ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Volume 25 ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO BY E. W. GIFFORD UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1967 ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO BY E. W. GIFFORD ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Volume 25 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Advisory Editors: M. A. Baumhoff, D. J. Crowley, C. J. Erasmus, T. D. McCown, C. W. Meighan, H. P. Phillips, M. G. Smith Volume 25 Approved for publication May 20, 1966 Issued May 29, 1967 Price, $1.50 University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles California Cambridge University Press London, England Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Introduction .1........................................... . 1 The Southwestern Pomo in Russian Times: An Account by Kostromitonow ..1 Data Obtained from Herman James ..5 Neighboring Indian Groups.. 5 Informants ..5 Orthography ..6 Habitat .. 7 Village Sites ..7 Ethnobotany ..10 Ethnozoology. .16 Mammals .16 Birds. 17 Reptiles and batrachians. 19 Fishes .19 Insects and other terrestrial invertebrates . 20 Marine invertebrates . ..................................... 20 Culture Element List .21 Notes on culture element list .38 Appendix: Comparative Notes on Two Historic Village Sites by Clement W. Meighan. 46 Works Cited .............................................. 48 [v] ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO BY E. W. GIFFORD INTRODUCTION* The Southwestern Pomo were among the most primitive of the California aborigines, a fact to be correlated with their mountainous terrain on a rugged, inhospitable coast. Their low culture may be contrasted with the richer cul- ture of the Pomo of the Russian River Valley and Clear Lake, environments which offered opportunities for greater cultural development than did the forested moun- tains fronting the Pacific. The main Indian village in the mountains of South - western Pomo territory was Potol [pho.tol]L on Haupt's Ranch. Charles Haupt, called Charles Hopps by Stephen Powers (1877, p. 187), was a German settler who allowed the Southwestern Pomo to live on his land. Near Potol on the same ridge was the site of an ancient village, Duka- shal [du?lalsal]. Barrett gives an account of Potol (1908a, p. 235), which Powers also visited, and locates Dukashal half a mile north-northwest of Potol. Charles Haupt married a woman from Chibadono [ci9bad6no] (near Plantation and on the same ridge). She was called Pashikokoya [pasil&6koya? ], "cocoon woman" (pashikoyoyu [pasi-koyo-yu], cocoon used on shaman's rattle; ya?, personal suffix), but her English name was Molly. Only one of Haupt's children by her, Mrs. Louise Noble, was living in 1950.2 On the coast stood the Southwestern Pomo village of Meteni [m6-ti'?ni] (Barrett, 1908a, p. 280), at Fort Ross, the Russian settlement established in 1811 about eight miles north of the mouth of the Russian River. Barrett, summarizing the history of the Pomo in general (1908a, pp. 27-49) has little to say about the Southwestern Pomo until his discussion of Fort Ross (p. 39). Kostromitonov, who was director of the Russian colony at Fort Ross for seven years, gave the following account of the South- western Pomo (in von Baer and von Heimersen, 1839). THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO IN RUSSIAN TIMES: AN ACCOUNT BY KOSTROMITONOV The Indians that live in the vicinity of Ross are divided into several tribes, distinguished by the following names: the Bodega Indians (Olamentke), the Indians of the steppes (Tun- drenskiye, Kainama), the northern Indians (Svernovskiye). The last are again divided into several tribes, whose num- ber and conditions are not known in the Ross colony. The Indians of Bodega [Coast Miwok] cannot understand the northern Indians, as both their language and their manner of pronunciation are different. The more distant Indians and those of the steppes speak a number of dia- lects or languages, the characteristics and relationships of which are not yet known. It is difficult to ascertain the number of these nomadic tribes. Formerly there were large villages on the Bodega *[This paper was submitted to the Board of Editors of the Department of Anthropology at Berkeley in 1954. It was read and recommended for publication in Anthropological Records, but, for reasons too detailed to review here, it was not trans- mitted to the Editorial Committee. In 1960 Professor Kroeber reviewed the manuscript and enlisted the expert assistance of W. Oswalt on Pomo linguistic renderings. The staff of the Arthropology Department at Berkeley has provided assistance inthe final editing of the manuscript.) 'The term in brackets following Gifford's Pomo form is an equivalent furnished by Dr. Robert L. Oswalt; similar equi- valents, in brackets, appear throughout this paper. See p. 6. shore; however, after the establishment of two Fran- ciscan missions, these villages disappeared. Many In- dians moved into the missions. The rest either migrated to Ross, or perished in the epidemics of 1815 to 1822. In the valley plains of the Slavyanka [the Russian River], and towards the north of Ross, there are large settle- ments, including Kajatschim, Makoma, and Japiam. In the last of these, two thousand inhabitants were found. It seems, however, that these names refer to regions rather than settlements, since the Indians are scattered rather than crowded together. On the other side of the mountain chain that traverses the plain of the Slavyanka, there is a large lake [Clear Lake], around which there are many Indian settlements. It was found on examination of this region that these savages are very little differentiated from the coastal Indians in their appearance and customs; but their language is entirely different. 