any rela- even as distant as a third or fourth cousin, was ibited. If cousins of opposite sex consorted, it was ght they were likely to get boils, and though cousin riages did sometimes occur, they were condemned. e would be no kinship terms for children of such the children were also likely to die young. In times the old rules have evidently been relaxed, everal marriages between second and third cousins ecorded in the genealogies. JL claimed that the lnlormants were about equally divided on the question whether Isband' family gave more or whether the presents exchanged bout equal in value. The important thing was that an ex- g of presents was made; which family gave the most was not concern. Each gave generously. I was told that if a poor trried into a rich family, the latter would furnish most of * a result a poor man, if he had rich relatives, might tically marry a rich man's daughter. The poor man's rela- would provide him with the necessary gifts for the exchange. lrriages were usually outside the village because almost one in the village was related. However, a person might s omeone in the village not related to him. Atsuge did this purposely to increase their population. 34 BN thought the practice reprehensible - "just like dogs." Parents had much to say in the choice of a mate for their child. A girl could be forced to marry a man she did not like, but it was denied that one ever committed suicide to escape her fate. Occasionally, in spite of parental disap- proval, a young couple would elope. On their return to the village their parents would say, "Let them be coyote bred," and would refuse to have anything to do with them. The young couple would be forced to set up in a bark hut or camp of their own in another part of the settlement. But according to DB, the man's family was more likely to accept them than the wotnan's: "The man's family couldn't say so much. By the time a man was twenty or twenty-one he could be collecting property on his own." 35 Later, if the marriage turned out to be a success and the couple showed that they were good workers, their parents might accept them again, then beginning the proper ex- change of presents. If the marriage failed (usually be- cause of lack of economic support) and the woman went back to her family, she was again accepted, but was re- buked for not paying attention to the better judgment of her elders. The important requisites in a mate were wealth and the ability to make a living. If a man thought his newly acquired wife was not industrious enough, he took her back and married another woman. This was particularly true of rich and therefore desirable men, some of whom, it was said, married four or five times before they were satisfied: "A rich man might watch girls bringing home roots and pick out the one that had the most." A betrothal marriage (wEtstisaiwi) might be arranged by the parents of a boy and girl at the time of her puberty or a little earlier. If the boy's parents saw a likely girl, they sent their son over with some meat. If the marriage was acceptable to the girl's parents, they returned edible roots, and from this time on the two families exchanged presents, the marriage being consummated a year or two later. Girls married when they were about sixteen, but boys not usually until they were nineteen or twenty. Be- fore their marriage the betrothed pair could not associate with others of opposite sex in their age group, but they could laugh and joke with one another. At consummation the boy went to the girl's house at night and lay down be- side her, the two staying in bed until late the next morn- ing so that everyone in the village could come and recog- nize their marriage. This constituted a full marriage, there being no other ceremony. The chief, at least among the Apwaruge, made a speech at this time stating that the couple were now married and that there would be a feast shortly to celebrate. The procedure in an ordinary marriage (laiDksi, both families love each other) was for the young man to dress up in his best clothes and go at night to the house of the girl he desired. 36 Here he attempted to lie down beside her. If she disliked him, she would hit him with her el- bow to make him depart. 37 If she hit him with her open palm, it meant that he was to leave for the present, but that some time later he might be accepted. If the parents did not like the suitor and thought that he would be a poor provider, they would shake their heads when he came in The scant population of recent times may have forced marriages between relatives to a certain extent. This may mean that, if the man's family alone objected to the marriage, he could contrive to keep up the marital exchange of gifts without their help, i.e., that he was more nearly economic- ally independent than the woman. BN stated that the girl's permission was asked first. 37 This was called tsTdioni (she didn't like him). 163 1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS in order to discourage him and might make their daughter sleep with them. On the following day the girl's mother might make disparaging remarks about the suitor, and if he came again, she was likely to drive him away with a clulb. A man sometimes came several nights before he was accepted, and then he slept with the girl until morn- ing as in the betrothal marriage. (Biwasaii, to stay at a girl's house till morning.) Then he was sent home carry- ing a large basket of roots. He first gave some of the roots to his father, then to his brothers, and lastly took his own share (DB). His family reciprocated with gifts of meat and later on with buckskins, beads, and other valuables. 38 Sometimes parents sent their daughter to the house of a likely man who they thought would made a good son-in-law. The groom lived with his father-in-law and worked for him for several months up to a year. This was true of second and subsequent marriages also. After this the couple returned to live at the man's home and later made periodic visits with the wife's people for a month or so at a time. "Everybody moved around every once in a while when there was nothing else to do." The frequent inter- tribal marriages were one of the most important means of preserving friendly relationships. A Maidu might visit an Atsugewi village bringing his son with him and an- nounce that he would like to get a wife for his boy. The boy then selected a girl, and if her parents were agree- able, the marriage took place. Intertribal gatherings often resulted in such marriage arrangements. Polygyny was practiced by those who could afford it. A chief in Burney Valley had five wives, an exceptional number. The usual number was two or possibly three in a polygynous family. Sisters were preferred, the first wife having authority over the others. DB aptly expressed the lack of harmony in a polygynous family as follows: "Too much growl; too much fight; fight like hell." In one case when a man acquired four additional wives rather late in his career, his first wife felt neglected and tried to commit suicide by swallowing flint. She was cured by a doctor, but in the interim the last three of the man's wives left him and went home. The man then repented and agreed to keep only his first two wives. In another instance a woman objected when her husband brought a second wife into the household and drove the newcomer out with rocks. Evidently polygyny was more to the lik- ing of the men than of the women. A man with two wives was called hoki Bireti, wife); a man with three wives was kiski Bireti (kTski, three), etc. A man with two wives slept between them. Polyandry did not occur. One case was reported in which a woman took a young man to live with her along with her husband, but this was considered a form of adultery. The husband killed the intruder, gave the testicles to his wife to eat, and then killed her. His actions gained public approval even from the murdered man's people.39 A strict moral code prevailed, especially for women. Extramarital sex relations were said to have been rare. An immoral woman was socially ostracized. LR stated that an immoral woman might have her ears cut as a penalty. A girl morally lax before marriage was con- sidered apt to be so afterwards; consequently her chances of marriage were hindered. An adulterous wife was pun- ished by being severely beaten or even killed. Frequently she was divorced. The husband might kill the wife's lover, but sometimes the man got off free, since the woman was Food gifts by the man's family were mainly meat, of the woman's family vegetable produce, the presents being in accord with the type of food gathered by the man and woman respectively. b This case was reported by both the Atsuge and Apwaruge. considered the main offender. The lover was never fine The following story is typical. Buckskin Jack's wife consorted with a young fellow while he was away. When Buckskin Jack returned, h went after this man. All the relatives joined in ag each other, about five men on a side. Nobody was killed, but much blood was spilled. After this Buck- skin Jack sent his wife back to her people and marri another woman. (DB.) Three informants maintained that, if a man raped an unmarried girl, he would have to pay a fine (1 to 1-1/2 strings of beads [DB]), or else he would be killed, but JW dissented, saying that nothing would be done, since it was considered the girl's fault for not staying'home. If a woman left her husband for another man, the husb had the right to kill this man and the wife too unless pr erty (sometimes another woman) was given him. The h band was discouraged from any attempt to get his wife back under such circumstances. She was a coyote (wo less) woman, and it was best to let her go and to get another wife.40 DB said that the wife's family might fur nish another wife for the man if the first wife ran away. However, he could remember no actual incidents of this s ort. It was easy for a man to divorce his wife, and lazine and barrenness were often the causes. A man with a ba ren wife would have no children to comfort him in his ol age. Nevertheless, if a barren woman were a good work and well-liked, she might be kept anyway. To divorce a woman a man merely took her to visit her people and th left her there. As a rule he did not expect to get any of his property back. The baskets and things the woman h made remained with the man, and she could not go back' for them. Other women made fun of her, since her di- vorce usually meant that she was a poor provider. Some times a grass widow (Estawiwiho) went on a power quest' so that she might get a good husband. A woman could not leave her husband so cavalierly; even though he mistreat her and provided poorly for her she was expected to re- main his wife. If she left him, her people were likely to' send her back to him again. "The man owns the woman. She couldn't leave him" (DB). Rarely, a wife would leav her husband if she were too badly treated.41 According i two informants either the woman or one of her relatives would get the chief to sanction the divorce. After a divor the young children went to live with the mother. When th son of divorced parents reached the age of six or seven, the father, after a small payment to his former wife, td the boy to live with him. Girls remained with the mothe unless she wanted the father to care for them. Children of divorced parents were called yasteiti (parent left you) The levirate and sororate were highly developed. Brothers would kill an outsider who married their dead brother's widow and possibly the widow herself, unless.. some payment was made. 2 The eldest brother had fir0ti claim on the widow; if he were already married, he migb give her to a younger brother or to a cousin or sell her an outsider (DB). A man might divorce his own wife and' marry his brother's widow if the latter were a better foq gatherer, again showing the prime importance of indus-s triousness in the choice of a spouse. Sometimes a fathe1 DB stated that, if the wife's family considered the divorce to be her fault, they might give a little property back to the man, but other informants asked denied this. Then the husband lost caste, especially if the separation w caused by his inability to support his wife. 42 "This was because the brothers lost property on the widowN (BM). I 4 1 7 164 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY married his son's widow, as in the following account. An old man over eighty years old had a son who died. The old man made an arrow and put flint on it. Then he put the arrow on top of the basket belonging to his son's widow. If she took the arrow off, it meant that she would have nothing to do with him. Then he had the right to kill her. She left the arrow there. This meant they were married. She had to gather roots for him. She figured that he would die soon, and then she could get a young husband. (DB.) If a man's wife died, her family was expected to furnish him with another sister or with a female cousin if no sister were available. A man exercised a proprietary right over his wife's sisters, and often expected to marry one or more of them.43 Disparity in the ages of a married couple was not uncommon. Younger men often took an elder brother's widow who was much older than themselves. There was one marriage of this kind recently at Hat Creek. A man of forty-five married his brother's widow, who was close to sixty. The couple were strongly attached to one another, however. DB spoke disparagingly of the marri- age: "The man would have no children to care for him when he grew old." JL declared that women frequently "desired to marry older men because they were better treated. Young men tended to beat their wives. But he A dded that there were some women who would not marry I man much older than they were. Most men got married, old bachelors were not unknown. An exceptionally r person had a hard time finding a mate, and some of em were said never to marry. Courting.-Conversation between young people of oppo- ite sex was frowned upon, but if a boy admired a girl, eight sing to her, possibly from a small elevation ye the encampment. Girls, too, occasionally took the ative and sang to boys. The flute was not used in love ing. a ni ni ......... That's too bad a ni ni a ni ni a ni nu ku a ti ci mo .... You have been crying for me ani ni ku a ti ci mo song was supposed to make the one sung to lonely desirous of seeing the singer. A more certain method to use a form of love magic. The boy (or girl) ob- ed a hair from the head of his beloved, perhaps at t when she slept, and took it to a spring. He drew hair through his mouth and put it in the water, singing it the while. As he sang, the hair would sing too -would "draw the mind of the girl," who, as the boy's ran through her mind, would feel increasingly lonely, , and depressed. The youth then swam in the spring 'returned to the village. On sighting him the girl would ongly attracted, and it would take little urging to er to agree to marry him. Her parents had to allow ir to marry or the power which the boy had over the would kill her. The hair in the spring was said grad- to turn into a water worm. type of love magic was not approved of. SR said it was much like doping the girl. The effects could oved, however. If the parents suspected what was with the girl, they might ask a shaman to cure her. haman identified the boy who had done the singing, but nothing was done to him unless the girl had died from his treatment. The aid of a guardian spirit was necessary in order to practice love magic. Doctors who bewitched people and caused their souls to leave them operated in much the same manner as described above. It is not im- probable that when informants spoke of "drawing the mind of the girl," that they meant drawing her soul away from her, for the symptoms of sleepiness, etc., that she showed afterward are very similar to soul loss symptoms (see p. 194). Albert Thomas, an Achomawi doctor still prac- ticing, is said to sing for women in this manner: "It makes the women half crazy." DEATH Soon after death the body, dressed in its best buckskin clothes, was flexed, drawn up tightly with a buckskin thong, and then wrapped in a deerskin or rabbitskin blan- ket. Close relatives were sent for, and when they came, bringing presents of beads or other things to put in the grave, the (Bap-i) commenced. If a man died in the morn- ing, he was buried before nightfall; if he died in the after- noon, he was buried the following day. The body, especi- ally if it was a child's, was taken out through the ventila- tor door of the earth lodge; sometimes the roof entrance was used, but a hole was never made in the wall for the purpose. In early times, according to DB, only two or three people (relatives) accompanied the body of a com- moner to the grave, but many more people attended the burial of a chief. Young children were buried by their grandparents since their parents must not see the grave. DB, who could give no explanation for this practice, added that even nowadays parents are not allowed to look into a child's grave. A strong man carried the body of an adult on his back, using a long pack strap for the purpose. No one was permitted to look back on the way to the grave, and water was sprinkled along the path to keep the dead man's spirit from returring to the village along this route. Burials usually took place at some distance from the village among the lava rocks, a few of which were pried away with digging sticks to make a hole into which the body was put. It was then covered over with other rocks and abandoned. Sometimes the body, particularly if it was that of a chief or rich man, was buried in the soft ground, usually in the floor of an earth lodge.4 "They say to let him stay where he had a good time." The body was placed in a shallow hole in the floor or near the wall, which was pushed in on the remains. The earth lodge was then burned down overhead. The body was oriented with its head to the east and was often laid on its back with its face to the sky - so that it could watch the sun set in the west. However, informants were not entirely in agreement as to the posi- tion of the body, and some said that it might lie on either one side or the other. On one occasion among the Apwaruge two murdered brothers were buried in a deer pit, extended on their backs with their faces to the sky. Evidently ex- pediency determined whether the body was to be flexed or extended in the grave. 45 The most personal possessions of the deceased were buried with him - a man's bow and arrows, knife, and pipe; a ,woman's baskets, pestle, and other things. The placing of food in the grave was denied by all but LR, who said that roots might be put in the grave if it was spring. A small basket of water, called wawUhei, was set in the " According to DB, even chiefs were sometimes buried in the lava rocks, their earth lodge being burned down afterwards. This extended burial took place seventy or more years ago, This statement is based mainly on evidence in the mythology. lff5 and may possibly have been affected by white contact. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS grave for the soul to take on his journey to the west. This custom is still practiced, the basket being set at the head of the casket. A rich man was buried with many beads, and a valuable basket (ta nar) was inver- ted over his corpse and covered with a fine bearskin. Informants varied in stating whether property put with the body was broken or not.46 The deceased's dog was not killed. When the body had been laid in the grave, the chief or some important man spoke as follows, "You are going to a good place. Don't look back." If the soul looked back, another member of his family was likely to die soon after, i.e., the soul was calling one of his relatives to follow him. Women poured bas- kets of gravel over the corpse until the grave was half filled.47 Two or three of the important mourners then jumped into the grave and tramped down the earth, sing- ing as they did so, "Oh my brother, I'm so sorry," and so on. After this, men placed flat rocks on the grave and filled it with dirt. Then rocks were piled on top making a mound a foot or so high. Modern burials are laid out extended and have rocks piled over them to a height of eighteen inches or so. There were formerly no cemeteries, but at present an old village site near Cassel is so utilized. Every two years or so the female relatives of the deceased go back and fix up the grave. This was not done in the old times because they could not find where they had buried the body. Putting paper flow- ers over the grave is something we learned from Big Valley. (DB.) The Atsugewi bordered the northeast California area where cremation was practiced and themselves prac- '.iced cremation on rare occasions.48 Individuals from other tribes were sometimes cremated. A Paiute woman who died from eating fish that did not agree with her and an Achomawi man who died of tuberculosis were cre- mated at Hat Creek. A man who died without relatives to bury him was cremated in Dixie Valley (JL). JS de- clared that cremation had come in only after the con- tagious European diseases had been introduced. 49 Mourning began as soon as a person died. Women, especially if they were old, were the most zealous mourners. A widow, after cropping her hair, put pitch (haluci) followed by a mixture of white chalk and soot on her face, hair, and basket cap. Sometimes the white chalk was put on top of the soot and pitch to make the face white (DB). Other paraphernalia, also covered with pitch and soot, were a pine-nut necklace or a buckskin collar cut in long fringes, both called Bitad1; a belt Unbroken knives and pipes have been dug up from old village sites. T7 his was to prevent gophers from digging up the body. IP gave most of the information about covering the corpse. 4 Kniffen (1928, p. 319) reports cremation for the eastern and northern Achomawi groups. 49 The concept of contagion seems to have made a strong im- pression on the Atsugewi. According to DB, if anyone, even a child, died of tuberculosis, the house was burned. Ordinarily houses were not burned after a child's death. Also a person burned a buckskin shirt which he had worn when tending a dying man, especially if it had been necessary to come in close contact with the man during his illness. The concept is apparently an old one, for an anonymous report in 1873 (The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS) on the Pit River tribes contains the statement "They burn the corpse more thoroughly if they think the disease contagious or 'bad sick."' It is possible that the idea of contagion was impressed on the Atsugewi by the whites during the early epidemics after 1855. The concept of contamination after contact with a corpse was little developed so that the idea of contagion probably did not arise from this. I (ci'Eski) variously of twined sagebrush bark, hemp string, buckskin, or the widow's hair; 50 and wristlets of buck- skin about two inches wide. This equipment was burned or thrown away two or three years later when the widow's hair had grown out again and she was ready to remarry. MB (Atsuge) asserted that a woman kept the hair that she cut off each time a close relative died and wrapped it with string into bundles called ni knunahete. A widower put pitch (left on for a year) on his face, but not in his hair, which was cut short. The children did likewise. Some- times the father of the deceased and other close relatives also applied pitch to their persons. 5 The deceased's mother assumed paraphernalia similar to that of the widow, but omitted the belt. The deceased's close relatives mourned the hardest, but friends might also mourn - "to make them feel better. Mourners cried and rolled on the ground, throwing dirt and hot ashes in their faces and hair. 52 Some, in their grief, tried to commit suicide, and a close watch had to be kept over them to prevent their so doing. Favorite methods were to swallow small bits of flint or to eat a certain kind of spider. Mourners were warned not to cry around the house near the body but to go to the hills to cry, and also not to look down when crying or to cry too much. Otherwise they were subject to bad dreams in which spirits would plague them and possibly kill them. A mourn er might acquire power at this time. A widow, with pos- sibly a sister to help her, would wail for a time at day- break and again in the evening. This lasted for two or three months, sometimes longer. A widower seldom cried more than two or three weeks. The widow visited places at which she had camped with her husband, broke up uten- sils left there, burned down the brush where he was ac- customed to cut wood, and piled up rocks where they had slept together. A widower behaved in a similar fashion. Although the earth lodge might be burned if the owner or his wife died, it was usually abandoned for a year or so, after it had been fumigated with burning juniper branches to drive out the disease and after the two main roof beams (But'hema) had been coated with pitch. Bark houses were always burned along with such of the deceased's property as was not put in the grave. There was no trace of an annual mourning ceremony, like that among the Maidu) although relatives might meet at a festive gathering and talk and cry over the memory of their dead. IP thought that this happened every three years. If a death occurred in a village, no entertainments could be held for a time; otherwise relatives of the deceased had the right to break things up and throw them around. A man would not sing or attend a "big time" gathering until at least a year after the death of a close relative. No special purification was required of those who had touched a corpse. In this, informants were conscious of the difference between themselves and the Northeastern Maidu, who ooserve a period of purification of from one to five days. Among the Atsugewi everyone, whether he had had contact with the body or not, abstained from meat on the day of the funeral and sweated and swam after the r burial took place. The sweating (Biskaki) was not com- pulsory and no penalty derived if it was omitted. Its pur- pose was merely for good luck. In the summer the dome- shaped Plains-type sweat lodge was used, if one was available. Otherwise, everyone merely swam. During The belt of twisted hair was reported only by JW (Apwaruge). It seems probable that the belt could be made of almost any material 51 Even the mother-in-law and sister-in-law might apply pitch to their faces and cut their hair. 52 The mourners did not cut themselves (MB). 166 I i GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY the sweating the chief or another important man might talk as in the following account. When the speaker sprinkles water on the hot stones piled in a hole at one side of the lodge, he calls the rocks Mr. Doctor and asks them for power. He asks the mountains, the sky, and different animal spirits for power. He says, "I want all this world to help me and not give me any more bad luck.' He names all the medicine springs. By this time everyone is hitting and blowing on themselves because it is hot. Finally, when the speaker stops, everyone talks and says, "Help me, rock. I hope my legs will be strong and full of energy," etc. At the leader's signal every- one comes out and goes swimming. If people leave before the speaker is finished, this makes his words valueless and makes things worse than before. (JL.) If the sweat lodge was too small for everyone, the women waited until the men finished before they sweated. IP (Apwaruge) stated that the surviving spouse would not ?at meat for several days after the burial for fear that a opher would smell the meat in the corpse and dig it up. ere is another example of the mystic bond between hus- and and wife. What one ate would affect the other, even fter death. This same phenomenon caused the husband o observe taboos during his wife's menstrual periods d pregnancy. For a person to remarry in less than a year after the death of a spouse was considered disgraceful and lacking in proper feeling. Also, the deceased's ghost was said to remain in the vicinity for some time after the death; a second spouse taken too soon was likely to die - pre- sumably because of the ghost. The feeling about not marrying a widow extended even to her daughter, who was apt to become a widow as her mother had, i.e., any- one who married her was liable soon to die (DB). The ideal marriage was for a widow to marry a widower. It was most proper to wait two or three years before re- marrying. An old widow who did not want to remarry wore her mourning paraphernalia until her death. A man had to marry his brother's widow if the brother requested it. In such circumstances the marriage might take place before the year of mourning was up (DB). If a man died away from his village, it depended upon circumstances whether he was brought home for burial or not. There was no feeling that burial had to take place near the home village. A man killed in war might be hurriedly buried in a rock crevice, and sometimes, when a man died in a neighboring village, even that of another tribe, he was buried in the local cemetery. Yet in some instances a body was carried in a stretcher long dis- tances to home territory. People feared to carry a sha- man's corpse any distance because of his malignant powers. Sometimes violent thunderstorms occurred after the death of a shaman. 167 SOCIAL LIFE KINSHIP Kinship terms.