-WINTU ETHNtOGRAPHY . . . * .~~B .. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ C R D u .O S - UNIV0RSITY OT CAIJIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN 4 . . . .; AM:RICAN ARCHAEOI.OGY AND 1STENOLOGY X ' , , ; Volume 36, No. 1. Pp. iv +-1-148, 3 plates, 11 figures in te2rt, 1-map . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . * . . g . . - X , , \ . , , . . . . . . ;; . . ; . . . * . . . . . . . / > ' - , ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., . . i r ' r * , J s t \ . . . . . . f v _ ? y - - , < e , , - - 2 , d J ;' ' 0 . ,1 ' ' ' 0 r 4 v 0 ; 8 _ . _ i, # 4 2 . UNIVERSITY OF CALIPORNIA PRESS . . BtRKELEY, CALIPORNIA i( - : - , D . , ' \ ! f g - - - 1 935 WINTU ETHNOGRAPHY BY CORA Du BOIS UNIVREsITY OF CALiFORNIA PUBLATIONS IN AMBRICAN ARCHAEOLoGY AND ETHNOLOGY Volume 36, No. 1. Pp. iv + 1-148, 3 plates, 11 figures in text, 1 map Issued October 15, 1935 Price, $1.75 UNIIV!MSITY Or CALIFORNIA PRESS BiaKLzy, CALIFORNiA CABRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS PAGE Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Economic life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Ethnogeography ................... . 4 Hunting .................... . 9 Fishing ..................... 15 Vegetable foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Craftsmen and specialists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Division of labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Trade and values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Social life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Villages.. ............... 28 Chiefs ................. 29 Crimes, torts, and social justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 War ............ . 36 Dances and gatherings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Games ................. 43 Life cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Birth . . 45 Education of children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Formalized and unformalized social attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Names ................. 51 Puberty and menstrual observances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Marriage ................. 54 Kinship ................. 57 Burial and mourning customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Numeration . 6 8 . . . . ................ . 6 Time reckoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Counting ................. 70 Religious life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Supreme being ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Prayer ... ............. .... . . . 73 Cosmology and related speculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Concepts of the soul and the afterworld . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Sacred places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Charm stones and other charms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Werebeasts . 84 Miscellaneous attitudes concerning the supernatural . . . . . . . . . 87 Shamanism .88 M odern cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . ........... 120 Clothing and ornaments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Houses ............. 122 Musical instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Weapons ................ 124 Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Basketry .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 131 Conclusion. . . ......... 138 Explanation of plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 PLATES 1. Habitat views; steam sudatory. 2. Pounding acorns; shaman; using split-stick rattle 3. Dance apron. PAGE * . . . 145 * . . . 146 * . . . 147 FIGURES IN TEXT Figure 1. Moccasin pattern. Figure 2. Snowshoe. Figure 3. Stone artifacts . Figure 4. Netting instruments. Figure 5. Dip net. Figure 6. Salmon harpoon. Figure 7. Pipes . Figure 8. Basketry shapes. Figure 9. Basket "signature". Figure 10. "Old-time" basketry designs Figure 11. Recent basketry designs . . 121 .121 .124 .126 .127 .128 .129 .133 .136 .136 .137 MAP 1. Wintu subareas. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WINTU ETHNOGRAPHY BY CORA DU BOIS INTRODUCTION THE WINTUN-SPEAKING PEOPLES of the Sacramento valley are divided into three groups-the Patwin to the south, the Wintun proper, who were referred to formerly as either central Wintun or Nomlaki, and the Wintu to the north. The present ethnography deals with the last-named group, whose habitat lies along three major drainage systems, the Pit-MeCloud, the upper Sacramento, and the upper Trinity. On the Sacramento river the series of tribelets desig- nated as Wintu extended from a point five or six miles south of Cottonwood creek to a point slightly north of La Moine, a total distance of approximately fifty miles north and south. Within that area there lived some three hundred and ninety-five Indians, according to the 1910 census. Several subareas are distinguishable and are described in the section on Ethnogeography. A large part of the data in this paper was obtained from the McCloud subarea, which is where the greatest number of Wintu now reside, and which was always the most populous region. The present account lays stress upon behavior and attitudes of mind; this, however, has not affected the presentation of material in traditional ethno- graphic form. Artifacts employed are merely tools of behavior. For that reason, descriptions of them are relegated to a separate section which is mainly for purposes of reference. The uses to which articles are put are in- cluded under various obvious headings, and cross-references have been used whenever they seemed necessary. The various headings under which material has been classified are too often artificial to Wintu culture, but it seemed de- sirable nevertheless to employ them in the interest of clarity in ordering data. It is patent to the reader when such categories are external to the culture. Furthermore, many ethnographies are concerned primarily with present- ing what may be called the type culture. Like all types, they are compilations or averages to which the individual only partly conforms and which have no existence in reality. This is not said in criticism, but merely in recognition of the methods and aims of many social scientists. The present paper has fol- lowed this tradition, but at the same time has attempted to distort as little as possible the personal and anecdotal nature of the material as it was procured in the field. The result is often a cumbersome compilation of quotations and contradictory statements obtained from informants. The procedure is particu- larly apparent in the section on Shamanism, since that is one of the most vital [1] to I I- 3E Z _ v -3 I CR I- co Ca -4a i> .F. i4 P4 Ca Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography 3 aspects of Wintu culture still extant. In other places conventional descrip- tions of types or norms are freely used because the material obtained from in- formants was of this kind. Lastly, the generous assistance of Professor Kroeber and the financial sup- port from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California are gratefully acknowledged. To Dr. Demetracopoulou is owed deep apprecia- tion for enthusiastic assistance in collecting and correcting material. The phonetic system employed has been greatly simplified. Only three sym- bols may need explanation, namely, o, as in all, L, which is the equivalent of 9 (like th in Thursday) plus voiceless 1, and x, which is a velar spirant as in the German ach, only voiced. 4Univeraity of California Publicatios in AM. Arch. and Ethn. ECONOMIC LIFE ETHNOGEOGRAPHY THE BOUNDARIES of the Wintu have been indicated upon the accompanying map with as much accuracy as the information available permitted. Drainage systems, mountain ranges, and changes in flora and fauna associated with them seem to be the determinants of boundaries in the minds of the natives. Sharp demarcations are never drawn in their minds and in that respect are misleading when placed on maps. For example, the boundary between the Wintu and the Achomawi to the northeast was a band of territory several miles wide east of Squaw creek which comprised a no-man's-land on which both peoples hunted and gathered food. Or again, no sharp differentiation was made by the Wintu between themselves and the so-called Waimuks just north of them along the upper and more mountainous reaches of the McCloud and Sacramento rivers north of La Moine. The neighboring tribes known to the Wintu were designated by them in the following manner: Tribe Wintu name English namne used by Wintu Shasta Yuki Yreka Indians Aehomawi Puisus Pit River Indians Yana Puisus, Noze Indians Puiel Yuki, Noze Wintun (i.e., Nomlaki or Central Wintun) Norbos Paskenta Indians Karok, Yurok, Hupa, and Nomkensus Klamath Indians, Hum- Wintu to the west over boldt County Indians, the ridge marking a west- Eureka Indians, ete. erm rather than southern drainage. It will be seen from this list that neighboring tribes usually are designated directionally. Yuki means "he who comes dangerously" or "enemy." It was specialized on the McCloud for the Shasta Indians, probably because it was they whom the McCloud people feared most. Pui means east; nor, south; nom, west; wai, north; sus, dwelling or being; bos, dwelling (where one lives); pom, place; muk is a unisolable suffix that probably means inhabitant. For the Indians over the coastal range and on the slopes whose waters flowed west- ward directly into the Pacific, the term ken is inserted, which means down- ward in reference to slope or drainage. To indicate a person, the word wintu must be added to the directional term. Thus, accurately speaking, a Pit River Indian would be a Puisus wintu, or east-dwelling-person. Directional terms are extensively used in conversation; a Wintu will speak of his north and south hand, or his east and west hand, depending on his position at the time of speaking. 4 Du Bois: WMntu Ethnography On the basis of such relative terminology, one might expect considerable variation from one subarea of the Wintu to another. Actually it was very slight. In the Bald Hills area the Yana were called Puisus, which term was applied to the Achomawi on the McCloud, and the term Noze for them was not known. The Bald Hills people who were in contact with the Wintun termed them Normuk and Puimuk. The Hayfork Wintu were called Nommuk and were considered as foreign as the Wintun. The term Nomlaki for the Wintun was known in this area. I was informed that the people south of Cottonwood creek referred to the Wintu as Wailaki or north people, a term which must not be confused with the Wailaki of Athabascan stock across the drainage ridge to the northwest. Similarly the Wintu "Yuki" has no reference to the people on Eel river whom we call Yuki. Foreigners are naturally differentiated on a basis of language. Interest- ingly enough, the McCloud Wintu considered the Wintun incomprehensible, whereas a Bald Hills informant thought they spoke a very similar language and that "after a while you can understand everything they say." Probably only contact was necessary to reveal the similarity of the two dialects. The Hayfork Wintu, on the other hand, were regularly referred to as incompre- hensible and dangerous coast (sic) Indians. McCloud informants believed that the Nomlaki (Wintun) stole souls by casting their shadows on persons. This was a device unknown even to shamans among the Wintu. The terminology given above, while only relative, is yet in large part con- sistent for the Wintu; hence, for want of a better one, it has been adopted in this paper. The terms are all comprehensible and fairly definite to the Indians of the area. The same procedure has been applied to the subareas. According to common Wintu belief, their neighbors to the north and west are dangerous because of their power to transform themselves into dogs or other animals. One informant had a friend in the Shasta tribe who in- sisted that the Wintu charge against them was justified. The Indians of the Klamath drainage grouped under the term Nomkensus (west-downward-slop- ing-dweller) are believed to have the same power of transformation. A story is told of a white man who married a Nomkensus woman. One spring she turned herself into a bear and went to graze on clover. Another white man, seeing a bear in his fields, shot and wounded it. It fled, and later the woman returned to her husband with a bullet wound in her shoulder. Nomyo (west... ?) is a Wintu word used to describe persons accredited with werebeast proclivities. If it is mentioned in the presence of such a person "he will get you." However, the nomyo are afraid of buckeye, so that a person with buckeye branches in his possession may consider himself safe from their attacks. Some of the older Wintu people who live near the Shasta Indians are reputed to keep buckeye in their houses. Fanny Brown, an old shaman who lived in the Upper Sacramento area, attributed recent thefts which she had suffered to Shasta Indians, who by day prowled about the neighboring hill- sides in the guise of coyotes, thereby thoroughly terrorizing her otherwise phlegmatic and not unsophisticated son. On one occasion, when Sadie Marsh 5 Univer8ity of Calfornia Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. and Jenny Curl went to an Indian convention in Eureka, they carried a bunch of buckeye twigs in the back of their automobile for protection. Several in- formants said that it is dangerous to stand north of Indians who live to the north and west. By preference they always stand south of these Indians. The same caution is exercised against the Colusa Indians (Patwin). Sadie was at a loss to explain their dangerousness except that "they would get you." The Wintu are subdivided roughly into nine subareas (see map, p. 2) briefly characterized as follows: Upper Sacramento (Nomtipo'n, west-hillside-place).-This subarea lies along the pre- cipitous reaches of the upper Sacramento river and slopes upward from Kennett, at an elevation of approximately 670 feet, northward to a point a few miles north of La Moine where the elevation rises to approximately 2000 feet. It is a narrow valley bounded by steep mountains which to the east are mainly barren but to the west are sufficiently well wooded to afford good hunting. Salmon in the upper reaches are less numerous than in the McCloud river. The creeks, however, seem to have been rich in suckers. Acorns are less plentiful than farther south. The flora of the region is predominantly digger pine, live oak, buckeye, and associated shrubbery. The people of this subarea were ac- customed to spread westward back into the hills to procure food. A trail led along Salt creek near the present town of Delta, over the mountains to the East fork of the Trinity river; it seems to have been one of the chief routes of communication in the north be- tween the upper Trinity drainage and the Sacramento. The Upper Sacramento Wintu were called derisively "mussel eaters" and ridiculed by the McCloud Wintu for grinding deer bones into flour, to which the Upper Sacramento people responded that the McCloud people ate salmon-bone flour and "besides they stank of salmon and bear." Tildy Brock (MeCloud) was asked by Jake Cornish (Upper Sac- ramento) to live with him after the death of his Shastan wife. The old lady of eighty-five years spiritedly replied that she didn't want to live up north there and eat old stale clams. Disdaining the food supply of another subarea was a frequent way of refusing an undesired offer of marriage from an outsider. McCloud (Winimen, middle-water).-The consensus seems to be that this subarea was richest in food supplies and was the most thickly inhabited part of the Wintu territory; even today most of the Indians still eluster on the enclaves of level ground to be found in the McCloud and lower Pit valleys (pl. lb, c). Informants repeatedly said that in the old days both banks were thickly covered with bark houses wherever a flat occurred, and that the McCloud people gave the greatest number of "big-time" festivals. They seem to have been proud of the profusion of fish, the number of bear dens, and various other means of livelihood their area afforded. They ridiculed the Upper Sacramento people to the north and west, as already described. They despised the flat arid land of the Stillwater people, accused them of living on a grasshopper and rabbit diet, and alleged that they drank water in which Coyote had spat. The retort to this was similar to that made by the Upper Sacramento Wintu: the McCloud people smelled of fish and bear, also they drank water that came from the roots of sugar pines. There exists an ironical love song supposedly sung by a Stillwater woman to her McCloud husband: Surely if I went up to the McCloud I should choke on a salmon bone. A person from the McCloud might sing: If I went to Stillwater I might choke on a grasshopper leg. If I went to the upper Sacramento I might choke on the bone of a fawn. 6 Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Stillwater (Dau-pom, in-front-of-place).-This subarea is far more flat than the pre- ceding two and comprises the plateau to the north of Redding. Water is scarcer, and at present most of the creeks which drain southeast into the Sacramento river run dry in summer. The area, however, is rich in acorn trees, manzanita brush, and grass, as well as in small rodents and grasshoppers. The somewhat warmer climate led the McCloud people, especially those on the upper reaches where there are cooler mountain tempera- tures, to report with obvious disdain "that those Stillwater people went about almost naked." The northeastern section of Stillwater, bounded by Cow creek and the Pit river and more hilly than the rest, is generally designated as Pui-dal-pom (east-lowland-place). Keswick (Elpom, shore-place).-This region extends from a point somewhat south of Kennett on the Sacramento chiefly along the west bank southward almost to Redding, and includes the former Indian settlements around the mining town of Old Shasta. The Wintu camps used to cluster about the present station of Coram, and in summer hunt- ing-camps were established to the west in the mountains. What the original nature of the countryside was is difficult to determine, although it is reputed to have been well covered with pine, oak, and manzanita. Ruthless gold- and copper mining and the accom- panying destruction of timber have left the country dry and denuded. At present man- zanita brush is rapidly covering the barren land, but scarcely any Indians live in the area to profit from the crop of berries. During the gold rush and later mining activities many Indians were attracted to the vicinity of Old Shasta, which is reputed to have had for a time a population of 10,000. At present it has only 150 inhabitants. In a radius of three to five miles around Old Shasta at least three large earth lodges existed within the memory of a man about fifty years old. The importance of this Keswick area before white inroads is not ascertainable. French Gulch (Klabalpom).-North and west of the Keswick area lies the valley formed by the upper and better-watered reaches of Clear creek. Since the appearance of the whites, this valley has been little inhabited by the Indians; at present not more than half a dozen live in it, none of whom are native to the subarea. There is reported to have been an Indian trail leading from Clear Creek valley over the mountains to Lewiston valley, which approximately marked the southern end of the Upper Trinity subarea. The French Gulch Indians are said to have married into the subareas both to the west and to the east. Upper Trinity (Nomsus, west-dwelling).-This valley is formed by the Trinity river and the East fork of the Trinity. After the two streams join below Trinity Center the valley narrows and extends southward to Lewiston, which marks the southern end of the range of Upper Trinity Wintu. The Wintu to the east recognize a slight dialectic variation in the language and usually refer to the drawl, which in their minds char- acterizes the speech of their western neighbors. The steelhead ran plentifully in the Trinity river. Deer and bear meat were also reported to be abundant. The Upper Trinity Wintu traveled chiefly north and south along their valley. In the north they had con- tacts to the east with the Upper Sacramento people, and in the south they frequently traveled eastward over the ridge of hills into the French Gulch or into the Bald Hills area. Like the Bald Hills people, they seemed in large part unacquainted with the Hay- fork Wintu to the west, although they mentioned them more frequently and in more friendly terms. Bald Hills (Dau-nom, in-front-of-west).-This region comprises a flat valley area at the foot of the hills south of Redding and east of the coastal range. Here the Sacramento valley narrows appreciably and its elevation is only about 550 feet. The country is far drier than even the Stillwater area; it has low rolling grass-covered hills affording small rodents, quail, and grasshoppers. The streams are not rich in fish, but the Bald Hills people traveled to the Sacramento river south of Redding to fish for salmon during the spring and fall runs. In spite of this, they ridiculed the northern people with the phrase "those who eat fish all the time." In speech as well as in habitat Bald Hills is the most divergent of the subareas listed so far. The dialects were mutually comprehensible, how- 7 Univer8ity of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. ever; the distinction seemingly lay in a slight shift of vocabulary. From the statements of informants, the Bald Hills area was intermediate between the Wintu and the Wintun in customs, language, and environmental factors. Within the memory of informants be- tween fifty and sixty years of age the Bald Hills people attended the big meets of the Keswick area, but seldom traveled farther north. Intermarriage occurred between the two subareas, but the informants felt that since the arrival of the whites the Indians had consolidated more than previously. The Bald Hills people seem also to have had friendly relations with the northernmost Wintun to their south, but the degree of inter- course could not be determined since only four old Bald Hills people were available as informants. The Bald Hills Wintu applied the term waibos to all Wintu north of them; their terminology for the people to south and west has been indicated. Hayfork Wintu.-This area was visited only on a survey trip. The western boundaries of the subareas, and therefore of the Wintu as a whole, are somewhat in doubt. Kroeber1 gives Big Bar on the Trinity river as the farthest extension westward of the Hayfork Wintu. From there down river to a point beyond Burnt Ranch was the territory of the now extinct Chimariko. Merriam3 is inclined to place the boundary of the Hayfork Wintu at Junction City, a point farther east than Big Bar. From Junction City he ex- tends the Chimariko territory to a point upriver from Burnt Ranch, almost as far west- ward as the point down river from it designated by Kroeber. A Hayfork informant ques- tioned on this matter of boundary said that "people spoke the Wintu language as far as Burnt Ranch." This statement may indicate that the Wintu moved into the territory of the Chimariko after the decimation of that tribe by miners. On the whole, the im- pression was obtained that the Hayfork area had few intimate and friendly contacts with other subareas. The sharp canyons and the absence of fiats on the Trinity river after it turns westward, as well as the steep slopes of the mountains of the region, must have reduced the ease of intercourse. Waimuik (north inhabitant ?).-There remains to be discussed one more subarea, which presents certain difficulties of definition. The Waimuk were a people who lived in the narrow valley of the upper MeCloud. They have now entirely disappeared with the ex- ception of a few half-bloods. Their territory is generally reputed to have begun at Nosoni creek and extended northward up the valleys of the McCloud and Squaw creek in Siskiyou county, and then broadened out to the east and west. The people living in the village at the juncture of Nosoni creek and the McCloud apparently were very like the McCloud Wintu (pl. la), but farther north the language changed to a dialect of the Shasta Indians so that the inhabitants of the midpoints between the two areas are sup- posed to have spoken two languages, their own (or Shastan) and Wintu. I am inclined to identify these so-called Waimuk of the Wintu with the Okwanuchu and to consider them a transition people among whom one tribal unit gradually faded into another. According to one informant, the Waimuk joined the Shasta at the time of the Modoc War (1872-73) and were exterminated by the Modoc in a retaliatory raid. The following words were obtained from an old informant who had lived in her girlhood in the Nosoni Creek village: atsa, water; katisuk, bring; au-u, wood; weri kinuni, a curse word; tcuk, equivalent of our "sick 'em" to dogs, which term in Wintu is maya; waurantitau, short-man (the name of a chief). It is to be noted that the informant became irritated by the strain of trying to remember words and finally impatiently referred me to a woman of the Shasta tribe if I wanted more vocabulary. Dixon$ gives atsa as the word for water in Shastan, which probably is a further substantiation of the fact that Shastan-speaking Okwanuchu met and mingled with the Wintu on the upper reaches of the McCloud. 1 Kroeber, A. L., Handbook of the Indians of California, BAE-B 78:110, 1925. 2 For a map of boundaries in the Trinity drainage see Merriam, C. H., The New River Indians ... , AA 32:293, 1930. 8 Dixon, R. B., Shasta-Achomawi . . . , AA 7:59, 1905. 8 Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Finally, stress should be laid on the exceedingly intimate relationship of the individual with the natural phenomena in his area. It would be difficult to indicate how close it is without presenting burdensome lists of place names and the anecdotal material clustering around them which is both individual and social in import. Some indication of the intimacy of the relationship is given by an informant's listing of some thirty place names along the McCloud river in the course of approximately two miles. Many of these place names are found in the mythology or are associated with mythological characters. At other times they are sacred places (q.v.) which are fraught with supernatural po- tency. Several old informants took the keenest delight in tales that were prin- cipally an enumeration of particular spots over which a hero or group of characters traveled. HUNTING Deer hunting.-This was pursued either individually or communally. Deer (nop) were either snared or stalked by a single hunter. If a few men were en- gaged in the enterprise the one whose arrow first grazed the deer was felt to be the owner of the carcass, whether or not he had actually made the kill. In the Upper Sacramento region the deer-head decoy was used, a recognized bor- rowing from the Shasta to the north. Farther south the antlers alone were used occasionally as a method of decoying, but fear was expressed that they served simply to attract bears. Deer pits were also reported; but if they were used, it was only rarely. Deer caught in snares were handled with particular magico-religious precautions. The men carried the carcass to the dwelling, outside of which the animal was skijnned and quartered. The meat was brought into the dwelling through a rear entrance made by removing a part of the bark covering, because women might have contaminated the ordinary en- trance with menstrual fluid. This is an interesting commentary on the fact that the ideological isolation of women during menstruation may have lapsed in actual practice. The floor of the house was covered with evergreen boughs to receive the meat. The men then carefully washed off any blood stains and entered the house to finish cutting up the animal. The meat was passed to the women, who stood outside and distributed it to the women of other households. If the family which had procured the deer wished to give a feast, little or no meat was distributed in this fashion. Instead it was cooked and the men of the local group were invited to the feast. After they had finished, the remnants were given to their families. A special fir poker called klapum was used to stir the fire over which deer meat was cooked. Regulations concerning the consumption of deer meat were as follows: Heads roasted separately. Forbidden to young women. Old might eat of the head meat but not in conjunction with salt, water, or hot mush; only with cold mush. Remains were covered with rocks. All who ate head meat washed their hands in a container and the water was poured over the rocks. Lower jaw of skull was cleaned and hung in tree to attract more deer. Sinews forbidden to young men. If they ate sinew it would shine at night and the grizzly bears would see them. Each boy also forbidden to eat any part of first deer he killed. 