2Pashikokoya, or Molly, had children by a prior marriage, her first husband being from Muchawi [muca wi]. Thus the chil- dren were full-blood Southwestern Pomo. Two of them were twins: Rosie, who married Tom Smith and became the mother of Mary Samuels James, and Frank Jarvis, whose Indian name was Hotok'alim [ho?foqahlen?J ("white head"). Powers, (1877, p. 191) mentions these twins, having seen them in 1871 or 1872. Rosie and Tom separated when their daughter Mary was small, but Tom continued to visit Haupt's Ranch. [1 1] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS The Indians are of middle height, although there are some tall ones among them. They are rather well pro- portioned, and the color of their skin is brown. This color is the effect of the sun, rather than the natural hue.... Their eyes and their hair, which stands up straight, are black. The Indians of Bodega do not paint their bodies. The northern Indians, however, tattoo the face, chest, and hands with different figures, and paint themselves with plant juice, which gives their skin a permanent dark blue color. Both sexes are powerfully built; there are few cripples among them. However, the climate and their way of life prevent them from reaching old age. The women age very early; and one therefore always sees more old than young ones. Usually their expression is kind hearted rather than savage; and one often meets both men and women with very charming faces. They are gentle and peaceable and very capable, especially in their grasp of physical mat- ters. They appear stupid only because of their immoderate laziness and lightheartedness. However, they need only once to observe some work that is not too difficult or complicated in order to copy it immediately. These veritable children of nature have no conception of dress. The men are completely naked, and the women cover only the middle part of their bodies, from behind and before, with the skins of wild goats. The hair of the men is tied in a bunch on the crown of the head, whereas that of the women is gathered together at the nape of the neck or, occasionally, worn loose. The men hold up their hair with rather artistically made sticks of red palm wood. Both sexes adorn themselves with seashell pearls, wear eagle' s foot bones in their ears, and go barefoot. That is the complete dress of those to whom our customs are still unknown. The Indians that live closer to Ross and sometimes even work there have jackets, breeches, blankets, and other things, which they regard with com- plete indifference. When they get such an article, they immediately stake it on a game or exchange it for some trifle. It is very amusing to see one of these savages in women' s clothes with a blouse on top, or another one, wearing all the shirts he owns, so he can hardly move. Without any attachment to anything and without any know- ledge of values they sometimes demand much for their work and at other times very little. Their only object in getting a thing is to be able to gamble it away again. The men live in complete idleness. To eat their fill is their greatest pleasure. The preparation of meals and other domestic chores are the obligation of the women. On their travels, the women almost always carry the bag- gage as well as the children, while the men lead the way carrying only bows and arrows. Only very seldom do the men carry any load. Their dwelling places may be distinguished as summer and winter quarters. In the summer they find shelter in bushes thinned out at the bottom and woven together at the top, whereas in winter they build "barabaras." The ends of some vertically placed poles are driven into the ground. The structure is then covered with bark, twigs, and grass, with an opening left in the top for a chimney and in the side for an entrance. Grass and goatskins serve as clothes and covering. A bow, arrows, a large kettle, and sometimes fishing nets, are the only house- hold possessions. The bath huts are built in almost the same manner as the barabaras. A hole is dug. Poles are stuck around it; and the whole thing is covered first with bark and then with earth. On one side there is a very small hole for the smoke. The entrance is a hole near the base, so small that one can only crawl in. The season determines the place where they may find subsistence. In the spring they live near rivers and in well watered places, in order to catch fish and gather roots and herbs. They spend the summer in the forests and the steppes, where they collect berries and the seeds of wild plants. In the autumn they pile up stores of acora wild chestnuts, and sometimes also nuts; and shoot bison and wild goats with their arrows. The Indians' diet con- sists of everything they can find; large and small animali shellfish, fish, lobsters, roots, herbs, berries, and other products of nature, even insects and worms. Some meat and fish are roasted, but the rest is usually eaten raw. Acorns, of which large stores are accumulated, constitud their