-One of the most distinctive features of the Atsugewi kinship system is the differentiation of relatives on the basis of sex. Male and female terms are used to distinguish one's own siblings, the siblings of parents, and finally the siblings of grandparents, but here the distinction ends. Siblings of grandparents are given the same term as the grandparents and all eight of the great-grandparents have a common term. Thus the cleavage of relatives on a sex basis is not so highly developed as among the Klamath where the sex distinc- tions are carried even into the generation1 of the great- grandparents. The Atsugewi also apply a common term to male and to female cousins on both the father's and mother's side, which is contrary to Klamath usage and even in part to Achomawi usage.2 The Achomawi distin- guish a man's cousin from a woman's cousin and use sibling terms for cousins more often than do the Atsuge- wi. However, Doqhopi, the common Atsugewi term for cousin, does have the equated meaning of sibling, al- though it is not used in referring to true siblings.3 The practice of making a cleavage of relatives on the basis of sex seems to be most highly developed among the Klamath and to become less evident as one proceeds south toward the Atsugewi. Sibling terms are extended to first, second, and even third cousins. Relatives of ego's own generation (siblings and cousins) serve as the point of reckoning for deter- mining what kin terms shall be applied to other relatives of either an older or younger generation, e.g., my cousin is called sibling whether he is a first, second, or a third cousin; his children are my children; his mother is my aunt; his grandmother is my grandmother, etc. A man calls his second cousin's daughter-in-law mimDw and avoids her just as he would his own daughter-in-law.4 Likewise, the parent of a cousin was calied by the aunt or uncle term whether the cousin was a first, second, or third cousin. This equation of cousins with siblings may have had much to do with the fact that no cousin marriages of any kind were permitted. Cousins were designated as siblings, and a man would certainly not marry a sibling. Both the Achomawi and Atsugewi distinguish older and younger brothers and sisters, but the Atsugewi also carry this distinction to cousins. Likewise, there is no differ- ence in the terms used for siblings by a man and a woman among the Atsugewi, as was found in at least one instance for the Achomawi.5 Otherwise the Achomawi and Atsugewi systems are fairly similar, and closely related kin terms are often used. The Atsugewi use reciprocal terminology for most blood relatives outside the immediate family. The term "asmuk" serves as an interesting and graphic expression of the unity of members of a kin group. It Spier, 1930, p. 62. 2Gifford (1922, p. 39) gives three cousin terms, two of which have a specific meaning. For the third term no meaning is given. It may be a general term, but it seems unlikely in the light of the specific meaning of the other two terms. 3The Atsugewi use a number of cousin terms, but D6qhopi is the most common of these. Another cousin term, aumicka, also makes no distinction as to sex. The avoidance relationship was no doubt not as intense with a cousin's daughter-in-law as with one's own, however. 5Gifford, 1922. translates "my ear" and was applied to the great-grand- parents and great-grandchildren, the most distant rela- tionships recognized. A relative designated by this term would tell a person if he heard anything against him - something a more distant relative might not do. (Here the idea that true relatives of the kin group stick together and inform each other is well brought out.) A person of the asmuk or "ear" relationship is conceptually the last of the true relatives. The term is useful in giving a crudi delimitation of the kin group, which includes the great- grandchildrery of siblings and cousins as well as one's ow great- grandchildren. The grandparent's sibling's child is called mEhida if in the mother's line and bEcir if in the father's line, thea being the same terms as used for aunts, i.e., the mother and father's sisters respectively. Strangely enough, the uncle terms are not used in this relationship, the recip- rocal of which is a man's cousin's child. The use of sib- ling terms for cousins would make ego the aunt or uncle of his cousin's children, but this does not explain the ex- clusive use of female terms for this relationship.6 Finall as to affinal terms, both the brother's wife and the wife' sister are called by the same name, indicating that the brothers in one family probably often married the sisters in another family - -a natural result of the levirate and sororate. Separate terms are applied to the mother-in-la and father-in-law. The spouses of aunts and uncles as we as stepparents were designated by the same kin term.7 Stepchildren are given a special kin term. Kinship Terms8 Data ........ father; after the death of a child, noBokui cici ....... mother; aftq!r the death of a child, noBokarlitska Busci ....... true brothers, not cousins Bu'p-a . elder brother; also applied to male cousins hAiiyzw ...... younger brother; also applied to male cousins bupir . . elder sister; also applied to female cousini evidently the terms for elder brother al elder sister are related tehda . ........younger sister; also applied to female cousins nike......... son jistik......- daughter kaswi husband; kaswiwiho (man) birehti .. wife; also akminarija (my woman) apun ........ father's father, man's son's child, father'i father's sibling; bestast6he if a connect. ing relative dies amun ....... father's mother, father's mother's sibling woman's son's child juwa ....... mother's mother, mother's mother's sibling, woman's daughter's child; bestastohe if a connecting relative dies aqon .mother's father, mother's father's sibling, man's daughter's child 6 The terms mEhida and bEhclr as applied to ego's cousin's children are not actually consistent in indicating which line they follow, although mlfhida tends to follow the female line and bEhcir the male line. Further investigation might clear this matter up. This may indicate that the spouses of aunts and uncles often became stepparents, as would be true in the operation of the levirate and sororate. Used by both sexes unless specified otherwise. [168] I I I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY cni ..... mother's brother, man's sister's child; probably this term is related to the term for mother, cici (male mother?) mE'hida . mother's sister, woman's sister's child, parent's sister's child's child, mother's mother's sibling's child (cousin's child) ni'pstir . man's brother's child, father's brother; ,'h IV y:wcicar if a connecting relative dies bEhcir ..... woman's brother's child, father's sister, father's father's sibling's child, parent's brother's child's child, father's mother's brother's child, father's sister's son's child (cousin's child; y:wcicar if a con- necting relative dies) bahEc . sister's son. IP held that this term might be used by either a man or a woman. BW stated that the term would be used b,hwus only by a man ME wus *e..given by IP as being either a man's or woman's sister's daughter D6qhopi . applied to cousins on both sides of the family i or aunicka .. sibling terms applied to both brothers and sisters and to cousins of either sex upir . same as D6qhopi; given by two Apwaruge informants muk . great grandparent, great grandchild, cousin's child's child, grandfather's sibling's child's child. The asmuk term was in several instances applied to the grandparent's sibling relationship, but this is evidently an error; terms ob- tained by means of genealogies did not exhibit this characteristic. umiksi used by a man to designate his brother-in- law ar used by a woman to designate her brother- in-law, by a man for his brother's wife or his wife's sister. One informant said that a woman might address her sister-in-law by this term i . . used by a woman in designating her sister- in-law ui. . mother-in-law aki.. father-in-law sur . son-in-law w ...... daughter-in-law imci.... father's brother's wife, father's sister's husband, mother's brother's wife, step- mother, stepfather, mother's sister's husband eiki stepchild, whether male or female havior toward relatives.-The following somewhat mplete list of attitude and behavior toward various tives was obtained: and son ...... and daughter. . and wife...... brothers ..... do not joke together; the son obeys his father, who trains the son must respect one another; cannot joke together. The daughter obeys her father, who gives her advice on how to be a good food gatherer and how to get a good husband can joke (perhaps obscenely) and play in a rough manner may joke a little; must help each other at every opportunity Brother and sister should not joke or talk obscenely in the presence of each other; can sit close together, but cannot make "horse-play" with one another; should not be alone to- gether Two sisters ....... give gifts to one another and aid one another at every opportunity Man and male cousin .......... joking relationship; play rough pranks; aid one another Man and female cousin .......... can talk together and laugh, but cannot joke much; may tease each other about love affairs with some old man or woman; act much like brothers and sisters Man and niece (sister's or brother's daughter) ....... same as man and daugheter Man and brother's wife ............ treat one another in a generous way; the two can joke and play together with a wide latitude of familiarity. Man and wife's sister .......... are good to one another and can joke to a certain extent, but not too obscenely. A man often expected to marry his wife's sister and was jealous when she wanted to marry another Man and brother- in-law .......... help one another; exchange gifts and hunt together; act much like brothers Woman and sister- in-law .......... are very friendly, much as a man and his brother-in-law; help one another when possible Woman and mother- in-law .......... plural address; respect; could not joke much and never obscenely Plural address9 is used and the avoidance relationship applies to all the following: man and mother-in-law; man and brother's mother-in-law; man and male cousin's mother-in-law; woman and a sister's father-in-law; woman and her female cousin's father-in-law; man and his son-in-law's sister or female cousin; man and his brother's son's wife. The outstanding fact of these kinship data is the equi- valence of parallel siblings in their attitudes and behavior toward each other's children, spouses, and other affinal kin. A man treats his brother's children as his own chil- dren and treats his brother's wife much as he does his own wife (with a wide latitude in joking and familiarity). He avoids his brother's mother-in-law and daughter-in- law as if they were his own. Likewise a woman avoids her sister's father-in-law. The situation is readily ex- plained by the operation of the levirate and sororate. When a parallel sibling dies, the surviving parallel sibling may marry the widow or widower, thus becoming the stepparent of the children. The use of the term tululamci for parent's sibling's spouse and for stepparent is likewise indicative of the levirate-sororate. 10 Yet it does not explain why a 9 This was the custom of addressing an individual with the plural pronoun, as if he were two people rather than one. 10 For a more detailed discussion see Garth, 1944. r I 169 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS woman avoids her brother's father-in-law. As suggested by the kin terms, one form (apparently the ideal form) of marriage was for siblings in one family to marry siblings in another family. " In such circumstances all the sib- lings would have the same parents-in-law. Du Bois re- ports a similar situation among the Wintu. 12 The prac- tice may be more common than has yet been reported in areas where there is a high development of the levirate and sororate. It is noteworthy that, concomitant with kin- ship terminology which indicates a certain marriage prac- tice, there may be correlative behavior patterns which indicate the same marriage practices. 13 In other words, these behavior patterns or attitudes toward relatives may give strong supporting evidence for functional relation- ships between the kin terms and certain marriage prac- tices. Although cousins are classed as siblings, the cousin relationship has received a more formal emphasis. A man and his male cousin are on joking terms with one another; each plays rough pranks on the other even to the extent of destroying property, all of which has to be taken in good humor. Once a man, as a joke, tried to burn his cousin's moccasins in the dead of winter. Joking about dead relatives also occurs. Joking and obscenity are allowed between female cousins, but not in the same degree as between male cousins. However, there is a suggestion of a female cousin joking relationship. An interesting phenomenon is the large number of persons to whom the avoidance relationship is applied. 14 Some of these individuals undoubtedly live in other villages or tribes, but at intertribal gatherings a person probably has to be continually on his guard against meet- ing or becoming familiar with one of them. If a man does not avoid his mother-in-law, he (or she) is liable to be bitten by a grizzly bear or rattlesnake or to have a liz- ard crawl inside him. If he meets his mother-in-law on a path he has to cry, "birdigi! " (grizzly), appear fright- ened, and get out of the way as though he were meeting a real bear. The mother-in-law, however, does not cover her face as, it was claimed, is the Montgomery Creek (Yana) custom. A man stays at least five feet away from his mother-in-law, and if he has to talk to her, he does so in a formal manner using plural address, she reply- ing in similar idiom. By no means can they joke or laugh, and if either has to smile he turns his head. These same restrictions apply also to a woman and her father-in-law. Either a son or daughter, depending on which is the more generous and economically capable, cares for the aged parents. Two dominant features of the relationship are the feeling of mutual obligation between relatives and the frequent exchange of gifts between both consanguinal and affinal relatives. This gift exchange serves to main- tain and strengthen kin ties and to promote kin group solidarity. ETIQUETTE Custom demanded that a visitor (Bopsaimitsa) be hos- pitably received. "I can get food and lodging wherever I 11 There is a story in the mythology of a group of brothers marrying a group of sisters. The brothers felt they had the established right to marry all the sisters in the other family. 12 Du Bois, 1935, p. 59. 13 Sapir (1916a, pp. 327-337) gives a good discussion of the functional relationship between kinship terminology and the levirate. 14 Their number would be much reduced if strict intermarriage between only two families was observed. However, conditions must frequently have been otherwise, especially in the light of the brittle monogamy which existed. go," is a common boast even today. Formerly the owne of the house might resign his bed to a visitor. At meal- time visitors were given a place by the mush basket, a if there was no room, members of the household waite Children, especially if visitors were present, remain outside until the adults were through eating before they could eat. The hands and face were washed before eat but not afterward. To show appreciation of a meal a p son smacked his lips or licked his lips and fingers. Th method of greeting might be as follows: 15 Host: "nuiwatu [Well, are you coming] ?" Visitor: "hu'u [yes], cihimakic [I've come to see yo Host: "e [yes]." After these preliminaries the two sat down inside the h and continued their conversation. The greeting was not fixed in form, and versions from other informants vary somewhat. Before departing the visitor said, "wespu [Well, I will go]." Whereupon the host replied," "hepu'lu [Well, you ought to go]." There was no word for "thank you. When a person fetched water, he had to drink after others had done so and while drinking he held his hand the small of his back. Not to do this was to endanger th life of one's spouse. Objects were commonly pointed at with the forefinger. Although there were no curses of English type, there were several ways of giving verball insult. To say to a person whose father was yet alive "You haven't any father" constituted a serious insult which might lead to a fight. Similarly, to call a man wi both parents living y:wclcar (orphan) made him very angry. Joking with persons other than cousins or near relatives angered them. They might say, "jaku waiisi [too much you talk]." To stare at a person fixedly was an indication of dislike. Posture and ideals of beauty.-Women usually sat on the ground with their feet stretched out in front of them. Men sometimes sat this way, but also assumed other positions such as kneeling and half-sitting on the heels with only one knee down, sitting on one leg with the oth flexed and to the side, or sitting with the legs bent and" crossed in front. No articles except mats were used t sit on. The ideal woman was short but plump and solidly b so that she could do much work. A slim woman was c sidered too weak, and a very tall woman was made f and called lohkata (stick woman). Heavy breasts, a straight slim nose, large eyes, long black hair, and small feet were all admirable qualities. A girl with bi feet was likely to be lazy, also a small foot was desir because it would not take so large a moccasin. A moth pressed her girl child's foot together to make it slend The ideal man was of average height and was heavy set If a child had a flat nose, his mother pinched it and tri to give it a higher bridge. Bow legs, it was said, migh be straightened by the mother when the child was youn Also a child's'ears were pressed against his head; if ears stood out, this was thought to indicate poor hear A slim hand indicated a lazy person; a short stubby han signified a good worker. Evidently ideals of beauty had pragmatic basis. ABNORMALS Spirits could make people crazy (Baru'tusi). Some-; times, according to DB, the sky spirit tickled a person and made him crazy. .This was called Emirari acela 15 Given by LR. I 1 70 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY jEqjaki (to tickle a person from the sky). A man might acquire a malicious guardian spirit, which followed be- hind him and pushed him, causing him to do crazy things. A shaman could force the spirit to desist and restore the man to normalcy. I saw a thirteen-year-old boy who hallooed like a crazy person and threw rocks at everybody. His parents tried to stop him, but he would soon forget and run about laughing. A doctor had a pow-wow over him and made him normal again. The doctor said that later on [if he had not been cured] the boy would have eaten people. A crazy fellow like this wouldn't be a doctor. (DB.) Sometimes doctors themselves used their spirits to make people crazy. Berdaches seem to have been fairly common. There were two in Hat Creek Valley at the time of my visit, one a lesbian (yohandawallo). 16 The woman, Flora McClennan, wore men's clothing, had her hair cut short like a man's, and tried as much as possible to act like a man. This mannish dress in combination with her woman's breasts and hips made her look like a rather plump youth of nine- teen. She was not a hermaphrodite. During my visit she started living with another woman, not of the best reputa- tion, who allowed her seven children by a former husband to run wild. 17 Flora had some success in disciplining the .younger children; in this, too, she seemed to be acting e part of a male husband. Flora was reputed to be a Iroublemaker. BW said that Flora bullied other women ,nd sought to pick fights with them at tribal festivals, u-here the informants injected a note of ridicule-"she as not much of a fighter where men were concerned." though boasting of her prowess, only rarely did she ght with men. It is possible that Flora's pugnacious mperament was a sign of internal conflict, of a desire impress upon others her manlike characteristics and eriority. Lacking physical strength to subdue men, directed her efforts toward cowing other women. One knowing Flora, I would say, would probably not guess she was a woman. In my social contacts with her she med quite normal and exhibited a sense of humor. DB d that Flora was normal as a child and acted like other is of her age, but that later she changed and tried to a man. Jack Wynn, aged about twenty-five, was not strictly a dache (yah'wa) for he did not wear women's clothing. I was told (I did not meet him) that he tried to act as h like a woman as possible. He curled his hair and r wore a hat or used a gun. He liked to flirt with and would have little or nothing to do with girls. He known to have had anal intercourse with other men. rided himself on being a good cook and on his ability sh clothes; sometimes he tried to get men to allow to wash their shirts. e following widespread custom was formerly prac- when there was doubt whether a person was to be a che. When he was asleep, he was surrounded with ass, and a bow and a basket (or digging stick) were one on each side of him. The grass was then set e. If in his hurry to escape from the fiery circle he ed up the bow, he was to be a man in later life; if e the basket, he would lead the life of a woman. e was said to burrow into a boy's scalp and make t like a girl. Sometimes a shaman could take the ce of the louse away and cure the boy. Sometimes This same name is applied to a barren woman (JL). be two were said to be ardent lovers. A stick was strapped b partner in turn for intercourse. the shaman was unsuccessful: "The louse was in too deep. It was holding the boy and would not let him go. It loved the boy so much the doctor could not do anything" (DB). There was at least one berdache shaman in earlier times, but neither Jack Wynn nor Flora McClennan attempted to act as a shaman. It is apparent that the berdache was by no means a complete outcast in the society. His peculi- arity was recognized, and he was allowed to pursue his own life without undue interference. SOCIAL GATHERINGS Feasting was an occasion for or a concomitant of most social gatherings. Small feasts might occur any time. Once when a large catch of fish was brought in at midnight, the fisherman woke everyone in the houses around and called them to a feast. If it was summer and neighboring tribelets were in the vicinity gathering roots or seeds, they might be invited to a large supper (tap: 1i). There was no dancing or sweating at this time. The grand occasion, however, held only when a large supply of food had been accumulated, was the Bagapi or "big time." This was also referred to as jupow Bopsaii (big visit). The chief called a meeting to decide on the date and then sent his people to various places for deer and other foods. Knotted strings (rokuki) with a knot tied bor each in- tervening day before the festival were sent to other villages. By untying a knot each day other chieftains knew when to start for the host's village. The host chief stood on the roof of his earth lodge and welcomed the visitors, calling each chief by name: "Don't fall down. Step carefully. I'm glad you have come to see me. Don't be in a hurry." This salutation was called gat(udiki. Toward evening the visitors might give a dance, after which the host chief called every- one to eat. Large baskets containing acorn mush, meat, sunflower seeds, and other foods were placed on the ground. The host proffered baskets of food to each visiting chief in turn, who then distributed the food to his people. In winter two tribal groups on opposite sides of the sweat- house might have a competitive sweat dance, vying to see which could endure the heat longest. In summer the sweat- ing was usually omitted, and games of chance were begun as soon as the host announced, "keuma [you can play games]." In the several days that followed, foot racing, archery, weight lifting, and other contests were indulged in. Large bets were made by opposing sides on the out- come of each contest, and the losing side at the end of the week's festivities often had little property left. Surplus food was divided among the guests before they departed. Dances.-The Atsugewi roster of dances was meager compared to that of the neighboring Wintu and Maidu. The only social dances were those connected with the girl's puberty ceremony and one unformalized sweat dance. However, a few individuals learned some of the Maidu and Wintu dances and could participate when those tribes gave a performance. The Maidu kamin6Boni'8 dances were especially well known. JL had acted as singer for some of these dances and possessed a quantity of the paraphernalia, such as double whistles, yellowhammer headbands, feather cloaks, etc. The sweat dance and sweating.-The sweat dance (Bdiskaki) was mainly a man's dance, but occasionally young women participated. Children might sweat with the adults, but stayed near the walls away from the fire. Men danced naked except for circlets (romunilca) of twisted grass around the waist, head, and upper arm and occa- sionally from one shoulder diagonally across the chest. DB said that a tule belt with strands hanging down in front IS The Kamini dances referred to by Dixon, 1905a, p. 321. 1 71 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS might be worn. Three or four lines of black or white paint might be drawn across the chest and upper arm. Women wore a skirt and only a small amount of paint. The dancing took place in the combination sweat, dance, and dwelling house of the chief or head man. DB de- nied that sweating ever occurred in the small earth lodges of commoners. The fire was built high with dry mountain mahogany (BayiBup), pine (mitskup), and sometimes with willow (Bacu), all woods which burned without much smoke; the ventilator door was closed and the dance began. The one singer sat in a corner and beat time with a split-stick rattle (wohkoras). Each of the ten or twelve dancers who encircled the fire re- mained in one spot and danced in his own way. One or two dancers might approach close to the fire to show their ability to endure heat, pick up burning brands, one in each hand, and alternately hit one upper arm and then the other with the brands. The heat often became so intense that water had to be thrown on the center post to prevent its catching fire. There was rivalry to see who could stay inside longest, and after a time one man after another emerged and dived into the icy water near by or rolled in the snow. There might be sweating three or four nights in succession on the occasion of a com- munal hunt. The Plains-type sweat lodge-a hemispherical frame of willows covered with skins or blankets-is in common use today. 19 This is a recent adoption. DB said he had first seen it in Fall River Valley when he was about eighteen years old. MUSIC AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Musical instruments included the flute; deer-hoof, split-stick, and cocoon rattles, the latter used only by shamans; the tambourine drum (probably a late intro- duction from the Plains); and the musical bow. Flutes (corworas) were usually made from elderberry wood (KB said that tiger-lily stalks might also be used) and had either three or four holes. The one flute seen was about sixteen inches long and had three holes starting one and a half inches from one end. It was played by in- s erting the end in the mouth at an angle and blowing across the opening. The index and second fingers of the right hand were used on the stops. The flute gave a plain- tive note something like that of a steam calliope, but soft. SR gave the following flute songs, each of which told a story. Yet when they were played on the flute, no words were to be sung in accompaniment. Apparently a person was expected to recognize the tune and be reminded of the story that went with it. 1. The song telling of an argument between the bull- snake and the moon. The bullsnake went in the ground and came out a gopher hole and said, "The moon can't find out where this bullsnake is." 2. The song of the sandhill crane who lived near Alturas. Some people came from Oroville and asked him to sing for a sick man there. The crane said, "I sing too loud. If I sing I'll drown you out. You tell 9 A sweat lodge examined at Hat Creek had a basal diameter of about 6 ft. and a height of 4 ft. It was constructed with eight long willow poles spaced about the circumference and bent in a half- circle and tied to form the domed frame, which was then covered with canvas or blankets. JL asserted that the hole for the heated rocks could be at any side of the structure near the wall. Rocks, after being heated in a fire, were rolled into the hole in the lodge floor with sticks. As many as twelve people, some of whom sat double, might sweat at one time. me when you are going to sing and I'll help you from here." He sang at Alturas, but his voice even at Oro- ville was louder than that of the people singing there. 3. The song of the condor and the buzzard. The condor was better than the buzzard and brought food to the people at ratstowni (the mythical village where the first people lived). The flute was to be played only during the winter season. If it was played in summer, snakes were likely to be attracted. It was often played in the evening just before the storytelling had begun. Only men played. Three informants were in agreement that whistles (jostodas) were not used formerly. Dixon, however, reports their use at least by Achomawi shamans. 