9 10 University of California Publicationm in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Uppermost ribs forbidden to young people. In women this meat would interfere with parturition. In men it might affect their wives at childbirth. Young women forbidden meat from the flank; it might stretch their abdomens when they were pregnant. Young women forbidden entrails; they might prevent proper parturition. Paunch might give young women premature wrinkles; forbidden to them. The foetus and uterus forbidden to all but old women, who ate them raw. Ovaries (tcatetcate) eaten only by old people. Various procedures for cooking deer were employed. Paunch cleaned and filled with blood and chunks of fat. Roasted in hot ashes. To point at it while it cooked would make it burst. Children usually sent away during the roast- ing. After paunch began to shrivel it was roasted very slowly. When cooked through, it was cut into pieces and eaten. Guts straightened and untangled while still warm. Emptied and eaten first. Sinews cut out lengthwise; adhering meat stripped off with teeth. Meat roasted in strips on hot coals. Slices from hams pounded with a small pestle (satak), dampened with water, and wrapped around a clean hot rock. Resulting bundle laid in hot coals with folded edges of meat underneath; then covered with coals. Meat, when "dry and nice," taken from coals, a little water sprinkled on edges to make them unfold, and rock removed. Roasted meat usually eaten with acorn soup. Men hunting in hills might simply roast whole side or a quarter over fire. Meat often only partly cooked. This described by feminine informant with considerable disdain for lack of culinary nicety as "hunter's way of cooking." Such a feast was not attended by women; called malibas. Meat sometimes steamed by placing a little water and hot rocks in cooking-basket. Meat strips laid on rocks. Basketry tray used to cover cooking-basket and retain steam. Deer hides stretched out taut with rocks as weights; fleshed and used for bedding or clothing. Hair retained if good. (For tanning see section on Craftsmen.) Invitations for a communal deer hunt could be issued by any enterprising individual. Its duration was specified, and is said to have been usually about three days. All the people gathered in a place where the deer were observed to have been numerous. In the center of the camping place a brush shelter was erected for the leader and the young men. Brush houses for families were put up around it. Snares might be set on the game trails. Powers4 reports that deer were directed into the snares by passageways of bark tied from one tree to another. The scent of human beings on the bark drove the deer forward and, by frightening them, kept them from breaking out of the prearranged path- way. On the morning of the hunt the men were aroused by a cry from the leader, and all rushed to a creek to bathe. The women began at once to prepare acorn meal. The snares were visited and any animals which had been trapped were shot. The deer were then skinned and quartered, and each man was given a load to carry back to camp. There the meat was divided in the manner pre- viously described. The man who carved the meat was usually the leader of the hunt. As he sliced it up he tossed pieces to his companions and, in his endeavor to appear generous, often found himself with the smallest portion. A communal hunt might also take the form of a deer drive. The less skilled persons, including women and children, moved from the mouth of a canyon 4 Powers, Stephen, Tribes of California, CNAE 3:241-242, 1877. Du Bo,i8: Wintu Ethnography toward its head, beating the brush and shouting. Dogs5 were trained to assist in the chase. At the head of the canyon the best marksmen were posted to shoot the animals as they were driven toward them. Bear hunting.-Brown bears (tcil) were usually hunted in the fall when they were fat and sluggish. Nosono village on the upper McCloud was a favorite spot for such hunts. The one who called the hunt used a circumlocu- tion, such as "Let us visit our friends." Similarly, if bear tracks were seen the comment was made, "Here is one of my people," or "I see that my friend has been here." To get a bear three or four men went at night with a torch to a den. Into it the bravest man crawled and, if he were fortunate, killed the bear with a short spear or bow and arrow before it emerged. If the bear were only aroused by the torch, the man's companions slew it as it left the den. Some- times a single hunter smoked a bear to death in its den. Bear pits were used also by individual hunters. If trees were cut down in the vicinity of a den, bears were thought to avoid that lair for two or three years. After the animal was slain, it was quartered and taken to camp where the men feasted on it. The man who initiated the hunt, and not the actual slayer, was host on this occasion. Bear meat was considered too greasy to be dried, so it was usually consumed without delay. If a piece of meat were dropped, the people were required to dodge as though avoiding a blow from the bear. Stillwater people refused to eat any kind of bear meat. After the feast the young men made a square frame on which the hide was stretched. The frame was propped in an upright position against a tree to facilitate the scraping, which was done by women with stone flakes. They stood in front of the hide, jumping up and down and grunting like bears as they scraped. Everyone gathered about them and special bear songs were sung. Those who did not sing accompanied the dancers with a "Hu, hu !" The women danced and sang more than the men. The festivity was hilarious and lasted all night. Toward morning, one or two young men donned the bear hide, which was now thoroughly fleshed, and danced about in it imitating the bear. Their antics provoked merriment. This was also the occasion for making requests of the bear. If the animal were a female, a woman might seize its right paw and say, "Give me your skill in basketmaking"; or, grasping an ear, she might wish for its earrings. If the bear were a male, a young man might say, "I want the belt that you wear"; or, "I want to handle things as you did in your young days, have strength and plenty of bows and arrows." Children also were given the opportunity to ask for any skill or good fortune for which they might wish. Both brown and grizzly bear hides were greatly prized as burial shrouds. Brown bears were hunted communally like deer. Young people beat the brush and shouted "No uni !" to drive the bear up to the canyon's head, where marksmen were posted. These were the older and more experienced hunters. A watchman was posted high at the canyon's head to observe the movements 5 Dogs (suku): prewhite; described as "small like a wire-haired terrier, but looked like a police dog." Equivalent of "sick 'em" was maiya. Not given proper names; desig- nated by kinship term, such as aunt, uncle. Raw fish, especially salmon, believed poisonous to them. 11 12 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. of the bear and warn the marksmen. Dogs were employed to assist in such drives. Since the undertaking entailed a certain amount of danger, the shaman's prophecies on the night preceding the hunt were listened to with particular respect (see Shamanism). His statements might take the following form: "So-and-so (giving a proper name), who is standing on a certain rock in the stream, has dropped his pipe." This was interpreted as meaning that the person named would lose his life. Or he might say, "This woman has broken her root" (i.e.,in the basketwhich shewas making) ,which meant that a female bear would be killed; or, "This woman's children are crying," which signified that a she bear with cubs would be dispatched; or, "They will never get up too early for him," which indicated that no bear would be killed on the following day. Grizzly bears (wima) were feared far more than brown bears and their flesh was never eaten. It was allowed to rot in situ. The reason given for not consuming the flesh was that grizzlies ate human beings and to eat grizzlies in turn would be akin to cannibalism. Powers" says, concerning the Wintu atti- tude toward grizzlies: Wicked Indians' ghosts . . . return into the grizzly bear, for that is the most evil and odious animal they can conceive of. Hence they will not partake of the flesh of a grizzly, lest they should absorb some wicked soul. The strongest cursing with which a Wintun can eurse another is, "May the grizzly bear eat youl" or, "May the grizzly bear bite your father's head off!" This belief in transmigration of souls seems no longer to be in vogue, but the secondary reasoning obtained recently is as efficient in explaining their dis- taste for grizzly bear meat and is, incidentally, more in consonance with the views of European culture. If the two reports are accurate they form a nice example of progressive acculturation in rationalizing a trivial, but deep- rooted attitude. In Bald Hills no festivities followed the killing of a grizzly. However, in the other subareas the hide was treated in the same general fashion as was that of the brown bear, and was prized even more highly as a pelt. While the hide was being fleshed, scraped-off pieces of meat sometimes were thrown about. Anyone who was hit was supposed to go at once to the river and bathe. The general hilarity and horseplay which accompanied the scraping of the hide might possibly be interpreted as a cathartic against the fear which a live grizzly engendered. Also in the course of the evening the head of the animal was laid in front of a solitary singer who accompanied himself with a split- stick rattle. The dancer was a young and active man who pantomimed the kill- ing of the grizzly. He dodged back and forth striking at the head of the animal while the rest of the company sat around in a circle and watched the performance. Young men were warned not to boast of slaying a bear or in the future bears would watch for an opportunity to kill them. To protect himself from being caught by a bear, a man held his face over a fire in which burning bark sent off a shower of sparks. If he withstood the pain, bears would thereafter see sparks I Powers, op. oit., 240. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography emanating from his face and take flight. The following anecdote illustrates the fate of young men who boast incautiously of killing a bear. In the village at Ono (Bald Hills) they decided to have a bear war. They told the young men to go to the mountains and get a bear. One young man said he would get a grizzly by the head and kill him. The others told him not to dare the bear. He said: "That's all right. I'll catch him and kill him." The next morning they set out early. The people drove the bear. They warned that young man. Everyone was afraid and didn't dare shoot the bear. The bear caught the young man. They lost him. When they got home they counted the young fellows. The chief asked if everyone got home safely. He "preached" to them. He "called the roll." That young fellow was missing. Everyone said they had run because the bear was a grizzly. So the doctor went into a trance and asked why that young fellow hadn't come home. He said that the young fellow was behind in the brush and had been caught because he boasted. He said all one side of him had been eaten. That night they went to look for him with torches. All the next day they looked. The doctor asked the spirits again. They told him where to look and the body was found where they said it was, half eaten. Then the people were angry. They hunted the bear for two days and at last they killed it. They skinned it. The mother of the boy brought the head and the guts of that grizzly back to camp. She cried and cried. She stretched his guts all around the fire, she was so mad at him. She stood on the neek, took hold of the ears, and made him act as though he were chewing. She punished him by throwing hot coals in his mouth. You must never say you are going to eat or kill a bear. Just say you are going to meet him. Rabbit hunting.-In the Bald Hills subarea, communal rabbit drives were held. In the northern subareas the custom seems to have been lacking, possibly because of the heavier brush- and tree covering of the more northerly sections as well as the more abrupt terrain. This ethnogeographical situation has its psychological parallel in the distaste which some northerners express for rab- bit meat. In a rabbit drive snares were set, and near each one a man with a club stationed himself. The rabbits were driven toward the lines of snares, and as the animals were caught they were clubbed and the traps reset. The use of nets to catch rabbits was known among the Wintun but seems not to have been employed by the Wintu. All the rabbits procured were taken back to camp, where they were divided. The hides were not saved because the drives were held in summer and the pelts were considered too poor for use. The hair was singed off, the entrails and larger bones were removed, the carcass was pounded with a flat rock and laid on coals to roast. Then the men feasted apart from the women. Three or four such drives were held in a season and were accompanied by dancing and gambling. These drives, like other gatherings, were occasions for matchmaking and philandering. In fact, one informant suggested that these were the chief purposes of the drives. Rabbits caught by individuals were roasted in the manner described, or boiled. The meat was then put in a hopper and pounded into a doughy mass which was rolled in balls and distributed. Other small game.-Bald Hills people said that quail were caught in nets. This may have been a Wintun procedure in which the inhabitants of Bald Hills participated, rather than an actual Wintu trait. Gophers and other small rodents were caught in snares set before their holes. Small rodents, especially mice (tcude), were also caught in deadfalls-two flat rocks propped apart by -13 14 University of Californmi Publications in Ain. Arch. and Ethn. an acorn which is parched and scraped thin. Gnawing through the acorn, the rodent released the upper rock and was crushed under it. Ground squirrels (titcdlis) were caught in winter by stopping up most of their holes and then pouring water in the others. As the animal emerged it was clubbed. Those which escaped were chased by the dogs. Smoke was fanned into their burrows with similar results. A dozen squirrels were considered a good catch for a day's effort. In the spring gray squirrels (xaisas) were hunted with slings, or one man climbed a tree and frightened them out while another stood ready to shoot them with a bow and arrow. Wood rats (Lamus) were usually hunted in winter when they were sluggish. They were shot or clubbed as they emerged after the nest had been disturbed with a stick. The house might also be dis- turbed by jumping on it. To shout, "Lol, lol, lol" (tobacco), would help to bring the rats out. Birds were shot from small brush shelters made near springs or other places where birds were plentiful. This was for the most part an occupation in which the young boys engaged. They used blunt arrows with- out obsidian points. Small game was generally cooked in the following manner. It was singed, the paws and tail were cut off, and the entrails removed. The animal was then roasted in a bed of hot coals. Then the hide might or might not be removed. The head was cut off and the ribs extracted along with the other large bones. The body was then pounded, bones and all, until it was fine and crumbly. Sometimes the pounding was done before roasting. Grasshoppers.-Grasshoppers (neput) were obtained by burning off large grass patches. Two or three villages might participate in a drive, and then the inevitable singing and dancing formed part of the occasion. Drives might be undertaken also by four or five individuals. The grass was set with torches three to five feet long made of dry wormwood (xeti) or of devils' stems (?) (mumxupus) tied into bundles. These torches were prepared a day or two be- forehand. The grassy area was encircled by people who sang and danced as they whipped the grass and drove the grasshoppers into a center ring. The grass within the narrowed circle was then fired. After the blaze had subsided, men and women combed the ground for the insects, now partly roasted and with wings singed off. Each person carried on his back a close-twined conical burden basket supported by a tumpline which passed around the forehead or the upper chest. He picked up the grasshoppers and tossed them back over his shoulder into the basket. The grasshoppers were boiled in baskets, put on basketry trays to dry, and then either eaten at once or mashed in a hopper and stored. They were eaten with salt as a side dish when acorn mush was served. Since the arrival of the whites, grasshoppers have been obtained by driving them into trenches in which the insects are roasted in a grass fire. No further cooking is thought necessary. A large black "grasshopper" (cricket ?) called tcekemit was got from hollow logs. These were roasted and then winnowed in a basketry tray. They were eaten without further preparation. A great variety of grasshoppers or related insects were recognized and used as subsidiary foods. Du Bowi: Wintu Ethnography Salmon flies (pis) .-These insects swarm on the river's edge for a few days in April. They are gathered early in the morning before their wings are strong enough to permit flight. They are either boiled, or, if they are plentiful enough, dried for winter use. They are considered a great delicacy. FISHING Chinook salmon ran freely in the McCloud and Sacramento rivers. In the mid- dle of May the heavier spring run set in. It continued until October. The fall run began in the middle of October and lasted until December. The average size was approximately twenty pounds, although occasional fish weighed as much as sixty-five and seventy pounds. The salmon were usually four years old, but sometimes the two-year-old males called grills mounted the river. In the upper reaches of the Trinity river, steelhead replaced the salmon of the other two major Wintu streams. Throughout the area suckers were found in rivers and creeks, but were generally considered inferior to salmon as food. They averaged in weight from one-quarter pound to four pounds. These three fish formed the chief flesh diet of the Wintu, except in the Bald Hills subarea. Salmon.-There was no trace of a first-salmon ceremony. The year's fishing was forecast, it was thought, by the extent of the rock slide on Lime rock, which rises above the junction of the Pit and McCloud rivers. A large slide foretold a plentiful supply of fish. In midsummer large communal fishing drives were undertaken on the McCloud and Sacramento rivers. The relatively warm water of the Pit river was felt to make its fish less desirable. The last communal drive was held at Baird, about 1886. A net was stretched across the the river. Men with torches waded downstream driving the fish into the net. Sometimes it was necessary to swim with the torches, a skill which only a few possessed, so that the same persons were repeatedly chosen for the task. In smaller drives no net was stretched across the river, but individuals with dip nets accompanied the torchbearers and scooped out the salmon. The fish were clubbed and strung on a grapevine rendered pliable by twisting. The fishing continued all night and several hundred might be got at one time. In the morn- ing the leader divided the catch. If several villages were present, as they were during the large midsummer drives, he simply divided the fish among the leaders of each local group, who in turn gave each adult male his share. As in deer drives, the leader divided the spoil so generously that he himself was often without any; but, according to one informant, he usually provided other males within his family group with a quantity large enough to ensure no hard- ship for himself. Next day the women prepared the night's catch. The spring catch was usually not dried as soon as caught, because it was so rich in oil. Instead, the fish were baked. Two or three families might join in preparing a pit, which was lined with stones. The stones were heated. On them the fish were spread in rows in which each fish was laid head to tail alongside of its neighbor. They were then covered with more hot rocks and allowed to bake for a few hours. When they were removed, as many as were desired were eaten and those which remained were boned and flaked. As the fish dried out 15 16 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. it was pulverized into a salmon flour (dayi). The salmon caught later in the year were said to be less greasy and therefore more suitable for immediate drying. The fish was split open and held in that position by a twig. Another willow twig was thrust through the flesh and used to fasten the fish to a long pole. Many salmon were strung on each pole and dried in the sun. When they were dry enough they were folded in four pieces-head to tail and flank to flank-and stored for the winter. The heads, guts, tails, and bones were also dried and then pounded into a fine flour for winter use. Salmon flour was stored in wide baskets which narrowed toward the top and were lined with maple leaves. Dried roe and pine nuts were mixed in with the salmon flour. This food was a valuable article of trade among the McCloud Wintu. It was ex- changed principally for salt and clam-disk moneywith the peoples to the south. Individual fishing was usually done with a harpoon, either from the bank or from a salmon house. Although there seem to have been no formalized property rights for fishing sites, it was understood that individuals had liens on certain places. Powers7 says concerning these places: For a fishing station the Wintun ties together two stout poles in a cross, plants it in deep water, then lays a log out to it from the shore. Standing here, silent and motionless ... with spear poised in the air, he sometimes looks upon so great a multitude of black- backed salmon . . . that he could scareely thrust his spear down without transfixing one or more. Salmon fishing was often done at night. Then a torch was set near the water's edge to attract the fish. Two persons generally shared the work, one of them manipulating the torch. Where salmon houses (see Houses) were built, they were recognized as be- longing to certain family groups. This private ownership was considerably mitigated by the fact that anyone might visit the owner while he was fishing and expect a present of salmon, so that the fisherman might find himself with very little by the end of the day. This system was called mikaya, from kaya, to steal. A Bald Hills informant reported that salmon houses extended only as far south on the Sacramento as Jelly's Ferry, that is, about six miles south of the mouth of Cottonwood creek, and on the border between Wintu and Wintun territories. Women usually avoided salmon houses, although old women sometimes ac- companied their husbands to the huts. They never fished from them, however, nor wielded the harpoon. No conservative man would fish if his wife were menstruating. The river-dwelling Wintu in the Bald Hills area used to invite the hill dwellers to communal fish drives. This was the only source of salmon for the latter, although occasional individuals traveled from the hills to the river for a two or three days' fishing trip. Obviously, salmon could not be considered a staple among them, as it could among the people to the north. In Bald Hills, salmon flour was obtained only by trade. 7 Powers, op. cit., 233. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography Steelheads.-The methods of catching steelheads in the Upper Trinity sub- area were not recorded in detail, but they seem to have been approximately the same as those employed to catch salmon on the McCloud and Sacramento. Suckers.-These less desirable fish were caught in drives during August, in the creeks and the shallow waters of large rivers. In order to get them, a wing of brush weighed down with rocks was built out from each bank. These pointed diagonally downstream and a small opening two or three feet wide was left in midstream between them. Across the opening a net was stretched. Men then waded downstream driving the fish before them by shouting and throwing stones. The fish were caught in the retaining net. In rocky creeks, wings of stone were constructed. These drives were held in the morning. The day's fish- ing might be inaugurated by a race between the young men, who dashed naked from the camp to the net which was to be stretched across the mouth of the weir. After the morning's fishing the catch was divided by the leader as in the salmon drives. The rest of the day was spent in drying the fish, feasting, and gambling. Suckers were also caught by individuals in the ways described below. Chil- dren on the McCloud were given miniature harpoons and urged to spear suckers as their elders speared salmon. In Bald Hills, where fish were rarer, adults would spear small fish in all seriousness; to the north this was mostly a child's activity. Other fish and methods of catching them.-Small fish like trout and white- fish were sometimes caught with a fishhook made of two thorns tied together to form an acute angle or of a nasal bone of a deer. The latter was semioval in form and needed very little fashioning. Lines were made of twisted iris-leaf fibers. Trout were thought to be summoned by the following song: Hallo, hallo Trout which are in deep holes everywhere To the north, to the east, to the west, to the south, Gather together. Fish poisoning was also employed in smaller streams where more or less isolated pools could be found or created with a rough stone dam. Preferably the process was carried on in summer when the water was low. The poison chiefly used was soaproot (sakas); and another the Indians identified as gin- seng (klarat). Buckeye was not used as a fish poison. Men were responsible for digging the roots. These were pounded on flat rocks awash on the edge of a stream. A pool might require a whole morning of pounding. By mid- afternoon the stunned fish began to float on the surface. These were put in a carrying-basket and taken to camp. A large conical basket filled with fish was a good haul. By the next morning more fish had been affected by the poison and could be collected. Small fish were also caught in traps. (For a description of traps see Artifacts, Tools.) A method of cooking small fish was to lay them uncleaned on hot rocks, preferably slate slabs. The fish were then salted and covered with other hot rocks. When cooked they were scraped loose and eaten. If there were a suffi- 17 18 University of California Pu4blications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. cient supply left over, the cooked fish were dried in the sun and stored for the winter in baskets. During the winter these dried fish were boiled before eating. Another method of preparing small fish was to clean them by splitting them open along the backbone and laying the flesh back so that the bones and guts could be removed. They were not split up the belly. Chaparral brush was preferred for roasting fuel. Mussels or clams were got by diving to the bottom of rivers. They seem in some places to have been plentiful enough to permit small group undertak- ings. The shellfish were either roasted or boiled to open the shell, and the meat was either consumed at once or, if the supply were sufficiently plentiful, dried in flat basketry trays for winter use. VEGETABLE FOODS Procuring vegetable foods was chiefly the responsibility of the women. This does not mean that men took no part in it, but simply that their labors were subsidiary, just as women's labors were subsidiary in obtaining and preparing flesh foods. Acorn gathering.