staple food. The manner of preparation is as follow after the acorns are picked from the trees, they are drie in the sun. Thereafter they are cleaned, transferred to baskets, and pulverized with specially shaped stones. T are placed in a hole in the sand or loose earth and covei with water, which is absorbed by the earth. This rinsing is repeated until all the peculiar bitter flavor has been moved. The mash is then cooked in a kettle, into which glowing stones are thrown. However, if a sort of pancake or bread is to be made from the acorns, a coarser powd is made from them and the mash is left in the hole for a while after the bitterness has been removed. A sort of dough is formed. This is shaped into cakes, which are wrapped in large leaves (either whole or cut into pieces) and baked on the coals. Chestnuts are prepared in the same way but are eaten only as mash and not as bread. The beginning of July is used for the more convenient gathering of acorns and seeds. As soon as the acorn harvest is completed, the Indian begin the collection of the seeds of a certain plant, which grows in large quantities on the plains. The appearance of the plant is as follows: it reaches a height of one anda half to two feet. Several shoots sprout from the root. The leaves are narrow and long, and are covered with a fine fuzz. They have a peculiar smell and stick to the fingers. The flowers are yellow and grow in pointed clusters. The small black seeds are similar to Latuk. They are shaken from the plant with specially made spades, dried, ground into flour, and eaten dry. The taste is similar to that of burnt, dried oatmeal. Wild rye, wild oats, and other grab are also collected and are eaten, after proper preparatio either dry or as a sour mash. The only drink of the Indians is water. They have no knowledge of alcoholic beverages. Sometimes, when they are looking on as the rum is issued to the detachment at Ross, they also ask for some. To some it tastes very g to others awful; but even the former do not get drunk. Ru and all other strong drinks they call omy liva-"bad watt On the other hand, they like smoking tobacco very much, as do all the savages. They smoke it in pipes consisting of special, bored-out sticks and bowls whittled from the same wvood. The tobacco is put into the bowl or in a hole in the thick end of the stem. As both the stem and the bo are straight, the Indians smoke with heads bent backward to avoid spilling tobacco. They also have a tobaccolike herb of their own, which grows in sandy places, near the rivers; but its smoke has a very objectionable smell. Those that live in the vicinity of the colonies gradually cease using it, since they are able to obtain enough tobaci by working; but the more distant natives still remain trni to their own tobacco. It cannot be supposed that under such primitive condi- tions these people have any conception of social life or culture. Living sometimes in large groups, but usually in small, they know no form of submission to authority. 2 GIFFORD: ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTIE The one who has the most relatives is acknowledged as head or Tojon [toyon]. In the larger settlements there are several Tojons but their authority is very nebulous. They have the right neither to command nor to punish disobedi- ence. Therefore the respect for the oldest member of the family has no significance. Sometimes the experience of age is consulted for advice on some undertaking; but that is all. In their opinion, most of the work is the obligation of the old men and women. The young are saved for emer- gencies. In short, the Tojons or elders of the tribes are not held in the same regard as among the Koloshen, Aleu- tians, and similar people. Their religious ideas and practices are as simple as their customs. In childbirth the women have no outside help. Only in difficult cases, which occur very seldom, do they seek the aid of an older woman. The newborn babe is washed, wrapped in a goatskin, and laid in a basket. The children are nursed as long as the mother has milk. According to a peculiar superstition, the father of the child may not leave the hut for four days, and remains in complete idleness. The child is given the name of some plant, tree, or other visible object. However, when he grows up, the name is changed for another that is similar and fits his character. The Indians are very much attached to their children. However, as soon as the children are grown up and no longer have need of their parents, they cease to pay any heed to them. Hence the fathers become entirely indifferent to their children. Marriages are con- tracted without any ceremony. When a pair of young people like each other, the young man enters the bara- bara of the young woman, sometimes without even obtain- ing the permission of her parents, and begins to live with her. If a quarrel arises between married people, they separate without further ado. If it is only a quarrel of words, they are sometimes reconciled; but if it goes as far as actions, a reconciliation is seldom achieved. The children stay with the mother, but the father does not lose his attachment to them. Since the men do not love their wives with all their heart, jealousy is foreign to them. If a wife goes with another man for a time, her husband, although informed, will not try to hinder her. Such a relationship, however, may be formed only with a