20 The Atsugewi shamans wore a bone tube called jostodas in their feather headdress (qaqu), but I was told specifically that this was not a whistle. The whistles used recently are said to have been borrowed from the Maidu or Wintu. They are either single or double and are sometimes mad from the leg bone of a goose. Pitch is used in making the stops. The early dewclaw rattles (ciwiwohas) were said to have a three-foot handle, and the one seen with a nine- teen-inch handle may not have been typical. A wide strip of buckskin had been cut in long fringes, on each of which a dewclaw was placed and secured with a knot. The buck-. skin strip was then wrapped around the handle and tied. The split-stick rattle (wohkoras) shown in plate 13, b was nineteen inches long. The split was carried to about an inch from the base of the elderberry handle. DB (Atsuge) described a musical bow-probably a regular hunting bow -which was played by putting one end in the mouth and then hitting the string with a stick. BM (Apwaruge) had no knowledge of the musical rasp. Drums (wapumas or wohkoras ?) were used by the Apwaruge but not by the Atsuge. The drum was carried and beaten by the singer in the war dance. IP gave the best description of its manufacture. The frame was made from a flat piece of juniper about two inches wide. The ends were notched so that they could be tied together whe the piece was bent into a hoop. This hoop, about two feet in diameter, was covered with wet rawhide which tighte as it dried. A cross board inside the hoop frame served as both a reinforcement and a handle. Sampson Grant of Goose Valley had a similar drum made by covering the top portion of an iron can with buckskin. The drum had been copied from one seen in Dixie Valley. The diameter was fourteen inches and the width four inches. The hoop frame was held in shape by two cross sticks. The buck- skin covering the top was carried down the sides and cut in fringes along the bottom edge of the drum. A red circ was painted near the circumference of the top, and a red "cross"t mark stemmed from one side of the circle to its center. The beater-a deerskin sack sewed up one side and stuffed with deer hair-was attached to a twelve-inch long handle with a rawhide binding. One end of a musical bow (probably an ordinary hunti bow) was held against the shoulder with the left hand, an the string was tapped with an arrow (DB). Shamanistic seances, hand games, puberty dances, courting all had their special songs (yeci). Shamans' so had names and words which were understood by the guar ian spirit to which they were sung. Hand-game songs usually had no meaning. They were sung merely for the 20 Dixon, 1908a, p. 214. Both the split-stick and deer-hoof rattles were owned by Sampson Grant. I 1 4 II I 172 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY sound, a trait likewise of puberty-dance songs, although some of these were said to have a meaning. The follow- ing puberty-dance song is meaningless. Hi a no ni yai Hi a no ni yai Hi a no ni yai Hiuwa! GAMES Gambling was an important factor in the great majority of games. Intervillage gambling was the rule, and rarely did members of the same village play against one another?2 'Relatives tended to band together in the betting. The more distant tribes, such as the Klamath and Alturas Achomawi, with whom there was little intermarriage, usually played against the Atsugewi. If the Big Valley Achomawi and the Atsuge were playing a game, some of the Apwaruge bet 'with one side and some bet with the other side, since they had many relatives in both groups. In earlier days games were only played with immediate neighbors, that is, the Achomawi, Northeastern Maidu, and Yana, but after White contact the Paiute, Wintu, and Klamath were oc- asionally played with. Hand game (kasidas motaiwicu).-This game, which as a wide Californian distribution, is the only stick game * being played by the Atsugewi. Two partners played a side, each holding two sticks (Du'wah'Eni or Iskaki)- e marked and one unmarked. The sticks were marked cutting a groove or burning a band around the middle. ey were made either of bone or wood and were com- oy about one and a half inches long. A man might ye several sets of playing sticks in a little sack; when had poor luck with one pair, he changed to another. e two dealers, who sat or knelt side by side on a large e mat, sang and waved their arms about to confuse ir opponents. Good singing was admired and was ght to help luck. After changing the grass-wrapped ks from one hand to another several times the dealers y crossed their arms over their chests and waited the opposing side to guess. Their opponents had been ely watching every move, hoping for a clue, and soon of them made a guess as to the locatior) -f the marked ks. The various guesses were indicated as follows. Either hand extended toward the outer arm of either opponent; other hand clapped to chest near opposite armpit with the ex- clamation, "He!" Either hand pointed between the two oppos- _ ing players, with the palm vertical and IIf; ] . thumb up or with the index finger pointing; same exclamation and clapping of chest as before. Right hand extended palm down with fist closed except for the thumb, which pro- truded to the side and indicated the direc- tion of guess: same exclamation and clapping. Same as above, except that the left hand _! . ~was used. asserted that gambling had recently almost died out there were so few general gatherings where members inrent tribal groups could meet and play against each other. , the hand game is occasionally played, especially on If the man guessing guessed both dealers correctly, he won the deal; if not, he had to forfeit two counters. If he guessed one and not the other, he forfeited one counter -either sticks (wemow) about ten inches long or beans- and then he guessed again for the man missed on the first try. As soon as a guess was made, the dealer shook the sticks out of their grass covering on to the ground. If a player was guessed twice in succession, his place was taken by another who might be more lucky. At first ten counters were put in a single pile in the center and each side drew out counters as they won them. When the cen- tral pile was depleted, debts were paid from counters previously won. The side winning all the counters won the game. Heavy bets were placed by both sides. DB stated that two hundred and fifty dollars had been bet in a woman's hand game with the Klamath. Bets were made by the losing side, which doubled the amount bet after each game until it came to about one hundred and fifty dollars. After this it was only increased a little at a time (DB). Each person contributed to the amount put up by his side and doubled his contribution if it won. Side bets were common. Be- fore a game started, a man went over from each side to see that the amount put up by the opposing side was satis- factory. The play might last two days and two nights, players taking an hour or so off occasionally to sleep. There was apparently no feeling that women shQuld not play against men. DB reported that sometimes a woman took the place of a male player if she was considered lucky. Women also played the hand game among them- selves, and men, according to DB, were not averse to placing heavy bets on one side or the other. Informants asserted that they never cheated in the hand game because the use of grass prevented their doing so.23 They complained of the legerdemain of the Paiute and eastern Achomawi who did not use grass. There was the feeling that a man caught cheating would be unlucky afterwards. Matching playing sticks was one method of preventing cheating but this would work only when one of a pair of dealers had not been guessed. The guesser held out his closed fist, containing either a marked or un- marked stick, and pointed- toward the opponent's opposite hand, getting him to hold this hand out. Both then opened their fists at the same time. If the sticks matched, the guesser won. Two-man game (dukome).-Each player held two sticks about an inch in length, one marked and one unmarked. Guessing was for the marked stick, a counter being for- feited for each unsuccessful guess. There were ten counters. The game appears to be a two-man version of the hand game. Shamans were said frequently to play this game, probably because they were unwelcome in the hand game. Basket game.-This game, nistiwas montaiwicu (bas- ket gamble), was played with a shallow tule basket some- what larger than a man's hat. The dealer had two twelve- inch and two ten-inch sticks (approximate length) which he arranged side by side in a certain order, hiding them from view under a basket. The opposing side tried to guess the location of the long sticks, both of which could not be on one side or a new deal was necessary. This arrangement was called yudumi (a pass} and counted nothing, being merely a method of enlivening the game and perhaps vexing one's opponents. The guessing and the paying out of counters were much as in the hand game, except that, according to JL, a man might point across with his right hand to the left side to indicate a left-side guess and vice versa with the left hand for a right-side 23 JW and JL were both clever at changing the playing sticks when demonstrating how other tribes cheated, and it seems likely that they may have used this ability to their own advantage on occasion, although they denied this. 173 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS guess. Also, after one pair of sticks had been guessed correctly, all four sticks might be put down again. How- ever, the two long sticks had to be together on the right or left side or it would count as a pass, so that in reality the guessing was the same as if only two sticks remained. The purpose of putting down all four sticks was to confuse the guesser (JL). It was possible to cheat in this game by placing one stick on top of the other. When a guess was made, the basket was shifted to make the sticks fall so that a wrong guess would always result. This cheating, it was asserted, was learned from the Klamath. Con- siderable property was bet, and a person might lose everything he had, clothes and all. In this respect the basket game was considered worse than the hand game, in which a person might quit when he thought he was los- ing too much. The basket game is older and was formerly more popular than the hand game. Willows game.-This, juipw montaiwas (big gamble), was the biggest game of all in respect to the amount of property wagered.24 Each side bet all its property, which was piled high on both sides. One game settled every- thing and might last four or five days and nights (JL). DB thought that a game would last only two days and nights, but declared that the players were quite exhausted when they finished. Equipment included twenty-four to fifty slender willow sticks about ten inches long and a small ace three or four inches long, pointed at both ends and having a black band around the center. The dealer, who led the singing for his side, separated the willow sticks into two bundles and secreted the ace in one of them. Then he carefully wrapped each bundle in grass and laid them down before him, sprinkling water on them for good luck. Individuals from the other side came over one at a time and scrutinized the bundles, conferr- ing together afterwards. An hour or more might elapse before they announced their decision. The dealer picked up the designated bundle and shook out the ace if it was there; if it was not, the guessing side forfeited a counter. There were either ten or twenty counters to a side. In- formants did not agree on this. The women on the deal- er's side sang and danced behind him while the dealing was in progress. There was an interesting sexual connection with this game. 25 Sexual continence was required of a man re- peatedly unsuccessful in guessing. In the course of the game the dealer might exhibit his genitals. If the women on his side were embarrassed, the other side would make a correct guess, but if the women on the opposing side became embarrassed and looked down, their side would miss. If one side were having poor luck, a man or a woman might make amorous advances to a person of opposite sex on the other side. If a man succeeded in making this person ashamed so she tried to push him away, his side would win on the next guess. Miscellaneous games.-Football (potakwaiwi) was played with balls about five inches in diameter, made of grass or horse hair wrapped with twine. Rubber balls were used after white contact. Two posts were set up about four feet apart at a distance of about one-fourth of a mile from the starting place. Two men raced, each kicking a ball and trying to put his ball through the goal posts first. In another version of the game two players kicked balls around a lake. This game was played only by men. DB thought that the game of football was recent and that it had been borrowed from the Alturas or Warm Springs Achomawi. 24 According to JL, $1000 worth of property might be put up in one game. JL gave this information. Women's shinny (laswali) was said to have been re- cently borrowed from the Maidu.26 Paraphernalia in- cluded a straight shinny stick and a puck about fourteei inches long composed of three ropes of rags braided t gether and knotted at the ends. The three to five playe on a side started from the center of the field, which w about fifty yards long, and tried to pass the puck from one player to another and through their opponent's goa posts. The side to succeed in this won. Only the stick," and not the hands or feet, was used in propelling the p Foot races (yi'wi) were often held in the spring at "roots time." The course varied from a few hundred to a distance of sixteen miles or so. The best male runners, possibly six or eight to a side, competed.27 DB reported that three hundred dollars had been bet o the outcome of a race with the Maidu. Women were s to have started running short races only in the last th years, it being something they learned from the white Certain spirits might aid a man in running.28 pEtsku an Apwaruge chief who could beat all comers in a dis tance race, had sage-hen power, which caused him to weave back and forth like a flying sage hen as he ran. Horse racing has become popular in the last forty yea or so. JW declared that a man might challenge anothe man to a contest in which they took turns chasing eac other with knives, the purpose being to try and slash other man's back. Wrestling for stakes occurred, the best man from each of two sides competing. The man first succeedi in throwing his opponent down won. If a man lost, ano man might take his place for, the next bout. A wrestle might acquire a bullsnake spirit guardian, which resi between his shoulders and enabled him to squeeze har In another contest, the object was to carry a heavy rl over a line at some distance away. Again a rock mig pushed out from the shoulders as in our shot put, but differing in that a man could not move his legs or le over as he propelled the stone. The farthest toss wOn Another test of strength was to try to pull a pair of d horns apart. There was also a jumping game in whic contestants stood feet together and took two jumps, g as far as they could. Target shooting had several for The two best archers from opposing sides might sho three arrows at a squirrellike target (ruqari Bayakai made from sunflower leaves. The archer making the hits won. Money, otter skins, and other property we; wagered and side bets were common. Again, two of targets might be put about seventy feet apart. Sever men then shot first at one target and then at the othe another version one man shot an arrow and others tri to come as close to it as possible with their arrows. might play at this all day. Competition to see who co shoot the farthest was sometimes held. DB describe game in which a hoop about eight inches wide was h between two trees. Men stood forty feet away and sh the hoop, the winner being the one first able to shoot arrow through. Arrows were bet on the outcome and sometimes beads. IP remembered a game in which a rows were shot at a rolling hoop, but she gave little ther information. During the root-digging season me competed in attempting to make a double-pointed dig stick penetrate the ground after it was thrown high iD air. The man to make his stick land in the most ver 26 DB and BW (Atsuge) said that the game was recently bor BM said the Dixie Valley people lacked the game although oth Apwaruge reported it. The runners might go from Government Lake around Bal Mountain and return. 28 Shamans could use their power to weaken a runrner or a wrestler so that he would lose. I 174 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY sition won roots wagered by the others (DB). The juggling of two rocks with one hand was a common stime among younger boys. Children at play might try balance a long stick on the end of a finger. Again, two ys might throw two balls (dobokcas) back and forth, ch throwing at the same time and then catching the ball rown by the other. These balls, which were about two td a half inches across, were made of buckskin, sewed d filled with deer hair.29 (JS). All but one of the in- rmants asked denied that the bull-roarer was used in rmer times. DB said that he was a "good-sized" boy len he first heard of it. JL stated that he had made a 11-roarer as a child, but that children were ordinarily t allowed to use bull-roarers for they were liable to ing sickness and misfortune. To whirl a lighted brand Out the head had similar consequences. My oldest Buge informants, JS and DB, thought that string fig- s were also a late acquisition and neither of them id make the figures. DB claimed that they had not e in until about forty years ago. JW (Apwaruge) re- ed that the string figures were made in earlier times ugh he had not learned to make them until thirty rs ago. He could give no generic name for the game. possible that string figures were made by the Ap- uge and not by the Atsuge. JW was able to make eral of these figures; one, a series of diamonds ed by the string called ikar-w (net), a second called p1ramIts cimaha (wood rat's sweathouse), and a called the "lost boy." Informants remembered ing about a ring and pin game. Tops, which were between the fingers, were made by putting a small k through an acorn. had heard of a Paiute dice game in which cane sts were poured on the ground from a basket. He rted that the Dixie Valley people did not have this , but that some had tried to learn the game when played with the Paiute. 30 TOBACCO AND SMOKING =oking was usually for pleasure, less often for reli- and therapeutical purposes. Men commonly smoked etings or after sweating. It was only at such times poor men, who seldom owned pipes, could smoke. man would fill his pipe and pass it around the circle n sitting in the sweathouse. Each man took a puff fo and passed the pipe on. When this pipe was empty, er man filled his and passed it. BM declared that occasionally smoked in the morning but that most rred to do so in the evening after finishing the day's The pipe was best smoked in a reclining posture ep the tobacco (ohpi) from falling out. Men with to- o power became intoxicated with the smoke. Women smoked unless they were shamans, and youths did y after their puberty quest. The smoke was detri- to a girl in her puberty dance, and children like- avoided it, fearing it would make their legs heavy. kg strengthened a doctor's spirit power (the spirit it), and doctors often blew smoke over their patients e them. It is evident that tobacco smoke had strong to-religious qualities. obacco, species Nicotiana bigelovii, often grew in JS did not know the name of the game. burned-over places and at old village sites. Good plots might be privately owned, but anyone could help himself from the plot if he first asked the owner's permission. The Apwaruge, but not the Atsuge, planted tobacco al- though most individuals in both groups depended on wild plants for their supply. The seeds were threshed out and planted in the fall by scattering them over a favorable spot. In spring additional seeds might be scattered over an old tobacco plot to make a better yield. DB and BM denied that plants were ever pruned. The tobacco plants were pulled up when they blossomed, tied in solid bun- dles, and hung from the limb of a tree in the shade to dry.31 DB asserted that, if the tobacco dried in the sun, it would not taste good. He said that tobacco was dried in a hollow tree, the opening of which was covered with a slab of bark. It was stored here until needed. The dried leaves were removed from the stalks and pulver- ized between the hands, a blanket being spread below to catch the falling particles (JL). BM (Apwaruge) denied the use of a mortar or pestle for grinding tobacco. JS (Atsuge) said the leaves might be pulverized against the sides of a basket with a small rock. DB also mentioned the pounding of tobacco. The tobacco might be mixed with dried manzanita leaves and a small quantity of deer mar- row to make it taste sweeter. It was then put in a cased fur sack (nakupu) of mink, weasel, or wood-rat skin, which was carried slung by a strap around the neck, hang- ing in front or under one arm. The fur of the animal was left on the outside, and the mouth was tied with a string to form the bottom of the sack, which might also serve as a container for a man's knife and pipe. IP (Apwaruge) described a tobacco pouch of buckskin, but other inform- ants denied this. Yet Voegelin reports such a buckskin pouch, so it may have had a rare occurrence in the area. 32 The tubular stone pipes (sqDt) had a stem of cane, el- derberry, or wild rose added to the small end, making the whole piece eleven inches or so long. However, some pipes lacked stems. One pipe, three inches long (fig. 13), seen near Hat Creek was of mottled red and yellow sandstone, and a second from Dixie Valley was of steatite, about two inches long, with a funnel- shaped bore and rough exterior. It Fig. 13. had a shallow groove along one side. Stone pipe, JL claimed that chiefs sometimes Atsuge region. had pipe bowls six inches or more long. This was a good deal longer than a commoner's pipe would be. BM (Apwaruge) said that cigarettes of cane or elderberry were not used, but that when a man was out of tobacco he might remove the cane stem (Blwa) of his pipe, which was thick and dirty with caked tobacco, and smoke this. Bone stems were not used, nor were wooden pipes or elbow pipes of stone employed. DB described a wooden pipe re- sembling a corncob pipe, the bowl of which had been cut from a manzanita root with a steel knife. Undoubtedly this was copied from a European model. Steatite pipe material was mined at a spot called sqDt, pipe) in Big Valley, about five miles north of Lookout. One man owned this deposit and made and traded pipes or the material to surrounding peoples. IP reported the use of a sharp-pointed stone drill for making the hole through the stone pipe bowl. 31 Given by JL and IP. 32 Voegelin, 1942, p. 93. IP likewise denied the presence of a dice game. 175 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND WEALTH VILLAGES Villages consisted of three or four to twenty-five or more earth-covered lodges and bark huts, and might have populations varying from twenty-five to more than a hundred. Favored locations were near streams or springs, usually on a small rise or on the lower slopes of a mountain where there was good drainage. Around each village were lands which nominally belonged to the chief. The village was the only important political group outside the family although near kin tended to live in closely adjoining houses, which might be somewhat apart from the rest of the village. Thus a village not un- commonly consisted of several small house clusters, some as much as a quarter of a mile from any of the others. In each house cluster there was usually one man, more wealthy and influential than the others, who acted as a leader or minor headman. Frequently he owned the land on which the group lived and other lands as well. In a sense the chief-except for the fact that his authority extended over the whole village-was much the same as one of these minor headmen.1 He was at least moderately wealthy and had his own group of relatives and friends living about his large sweathouse. The situation may be an adumbration of that found among the Shasta, where settlements were gathered near the dwelling of their richest member, who exerted much political influence.2 There were four major villages in Hat Creek Valley and a fifth in Burney Valley. 1. lumugitsa, the most southerly village, was situated about halfway up Hat Creek. No trace of this site can be found at present, but it was one of the main villages. The chief, Shavehead, controlled the southern part of the valley to and including the north- ern half of Mount Lassen, the northern boundary of his land extending from Tamarack Peak, above Gov- ernment Lake, to and including the western half of Blacks Mountain. 2. Lost Creek settlements. In the Lost Creek region east of Hat Creek were three settlements. The first, capsutigi, near the mouth of Lost Creek Canyon, contained four house pits. To the north about one- quarter mile were two house clusters, in the most northerly of which six house pits were traceable. About one hundred yards to the southwest there was a group of thirteen house pits. This settlement was called kacietsui. Shavehead owned this territory, and his people were said to have moved back and forth for a year or two at a time between here and lumugitsa. Estimates of population from the number of house pits are a little dubious, for it is unlikely that all earth lodges were occupied at the same time. Yet a counteracting factor to this is that there were prob- ably in each village several bark houses, the ground plans of which it is impossible to recognize at present. Counting five houses at lumugitsa (remembered by DB) there is a total of twenty-eight houses for the southern Hat Creek division. A very conservative estimate of 6 persons to a house (DB claimed an average of at least 2 families to a house) would give a total of 148 people in Shavehead's tribelet. DB estimated the popu- lation to be 70 when he was a boy, but said that formerly I See following section on "Chiefs." 2 Shasta chiefs were not always the richest men, but they were so hereditarily at least. (Dixon, 1907, p. 451.) the population was much larger. BN gave an esti of 100. The statement was made in 1873 that Shav head could muster 75 warriors.3 This number ma! have included some members of the Rising River village, however. 3. kakululowci, the central Hat Creek division area, covered a five-mile-wide section across Ha Creek Valley from Shavehead's territory north. bordering mountains to the west were also includ idTtsdi and acipsti, the two settlements, were abo three miles apart. They are now very nearly oblit ated. DB estimated the former population to be ab 25 souls. 4. atspagini (where the water rises), the large village, was situated just west of Rising River L Nineteen house pits were counted, but the conver& of the site into a graveyard and natural filling mu have obliterated others. The true number was pro ably closer to twenty-four or twenty-five. Seven Ii pits were strung along the border of Rising River, about one-quarter mile to the west. This house gr was called jiustici; a rich man named justicini live here and owned the land. Still another settlement, putputini, was said by JS to be situated one-quarte mile or so east of the lake. JS's father, a rich doc was the nominal leader here. Another small settle ment of bark houses was reported on the western sX of Bald Mountain (wipakaml:ni). DB could not remet ber anyone living at atspagini in his lifetime (80 yea He stated that the people here had moved to another site called t'si, about three-quarters of a mile to t~ west, because so many deaths had occurred at atsp gini. At t'si, just north of a great bend in the river, a large sweathouse or chief's house was built. The rest of the population lived near by in bark huts or houses of European design. The chief at atspagini a later at t'si controlled land from Bald Mountain to a mile south of Carbon, including most of the valley below the territory of the central Hat Creek villages This northern area was especially favorable for set ment, having many oak and pine-nut trees as well a roots and an abundance of ducks and fish. DB estim the population to be 100 when he lived there. 5. wumici (bottom lands) was the name given the valley and former settlement about one-half mile nc east of the present town of Burney. Kniffen gives th name Neya.4 JS was at Burney when the last survivo there were wiped out in a Klamath raid. He was a small boy at the time. He remembered only one lar earth lodge here in which a man lived with his five wives and his son who was newly married. The Apwaruge had by far the larger population, alth at present they number under fifty. The old territory h been largely abandoned, and only four families remain the area. Some informants believed that this was becai shamans had put a curse on Dixie Valley and that ever] one who lived there would die.5 Most of the old settlem were concentrated in Dixie and Little valleys. 3Anonymous, The Shastas and Their Neighbors, MS. 4Kniffen, 1928, p. 315. 5There were four abandoned Indian shacks on the south sid Dixie Valley. [176] GARTH: ATSUGEV1 1. The Little Valley (gurumui) chief owned a strip land about twenty miles long and twelve miles wide etching from two miles north of Bognuda south to Bogard Buttes, the west boundary joining Atsuge rritory. This land abounded in all kinds of game, that the people here were much better situated eco- cally than those to the east. gurumui, the main e where the chief resided, was on the slope just t of Horse Creek opposite Bognuda. Another settle- (cancanite) was said to be just north of the rail- d tracks near Bognuda, but I could find no trace of eported that four brothers, along with several r individuals, lived there. Houses seem to have more or less scattered through the Dixie Valley of gurumui territory, one small concentration ki) being on the hill to the north where Horse ek leaves Dixie Valley; another (tiu) was near re Davis Creek enters the valley; and a third was e hill southwest of Horse Creek. On the hill slope dering the west end of Dixie Valley were several e sweathouse pits, at least two of which were the ns of recently built dance houses. jukeni, or Bob's Creek territory, included all I around the large bend of Pit River, taking in r and Bob's creeks and extending north to within miles of Pittville. Two settlements were located Bob's Creek. The first, juke, was near the at the head of the creek, and the other was e confluence of the creek with Pit River. The of the latter village and the territory along Pit was wirasuriwa, from wirasur (Indian hemp) grew in quantities here. GM stated that his ther, jukeni Bob, was originally only chief at but later he became chief over wirasuriwa when ef of this village died. jukeni Bob also controlled wi, a small village about one-half mile to the of juke on Beaver Creek. Dixon gives the name gi for the Beaver Creek people.6 Another impor- age situated south of Pittville along the river alled mawakasui (the man who opens his mouth), taken from an oblong stone said to represent a man who was killed here by the mythical hero, a (butterfly). The village was destroyed in a raid. tspukine (where the water comes down) and ti were two small house clusters, both on the ope of Dixie Mountain-the former about three- s of a mile above the valley floor and the latter due south, just above the valley floor, where a pring was located. JW thought that these settle- elonged to miutawiki territory (4). iutawiki (sunny-side slope) was the name of a ent and the territory near the present Johnson Earth lodges were in use here forty or fifty Co and part of one small lodge is still standing. ers, the professed chief here, had only a klowing. 