-If a man wandering in the mountains discovered a tree heavily laden with acorns and believed that no one else was likely to find it, he claimed the whole tree and established his right by encircling the trunk with sticks leaned diagonally against it. If the tree was likely to be found by others, he might mark off only a single heavily loaded branch by leaning a single stick against the trunk under the branch claimed. If another man had previously observed the tree but had failed to mark it, he could now remove one stick and place his own there; but he must pay the original marker. When acorns were ready to be gathered the family or the local group went into the hills. Green acorns were thought to make a "nice smooth white sticky" soup, whereas ripe acorns which had fallen to the ground were less desirable because they made a "dark soup." Men climbed the trees and shook off the acorns. The women picked them up and removed the cups with their teeth. One tree at a time was stripped. One large tree or two small ones constituted a day's work. The unshelled acorns were carried back to camp, the men assisting. In the evening all gathered to shell acorns. It was in the nature of a social event. Nuts were cracked with the teeth, once lengthwise and once crosswise; or they were broken with a stone hammer on an anvil. It was estimated that one person could shell a gunnysackful in an evening. If acorns were scarce, groups might make forays upon neighboring terri- tories. Such an incident is described under War. During gathering expedi- tions one woman was appointed each day to remain in camp and turn over the acorns which were being dried in the sun. In return she received her share of the amount gathered. Acorns were stored in bark-lined pits. In Bald Hills a chaparral bush was spread open with sticks, the whole lashed into shape with grapevines, and the interior lined with evergreen boughs. This type of cache was called DI kulus and was used like the others for unshelled acorns. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Preparation of acorns.-Younger women of faxmily pounded acorns; olde'r ones sifted meal. To pound, woman seated herself on ground, with hopper between legs. She steadied it by resting calves of legs on either side of basket; wielded pestle with right hand; left hand stirred the coarse meal under pestle after each downstroke (pl. 2a). Layer of meal kept between pestle and rock. Sifting done with flat basketry disk (see Basketry) held slantingly between the two hands. Upper hand shook disk, which was held lightly be- tween thumb and finger tips. Coarser meal, called ti (teeth), was dislodged and fell back into hopper. Fine meal adhered to disk because of greasy consistency. Was then swept off into separate basket. Process might be repeated twice. Flour sifted finer for soup than bread. Bread flour compared to corn meal; soup flour likened to refined wheat flour. Meal leached in sand pits (altetci): "white-" or "blue-" oak (1) acorns for approximately two hours, black-oak acorns for four to six hours. For acorn soup, meal placed in basket and boiled with hot smooth round rocks about size of tennis balls. These saved from one occasion to another. Women always on the lookout for suitable stones. Four or five rocks placed in basket. As soup boiled, stirred with wooden paddle. When well cooked, rocks removed and wiped off with index finger. Mush divided among members of local groups; eaten from small baskets by dipping first two fingers and licking them clean. This called by onomatopoeic term, LUp. Soup thick from long standing called pata. Patwin were believed by Wintu to thin soup to drinking consistency. Spoons not used. For acorn bread black-oak and valley-oak acorn meal preferable. For black-oak bread, flour leached for one day in sand pit; removed and dried. Flour adjacent to sand put in water and sand allowed to settle out. To bake bread, rock-lined pit heated for nearly one day; rocks then covered with maple leaves; damp flour patted into this pit oven and covered with leaves, dirt, and rocks; finally fire built over pit. Allowed to cook all night, next morning bread done. Was of a rich, greasy consistency; would keep for months. Distributed, like other foods, to all members of local group. A baking considered necessary every week or two. Valley-oak acorns, to be used for bread, put in water to mold. The moldier, the more tasty the bread was considered. Then acorns pounded into coarse flour. Red earth col- lected from gopher holes soaked in water. Resulting reddish liquid mixed with flour to make stiff batter. No leaching of meal necessary. For baking, large center pit dug with series of smaller ones around it. Batter allowed to bake all night. One woman appointed to remove bread (sau) in morning. All gathered then with much merrymaking and hilarity except on part of baker. The bread black in color; its darkness a measure of its palatability. Successful cook requested to bake at dances or meets, a mark of distinction in which women took pride. Black bread was specialty of Stillwater subarea where red earth was plentiful, but made in other regions also. Food articles.-The following list of foods makes no pretense of being com- plete, but it does represent the major articles of vegetable diet. The botanical identifications were made by the local Indians and may be subject to revision. Acorns (iwe; shelled acorns, tliLe) .-Black-oak acorns (penel): Considered best. Plenti- ful throughout Wintu territory. Allowed to mold, then soaked with pine needles for week or two until sweet, boiled and eaten as relish; is a lumpy soup. Molded ones not made into flour, that is, not pounded. Soup (yiwit) and bread made of black-oak acorns (see above). "White-" or "blue-" oak (?) acorns (ya kila): Used as much as penel. Plentiful on lower McCloud river. Employed when green. Sweet, need little leaching. Used chiefly for soup but also for bread. Scrub-oak acorns (pom tliLe): Used as above. Found chiefly on upper McCloud and in mountains. Gathered green, chiefly when penel and yokila crops poor. Gum (pom tliLe kurkur) gathered in fall and eaten as candy. 19 20 University of California Publications in An. Arch. and Ethn. Post-oak acorns (teeke tliLe): Found chiefly in high mountains. Flour used for soup and bread. Needs little leaching. Valley-oak acorns (sule): Need little leaching. Flour used for soup and bread. Live-oak acorns (tasal): Not used unless other acorns scarce. Preserved in seepage holes covered with bark and rock for six or eight months. Then called kas. When they fell naturally into water and soaked, called memuibut, considered tastier. After latter type of leaching, were boiled in shell, shelled, eaten whole. Said to taste like pound cake. Buckeye (yonot).-Found throughout Wintu territory but reputed more plentiful in northern section. Wherever they abounded, were most important vegetable staple after acorns. Gathered in fall when stripe appears on husk indicating they are about to burst. Gathered chiefly by women. Preparation: Roasted in pit. When meat mashes out, con- sidered cooked. Squeezed into baskets and mashed further with feet: one foot in basket, body balanced with stick. When creamy, placed in sand pit and leached until white and odorless; about one day sufficient. Then made into soup in same way as acorns. Unshelled, might be stored for winter in seepage hole lined with fern; slow leaching process. Dug out and used as needed in spring. Called yalumes, the-ones-left. Whole shelled fruit some- times stored for winter. Might need week or more of soaking in creek when leached whole rather than as flour. Those which lay ungathered all winter might be collected in spring. Then needed only two or three days of leaching. Were made into bread. Those which rotted while lying ungathered during winter made into soup called tciwil yiwit (lizard soup). Buckeye mash mixed with pounded hen-and-chickens used as poultice. Manzanita berries (pai).-Most plentiful in Stillwater region, but found throughout area. Manzanita bush called pakami. Burden basket hung around neck, branches shaken over basket. Berries pounded into coarse flour, dampened, next morning dried and parched with hot rocks. Winnowed. Fine flour boiled with water and made into sweetish soup. Coarser part, consisting mostly of seeds, soaked in water and made into "cider." Cider consumed before fermentation. Fermentation made it "go bad." Drunk by dipping in container deer's tail tied to stick and sucking deer's tail. "Indian potatoes."-A number of tubers are subsumed under this generic term, some of which are: Pussy's ears (poLoi): Gathered in May. Found throughout territory. About size of finger tip. Snake's head (xala): Gathered in May. Found throughout territory. Tcubui: Gathered after blooming in June. Some stored for winter eating. Also used as paste for sinew of bows, and to bind paint pigments when used on bows. Miscellaneous foods.-Clover (tsaruk): Many varieties gathered. Eaten raw in spring when tender, often sprinkled with salt. Also steamed by placing hot rocks in basket, lay- ing clover on them, sprinkling both with water. Miner's lettuce: Same data as for clover. Skunk-bush berries (pintus): Pounded into flour. Eaten dry or with water stirred in. Not cooked. Indian rhubarb (sotus): Plentiful along streams. Stems peeled and eaten raw like celery in spring when tender. Thought beneficial to kidneys. Roots roasted in winter. Leaves used as impromptu drinking cups. Wild spinach (paxeni): Leaves eaten as spring green. Tiger-lily bulbs (tlereu): Bulbs roasted during winter. Not used after plant had begun spring growth. Two varieties-swamp and mountain. Wild onion: Variety called pur eaten in May. Variety known as wimai pur (grizzly- bear onion) not very plentiful and not eaten. Service berries (ta): Gathered in summer. Hazel nuts (top): Gathered in hills during July and August. Hulled at leisure in vil- lage by hand, or by beating nuts with willow switch. Shelled during evenings like acorns. Stored, often in same container as pine nuts. Du Bois: Wintus Ethnography Digger-pine nuts: Unripe ones (xisi) eaten late in May, unshelled. Ripe ones (teati) gathered in autumn; stored shelled or unshelled; eaten with acorn soup. Sugar-pine nuts (sumu): Only ripe ones gathered in fall. Group went to mountains, men climbed trees and switched down cones. Cone roasted point downward to force opening, then pounded point downward on rock, or over container into which nuts fell. Winnowed. Usually deer hunting carried on simultaneously. Nuts boiled to remove pitch flavor. Stored in baskets lined with maple leaves. Eaten with salmon flour in which dried salmon eggs were also mixed. Sugar-pine resin (sumukurkur) gathered summer mornings before it melted. Eaten as candy. Wild grapes (uyul): Placed in small basket and mashed. If too sour, sweet manzanita flour mixed with them. Eaten just before fermentation. Seeds: Gathered most abundantly in Bald Hills, but also in other areas. Women beat seeds with seedbeaters into twined carrying-baskets held in left hands. Two seeds known to informant, "sunflower" and "cotton flower" (salal). Latter a specialty of Bald Hills. Traded to north for fish and acorns. Many "grasses" gathered. No generic name for them. Eaten as greens when tender. Inner bark of yellow pine resorted to as food during hard winters. Medicaments.-Pennyroyal (toslalas): Blossoms made into a tea for colds. Oregon grape: Roots steeped in water; concoction drunk as blood purifier. Soaproot: Pounded into mash and applied as poultice on poison oak; also used as fish poison (see Fishing). Milkweed (koroti): White juice of stalks used for poison oak and warts; fiber used for string (see Tools). Salt (weL).-Winter's supply obtained during summer dryness. Scraped or brushed from salt deposits. One informant said cattle have consumed once plentiful supply. Most bountiful in Stillwater. Was too rare for McCloud people to use lavishly, especially on upper reaches of river. In Bald Hills, deposit four miles from Horsetown was chief source. Small switch of twigs (weL sik) used to brush it up: three or four inches long, lashed at top with withe, made in situ, discarded after use. Salt used on raw clover, grasshoppers, occasionally in acorn mush, manzanita cider. Not eaten.-Sturgeon, dog, birds' eggs, angleworms. There seems to have been no feel- ing that dogs were particularly poisonous. Young lamprey eels not eaten, thought poison- ous. Stepping on one in river mud believed to be almost as harmful as snake bite. CRAFTSMEN AND SPECIAIJSTS Craftsmanship among the Wintu was only fortuitously a matter of heredity. There was no institution resembling the Patwin functional families.8 A man became a craftsman not because his father was one, nor because he had dreamed that he must, but simply because his inclinations and his opportuni- ties of learning from another led him to make bows and arrows, ropes, nets, and the few other simple objects required in daily life. A person so skilled did not necessarily give himself entirely to manufacture. On the other hand, many hunters and fishermen were quite capable of making their own equipment and frequently did. Syke Mitchell's father was chief in a village of thirty to fifty people. Syke reported that of the men, approximately four specialized in fishing, which meant that they made their own spear poles, nets, and traps, some were hunters, others were messengers, while the most worthless individuals were 8 McKern, W. C., Functional families of the Patwin, UC-PAAE 13:235-258, 1922. 21 22 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. "good only to get wood." None of the men occupied himself exclusively with his specialty. A neighboring chief, Kaltcululi, was the most noted craftsman of the McCloud area, at the end of the nineteenth century. He was lame and at the age of fifteen or sixteen years became a maker of artifacts. His son, Perrin C. Radcliff, says he remembers his father making bows and arrows, arrow- and spear points, moccasins, nets, rope, quivers, salmon spears, tanned hides, and fish traps. All these accomplishments the chief had learned from watching the older people. He kept many of his productions for his own use since he hunted and fished himself, but many were sold or rented to others. His son, however, felt that Kaltcululi was not a professional craftsman and seemed a little puzzled by the concept as applied to the Wintu, although he was familiar with it in white civilization. The following are men who lived in the last part of the nineteenth century and who possessed recognized craft ability. Upper Sacramento- Sedim seli was the outstanding craftsman of the upper Sacramento. His daughter gave the following account of his work: "I don't know how he started making things. He just watched others. When he was a boy he watched arrow-point makers. He prac- ticed on their chips. Pretty soon he began making things-arrow points, blankets, grass rope, grapevine ropes, men's carrying-baskets, fish traps, fish nets, anything he wanted. He made just enough for himself. He never lent or sold his things. He always went him- self to get obsidian at Glass mountain. He went to the Trinity mountains to get red and blue points." Teibi was a minor craftsman of the same area. He made rope and arrows and was referred to as a scraper or whittler. Klutcu was a ropemaker. MoCloud- Kaltcululi (see above; also Chiefs). Watcu was a ropemaker. Bald Hills- Loisyali was reputed by his nephew to have "sat around all day making fish nets, quivers, bows and arrows, and rabbitskin robes. He traded them to the Wintun for beads. Once he was paid almost one thousand clam-disk beads for a seine. He took bows and arrows to Turtle bay to trade for salmon. Four or five men went with him to carry back the fish. Then when he got home he divided the salmon up among the people." Xalit was a craftsman, shaman, and minor chief. The methods employed and the time consumed in the pursuit of crafts were commented upon by informants in the following manner: An arrowmaker required approximately six months to manufacture a set of twenty arrows. It was believed that the bite of a small brown lizard gave great proficiency in the craft. Some craftsmen were said to have permitted themselves to be bitten repeatedly in order to obtain the desired skill. It was estimated that it required three or four days to gather the materials necessary for a coil of rope (loptci) and that a week was required to roll the fibers. Women might assist in gathering the iris, which was preferred as cord- age material, and in shredding it, but only the men did the actual manu- facturing. Du* Bois: Wintu Ethnography In tanning, a hide was soaked in water, to which deer brains might be added. The skin was then pegged down and fleshed with "foam" stone (pumice ?). "That foam stone had something to do with it." The thoroughness and patience expended on fleshing was thought to determine the value of the hide. The skin was next worked between the hands. Fox and other valuable pelts were said not to have been soaked but simply fleshed and worked between the hands. Occasionally gray-squirrel pelts were tanned. In Bald Hills a tree-moss smudge was used to color the hides; a black-oak, live-oak, or white oak smudge was believed to produce a brown -color of successively lighter shades. Only old women might assist occasionally in tanning. The fleshing of bear hides by women is described under Hunting. Descriptions of the other articles manu- factured by craftsmen will be found in the section on Artifacts. A detailed account of stone working and several related topics is given in an article by Redding.9 In addition to the few individuals distinguished as craftsmen, it must not be forgotten that every individual was more or less capable of satisfying his own needs. The destruction of property at burials necessitated a constant refurnishing of artifacts. One has but to consider, for example, that Anne Griffen buried with her son five of her ten ropes. DIVISION OF LABOR In summary of the preceding sections a brief discussion of the division of labor between the sexes is pertinent. Women were the providers of vegetable foods although men helped them in gathering acorns. The men's share of the task was to mark the trees, climb them to shake down the nuts, and help in carrying the loads back to camp. In the evening the young men and women shelled the acorns together; this seems to have been more or less a social gathering. Women were expected to carry water. When traveling, both sexes shared in carrying paraphernalia. One informant, Wash Fan, paid tribute to the carry- ing powers of the women in the following account: "Once everybody was out getting acorns. There was a big carrying-basket full of them that two men couldn't lift. A woman came along, squatted down, put the tumpline over her head and carried it off." Women were also responsible for the preparation of food and the gathering of fuel. However, men might help in the latter occupa- tion by felling trees and breaking up the larger logs. Women assisted in house building by collecting the lighter materials and carrying away the earth re- moved from pits. Men provided the animal foods which entailed hunting, snaring, and fishing. Social pressure demanded that they be good providers. Also men were the makers of bows and arrows, fishing apparatus, and the like. On the other hand, women had the all-important craft of basket-weaving. The tanning of hides was chiefly men's work; the bear-hide ceremony presents an exception. Both 9 Redding, B. B., How our ancestors in the Stone Age made their implements, Am. Naturalist, 13:669-674, 1879. 23 24 University of California Publications in Aim. Arch. and Ethn. sexes made clothing, but work in skins was felt to be chiefly a masculine re- sponsibility. On the whole the work seems to have been fairly equally distributed between the sexes. The dichotomy of labors based on vegetable as opposed to flesh foods was one in which responsibility, even more than activity, dominated. Yet both male and female informants felt that women used to do more work than men. Men more than once said: "In the old days the Indians didn't have to work." This statement may be due in part to the different concept of work introduced by the whites. Wash Fan further elaborated the remark with: "We just lay around and had fun. If some of the old people said to the young ones, 'Why don't you dance?' the young ones would get right up and dance. It's not like that now." TRADE AND VALUES The method most frequently used to obtain an exchange of property within the tribe was to ask for a gift. Thus, if an individual saw an object that he de- sired, he either admired it highly or asked outright for it. It was then pre- sented as a gift, but naturally with the tacit understanding that its equivalent would be returned at once or in the near future. Were a woman who was a poor basketmaker to see a handsome basket full of acorn meal, it was perfectly proper for her to indicate that she wished it. But within the space of a few months she was obligated to return the gift in kind or to return what she felt was an equivalent. Anne Griffen relates with some bitterness that Fanny Brown has a bad reputation as a beggar in the tribe. To illustrate her point she says that Fanny Brown came to visit her and gave her an open-twined carrying-basket and an open sifter-both coarse and little-prized baskets. Then Fanny hinted that she wished some dresses which white women had given Anne. Anne gave them in return but felt that she had fared badly in the bargain. Barter among men was carried on occasionally in terms of clam-disk money and dentalia, which were recognized as men's money. They were the only beads that men would wear. Women also owned both dentalia and clam disks, but baskets were their chief medium of exchange. Another form of exchange, which was virtually a form of rent, existed in connection with craftsmen who had greater than usual supplies of necessary objects. A ropemaker would lend a hunter a loptci of standard length (about fifteen feet), used to make a snare. If the hunter were successful he returned the rope with a portion of the deer meat or even with the hide. A deer hide, however, was often the equivalent of the direct purchase of a loptci. In other words, the rope owner expected a compensation commensurate with that of the men who had participated in the hunt. Large-scale exchange of food and goods took place at gatherings. Each sub- area brought its food specialties and after the feasting the surplus was divided among the departing guests. This custom is reported most frequently for girls' puberty dances, but it probably obtained for all gatherings. Dtu Boi8: Wintu Ethnography One informant more than eighty years old reported that he had twice wit- nessed the following type of trade. The French Gulch Wintu sent a messenger to the McCloud Wintu, who notified all families to collect as much salmon as they possibly could and to be at a given spot near Kennett at a stated time. The people from French Gulch met the McCloud people at this halfway rendezvous with flour and blankets. All supplies were spread out, exchanges between individuals or small groups were effected, and the people dispersed. The whole process lasted approximately an afternoon and evening. There seems to have been no appreciable trading of body paints, yew wood for bows, or obsidian. Most of these objects were procured from their original source by the individual desiring them. If obsidian were actually traded, it was usually for objects of considerable value, such as bows, arrows, and quivers. How large a piece such an equivalent would purchase was not determined. Foreign exchange was in all probability less developed than that between subareas. The Shasta Indians to the north were the source of the Wintu dentalia and some obsidian, in return for which deer hides and woodpeckers' scalps were given. Obsidian however was more often secured by the Wintu themselves on individual or small peaceful expeditions to Glass mountain in the north. Achomawi traded salt for McCloud salmon-flour. The Stillwater people and the Yana in the vicinity of Cow creek were also a source of salt for the Indians to the north and west. The clam-disk money owned by the Wintu sifted in from the south, and the farther north it went the more valu- able it became. The Bald Hills Wintu, however, did not invariably use clam- disk money to obtain the McCloud salmon, but employed also seeds and acorns as mediums. Powers states: When the Wintun [probably valley groups] were at peace with the mountaineers [Wintu among others 1], they ... [exchanged] dried salmon, clams, and shell money for bows, arrow-heads, manzanita berries, and wild flesh....11 Dentalium was prized throughout the tribe as an ornament. It was not so formalized as a medium of exchange as clam disks. Dentalia were said to be objects of trade from northern neighbors. The begging dance (sune) may not be considered a form of trade, but un- doubtedly it was a means of transferring property in food from one person to another. In Bald Hills the sune was sung and danced at a girl's puberty ceremony by a visiting group for the hosts, and the hosts then reciprocated. To the north the sune seems to have been more of an individual affair. (See Dances and Gatherings.) When a Wintu was asked what he considered towill (valuables, riches), the following list usually occurred to him: bow and arrows, elkskin armor, clam- disk money, fisher, martin, and otter skins, dentalia, bearskins, elkskins, quivers, woodcock heads, woodpecker scalps (the mountain woodpecker, bulli tarak, was considered the more valuable), obsidian knives, spears with ob- sidian tips, buckskins. The last four or five items were decidedly less valuable. The first four were always among those named by informants. 10 Powers, op. cit., 235. 11 Tuwa, to carry in hand. 25 26 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Clam-disk money (mempak or "water bone") was reported vaguely to come from the south or, more specifically, to come from Colusa county Indians (Patwin). Curtis'2 asserts that the Wintu obtained clam-disk money from the Yuki, the Yuki from the Pomo, and the Pomo from the Tomales bay Miwok. He also states that the Achomawi obtained both clam-disk beads and dentalia from the Wintu. The disks seen varied from one-fourth inch to one and one- eighth inches in diameter. Those of large size were called kubui or klom mempak. Generally strings were counted,13 not measured, although one in- formant knew vaguely the system of measuring strings by the length of out- stretched arms. He said that this system was used only for larger payments, such as those made for blood guilt, and was applied both to clam-disk and dentalium money. Thus the life of a young man was considered worth from two to five arm-lengths of either type of bead. The average bead was one- fourth inch in diameter, and by one informant was valued at one cent. How- ever, another informant showed a string of two hundred beads for which she had paid, she said, ten dollars, or five cents apiece. On the other hand, if these beads were made from the thinner part of the shell and were therefore more fragile, twenty of them would sell for five or ten cents. Today mempak is very highly valued and will not even be offered for sale. Magnesite cylinders were also known among the Wintu and were called mempak xosi (charms). The color of the cylinders ranged from an almost pure white to a buff streaked with darker buff. Their size varied from two to five inches in length and from three-eighths of an inch to one and one-half inches in diameter. The largest ones are valued today by their owners at from $35 to $50. The cylinders were usually seen strung on clam-disk necklaces. Although they were called xosi (charms), they seem to have had no mana connected with them, but were freely handled and kept in the house, a risk never taken with a true charm. Dentalia were usually of the small variety, approximately one and one- half inches long. The larger ones were known, but none was seen by the writer. They were reputed to be far more highly prized than the small ones which in the northern part of the area were but lightly considered, although they ranked above the olivella shells which were used only for ornamental pur- poses. Today dentalia are usually seen strung with alternate blue glass beads. Although it was impossible to obtain a standardized list of equivalent values, since trade was mostly individual barter and evaluation, the follow- ing value equivalents were suggested by various informants: One deer hide: a loptei of rope. Basket: exchanged for similar basket. If returned basket were not so new nor good it might be filled with food. Rent of a spear pole, snare, etc.: equal share in catch. Sack of wheat flour (weight unknown): twenty or thirty salmon. One carrying-basket of acorns: one fawnskin. Two carrying-baskets of acorns: one doe hide. 12 Curtis, E. S., North American Indian, 13:131, 257. 13 For system of counting clam-disk money see Numeration. Dus Boiw: Wintu Bthnography 27 Three carrying-baskets of acorns: one buck hide. One salmon: one medium-sized storage basket of manzanita flour. Medium-sized storage basket: one medium-sized deerskin. One deer hide: at least twenty clam-disk beads each one-half inch in diameter. Elk hide: eight or nine hundred clam-disk beads. Large storage basket: one hundred and fifty clam-disk beads. Seine: one thousand clam-disk beads. Sold by Bald Hills man to Wintun. Thought a very high price. Bow and arrows: forty to sixty clam-disk beads. Woodcock head: $1. Woodpecker scalp: twenty-five cents. Pestle: $5. Openwork carrying-basket: $2 to $2.50. Very good storage basket: $10. Cooking-baskets: $1 to $4. Basketry hat: $5. One-pound lump of obsidian: $20.14 Coiled baskets more valuable than twined because rarer. 14 Redding, B. B., Prehistoric treasures, Californian, 1:127, 1880. 