man of the same settlement or tribe; with a man of another tribe this is not permitted. If a man of another tribe does take an Indian's wife, a fight or war results. Some men yield to bestial lusts, and others prostitute themselves. It is not permitted to have more than one wife. Formerly, the Tojons used to have two wives; but since this custom made them the victims of public mockery, it fell into disuse. Strict attention is paid to blood relationships, and the Indian is not allowed to marry a first or second degree relative. Even in a di- vorce, the nearest relative of the man may not marry the woman; but there are exceptions. The Indians cremate their dead. The whole family gathers around the pyre and all manifest their grief by lamenting and howling. The nearest relatives cut their hair and drop it into the fire while pounding their chests with stones and throwing themselves to the ground with frenzy. Sometimes, out of a particular attachment to the deceased, they strike their bodies until blood comes or even smash themselves to death. However, these cases are infrequent. The most valued possessions of the dead are cremated together with the body. Every year a cele- bration is held in commemoration of the dead, most fre- quently in February, as has been noted. The ceremony develops as follows. Ten or more men, according to the ES ON THE SOUTHWESTERN POMO 3 These men must first purify themselves by fasting, and for several days they actually eat extremely little, especi- ally no meat at all. After this preparation, the performers disguise themselves on the eve of the celebration in a barbara assigned to them for that purpose. They smear their bodies with soot and various dyes and adorn them with feathers and grass blades. After that they sing and dance until nightfall. Then they enter the forest, where they run about singing and carrying torches, whereupon they return to the barbara to spend the whole night there with songs, dances, and contortions. The following day and night are spent in the same manner. The third morn- ing, however, they betake themselves to the relatives of the departed, who await them in their barabaras and, after receiving them in a proper manner, raise loud lamenta- tions. The old women scratch their faces and beat their breasts with stones. The relatives of the dead believe firmly that they are seeing their departed loved ones instead of the performers. During this ceremony the whole settlement observes the strictest abstinence from food. Sometimes meat is not eaten till much later. Be- cause of the reluctance of the Indians to answer the ques- tions they were asked about this celebration, it was im- possible to find out more details. A bow with arrows and a spear are their weapons; they are mostly made of young firwood. The points of the ar- rows and spears consist of sharp-ground stones. To string their bows they use the sinews of the wild goats. Besides these weapons they use, in times of war, a sort of sling by means of which they hurl stones a great dis- tance. Peace-loving by nature, the Indians fight each other rarely, and especially nowadays attacks of any im- portance are unheard of in the vicinity of Ross. A few years ago the Makamov Indians and those of Kajatschin came to blows in the plains of the Slavyanka. The cause was that the Makamov Indians had invited a Tojon for a visit and had suffocated their guest in his bath. The argu- ment lasted almost a year, and on various occasions about two hundred men from both parties were killed until finally, weary of fighting, they settled the matter ami- cably and exchanged gifts. An enemy taken prisoner is killed on the spot and hung on a tree. However, they sel- dom take more prisoners than one, or a few at best, for they never go to war unless in great numbers, and al- though some courageous men might get near an enemy settlement at night, they are satisfied with shooting a few arrows and make off immediately. On both sides sentries are stationed who signal by yelling as soon as they spot someone not belonging to their settlement. The women, children, and old folks are kept in safe hiding places all during the war. He who surpasses all the others in bra- very is held in the same esteem as a Tojon. Here is a war-song [probably in Coast Miwok, not in Southwest Pomol with its translation. In the beginning of the war or when preparing for it, they sing: Temoi hoibu Onigi tschinami Temai ilawak Temai o tomai Let us, leaders; Go to war! Let's go and carry off as booty A pretty girl! Upon approaching the enemy settlement: Indi mi schujugu Pari o londo VVhen are we going to be beyond the mountains? Whom do we espy first? size of the settlement, are chosen for the performance. When they start shooting: ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Buetki landa Sharp are our missiles Junawschi landa You had better lay down yours! After that the "Toen" [toyon] sings to inspire his warriors with courage: Otilek - otilek lilem Lile oje lippe Lile oje ili lippi Nawu elendu Come on, come on! Let's go into battle! Follow me courageously! Have no fear, the enemy's arrows Indi kotscht ma iwid Won't do you any harm. elendu Each one of these stanzas is repeated several times on the occasions mentioned. Usually, upon the recovery of a sick person, there is merrymaking. The convalescent sends messengers to in- vite all those living in the vicinity-the rich people