'uits, was an old village situated east of Dixie were Coyote Reservoir now is. When the dam reservoir was being built, several pipes, met- other objects were dredged up here. The .history of the village were unknown. tui (where springs come up) was an impor- ge near Indian Creek and Cow Lake. pEtskua- great Apwaruge chief, lived here. Two large e pits and several smaller ones are still to Another settlement called ratswowlki was on Indian Creek Mountain in jutsui territory. tsup was a settlement about one-quarter mile VI ETHNOGRAPHY .177 southeast of Tule Lake. JL remembered two or three winter houses here, although no traces of them re- main at present. 8. satspoini was a settlement about two and a half miles south of juitsup in Russell Dairy Canyon. 9. kiupana (grasshopper?) was a settlement in Grasshopper Valley.7 By 1888 most of the inhabitants were dead or had left. At present no survivors are known, nor is the chief here known. 10. aca (water?) or Eagle Lake territory was owned by a shaman called acawari bicakeca (Eagle Lake doc- tor). He owned the southern half of Eagle Lake and the mountains surrounding and also territory to the west to half the length of Pine Creek. The former settlement near Eagle Lake was said to have been abandoned at an early date, the people moving to Dixie Valley. There is little or no trace of the old village at present. 11. Budsalowu was the name of the territory and settlements along Willow Creek southeast of Eagle Lake. In the memory of informants houses were scattered along the borders of the creek. It is difficult to obtain an accurate estimate of popula- tion in the Apwaruge area. Informants' estimates vary between 1,000 and 2,000 or more. By the time at which the oldest informants lived the population had dwindled to a fraction of its former total. On the basis of the num- ber of settlements and house pits Kniffen's estimate, 400, seems a trifle low.8 A population between 500 and 550 is more probable. For the Atsuge 350 seems an acceptable figure, making a total of about 900 for the Atsugewi as a whole. Informants stated that all important villages formerly had their own headmen. Apparently when the population began to dwindle, an amalgamating process was begun whereby two or more villages and the territories which belonged to each became fused under one head. This was true of the Little Valley territory and the territory owned by pEtskuami (jutsui).9 The Lost Creek settlements were said formerly to have had a chief of their own, as did the Eagle Lake village district and several other villages which later came under the control of pEtsku'ami. This consolidation of villages may also have been furthered by the desire to present a united front against enemies. CHIEFS The Atsugewi chief had a more permanent office and much more influence than did Northeastern Maidu chiefs, who seem hardly to have been more than temporarily recognized headmen for a hunt or other occasion. The office of the Atsugewi chief combined executive functions, the prominent feature of Shasta chieftainship, with the function of a leader in economic pursuits, which is char- acteristic of the Paviotso, the Washo, and such southern Shoshoneans as the Owen's Valley Paiute. This economic functioning of the chief is also found in Central California among the Patwin, the Nishinam, and some other tribes. The influence of the Atsugewi chief within the village was considerable, but it depended much on his personality. If a chief was popular, he had a big following; if he was un- popular, people were likely to move away from his village. Theoretically, the chief's decision was final in all matters 7This site was not visited. 8 Kniffen; 1928, pp. 316-317. 9Joe Johnson, the Little Valley chief, gave his land to his popular nephew, pEtskuani, who was already chief of jutsui. m, -1908a, p. 209. ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS affecting the village as a whole, such as whether to move the village, whether there was to be peace or war, when a communal hunt was to be staged, and so on. But actually he had to respect the desires of his people. As BN put it, "A chief has to talk to his people and make them all willing to do something that he wants done." The chief had no power to punish individuals nor could he impose fines as could Shasta chiefs. Neverthe- less, if a man flagrantly disobeyed the chief, the latter might refuse to work for him-refuse to help him when he was in trouble or to revenge his death. Then, unless the man had many relatives, anyone might kill him with impunity. There seems to be a measure of coercion in this, but it probably applied only to the nonconformist and individual trouble-maker and not to reputable mem- bers of the village who had many relatives to support them. I was assured that normally everyone obeyed the chief even though he was a poor man. A chief should have the welfare of his people at heart and should keep affairs running as smoothly as possible in the village. He, like the Shasta and Wintu chieftain, was arbiter in quarrels among his people, always striv- ing to achieve a peaceful settlement. Once Shavehead (Atsuge chief) himself paid beads to a claimant to settle a dispute over the payment for a bow. The very term for chief, juswahecar (life saver) is indicative of his responsibility. A good chief would go to great extremes to avoid warfare and the killing of his people. If a village member killed an outsider, the chief made certain that wergild was paid, getting village members to contribute and contributing himself if the offender was unable to pay. In like manner the chief saw to it that the doctoring fee for treating a sick man was raised. Organizing and directing the tribal economy was one of the chief's most important responsibilities. He had to know the time of ripening of different vegetable foods, when the fish runs occurred, and had to be well versed in methods of hunting. Another important qualification was that he be a good speaker. Every morning at day- break a chief talked to his people as follows: "Get up and do something for your living. Be on your guard. Be on the lookout for Paiute. You have to work hard for your living. There may be a long winter, so put away every- thing [food] you can." He also talked in the evening and on numerous other occasions. JW said of one chief, "He was the best speaker in the valley. I could hear him when I was haying five hundred yards away." No case was re- membered of a chief having a substitute talk for him. Buckskin Jack, Rising River chief, had an assistant who sat with him in council meetings and advised him what to do and sometimes acted as interpreter, but Buckskin Jack did all the orating to his people.10 Usually after organizing a communal hunt the chief stayed home and shared in the distribution of meat when it was brought in.11 However, the chief was not relieved of the necessity of providing for himself as among the Wintu and Patwin. Most chiefs were famed for their hard work. One chief was said to have had twenty deer pits, which he visited from time to time. Another could carry home two deer on his shoulders at one time. Hunting, fishing, 'net making, skin tanning, etc., were chores per- formed by chiefs as well as anyone else. If a chief was starving, he was given food-but as much would be done for any starving man. Large donations of food were only 10 Charley Snook, one of the richest men at Rising River, was Buckskin's advisor. 11 Even in this there seemed to be no special chiefly privilege. The meat brought in from communal hunts was shared with every- one in the village. Presumably anyone who stayed home from the hunt would receive a share. made to the chief when some feast was planned, the food being for general consumption. Most chiefs were relatively wealthy, but whether their affluence preceded their assumption of office or whether it resulted from the possession of the fine hunting and trapping lands that went along with the office it is difficu to say. Probably both factors were involved. There was no requirement that the chief be the wealthiest man in the village, although he usually was. Nevertheless at Rising River at least two men were more wealthy than Buckskin Jack, the chief. Chiefs enhanced their prestige and popularity by givin feasts and "big times." Buckskin Jack was said to have impoverished himself by giving so many feasts. However this was probably in later times when "store-bought" fo was used for the feasting. Normally the chief's followers supplied him with the necessary food for the occasion. The democratic ideal prevailed. A good chief fraternize with everyone and joined in games and dances; it was difficult to make him angry. DB put it this way. A chief should talk with everybody and should let othe people help themselves on his claim. He should laugh and be nice. He should call a "big time" every once i a while to make a good name for himself. If a chief is mean and wants to kill a certain doctor, people think he is no good. Each chief, according to his popularity, had a sphere of influence extending far outside his own village. Buck- skin Jack, who was very popular, was said to be recog- nized as chief even among the Fall River Achomawi and, beyond. "He could tell Shavehead what to do." Likewise the word of pEtskuami, Dixie Valley chief, carried muc weight on Hat Creek. pEtskuami, because of his popular ty, came to control most of Apwaruge territory. The de clining population, however, was an important factor also. In theory the eldest son of the chief inherited the posi tion, but in practice it was the most capable and best- liked son who was elected. If none of the sons were con- sidered suitable, a brother or a cousin might be chosen. If no one in the chief's family were suitable, a capable commoner might be elected chief even though his relati ship to the former chief was remote. If the chief died while his son was small, the boy was raised by a relati' perhaps his mother or grandmother, who would teach how a chief should act. Proper training was considered very important. According to DB, an uncle or a cousin acted as chief until the child came of age. Most inform- ants maintained that women could not become chiefs. Only IP, herself the daughter of a chief, thought other- wise. No mention was made of female chiefs, so their existence seems doubtful-although Julie Bob, Voegelin' informant, also said there might be women chiefs. 12 Other members of a chief's family had a certain amount of prestige. Several informants were proud to say that they were related to this or that chief and thus were above the commoners (wikoi) or "hired men," as one informant called them. According to IP, a common would not joke with the chief's wife: "She felt big [impor tant]." Either the chief's wife or daughter might, if cap- able, direct the women in their gathering activities, tell ing them when to go home, and so on. The chief's daugh ter was called wiparcar, and the chief's son was called yoge juswahecar (young chief). The chief's wife had no title unless she was a chief's daughter in her own right. IP made this statement: "The chief's daughter shoul Voegelin, 1942, p. 106. Many surrounding tribes had female chiefs, however (ibid.). 178 I I I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY irry a headman's son so that they can get along better. e doesn't marry a common boy." This is probably true so far as rich families tended to intermarry, that is, most rich men were minor headmen, the chief's ughter in marrying a rich man's son would probably be arrying the son of a headman. IP's opinion may have isen, too, from the fact that both her father's wives tre daughters of chiefs. No other cases of intermarri- e between chiefs' families were noted, though it is not probable that they did occur. However, there was cer- nly no rule to the effect that the farnilies of chiefs buld intermarry. Minor headmen in Atsuge villages d no title. IP thought Apwaruge headmen or subchiefs a village were called Bawe (headman), a term that ems likewise to have been applied to village chiefs of is importance.13 :The matter of tenure of office is somewhat in doubt. 41 JS and DB (Atsuge) thought that a chief remained in ce for life and that he could not be deposed. Apwaruge armants, on the contrary, said that a poor chief could eposed; LR claimed to remember an incident of the -a ratswow[kik' chief had been deposed and Captain of Big Valley had been substituted in his place. This hly improbable since Captain Jim normally resided g Valley. 15 It does serve to illustrate what was said ously about chiefs and their spheres of influence. n Captain Jim, a popular Big Valley chief, visited Valley, he was treated with deference. His word espected and obeyed as though he were a Dixie e chieftain. 16 Three of my informants reported him ually being an Atsugewi chief and named village ories which they said were his. However, no two ants mentioned the same village. Captain Jim's nce in Dixie Valley was no doubt partly due to his g Apwaruge blood ties. CRIMES AND TORTS urder and the stealing of a man's wife or widow the only serious crimes. In either case the ag- ed family had lost one of its members. A payment emanded to settle the issue, and if it were not given, mily took revenge and tried to kill the offender or his near kin. The amount of wergild demanded d, probably according to the nearness of kin between ilies concerned. If the murder occurred within e tribal group or village, only a small payment was ed. As DB phrased it, "They might even let it go. don't want to kill another person in the same group." mes the murderer was forced to donate food and bute to the support of the bereaved family. Never- fights did sometimes develop even between fami- the same village if payment was not forthcoming. tions were more strict if the murderer was from r village-a larger payment was required and a een (bo'casi) was likely to be used to arrange a ent. If he was unsuccessful after several trips d forth between the two families, he stood aside ,.families fought it out. The number participating a fight was usually small, possibly only five or a side, as only close relatives of the belligerent s were involved. Whether payment was enforced and also the amount of payment demanded, prob- pended on the numerical strength of the respec- lies: "If the murderer has many relatives, the ni Bob, chief at Bob's Creek was called Bawe. village near Indian Creek near Dixie Valley. I chomawi territory. had many relatives in Dixie Valley, and his influence here doubt pattly due to this fact. bereaved family is afraid to make them settle up" (DB). A much larger compensation was demanded from a murderer in another tribe.17 The price might be two strings of clamshell beads in addition to a few baskets and other things. DB asserted that a man's life was worth three or four strings of beads. 18 The favored method of settlement, however, was to give a woman. This had several advantages. The two families became relatives, and a number of binding social obligations were established between them. The two families were expected to be friendly and to help one another thereafter. Also the bereaved family had received valuable property (the woman) in return for the loss of their kinsman. According to IP, if a woman was offered as a settlement, the aggrieved family had to accept her: "A woman was worth more than the murdered man would be." In any event, social pressure was strong toward a family's accepting the wergild if a fair price was offered. Accidental injuries were not usually atoned for, but for an accidental killing, according to DB (Atsuge), the offender would pay a small amount. An Apwaruge inform- ant made the more probable statement that no distinction was made between an accidental and an intentional mur- der-a complete settlement was demanded either way. If a man injured another man intentionally, he had to pay all or at least part of the doctoring fee. The chief decided how much the offender should pay (DB,. According to DB (Atsuge), little could be done about a theft within the group if the thief were unknown. A doctor might have a seance and say that a certain man was guilty, "but this was only a guess and did not amount to much." Doctors were commonly hired to find stolen property among the Apwaruge. In one instance an Apwaruge doctor found sixty-five dollars for a woman by sending two of his spirits (which took human form) to track down the thief. The rightful owner of stolen property might ask the chief to prevail on the thief to return the goods. However, the chief could in no way force the man to do so. As a last resort the owner might fight with the thief to force him to give up the stolen property. A man in returnirg stolen property would say, "I just found this." By so doing he apparently hoped to avoid the stigma of being branded a thief. DB asserted that a habitual thief would be beaten: "Nobody would help him, not even his brother. " Food was particularly apt to be stolen. In the eastern area a doctor might plant a "pain" object near his stored food. This pain would attack a thief and cause him to sicken or even to die. When the doctor saw who had taken sick, he knew that this man must have stolen his food. Small thefts of food might be excused on the ground that the thief was in need of it. But if a large amount was stolen, it had to be returned or paid for with beads or other valuables. One case was mentioned of an elderly man called yascowi (grass widower) whose wife had left him because of nonsupport. He habitually made small thefts, so that people were very watchful when he was around. He was pitied because he had to steal to make a living, and nothing was ever done to him. I was assured that, if he had been younger and able to support himself, he would have been severely punished for his thievery. A habitual trouble-maker had few friends; his closest relatives would not protect him if he was attacked. If he refused to reform, he might be waylaid and severely beaten. When he was badly hurt others would taunt him and kick him, saying, "That's what you've been looking for. Why don't you get up and fight?" A man with a pug- nacious temperament was thought to be sick. DB told of 17 Intertribal murders were a common cause of war. The pro- cedure in such instances differed little from internecine settle- ments and warfare . (See "Warfare . ") This was about the same as the amount paid for a widow when she was purchased from one of her dead husband's brothers. 179 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS one such man who took a rock and hit himself about the head with it until the blood came. "Now," he said, "I feel better." No cure was known for this condition ex- cept to give the trouble-maker a bad beating, which might take it out of him. WARFARE In their peaceful attitude, in the fact that revenge was the prime cause of war, and in their methods of fighting, the Atsugewi are typical Californians. Warlike influences from neighboring Klamath, Modoc, and Paiute seem to have affected them but little. Their attitude was most strongly expressed by Apwaruge informants: "The Dixie Valley people didn't fight." "We did not go to war when one of our people had been killed. Only when two or three had been killed would we fight." "I guess the Dixie Valley people were cowards." This attitude toward warfare does not necessarily coincide with actual behavior in a war situation. The Atsugewi seem to have been as quick as surrounding tribes to retaliate for a murder. War stories were usually poorly remembered or not at all. The following list of wars or incipient wars was obtained: Antagonists Atsugewi-Klamath Atsugewi-Alturas Achomawi Apwaruge-Alturas Achomawi Apwaruge-Maidu Atsuge-Big Valley Atsuge-Wintu Atsuge-Big Valley Achomawi Atsuge-Yana (Montgomery Cr.) Cause Four Klamath raids A raid by the Achomawi Actual cause unknown -said to be a raid by Alturas A raid by the Maidu in which 24(?) Apwaruge were killed Accidental killing A Wintu raid in which Atsuge houses were burned and one man was killed The Achomawi kill two Atsuge shamans Murder of Atsuge man Results of settlement Defeat of Atsugewi in three of the raids; women and children captured. Defeat of Klamath on their last raid; a formal battle; many Klamath killed; Klamath give up property as a settlement (ca. 1865) A number of Atsuge and Apwaruge were killed. The Atsuge shamans started poisoning the Alturas people Several Dixie Valley people were killed. The Apwaruge got the Paiute to retaliate and kill a number of Achomawi Apwaruge and Big Valley Achomawi attack Maidu; kill a number of people and take two captives. A settlement afterwards for those killed on both sides The Atsugewi oppose a force of Big Valley and Fall River Achomawi. Sides drawn up for war, but a settle- ment made beforehand. $1000 in property reputedly paid by the Atsugewi A raid in retaliation. Several Wintu killed. One captive taken A force of Maidu and Atsuge go to Big Valley. A settle- ment made; $30 (or $60) given for the woman doctor; a horse and saddle paid for the male .doctor Retaliatory raid in which two or three Yana were killed and at least one woman was taken captive The worst enemies of the Atsugewi were said to be the Klamath and the Paiute. At least two villages, wumici in Burney Valley and mawakasui near the Pit River) were destroyed by Klamath raiders. Most of my informants mentioned close relatives who had been captured by the Klamath. That the Atsugewi attempted no retaliation is partly explained by the distance to be traveled on foot through hostile territory. Indeed it is doubtful if Klamath raids on the Atsugewi occurred before the former had horses. The Atsugewi apparently did not acquire horses until relatively late.19 Their respect for Modoc-Klamath 9 JL witnessed a peace settlement between the Atsugewi and the Paiute (ca. 1870?) in which the Paiute gave horses as presents. There was much laughter over the ludicrous efforts of some of the Apwaruge to ride. Apparently horses were not very common even at this time. fighting prowess also must have tempered their desire for revenge. It is noteworthy that two attacks by the Alturas Achomawi were avenged only indirectly. Like- wise, Paiute raids were denied.20 It is possible that tIw Atsugewi did not attempt to retaliate against their mo powerful enemies. The Yana village which was attack admittedly had a much smaller force than that of the attacking Atsuge. The size of the Wintu encampment attacked is unknown. Nevertheless the raid into Wintu territory proved that the Atsuge were capable of makim long raids. Some informants thought that desire for Atsugewi property motivated raids by the Eastern Ach mawi, Paiute, and Klamath. I was told that at times th poorer Fall River and Big Valley Achomawi directed t 20 The Paiute are said to have aided white soldiers in massac a group of Atauge at Four Mile Hill. I 180 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Klamath to the place where the Atsugewi were camping in order to profit from the baskets and other goods abandoned by the Atsugewi when they fled their camp. The Atsuge and the Little Valley Apwaruge were con- sidered much wealthier than peoples to the east. Note- worthy in this connection is the fact that three out of the four Klamath raids reported were in this area. In two instances the Atsugewi paid a high wergild in comparison with what they accepted when one of their own people was killed. This may possibly have resulted from a strong desire for peace. When a Hat Creek doc- tor failed to cure Captain Dick, chief of the Fall River Achomawi, the latter demanded retribution. The Atsuge bffered $100 and 25 horses or 100 horses and 25 squaws. This lends credence to the statement by JW that $1000 in roperty was paid to the Big Valley Achomawi to settle a murder. Yet the wergild for Captain Dick was prob- bly much more than that for a commoner. DB asserted at a man's life was worth three or four strings of lamshell beads (from $45 to $80); the amount given in e preceding list as payment for the two murdered suge shamans lends support to his statement. When an enemy was known to be in the vicinity, the ugewi hid in the hills or retreated to a rock-walled rt (nuyahe okarehe, rock pile). In Dixie Valley there two of these fortified camps, one on top of Coyote ountain and another on a bluff about a quarter of a 1e up Russel Dairy canyon. The latter fort had its th side protected by the bluff. A wall of roughly ed-up rocks guarded the northern approach. This 1 was said to have been originally about four feet g, but at present it is much broken down (see pl. 10, a). hin the fort were numerous circular enclosures of k, each of which was formerly occupied by a family other fort where the Indians fought off soldiers was d to be east of Hat Creek near Government Lake. rtain signs warned of an approaching enemy- deer ng past camp; birds flying rapidly by; the tracks by an enemy war party, called womu'mi (a war trail); a shaman's dream in which he saw blood or some er sign. Security depended much on the fact that an my often did not know where the camp was situated. p was always moved when a captive escaped, for he ld tell his people where the camp was and an attack uld be imminent. Retaliation against an enemy might take the form of rprise raid or a formal battle. Raids were made on leeping enemy camp in the early morning, as soon as as light enough to see a rock or piece of charcoal own into the air. Before a formal battle commenced, two sides stood in opposing lines while a peacemaker casi), a person friendly to both sides, sought to nge a settlement.22 If after two or three trips back forth between the two sides he was unsuccessful, he d to one side and let them fight. (IP said that each performed a war dance or dance of intimidation the negotiations for settlement.) In fighting, the stood separated by a distance and exchanged ws. Good warriors, possibly wearing armor, were ed at intervals along the battle line and at the ends. battles were said to last two days or more, until side or the other was defeated. Dodging enemy sw as an important technique. When an archer a hit he cried, "Bo'ka [you can have that one]," patted his mouth. When the fighting was going t the Atsugewi, a few chosen men held off the ywhile others carried the wounded to a safe place Redding Independent, Oct. 31, 1878, p. 2; ibid., Jan 9, 1879, p. 3. where they could construct stretchers (aparehe). Short sticks were laid side by side between two poles and tied on to make the bed of the stretcher on which the wounded man was laid. The stretcher was carried by two men, who used pack straps for the purpose. A chief- might or might not fight, according to his temperament and inclina- tion.23 If he chose not to fight and stood to one side, his person was sacred and he was not to be shot at. He could halt the fighting and arrange for a settlement whenever he wished. A war leader, who was appointed for merit by the chief, had charge of the actual fighting. It was he that the enemy was most desirous of capturing or killing. The women performed a dance each day that the war- riors were absent. They dressed like male warriors, putting chalk on their faces and feathers in their hair, but held feathers instead of a bow and arrow. The dance (yohyasi) was performed once in the morning and once in the evening. The dancers formed a line-possibly simu- lating a battle line-facing the direction in which the men had gone, threw water into the air, and uttered shouts of encouragement: "Brace up, men! Be strong! " "Each woman danced hard for her husband" (IP).24 The tossing up of water was likewise a means of encouragement, for the same thing was done to encourage the players in gambling. Later the women (IP asserted that only two women who knew how would do this) made a pantomime of a successful fight, seizing a nonparticipant as if to make a slave of him, and so on, hoping thus to aid the men in the actual raid. Before leaving camp the men, too, made a pantomime of their future actions. They raced through the camp yelling and menacing the women with drawn bows, here and there snatching up baskets and other property or seizing a woman as if to capture her. After this they set out for the enemy camp, calling encouragement to each other and tossing up water dipped out of a basket. All able men in the village were expected to fight. Informants gave no data on whether women fought in wars, but if mythological evidence can be trusted, they must have done so. The Frog Woman was a most fear- some Amazon in the battle between the mythical people living near Dixie Valley and those living in Klamath country. In another myth Panther says to Frog Woman, "You are a woman. You can't shoot [the bow and arrow] except when there is a war." Spier believes that Klamath women sometimes participated in battles. 