28 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. SOCIAL LIFE VILLAGES THE BASIC SOCIL UNIT of the Wintu is the family, but in a larger sense the village may be considered a social as well as a political and economic unit. A village consisted of a loosely scattered collection of bark houses numbering from four or five to several dozen. Each bark house contained a biologic family of three to seven people, so the population of a settlement might run from twenty or thirty up to one hundred and fifty or two hundred people. A village containing twelve to fifteen bark houses (ca. fifty to seventy people) might have an earth lodge. The favorite sites were filats on the banks of streams. The inhabitants of a village might intermarry if their relationship were not too close, but in small villages all the inhabitants were usually in some way re- lated to each other. This closeness of relationship may have contributed to the present communism in food. A man successful in hunting or fishing was expected to share with his neighbors, as was a woman who had cooked acorn meal. This attitude persists today for family and guests. During the food-gathering seasons it was customary to go out into the hills and establish temporary camps, which were inhabited for only a few weeks at the most. In winter the village reassembled in the more permanent winter camp, where frequently some old people stayed even during the summer season to care for the property. In Bald Hills, according to informants, the flies and the fleas in spring were sufficiently bothersome to prompt hasty re- treat to the hills as soon as weather permitted. The following account of a small village in the Bald Hills area was given by an informant of approximately sixty-five years of age who had lived in the village until she married. Nomkentcau was in Watson gulch and consisted of six bark houses in which from thirty to fifty people lived. Taika was their chief, and under his initiative the people decided to build an earth lodge. For two years both men and women labored to con- struct it. It was situated downhill at the south end of the row of six bark houses. To celebrate its completion Taika called a "big time." He summoned all the people from Paskenta to Redding. Five days ahead of time, messages were sent out with runners. Tasks were allotted to each member of the village, and guests were told what provisions to bring. A two-day trip was the farthest it was customary to travel to a big meet. Between two and three hundred people assembled. Taika stood very erect on the roof of the earth lodge, his arms crossed on his chest, and welcomed each group as it arrived: "You are coming, my relatives. You are coming, so I see that you still live. Walk in well. Be careful, do not stumble. If you stumble, you will fall and people will laugh at you. Walk in well. We are going to have a good dance. I want So-and-so to be a singer. I want So-and-so to be an announcer." Then, addressing each important headman by name, he said, "Tell your children [people] how to dance well." When all had assembled and it was time for the evening feast, Taika once more arose and said: "Come and drink of my small quantity of water. I am tired of drinking alone. Come, bring all your sons [men]." Thereupon all the chiefs assembled their people and the feasting began. After the feast Taika addressed the headmen once more: "Well, my nephews, I want your Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography people to dance such-and-such a dance. That is what I wish to see. I wish to see you being good, to see you enjoy yourselves. Do not be bashful." [The informant here interpolated: "Chiefs talk an awful lot. They talk in a big way."] Feasting, dancing, and gambling lasted from three to five days, after which the guests drifted back home. Any surplus of food was divided equally among the guests. Before their departure Taika called each chief by name and gave him the share of food needed by his people for the return trip. Mrs. Fan did not recall how many gatherings were called during the twenty years of her life in the village, but sle did remember that three girls' puberty ceremonies were held. The fathers of the girls suggested holding the cere- mony and the greatest burden devolved upon them, but Taika as headman had charge of organizing the gathering and of sending out the messengers with invitations. In winter much wood was collected and piled in and around the bark houses. If the supply of wood became exhausted, the arduous task of clearing the snow by rolling it was begun and through the paths so formed the people set out to gather more fuel. During the winter, occupations were at a minimum. Sometimes the men hunted, but they spent most of their time in the earth lodge talking and sleeping, telling stories and gambling, and regaling the younger men with exploits of war and hunting. The women might enter the earth lodge on special occasions; older women wandered in and out more freely than the younger ones. But under no circumstances did the women sleep there. When spring opened, Mrs. Fan said, ripening crops and the unpleasantness of quarters inhabited all winter soon sent the people to near-by knolls where water was procurable. There brush houses were built and foods were gathered. For the rest of the season the people moved from place to place, staying as long as there were pine nuts, manzanita, acorns, and other food to be gathered. Five or six moves were made during the season. In the meantime the food gathered was carried back to the winter camp and stored. The bark houses of the permanent village, if not guarded by old people, were protected by tightly woven brush doors. At no time did any group of villagers move farther than three or four days' journey from the permanent camp. In this village of Nomkentcau there was only one craftsman, Xalit. Taika, the headman, seems also to have had jurisdiction over the neighboring village of Nomkali. Xalit was a subehief in Nomkentcau alone. However, both were sufficiently important to be called by name in a big meet, for Xalit was a shaman in addition to being a subehief and craftsman. It may be possible that Xalit was called chief more because of his social prestige than because of his political power. CHIEFS Chieftainship among the Wintu was in theory hereditary from father to eldest son, but this rule did not obtain in a strict sense. The son succeeded his father only if his talents and inclinations fitted him for the post, and if the people he was to lead approved his personality and qualifications. If the eldest son 29 30 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. were not suitable, the chief might be followed by a younger son, a nephew, a younger brother, or any other close male relative. A situation of this sort occurred when BisuskalaL's son, Billy Kenyon, refused to follow his father and was replaced by Jim Mitchell, who was his parallel-cousin through his father's stepbrother. The word wi' was used for chief but could be applied to any individual of preeminent esteem in a community, regardless of his hereditary claim to the title. On the other hand, the headman of a very small village might have no such term of respect given him. A very important hereditary chief might be called big chief (bohe wi'), but this term also was unformalized in its use. Priority among chiefs was determined by popularity and the number of people who clustered about each one. One informant estimated that there was a "real chief" every ten or fifteen miles along the main rivers. A chief of im- portance was recognized as such by having his name called aloud by his host at a gathering, and by being charged with the distribution of food among his people at a feast. The older people of the tribe usually took an heir in hand and tried to mold him to his future duties and responsibilities, particularly if the boy were popular. The heir was recognized by popular consent and upon the death of his predecessor was automatically called wi' by the village without ceremony of inauguration. No disputed succession was recorded. One interesting ex- ample of complete confidence in a young heir was reported of a Bald Hills Wintu group that bordered on the Wintun. A chief died, leaving a small son to be brought up by his grandmother. The boy was generally recognized as the future headman of the group but, since he was too young to assume his duties, his grandmother acted for him, at least to the extent of receiving the food offered in his name at feasts and dividing it among the group. On the other hand, Sunusa, one of the last important chiefs of the Upper Sacramento area, had as heir an unpopular, sophisticated son, Ed Alexander. The people respected Ed Alexander because of his father, but were piqued by his indiffer- ence to his duties and by his behavior, which they thought was reprehensible. As a result he was not called wi' and the group has remained leaderless. Such a condition probably would not have occurred before the present disintegra- tion of social organization; instead, Alexander would have been replaced by a more energetic and ambitious relative. The same situation exists for Syke Mitchell, the son of the Jim Mitchell discussed under BisuskalaL of the McCloud region. The two men are in the anomalous position of being esteemed for their possibilities and censured for their disdain to realize them. Preeminent among the requirements for chieftainship was the ability to talk well and much. The chief was expected to harangue his people on many occasions. Feasts, dances, drives, gatherings of all sorts, wars, and decisions were always introduced and guided by a dignified address from a chief.'5 One informant gave this excerpt from -a chief's speech, called forth by a quarrel among a number of men in his village and typifying the sage and moderate 15 tin is to talk in ordinary conversation; tceu is to harangue or talk as does a chief. Du Bois: Wintu4 Ethnography advice expected: "Now, my children, do not quarrel, do not fight. There are deer on the hill, fish in the river. Go get them and let us eat. Do not quarrel, do not fight." Crossing his arms over his chest, the informant gave this quota- tion in the dignified and stern manner he remembered as the chief's. A chief was also expected to be well informed, and a good singer and dancer. He had to be acquainted with everyone, to like everyone, and to be liked by everyone. His position required both democracy and dignity. A recommendation for a chief was: "He talks to everybody." This democratic ideal still holds today among the Wintu. For the acquisition of these requirements it was thought that the son of a chief was particularly suited by environment. But any man who showed un- usal ability in these respects might acquire the position of a chief and gather about him a number of followers. This was naturally more apt to occur when the hereditary chief was not popular. The expectation would be that so loose an organization would have led to frequent disputes, but, as mentioned before, none was reported. Perhaps the very looseness of organization accounts for the amicable settlements between upstarts and hereditary chiefs, as well as for the absence of friction between possible hereditary heirs. A headman and a subehief frequently lived in peace side by side in the same village; or, if rivalry developed, it was simple enough for a subehief and his followers to move their residence to another spot. The duties of a chief were mainly those of an executive and organizer. They were completely civil and lay in nature. On him devolved the final decision on the giving of a dance or meet. He was supposed to send out messengers to de- liver invitations, he had to assign rightful shares in the preparations to his people and to the guests, he was required to know the names and relative im- portance of the headmen invited from other districts. In war, he was expected to organize his tribesmen, though not necessarily to lead them in combat (see War). Peace was made by an assembly of important men who met to decide upon the nature and quantity of gifts to be exchanged as compensation for the losses both sides had suffered. If disputes of a minor nature arose, a chief might interfere at his discretion and try to settle matters. If a murder or other major crime was committed, he was expected to arbitrate the payment due to the injured parties. In all these deliberations advice could be asked from sub- chiefs and old men. The advantage of chieftainship lay mostly in the social approbation which it entailed, but in addition a chief was exempt from work of a more arduous nature. He did not need to hunt or fish, since a generous share of all food was his due. Should he hunt, the other men were expected to do the less attractive labor of driving the game and to allow the chief the glory of making the kill. Wealth and chieftainship were correlated, but whether wealth was a factor in the choice of chiefs or whether a chief had particular opportunities to en- rich himself is problematic. No information, implicit or explicit, indicated any cause and effect between the two conditions although invariably they seem to have existed side by side. Wealth and importance were manifested in 31 32 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. the possession of many wives (from two to the reputed twelve of K'ltcululi), of elkskin armor, of many strings of beads and money, and of all forms of riches thought desirable among the Wintu (see Trade and Values). In order to give a more concrete picture of chieftainship there are listed below the chiefs' names obtained and whatever tribal gossip was procurable concerning them. They may all be dated within the last four decades of the nineteenth century. Upper Sacramento- Sunusa (Alexander) is recognized as the last big chief of the whole Upper Sacramento area. His prestige extended to the McCloud region after the death of Dolikentiluma (see below). His son, Ed Alexander, now a man of fifty years, is looked upon as his suc- cessor but he refuses to undertake the duties. Sunusa had a large dance house at Portu- guese Flat (Kapustan), which, according to an Upper Sacramento informant, resembled a barn rather than the old earth lodges. In it he gave dream dances and one performance of the Big Head. His father was a man called Sutut from the Upper Trinity area and Sunusa married a woman from his father's district. Sunusa was certainly not a shaman of repute, but one informant reports that he "doctored" to make the rain stop and sue- ceeded in the course of a few hours in ending a four days' downpour. Tauhindauli (Towndolly) had been a chief on the East fork of the Trinity river, but when he moved across the mountains to the Upper Sacramento region he no longer had direct prestige as a chief. He did, however, retain his title of wi', and his sons are today looked upon as men of importance and as possible chiefs. In the Upper Sacramento he was probably an individual of prestige who might be elassified as a subehief by courtesy. Kluteu was the grandfather of the present shaman Charlie Klutchie. He was gen- erally believed to have come from Requa in Yurok country, and to have done the unheard-of thing of purchasing land on the upper Sacramento north of La Moine. The location and ex- tent of the territory varied from informant to informant. The land was purchased from the headman of the area, but who he was and what price was paid was not known by informants. One hazarded the guess that Kluteu must have paid four or five elkskin armors, many decoy deer heads, and many beads. After the purchase Klutcu felt that he had exclusive rights to the economic exploitation of the area and resented unpermitted intrusions for hunting, fishing, or food gathering. The land was apparently not inherited by his chil- dren, and today his grandson, Charlie Klutchie, is not considered eligible to the title of wi', despite his high reputation as a shaman. In the purchase of land we have a tem- porary importation of a Yurok idea which was submerged within a generation by Wintu practices. MCcloud- Koltcululi was an important man on the MeCloud river, also of high repute as a crafts- man. His title of wi' seems to have been one of courtesy only. He is said by his grand- daughter to have had twelve wives, a very large number for the Wintu, whose important men usually had no more than two. Possibly he merely had avowed sexual relations with twelve women. Kaltcululi seems to have been respected chiefly for his sagacity and wisdom. Several informants credited him with recording the passing of the months and observing the winter and summer solstices. Dolikentiluma was the last major chief of the McCloud area. He was preceded by Werumxanes, whom he called kiye (cross-cousin or uncle). He is said to have had twenty or thirty warriors at his command and to have been strictly obeyed. Waikati and Jim Mitchell (see below) were considered minor chiefs in comparison to Dolikentiluma. At his death his power passed into the hands of Sunusa of the Upper Sacramento region. There is no way of determining whether such a transfer would have occurred in a pre- white period. Du Boi,s: Wintu Ethnography Waikati was the headman of a large settlement on the McCloud about two miles north of the present United States Hatchery. He owned a large earth lodge and a salmon house and was a shaman of considerable repute. However, he is chiefly distinguished as one of the prime movers in the development of the 1870 ghost dance in the McCloud area, and is usually spoken of as one of the "first who began dreaming." One informant said of him: "He was just called wil because he gave away salmon." Sempieri was a minor chief at a village on the site of the present Baird post office, which is some four miles below the site of Waikati's settlement. He was succeeded by his son Dokiha. BisuskalaL was a minor chief over a village with an earth lodge near Kenyon Ferry. His son, Billy Kenyon, refused to follow his father and was replaced by Jim Mitchell, father of Syke Mitchell mentioned above. Jim Mitchell was a minor chief of some im- portance at the junction of the McCloud and Pit rivers. He superintended the building. of at least one new earth lodge and was a sponsor of dream dances. It was estimated that Jim Mitchell had as many as a hundred people under him. In other words, for the McCloud area there were approximately contem- poraneously one major chief, three minor chiefs, and one resident chief by courtesy. Stillwater- Laktciharas (Jim Reed) was the headman of an important settlement south of Bass mountain. He is remembered as a friend of Norelputus, whose interpreter he was to Jeremiah Curtin. Today his sons are not considered as possible chiefs. Keswickc Tulitat. Haumtahi was a younger brother of Tulitat and a chief in the same area. They seem to have been equally important, since both were called by name at "big times." Sutumotek was a chief near Kennett, according to an informant from the Upper Sac- ramento. But a Stillwater informant believes he was not a chief but merely a popular man. This is a nice example of the unformalized nature of chieftainship. French Gulch- Notuluma was chief over the whole area. Tumtcup was a subehief under Notuluma. Upper Trinity- Lakeris was a chief near the present site of Trinity Center. He was described by an Upper Sacramento informant as a subehief under Sunusa. Whether he was actually under Sunusa's jurisdietion or merely a less powerful neighbor, it is impossible to ascertain definitely. Lahikalar (Jim Feder) was a chief on the East fork of the Trinity river and was known principally for his purchase of the "big head" dance from the Wintu to the south and its introduction into his area. Jim Feder had an earth lodge built for holding the "big head" ceremonies. Bear Tom assisted him in the purchase of the dance and by some informants was considered a wil, although Jim Feder denied this. Jim Feder's father was a chief in the same place and was called Oleldauli. Bald Hills- Wateak was the headman of a village of about fifteen bark houses. It is interesting to note that Bald Hills is the only subarea in which the Spanish term rancheria has been adopted for Indian settlements. Sekawas was a subehief under Wateak. If Watcak did not attend a gathering, Sekawas presided in his stead. The relationship term applied to Watcak by Sekawas was kiye (cross-cousin or unele), although the informant thought them to be parallel cousins on their mothers' side. 33 34 University of California Publicons in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Kalit t(See section on Villages.) Henry Wallace's father and grandfather had been chiefs in this area before him, and a nephew was felt to be his legitimate heir. Oleltcoi was a chief near the present settlement of Gas Point. Hayforc- Pantitewis was chief for the whole area, according to an Upper Sacramento informant. Waimuk- Waurautitau was the only name of a chief given for this area. He seems to have had jurisdiction over the section around Nosoni creek, where the Indian village of Nosono was situated. Norelputus was a man widely known and remembered with much respect. He was gen- erally called wil although he seems to have had no integrated following. He spoke of himself as a halfbreed, that is, half McCloud Wintu and half Northern Yana. He wand- ered a great deal from place to place, claiming relationship with people of importance wherever he went and welcomed everywhere as a good singer and dancer. It was Norelputus who gave Jeremiah Curtin the nine Wintu myths included in his Creation Myths of Primitive America. (See Supreme Being.) Sedipuiwita was an unpopular chief south and east of Redding. He was not con- sidered a Wintu and, from the situation of his village, may have been a Central Yana. At all events he was unpopular with the Stillwater people, who thought he was regarded similarly among his own people because of his treacherous character. He was invited by the Stillwater people to come alone'to a dance. They hoped to kill him as he entered the earth lodge. But he managed to slip in unobserved and was only recognized when he began dancing, by the heavy chains of clam-disk money which he wore. Two men were sent to guard the exit and to kill him as he departed. They were to recognize him in the dark by his chains of money. However, before leaving, Sedipuiwita hung his neck- laces about the neck of a young Stiflwater chief who was apparently ignorant of the plot, and succeeded in escaping unharmed. When the young Stillwater chief left the earth lodge, his identity was mistaken and he was killed by his own people. A party of Still- water men then went to Sedipuiwita's camp southeast of Redding to get revenge. They stood outside his house and summoned him. He answered: "I'm coming; I will be out," but while they waited he slipped out of the other side of the house and fled. As he ran he was shot and crippled. His own people made no effort to defend him because they were outnumbered and he was unpopular. He did not go back to his village until he was an old man, when he returned blind and crippled. In spite of his previous unpopularity, he was cared for until his death. To sum up the question of chieftaincy in relation to subareas, the following statements may be hazarded. A whole subarea might fall under the influence of a single leader, but such a sphere of influence was in no way formalized. The jurisdiction of an individual radiated outward, declining as it progressed from the center of his activities. It was not strictly bounded by the subareas which have been discussed. Thus, a chief in the northern part of the Upper Sacramento area who had affiliations through marriage or relation with the Upper Trinity might feel his range of influence extending more in a westerly than in a southerly direction, although the Upper Sacramento area extended properly north and south. As previously stated, a chief's prestige also de- pended upon his personal qualifications. The number of subehiefs probably varied with the density of the population and the number of able individuals. In no respect, however, can chieftainship among the Wintu be considered anything but a loose and extremely malleable institution. Du BoUs: Wintu Ethnography CRIMES, TORTS, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Deliberate murder demanded a blood revenge by the relatives of the murdered man. Payments, however, might compensate for a killing. If the relatives were highly incensed the murderer might be dispatched summarily, but should they be willing to accept blood money the matter was referred to the headman. The chief was then supposed to inform himself of the circumstances. If the mur- derer were an objectionable person, a habitual troublemaker, and the relatives of the deceased were vindictive, the chief might intimate that a blood revenge could be taken. Usually, however, a purchase of the murderer's life was made. The man himself, or his relatives, were expected to compensate the bereaved family. A payment for murder entailed an implicit promise of exemplary be- havior in the future; otherwise the murderer ran the risk of meeting summary justice whenever a quarrel arose which gave occasion for a sound beating or even a killing. As a rule, informants had no conception of what was adequate compensation for a life in former days, but said that a murderer was expected to give everything he owned and become a poor man. One informant suggested that a young man's life was worth two to five arm-lengths of clam disks or dentalia (see Trade and Values). The following account is of a recent murder. Although it shows the method of procedure, the actual monetary exchange does not indicate prewhite evaluation of life. In the Bald Hills area two young men, Dick and Connell, quarreled. Dick stabbed Connell in the back and shoulder, wounding him severely. Connell managed to reach his cabin, get his gun, and crawl back to Dick's house. He crouched outside a window, aimed his gun, but died before he could pull the trigger. The case was brought before the white authorities at Ono. The judge was willing to settle the matter in the Indian fashion. Dick was released and he and his relatives paid Connell's family by giving him an elaborate funeral. This included a coffin and the clearing and fencing of the graveyard. In addi- tion Connell's mother was paid $40, with which she was satisfied. The informant here inserted the remark that in the old days the chief would have replaced the white judge as intermediary and that the payment would have been made in arrows, hides, etc. Other- wise the affair had been perfectly regular and in the best tradition. Accidental killings never precipitated blood feuds. The murderer and his family merely joined in giving the deceased an elaborate burial. Injuries, accidental or the results of quarrels, were atoned for by gifts to the injured person. Thus, as an informant put it: "If a man hurt another, he might give him a quiver and say: 'Here, take this. If it can do you any good, use it.' Then a shaman would be called and the quiver would be offered to him in payment for his services. It is just like paying his doctor's bill." In theft, if the object were returned or found no difficulties were made as a rule. If it were not recovered and there were strong suspicion of the thief, he was likely to be waylaid and severely mauled. The case might, on the other hand, be referred to a chief, who would attempt to make an amicable settle- ment. If a thief of whose guilt the chief was convinced refused to return the object or make adequate compensation, the chief might arbitrarily appro- priate some of his property and give it to the injured person. To this the thief was powerless to object. A habitual thief might be warned to cease his activi- 35 36 University of California Publicatios in Am. Arch. and Ethn. ties on pain of death. Such a man often left the community rather than run the risk of suffering from the rancor felt against him. Several informants insisted that in former days sexual immorality was very severely punished, which certainly today no longer holds. Whether morals were ever as strict as some informants implied is doubtful, as will be seen from the discussion of marriage. Theoretically, however, the punishment for raping an unmarried girl was death. A reputedly immoral woman might also be killed. It is said that her parents would even hire someone to do it. If a woman refused to go to a man who had purchased her from her family, the same extreme measure might possibly be taken, since it was felt that a woman who made no effort to be dutiful toward her parents or to love her husband would probably develop into an immoral person and set a bad example. Also, if a woman left a husband who provided adequately for her and returned to her family, she might be killed or cast off. Even if such harsh measures were not resorted to, she was considered disgraced. "The old people said they didn't want that