and the tojons inviting even the more distant Indians if they are not unfriendly. After the arrival of the visitors the host serves his guests everything he has. Food provisions gathered at great pains, which would suffice to feed the host' s family for several months, are disposed of within a few hours. When all have eaten their fill, they start ex- changing sound advice: to live in peace and accord and not to argue with each other. Songs and dances follow; some sing, others dance and play tricks. At times a woman stands up in the center and sings a song while the men, holding hands, turn or skip around her. Some of them, holding eagle bones in their mouths, whistle a cheerful tune. When the song is ended, all yell "HOI," and then go on singing. Usually the whole song consists of only a few words, for instance: "You love me and so I also love you." This is repeated over and over during the dance; the tune is pleasant but almost always rather sad. The Indians of both sexes are exceedingly fond of games, and this is perhaps the reason why dances are not so varied and popular with them. When they have satisfied their hunger, they give all their time to playing. Their favorite game is guessing. Some individuals who want to play together separate into two parties, one party sitting opposite the other. Between them a goatskin is spread out on which each side has laid out a number of little sticks. One of the group picks up a few grass blades or something similar. Holding both hands behind his back, he passes the item from one hand to the other making various gestures. His opponent must watch him carefully to find out which hand holds the grass. When he believes he has ascertained its location, he slaps the hand in which he presumes it to be. If he has guessed right, he is given a few little sticks, if not, he must give up several of his sticks. Then the next pair of players take their turn. The game ends when one side has won all the sticks. The spectators, of which there are many, sing during the game and goad the players with jokes and tricks. The fact that the players never come to blows is evidence of the gentle- ness of the Indians. Their love for games is so great that after a hard day's work in Ross, they will sometimes play until four o'clock in the morning, and then return to work without sufficient sleep. The Indians consider that they are descended from the wolves. According to one old legend, a wolf, whose tribe is now extinct, stuck two sticks into the earth and de- cided that one should be a man and the other a woman All their conceptions of the origin of man are as absurd as this tale. Of the Supreme Being the Indians have a vague concep- tion. They believe that after creating the heavens and the earth, and all other things, the Creator dissolved himself; and that since he ceded his powers to other spirits, he can do neither harm nor good now. Presumably they bor- rowed these ideas, with some disfiguration, from the bap- tized Indians of California. They have no religious cus- toms. The wizards or shamans do not distinguish themselves by the same dexterity and subtlety as those of other sav- ages. When they are asked to practice their magic art, they go deep into the forest. On their return they prophesy for those who asked their advice. To placate the evil spirt and avoid misfortune, the shaman takes some glass beads into the forest. He then swears that he gave them to the spirit. After some time has elapsed he brings the things back, asserts that they are his own, and gambles them away. The most important skill of the shaman is the heal- ing of the sick. Judging by the way of life of these savages, one might believe that they are less subject to illnesses than others. However, several sicknesses rage among them, especi- ally, high fevers, cholics, and syphilitic diseases. The first two are due to the sudden changes in temperature, the last is due to the same causes as everywhere else. For healing, the shamans use herbs and roots. Most of the time, however, they suck blood from the wound or sore, holding in their mouth a few small stones, or snake which they assert they have drawn from the wound. The frequent use of the bath serves in the healing of veneral diseases. Simplicity and good nature are the main character traits of the Indians. Theft and murder hardly ever occur among them. If one does not provoke or insult them, one can be completely sure of them. However, this is owing more to fearfulness than to pure trustworthiness. For example, cannon shots always scare them so much that some even tremble and shiver. Suicide is completely un- known to them, and when they are asked about it, they cannot comprehend how such a thing is possible. There would be much more to tell about these savages, However, they are filled with the peculiar delusion that they will die if they disclose their customs to a stranger. Therefore they answer all questions with "I don't know." Once I asked them whether they divided the year into twelve months. The reply was: I don't know. Who does know? 0 there are wise people that know everything. Where do they live? Far away, in the plains. They usually gave such evasive answers to similar questions. Their indifference and inattention go very far. Our watches, burning glasses, mirrors, music, and so forth, they look at or listen to without attention and without ask- ing how and for what all this is made. Only those things that frighten them make any impression upon them, al- though this trait is probably more the result of fear than of any desire for knowledge. 