25 When warriors returned women ran to meet them and threw handfuls of pounded epos roots over them. Then the men underwent a process of purification called Bras- mowi. First the women rubbed bundles of wild tea all over the bodies of the men-"to clean them off." Then, acoording to IP, one woman brushed off the men with feathers and sang, "You are going to get away from some- body's rough talking." JW had it that the women would be in two lines facing each other and that the men passed between the lines, being brushed off (with feathers ?) as they went through. JS said that Hat Creek men were brushed off with pine branches during the war dance. Informants were not very articulate as to what this pro- cess of purification removed. It was not contamination due to corpse contact, for in a funeral those touching 23 Atsuge chiefs seem to have participated in fighting more than the Apwaruge chiefs and on occasion led raids into enemy territory. Only one raid by the Dixie Valley people was reported, and this was under the leadership of Big Valley Achomawi. This may or may not be an indication of the more peaceful nature of the Apwaruge. 24 This is another example of the associative bond believed to exist between husband and wife. Similar instances appear in the couvade and in the meat taboo enjoined on a surviving spouse. A Hat Creek man was peacemaker in the Apwaruge-Maidu war. 25 Spier, 1930, p. 31. 181 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS the corpse had to undergo no special purification. JW gave the following reasons for the purification: "To keep the bad stuff away. This was the law they had. They swim after this and blow away all hard feelings."26 "So that they will be all clear and not dream bad [of evil spirits] or anything about it." Following their treatment with wild tea the men yelled "Baaar! " and ran and jumped into a pool to clean themselves off further. Only after this could they eat meat and whatever they wanted in the feast that followed. After the feasting a war dance (bjoasu) was held. All kinds of headgear were worn-yellowhammer headbands, fur and hide hats, and feather headdresses. Men wore little other clothing except an apron and moccasins. A large fire was built at a distance from the camp. Accord- ing to Atsuge informants, the dancers formed two circles around the fire, the men in the inner circle and women in the outer. Each woman held a long stick at its center and hit with it alternately on one shoulder and then on the other (DB). The men danced in a half-crouch, lifting their knees high and stamping hard with their feet. At intervals they straightened up and brandished their bows and arrows high in the air. One or two singers sat by the fire and beat time on a stick lying on the ground in front of them. The singing was interspersed with shouts from the dancers. The dancing, which died down and started up again at intervals, might last half the night. Captives (yEhcui) were dragged about by the dancers and were made to dance-"as though they were glad that their people had been killed."'2 If scalps had been taken, these were mounted on four-foot poles which were carried by persons who had lost close relatives in the fight, being passed from one person to another-"You could see the long pretty hair on the scalp fly around." The scalps were ridiculed and taunted as they were carried; some- times a captive was forced to carry the scalp. IP (Apwaruge) stated that the scalp was thrown in the fire after the dance, but JS (Atsuge) claimed that it was put in a buckskin bag and kept. Two informants asserted that scalps were removed from a fallen foe by cutting along the hair line of the forehead and back across the temples above the ears to the back of the head. JL thought that the ears were included. Occasionally whole heads were taken. JL maintained that the hair of a dead comrade might be burned off to prevent his being scalped if it was necessary to abandon him on the field. Only women and children were kept as captives; men were usually killed. A Wintu captive was hanged by his neck from a tree; then women stoned him to death. This practice of hanging is probably post-Caucasian. A man's wife could mistreat his female captive and make her do the hard work. Captives usually escaped before long or they were returned to their own tribe when peace was made. The Apwaruge slayer had to undergo a process of purification which might last a month or more. During this time he ate apart from his family outside the house, using special utensils. If any food was left in his dish when he finished eating, he threw it to a dog. He could not sleep with his wife, and meat was taboo to him as were the occupations of hunting and fishing. He used a head scratcher and repeatedly went to the mountains to swim. He discarded his bow and arrow and obtained another. After his period of purification was over he had to chew the top shoot from a young pine tree before he could again eat meat. 26 Probably the hard feelings of the enemy are meant here. 27 A man might not force his female captive to dance; then she would be satisfied with her treatment and not try to run away. My father killed a Big Meadows man in revenge for the death of his grandfather. He had to give up my sister as a settlement. When he returned from the raid he went to the mountains and washed himself with wild tea, rubbing it over his hands, face, and all over his body. He had to swim every morning and I talk as follows, "I had a right to do that. Don't cause anything to happen to me." This world [spirit world?] listened. He said, "I did right. I hope I will live a long time." This procedure was continued every morn- ing for about a month. (LR.) JW declared that the killer would say, "I would have beez killed myself if I had not killed that man. I want every- thing to be all right," and so forth.28 The purification w much less severe on Hat Creek and lasted only two or three days, during which time the slayer swam in the mountains. He could eat no meat, but he could hunt if he so desired. Shamans were important adjuncts to a war expedition. Not only did they fight and take care of wounded men on the field by sucking out arrow points and poison in an effort to cure them, but they could also throw drowsinessX over an enemy camp so that the inmates would slumber soundly as the raiders approached. Shamans could pro- phesy the success or failure of a war expedition. Halfway to the enemy camp the shaman would stop and hold a seance to find out from his spirits what was going to happen and when the enemy was to be encountered. Once the party had set out on a war expedition, however, they could not turn back even though failure of the expedition was prophesied. Certain spirit guardians conferred special abilities on warriors. Buzzard power enabled a man to dodge enemy arrows skillfully.29 Arrows would glance off a man with white-rock power as from a hard rock. Again, a man with weasel power had only to put his drawn arrow to the ground to imbue it and himself with great power. The arrow would then penetrate the toughest hide armor. To the Atsugewi mind war was a crisis to be avoided if at all possible. By participating in a battle and espec- ially by killing someone, a person became contaminated. Killing, like the crises of birth, puberty, and death, required subsequent purification; the man who killed was subject to spirit visitation or the displeasure of spirits until he was purified. He could eat no meat and he was liable to have bad dreams in which a devil or spirit might make him sick or kill him. He had to undergo a rigorous program of purification before he could remove this con- tamination and return to normal life again. TRADE Trading took place mainly at intertribal gatherings. The common type of trading was carried on under the guise of gift giving (sow5wa) although direct trading (u(tpasweni) occurred as well. A man, particularly if he were rich, had a trading partner in each of several dif- ferent tribal groups. 30 When he received a gift from his trading partner at a "big time," he might reciprocate immediately or wait until he had acquired something suitable to give. Ideally the return gift should be slightly 28 Apparently killing a man was something that offended the spirits. 29 A buzzard was thought to be able to sit in a hailstorm without being hit by the hailstones. 30 When a man died, his son took his place and traded with his father's trading partners as his father had done. I 182 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY more than the initial gift. Usually a donor did not speci- fy what he desired in return although he might do so if he wanted something badly enough. A return gift was obligatory; if it was not given, relations were broken off and the offender's prestige would suffer: "Everyone would know that his word was no good." If a man desired a bow, an otterskin quiver, or some other article, he communicated his desire to his trading partner, who theni furnished it or sought to get it from a fellow village member or even from a trading partner in another tribe. This gift type of trading indicated a friendly attitude be- tween the parties concerned and was a device for form- ing friendships, i.e., if a man desired another for his iend, he made him a gift, and the two exchanged gifts om this time on. This same attitude was emphasized and magnified in the gift exchanges resulting from a rriage. In fact, a man's trading partner was often elated to him through marriage. Visitors from distant villages commonly brought gifts rying from a basket of roots or acorn mush to a gift of larger order such as a bow. Shortly before leaving they resented the gift to the host, who then reciprocated in d. If the gift was made in a basket, the basket was ally given too. In direct trading at tribal gatherings a man might see ther man with a fine bow and trade beads or possibly rows for it. Also two men might exchange arrows, ah putting down an equal number. A list of articles ded and their approximate values is given below. Clamshell beads: usually $20 per string; some of well-made variety 1/2 in. in diameter worth $30 or more; coarser beads worth only $10 or $15 a string. Dentalium beads: $5 per string for the 1-1/4 in. length; $7 per string if a little longer. Dentalia rarely got to be as long as 2 in. Magnesite cylinder: worth $15 to $20. Otter skin: one string of clamshell beads or from $25 to $30. An otterskin quiver was worth from $30 to $50. Fisher skin: one string of clamshell beads. Buckskin shirt: $12 to $25. Grizzly-bear hide: two strings of clamshell beads. Brown-bear skin: one string of clamshell beads. White man's blanket: $12 to $20. Bow, quiver of coyote skin, and about ten arrows: -North one string of clamshell beads. The coyoteskin quiver was of little value, being tossed in for good measure. Dow: one-half string of clamshell beads; $10 to $12. agle-feather arrows: about 50 cents apiece. lah net (about 35 ft. by 3 ft.): a short string of clam- ell beads; a long string paid for a net twice as high longer. anoe: one-and-a-half to two strings of clamshell ieds. ge basket with xerophyllum overlay (about 24 in. and 20 in. deep): one string of clamshell beads; short string for a smaller basket of the same kind. onical burden basket: one string of clamshell beads. rd snare (wa-cas): a large size worth $5; a small $3. JS gave one string of clamshell beads as the ce, but this seems a little high. Possibly JS was eferring to the price before European twine was intro- Foodpecker scalps, at least among the Apwaruge, had o value and were not used for anything in particular although the Wintu and Maidu valuation of them was known. Yellowhammer headbands: formerly considered very valuable; now worth $4 or $5. Values were poorly defined. Most objects were ap- praised in terms of half or whole strings of clamshell beads, which were themselves of different grades and evaluation. The fact that the gift form of trading was common militated against haggling over the values of goods. "One fellow just gave until the other was satisfied." The flow of trade goods was as follows. Clamshell beads were obtained from the Wintu and Maidu, but mostly from the latter tribe. Dentalia came from the north through the Achomawi, although some were probably obtained from the Wintu. It is unlikely that dentalia came via Northwestern California where it was worth so much more than clamshell beads. Probably the dentalia came by way of the Columbia River to the Dalles, where the Klamath traded for them and passed them on to the Modoc and Achomawi. The eastern Achomawi as well as the Apwaruge made tule baskets and hats, which they traded for the finer Atsuge baskets. The Achomawi along the Pit River traded salmon flour and received roots and other vegetable foods in return. Soapstone for making pipes occurred in Big Valley and was an important trade article. The Maidu furnished coiled baskets, skins, beads, and other articles in return for twined baskets, bows, and furs from the Atsugewi. The preponderance of trade seems to have been with the Achomawi and Maidu. There were no well-marked trade routes through Atsugewi territory similar to those found in Central California. Trade with the Paiute was infrequent until about 1870 when friendly relations were established. After this the Paiute came to trade buck- skins, red ochre, glass beads, guns, and especially olivella beads in return for bows, baskets, and some beads. The Atsuge and Apwaruge traded extensively. The Atsuge gave bows (there is no yew wood in the eastern area), twined baskets, furs, and so on for buckskins, arrows, rabbitskin blankets and other things. Obsidian was a valued trade article within the village. Also cer- tain men who were proficient at making nets, bows, knives, and other articles traded or sold these things to other villagers. A woman might ask another woman to make her a basket and might pay for it in beads before the project was begun or she might wait until the basket was finished before paying. Similarly, a net or other article might be ordered by one who did not know how to make it. No fee was charged for lending an object such as a bow, net, or boat to a friend. However, the friend was expected to give some of the game he obtained to the lender. If the borrower damaged the loaned article, he was expected to repair or to replace it, but the owner had no recourse if he refused to do so. Women usually confined their trading to baskets. This trading still occurs to some extent. Not infrequently Klamath baskets appear at Hat Creek, having been traded down from the north. In the anonymous report, "The Shastas and Their Neighbors" (MS, 1873) there is the statement that the Pit River Indians considered dentalia more valuable than clamshell beads. The importance of clamshell beads in the area at present may possibly be due to late influences from the Wintu and Maidu, with whom the Atsugewi have had frequent social intercourse in post-white times. No marks were made on the forearm to facilitate measure- ment of beads nor were they counted as in Central Cali- fornia. When a string of beads of standard length was 183 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS held between the outstretched hands, the slack hung down to the navel. A short length was measured from the base of the throat to the outstretched hand. DB said that other measurements were made from the outstretched hand to the elbow or to the shoulder. Clamshell beads which are about one-half inch in diameter come nearest to being the standard medium of exchange. Today the beads are even more highly valued and are rarely seen. BN had beads varying from one-half inch to one-quarter inch in diameter which he valued at sixty dollars. WEALTH AND INHERITANCE The Atsugewi share the common California emphasis on wealth. Their proximity to Northwestern California would be calculated to heighten this emphasis, although the fact that they border the poorer Great Basin tribes might have an opposite effect. Actually the wealthy man did enjoy considerable prestige, as is well illustrated in the mythology. For example, the Skunk Brothers are highly pleased when a woman whom they meet tells them how rich and important the Skunk Brothers are. Again, when Butterfly, headman at Ratstowni, 31 is seeking wives for his brothers, he chooses the two daughters of Beads Chief (ahki yausi). DB spoke of the girls as follows: "They were the rich man's daughters, the daughters of the highest man." In a third myth Daylight woman under- goes severe trials in order to be able to marry Beads Boy (ahki minike). Other incidents in the mythology, as well as statements of informants, leave no doubt of the importance of wealth. The fact that a rich man was given a special title, sasyawahecar, also argues for his impor- tance. A man who gained wealth was a success in the At- sugewi scheme of things. Young boys and girls were urged to work diligently with the promise that by so doing they would eventually acquire wealth. Although wealth was important in theory, a rather poor environment militated against the accumulation of large stores of wealth goods. The wealthy individual was one who worked industriously and who, as a result, had an abundant supply of food, a warm earth lodge, and more cultural equipment than his fellows. IP, for example, spoke of her wealthy father as one who was continually making snares, hunting, and doing other tasks. The following accounts of wealthy men should help clarify the nature and position of the rich man in the society. justicini was a rich man living at Rising River in a settlement a short distance from the main settlement. He took his name from the land on which he resided and which he owned. SB said that he had more land than did the chief, Buckskin Jack. He was also a suc- cessful hunter and fisherman and owned several can- oes. According to JS, he was second man to the chief. Sometimes he divided deer meat among the villagers when the chief was sick or was absent. Fifteen or twenty people lived with him in his large earth lodge. He could take the initiative and call a sweat dance in his own house. His wife was blind and was unable to do much work, and when he grew old he became lame. His relatives then supplied him with food. He had an only daughter who inherited little or nothing from him. His land and possessions went for the most part to his cousin, Buckskin Jack. nohalal (going all the time) was a rich shaman who lived at Rising River in a small settlement (putputini) about a fourth of a mile east of Rising River Lake 31 The mythical village near Dixie Valley. U where the main settlement was located. He owned large sweathouse and could call a sweat dance the whenever he wished. JS (nohalal's son) stated: " father used to have big parties every once in a w He went out early in the morning and obtained qu ties of fish. Then he let the people help themselve and eat. He gave feasts and furnished all the food self. He had manzanita cider, fish, and meat. His relatives and friends lived near his house, some them in small earth lodges. He talked for this bun and was kind of headman. He was the only one who was wealthy. A man who was free with his food an who did all that he could to feed the people made a good name [reputation]. Everybody liked him." no, made and sold nets and did much more fishing than hunting. When he became old he gave most of his property away, dividing it between his two sons, J and Short Charley. His stepson, John Walson, also obtained a large share. waisnikup'abate (silent one) lived at Rising River village. He was an excellent hunter and spent much of his time hunting. "He and Short Charley were th wealthiest men in the village. They always had sol thing to eat and things to trade." juppw zwte (big man) lived among relatives in a gr of houses a few hundred yards from the main settle ment at Little Valley. He owned the land on which and his friends resided and acted as headman for th people living around him. He owned several deer pi and excelled at hunting. He also manufactured bows and arrows and made clothing of buckskin. As indicated above, a rich man might live in a settl ment somewhat apart from that of the chief. Around lived a group of friends and relatives (possibly hoping profit from his munificence) over whom he exerted a small measure of authority. This authority did not ext outside his own particular group and probably, as with chiefs, his influence depended much on his popularity. Most wealth objects were utilitarian in nature. Bea were the only type of luxury wealth. Clamshell beads, furs-especially of the otter and fisher-and buckskins were the most frequently mentioned wealth objects. In myth two mice brothers from Apwaruge country steal a two-foot-long obsidian knife and a crystal pestle (very valuable wealth objects) from the Klamath. However, only one of my informants remembered the use of ob- sidian knives longer than six inches. 32 The Atsugewi in their contacts with northern tribes may have learned of their high evaluation of long obsidian knives, which fact' was expressed in the myth, or the myth may indicate that the Atsugewi themselves formerly esteemed such knives. At any event northern influences are indicated. The value of the pestle is understandable; pestles were ordinarily considered valuable, and the added fact that this one was made of crystal, which had strong magical qualities, would greatly enhance its value. Voegelin re-, ports woodpecker scalps as being of value among the Atsuge.33 I myself lack data for the Atsuge, but for the Apwaruge I obtained a denial that the scalps were value at all, although the fact that the Maidu and Wintu valued them was recognized. White deer skins were of no par- ticular value nor were dentalia. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that dentalia have recently been superseded by clamshell-disk beads of Central California as the 32 JL reported knives 10 or 11 in. long. 3 Voegelin, 1942, pp. 89-90. 184 I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY wost valued type of bead. (See p. 183.) Specific relation- hips with Northwestern California are few and difficult recognize. Yet it is quite possible that, before the namath and Modoc had horses and before they received rom Columbia River tribes an incentive to take slaves Bee Spier, 1930, p. 40), there may have been consider- ble intercourse between the Achomawi-Atsugewi and ribes to the north such as the Modoc and Shasta. Few atural barriers separate the Modoc and Achomawi- tsugewi. Cultural affinities are certainly as strong (or tronger) between the Atsugewi and Klamath as between he Atsugewi and other tribes equally distant. Also, trong cultural relationships occur between the Shasta Id the Pit River tribes, as Dixon has already pointed ut. 34 An important asset in acquiring wealth was the owner- bip of certain fine trapping lands and logs. 35 Village Smting land was nominally under the control of the chief, pt village members could hunt or gather vegetable pro- acts there at will. Outsiders were required to obtain ie chief 's permission before they could hunt. Otherwise le chief appropriated the skin (in the case of deer even he carcass) of any animal they killed. Also roots or ther vegetable produce might be taken from trespassers. lhe custom of getting the chief's permission was largely matter of etiquette. The chief felt insulted if not asked; almost always complied when a request was made. her lands were owned by individual families and might insst of a mountain, perhaps having an eagle nest on a mile or so of a stream, especially where fallen lay across it; or some place where sunflowers or ts were plentiful. Any member of the family could use land, at will, but the nominal ownership was vested in family head. If he were absent permission to use the d might be given by some other important member of family. As with the village lands the game or produce t be taken away from trespassers, although this was s likely to be done to fellow tribe members than to iders. DB: My grandfather owned this side of Blacks Moun- 'tain near the top. One time his wife was sick and he had no one to dig roots for him. When some people Idn't ask to dig roots on his land, he became angry d took their roots from them, even from his own relatives. They should first have asked him if they could dig. y owners were given some of the roots or other ce in return for the use of their land. Land was ted through the male line, and if there were no it passed to a brother or to a cousin. A woman never own land, even if she were the last surviv- mber of the family. A conflict between native law Dixon, 1908a, p. 220. 185 and white law arose over this point. The owner of Bald Mountain died leaving an only daughter. Her husband claimed the mountain as his in the name of his wife. Buckskin Jack, the dead man's cousin, also claimed the land. This led to a fight in which Buckskin Jack took an eagle, obtained on the mountain, from the other claimant. A husband and wife held their property jointly.36 A husband could take beads earned by his wife in her basket making and use these to trade for a bow or something else that he wanted. According to DB (Atsuge) a woman could likewise give some of her husband's things away without asking him. However, IP (Apwaruge) stated that the husband and wife had to agree before trading any of their property or giving it away. This seems more prob- able, although the custom may have been different on Hat Creek. The Hat Creek rich man kept his furs in a special bark hut or rolled them up and hung them in a tree. Some- times a basket was used to store furs and beads. These valuables were hidden when the owner left the village in summer. Sometimes, I was told, people died without revealing where their property was hidden and it was never located. Usually when a man became old or when he knew he was soon to die, he made a disposition of his property. He decided what things he wanted buried with him and to which of his relatives his various possessions should go. 37 Sons usually received the largest share. According to DB, most of the property might be bequeathed to a son, who might keep it or bury or burn part or all of it, i.e., "Come clean." The deceased's most personal effects, such as his bow, clothing, pipe, and knife, were dis- posed of. Otherwise the owner's spirit would bother these things afterwards. The wife might decide how the prop- erty was to be disposed of. Sometimes she gave some of the more valuable property away; at other times she destroyed it all. DB thought that even food gathered by the deceased would be destroyed, but IP thought other- wise: "Food was too hard to get." Her statement possib- ly reflects the fact that the Apwaruge had a harder struggle for existence than the Atsuge. Only old and less valuable property was destroyed as a rule. Blankets, canoes, fur quivers, baskets, rope snares, and so on were commonly used until they wore out, and then they were burned. Thus inheritance was important in keeping property in one family line. Beads were the things most commonly put with the body; pres- tige accrued from placing a good quantity of them in the grave. 3 Given by IP, DB, and SB. BM: "The baskets a woman made belonged to both herself and to her husband. If he divorces her, he keeps the baskets." Gifts were sometimes made to nonrelatives (DB). A woman willed her baskets, pestle, etc., to her daughter or daughter-in-law when she got old. Logs lying across streams were favorite places to set traps. I: THE SUPERNATURAL RELIGION Atsugewi religion was concerned with a horde of nature spirits, and was closely associated with shaman- ism and mythology. There was no supreme being com- parable to the Wintu OlEbis. Several informants con- sidered kawzw (Gray Fox), the creator of the world, to be the most powerful spirit being. Yet he was far from all-powerful, for Coyote (makida) in the world-creation myth repeatedly bested him in their struggle to deter- mine whether life should be easy or hard for mankind. Butterfly (napunoha) was also a powerful mythological being and an important spirit guardian. Spirits often took human shape and exhibited human characteristics. The spirit world was, in a sense, a replica of the human world. Spirits often lived in earth- covered lodges and carried on occupations as humans did. Almost any animal, rock, tree, or other object might harbor a friendly or inimical spirit; a person with the proper power could converse with them. Some- times, when a person bruised himself on a rock, the spirit therein said that it did or did not cause the acci- dent. Children were warned not to go near bunch grass on spring evenings, for fear that a little man (spirit) who lived therein might shoot them with his bow and arrow and cause them to become sick. Informants were somewhat indefinite about spirits that occupied particular localities. A certain "old man spirit" was said to reside at slipslipisi, a cave near Lost Creek. The Subway Cave and several sacred swimming places in lakes or streams were said to be inhabited by spirits, but information about them was vague. DB said that a spirit at Snag Lake occasionally made the water rush out from a whirlpool with a boom- ing sound. When his father obtained power here, he had nearly been sucked into the whirlpool. As it was taboo to mention the name of a guardian spirit, DB had never learned the spirit's identity. It may have been some kind of water monster, since such creatures are mentioned in myths. Certain mountain spirits had to be propitiated with offerings of food or tobacco before a hunting party could kill game.' At sundown, after a fire had been built and the men had smoked, one of them took a bit of tobacco (or food) and threw some of it toward each mountain, saying as he did so, "Give me meat. I am hungry. I be- long here." If no offering were made, the mountain would hide all the game: "turn everything under." The men would see deer tracks but no deer. This hiding of game was called riAwariki (he doesn't know you). Boasting about the deer one was going to kill also annoyed the spirit. Some men went out hunting. One man said, "I'm going to kill a deer." The others warned him and said the mountain would hear him, but he paid no attention to them. He kept on talking and said, "I'm not going to kill a doe, I'm going to kill a buck." The men "fed" the mountain, but still they failed to kill a deer that day. This happened again the next day and the next. Finally the men had to go home without game. On their next hunting trip they left the braggart at home and got lots of deer. A person shouldn't say anything about going to kill a deer, but just go look for it. (DB.) I This was not necessary when a lone hunter was on a short trip after small game. Mountain spirits resented the presence of a foreigner, especially one who did not speak the local language, and might injure or kill him. They sometimes made a large owl harry an intruder and attempt to scratch his eyes oi or, as happened on Mount Lassen, caused the stranger, to become knotted up with his head turned backwards. 