kind of woman around." Such accounts of strictness in moral mat- ters are always referred by informants to the distant past and no substantiat- ing case evidence was obtainable. There seems to have been a very considerable gap between theory and practice in this realm of culture."' The same absence of case material holds in respect to theft, which the white authorities now handle, and in respect to the antisocial individual in general, who is referred to as a "troublemaker" and a "fighter." A troublemaker was often brought into alignment by public accusations or public ridicule from people who had suffered at his hands. A habitual quarreler might be way- laid and soundly trounced, a procedure frequently sanctioned by the chief. Should these methods not better the culprit's behavior, he was likely to be killed. One informant said that he remembered such an occurrence, although he did not give specific places and names. The young man had constantly sought quarrels and had had many fights. He had been warned to mend his ways. Finally he was waylaid and killed. So much was the procedure in ac- cordance with public approval that the young man's father was reported to have stood over the body and taunted it, saying: "Yes, son, you always wanted to fight. Well, why don't you get up and fight now ?" When two men quarreled in the presence of a headman, he was expected to step between the combatants and separate them. This, however, was a theoretic duty, probably executed only if expedient. WAR The Wintu were a nonbelligerent people. Their warfare was usually nothing more pretentious than a neighborhood feud originating in quarrels between individuals. Within local groups and subareas the prestige of the headmen and the bonds of relationship were as a rule strong enough to prevent blood- shed. Occasionally, however, open hostilities were precipitated by the depre- dations of a neighboring group coming either from another Wintu subarea 16 For further discussion see Marriage and Kinship. Du Bowi: Wintu Ethnography or from extratribal territory, or by a personal quarrel. The degree of friendli- ness was dependent upon social propinquity and therefore partly on geo- graphic propinquity. By social propinquity is meant familiarity with the usages of neighbors. Thus the Achomawi on the lower reaches of the Pit river were considered by the McCloud Wintu more friendly than the Hayfork Wintu on the South fork of the Trinity river. The generalization may be made with safety that the stranger the group the greater the antagonism felt toward it. Therefore the intensity of antagonism altered from subarea to subarea. There were three groups distinctly inimical to the Wintu. The Upper Sacra- mento and McCloud peoples distrusted and disliked the Yuki. By Yuki (enemy) they meant more remote Shasta bands, the northwestern Califor- nian on the Klamath, and possibly the Modoc; it is doubtful, however, that they had much contact with the latter. The Shasta acted as buffers against the Modoc slave raids. Some informants reported that the Yuki frequently took prisoners. This practice was on the whole aberrant to Wintu traditions. Although the Wintu ventured into Modoc territory for obsidian, they always hoped to avoid encountering anyone on the inhospitable and deserted lava beds. The Stillwater and, to a lesser degree, the McCloud people heartily feared and disliked the Noze (Yana) to the south and east. The Stillwater people were particularly unprotected because of the open plateau lands they shared with the Yana who were situated near the present towns of Millville and Igo. For Bald Hills people the traditional enemies were the Nomsus, who probably represented those Athabascan tribes which were situated on the western slope of the coastal range. They were on friendly terms with the Wintun to the south of them, although occasional quarrels did occur. The provocations for feuds or wars were of different degrees of seriousness. Examples collected gave murder and the theft of women as the most frequent causes. However, one hostility was precipitated by the killing of a dog, an- other by the theft of an acorn cache, and so on. Methods of waging war and of later settling disputes are best illustrated by a series of anecdotes. Wash Fan (Bald Hills): I never saw an Indian war, but once I almost did. A Noltibos (Wintun) man had a snare set for squirrels. He had four or five and was sitting in a brush house watching the snare. He went to club one that had got caught. When he came back, a dog had eaten his squirrels. He was mad and killed the dog. The dog belonged to a man who lived in Watcak's village near Watson Gulch. His people got together and there was going to be a war between the two villages. They came together at Millsap and dared each other. A messenger was sent from one party to the other to say: "We're ready. Meet us at a certain place." Then they met, but the headman of the Noltibos people put down piles of beads and other things. Watcak, who was our headman, looked over the piles. He was satisfied. So everything was settled. Watcak got a share of the pay; so did his relatives and everybody there. The man who owned the dog got a rope or something valuable like that. The man who killed the dog got his friends and rela- tives to make up the pay. They helped each other like that in the old days, but now they won't any more. Sara Fan (Bald Hills; this was told her by her maternal uncle, Norluli): Once some Waibos [north people] from around Shasta came to Middletown. There were about 37 38 University of California P&blicatins in Am. Arch. and Ethn. fifteen people gathering seeds there. The Waibos killed the chief's mother. Maybe about three other women were killed. The people knew who did it. The chief said they would get even. Norluli, my uncle, doctored and told where they were. He said they were at Centerville at Salt creek, just above the gap. He said that the hands of the man who had killed the chief's mother would have brown peelings just like new potatoes. At day- light they got them. First they killed the man who had killed the chief's mother. Then they killed almost everybody-about thirty people. They were never found and buried by their people. That is why the place is called paknolklotci [bone-south- 1]. Sara Fan (Bald Hills; also told her by Norluli): Once some Nomsus [west people] came to Ono. I think they came from somewhere around Lewiston [in Upper Trinity subarea]. They killed a man and a woman near Watson gulch. They watched them cook- ing and then saw them go to bed. At about daybreak maybe six Nomsus came and set fire to the house and killed that man and woman. They took the boy and dragged him along toward Bully Choop where they had come from. Our people tracked the Nomsus. They saw where they had dragged the boy along. Then they found him stuck on a snag. Our people brought the body home and buried it. Then maybe six men started out to get revenge. The Nomsus were camping out and hunting. Our people got their bows and arrows and daggers ready. The Nomsus roasted meat, then went to bed. They had built a brush fence by weaving brush between trees and posts. They lay inside that fence asleep. The chief was there. At just about daylight when the fire was almost out our people got up on the fence. First they drove a spear into the chief. He didn't holler. He just moaned. Then our people killed all the others-maybe a dozen of them. One had an elk hide on. He claimed relation with us but our people just pulled off the hide and killed him anyhow. They took all the valuables that the Nomsus had with them. The Ono chief got the elk hide. Anne Griffen (Stillwater): The puiel Indians [Yana] stretched prisoners on poles and shot them to death. They raided the Stillwater and MeCloud people. I never heard of our people raiding them. Hawalsa was a puiel Indian. He used to raid us all the time. He wasn't afraid of anything. He cut off arms, legs, scalps. He took chiefs' daughters. The Wintu decided to get him. He decided to raid around Gray mountain. They got as far as Stillwater. Most of the puiel Indians stayed there for the night and two scouts went ahead. They came to Watkin's flat, where all the Wintu were camping to get Indian potatoes. The puiel Indians made their bows tighter. Hawalsa told his men to sleep. He said he would put on his elkskin and would leave at daybreak. He said he would go into the middle of the Wintu camp all alone. He told his men not to follow him too closely. They wanted to catch the Wintu asleep. One Wintu was awake. He raised the alarm. They got their bows and arrows. Before Hawalsa got to the middle of the camp they had caught him. His men hung back. Our people took his otterskin quiver from him. It went to the Wintu chief, Xinxaihe. They didn't kill Hawalsa right away. They made him talk to see what kind of fellow he was. He told them how mean he was. He told how he had taken chiefs' sons and daughters home. He said he stretched them on a pole and shot them to death. He had a sacred place where he prayed before going on a raid. Finally they killed Hawalsa by shooting him with arrows. Then they had a war dance over his scalp. EDC Campbell (McCloud): The Puisus [Achomawi] and the McCloud people used to gather acorns from the same lands on the upper west bank of the Pit river. They went at different times. Once the McCloud people found a great big cache of acorns on the other side of the river. It belonged to the Puisus. They had left three old women there to watch it. The McCloud people got together. The men brought their bows and arrows and spears, and the women their carrying-baskets. They swam across the river. The old women got up and ran away when they saw our people coming. They gave the alarm. All our women filled their baskets and started home. The men were getting acorns too when the Puisus came. They heard them give a war whoop [nitLe]. They began fighting. The women all got away, but some of our men were killed. The Puisus didn't follow them to the other side of the river. ,Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography Jim Feder (Upper Trinity): When I was a young boy we were having a big time. There was a dance. Some Indians from around the Klamath river came. We didn't know their talk. There were so many people we didn't notice them especially. Toward morning when everybody was asleep or tired these Yuki [enemies] took a lot of young girls and killed some of the older women. They clubbed them. Then they took the young girls back north with them. Some of the people to the north and east [Modoc ?] wanted to buy them. They sold some. Some they didn't want to sell. They took them salmon fishing. They didn't watch them very closely any more. My niece ran away and came back here. After they did this Sunusa17 wanted to get even. He had a Yreka [Shasta] girl who was about ten years old. So he killed her. After killing her they just propped up her body and let it rot. They didn't bury her.?m From the foregoing paragraphs and from other information the following statements ma.y be made concerning Wintu warfare. War was not waged by large numbers, nor were more than a few individuals killed. The weapons used were bows and arrows, clubs, thrusting-spears, daggers, and possibly slings. Elkskin armor was the property of only a few. War paint was used, especially stripes of pigment which were applied to the legs. The source of colored earths was a jealously guarded secret. Surprise attacks were made at daybreak."' No particular formation was used. Hand-to-hand fighting was avoided as much as possible. If there were any hope of settlement, messengers were sent and armed parties met at a given place to arrange the terms. If a combat ensued it was of a formal nature, to be distinguished from the guerrilla warfare of surprise attacks. Two lines faced each other. They ex- changed arrows. Dodging them was an important technique. The victorious group took whatever valuables were available. The chief usually secured the most desirable booty. The chief or leader of the war party did not necessarily participate in the combat, but watched for those who might be wounded. Prisoners usually were not taken. Scalping was practiced only occasionally. A single scalp was procured for use in an ensuing war dance (hupustconos). If the body of a warrior could not be brought home it was hastily burned in situ. The enemies to the north of the Wintu were reported to have made fre- quent raids to obtain prisoners which were perhaps sold to the Modoc as slaves. Children in this area were warned to drop a trail of leaves if they were captured. The Wintu said that they avoided taking prisoners because doing so almost always entailed a return raid. The custom of shooting a prisoner to death after he had been placed on a pole seems to have been a Yana custom which may have been used occasionally by the Stillwater and McCloud peoples as a retaliatory measure. This perhaps accounts for a par- ticular xiwili dance in which one informant reported that a victim was shot to death (see Dances and Gatherings). 17 An Upper Sacramento chief. 18 For another embroilment with an extratribal group see Chiefs. 19 Two informants reported that fire signaling was used in warfare. Scouts were sent to ridges. If they saw the enemy, a fire was lighted to warn the near-by village. Fires were also used to mislead a hostile group. They were lighted to give the impression of an encampment. By this device the enemy were lured into a disadvantageous position and could be attacked from the rear. Nothing more than this was known to the inform- ants. Whether the Wintu actually had such practices is much to be doubted. The in- formation was far from circumstantial. 39 40 University of California Publications in Ain. Arch. and Ethn. In conclusion it may be pointed out that the sections on War and on Crimes, Torts, and Social Justice have been placed together because there seems to be a relation between the two subjects. War among the Wintu, and possibly among other tribes with a similar social organization, may be envisaged as a crime perpetrated beyond the realm of a social authority constituted to punish it. That is, war is precipitated by the same misdemeanors that are punished within a group by, or with the sanction of, constituted authority. When those misdemeanors are perpetrated beyond the range of established authority, the group as a whole unites to punish the transgression. DANCES AND GATHERINGS Dances and gatherings were given the same name in the Wintu language, namely, tconos. Properly speaking, the word means dance. Dancing formed such an integral part of the pleasure derived from gatherings that it seems justifiable to accept the Wintu amalgamation of the two for purposes of classification. Also, all gatherings and most dances were distinctly social rather than religious in purpose. There were of course exceptions, among which were the shamans' dances. By shamans' dances are meant not only those performed at the time of initiation, but also those performed during curing seances. Even on such occasions, however, the dance was not considered cere- monially descriptive; it was rather a vehicle of excitation and frenzy. It should be noted that the only dances which savored of religion were the ones held indoors. All others were outdoor performances. The shamans' initiations took place formerly in the smaller earth lodges with smoke-hole entrances. The occasions for calling a gathering were many; however, they were all much tempered by economic considerations. The girls' puberty ceremonies were only a partial exception. Whenever a village found itself with a large supply of food on hand it was customary to summon neighboring groups to a gathering in which feasting, dancing, and games were the chief diversions. Powers20 reports that pine-nut and clover dances were given when these foods were harvested. Salmon runs, rabbit and quail snaring, deer and bear hunts, burning for grasshoppers were undertaken in large groups and were festive occasions. The girls' puberty ceremony (batlastconos) was held only when a father was a man of importance and the village was in a sufficiently favorable economic situation to assist him. Otherwise the adolescent girl had merely simple initiation taboos and observances to mark her period of nubility. The method of calling a gathering has already been described under the heading of Villages. To recapitulate briefly: the headman summoned a coun- cil, plans were made for guests and provisions, and heralds or runners2' were sent out. Guests arrived during a period of two or three days around the appointed time. Everyone brought food. Powers describes a gathering or dance which had for its purpose merely the exchange of gifts. The account 20 Powers, op. cit., 237. 21 Powers, op. cit., 237, teUs of runners relaying the news of a burial from Cow creek to the upper Sacramento, a distance of fifty miles, between midnight and sunrise. Du Boiw: Wintu Ethnography deals with the peoples of the Bald Hills subarea and their Wintun neighbors to the south: Between the Nummok and the Norbos tribes there existed a traditional and immemorial friendship, and they occupied a kind of informal relation of cartel. This cartel found its chief expression in an occasional great gift dance (dfu'r-yu-pu-di). There is a pole planted in the ground, near which stands a master of ceremonies dancing and chanting continu- ously while the exercises are in progress. The visitors come to the brow of the hill as usual, dance down and around the village, and then around the pole, and as the master of ceremonies announces each person's name he deposits his offering at the foot of the pole. Of course a return dance is celebrated soon after at the other village, and always on these occasions there is displayed great rivalry of generosity, each village striving to outdo the other, and each person his partieular friend in the neighboring village. An Indian who refuses to join in the gift dance is despised as a base and contemptible niggard.22 Although this particular dance and its great stress on generosity were not reported to the writer, the description rings true for gatherings as a whole and for their general tenor, particularly in the Bald Hills subarea, which seems to have been more socially inclined and more receptive than the moun- tainous subareas to the north. The actual dances which were performed at gatherings have been replaced today almost entirely by the dream dance. Therefore, of former dances there were obtainable only verbal descriptions which are of necessity unsatisfac- tory. The kind of body painting and the costume were mostly optional with each performer. There was no rigidity or formality in the dances described below. There follows a list of dances accompanied by all recorded material concerning them. Sed6mtconos (coyote dance): Generally believed to have come from east. Its absence in upper Trinity drainage confirms this. Also said not to have been present in Bald Hills. Performed in the daytime on almost any occasion, but especially at girls' adoleseence rites. Men and women participated. Bows, arrows, feathers brandished by performers. One informant said participants formed in one line and a man and woman danced in front. Another reports that men formed cirele while women stood in two lines on either side. Step was a short hop with knee raised high. Dancers grouped together and shouted "Pa. ! "-expletive of contemptuous derision. All agree it was "fast-moving" dance. Waipaniki: Described as "old-time round dance." Great favorite and always per- formed at girls' puberty ceremonies. Danced both at night and by day. Men and women joined hands in circle around fire. Progressed with shuffling side steps, both feet moved at once. Customary, but not obligatory, to paint red streak on both eheeks. This type of painting correct for girls' puberty ceremonies rather than for waipaniki. Used in other dances performed at such a gathering. Sesoyokmes: Another favorite dance at girls' puberty ceremonies. Generally performed in daytime. Men and women held hands, stood in straight line, stepped sideways and returned. Hisi: Usually for girls' puberty ceremonies. Certain songs associated with it. Reputed to have been rarer in eastern part of area than in western. Two lines of both men and women faced each other, alternately advanced and retreated. Danced both at night and by day. Not to be confused with hesi of Patwin and their neighbors, with which it seems to have no connection. Xiwili: Performed most frequently at girls' puberty ceremonies; seems to have been 22 Powers, op. cit., 238. 41 42 University of California Publication8 in Ain. Arch. and Ethn. appropriate to any gathering." Frequently followed by sedemtconos. Seems to have been considered in light of mock war performance, esteemed for its rapid, active nature. Par- ticipants approached dance area shooting and dodging arrows, as though on war party. Target for arrows was bundle of brush around which dancers circled, shouting, singing, shooting until arrows exhausted." If sedemtconos followed immediately, leader of dance gave prolonged whoop and dancers proceeded with new figure. Sometimes target con- sisted of pine pole with bundle of branches fastened near top. In Bald Hills scalp re- ported to have been used for target on one occasion. The xiwili, although invariably associated by informants with mock warfare, not used exelusively as dance of incite- ment or victory. In one unauthenticated instance boy of twelve used as target, shot to death. Boy had been captured in Wintun territory in a retaliatory sortie. Raid was not against Wintun people, but against unidentified band reported to have come from north and to have passed through Wintu territory. Practice of shooting victim to death reminiscent of Maidu and Yana customs; certainly aberrant to, although not totally absent from, Wintu practices (see War). Hupusteonos (war danee): Performed over scalp, which comprised at least whole cheve- lure. Group dancers had not necessarily taken scalp from an enemy. Seems to have been customary to pass a single scalp from one local group to another until trophy worn out. Then either burned or buried. Practice seems to have been known in all Wintu subareas. Dance given outdoors in daytime, both sexes participating. Conflicting accounts of dance formation obtained. Constant element: scalp attached to pole. According to one inform- ant, pole was passed from person to person. Another reports that two persons, man and woman, danced back and forth with pole in front of semicircle of participants who brandished weapons and wore elkskin armor if they possessed it. Still others say pole was planted in ground and circled by performers. Latter custom probably characteristic of Bald Hills and Hayfork areas as opposed to more northerly sections. Scalp was whipped back and forth on end of pole. The more it tossed, the more satisfaction and revenge the dancers felt. Maltreatment of scalp represented way an enemy should be dealt with. Two singers provided accompaniment, as was customary in most Wintu dances. Considered proper to paint face, upper body, and legs black for this dance. Red and white not appropriate colors. Tcilteonos (brown bear dance): Performed on night following successful bear hunt (see Hunting). Wimatconos (grizzly bear dance): See Hunting. Sune: Generally referred to as begging dance. In McCloud and adjoining subareas, practiced only by one or two members of local group at a time. Accompanied by obscene songs and gestures. Dancers were naked; directed songs and dances toward particular individual, frequently a relative, whom they were petitioning for food. Danced outside of his house singing songs in which they referred to him abusively. Person petitioned usually gave dancers whatever they might ask for in order to be rid of them. Dance generally considered amusing but none too respectable procedure. In Bald Hills appar- ently two bands of persons from different local groups might perform dance reciprocally, to effect exchange of provisions. In view of communism in food and various other devices for exchange of goods, sune cannot be envisaged as important economic device. In fact, cannot be considered more seriously than as occasion for horseplay. There are three distinguishable types of dances: the purely rhythmic ones, the waipaniki, sesoyokmes, sedemtconos, and so forth; the pantomime ones, the xiwili, the two bear dances and, to a lesser degree, the hupustconos; and finally 28 Curtis, op. cit., 14:76-77, definitely states that the xiwili was a dance of incitement given before the departure of a war party. No evidence substantiating this statement was obtained. 24 Powers, op. cit., 237, reports that the village which shot the greatest number of ar- rows into the target was the victor. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography the unorganized horseplay performances like the sune, which are farthest re- moved from any ceremonial connection. These older Wintu dances are in dis- tinct contrast with the religious dances of the modern cults and the shamans. GAMES The zest of Wintu gatherings was chiefly exhibited in gambling games. Com- petitions in prowess and skill, dancing, singing, and feasting were also part of the festivities, but they represented mere intermissions in the interminable gambling contests. Men attended gatherings with all their valuables, which they gladly staked on games. Honor required the individual to continue play- ing as long as anyone would bet against him. Fortunes as they were conceived of by the Wintu changed hands upon such occasions. A loser was pitied, a win- ner envied and admired. Since success in hand games was mostly a matter of acquired skill, and since gambling was an admired proficiency, hand games might be envisaged as an economic device for the exchange of goods. Occasion- ally a man's dependents might censure him for losing his valuables. In tales women alone are guilty of this attitude, which was considered one of poor sportsmanship. There were three forms of hand games: Bohemntcu (big wuood).-A single stick (dopit) or bone (pak), about three inches long and tapered at both ends, was used for an ace, as it is called in English. Coyote bones were considered particularly lucky sinee Coyote was the patron of gamblers. However, deer and bear bones were used also. The ace was rolled in a bundle of grass and slender rods which were about a foot long. The teams knelt facing each other. There was much manipulation of the bundle; the dealer waved his arms, swayed his body, and the sing- ing was loud and excited. This behavior was intended to mislead and confuse the op- ponents. Finally the dealer stretched his hands out in front of him and the opponents guessed in which hand the ace was concealed. If the opponents chose the hand contain- ing the ace, they won a turn at manipulating the bundle. If the guess was incorrect, the side already in possession of the ace won a counter. There were twenty of these counters (toki) in a common pile between the two teams. No gambling mat was used. The game ended only when one side had secured all the counters in the center pile and all those in the possession of the opposing team; this kept a single game going from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. During this time only a few played, but large groups stood behind the team on which they had placed bets and assisted them in singing. Gambling songs were spirited melodies with meaningless syllables, the most common of which was "ne." Only men were allowed to play the grass game. They frequently sought supernatural power before the gathering and fasted for the course of the game. It was played in the wintertime in the earth lodges, and was the most important of the gambling contests. Xeni.-In this game two sticks or bones, one of which was marked, were held one in each hand. Grass might or might not be used to conceal them. The object was to guess the hand containing the ace. The method of scoring was the same as that described above, but only ten instead of twenty counters were used. Playing might be complicated by using two dealers on a side, each of whom had two bones. The method of scoring when four bones were used was not recorded. Fasting was not required and the game might be played at any time, but only by men. This type of gambling game was reported to be a recent introduction from the Washo and Paiute, who taught it to some Wintu in the hop fields of the Sacramento valley. Datcedope.