4 DATA OBTAINED FROM HERMAN JAMES No Southwestern Pomo men or women were forcibly taken 'from Fort Ross by the Russians, according to Herman [James, our chief informant in 1950. The only ones who [went away with the Russians were the Pomo wives and ,half-breed children of Russian men, who took their fami- [lies to "Russia" with them when they left. Herman James [told us that when his mother's mother's cousin, Palekeya [palakMya] returned to Fort Ross after her Russian hus- band's death, the return voyage from "Russia" took one month. In the country where Palekeya had been there were acorns and mushrooms, just as there were at Fort Ross. Herman spoke of strange men with horses and tents who came to Fort Ross while the Russians were there. They had with them women and children and dogs. The Russians gave them flour and other things and they left for the north. They kidnapped one Southwestern Pomo woman, who came back a year later, but soon died. This was in Herman's grandmother's time before his mother, Marie James, was born. These people came from in- land, Herman said; they were Indians, not white. NEIGHBORING INDIAN GROUPS South of the Southwestern Pomo was the Bodega division of the Coast Miwok. In Caucasian times there was some intermarriage between the two groups, as the data on our informants' ancestry demonstrate. To the east were the Southern Pomo, with whom the Southwestern Pomo were friendly, borrowing various cul- ture elements from their neighbors in late times. The Southern Pomo of Makahmo village went to Stewart's Point inSouthwestern Pomo Territory for abalone, mussel, sea grass (ohono [pothono]), and salt (Gifford and Kroeber, K1937, n. 329, p. 178), an example of the amicable relations ,between the Southwestern and Southern Pomo. Farther eastward were the Wappo, who were called Hosimtata. With the Central Pomo, north of the Gualala River mouth, relations, though friendly, seem to have been less cordial. For instance, when the Central Pomo came to visit, they demanded gifts, which the Southwestern Pomo felt compelled by etiquette to give their guests. At the present time there is some intermarriage between the two groups. Herman James did not know of the Erussi [Russians?] mentioned by Stephen Powers (1877, p. 194): "Around Fort Ross there is a fragment of a tribe called by the Gualala, E-rus si; which name is probably another relic of the Russian occupation." INFORMANTS Our first field work among the Southwestern Pomo was 7carried on between 1915 and 1918 as part of a statewide study of the kinship systems of California (Gifford, 1922). Three informants were then interviewed at Stewart's Point, Sonoma County. 1. Mrs. Celestina Scott, a Meteni [me ti?ni] woman, who was interviewed again in 1934. Her mother was born at Meteni, her father at a hamlet fifteen miles away, three miles up the ridge from Stewart's Point. 2. Mrs. Mary Samuels, who later married Herman James. She was born at Potol lpho-tol] and died in 1951. Her mother, Rosie Smith, came from Muchawi [muca wi "at the grain" ]. Her father, Tom Smith. was a Miwok from Bodega Bay, who was an informant of Dr. Isabel T. Kelly. 3. Mrs. Julia Marrufo, who was still living in 1950. Her father, a half-breed, died about 1940. Her mother was a Southwestern Pomo from Potol, a sister of Mrs. Mary Samuels James. The writer made a second field trip to the Southwestern Pomo in 1934 in the course of a culture element distribu- tion survey (Gifford and Kroeber, 1937). Two women in- formants from Meteni were interviewed in 1934. 1. Mrs. Celestina Scott (see above), who was between sixty and seventy years old in 1934. She died about 1940. 2. Mrs. Marie James, born in 1849, who was Herman James's mother. His father, a full-blood Southwestern Pomo, was her second husband. She was the daughter of a German from Chile, named "Myers, " and of a Meteni woman3 said to have been ten years old when the Russians established Fort Ross in 1811. It would seem that Marie's mother was forty-eight years old when Marie was born, unless there is some mistake in her age at the time of the 3Marie's mother's name was Djibadonoya [ci2bad6noya9 "Rush Mountain person" ]; she was baptized in the Orthodox Church at Fort Ross as Nokelia [also called Lukaria], said to be a Russian name (perhaps Natalie). She died at the age of one hundred and five, when her grandson, Herman James, was about eighteen years old, that is, about 1898. While living at Haupt's Ranch, Djibadonoya, or Nokelia, sometimes returned to Meteni for vacation visits and to work for William Benitz' German wife. Benitz had been in Sacramento when gold was discovered and later took Indians from Fort Ross to help him get gold. [ 5 ] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Russians' arrival. Marie was born four years after the Russian Commnandant's house was taken over by William Benitz, Myers' partner, in 1845. Marie Jam,es knew a few words of Russian and pre- ferred Russians (by reputation) to Americans. She was still living in 1950 but had become senile. In 1950 My wife and I spent the month of August and a few days in October at Kashia Lkashaya], the modern Southwestern Pomo reservation three or four miles in- land from Stewart' s Point on a mountain ridge at an ele - vation of 1,068 feet above sea level. Through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Rushen and the Sonoma County superintendent of schools we had comfortable living quarters in the schoolhouse. At that time we interviewed three informants. 