4 mountain might make a phantom deer appear in front of a hunter, who would repeatedly shoot at it in vain. Sha- mans, too, could make phantom animals appear. The widespread concept of a dwarf people, common among Shoshoneans and tribes to the north, is also fours among the Atsugewi. Groups of these little people (tam- ciye) inhabited certain places, possibly the interior of mountain. They lived much as did the Indians themselv occupying earth lodges, hunting, fishing, and carrying on customs in the same way. Although they might dwell close to a human village, they were seldom seen. tamc women dug roots beside Indian women without the latte recognizing their presence. Occasionally, favored indi viduals did see and talk to these little people, who were not feared but were thought of as being usually friendly The following was an often repeated story. One spring a lazy man went to the bench near Lost Creek to get pine nuts. Here he met two tamclye women who asked him what he was doing. They said, "We don't eat that kind of food. You better go back with us." They took him to their house on the west side of Bald Mountain, where there was an earth lod4 He saw all the tamciye people. The men were out hui ing deer or fishing. In the evening they returned. TN lazy ma-n stayed with the tamciye for a while, and thS treated him with much hospitality. When he wanted to return home, the two tamciye women made ready to with him as his wives. He was given a buckskin shin pants, a bow and arrow, and other things. Before tb he had been naked. The two women loaded themselv with dry meat and other things, and the three starte to his home. But before they reached his home he made an excuse to go into the bushes, saying that he~ wanted to urinate, and as soon as he was out of sight he started running. He wanted to leave the women. They saw him running and were angry. They took b all the clothes and beads they had given him, so tha he had nothing on when he arrived home. Then the women returned to their own home. The man told family what had happened. They were very angry him for running away from the two women. He was fool. If he nad brought.them back he would have m a good living. (KB.) The tamciye were important guardian spirits and brou a man hunting luck and strength. There was also a tribe of giant men (dak'ilmEsi), o gorillas as they are called today, they being large hai creatures with claws on their heads. A story concer the near marriage of a poor man and a giant woman is nearly identical to the above-mentioned story of the and the tamclye women. There was a feeling that the people wanted to become friendly to humans, but that bungling of the man (in the story) had ruined things. In contrast to the tamciye, some of the giant people were malevolent and made a practice of stcaling young chil and sometimes of tickling women to death and then t them away to be eaten. A giant woman might steal a b and prevent its growing larger by feeding it on mucus from her nose. Men with giant power could travel twe [186] j I I t I I p GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY miles or more over rough country in a surprisingly short time. Each step the giant took made a resound- ing "Bum! " and covered three or four miles. Inform- ants were not clear as to how the giant power was used in traveling. A story is told of two "wind" children, who seemed to have no connection with any directional wind. The jiesi or wind children each has a white feather on top of his head. One time when two of these jiesi lay sleeping, a man came along and picked one of them up, bringing him back to camp. That night the wind began to blow terribly hard; trees crashed down and things blew about. The man became frightened and let the boy go. Then the wind stopped. (DB.) There is also a myth about a wind woman with wild streaming hair. GUARDIAN SPIRITS AND THEIR ACQUISITION Spirits could aid a person in almost anything, and a man considered himself unlucky if he did not have at a'least a minor spirit to help him in hunting or to prevent ,his becoming sick-"Just enough to get along on." There .,was a gradation in degree of power from the unfortunate with none at all to the powerful shaman with a number of Spirits at his command. Spirit guardians included such t as clouds, trees, shadows of trees, rocks, water, ects, snakes, lizards, various mammals, fish, birds, der and lightning (together), stars, sun, daylight, sky. Rain, snow, and epos roots were among the things cited as not being spirit guardians. JL and IP ght almost anything could be a spirit guardian. Cer- spirits conferred special abilities, often depending the character of the animal or object with which the it was associated. Beaver power: conferred gambling luck and enabled a person to swim long distances under water. Hummingbird power: gave gambling luck. ghtning power: the possessor could control lightning and make rain. Weasel power: the patron of strong men; enabled a man to excel in feats of strength even though he was slight build. er snake power: enabled a man to swim well and r a long distance. ae-hen power: gave speed in running. zard power: gave control over flint. ylight power: enabled a person to arise at the first puof dawn. eadowlark power: the possessor could cause it to e spirits often appeared as dwarf men, a concept e that of the Shasta, and inhabited sweathouses bottom of springs or lakes or lived in caves. It t such places that power was sought. Other spirits, which shamans acquired, lived in feather bun- qaqu), staying in the hollow bone tube (jostodas) at ter, or in a datspmci (mentioned only for the ), a low cone-shaped rock with a smooth holiow "r 'because the pains have played too much in The interior also contained feathers. The pains their entrance and exit by a hole at the side. The d datspinci were rarely seen by any but those fail to see them. A qaqu might be encountered almost anywhere. One shaman obtained his power when he felled a hollow tree and found a qaqu inside. A man might in his dreams hear a qaqu twenty miles away sing for him, and on waking he would follow the sound to the place where the qaqu was. A common method of acquiring power was to go on a power quest (weskCume). Quests might be undertaken at any season and any number of times. A run of poor luck in hunting or gambling was often an incentive for under- taking a quest. A man did not always obtain the power he desired. When seeking hunting or gambling luck he might acquire a stronger spirit which would make him a doctor.2 The supplicant traveled from one place to another along high ridges and near mountaintops, fasting, swimming, and piling up rocks. He might go to Snag Lake on Mount Lassen, then to Thousand Lakes on the west border of Hat Creek Valley, and finally back to the village, cover- ing thirty-five or more miles on the circuit. On the sec- ond or third night, when he lay sleeping on his bark pillow beside a fire, a spirit might wake him and chide him for sleeping near its haunts.. The spirit then gave him some kind of luck. Sometimes a man received his power after diving into a spring. Afterwards, when he had been kicked out to lie unconscious on the shore, spirits came and taught him songs. In similar manner a supplicant might be kicked out of a cave, later to be waked and taught songs. An old Dixie man gambled and lost everything he had to the Big Valley Indians. He felt badly about it and decided to go to the mountains for luck. He went to a lake high on a mountaintop and dove in. He fell through the roof of a sweathouse in the water. Here a beaver and some flies were gambling. They gambled with him and he won some of their things. The beaver gave him some playing sticks and some beans (counters) and told him to put a basket of water near where he was playing. Then he was kicked out on the shore of the lake. He went home. Soon the Big Valley people came over again to play. The old man's people bet every- thing they had left. He put a basket of water under his playing mat. This was for the use of the beaver power. He began winning till the Big Valley people had nothing left. (BM.) Sometimes the spirits in the sweathouse taught the power seeker how to excel at certain crafts such as bow making or flint chipping or how to acquire wealth. On other oc- casions a doctor was taught how to cure various illnesses. A man went to a spring on Rising River below Cassel to swim. This spring boils up when anybody comes around but is quiet otherwise. The man dove in and fell into a sweathouse way down. People [spirits] down there taught him what to say, what to do, and how to doctor different sicknesses. They told him to use this power for fever, to do this for a cough, to do this when a man gets consumption. They also told him how to cure pneu- monia. Then before he knew it he was thrown out on the bank, where he lay unconscious. Then something like people [spirits] came along and said, "You didn't come here to sleep." He jumped up. They taught him different songs, and he went home singing. He became one ot the biggest doctors. (DB.) Spirits might come to a man at any time and not solely when he was on a power quest. Minor powers often came in dreams. Sometimes when a man was walking alone a 2 According to DB, no one wanted to be a doctor if he could avoid it. 187 Mlpd to be doctors. Others might -ass -close by and p ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS spirit would sing for him, causing him to fall senseless, bleeding from nose and mouth. Women rarely went on power quests. Usually their power came to them during the puberty dances, when they bore a child, or when they were in mourning. Com- mon powers for women were those that aided in root digging or seed gathering. IP, Apwaruge shaman, told the following story of how she first acquired power, but later antagonized the spirit by smelling grease. When I was fourteen years old I had a baby. My mother made me walk some distance from camp and told me to run if I felt better. I ran about a mile. There were eight dogs behind me; that is why I ran fast. When I was nearly back they passed me and said, "Woman, you can't beat us." I didn't think I could beat them. I followed them, but suddenly they disappeared. I had smelled someone cooking bacon and this made bad luck. I was sick when I got back. I commenced to feel them [the dogs]; some were spotted black. They must have been water dogs be- cause I saw them all jump in the water. From this time on I was continually sleepy. After about a month Coyote Jack [a shaman] found out that something was wrong with me. I dreamt that I ran races with all kinds of dogs and that they were mean to me. The next time, I dreamt that I was going to be killed by them because I had smelled grease after they had loved me. Coyote Jack told me they were going to eat me up the first time I was out alone someplace. He called a pow-wow and took the water dogs away. I felt all right after this. It was as though I had wings I felt so good. Men were also particularly subject to spirit visitation during life crises. Spirits that visited a person in mourn- ing often came with malicious intent, although this was not always true. DB said that he had obtained a minor hunting power after he lost a child. Spirits already pos- sessed might leave a person at this time also. IP said that she lost all of her doctoring power when her fifteen- year-old daughter died. Shamans often tried to pass on their powers to one of their children. This seems to have been in some measure successful. The doctor blows smoke over his boy and sings. Then he takes the boy to where the power [qaqu?] is and tries to make the power accept him. (DB.) As is implied above, the spirit did not always accept the shaman's child as a successor. One shaman, Salwano, gave his lightning power to his son and yet kept his rights over it himself so that each could use it with equal facility. There seemed to be no apparent conflict when two men had the same spirit power; each was said to have it just a little bit different. Spirit powers may well have been gen- eric in nature. The singing of power songs.-Each spirit had its own song. If a spirit desired to become a person's guardian, it sang its song to him. The person then repeated the words and tune, "mocked the spirit," until he knew the song. He then repeated the song when he desired to call the spirit to help him in some undertaking. If the man did not repeat the song, the spirit would become angry and kill him. It sometimes happened that a person could not hear the spirit singing to him and became sick because of his failure to answer. A shaman could cure him by find- ing out what the spirit's song was and by singing it. When anyone heard his spirit song he began to sing and to dance violently "like a crazy person," imitating his guardian spirit animal. Apparently he became possessed by the, spirit. This was likewise true of the patient who heard his song for the first time. The doctor might hook his arm through the patient's arm and dance with him un the latter "calmed down." Sometimes a doctor approp ated his patient's power for himself. The spirit power had to be taken away gradually or the patient would di even if it was done gradually, his ears rang and he fe slightly sick for a month or so afterwards. A person could get a doctor to take away an unwanted spirit in same manner. A man practiced his power song by himself in the or with others in the sweathouse to inure himself to spirit power and to increase its strength. "When he s." for the first time he cries more than anything else. power is too strong for him. He is like a crazy perso Next winter when he sings he is not so crazy. He is to the power." (IP.) Sometimes a man with strong po sang alone in the hills and did not tell others that he it. This was especially true of men with bear power. the main sweathouse during the long winter nights fro November to April meetings often occurred in which different individuals sang their spirit songs, and on occasion danced, imitating the actions of their tutela animals.3 Such singing occhrred only in winter. The whole phenomenon is rather similar to the guardian- spirit dancing of the Plateau area and may represent southern extension of the practice. Spier mentions pra tices of a similar nature among the Klamath.4 SHAMANS A person who acquired doctoring power underwent a particularly rigorous program of singing and fasting. qaqu might contain fifteen or twenty pains (kahwi), eac of which had a song which the novice had to know perfe ly. As soon as he thought he had mastered a pain's so he prepared to capture it. The performance took place the sweathouse. Here, in the meager light of coals in fireplace, the novice began his singing, which might 1 all night and even the following night before the pain w captured. As the pain, called by the singing, approache and entered the sweathouse, the novice began to dance wildly and to shout in excitement. He pursued the pain about the room with his arm outstretched to seize it. When he grasped it, he shook violently and fell uncon- scious, bleeding at the mouth. Two or three men caught him and put his closed fist in a basket of water to soften the pain. They likewise put water on his face, and blew smoke over him to pacify the pain. If they made a mis- take, the angry pain was likely to kill the novice. When he finally revived, he showed the pain to the spectators, singing loudly the while. The fire was stirred up so that all could see. An older doctor, who had been counselling the novice, examined the pain (which appeared like a small black section of horse hair about 1/2 in. long) and signified his approval. After this the singing was con- tinued until daylight. The novice placed the captured pain in a small section of a feather or elder twig and stopped up both ends, or in a small hole in a rock and carefully covered it. Each pain had to be captured separately. JL stated that if a novice worked hard he might get the sing-, ing done for all his pains in two winter seasons. If he di not work hard or if his pains were slow in telling him when he could cure, it might take four or five years or 3 The pains were said to venture forth only during the winter season. However, a person could acquire power at any time of the year. 4 Spier, 1930, pp. 112-118. 188 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY more before he could become a full doctor. DB said that it might take twelve years or more. In the final rite the qaqu was uprooted from its place in the mountains and brought to the sweathouse. Here the novice showed it to the spectators and sang and danced even more energetically than before. At daybreak he took the qaqu and hid it in the hills. He was careful to put it where no one would stumble upon it, for to do so would mean death to a common man. The novice, after swimming in one of the important places in the river, became a full doctor. According to JL, the young doctor abstained from meat for the six days following. People were curious to know how powerful the young shaman was and he was soon called to cure someone or to make other demonstration of his power. He might shoot a pain at a dog and kill it or, if he had appropriate spirits, he might bring rain, make lightning, or suck blood from a cane. An older doctor might challenge the newcomer to a duel. Each shot the other with a pain, the one able to cough up his adversary's pain being the winner and thereby the more powerful. Male shamans (bicakeca) were much more numerous than female shamans. In going over my notes I have listed e names of twelve male shamans, while only four female ,shamans (cohoEe-car bicakecka) were mentioned. There eemed to be no particular idea that women shamans were tronger or less strong than male shamans. It depended what spirits a shaman acquired; strong spirits might ome to either a man or to a woman. The most powerful hman in the region today is a woman. Pains and poisoners.-The pain concept embodied a ee-way association; the pain might be a whisker (bla- ) of a guardian animal taken from just under its nose appeared as such when a doctor showed it to people); ght appear as a little man, after a doctor had shot it when it visited a man in a dream to make a doctor of or it might be the representative of the guardian ani- itself if not actually that animal-as such it appeared talked through the doctor, sucking for him when he curing. Evidently there has come to be a combination e pain concept of Northern California with the guardian it concept of other areas. Atsugewi pains differ most m those of Yurok shamans in being actually a part of guardian spirit animal. Doctors could shoot other ob- besides the small, hairlike pains. A doctor with esnake power might shoot a small snake, which would the heart of his victim. When it returned to the sha- it crawled up his arm and entered his body. Other ans shot glass, flint, a hair or claw from a bear, sinew, splinters of wood, or flies, according to the re of their guardian spirits. A woman's pain object said to make its victim vomit. amans were considered equally capable of poisoning ring someone, and a large percentage of sickness thought caused by the poisoning activities of shamans. circumstance is more characteristic of Central and ern California than of Northwestern California or of the Klamath. Shamans were inveterately malicious.5 were mean because their pains were mean and de- d to eat meat. By feeding on a victim the pain would .stronger. pain wants to eat people, but a good doctor would say o." The pain would keep arguing with him. If the pain ted to eat five people, the doctor would tell them to d up a certain quantity of epos roots and give it to This satisfied the pain. If only four of the people ye roots, the pain would eat the person who did not eany. (BM.) Even DB, who was closely associated with IP and acted as her in reter, considered her a mean doctor, "although she did not mn people. " If a shaman demanded some of a man's property or food, the man had to give it up under the threat of being poi- soned if he did not. A woman doctor found that a man was hiding meat from her and poisoned several of his children in revenge. A doctor might be treacherous enough to poi- son his own relatives or even his own children. This, in theory, represented the activities of shamans. Actually, they were probably anxious to avoid any suggestion that they were poisoners, for a shaman accused of poisoning was liable to be killed. Then his pains would leave him, and a person sick from his pain would recover immedi- ately. A doctor was difficult to kill. To insure his death, slayers chopped off his head and scattered his limbs. Most doctor killings were committed by members of a distant local group or a neighboring tribe. Methods of poisoning were numerous. Pains were shot off the end of a finger or flipped off a toe, or they might be transferred by stepping on the victim's hair, by shak- ing hands with him, by putting the pain in his pipe, by sneaking behind him and dropping the pain on him, or by the poisoner allowing his shadow to fall on the victim. According to Dixon, the pain stayed under the victim's hair until the period set by the doctor had elapsed. Then it proceeded into the part of the body to which the shaman had sent it and started feeding.6 Pains were said not to be effective on whites because their flesh stank too much and pains would not eat it. After shooting a pain the doc- tor knew its exact whereabouts at all times and sang strongly to encourage it on its way. The doctor knew, too, when the victim died and dressed a stump to look like himself and awaited the pain's return. A returning pain was bloodthirsty and tried to kill the doctor or his children. It would, however, hit the stump, thinking this was the doctor. Then the doctor could pacify it. Louis Thomas, an Atsuge doctor, was said to have lost all his children by his first wife because he did not know how to pacify a returning pain. A pain could be sent to attack an enemy village, where it would cause an epidemic. It camped near the village in a bark house or dug down and made an earth lodge. Then the pain, using a bow and arrow, shot those people whom the sender desired to kill. Sometimes a pain proceeded from one village to another, killing two or three people in each. When several people in a village became sick, the local doctors suspected that an enemy pain was camped in the vicinity. That night everyone sang loudly to find out where the pain had come from. In the course of the night several attempts were made to locate the pain's camp.7 Finally one of the shamans saw the pain's campfire. At daybreak everyone painted his face with chalk and they all went to surround the pain. The doctor's pain shot the enemy pain with an arrow, causing the latter to cry "Uh! Uh! " and to try to escape through the circle of people who were closing in on it. If the pain came their way, people raised their arms to head him off. The doctor's pain had to keep the enemy pain down or it would kill someone. The doctor (probably the one first successful in seeing the pain's campfire) finally captured the enemy pain and either killed it or sent it back to the shaman who first sent it. Power of shamans.-Shamans were antagonistic toward one another, especially if they belonged to different tribes. Each jealously guarded his own spirit powers and did not divulge their identity for fear that other doctors would steal them. Death resulted when a man's power was taken from him suddenly. 6Dixon, 1904, p. 25. Attempts were made to see the pain's camp at midnight, again at about two o'clock, and a third time around four o'clock. "Ihe doctors crept toward the pain as though they were after deer." (DB.) 189 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS One time the Big Bend Achomawi pretended that some- one was sick there and called on a young Atsuge doctor to cure. Biskari, the Big Bend doctor, hid in a corner and saw what power the Atsuge doctor was using and took it away from him. Then the young doctor sickened and died. Biskari feared that this new doctor was going to be stronger than he was. (DB.) Shamans also frequently tried to poison one another or one another's children. Five doctors were said to have put their pains together and to have shot them at IP, but she was able to cough up each pain and kill it. Poisoners who were not initiated shamans were known. Big Ben was a doctor, but no one knew it. He poisoned his own brother-in-law and his sister's boys. Ida Peco- nom knew about this and talked about it to Ben's cou- sins. Later she tried to poison him, but he saw her pain coming in a dream-his power told him-and he waved his hand, causing the pain to miss. It plowed a big hole in the ground where it hit. He was later killed by several men. (DB.) Doctors competed in making demonstrations of their power. When two doctors looked at each other, the one whose body appeared light and transparent had the least power; the doctor whose body appeared dark and black- looking, was the more powerful. Sometimes two shamans fought a duel with their pains, but there is no evidence for group combat with pains as occurs in some parts of California. On one occasion two shamans competed in eating rattlesnakes, the one able to eat his share without vomiting being the winner. The shaman's spirit was said to be eating the snakes. Shamans also used their power to play tricks on one another. A shaman caused a roasted squirrel to come to life and to run away chattering, just as a second shaman was preparing to eat it. Other sha- manistic tricks, perhaps performed in the winter singing period, were to make animals or birds appear in the sweathouse, to eat fire or flint, and to cause spirits to throw pebbles on the sweathouse roof. One shaman was said to be able to swallow molten lead and to spit it out when it had hardened. Shamans, though important, seem to have been much less so than chiefs. This situation is unexpected in view of the dominant position of Klamath and Northeastern Maidu shamans. Evidence is not abundant. Of five- impor- tant rich men reported (excluding chiefs), only one was a shaman. Shamans thus did not monopolize wealth, which, as seen previously, was a strong indication of social prestige. The one rich shaman reported differed little from other rich men. He worked diligently as they did and like them he increased his prestige by giving small feasts. But possibly the best evidence of the sha- man's secondary position is the importance of the chief in all matters political. There is nothing to indicate that this was a late development, as Spier has postulated for the Klamath.8 DB, when asked if doctors were allowed to talk much in village meetings, said, "A doctor can't say anything. They call a doctor zwte maoma [Indian dog]. If a doctor poisons someone and people find it out, they will kill him. His relatives won't help him. A doctor just looks down and listens." This statement may be an exaggeration, but it does illustrate the general attitude toward shamans and adds to the belief that the shaman's position was not particularly exalted. Shamans lived a rather precarious existence.9 Out of sixteen shamans reported, six were Spier, 1930, pp. 35-37. It is significant that today .there are no young shamans. Even IP, the only important shaman left, claims that she no longer has her powers. DB stated that even in the early days no one wanted to be a doctor if he could help it. killed as poisoners, three died when something went wrong with their power, four are living or died a natural death, and for three the cause of death was undetermined. If shamans had been exceptionally important, one would expect them to have achieved a more secure position in the society. Chiefs and shamans did not co6perate particularly in governmental matters. A chief might in rare instances hire a shaman to poison someone, but this was no chiefly prerogative. Anyone who had money to pay could do so.10 The shaman did co8perate with the chief when there was need, as in war or when supernatural dangers threatened the tribe. Also, when the chief visited another tribe a shaman accompanied him to protect him from the pains of alien doctors. Specialists.