-This was generally called the women's stick game among the Wintu. A bundle of twenty to forty slender rods, three to five inches long, was used. One rod was 43 44 Uni,veraity of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. marked in the center with a band of bark which had been left on, if the set were peeled; if the set were unpeeled, the marking of the ace was reversed. The dealer twirled the bundle between her palms, holding it behind her back or under a cover of cloth or hide. She divided it into two groups, which she held out in closed hands for the opponents to inspect. The object was to determine the hand containing the ace. Scoring was the same as that described for the preceding games, and here also two dealers were occasionally introduced. The number of counters seems to have varied from eight to twelve. Singing was not essential to the game. It is to be noted that the men's games were of the central Californian type, whereas the women used a northwestern type.25 Dice and lots were not reported for the Wintu. Their absence seems aber- rant. The following contests involved physical skill and prowess. Doutble-ball shinny (xara).-The ball consisted of two sticks tied together. The bat was a long straight-pointed stick with which the ball was tossed. The game was won by passing the ball between two goal posts set approximately two feet apart; it entailed wrestling between the contestants, of whom there were four or five to a side. Only women played this game. The sex limitation aligns the Wintu with eentral and southern California as opposed to the northwest." Lacrosse, a similar game played with rackets, was not known. Football (natus).-This game was unknown to all informants except one from the Bald Hills subarea to the south, but it recurs constantly in the mythology. The game, as de- scribed by the Bald Hills informant, was played with a buckskin ball six or seven inches in diameter. There were two teams, each consisting of six or seven contestants. The object was to kick the ball between two goal posts which were set approximately two feet apart. Both sexes were said to have played the game, but not with mixed teams. Hoop and pole.-This seems to have been known only to the same Bald Hills inform- ant. It was played in its simplest form. A small disk of bark or wood was rolled down a slope and after it a pole was slid. Ring and pin (klutous)i).-Fifteen or twenty rings were made of salmon vertebrae or of deer bone. A wooden or bone pin was used. Bets or forfeits were placed on the game, or one was permitted to rap the knuckles of one's opponent as many times as one had speared vertebrae. Other conteste.-Innumerable other contests were held. Throwing rocks at a goal (sonomhenmas) to see who could come the nearest was closely paralleled by a game (teusumhenmas) in which saplings, about four feet long, were slid at a stake or stone. Shooting contests for accuracy, but especially for distance, were popular. Foot races, wrestling matches, and jumping contests were common. Bets might be placed on all these. String figures were made. Buzz was played with an oval of bark in which two holes were made. Buckskin thongs were passed through the holes. The thongs were twisted and then held in either hand and pulled back and forth to produce a humming noise. The mythology reflects almost all the games described. Feats of physical skill were the favorite tests for an unpopular stranger. However, the play trees of the widespread son-in-law test, in which a person attempted to dis- lodge his opponent by snapping a sapling up which the opponent had climbed, seem to have had no counterpart in real life. 25 Kroeber, Handbook, 849. 26 See Kroeber, Handbook, 847. Du Bowi: Wintu Ethnography LIFE CYCLE BIRTH SUPERNATURAL METHODS of producing pregnancy were not used. At least, all informants were not only ignorant of such procedures, but also insisted that it was better not to bear children. On the other hand, various roots and herbs were used as contraceptives. To place one's first-born in a wide-mouthed basket was thought to prevent the birth of further children. If a child died and no other were desired, its cradle was buried with it. A pregnant woman was surrounded by a great number of taboos. Probably no one woman knew and observed all the restrictions common to the tribe. The following list illustrates the nature of some of these beliefs, which are ob- viously based on two major premises, sympathetic magic and prenatal in- fluences. A pregnant woman could not drink from a wide-mouthed vessel, or the child would have a wide mouth. If she wished a strong boy she chewed xerophyllum, the grass used in basket weaving. She had to work hard to make the child industrious. She was required to avoid meeting wild animals or looking too closely at fish. This was probably the most dreaded and therefore rigorously observed taboo. If a pregnant woman met a bear, it was proper to bathe her abdomen with water. That counteracted the deleterious effects of the encounter upon the child. One instance was reported of a woman who saw two supernatural wolves rutting while she was pregnant. Her child at birth turned into a wolf, and the woman lost her mind. "She always jumped into the water and had to be dragged out." If a pregnant woman looked at a rainbow her child would have a flat arm or leg. A basket of water was kept at the head of her sleeping-place, and every morning its contents had to be dashed out to ensure a free flow of blood after birth. It was proper for her to lay a pestle beside her at night and slip it down along the length of her body. That would ensure an easy delivery. She was required to wear no elothes that had knots in them. They would prevent parturition. She could not wear a neeklace because it would cause the child to be born with its umbilical cord wrapped around its throat. When the period of delivery was imminent, the woman withdrew to a spe- cially constructed hut, or to a menstrual lodge, at some distance from the family dwelling. Men carefully avoided her. An older woman, usually a rela- tive, acted as midwife. The mother stayed in the lodge for one month. During this time she abstained from flesh, salt, and cold water. Meanwhile her hus- band observed similar food taboos. The midwife also kept the restrictions, but only until the umbilical cord dropped off. Informants differed as to whether or not the husband was permitted to hunt, fish, and gamble during this time. The practice may have varied with individuals, but it was certainly known to the tribe. The woman gave birth in a sitting position. If the delivery were difficult, the midwife might assist by sitting behind and pressing her knees against the mother's loins. Certain persons of both sexes were reputed to assist delivery 45 46 UniversAty of California Publicatios in Am. Arch. and Ethn. by simply laying their hands on the mother. This was considered a special gift unassociated either with shamanism or with supernaturalism. If a woman died in childbirth, the offspring was frequently killed and buried with her. If the delivery were successful and the child were a boy, he was removed im- mediately to save him from the baneful influence which the odor of female blood was supposed to have on males. The mother was made to stand and her abdomen was kneaded to remove the remaining blood. She was then seated over hot rocks placed in a hole dug in the birth-lodge floor. Water was poured on the rocks or damp grass and leaves were laid on them. The result was a localized steam bath. Hot rocks were placed on the abdomen. After this the woman was tightly bound with strips of buckskin to restrict the size of the abdomen and to ensure the complete drainage of blood. While the mother was being steamed the afterbirth was roasted between two hot rocks until it was reduced to cinder. This was thought to prevent the return of the menstrual flow for a year or more. The mother drank the sap (sic) of wild grapevine if her milk did not flow freely. The hair of a fox's eyebrow was inserted in the orifice of the breast to restore the flow of milk. A newly born child was bathed three or four times a day until the cord dropped off. Some informants were of the opinion that only then might the child be placed in its cradle. The pulsing anterior fontanelle of an infant was called frog (yoholmet) . It was not considered the seat of the soul, nor did any other beliefs seem to be attached to it. The umbilical cord was tied with a human hair and severed with an obsidian knife. If the bleeding were severe, wild sunflower root, chewed wild lilac, powder scraped from the surface of fingernails or the root of the California poppy was applied to heal the navel more rapidly. After the cord dropped off it might be placed in a miniature basket, which was then attached to the cradle. When the child was old enough to dispense with a carrying-basket and crawl about, the cord could be buried. If a small child were seen with his ear close to the ground, it was believed that he was listening to discover where his cord had gone. There were, however, other beliefs and practices in connection with the disposal of the cord. If one wished a boy to be alert and bold, the cord was tied into the split limb of a live-oak tree. If one desired him to be mild and pleasant, it was similarly tied to a skunk bush. A girl was made mild and pleasant by placing her cord in a manzanita bush or by putting it in a tiny basket which was hung from a tree facing the sun. If a child died, it was well to bury the cord with it. For each child at least two baskets were made. The first (tcuri klol) was crudely woven of skunk bush. The second was carefully made of hazel-willow was not used, for it caused the infant to dream of water-and was usually initiated at the ceremony described below. When the cradle was outgrown it was left hanging in a tree until it disintegrated. If a small child died, its cradle or a small conical carrying-basket was inverted over its body. To carry a basket of any kind upside down was considered unlucky because of this association. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography At the end of the mother's month of seclusion a minor ceremony was ob- served to celebrate her return to the dwelling, and more particularly to mark the child's first entrance into it. A cradle, larger and more carefully made than the first one, was woven by a friend of the mother. The father gave this basket to a man who was known to be a fast runner, who raced a short distance with it or else circled the dwelling. He received a gift for his services. The child could then be brought into the house. The mother bathed before enter- ing. The father also was required to purify himself at the end of his wife's seclusion by taking a sweat bath or by washing in running water. One inform- ant stated that the mother did not enter the house directly but lingered on the threshold for a day. Her food taboos from this point on were gradually diminished. She was permitted deer meat when the second basket was worn out or outgrown. Sucker, trout, and squirrel could be eaten only when the child had all its teeth. For one month after her return to the dwelling the woman was supposed to refrain from intercourse. The ceremony of return was not observed by all families and was performed only in honor of the first- born. If the first child were a girl, a woman ran with the basket. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN Twins were considered to be persons of good fortune and sure of success. How- ever, there seems to have been no very strong conviction or interest in this belief. Children were nursed from two to four years. During infancy a mother rubbed, kneaded, and stretched a child's body to make it shapely. The toes were gently struck with a fire poker to make the foot short. The cheek bones were rubbed upward to make them high. The mother's milk was used to wash children's eyes, since it was considered particularly beneficial for all eye troubles. The face also was washed with the mother's milk to make the skin smooth and hairless. If a child showed a tendency to let his mouth hang open the mother threatened him by saying that a frog would jump in and kill him by sucking his tongue. When the first tooth was lost, it might be thrown toward Mount Shasta, that is, northward. At this time the child raised its right hand and prayed for more teeth. Or the tooth might be deposited in a gopher hole. Grandparents or near relatives frequently adopted a child. This was a generally accepted pattern. How much it was aboriginal and how much it was the result of white contacts, with their temporary unions and illegitimate chil- dren, could not be determined. If a child were adopted, he was given the same status as a man's own offspring. There was none of the semislavery of north- western California; nor was there any of the feeling associated with foster parents which is found in our own society. Thus Sadie Marsh wa-s brought up by a paternal aunt. The love she had for this woman did not impair the affec- tion she felt for her true mother, who lived scarcely a mile away. At the same time Sadie felt free to make her elder brother's dwelling her home. In. this 47 48 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. instance, which was in no manner atypical, the child had three easily accessible homes and sets of family ties. A boy was frequently lectured by his elders and told "to be a man" (wita). This was a term of respect which represented the possession of all desirable traits-skill in hunting, fishing, gambling, oratory, respect for the aged, and a democratic attitude. Children were urged to rise early and bathe in the river. Adults set an example of daily, or at least frequent, baths before the morning meal. The steam sudatory was also resorted to for purposes of clean- liness. Children frequently accompanied their elders and acquired skills by assisting them in adult occupations. Wash Fan expressed the relationship between child and guardian in this fashion: A man has got to be with his children. He has got to teach them to do things. In the old days children did what their old folks told them. Nowadays when boys are twelve or fifteen years old they won't do what you tell them. They always know better. A good boy stays with his folks until he is twenty-five or thirty years old, maybe. When he gets married he goes away, but he comes home to see his old folks. When a boy shot his first deer or caught his first salmon a small feast was given by the parents to their near neighbors. The boy, however, was forbidden to eat the meat which he had got and was required to bathe upon his return from the hunt. Other than this no ceremony or observance marked a boy's maturity. Girls were taught to sit, when in the presence of men, with their legs stretched straight out in front, or else drawn up to one side. One informant said that all unmarried girls wore their hair in long bangs down to their eye- brows so that "men wouldn't see their foreheads." "Girls were supposed to keep themselves shy and ashamed and away from men." Generally they had their ears pierced and their chins tattooed in their early or middle adolescence. More women than men had their ears pierced. The operation was performed either by a menstruant or by a woman who happened for some other reason not to be eating deer meat at that time. A porcupine quill was used, and the quill or a small twig was left in the wound until it healed. Piercing of the nasal septum was rare. Informants thought it to be a northern trait. Both men and women might undergo the operation, but it was more common for men. As in ear piercing, a twig was kept in the wound until it healed. The actual instru- ment used, however, the sonopoktcumas, had to be discarded or it would dis- seminate disease. In the septum a dentalium shell might be inserted. Men rarely tattooed. Only two instances were reported and both were from the Wintun border. Women applied tattooing chiefly to the chin in one to three bands running vertically from the lower lip. Although a person of any age might be tattooed, it was customary to have the operation performed at adolescence, and in a spot at some distance from the dwelling. The person who performed the operation was paid for her services with a deer hide or a basket, "worth maybe five dollars." The incision was made with a flake of obsidian and rich pitch soot was rubbed into the wound. If a blueish green color were desired, a certain grass (un) or spider webs ( ?) were used instead Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography of pitch. The blood was wiped away with a bundle of willow leaves. On the whole, tattooing was only occasional among the Wintu and was simply deco- rative in function. There was no formal age-grading, but various stages of the individual's development were given specific names. Thus: Males Females Baby, kuretaila Baby, pukustaila Ca. ten to fourteen years, xerit Ca. eight to nine years, batlasbe Respected adult, wita Pubescent, batlastat Father, or an old man, kiyemila Poktaila also applied to the three last Maiden, loimis Married woman, pokta Mother of a child, or an old woman, pukaila Variations and subdivisions of these groups can be indefinitely multiplied. A girl who failed to marry for several years after adolescence might be called bohem loimistot, or big maiden; a married woman who had no children might for a time continue to be called loimis, or maiden, with a somewhat derogatory connotation. FORMALIZED AND UNFORMALIZED SOCIAL ATTITUDES The education of children described in a preceding section has as one of its goals adult good manners. A man must be good to old people and help them." He should mix with people, talk to everybody. Even a good-looking girl who won't talk to people isn't liked. If anybody comes to your house, don't be in a hurry to talk to him. Even if you are planning to go fishing, stay at home. If a woman is cooking when somebody comes, she doesn't talk to him until she tells him to eat. The guest is expected to walk into a house and seat himself; the host's only acknowledgment of his presence is "Suke" (Are you here?). When food is offered, a guest smacks his lips in appreciation, or indicates his hunger by licking his lips. Guests are welcome to food and lodging for as long as they wish it. A person who abuses this privilege is called a muxis, which is an unflattering, if not insulting, term. A communal attitude toward food has its functional aspects not only in the realm of good manners but also in the realm of economics. The division of food with members of one's community, whether or not they happened to be guests, was carried out in the following fashion. As soon as a woman finished cooking some article, the husband went to the door of the dwelling and shouted, "We'e ai yole pe'ila elbawira" (Come for a short time, come and eat a little of something unknown). Only men accepted this invitation. They ate, and of what was left the woman took an equal share to all her neighbors, however small the portions might be. If any of the guests found food ready when they reached home, they in turn extended invitations. One informant was of the opinion that this system permitted men to obtain far more food than women. It was considered ill-mannered to refuse. Repletion 27 A corollary of this would seem to be that at present it is considered good form to speak Wintu rather than English to old people. 49 50 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. was no excuse. That this system actually functioned as ideally described and resulted in an equal distribution of food between families, is much to be doubted. The very existence of the food-begging dance (sune) described above indicates that there was a discrepancy between ideal and actual behavior. The general sense of mutual responsibility within a local group was exempli- fied in more than food communism. For instance, if a person showed signs of mental instability, members of the group felt obligated to watch him in order that he might come to no harm. Insanity was recognized, but as one informant said of a man who lost his mind and was found dead in the hills: "If someone had helped him along, fetched him in, he might have been a doctor. Most everybody you think is crazy, might become a doctor. Muxe means almost a doctor but stopped halfway." Suicide was an unknown pattern in Wintu society. Only one was reported by informants. A Wintu under death sentence for the murder of a boy hanged himself in his cell. The first requisite for physical beauty was long, thick, shiny, black hair. It was mentioned by all informants with whom the subject was discussed, and it is referred to in myths. Salmon grease was rubbed on the hands, face, and hair to produce a gloss. Both sexes wore their hair long. Men tied it in a topknot and often wore a bone dagger or an awl thrust through it. Women parted their hair in the middle, brought it in two strands over the shoulders and wrapped it with strips of hide. They banged their front hair by burning it off with a smoldering stick. Washed hair was dried by holding the ends in the left hand and beating the water out with a small stick. Light skin was ad- mired, and menstrual huts, steam sudatories, and plant concoctions were recognized as means of bleaching the skin. "Big fine eyes like a cat's" were considered beautiful. "Men should be tall but heavy-set. Women mustn't be so tall and they should be plump, not too thin. If a woman has good-looking hair and a tattoo she is a queen." Long legs were not admired and long-legged people were thought to "get old quick." Deep breasts, thick ankles, and shape- less legs were considered desirable in women. Small feet were desirable in both sexes. Homosexuality in both men and women was a recognized phenomenon but it had no association with shamanism, either actually or ideologically. One male shaman, who lived when the whites first came into the region, was said to have had menstrual periods, to have indulged in both homosexual and heterosexual practices, and to have given birth to a pair of snakes. Two other men, who are still living, perform women's work and have never married. They are not shamans and are found mildly ridiculous. Two women in the tribe are reputed never to have had menstrual periods, and they are consid- ered frigid as a result. Frigidity seems to have been no barrier to forming many alliances, however. Female homosexuality is supposedly nonexistent at present. One informant ascribed its disappearance to the greater sexual laxity of recent times. On the whole, these departures from the norm seem to have been looked upon with mild condemnation. The impression gained was that Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography the Wintu took little interest in such aberrances, and that they were not a common subject for the obscene references and jokes which formed an appre- ciable part of their conversation. The expression used when a person was startled was mi or mita. Lizards, salamanders, and snakes were feared. Neither men nor women could ordi- narily be induced to touch them. For this reason a shaman gained particular respect by obtaining rattlesnake rattles for his regalia, or a craftsman per- mitted a lizard to bite him in order to obtain proficiency (see Craftsmen). King snakes were known to be enemies of rattlesnakes; therefore, if a rattler were encountered, one might sing a song with this context: "I am a king snake; you rattlesnake, stay away"; or, less elaborately, one might simply pass the snake and say, "Suke" (Are you here?), which is the word used in greeting. NAMES Names were heritable from either the maternal or the paternal line, but no child received one until he was old enough to understand what it signified. It was customary after the death of parents for a woman to inherit her mother's name, and for a man to take his father's. This was in no wise formal- ized, however. To give a name early in life might cause premature death. No ceremony or gifts accompanied the bestowal nor was secrecy attached to per- sonal names. Any relative or old person was entitled to bestow a name which was his to give through the death of a relative. This lifted the taboo on the name of the dead. If a living person gave his name to a child, he abandoned its use himself. Upon reaching adulthood, peculiar characteristics might cause the adoption of a nickname which the individual assumed of his own accord or accepted from others. The new appellation was not viewed as a nickname in our sense, but was seriously adopted and might be transmitted to a young relative. Two and three names were frequent. One man was reported to have had seven. New names were not necessarily given with the acquisition of chief- tainship, shaman's powers, or any other social grade. A few names character- istic of the Wintu have been chosen for the following list. Men's names- Xonostat: Dried-up one; possessed by both father and son. Sedimseli: Leads coyote by the hand; acquired because as young man he found a dead coyote which he dragged back to camp amidst much hilarity. Tumtirakayi: Travel ahead; had been Sedimseli's name as boy; bestowed upon him by a paternal unele. Sunusa: Straw. Wilikinmaki: Bald feather-down cap. Yoruntowi: Yorun, to make for someone else, or for wages; towi, valuables; so called because he was a craftsman. Tcokiperi: Almost swallowed. Kolteululi: Black mouth. Tumteti: Red face. Luplahumena: Breaks his own hymen; given to a reputed hermaphrodite, but also borne by his grandson, who was not one. Some said the grandson's name was Luplahuma, which omits the reflexive element of the name. 51 52 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Women's names- Puititearau: Flat land in the east; bestowed on a woman by a man to whose aunt it had belonged; the woman was not related to him. Norwitimet:28 South-again woman. Bulidakismet: Snow-mountain woman. Xupusbuli: War mountain. This person was also called kilimet (see name next below). Kilimet: Paint woman. Kolteibuli: Sky mountain. Puielhenesmet: Arrived-up-east woman. Nomtaimet: West-level woman. Lulikanalmet: Varicolored-flower woman. Kahitcarau: Windy flat. Women's names were decidedly more poetic than men's. Rarely were two names mentioned for them, and, strangely enough, genealogies reveal that their names were far less frequently remembered than the men's, even by women informants. However, there seems to have been no theoretical barrier to women's possessing as many names as men. PUBERTY AND MENSTRUAL OBSERVANCES A girl at the time of her first menses was called batlas. She notified her mother or grandmother, who then built her a small brush shelter some twenty or thirty yards from the family dwelling. Here the girl remained in seclusion for a period varying from one to several months. During that time she ate from her own baskets, which were never put to any other use. Flesh of all kinds was forbidden her. Two informants reported that both parents also might avoid deer meat at this time. The diet of the adolescent was limited to acorn soup. She was not permitted to cook, even for herself. That was done for her by the mother or grandmother. She was not supposed to leave her hut except at night. If it were necessary to go out in the daytime, she covered her head with a basket or a hide. Sleep during five days of the first menses was forbidden, since dreams at this time were considered prejudicial to health and sanity. Above the lodge, yellow-pine bark might be burned. Its crackling was supposed to frighten away evil spirits. A deerhoof rattle was put in the girl's possession for the same design. It was made by male relatives, who col- lected the material a year or two in advance, and was mounted on a staff of almost the same height as the girl. The deerhoof rattle does not seem to have been employed in Bald Hills for this purpose, which was the only use to which the Wintu put it. A scratcher was used in all subareas, but it consisted of any twig that was at hand. The girl was cautioned not to touch herself. Combing her own hair might also be forbidden in a conservative family. Her cheeks were streaked with vertical lines of charcoal or red and blue pigment. After her first period, during which quiet had been enjoined on her, a girl might be required to collect wood for herself and her family. The pallor acquired through seclusion in the menstrual lodge was much admired, and may have 28 met is a suffix of many women's names and has a somewhat formal element. It is never found suffixed to names ending in tearau, flat land. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography offered an inducement for a long and strict retreat. This period was also one during which elderly people gave the girl advice and instruction on her future behavior. Throughout the period of isolation, young people might sing and dance outside the adolescent's lodge at night. The dances were lay in character. Many of the songs were said to be obscene. These occasions, if a puberty dance (batlastconos) were not called, constituted the only ceremonial and social recognition of her maturity. At the second menses, or at the end of one to three years, a "big time" might be called to give public recognition to a girl's adolescence. This was not obli- gatory. The social status of her family and the economic surplus of the local group were factors in determining the occasion. It was usually planned for fall, that is, when food was plentiful, and could be held for several girls at once. The headman sent invitations to the neighboring villages. Each group as it arrived danced down into the village singing. For two or three days guests accumulated. The food they brought with them and that gathered by the host village was placed in a large circle around the dancing-ground. All assembled in the morning and danced until about noon. The adolescents stood in the circle but did not participate. The poorer girls wore new maple-bark skirts. The richer ones were dressed in buckskin aprons and were laden with beads. They carried deerhoof rattles and ceremonial staffs, spirally striped, on which to lean. The staffs were made by the girls' mothers and, after the ceremony, were hidden in the brush and never used again. If the dance were given for a single individual, it was customary for her to have as an attendant during the dancing a girl who was not yet mature. The group feasted after the dance, but the adolescents withdrew to the menstrual lodge and continued to observe dietary restrictions. The dancing and feasting continued for at least five days, longer if food were plentiful. The climax of the ceremony was the xiwili dance described above. In this the girls took no part, except to stand in a prominent place. During this time the girls were serenaded nightly in their menstrual lodges. Usually the climax of the serenade, with respect to numbers and the duration of dancing and sing- ing, came on the night before the ceremony ended. After the termination of the ceremony, or after the first prolonged period of seclusion, the girl bathed, discarded old garments, and was at liberty to re- sume ordinary habits and diet. Some women, however, abstained from meat for much longer periods. For example, Ellen Silverthorne ate no deer meat for ten years. She still feels apprehensive when she eats mountain squirrel. During subsequent menses a woman withdrew for the period of her flow to the family menstrual lodge, which was always located at no great distance from the dwelling. Sexual intercourse was forbidden. It was considered natur- ally and supernaturally injuriouis to the man. While the woman was isolated, she had her own utensils and prepared her own food, a practice forbidden to an adolescent. Meat, and particularly deer, fish, and grease, were forbidden. Consumption was thought to result from breaking this taboo. Before return- 53 54 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. ing to her dwelling, the menstruant bathed. These taboos probably repre- sented the most rigorous observance of menstrual restrictions. The minimal observances were contained in the following precepts. A men- struant could not eat with men, especially hunters, gamblers, and shamans. It would destroy their "power." She had to avoid sacred places for fear of being injured or spirited away by the genii loci. To fish and gamble were for- bidden her. One woman was reported to have broken the taboo against fishing. As a result she was possessed by a sucker spirit. Her face twisted to one side and her eyes bulged. Even her father, who was a shaman of repute, failed to cure her, although he had a trout spirit to aid him. If a menstruant entered a shamanistic seance the doctor would vomit blood. Similarly if she prepared food for a shaman, he would be nauseated by it, for the odor of menstrual blood made men sick. A man could hunt and fish during his wife's illness, but he was thought to be running a risk. One or two informants insisted that he should not have engaged in these activities at all. MARRIAGE" Marriage for most of the Wintu was a casually contracted relationship. If a man and a woman were attractive to each other, they simply lived together and thereby established themselves as a married couple in the eyes of the group. Gatherings seem to have offered occasion for the establishment of many such marital relationships. If a young couple were known to have sexual intercourse but continued to live separately, the headman of the village might publicly ridicule and shame them into taking up a joint residence. It was not infrequently that marriages were more formally contracted. The suitor would supply the girl's parents with game for several months, and if the gifts.were accepted it was understood that the suit was considered favorably. If they were rejected, he desisted. If the parents accepted the gifts but the girl left the house when he came, he knew that the girl did not con- sider him as eligible as her parents did. The "manly" procedure was to press his suit rather than to withdraw. If for some reason the girl did not marry the man who had been supplying her parents with meat, it was courteous for her family to make the suitor a return gift. The initiative was not always the man's. It was not uncommon for a girl to go of her own accord to a man's house and assist his mother in grinding acorns and gathering seeds. Her family might even urge her to undertake this course. In this, the girl's behavior had the same implication as the man's in supplying her family with game. Once a marriage had been determined upon, it was customary for the two families to exchange gifts, the value of which was com- mensurate with the economic status of the young people's relatives. The gifts were practically equivalent in value and no feeling of bride-purchase was entailed. 29 A supplementary discussion of marriage and kinship attitudes is included under Kinship; also under Crimes, Torts, and Social Justice. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Monogamy, however brittle, was customary. Polygyny was permitted. Men of importance frequently had two or more wives. The second wife was often, though not necessarily, a sister or female relative of the first. It is significant that the first wife was called older sister (la) by the subsequent spouses, and that she referred to them as younger sisters (laikut), even though no real kinship existed between them. The first wife was relieved of the more arduous household tasks and in general had a recognized priority. One man was re- ported to have had twelve wives. It is doubtful that these women all lived either together or at the same time. It was customary for a man who hAd a plurality of wives to sleep between two of them. A person of importance was more likely to secure an additional wife by a payment to her family than by courtship. Residence after marriage might be either patrilocal or matrilocal. It was considered preferable, however, to establish an independent household- either in the man's or the woman's local group. The mother-in-law taboo existed. A man was not permitted to touch, or even approach within more than about three feet of, his mother-in-law. They had to address each other respectfully. In terms of linguistic evidence this means that the word for parent-in-law was the second or third person plural of the personal pronoun. A mother-in-law and a son-in-law were forbidden to joke in each other's presence. If they met on a trail they stepped out of each other's way. They were permitted, however, to make ordinary requests of each other and to eat together as long as they occupied opposite sides of the fire. If the young man infringed upon these restrictions he stood in danger of "being torn to pieces by a grizzly bear." A man and his daughter-in-law were also expected to maintain a respectful and distant attitude toward each other, although the observances were probably not so stringently kept as were the mother-in-law taboos. If the father-in-law were a hunter and by mistake touched his daughter-in-law, he excused himself with the expression, "I have met a grizzly bear," and a directional phrase which indicated that the contact had not occurred where they were at that moment. To gaze fixedly at a relative-in-law was considered bad form. The levirate and sororate were Wintu institutions. As was previously indi- cated, a man frequently married a woman and her sister. If he were left a widower, his wife's family felt obligated to supply him another spouse-a sister, a cousin, or even a niece. The right which a man thought he had to his wife's sister, whether or not his wife was living, is exemplified in the following story: Taika was a headman around Ono. He had two wives. One came from Schilling [French Gulch subarea]. The other was Jenny, who came from Ono. He wanted Jenny's sister, Lucy, but she ran away from him. He didn't like Jenny any more, but he wanted Lucy. He ran after her and got "mean," so she went to Watson gulch and lived with Xalit's son. Xalit was a headman at Watson gulch. Taika got mad. He went to Xalit's son and said, "That's my woman's sister and I am supposed to have her." He said to Xalit: "If you let your son have her I'll kill him or the woman. Or else you had better pay me." Xalit didn't say anything. In about two weeks Taika came back. Xalit asked him to sit 55 56 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. down. Then he put a bear hide down. He got a string of clam-disk beads so long that it reached his knees. He put that on the hide. Then he brought out five strings of dentalia which reached to his waist. He brought out about ten strings of haliotis which reached to his waist. He got a fox-hide quiver with a bow and arrows in it. Then he said: "Now I'll take the woman. It's done. Don't bother me any more." Taika said: "I'm satisfied. I won't bother you any more." Xalit bought Lucy for his son. Just as the woman's family felt obligated to supply a bereaved husband with another spouse, so the same obligation was felt by the man's family toward a widow. She was entitled to expect one of her husband's brothers, cousins, or uncles to marry her. A relative by affinity was responsible for her welfare, although he might not be prepared to assume marital relations with her. Two brothers might marry two sisters, or a brother and sister might marry a brother and sister. Marriage between cross-cousins and parallel cousins was forbidden; between second cousins it was frowned upon, though genealogies show that it occurred occasionally. The belief was current that the offspring of related persons would be cross-eyed. Two bastard children now living in the tribe are generally assumed to have been fathered by a cousin of their mother because they are both cross-eyed. There was no rule of exogamy, but the close- ness of relationship within a local group often fostered marriages outside the village. Gatherings included villages of the same or adjoining subareas and therefore extravillage marriages were generally contracted on these occasions. Divorce was easy and frequent since the grounds were simply incompati- bility or adultery. Barrenness was not considered cause for separation, nor was the wife's family responsible to the man for another spouse should the first one fail to bear children. This of course was in consonance with the ab- sence of lineage emphasis in Wintu society. As long as two people lived to- gether they were expected to be faithful to each other. Either the man or the woman might take the initiative in divorce. The procedure was simply to with- draw from joint residence, or to establish residence with another mate. Despite the fragility of the marriage bond there was a distinct sense of the legitimacy or illegitimacy of offspring. A child which was deserted by its father before or shortly after birth was called patdokosila (lost-flint child), which was a term of opprobrium.30 An offspring born to a woman who had been promiscuous was called scila (everyone's child) or baxaila (brush child). Today the marriage system is even more lax than formerly. A man or woman has many mates in the course of a lifetime, residing with any one of them no longer than the mutual attraction persists. Frequently one legal mar- riage according to white concepts is contracted, but it does not seem more binding than unsanctioned cohabitation. The older people deplore the present marriages between relatives, and the genealogies do seem to indicate more frequent unions between cousins than formerly. The mother-in-law taboo is so Powers, op. cit., 239, says: "A woman thus abandoned and having a young child is justified by her friends in destroying it on the ground that it has no supporter. A child orphaned by his father's desertion is called 'the devil's own' (lolchibus, from lolchet, the devil)." The writer was informed that lolteibas applies to any person bereft of rela- tives and the term loltcit was found to mean ghost, i.e., a material manifestation of a Les or soul. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography also disappearing. "It makes me feel bad to hear them, the way they talk now," was one informant's comment on the subject. The levirate and sororate still function in a modified form. Thus Albert Thomas has as wives two sisters from the Wappo tribe. Jake Cornish had a Shasta wife who died recently. In the summer of 1929 he went to Shasta territory to urge his sister-in-law to return with him. She was living with another man, but Jake insisted upon the priority of his claim. A brawl ensued in which he was badly mauled. It was felt that he had a real grievance, and that he had acted in no wise ridiculously. KINSHIP Gifford31 has described the kinship system of the Wintu and has discussed its categorical relationship to other Californian systems. In addition, one might consider with profit the inner consistency of the kinship system itself and its relation to Wintu social organization. In order to present as briefly and clearly as possible the terms to be discussed, a genealogical table has been compiled which gives the majority of the terms used by a hypothetical ego. The terms collected do not coincide in every respect with Gifford's, but the system is es- sentially the same as that recorded by him. To the variations which Gifford collected among the Wintu, this system merely adds another. It indicates that kinship terms were by no means ironclad in their form and application in different subareas. The same variation between individuals was observed. Whether this represents an aboriginal vagueness in nomenclature, or whether it was the result of the breakdown of the older system, it is impossible to ascer- tain. The genealogical table does not include all possible relationships, but it does attempt to portray the major twenty-six or twenty-seven terms used by the Wintu and to show the individual's kinship orientation. The discussion of terms deals only with the most important ones under which several categories of relationship were subsumed in Wintu ideology; some of the abstract social possibilities of such a system of classification are suggested; and ethnographic corroboration is presented to show in what degree the potentialities of the kinship system and the actualities of the social organization coincided. The kinship terms on the whole may be grouped in pairs, each of which represents the same category of relationship divided by the sex of the relative addressed. There are certain irregularities as noted below. In the list which follows, primary meanings are assigned to certain terms. The primary mean- ings are based chiefly on the biological closeness of relationship and on a cer- tain impressionistic judgment formed in the field. 1) Labe (o. br.) or lekut (y. br.) primary meanings, sibling and parallel and la (o. ss.) or laikut (y. ss.)J cousins tomple: primary meaning, stepfather, father's brother However, these terms have extended application, and in order to parallel all 81 Gifford, E. W., Californian kinship terminologies, UC-PAAE 18:1-285, 1922. 57 CHART OF KiNSHIP TERmS USED BY MALE EGO - pukui ( 9 sp.) tca 1(9 sp.)L + ta ta + la or -Labe nene (st.m.)--la + tomple (st.f.) + la or nene Lpukui ttcai somon kule -okoi tp--s -pukui -kule (st.s.) + Ond wff +nukui (st.d.) +ta -tcai -+ net pukan 1-kur -tcamen -EGO- I + ta 1I-tcai -pitcen -tcamen kule pukui tcai [tcamen kule -Labe pukui rkule -ukui rtesi (dl op.) or kule ( p.) - menl?t (dl sp.) or pukui (9 Qsp.) This system obtains for the McCloud Wintu, who are equivalent to Gifford's northeastern Wintun. Italics show terms for females. + puta + putatcepet + kiye Du& Bois: Wintu Ethnography the meanings given to the term la (o. ss.) on the male side, it is necessary to equate it with two terms, namely, Labe and tomple. Thus: la ( v ) labe(' t) tomple (d) Older sister Older brother Older parallel cousin Older parallel cousin Mother's sister Father's brother Stepmother Stepfather Father's brother's wife Mother's sister's husband The grouping of mother's sister with stepmother and of the father's brother with stepfather is a familiar phenomenon. When it is founfd, as it is among the Wintu, in conjunction with ethnographic evidence of the levirate and sororate it furnishes a nice example of functional interrelationships. The in- clusion of the father's brother's wife and the mother's sister's husband under the same term suggests the marriage of a pair of siblings to a pair of siblings. Such a marriage arrangement must represent more frequently an ideal situa- tion than an actual one. Genealogies yield only two examples of it. However, that it was a desideratum is further indicated by the kinship system wherein two unrelated men who marry two sisters thereafter call each other brother. Whether the term is older or younger brother depends on the relative age of the spouse, that is, the man who married the older sister is called Labe (o. br.) by his wife's sister's husband. Furthermore, the grouping of the last three categories of kin under a single term in the list given above might be con- sidered a varying aspect of the more general concept of reciprocal obligations between families to keep their members supplied with spouses. This mutual obligation was recognized and overtly stated by several informants. Yet the more or less brittle monogamy and the free play of individual taste in con- tracting marriage, also reported, must have obstructed the smooth function- ing of the ideal system. There remains the problem of why the parallel siblings, real or classifica- tory, should be amalgamated with the stepmother-mother's sister concept. It can be explained by postulating marriage between ego's father and ego's mother's sister's daughter, who might be ego's stepsister. That is, ego would call his stepsister, or his parallel cousin, la. If that stepsister or parallel cousin married his father, she would become his stepmother and still be called la. She also would become his mother's sister, since the wives of one husband address each other as sister (a fiction or an actuality, as the case may be, which is consistent with the sororate). In other words, in one person all usages of la are reconciled by such a marriage. The situation may be clarified by the diagram on page 60, where la, may become la2. This also explains the overriding of the generation category in the term la, which does not occur in the more specialized masculine counterparts, Labe and tomple. Consistent as this postulated social explanation of the kinship 59 60 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. system may seem, only one informant stated that a man might marry his real or potential stepdaughter while others denied the possibility of such a mar- riage and the genealogies did not reveal a single instance of it. However, in the discussion of reciprocal obligations between famnilies two other informants said a widower was entitled to his deceased wife's sister or even a niece. Of course a niece might be either a sister's or a brother's daughter. The next question which appears is why a generation dichotomy has oc- curred in masculine nomenclature when it is absent in female nomenclature. Here the only answer which suggests itself is based on the gerontocratic tend- ency among Californian Indians in general and among the Wintu specifically. It may be that the older men extended their prerogatives to the tealm of mar- riage and claimed the younger women. Actually, however, it was observed that many of the younger Wintu lived with women older than themselves. l l~~~a d~=9 = Q la, 9 =0 (stepmother) (mother's putative sister) ego (potential wife of father's 9 la, (parallel cousin) brother and therefore of (potential sister accord- father) ing to sororate) The only conclusion possible is that if such a type of marriage ever existed, it has fallen into desuetude. The question is touched upon further under the term nene (no. 6 below-p. 62). 2) kule (&), puqui (?): primary meaning, parallel nephew or niece. The reciprocals of these two terms are obviously tomple (e) or la (2) (alternate nene-see no. 6). The terms kule and pukui are extended also to the offspring of persons called siblings, that is, to the children of parallel cousins. These offspring are parallel cousins once removed. Whether that removal is through a person whose sex is the same as or the opposite of ego's does not affect the nomenclature. The terms have a further extension, namely, to the offspring of a female cross-cousin (nene), female speaking. This would seem to open a channel for more intimate relationships between ego and his parallel relatives than between ego and his cross-relatives, especially in the female line as is indicated by the last extension given immediately above. The terms kule and pukui are also applied to stepchildren. This is consistent with the fact that the children of one's parallel siblings (babe or la) are always one's potential stepchildren under the levirate-sororate system. Gifford, however, reports the use of the son (kur) and daughter (pitcen) terms for stepchildren. 3) nitcai (e), nitcamen (a): primary meaning, cross-nephew or -niece; grandchildren. The reciprocals of these two terms are kiye (6C) and puta (?). The genera- tion category is much overridden in these terms. The kiye-nitcai reciprocal has a further extension in its application to a male cross-cousin, male speak- ing. The son of male ego's father's older sister is called kiye; the son of male ego's father's younger sister is called nitcai. In other words, the age of the Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography connecting aunt or uncle, and not the ages of the two cross-cousins involved, determines the nomenclature. Once established, this pair of kiye-nitcai terms is perpetuated in a fixed order in successive generations, so that a cross-cousin once removed may be called kiye by ego, although this kiye is in a generation below ego's. In female nomenclature the terms nitcai and nitcamen are used for cross-cousins once removed, when that removal is through a male cross- cousin (kute). Another extension of the terms, beyond grandchildren, cross-nephews and nieces, and certain cross-cousins, is to the children of one's spouse's cross- siblings; for example, ego's wife's brother's son and daughter. This presents another substantiation of marriage between pairs of siblings, since ego's wife's brother would thus marry ego's sister, and ego's sister's children are his nitcai and nitcamen. It should be noted in passing that nitcai is also the generic term of address in myths, and more particularly in coyote myths. Coyote employs the term nitcai to chance acquaintances who respond with kiye. It has a comparable ethnographic extension in the tendency of older men to use the term toward younger ones where friendship or a distant and unanalyzed relationship exists. Furthermore there is present today a tendency to use the term generi- cally for both types of nephews. The tendency may possibly be ascribed to white usage in which both nephews are classed as one; to this the Wintu per- haps have responded by using their more generic term for the equivalent of the white's generic term. 4) kiye (c), puta (a): primary meaning, cross-uncle and -aunt; grand- parents. The kinship categories of kiye and puta have been indicated in the discus- sion of their reciprocals, nitcai and nitcamen. The term kiye has greater ex- tension than puta; this relationship will be discussed below. In these terms are merged the three or more generations of parents' cross-siblings, all grand- parents and their siblings, and all great-grandparents. The older kiye and puta generally suffix tcepet, which gives the terms a connotation of age and respect. More distant generations of ancestors may have tun prefixed before kiyetcepet and putatcepdt. In the generation preceding ego, kiye and puta are extended to spouses of the kiye and puta, that is, to the spouses of ego's cross-uncles and -aunts. This may represent either the simplification of a system by the extension of kinship terms to relatives by affinity, or again it may indicate marriage between pairs of brothers and sisters; for example, ego's mother's brother (kiye) may marry ego's father's sister (puta). The usage in connection with the uncle-aunt class has been suggested by Lowie 2 as a basis of classification for kinship systems. According to the cate- gories which he has established, the Wintu belong to the bifurcate merging class with only a very slight departure, namely, that the father's brother is 32 Lowie, R. H., Relationship terms, art. in Eneye. Brit. (ed. 14). 61 62 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. designated as stepfather rather than father proper. Spier55 places the Wintu in the Omaha type on the basis of the cross-cousin nomenclature. 5) kute (J). This is a term for cross-cousin, female speaking,which parallels the term kiye when it is used as cross-cousin, male speaking. The interrelation of this term with others is classified subsequently. 6) nene (f). This is a term for cross-cousin whether the speaker is male or female. The term presents certain anomalies because it is used as an equiv- alent of la in all except the two primary meanings, that is, older sister or parallel female sibling. The use of the term nene is inconsistent and confused in the minds of informants. It suggests either a breakdown and confusion of terms resulting from greater intermingling of the users with Trinity Wintu, who use the term nene for mother's sister and for mother's brother's daughter (not father's sister's daughter), or the arising of a dichotomy be- tween la and nene comparable to that already in existence between Labe and tomple. If hypothetical reconstruction may be ventured, it would seem that the extended use of la is a survival of an earlier form of marriage, that is, to one's wife's sister's daughter, and that the term nene is an attempt of more recent date to meet the marriage system as it exists with a terminology which is functionally related. It might be envisaged as an effort to equalize the pressure between two closely related sets of institutions in which the levels differ or, to use more strictly cultural terminology, in one of which a cultural lag has occurred. To what extent this equalization of pressure, or this inter- relation of function, is a general cultural process, bears investigation. It is conceivable that the more closely related the two dislocated phenomena, the more rapid their readjustment will be. The interrelationship of some of the terms discussed above is suggested in the following tables: TABLE 1 la (9) nene (9) puta (9) Labe (oi) tomple (oi) kiye (o) kute (ci) o ss o b o//c 0//c m ss (or) m ss f b st m (or) st m st f f b w (or) f b w m ss h xc (d or x c (d sp) 9 sP) or x c ( sp) gr m gr f x a x u mbw fssh a, aunt d, daughter h, husband 8, son at, step //, parallel b, brother f, father m, mother ap, speaking u, uncle x, cross c, cousin gr, grand o, older sa, siater W, wife 88 Spier, Leslie, Distribution of kinship systems in North America, UW-PA 1:69-88, 1925. Du Boiw: Wintu Ethnography TABLE 2 Parallel relatives Cros relatives Ascending tomple-la kiye-puta Ego's generation Labe-la kiye } ene kutef-n e Descending kule-pukui nitcai nitcamen From the preceding tables and discussions it becomes evident that the con- cepts stressed in the classification of relatives can be listed in the following order, which corresponds roughly to the decreasing importance of the cate- gories: (1) sex of relative, (2) cross- vs. parallel relatives, (3) lineal vs. col- lateral relatives, (4) generation differentiation, (5) distinction between blood and affinal relatives, (6) differentiation of age within generation, (7) sex of speaker, and (8) age of connecting relative. All the eight principles of rela- tionship outlined by Kroeber34 are found among the Wintu. Self-reciprocity is found only in the parent-in-law and child-in-law category where ta serves all purposes. The generalizations made above will be found to disagree in some minor respects with the similar generalizations by Gifford. This is in large part because they are based on the major eleven term complexes rather than on the sum of all twenty-seven terms. This seemed a partly justifiable procedure for two reasons: first, Gifford has already given an excellent descriptive account of the Wintu system as a whole, and second, the complexities of the Wintu kinship system seem to lie more extensively within the realm of terms under which categories of kinship are subsumed than with individual terms such as those for mother-father, son-daughter, brother-in-law, sister-in-law. There remains the question of behavior patterns toward certain kin. The parent-in-law taboos have already been discussed in the section on Marriage. Obviously not so rigorous as in some parts of the world, they may be con- sidered simply as respect relationships as opposed to joking relationships. The respect relationship extended to a man's sister whether biological or classificatory. Hle was not only forbidden to joke with his sister, but it was considered unconventional for him to go anywhere alone with her. Nieces and cousins, whether cross- or parallel, were also treated with circumspection. Women responded with the same attitude, which meant that almost all one's blood relatives of the opposite sex fell into the respect category. The category included a man's wife's sister and that sister's daughter (pukui), who might become his real stepdaughter through the functioning of the soro- rate. This was reenforced by the respect relationship between a father and daughter. The respect relationship between a man and his wife's sister's daughter might have bearing on the marriage between two such relatives 84]Kroeber, A. L., Classificatory systems of relationship, JRAI 39:78, 1909. 