1. Herman James, a man seventy years old, was our chief informant in 1950. He was the son of Marie James, with whom he discussed some matters we asked about. He also sometimes consulted his wife, Mary (formerly Mrs. Mary Samuels), who was one of our 1915-1918 in- formants, and her mother, Rosie Smith, a full-blood Southwestern Pomo from Muchawi. Herman James was born April 12, 1880, at Charles Haupt's ranch. He spent his boyhood at Fisk's Mills, walking nearly to Plantation to attend school. Herman' s father, Marie James's second husband, was a full-blood Southwestern Pomo, whose mother came from a village called Kalewesha [.qhale wfsa "on top of tree" ] "bunch of trees standing" (kale, "tree"; wesha, "bunch of, stand- ing") from the same -ridge as Dukashal [du?ksal] but beyond Matiwi [ma?thiwi]. According to Herman there was no stream between Matiwi and Kalewesha, though Barrett's map (1908a) shows a stream. Mary, Herman's wife in 1950, was not his first wife. We never learned how many times he had been married. In 1950 his living children, listed from oldest to youngest, were Allen James, Curtis James, and Mrs. Gladys Ray Borella. 2. Mrs. Essie Parish, half-sister of Julia Marrufo. Her father was a half-breed from Point Arena; her mother and Mary Samuels James were maternal half- sisters. 3. Mrs. Maria Santos, living in 1950 at Healdsburg. She was then seventy-five years old. She had been born downstream from Chalanchawi [chalamcawi; unrecog- nizable to Herman James and Essie Parrish, 1960] on the south bank of the Russian River below the present highway bridge and near the mouth of the river. When Maria was seven, a priest came to her home from Tomales and baptized her. She married a Chamorro from Guam, but he deserted her and was dead in 1950. She was the only Pomo we interviewed from the southern part of Southwestern Pomo territory but she was not a valuable informant since she had always lived south of the Russian River mouth and never at Haupt's Ranch. Maria's father, Antone [Ant6n?], was born at the "pond' at the north end of the present bridge at Chalanchawi. Both his parents were Southwestern Pomo. Antone died when he was sixty-eight. Maria's mother, who died at eighty-two, was a cousin, through her mother, of Rosie Smith, Herman James's mother-in-law. Maria' s mother's father died before her mother was born and the child was taken at birth to Tomales Bay. Thus she could tell Maria nothing about old Southwestern Pomo life because she had been raised at Marshall on Tomales Bay. Maria's daughter, Dolores Myers, lives at Lytton Springs. Her husband, John Myers, is a nephew of Her- man James. ORTHOGRAPHY In general, the vowels in the Pomo words we have recorded have continental values. Three of the vowels have the following values, as indicated by the circum- flex accent: e as e in shed o as ou in ought u as u in but We recognized two s sounds, the normal English s and the hissing s. The latter we have indicated by a capital S. We use ch for Barrett's tc and sh for his c. [Dr. Robert L. Oswalt has for several years been making a study of the Southwest Pomo language for the University' s Depart- ment of Linguistics. He has kindly furnished equivalents for Gif- ford's Pomo forms in his phonemic orthography, which will no doubt be standard for the language. These equivalents are given in brackets following Gifford's Pomo forms. It will be seen that the two renderings generally agree very well, the differences being due to Oswalt' s carrying out his phonetic distinctions more finely. The largest differentia- tion is in the stops, of which Oswalt recognizes 21, or 60 per cent of the total system of 35 phonemes. The stops come voiced, glot- talized, aspirated, and plain, and are articulated in seven areas of the vocal apparatus, namely: labial, dental, alveolar, palatal, velar, post-velar, and glottal. One other phoneme likely to be dif- ficult for an English ear is a glottalized affricate s, resembling a glottalized version of English ts. The Oswalt orthography in full is: Voiceless unaspirated stops: p, t, t, c, k, q, v Voiceless aspirated stops: ph, th, th, ch, kh, qh Glottalized stops: p, ( (, c, k, q Voiced stops: b, d Nasals: m, n Sonorants: w, 1, y Spirants: s, s, h Glottalized affricate: s Vowel length: High tone: Oswalt notes a frequent aphesis or decapitation in compound words, as of ha'da "trail" becoming the monosyllable -'da. A.L.K., 1960] HABITAT The mountainous territory of the Southwestern Pomo fronts the Pacific Ocean between 38? and 390 N, includ- ing in its area the mouths of two important rivers, the Russian in the south and the Gualala in the north. The old trails ran straight over hill and dale in contrast to modern roads with their gradual ascent adapted to the use of wheeled vehicles. The winding Sonoma County road from Stewart's Point to Skaggs Springs was built when Herman James was seven or eight years old and was living at Danaga at Stewart's Point. The coastal plain is narrow and uneven, often breaking down in cliffs on the ocean shore, except where streams empty into the ocean, their drowned mouths forming la- goons. During the dry months the smaller