-Three types of shamans can be differen- tiated, although the distinctions between them are not clearly drawn. These are the sucking shaman, the sing- ing doctor, and the bear doctor. There is a probability that the sucking doctor may also be a bear doctor, al- though I got no actual account of this sort. Weather con- trol and the curing of rattlesnake bites could be achieved by any shaman with appropriate powers. A shaman's capabilities depended on what guardian spirits he acquired. The strongest spirits were able to cure any kind of sick- ness; the weaker spirits could cure only a limited number or only certain kinds. It was difficult to get any idea of the relative strength of spirits, and it is extremely doubt- ful that there was a hierarchical arrangement of spirit powers. One of the most powerful beings was iskawica, the Old Man, 1" who was said to look down from the moun- tains on the valley below to see any kind of sickness that came around. Grey Fox, Coyote, and Lightning were also strong guardian spirits. Doctors, as a result of possessing particular spirits, had special abilities. Some were proficient at curing toothaches and sucked worms out of an affected jaw. Others specialized- in curing -wounds. One time I received a big gash in my head when my horse ran away with me and smashed my wagon on a rock. I was in bad shape. Cyb Taylor, who doctored me, didn't eat that night. The bullfrog [his power] came and said, "You won't die with that wound. I am going to get on there and make you well." I could hear it talk. Then I felt something cold on my head which felt pleasant. The next morning I had recovered. The frog just heals you when you are cut. My cousin was gashed in the side with a knife and the frog healed him, too. (DB.) Doctors with snake power might cure snake bites and sometimes sucked rattlesnake teeth from the wound. They could also use their power to prevent snakes from hurting people. Although snakes are numerous, there was no ceremony to prevent snake bite. Ground-squirrel power and possibly some others were also employed to cure snake bites. Although the great majority of shamans cured by suck- ing, some made their cures solely by singing. Joe Wilso a minor Apwaruge doctor living today, is a singing doct He has dwarf (tamciye) power and specializes in curing women. He is said to have cured SB of partial paralysis. Men with bear power could transform themselves into bears. But they did this so that they could dig into a ground squirrel's burrow or to get some place in a hurry rather than with an intent to hurt someone. They preferr The employer of the doctor was responsible if the poisoning was discovered. 1This was one of the giant people (dak'ilmEsi). I 0 190 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY to change a log into a bear and let it do the actual killing of an enemy. They did not shoot pains. A Dixie Valley doctor was coming back from Hat Creek in the evening. He was tired and wanted to get home quickly, so he put his quiver down and it be- came a cub. He.changed himself into a bear and came back. Everybody was afraid of him. He arrived at camp just before sunset, changed himself back into a man, and put his quiver back. When he sang at night in the sweathouse, he became a bear and dug down with his paws to make a big hole to sing out of. (BM.) When a bear doctor was resuming human form one could see a heavy growth of hair about his face if the transfor- mation was not quite completed. Prognostication was also among shaman's powers. Such events as an impending attack or the number of deer a man was to kill on a hunt might be prophesied, as well as more important things, like the coming of the whites. A doctor sang and told us that the white man was going to come. He was dreaming [in a trance]. He said ten blankets have come; this means they will come ten at a time. Then a ribbon came from the ocean to the sweathouse and hung down through the top. This was the spirit of the white man which came all the way from the ocean. The people tried to break this ribbon but could not do it. Later the whites did come out ten at a time. There is lots of ribbon in town now. All this shows that the doctor was right. (BM.) .shaman might even foretell his own death. Causes of sickness.-The prime cause of sickness was rusion of a pain object, but sickness also resulted from oul loss (see p. 194.) and from having bad blood. Bad lood may always have resulted from an intrusive pain, Ithough I did not verify this. A pain caused its victim's lood to turn black, the sign of bad blood. A person with ad blood was likely soon to sicken and die. The Pit River ibes had a rather unusual conception of blood. De Angulo s that they regarded blood as something halfway be- een a liquid and a gas. It could flow from the body ough an unbroken skin.12 Shamans were able to suck a cupful or more of blood without puncturing a patient's n. When a person with bad blood used a stick or basket, me of the blood flowed from his body into the object. If od was sucked from a utensil, the user had bad blood. ery spring, when the women had dug their first epo3 ts, a shaman sucked on their root baskets to find out ch of the women had bad blood. This had to be done ore the roots could be eaten. Mosquito power was con- ered very efficacious for sucking blood. Curing procedure.-When a doctor was called on to , he donned regalia appropriate for the spirit he ed to use-an owl-feather cloak (panini) if he wished se owl power, a minkskin collar for mink power, and n. Feather cloaks might be of owl, buzzard, chicken k, or eagle feathers. They are similar in construction soe described by Dixon for the Maidu. 13 Ralph Mike, berdache shaman, sometimes wore a feather cloak and ellowhammer headband. Doctors with butterfly power red coccoon rattles as symbols of their power, but did not make these rise and travel about the sweat- e as did Maidu shamans. For difficult cases a doctor e his qaqu (feather bundle) attached to the hair net on of his head. DB and JL said that the shaman made his De Angulo, 1928, pp. 572-573. Dixon, 1905a, pp. 151-152. qaqu: "He kills all kinds of birds and makes it from their feathers." DB said that the real spirit qaqu remained at its abode in the mountains. If it were brought to the vil- lage, its pains would kill people. IP, a shaman, denied that qaqu were ever man-made. This is interesting only because it suggests that shamans may have fostered the fiction that they used real spirit qaqu. Informants did not agree that every doctor possessed a qaqu, but cer- tainly all important doctors possessed them. No shaman with two qaqu was known. An envoy carrying the doctoring fee was sent to ask a doctor to cure a sick person. If the doctor thought the fee was sufficient, he agreed to come. The fee, consist- ing of beads or other property, was placed by the patient's head and was only given the doctor if the cure was suc- cessful. To pay the doctor beforehand would cause the patient's death. The fee varied with the difficulty of the case, the ability of the patient to pay, and the distance the doctor had to travel to get to the patient. IP, who now doctors in Susanville, was said to charge between $25 and $50 for a cure, her interpreter, DS, getting $5 or $10. The nature of the cure and the amount of singing neces- sary was not divulged, however. A Paiute doctor was said to charge $15 a night. An Achomawi doctor charged two strings of clamshell beads for curing a Hat Creek man. Sometimes a shaman was given a marriageable girl as payment. A shaman charged little or nothing for curing his own relatives, and even for persons within the same village the fee was low. If he had to go to a foreign tribe or even to another village, his fee was much higher. Before doctoring, the shaman put herbs in his nose and sometimes painted his face black or put white lines across it. Red was not used. Curing was done in an open brush enclosure in summer and in an earth lodge in win- ter. The performance started in the evening and lasted all night. The doctor and his interpreter left the group of spectators and went into the woods. The interpreter then called on the doctor's spirits, naming them all. On re- turning to the patient the doctor assumed a squatting pos- ture and took several puffs from a pipe or cigarette hand- ed him by the interpreter. When the first pain came, it made the doctor's body shake. Soon the pain began singing through the doctor, who commenced to bleed at mouth and nose. Spectators aided the doctor by singing with him. The interpreter shouted encouragement to the pain, as, "Be strong. Help him [the doctor] cure this sickness. Make a good name for yourself." The pain, which possessed the doctor and talked through him, used either the Maidu, Achomawi, or Atsugewi language. The interpreter, speak- ing Atsugewi, repeated what the pain said. If a pain "knew the sickness," it told the cause; if it did not, it remained silent, and the doctor then called on another pain by sing- ing its song. This process was repeated until a pain was found able to make a diagnosis. Diagnosis was often diffi- cult and was actually the most critical part of the curing process. A doctor who had difficulty might dive in a near- by pool and on coming up might know the cause of the ail- ment. If after three nights of singing a doctor was still unable to diagnose, he usually admitted his inability to cure;14 then another doctor was called. A small addition was made to the original fee before it was taken to the second doctor. When a doctor was on his way to the patient's house he stopped at intervals to smoke and sing; he sometimes learned the cause of the sickness before reaching the patient's house. At times a doctor's spirit told him to eat fire or flint or to make some other demon- stration of his power before he began to cure the patient. Common men with strong spirits might made a diagnosis 14 A good doctor, I was told, would admit his inability to cure as soon as he knew that he could not, but a poorer doctor might con- tinue trying to cure anyway. 191 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS for the doctor, who, after learning the cause of the trouble, rectified it. To extract a foreign pain object a doctor sucked with his own pain, which appeared as a small black spot on the tip of his tongue. After one or more unsuccessful attempts in which only blood was sucked out the doctor finally extracted the malignant pain. Immediately he stiffened and fell over senseless, being caught by atten- dants, who then poured water on his head. Soon he re- laxed and revived. Then he coughed up the foreign pain, which appeared in a small sack of blood or mucous matter. According to the decision of spectators he either killed the pain or returned it to the sender with instruc- tions to kill. It was changed slightly so that the original sender would not recognize it. In some instances the shaman or the patient, at the bidding of the shaman's spirit, performed certain acts to effect a cure. A shaman might be told to step over a patient or to pry him up with a cane. In other instances he was told to drink the sputum of a tubercular person (it was the spirit drinking this and not the shaman) or to suck on the patient at a certain spot to extract bad blood. DB said that a doctor had cured him of smallpox by suck- ing something like small shot from his body. The follow- ing cases illustrate the procedure better than any descrip- tion. Ida Peconom was asked to treat Lyman LaMar, who was given up by the white doctors. I was her inter- preter. She began singing. Then she stepped over Lyman twice. Her power said to put her cane under the patient and pry him up. Then the power said to get some white fir the next day and set it down outside. The next night she doctored him again. She was using the Old Man power. This power knew that sickness and said that Lyman would recover. He said that Lyman should walk up a certain hill the following morning. (Lyman was so sick he could hardly walk). When he returned everyone was to ask him how he got along. Lyman did as the power said. I asked him how he was. He said, "I just barely made it." Other people asked him too. Soon he got well. (DB.) One time my father was sick in the stomach. His sister and another strong Atsuge doctor were unable to help him. Shavehead then sent two strings of beads to Big Bend (Western Achomawi), and the doctor there agreed to help. He knew what was wrong before he arrived and doctored immediately on his arrival. He doctored for a short while and then stopped. The next night he told us that he would extract the pain object. He said that a deer bone was growing in my father's stomach and was going to kill him. This was because my father had eaten meat once when my mother was pregnant. The doctor pulled the deer bone out, and my father re- covered immediately. The doctor stayed one day and received the beads. (DB.) An Apwaruge doctor told me to get five or six pitch- wood splints about eight inches long and have them ready for him. He was curing a sick person and said that his power wanted him to eat pitch the next night. When the time came he sat down and was given tobacco to smoke. He blew smoke all around and on his hands and then gave the pipe back. He put his clenched fists on his temples and made a noise with his tongue and began to sing his poison song. Others helped him sing. Finally he said, "I'm ready." The interpreter lit the pitch sticks and handed them to him one at a time. The doctor put them one after another into his mouth and put the flame out and handed them back to the inter- I preter, who relit them. This was continued until th pitch sticks were burned. The doctor then said, '' not satisfied," and rolled up his sleeves and put his. hand almost to the elbow in the hot ashes. Then he picked up coals and threw them in his mouth. "He!'" he said, "I'm going to cure him now. I know what i the matter." Then he went to the patient and cured him. He didn't eat fire this way very often. (JL.) A white man named Williams had a bad headache, Louis Thomas fixed it for him. He worked his thu on the man's forehead and then clapped his hands to gether and blew it [the sickness] away. (DB.) Sometimes a minor spirit would tell a man how to g well, as follows. I was sleepy and felt ill for about seven years. Then a little fawn came to me and said, "I will tell you what I do when I feel bad. I blow my nose in a sprin so that two strings of mucus drop in the water." I di this twice, and after I returned home my nose was clear and I felt well again. (DB.) During a doctoring performance certain regulations were enforced: dogs must be tied up and prevented fro barking; children should be in bed; no one should pass the door of the sweathouse or leave while the doctor w singing; no menstruant woman should attend the perfor ance; and no meat or smell of cooking meat should be in the sweathouse. If any of these prohibitions were broke the doctor's spirits were liable to become angry and leave him, and he would fall to the ground bleeding at the mouth. If he lacked sufficient control over his spirit to make them return, he would die. The interpreter s the doctor's power songs so that the spirits would retu For this reason a doctor preferred an interpreter who was quite familiar with his songs. A doctor also took care not to acquire "mean" spirits which would desert him on slight provocation. CHARMSTONES Charmstones (Bum) were common and in many res- pects resembled minor guardian spirits, being acquired. in much the same way. The two specimens I saw were unperforated and were slightly less than two inches long.' by one inch in width, made of hard steatitelike rock. Some, it was said, had a crude animal head carved on one end. Charmstones were always found and were never" made. JL claimed that there was one place north of Dix Valley near Horse Creek where charmstones were fre- quently found-Coyote in mythical times had placed thes'e here for the use of mankind. Most informants had at one time or another owned one. A person might have a dre in which a spirit told him where he could find the charm- stone. The finder put the charmstone away carefully in a hole in a rock some place and covered it over with anoth rock so that it would not get away and then went to a luck spring and swam, abstaining from meat during the time. Charmstones most often gave hunting luck; the power was only to be used after a man had had a stretch of poor hunt, ing luck. Then he would get the charmstone from its loca- tion, and the spirit connected there with it would tell him how and where to get deer. It might even charm the deer, stupefying them, so that all the hunter had to do was to walk up to them and kill them. Such charmstones were thought to have the power to travel (KB). "They travel the same as people." Often when a man had used his charmstone for a time, perhaps for several years, he 192 I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY would find the rocks where it was kept pushed away and the charmstone gone. Rock crystals, nitsci, were very similar to the charmstones but tended to be used more for gambling than for hunting. They were found and treated much the same as charmstones, often being seen to sparkle at night, perhaps by a gopher hole. The finder had to walk up to the crystal and pick it up without blinking his eyes or else it would disappear. Crystals and charmstones appeared only to people they liked (as did guardian spirits) and could be found by either sex. Bezoar stones were thought to be rock crystals which had been swal- lowed by deer. My wife found a crystal one time. She gambled that night and was lucky. She won forty dollars or more. She had just put the crystal in her pocket; she didn't know what it was worth. She dreamed about it that night. It bounced and rolled away. By morning it was gone. She hadn't taken care of it right. It should have been wrapped up in grass, put in a hole in a rock, and other rocks piled on top to keep it from getting away. (DB.) Apparently the power from the crystal became effica- .cious immediately, before the finder swam and took care it. Charmstones and crystals were often passed from her to son or left to another relative. DB claimed at Old Shavehead had several charmstones which he as planning to leave to Dave, but he died unexpectedly efore the transfer was made. Other things, such as shed snake skins, large flies, ed antelope antlers, and so on, would also give luck either hunting or gambling. Eggs of the hummingbird 'sus) were broken and rubbed on the hands for luck gambling. GHOSTS AND SOULS Informants were unable to give more than fragmen- information about what happened to a man's soul er his death. The soul (maski-the same term used shadow and spirit) went toward the west, traveling rland, and finally crossed the Sacramento River Anderson where there was a large island (Bloody d?). 15 It was nearly impossible to call a soul back r it had gone this far. From this point on informa- is meager. Apparently the soul started going up to sky from here and traveled along the Milky Way un- i reached the land of the dead. Here people lived in athouses, hunted, ate, and slept much as they did earth. Above all, no one got sick. Shooting stars e said to be firebrands carried from one house to her. IP thought that some souls stayed on earth became devils and others became birds or animals. ouls of the living sometimes visited the land of the A person also might have a dream or vision in h a dead relative appeared to him. These two phe- ena show a strong admixture of white religious con- 3. e time I choked and was unconscious for three rs. I went to heaven and saw the first boy I lost. e was tall and had white man's clothes on, the suit e buried him in. He and the other children I lost ved in a white house. I went up two of the steps to e Nomlacke, the Wintu tribe living around Anderson, were maskikswini, a name which may be related to the term maski, reach the door, but on the second step the boy opened the door just a little and said, "It isn't time for you yet, Daddy." I could just see part of the head of another boy. Then I returned to my senses. I felt well immediately and have been healthy ever since. I just get a little sick once in a while. If I had taken another step into the house I would have been dead for good. (DB.) JL, who was something of a philosopher and was much interested in comparing the native religion with Chris- tianity, gave the following description of the land of the dead or heaven. They teach the Indians that when you die you go straight up through the sky. They open a door in the sky for you. Up here there are two roads. Don't take the big right-hand road because this leads to the devil. There is a spring by the road to the left. If you drink here you won't be able to go back to earth either. The left-hand road leads to God. There is a house here where a man takes care of you. He baptizes you-lets you swim in there. He cleans your spirit up and sends it among a lot of good people. Everything is pretty around here. kaw:w [Grey Fox] is the god. Maybe makida [Coyote] is the devil at the end of the other road. IP found many similarities between her own shamanistic curing and the preaching of white ministers. Her account of heaven follows. I died [became unconscious], when I was eighteen years old, and went to heaven. I could no longer see this world. On one side in heaven was the bad man's house. On the other side it was nice and green. I tried to eat some of the nice Indian fruit there. A man suddenly stood by me and told me to drop it. I think that man was World-maker. He talked English and wore a black suit and a white shirt with pretty cuff links. He looked good. I looked from his feet up to his face. He had pretty bright black whiskers to about six inches below his chin. When he talked to me he reached in his pocket and took out money, a handful in each hand, and offered it to me. I took one hand- ful. He told me, "Your time has not come yet. " Then I immediately recovered my senses. I had something cold in my hand, but when I opened my hand to see it, it [the money] disappeared. For thirty years after this I was good. I never ate hog meat, drank, or any- thing. I only ate a little fish sometimes. I was able to pray after this and get results right away. I pray for men and cure them. I could be a preacher. The concept of a door in the sky, the presence of the spring and the plum tree, the washing of the spirit (more than baptizing) to make it clean so that it could join the other spirits, the spirit swimming (as in a power spring), as well as the idea that a valuable re- ceived in the ghost world would turn to nothing when brought back to earth all sound much like pure or nearly pure Indian elements. Other elements seem to have been wholly or partly modified by white ideas. A man who was about to die, whether he felt sick or not, had a peculiar odor about him. If he went hunting, deer ran from him saying, "Phew, that man smells bad." Coyotes and dogs would come close to him and bark at him. 16 He would die unless a shaman could remove this 16 If a coyote came close and barked at a man, it was a sign that he or one of his close relatives would die. 193 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS aura of death from him. Other omens which presaged death were seeing spirits go by the house, which was a sign someone would die within; having an owl hoot at you; and seeing a king snake (japkDw), which meant a relative would die. A dying man might say, "yohpaiuma anise [I'm going to heaven and dance]. " A definite feel- ing of fatalism existed. DB: "When the time comes for you to die, you die; you are born for it." It was not uncommon to see a ghost, and most inform- ants had had experiences with them. Malevolent ghosts (smalatsini) were spirits of bad people who had never gone to the land of the dead. Certain devils (maskawi) owned graveyards, and these, as well as the ghosts, frightened people and stole their souls.17 When a ghost was seen, it was best to stand with feet spread wide apart until one recovered from fright before going on. This prevented the ghost from doing harm. Or a person might, when pursued by a ghost, turn and walk directly toward it. The ghost would continue in the direction in which the person had been traveling. At home deer hide was burned as a final precaution, since ghosts did not like this smell. There was no known method of killing a ghost, as is found to the north among the Sanpoil. Ghosts were seen in the evening or at night. On some occasions they merely played tricks on a person. One night when I was hiding my canoe in the reeds, a spirit came along rowing a boat. It looked exactly like my uncle, and I followed it for some distance. Then it disappeared. I put my boat away and went home. On the way I met a man and asked him if he had seen my uncle. He said that he had not and that my uncle was at home. Then I knew it must have been a spirit that I had seen. This spirit fooled me. After this, I never went out alone after dark. (DB.) The ghosts of a hunter's dead children might follow be- hind him and frighten away his game. A shaman could make the ghost children desist so that the hunter could again kill game. Every individual had a soul, even a newborn baby, although it apparently had none until just before birth. 18 The soul was the vital principle of the individual and gave him resistance against disease. When the soul was gone, only the heart (pueki) was left to keep the person alive, and he would easily succumb to the first sickness. (IP). The soul might be gone long before the person's actual death. Sometimes the soul of a sick man, dressed as the sick man was, could be seen to go out of the door and make its way toward the west. Souls were apparently very temperamental. If they did not like their owner for some reason (possibly because he smelled bad), they would leave without notice, and the person would feel lonesome and sleepy without realizing what was the mat- ter. During the fall souls were especially likely to leave. 19 17 There seemed to be little fear of the bones of the dead, however. During construction of a dance house at Rising River human bones were uncovered. Some of the men made horseplay with a skull, putting it on their heads. The chief cautioned them not to disturb the bones and had a deep hole dug, into which the bones were put. JL said that the devil who owned the bones would have objected if they had been moved to another place. A baby could be talked to just before it was born. Informants did not know how the soul came to be in the baby or where it came from. 19 Shamans periodically, once in the fall and at least once at some other time during the year, examined the people to see if the souls of any of them were missing. On one occasion in Dixie Valley the souls left en masse The doctor called them back, but some failed to find th right owners. That winter there was an epidemic in w forty-three people died-presumably because their sou were missing. Informants did not know what would hap pen if a person got a stranger's soul in his body. Malevolent spirits, ghosts, and even alien doctors might capture a person's soul. This was particularly likely to happen during sleep, when the soul traveled about and sometimes got into difficulties, often being chased by a spirit of some kind. If the dreamer awoke before the spirit caught his soul, he was all right. He then blew smoke over himself and washed himself or perhaps burned a rag or some feathers. If the pursuing spirit caught the soul, it was lost to the individual un- less the soul could fight and escape. IP stated that if a person told lies and was bad, he was likely to have dreams in which evil spirits pursued him. It was a for of punishment. If this can be accepted at its face value, the fear of such dreams must have been a strong force for morality within the tribe.20 The case described on page 188 is typical of what happened to a person who ha bad dreams. A spirit became angry at a person and pre pared to kill him. First the victim became overpower- ingly sleepy and dreamt continually of being chased by spirits. Finally the spirit in the form of a bear, snake,' dog, lightning or some other thing, killed him. This happened to a woman, who was killed by lightning, whic took her basket cap high in the air. Shamans could return a captured soul to its owner. DB declared that only a doctor with ghost power could recapture the soul if a ghost had taken it, but this state- ment needs more verification.21 A shaman sent his guardian spirit after the soul to force the devil to give it up or, if the soul was on the road to the land of the dead, to call it back. The doctor's spirit got behind the soul and urged it back toward the village. The doctor inserted the retrieved soul in the patient's head at the fontanelle with a sucking action. Sometimes the soul entered the patient's body of its own accord. The accouxi given below is typical. One time when I was walking near an old village I heard the sound of someone pounding. I thought some" one was living there and walked up close. Then I saw an old lady with gray hair pounding acorns. Pretty soon she looked at me and said, "Uh! " picked up her things, and went straight down in the ground where a big sweathouse used to be. It was evening and I was frightened. I started running home. Little bits of fire hit here and there in front of me and nearly drove me mad. I felt sick when I reached home. Coyote Jack [the doctor] had dreamed of what had happened to me., He called everyone together to sing over me. They sang and sang. Finally Coyote Jack told what I had seen and asked me if it was the truth. I wouldn't answer at first. When I did he said, "That's right," and came over and sucked me on the head. Then he blew smoke on me. After this I felt like a new man. (JL.) 20 Ghosts also might punish boys who shouted too loudly and were interested in secular affairs. 21 This was true of the Sanpoil and Nespelem (Ray, 1932, p. 17 I I i 194 COSMOGONY AND RECKONINGS COSMOGONY Atsugewi mythology tells of the successive creation of two former worlds, the first of which was destroyed by a great flood and the second by a fire which Coyote instigated in an attempt to kill his rival, Grey Fox. Alter this both Coyote and Grey Fox descended from the heavens on a long rope to the primeval sea below. Here [Grey Fox took combings from his fur (in some accounts a piece of sod) and proceeded to make land of it, stretch- ing it to all sides until the present earth was made, in c oncept a large island floating on the sea. Grey Fox then .Created trees, animals, and finally people. The sun and moon were two brothers whom Grey Fox told to mount into the sky to light the world, the one during the day and the other at night. According to BN, Grey Fox first wanted to create two moons and two suns, but Coyote objected, aying that it would be too hot. Grey Fox then made only sun and one moon.I After its trip across the sky the sun returned to the t in a blue cloud via the side of the earth. As the sun moon passed each other at the side of the earth they ided on the weather for the following day, the moon lying the cold weather and the sun the hot. (JL.) As moon waned it was said to be wearing itself out hwu pwenewok, the dying moon), and when it dis- eared it was considered dead. It came to life again as new moon (wemuski) and again grew in strength. An pse of the sun (cinehwu Bami) was a serious event. (Atsuge) thought that the sun had been poisoned and it was dying. MW (Apwaruge) said that the sun half during an eclipse and went to a second heaven above one in which it ordinarily shone. Other informants give little information on the subject. As with an pe of the moon some man, not necessarily a doctor, outside and shouted encouragement to the sun, urging come back to life again. The dark area on the moon said to be.the Frog Woman whom the moon had swal- d. One informant asserted that whenever an eclipse e moon occurred, the two changed places and the Woman swallowed the moon. me daily change in the sun's position on the north- meridan was noted by the change in location of a of sunlight which came in through the roof entrance the wall of the lodge.2 The position of the light beam time of the solstices was noted and marked on the The summer solstice was called cinehwu miahkmnuci sun stops); the winter solstice was called pwacits (he back). At the time of the solstice the sun was said to te three days or so before it started to move back course. Another method of recognizing the solstices to note when the sun reached a certain marker on a such as a tree or rock. If IP's statement is true, the of the solstices could not have been very accurate. serted that sometimes the sun kept on moving south theplace it was supposed to stop. This was called and was an indication there was to be a hard winter. y a few constellations were named. One of these was wrEtisu, or the Seven Sisters (Pleiades?). These 8 according to a myth, were seduced by a little rab- at a puberty dance. They became ashamed and went s same name, cinehwu, was applied to both the sun and the information was given by IP (Apwaruge). up to the sky to become stars. The constellation was not identified. The Big Dipper was called Coyote's cane, and the Milky Way was called maskawi makuri (the devil's trail). NATURAL PHENOMENA Relationship to land.-The intimate association of the Atsugewi with their land is brought out by the great abun- dance of place names. Every small hill or flat seems to have had a name of its own. JW stated that these place names were much like addresses in a city. If a name was mentioned as a rendezvous for a hunt, people knew exact- ly where to go. Frequency of place names is indicated by the fact that in the course of one mile six different loca- tions adjacent to the highway above Rising River had names. JW declared that there were at least thirty different names for places along Horse Creek in Little Valley, a distance of about four miles. Some of the names were descriptive and others not. Rising River Lake .... atspagini (where the water rises) Little Valley ......... gurimui (no particular meaning) Russel Dairy Mountain .......... satspo (no meaning) Bogard Valley ........ Birdigi akwu (bear valley) Champs Flat ......... wasti akwu (antelope valley) Mount Lassen ........ wicuhirdiki (no meaning) Burney Butte ........ apoaha (no meaning) Eagle Lake .......... acapsu'kati (green water) (aca, water) Three Springs ....... jutpuki (water runs down) (jutpumi, to run down) As in most of northern California there were numerous natural phenomena in Atsugewi territory which marked some mythological event. A low conelike rock in Dixie Valley was said to be a basket belonging to Coyote. About four miles south of Pittville on the old village site of mawakasui was an oblong rock ten feet or so in length which was said to be the petrified remains of a lizard whom Butterfly had killed. The extremely rough tongue of lava-covered land extending down the center of Hat Creek Valley was created by Porcupine to impede Coyote with whom Porcupine was running a race. Eagle Lake was said to have been formerly in Atsuge territory, but Coyote tired of the manzanita berries and camass roots which the people fed to him here, so he moved the lake to the Apwa- ruge country. Here the people fed him epos roots and treated him better. Although the Atsugewi live in volcanic country near Mount Lassen, there are few stories of earthquakes and eruptions and practically no theorizing concerning their origin. Mount Lassen was thought to be inhabited by a powerful spirit, but there was no particular trepidation about hunting on the mountain. The hot springs in the area were even considered beneficial medicinally. Only one informant, JL, knew anything about earthquakes (buruswi'i). He said he had heard this story from an old Apwaruge, as some of the ancient history of the tribe. There once was an earthquake that shook this country up and made those boulders out on the flat shake. It shook so much that it made people sick. There was a very old woman whose hair was almost green. She [195] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS picked up a rock and pounded it on another rock while she sang. She was praying for the world to stop shak- ing. Soon she got an answer, and the shaking ceased. Many people were killed. Those who lived in canyons were covered by rocks that were shaken down. Weather.-Rain was needed to soften the ground for root digging, which was almost impossible if the ground was at all hard. Shamans with the proper powers could make it rain, hail, or snow, but they could do so only when they felt like it. To bring rain a shaman went out in the brush and smoked while looking toward the sun. An Apwaruge doctor was said to blacken his face before call- ing up a storm. Another method of affecting the weather was to punch the ears of a girl at a puberty dance. If it rained after the operation, the ear punching was consider- ed the cause, and whenever it was desired to produce rain this particular girl was selected and her ears were punch- ed again. A small puberty dance was held after the punch- ing. Conversely, if no rain followed the first ear punching, the association was established between this and the pre- vention of rain. She was selected for a second ear punch- ing when it was desired to stop a rain or snow. Girls got a better reputation if no rain followed the ear punching. JW (Apwaruge) stated that when the ears of some girls were punched, it brought a cold wind from the north, south, or west. Besides the rain-making shamans there were some who controlled the winds and could cause them to blow or to stop when they wished. A shaman with lightning power might play tricks with it or cause it to injure some- one. By pointing at rocks or trees he could cause the lightning to come down and split them. TIME, DIRECTIONS, AND NUMERATION Time.-No other method of telling time was known than by noting the position of the sun in the sky. The following names were applied to different times of the day: laisiki ......... laisnitsi ....... cinehwu wekniki acEna wawok... acAnalwo ...... Datswlpgugona ce hwu weknui takmbma ...... Buinogi ........ ape.nawo ...... apoijiusi ....... mah5tinda ..... lokmltsci...... before daybreak the first streaks of dawn sunrise midmorning (about ten o'clock) noon midafternoon (about three o'clock) sunset after sunset, still light in western sky same night midnight the dark grey haze that precedes dawn or that comes after sundown before the full dark of night. This was an unlucky thing to dream about in the morning before breakfast These terms varied slightly from one informant to another, and it is doubtful if any one set of terms ever became standardized for the whole area. KB described a method of counting time by tying knots in a string each day. 3 There was much disagreement about the month names. DB and JL said that there were twelve months all of which had names.4 DB added that everyone did not know what the 3 This is the reverse of the principle of the invitation string in which a knot was untied each day. (See p. 171.) Dixon also reports (1905a, p. 217) a calendar of twelve months for the Northeastern Maidu. month names were and said that his brothers had occa- sional arguments and sometimes nearly fought deciding what the proper month names were. Often the name of a month referred to some economic activity carried on at the time. There were four seasons in the year. The new year began in November, the first winter month, when people moved into winter quarters. Years were counted as being so many winters. ascui, winter . psukit6k, spring ... apnui, summer.... November, ascui cinehwu (winter- time moon), winter comes December, ascui jusi (middle of winter) January, rapahas (when the ice cracks), the coldest month February, itkibasuikas (longer days) warmer March, uinka psukitok (little spring) April, pEtskak (epos roots time) May, same June, pEtaku niuwinas (epos roots flowered), epos roots no longer good July, apnui juisi (middle of sum- mer) August, clnehwu barblcakas (the- sun-is-going-back moon) nahok, fall ....... September, doqi c'mehwu (acorn moon) October, maqak cinehwu (deer moon) Only JL was able to give all twelve months a name.s BM stated that only the four hard winter months were counted and were named. This reflects the fact that it was during the four long months in winter quarters that people were most conscious of and anxious for the pass- ing of time. These same winter months were the ones most often remembered by informants and were the months in which names showed the greatest amount of agreement. Most informants failed to give names for the summer and fall months. Directions. - north . . joitsahiki (where the cold north winds come from) (DB) joaknmki (north wind) (IP) south . . jowsuiki (the strongest wind); refers td the south wind (DB, JL, and IP) east . . cvnehwu waknigici (toward sun- rise) (BM and JS) west . . cinehwu waknuici (toward where the sun sets) (JS) Both JS and BM said that there were no names for either north or south, these directions being designated as toward a certain place or tribe. DB thought that there were no names for either east or west, and none also for designating up and down. Numeration.-The Atsugewi had a fairly well-developed system of numbers which enabled them to count at least to two hundred. They used numbers to a certain extent irl their trading, but had little need to count higher than twenty or thirty. Arrows were often traded by laying then down in groups of five or ten. There was not the individual counting of beads into the thousands typical of Central The month names selected were those in which there was the greatest amount of agreement between informants. I 196 GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Californian tribes such as the Wintu. A decimal system was used. one two three four five six seven eight E nine ten eleven twelve 0 thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen 1 seventeen eighteen nineteen twenty twenty-one twenty-two twenty-three thirty forty fifty giu hokijar kiski hak-w harapaqina giButjaki hoki Biujaki kiski Bifijaki hakow Biujaki jiA'ksi giu Ehwzwi hoki EhwDwi kiski EhwDwi hakow EhwDwi harapaqina Ehwowi giBudjaki Ehwzwi hoki Buijaki EhwDwi k1ski Bfijaki EhwDwi hakow Biijaki EhwDwi hokne juiksi (two tens) hokne julksi giu Ehwcwi (one more than twenty) hokne juilksi hokijar Ehwowi (twenty and two) hokne juiksi kiski Ehwowi kiksne julksi (three tens) hak3w rreksne juiksi harapaqina riksne julksi one hundred two hundred one hundred and fifty juiksi riksne juiksi (ten tens) hokne juiksi rikane julksi (two one- hundreds) julksi rlksne juiksi gomigi harapaqina jurksi EhwDwi (fifty more Ehw:wi than one hundred) DB stated that he could with much effort count by ones to two hundred but to count to a thousand this way would be too difficult. Using a continuation of the system above it would be possible to count to one thousand, but it would undoubtedly be a somewhat complicated and drawn-out process. IP demonstrated that she could count to one thousand by one-hundreds on her fingers, not a very diffi- cult task. The term Biujaki referred to numbers between five and ten. Similarly the numbers over ten were desig- nated by the term Ehwrwi. There were special terms for both five and ten. The translation for eleven might con- ceivably read "one more than ten," for twelve "two more than ten," and so on. The Atsuge did not have any one pattern number although the number three seemed to appear more frequently than other numbers. The Apwaruge tended to use either the number three or the number six in setting the number of days danced in the puberty ceremony, the time for the doc- tor to abstain from meat after finishing his novitiate, the period of menstrual seclusion, and so on. However, even the Apwaruge did not emphasize their pattern numbers to any great extent, and there were many instances when they used other numbers. 197 CONCLUSIONS Atsugewi culture is characterized by its simplicity. There were none of the elaborate features of social organization, secret societies, or dances and few of the elaborate dance costumes found among tribes of Central California. The wealth concept of Northwest California existed in a much attenuated form, but it was this that gave Atsugewi culture its characteristic patterning. Houses tended to group themselves around that of the richest member, who frequently acted as a minor head- man. However, the rich man was not as important as the chief, although he was sometimes also a chief. Thus the two factors of political power of the rich man (a North- west California trait) and political importance of the chief (a Central California trait) struck a compromise among the Atsugewi. They placed considerable emphasis and importance on wealth, but, having little treasure, they attached wealth prestige instead to more mundane things such as food and the equipment needed to acquire it. Hard work, the means by which food and related wealth could be accumulated, was glorified and idealized. Wealth and hard work were almost synonymous in the Atsugewi conceptual scheme. On the highest rung in the social scale was the rich industrious man, always with plenty to eat and with many tools and fine buckskin clothing. At the bottom of the scale was the Brumui-the poor lazy person, who went about naked, had few or no possessions, and often starved in winter. The latter did not know how to hunt, how to gather plant food, or how to make things for himself; he was dependent on the charity of others for much of the food and clothing received.' To be called a Brumui was most insulting, and fear of being so labeled must have kept many would-be shirkers at their tasks. Rich men were continually employed at one task or another. To say of a man, "He doesn't know how to sleep," was high praise and meant that he hunted or fished until late in the evening or stayed up till midnight or later making string or doing other work. The name, probably a nick- name, of a rich man at Rising River was nohalal (going all the time), indicating his sustained activity from day to day. Daylight was an important guardian spirit, for it enabled a person to arise at the first signs of dawn to be- gin the day's work. A person who remained in bed past sunrise was liable to be branded a Brumui. Ideally both sexes were expected to be out working from dawn to dark, day after day. Evidence is manifold of the intense pre- occupation of the Atsugewi with their economy. Birth cus- toms, the power quest and kinds of power most sought for, ideals of beauty, puberty customs, and marriage practices all point to this interpretation.2 Thus the Atsugewi may well have rejected the elaborate dances and ceremonials of the Maidu and Wintu as being incompatible with their work-wealth scheme. There was close contact, probably before 1850, with the Maidu and later with the Wintu, but none of the Maidu or Wintu dances were adopted, although a few Atsugewi did learn to participate in dances given by these tribes. A rather striking example of environmental determinism is to be found in certain cultural differences between the eastern and western Atsugewi, who in most aspects of I It is doubtful whether there were actually any such completely inept and lazy individuals as the Brumui, who was probably a per- sonification of all the despised and undesirable qualities in the Atsugewi work-wealth ideology. 2 See Garth, 1945, for a discussion of the Atsugewi work complex. nonmaterial culture and in language are one people. In the western area there was more abundant rainfall and a fairly luxuriant growth of pines, oaks, and other trees. Here the Atsuge subsisted largely on acorns and fish; made twined basketry, using willow, pine root, Xero- phyllum grass, and redbud materials; and had bark house and numerous other structures of bark. On the contrary, in the eastern area, which is comparatively arid and lacking in trees, the Apwaruge depended on the acorn lesi than did the Atsuge and fishing was less important, to judge by the scarcity or lack of nets, fishhooks, and har- poons; made inferior twined baskets of twisted tule with a different twist to the weave; as a rule had their houses covered with tule mats rathei than with bark; and were much poorer than the Atsuge. This cultural distinction between the eastern and western areas is also found to the north among the Achomawi. Why the Apwaruge did not also make baskets of the Central and Northwest Californian type is difficult to ex-I plain on purely environmental grounds, especially since. there was considerable intermarriage with the Atsuge.3 Materials for these baskets (pine root, redbud, etc.) could be had in the near-by Atsuge area. In fact, pine bark was often brought from here for Apwaruge food storage platforms. An explanation may be that the manu facture of the Central California type of basket was a recent acquisition by the Atsuge, probably coming from the Northeastern Maidu or Yana, with whom they were the friendliest terms. We have record of the very rece acquisition of coiled basketry from the Maidu. The Xer phyllum grass overlay material was also obtained in Maidu country. The Apwaruge, on the contrary, were o less friendly terms with the Maidu and would therefore be less likely to adopt their basketry techniques. The Apwaruge use of soft twisted-tule baskets ties them in with the Plateau area (also with Lovelock Cave), where this type of basketry has considerable antiquity; it is used by modern tribes such as the Klamath and Modoc. Another important Plateau similarity is the tule-mat- covered long house. My added information corroborates Dixon's stateme concerning the relative similarity of the Achomawi- Atsugewi and the Shasta, particularly in nonmaterial traits such as religion, mythology, social organization, political organization, puberty customs, and paucity of ceremonial. In some phases of religion (e.g., the powe quest, everyone seeking power, gaurdian spirit dancin etc.) the Klamath seem even more closely related to th Atsugewi than are the Shasta, whose culture has been more influenced by Northwest California where the guardian spirit concept is less developed. It was in the material culture that strong affinities with Central California occurred, no doubt the result active trade carried on with that area. The high regar of the Atsugewi for clamshell-disk beads, bear skins, otter- and foxskin quivers, and magnesite cylinders dicates this Central California influence. Notable, tooz is the close similarity of the Northeastern Maidu and Atsugewi, a similarity increased by proximity and a similar environment. There is little doubt that the Atsugewi belong to the 3 With patrilocal residence many Atsuge women came to ii with the Apwaruge. It is difficult to see how, if the Atsuge the pine-root baskets in antiquity, the Apwaruge could have avoided acquiring the technique, which they'considered super to their own. [198] I I i I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Californian rather than the Basin cultural province. Even the Apwaruge, who have an arid environment re- sembling that of the Basin, are Californians in most essential respects. The great dependence on acorns and fish, older types of clothing, earth lodges, type of bas- ketry, certain religious practices (pain concept, etc.), use of basketry hopper, and a host of other traits are typical of Central and or Northern California. Most dis- tinctive Basin similarities appear to be either recent or of minor importance, e.g., buckskin clothing, smoking of buckskin, the conical mat-covered lodge, the domed steam sweat lodge, quill decoration, the drum, and probably parfleche bags.4 The use of the mano-metate may be an important exception. Of course there are many basic traits common to both the Shoshoneans and the At- sugewi and also to much of California. These shared traits led Kroeber to place California and the Great Basin in one general area. 5 The mountains separating Pit River peoples from the Shoshoneans, as well as the unattractiveness of the coun- try to the east, probably discouraged intercourse with the Paiute. Informants corroborated this, saying that there was little trading with the Paiute until recently. Nevertheless, the lack of similarity is noticeable and may be strong supporting evidence for Dixon's hypothesis of the relatively late migration of the Shastan-speaking peoples to their present location.6 However, there is no evidence for this in the traditions of the Atsugewi, who believe themselves to be indigenous. There is a Paiute tradition concernirg a people similar to the Pit River Indians who formerly occupied Lovelock Cave and en- virons. The Paiute claim to have driven these people in- to the present Pit River country. But in going over the material from Lovelock Cave I found few distinctive simi- larities to Atsugewi artifacts. Exceptions are wicker bas- ketry and soft-twined basketry. The Atsugewi use a wicker weave on the bottoms of some of their coarse round bas- kets, although this is the only place that it occurs. 4A folded hide bag of buckskin sewed at the edges was mentioned by JS; also by Voegelin's informant (Voegelin, 1942, p. 70). 5Kroeber, 1920, p. 167. Dixon, 1905b, pp. 611-612; 1907, pp. 494-495. There is considerable evidence in support of Dixon's theory that the Shastan peoples are relative newcomers, coming from the north. This theory would explain many of the cultural differences between the Atsugewi and the Wintu, Maidu, and Paiute, and also explain the strong similarities between the Achomawi-Atsugewi and the Shasta in nonmaterial traits. Dixon has already suggested that there are certain mythological affinities with tribes to the north in Oregon and Washington.7 To this may be added distinctive religious parallels, which are absent or poorly developed in Central and Northwestern California. For example, among coastal tribes of Oregon we find several such parallels: a high development of the power quest; a pain giver (spirit) who shoots a pain into the shaman-to-be as though shooting a bow and arrow (simi- lar to the Shasta Axe'ki concept); a shaman's possession of a bundle of feathers, each representing a power (some- what similar to the Atsugewi qaqu); the desire of a sha- man's power to eat blood, a desire which must be satis- fied or the shaman himself will die; the killing of a malig- nant shaman, whereat the patient recovers; a shaman's sending of his power after a lost soul; guardian spirit dancing by both shamans and nonshamans; the ritual puri- fication of a slayer (murderer), during which time he eats by himself and has his dishes segregated; and other traits.8 The concept of bad blood as a cause of sickness is found as far north as the Gulf of Georgia Salish.9 However, before definite conclusions can be drawn con- cerning Achomawi-Atsugewi origins more work must be done among Oregon tribes. It is important to note that there are no other members of the Hokan stock in Oregon from whom the Shastan peoples might have separated be- fore moving south, whereas there are numerous other Hokan-speaking tribes in California. We may have, rather than a recent migration, the southern extension (or a rem- nant of it) of a basic and ancient culture, which has been modified or obliterated among some tribes by recent in- fluences from the more dynamic Northwestern and Cen- tral Californian culture centers. 7Dixon, 1905b, pp. 611-612. 8 Barnett, 1937, pp. 188-191. 9 Idem, 1939, p. 272. 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY ABBREVIATIONS Anthropos American Anthropologist American Antiquity American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers Bulletin Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin Journal of American Folklore Oregon Historical Society Quarterly Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collections University of California Publications Anthropological Records American Archaeology and Ethnology University of Washington Publications in Anthropology The Shastas and Their Neighbors. MS (1873). Bancroft Library, Berkeley. Gayton, A. H. 1930. Yokuts-Mono Chiefs and Shamans. UC-PAAE 24:361-420. Barnett, H. G. 1937. Culture Element Distributions: VII, Oregon Coast. UC-AR 1:155-204. 1939. Culture Element Distributions: IX, Gulf of Georgia Salish. UC-AR 1:221-296. Barrett, S.A. 1910. The Material Culture of the Klamath Lake and Modoc Indians of Northeastern California and Southern Oregon. UC-PAAE 5:239-292. De Angulo, Jaime 1928. La Psychologie r6ligieuse des Achomawi. A 23:141-166, 561-589. Dixon, Roland B. 1902. Basketry Designs of the Indians of Northern California. AMNH-B 17:1-32. 1904. Some Shamans of California. JAFL 17:23-27. 1905a. The Northern Maidu. AMNH-B 17:119-346. 1 905b. The Mythology of the Shasta-Achomawi. AA 7:607-612. 1907. The Shasta. AMNH-B 17:381-498. 1908a. Notes on the Achomawi and Atsugewi of Northern California. AA 10:208-220. 1908b. Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales. JAFL 21:159-177. Driver, Harold E. 1936. Wappo Ethnography. UC-PAAE 36:179-220. 1939. Culture Element Distributions: X, North- west California. UC-AR 1:297-433. Du Bois, Cora 1935. Wintu Ethnography. UC-PAAE 36:1-148. Elliott, T. C. 1909. Journal of Peter Skene Ogden; Snake Ex- pedition, 1825-1826. OHQ 10:331-365. Garth, Thomas R., Jr. 1944. Kinship Terminology, Marriage Practices, and Behavior toward Kin among the Atsugewi. AA 46:348-361. 1945. Emphasis on Industriousness am(ng the Atsugewi. AA 47:554-566. Gifford, E. W. 1922. Californian Kinship Terminologies. UC-PAAE 18:1-286. Goldschmidt, Walter 1951. Nomlaki Ethnography. UC-PAAE 42:303-443. Heizer, Robert F. 1946. The Occurrence and Significance of Southwestern Grooved Axes in Cali- fornia. A Ant 11:187-193. Jacobs, Melville 1945. Santiam Kalapuya Ethnologic Texts. UW-PA 11:3-81. MS. Culture Element Distributions: The Kalapuya. Kelly, Isabel T. 1932. Ethnography of the Surprise Valley Paiut UC-PAAE 31:67-210. Kniffen, Fred B. 1928. Achomawi Geography. UC-PAAE 23:297 -332. Kroeber, A.L. 1920. California Culture Provinces. UC-PAAE: 17:151-170. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. BAE-B 78. 1932. The Patwin and Their Neighbors. UC-PAAE 29:253-424. Loud, L. L., and M. R. Harrington 1929. Lovelock Cave. UC-PAAE 25:1-184. McKern, W.C. 1922. Functional Families of the Patwin. UC-PAAE 13:235-258. Merriam, C. Hart 1926. Classification and Distribution of the Pit River Inziian Tribes of California. SI-MC 78:1-52. Miller, Joaquin 1873. Life among the Modocs. London. [200] A AA A Ant AMNH -AP -B BAE-B JAFL OHQ SI-MC UC -AR -PAAE UW-PA Anonymous MS. m t I I ?r I GARTH: ATSUGEWI ETHNOGRAPHY Powers, Stephen 1874. The California Indians. Overland Monthly, 12:412-429. Ray, Verne F. 1932. The Sanpoil and Nespelem: Salishan Peoples of Northeastern Washington. UW-PA 5. Sapir, Edward 1916a. Terms of Relationship and the Levirate. AA 18:-327-337. 1916b. Phonetic Transcription of Indian Languages. SI-MC 66:1-15. and Leslie Spier 1943. Notes on the Culture of the Yana. UC-AR 3:239-298. Spier, Leslie 1930. Klamath Ethnography. UC-PAAE 30:1-338. Steward, Julian 1941. Culture Element Distributions: XIII, Nevada Shoshoni. UC-AR 4:209-360. Stewart, 0. C. 1941. Culture Element Distributions: XIV, Northern Paiute. UC-AR 4:361-446. Voegelin, Erminie W. 1942. Culture Element Distributions: XX, Northeast California. UC-AR 7:47-252. Wissler, Clark 1910. Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians. AMNH-AP 5:1-175. 201 PLATES EXPLANATION OF PLATES PLATE 8 a. View of Hat Creek Valley, looking southward. b. Indian homestead in Dixie Valley. c. Dance house, Dixie Valley. PLATE 9 a. Village site near Lost Creek in Hat Creek Valley. b. Bill Norman, Apwaruge informant, holding a pestle which has an animal head on one end. PLATE 10 a. Indian fort, Dixie Valley. b. Hole through which one crawled for luck, on the border of Lost Creek. After crawling through the hole the seeker plunged into the stream below. c. Mary Wilson with a basket made for sale to a white family for use as a clothes basket. PLATE 11 a. Basketry hopper made with the coiling technique which has re- cently been borrowed from the Maidu. b. Basketry fish trap. c. Basketry hopper and pestle from Hat Creek. d. Raccoonskin quiver owned by Sampson Grant from Goose Valley. PLATE 12 a. Basketry cradle, Hat Creek. b. Buckskin dress belonging to Sampson Grant's wife, Goose Valley. PLATE 13 a. Deer-hoof rattle, owned by Sampson Grant. b. Split-stick rattle, owned by Sampson Grant. c. A deer pit in the lava rocks west of Hat Creek. PLATE 14 a. Atsugewi bark house. b. Dugout canoe. PLATE 15 a. Charmstones. b. Qaqu fetish worn by Sam Williams. [204] a c Plate 8. Hat Creek Valley; structures in Dixie Valley [205] a b Plate 9. Village site near Lost Creek; Apwaruge informant [206] a c Plate 10. Indian Fort; luck hole at Lost Creek; Apwaruge woman with basket [207] ab c d Plate 11. Basketry; raccoonskin quiver [208] a b Plate 12. Basketry cradle; buckskin dres. [209] b c Plate 13. Rattles; deer pit [210] a 0 b Plate 14. Bark house; canoe r9.i 1 1 a b Plate 1 5. Charmstones; qaqu fetish [212]