streams are prevented from flowing into the sea by sand banks, which are later broken through by freshets in the rainy season. The place where the Gualala River flows into the ocean is called Akawalali [?ahqhaw.lali "where water runs down"] by the Indians; the name of the small island in the lagoon at the mouth of the Russian River is Akadilema [9ahqha dile:ma "island" literally "land in the middle of water." The name of the specific place is qhadile]. The top of the high ridge on the road from Stewart's Point to Skaggs Springs is on the eastern boundary of Southwestern Pomo territory. This ridge top, 1,900 feet in altitude, is known today as Las Lomas. By the South- western Pomo it is called Kawachenno [qhawahcanno 'pine grove" ]. Mahmo "hole in the ground" and Matiwi, near the boundary, are old Southern Pomo villages. [The names qhaw6hcanno and mahmo are names borrowed from Southern Pomo.] Southwestern Pomo territory lies almost entirely in Sonoma County. Only at the mouth of the Gualala does it extend into the southwestern corner of Mendocino County. Barrett (1908a, pp. 227-228) gives a brief but adequate general description, followed by a discussion of village and camp sites on the coast and along the Gualala River (1908a, pp. 228-239). His map 1 shows boundaries, streams, and village and camp sites, but not topography. Salmon Creek is shown as the southern boundary of South- western Pomo territory and the lower course of the Gualala River as the northern. In his "Pomo Geography," Fred B. Kniffen, a geogra- pher, presents an excellent account of three types of Pomo habitat, one of which is the coastal country of the Southwestern or Gualala or Coast Pomo (Kniffen, 1939, pp. 381-389). His plate 7 shows three typical coast land- scapes. Herman James said that the Southwestern Pomo might live on shell middens along the coast until September, when they went inland. In May, they retu.rned to the coast where they collected and dried sea foods for use inland. Salt was obtained at Salt Point, not far from the site of Kabesilawina [qha?be sihlawina-] village (Barrett, 1908a, p. 230). The fact that the Southwestern Pomo, like the Coast Yuki (Gifford, 1939, p. 296), lived on the coast or inland according to season indicates that Barrett's grouping of villages into coast and river divisions probably has no political significance; in other words, each community had both coastal and inland sites, or camps and river villages, used according to season. Barrett says his grouping of the villages in these two divisions in his dis- cussion of village sites (1908a, p. 227) was a matter of convenience. The Southwestern Pomo had no boats of any sort. In recent times the people on the south side of the lagoon at the mouth of the Russian River sometimes came over in their boats and ferried across any Southwestern Pomo who wanted to fish on the beach south of the river's mouth. who wanted to fish on the beach south of the river's mouth. VILLAGE SITES The following village and camp sites were mentioned by our informants. Most of them we visited. We have added the pertinent references to Barrett's descriptioris of them in his "Ethnogeography of the Pomro" (1908a). We did not attempt to get the names of all the Southwestern Pomo village and camp sites, since Barrett probably obtained all, or at least most, of them. Camp sites were probably too transient to be listed with any probability of complete- ness. The modern village of Kashia at the schoolhouse on the Southwestern Pomo reservation inland from Stewart's Point comprises the existing Southwestern Pomo, except for those who have married out or moved. We share with Stewart (1943, p. 49) the view that this represents the only political unit of the Southwestern Pomo either pre- sent or past. Lalaka [l1?laqha]: an inland, or river-division, village site. [lA?la is a dialectal version of lala (wild goose), qha is "water" or "spring."] This site is on the property of Andrew Lancaster Richardson, about a mile south of his house and probably about 100 feet lower. The house is about 1,460 feet above sea level (near the southern edge of USGS Annapolis Quadrangle); a base mark near the house shows 1,463 feet. There was some shell in the ground at Lalaka. Three separate groups of house pits were found. (1) The first had five undoubted house pits and two larger pits; Herman James thought the larger ones were prob- ably dwellings also, since they were not large enough for dance houses. (2) About 600 feet south of Lalaka and lower on the slope, five more house pits were grouped near a spring. Here we saw the same sort of shells as at Lalaka. (3) About 300 feet northwest of Lalaka, there were three more house pits with shell, just above the stream in the nearby gully. Herman James said the name Lalaka ap- plied to all three groups of pits. Lalaka damali [la9laqha 'damali "where the Goose Spring trail goes across," -9da "trail," m- "go across," -ali "place where" ]: the crossing or ford of the Gualala River, used by the Lalaka people. They did not live here [ 7 ] ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS but moved back and forth from the coast to Ldlaka (Bar- rett, 1908a, p. 234). LAlaka people went to the coast at Fisk's Mills, the site of Tabatewi village (Barrett, 1908a, p. 230). The people of the inland village of Tachumawali [tac4mawali] (Barrett, 1908a, p. 237) also went to Fisk's Mills. Tachumawali [