63 64 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. which was postulated above, if it were ascertained that a respect relationship existed between husband and wife. Actually such a respect relationship be- tween spouses was reported. Further indication that a respect relationship existed between spouses was the unwillingness of certain informants to tell obscene coyote stories in the presence of their spouses. On the whole we may say concerning the respect-joking relationship that a joking attitude consisted of broad sexual conversation and teasing was as- sumed as the norm, especially between members of the same sex. This norm was limited by certain specific prohibitions. It was not a question of "you may joke with," but of "you must be circumspect toward." BURIAL AND MOURNING CUSTOMS Upon the death of an individual the relatives assembled at once and began wailing. The corpse was buried the same day if possible, but if relatives had to come from far, or if the weather were stormy, the body might remain un- buried for a day or two. The dead were buried in the earth. Only one inform- ant mentioned having heard that the people to the south cremated. Grave- yards were located approximately one hundred yards from the dwellings and served either a family or the whole village, depending on the nature of the settlement. In a communal village graveyard, relatives were buried close to one another. The site of a specific grave was usually decided upon by a group of the older people who remembered where previous burials had been made. Graves were dug by two or three old women, who passed the earth up out of the hole in carrying-baskets. The depth of the grave was approximately four feet. Should bones from a previous burial be discovered in the course of digging, they were laid to one side, wrapped in a hide, and redeposited with the corpse. While the old women were digging, the relatives of the same sex as the corpse dressed it in its finery, placed it on a deerskin or a bear hide (if so great a treasure were available) in a crouching position with the elbows inside the bent knees and the hands on the cheeks. The hide was then folded around the body and the bundle was very tightly and solidly wrapped with deer sinew or rope. In fact, the body had to be so tightly bound that the binder's foot was braced against the bundle to pull the sinew as taut as possible. The head, according to one informant, was left unbound. Others, however, said the head also was bound with sinew, but that its position was marked in order that the body might be set upright in the grave. After this preparation the corpse was removed through a special opening made in the rear of the dwelling, and was carried to the grave with much wailing. Not to wail was thought disrespectful and hard-hearted. The body was lowered into the round hole which constituted the grave. One informant from the upper McCloud said that graves might consist of a vertical shaft in the wall of which a recess was undercut. If this type of grave occurred, it was undoubtedly rare. Concerning the orientation of the body there was the great- est divergence of opinion. All four directions were named with equal fre- Du Bois: Wintu Eth&nography quency. One informant declared that it was necessary to turn the face up toward the sun; another said that the corpse had to be faced toward the north, since it was in that direction that the ghost traveled to the spring of life from which all Wintu must drink before staxting their journey to the next world. At all events, orientation was at no time emphasized and the matter usually was discussed only after questioning, so probably no well-established custom existed for it. Placed with the body at the right hand was a basket of acorn-meal water for the soul to drink. This seemed invariable. Various other articles, usually of a personal nature, such as the bow and arrow, beads, and feathers, might also be put with the body. With women, acorn and manzanita flour were buried in their baskets. A dog belonging to the deceased was killed with a bow and arrow, or hanged with a grapevine, by some relative of his master and then placed in the grave to accompany his master into the next life. When Jesse Brown was buried, his mother caused to be interred with him two blankets, a side of venison, a gun and cartridges, a piece of yardage he had given her, and the usual basket of acorn-meal water. If a child died, the other children in the family might be swung over the open grave to prevent further deaths. Children might also be swung over the grave of a parent to prevent them from asking where the father or mother had gone, for a child so treated would never ask for the deceased. Although this practice was familiar to several informants, it was unknown to many others and seems not to have been prevalent. Children usually were kept away from burial grounds and the dead as much as possible. After the corpse had been placed in the grave it was covered with pine bark, which perhaps also had been put under and around the body. A funeral ora- tion was delivered by some eloquent person, preferably one who was related to the dead. The purpose was to direct the soul upon its way (see Concepts of the Soul and Afterworld). Two informants believed the oration to be a post- white introduction. Rocks were then laid in the grave and the earth pushed back in the hole. The earth was stamped down with the feet "as in a dance," to an accompaniment of wailing. Graves were frequently covered with white sand when it was available. Since the period of white influence, it has become common to sing songs and lay flowers on the grave. In former times no flowers were used and wailing alone was customary. At present, dream songs are in vogue at Wintu burials. After the burial the chief mourners, who were the nearest relatives, and the grave diggers-those who had come most closely in contact with the corpse- were considered contaminated and had to purify themselves. This was done in various ways, by bathing, sweating in a steam sudatory,35 or by exposing oneself to the smoke of a scrub live-oak or fir fire. Both woods crackle when burning and are supposed to drive away the ghosts of the deceased. EDC Campbell reports that the chief mourner, that is, nearest kin or the spouse, might enter a steam sudatory to cleanse himself and, in addition to the sweat- 85 A recent innovation, since steam sudatories are new in the area; see Houses. 65 66 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. ing, might gash his arms and legs with an obsidian knife. On the other hand, Harry Marsh, who played the chief role in the burial of his mother-in-law in the winter of 1928, merely held his arms in scrub live-oak smoke to keep away spirits and bad dreams. In discussing this matter of purification, Sara Fan, from the Onao area, rationalized as follows: "The Indians buried so close to- gether the ground gets bad and the people who dig the grave have to wash to get clean again." The next step after purification was the destruction of property. Noninfiam- mable objects like arrowheads were broken, everything else was burned, even the bark house in which the deceased had lived. Sometimes the dwelling was saved from destruction by moving the dying person out of doors when death seemed imminent. The trails over which he had been in the habit of passing were furrowed with a digging-stick, or fires were lighted on them. Jo Bender thought it was a desirable precaution to stir up the ground where the corpse had lain. When various informants were asked why the property was thus wholly destroyed, the answer was always to the effect that the relatives "would feel bad if those things were used. They don't like to see them around." One informant said that the spirit hovered about its old haunts until all its prop- erty had been destroyed. Actually of course so complete a destruction of property was rare. If a relative wished to preserve a valuable article, he took care to purify it in smoke as described above. The destruction of valuable property might be circumvented also by giving it to an heir shortly before death, but it, too, had to be purified before use. Implicitly at least this would seem to indicate that the fear of the returning spirit was greater than the sentiment attached to the article. On the whole, the destruction of property cannot be considered as an offering to the dead, but rather as a gesture to get well rid of the ghost. Should the family feel that the spirit was not at rest, a shaman might be asked to communicate with the dead person to learn his will. One recent occurrence of this sort was reported by EDC Campbell. Her son had been killed and buried in France in the World War. She felt that his spirit was not at rest and asked to have his body returned. This was done and he was buried in the family burial ground. A shaman was then asked to com- municate with her son's spirit. The answer was to the effect that now he was happy to be back where he had played as a boy; now his LeS (ghost or spirit) was happy. A faithful mourner was supposed to wail daily for one year on the grave, but no specific instances of such devotion were recorded. A less exaggerated account declared that mourners smoked and talked at the grave, morning and night, for some ten days. They also sprinkled on the grave water in which red pigment had been dissolved. Annual mourning ceremonies were unknown. However, in the midst of a festive gathering old people would assemble to talk of their bereavement and weep for the dead. This procedure was com- pletely unformalized and can be considered in no way a mourning ceremony. A widow, on the death of her spouse, cut her hair and smeared her face with a mixture of charcoal and pitch to which grease sometimes was added. This Du Bow8: Wi,ntul Ethnography mixture was powdered over with burned and pulverized clamshells to keep it from being too sticky. Pitch might also be rubbed into the hair, forming a cap-shaped covering for the head. In the Ono area, at least, this custom was not usual, since Sara Fan saw only one old woman do this, although she had spent her whole girlhood in a bark-house village of this region. Pitch beads might also be worn about the neck, or a part of the rope used to tie up the body might be dipped in pitch and similarly worn. The consensus was that the pitch was allowed to wear off and was not replaced; this seemed to coincide with a year's time in the minds of most informants. After that the person was free to remarry. But for remarriage no very definite time limit seems to have existed. Mourning customs were generally described for women and seem to have been more rigorously observed by them, although upon being questioned informants conceded that men also might be equally strict. Name taboos for the deceased existed, but in how strict a form it was difficult to determine, after the eighty years of contact with the whites. No informant gave any definite span for the observance of the taboo. "They just keep it up until they don't feel so bad any more." Probably it was kept until the name had been rebestowed upon a child. At present no offense is taken at the men- tion of a deceased relative's name. Even the older people name the dead with- out scruple. However, one very old informant, Anne Griffen, seemed disturbed when questioned about the names and biographies of dead personages and said repeatedly: "He is dead. I can't remember things about dead people." Informants reported that formerly to mention the name of a dead person in the presence of a relative was considered a deliberate insult, which had to be atoned for by payment of deer hides, clam-shell disks, or a bow. Otherwise the insulted person was free to take blood revenge, though it is doubtful whether this was ever resorted to within the memory of any informant. Should the name of the deceased relative be mentioned accidentally and obviously with- out intent to insult, the relative might say kedatcada (meaning unknown to Wintu) and the matter was passed off. To call a person a motherless or a fatherless child was considered a deep insult, akin to that of breaking the name taboo and to be similarly atoned for. One informant related an anecdote about a widower who had cut his hair in mourning for his wife. An acquaint- ance entered his house and said derisively, "You look pretty now." The widower thereupon slew the insulter. Formerly grave-robbing was unknown in the area. Sadie Marsh upon being questioned expressed the opinion that a person who robbed a grave would become posesssed by a loltcit (i.e., ghost). A person so possessed was called loltcit bemeheres (possessed or owned by a loltcit); he was unable to talk and behaved hysterically, laughing, sobbing, drooling. In recent years a Wintu was induced to dig up a grave at the behest of white relic hunters. He suffered paralysis as a punishment. 67 68 University of Californmi Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. NUMERATION TIME RECKONING Divisions of the day.-Several informants were asked for the customary method of dividing the day. Only those divisions which recurred at least three times have been used in the compilation of the following list: honhima: already, or just, morning (from daybreak until sun-up). puiel panti nomelLawerum: up east above, going up westward (middle of the morning). saniwenem: middle day (noon). nomkenLa: going down westward (middle of the afternoon). puriwa: becoming dark (dusk, after sunset). kenwani: evening (evening, dark). teipiwenem: middle night (middle of the night). Variations of these terms were many. Some individuals divided the day into ten or twelve parts in an attempt to duplicate the hour system of the whites. For example, puyukpanti, above the mountain, was inserted between nomkenLa and puriwa, and identified as 5 P.M., whereas actually the term was used to designate the time when the sun was about to set. In this connection it is of interest that the Wintu word for timepiece is yapaitu sas, white man's sun. Seasons.-Four seasons of the year were recognized and were established by the appearance of certain food supplies or weather conditions. pomisin: winter (marked by beginning of storms). oltipa: spring. papil: summer (when manzanita berries began to ripen). xaidoni: autumn (when acorns ripened and fell from trees). Years were reckoned by summers, according to one informant, while an- other said the count was by winters. Therefore two years might be expressed either as palpomisin, two winters, or as palpapil, two summers. For time elapsed the following expressions were used: uspopil: summer done (last summer). usdapapil: summer done ago (summer before last). panuLpapil: three summers, or, three summers ago (depending on the eontext). From here on the cardinal numbers were simply prefixed to the word for the season. CalendricaZ system.-Year counts were kept by a few old men, who notched sticks and planted them in a row, or placed pebbles in a basket. These methods also might be used for day counts. Some old men also observed the north and south progressions of the sun. None such is alive, but from report they had two landmarks between which they noticed that the sun oscillated during the course of a year, and this progression they associated with the changes in seasons. Many informants asserted that twelve lunar months were counted. A few believed that only the six winter ones were named and that the summer months Du Boss: Wintu Ethnography were indicated by the appearance of certain animals and plants. This latter assertion was substantiated by the inability of all informants to name twelve months. Perrin Radeliff, whose father observed the solstices, said he remem- bered old people arguing about the number of months in a year. Some recog- nized eight, others fourteen. His father counted twelve or thirteen. The list given herewith is compiled from the fragmentary knowledge of eight persons, and is given in the order of probable time sequence. puimemsalat: east water, or Pit river, dry leaves. An autumn month. Bald Hills in- formant gave similar term, puibohemsalat, east big dry leaves. XOsLahisas :86 fog ( ?) falls moon. An autumn month. Given by two Bald Hills informants. bohesas: big moon. Given by five informants; identified twice as December, onee as January. daukirsas: front mud moon. Given by two informants; identified as January by one, as February by the other. tcunuskikit: urine freezes. Given by five informants and variously identified as the coldest month, that is, Deeember; "around Christmas"; or any month when frost occurred. witilanas: (meaning unknown). Given by two informants; identified once as February. kirelsas: scorch moon. Given by two informants; identified as time of year when wind blows fire and scorches one (March 1). kirkissas: (kir, mud; kis, a mountain berry, unidentified). Given by one informant; identified as March. doteitei: grass grows on a plaee which has been burned off. Given by two informants; identified as a spring moon, or April, when the elover comes; the month following kirkissas. painokisas: manzanita ripe moon. Given by two informants; identified as June. A second list is appended because it was the only one given by an informant with any show of certainty. The translations are the informant's. He said that the month count began in September and ran as follows: September: puimemsalat, leaves fall on Pit river. October: bohesalat, big leaf fall. November: salat, leaf fall. December: xosLahisas, fog falls moon. January: teunuskikit, urine freezes. February: bohesas, big moon. March: kirteus, scorch. April: daukirtcus, in front of scorch. May: yetpe (no name). June, July, and August had no names; were called collectively papilsas. Only nine months were counted. All attempts to name the months usually terminated with papilsas, which might mean either summer month or summer months. It might refer to a season as well as to a specific lunar month. The summer periods were certainly commonly designated by such terms as "acorns ripen," "leaves fall," "man- zanitas ripen." Also there were associations between flora and fauna. Thus it was known that does fawned when the wild syringa and the buckeye bloomed; and that suckers ran in the streams of the upper Sacramento when 86 sas is used for both sun and moon, although the term teanaL may be used as an alternate word for moon. 69 70 Univer8ity of California Publicatios in Am. Aroh. and Bthn. chaparral flowered. The calendrical system was therefore a mixture of lunar, solstitial, and seasonal observations. Phases of the moon were designated by no strict terminology, but the fol- lowing expressions are typical of the descriptive phrases used. saspohikaya: moon fire bashful (new moon). sastama: moon faces (full moon); or tcanaLwitaha: moon becomes a man (full moon). minellarum: goes dying (waning of moon). saskalbem: moon gone (dark of moon). bohemharum: becomes big (waxing of moon). COUNTING Most old men could count to sixty, but few women were found who could with ease go much beyond five or ten. Few men could carry the system beyond sixty without difficulty. Only three said they were able to count to one thou- sand in the ordinary system. When requested to do this, they fell into incon- sistencies and finally gave the word for one thousand. Only one man was found who could count to a thousand without much difficulty and who comprehended the vigesimal system involved. No word exists for one-quarter, one-third, or similar fractions. 3%: tean (also means one of two). 1: k'etem. 2: palel. 3: panuL. 4: tlawi. 5: tcanse (one hand, or half of both hands; see %). 6: serpanuL (three on both hands). 7: lolokit (pointer). 8: setlawi (four on both hands). 9: (tikeles) ketemeles (one missing from ten). The word for ten, tikeles, seldom in- cluded. Tcantlawit also used for 9; obvious combination of the terms for 5 and 4. 10: tikeles.87 11: (tikeles) k'ete klomit ([ten] one increased). 12: (tikeles) pal klomit ([ten] two increased). 13: (tikeles) panuL klomit ([ten] three increased), etc. 20: k'etewintu (one person). 21: k'etewintu k'etem klomit (one person, one increased). For 20 and beyond, two different systems of counting were used, one for ordinary purposes and the other for clam-disk beads and possibly also for arrowheads. The numerical system is obviously a combination of a decimal system and a vigesimal system. Numerals from 1 to 19 are based on a decimal concept so far as 5 is called 1/2, and for 10 there is an unanalyzable term. Furthermore, from 11 through 18, numerals are formed by adding the first eight digits to the term for 10. The count of 20, however, is distinctly vigesimal because it represents a complete unit, that is, one man. From 20 onward the two systems, decimal and vigesimal, are in part alternative and in part supplementary in 87 Powers, op. cit., 233, gives the meaning "none lacking' for this term. Du Bois: Wints Bthnography the system of counting used for ordinary purposes. For example, 60 may be expressed as 3 twenties or as 6 tens. The count of 400 is distinctly vigesimal since it is expressed as 20 twenties or 20 men. Again, 600 is expressed in either For clam diske In this system the counter started over after esah twenty. Stones were laid to one side to keep track of the number of twenties aecumulated ketem sakU pal sak panuL sak tlawi sak semanots5 pal semanot tlawi semanot serpanuL semanot setlawi semanot ketewita (one man, as opposed to one person, i.e., wintu)38 For ordinary purposes ketewintu panuL tikeles pal wintu tcane tikeles panuL wintu lolokit tikeles tlawi wintu or setlawit tikeles ketemeles wintu or tlawi wintu tikeles klomit tcanse ketewintu (5 twenties) tikeles ketewintu (10 twenties) tikeles ketewintu klomit wintu (10 twenties plus 20) ketewintu wintu (20 twenties) ketewintu wintu tikeles klomit wintu (20 twen- ties add 10 twenties) or panuL tikeles wintu (30 twenties) palwintu wintu (40 twenties) or tlawi tikeles wintu (4 tens twenties) tlawi tikeles wintu tikeles klomit wintu (40 twenties add 10 twenties) system, that is, as 20 twenties plus 10 twenties, or as 30 twenties. The situation is repeated in 800, which is either 2(20) twenties or 4(10) twenties, and so on. Of the two systems, the vigesimal distinctly predominates in the count used for valuable and rare objects, and tends to be predominant in the second method of counting. 38 The same terms were used by the Wintun, according to Curtis (14:227). It may indi- eate a relation between the southern origin of clam disks and a southern terminology in counting them. 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 220 400 600 800 1000 I I I 71 72 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. RELIGIOUS LIFE UNDER THIS HEADING have been subsumed all activities and beliefs which were organized around the supernatural and which depended upon it for efficacy, except those which appeared in the social life cycle of the individual. Obvi- ously, however, supernaturalism permeated as well almost every aspect of be- havior-economic pursuits, manufacture, and human relationships. SUPREME BEING The Wintu had the concept of a supreme being, who was variously called Olelbes (ol, up; A, in; bes, being), NomLestowa (nom, west; Les, spirit; towa, holds in hand ?), or, more rarely, Pantewintu (pante, above; wintu, person) .39 The supreme being was an uncrystallized concept to which few positive attri- butes may be attached. Informants, however willing, are at a loss to character- ize him. In the minds of the younger generation he has been associated fre- quently with the Christian God, just as their mythology has been compared with the Bible. However, there is remarkably little evidence of such associa- tions in the body of myths available at present, despite the more than eighty years of white contacts. From the tales now current,40 we may deduce that Olelbes was neither omniscient nor omnipotent. No markedly human traits were assigned to him although he was anthropomorphically conceived. He had no wife nor offspring. But also he was not simply a deified natural force. His dwelling was sometimes identified as the OelpantiLut (up in above earth lodge) mentioned in dream-songs and myths. As an ethical force, a dispenser of reward and punishment, or as a lawgiver, Oldbes figured not at all. The possibility of his being visible seemed ludicrous to informants. In current speculative thought he is more a creator than he is in current mythology. Mythology as an accurate source for religious beliefs varies from tribe to tribe. Among the Wintu it was drawn upon constantly to illustrate and explain native concepts. Therefore its general unconcern for the figure of Olelbes might possibly be indicative of the inconsequence of that being in their reli- gious framework. Between these statements and those made by Curtin41 there exists a wide dis- crepancy. The subsequent interpretations of Curtin made by Pater Schmidt42 only serve to broaden the breach. Inquiries in the field revealed that Curtin's myths were collected from a single individual, Norelputus, establishing the 89 Powers, op. cit., 240-241, says in this connection: "There is a word for the Almighty sometimes heard among them-Nomklestowa . . . Great Spirit of the West. Among my vocabularies this is the only instance where the word for the Supreme Being denotes 'spirit'; it is everywhere else 'man.' Thus the Trinity Wintun say Bo-hi-mi Wita (The Great Man)." 40 DuBois, Cora, and Demetracopoulou, Dorothy, Wintu myths, UC-PAAE 28:279- 403, 1931. 41 Curtin, Jeremiah, Creation myths of primitive America, Boston, 1898. 42 Schmidt, Pater W., Ursprung der Gottesidee, 2:73-101 (pt. 2), 1929. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography accuracy of Kroeber's" suggestion made many years ago: "It appears ... that they may all have been obtained from a single individual but of most unusual powers not only of narrative but of mythological combination." That Norelputus was such an individual is highly probable. He obtained the title of chief without hereditary claim to it. His religious inclinations were indi- cated by the active part he took in the modern cults subsequent to 1870. Kroeber also pointed out in the same paper that "the systematization of the mythology as set forth in the author's introduction and notes must be kept carefully apart from the systematization present in the myths themselves." The caution might well be extended. It is possible that even the amalgamations and structural sequences of the myths were not those of the informant. The material was collected by Curtin for journalistic purposes and his volume exactly reproduced the myths as they were printed in the New York Sun. There can be no doubt that the concept of a supreme being was immanent in Wintu thought; but that it was a current and formalized one is very much open to doubt. Any interpretations based on Curtin's material should be made with extreme care. PRAYER In former days the old men were reported to have prayed frequently in the morning when they went to the river to wash. They looked up to the sun44 and made extemporaneous addresses to it, which were paraphrased as follows by one informant: "I am getting along as well as I ean. I am in good health. I am going to get something to eat. You had better look down on me." Another in- formant reported that in the morning or in the evening when one "felt afraid," one smoked, one blew smoke all around the world, and then said: "The old people are almost gone. Today I am nothing. I am just dirt. In the old times the Wintu were real people." A third account of prayer was also ascribed to the old people. Before eating in the morning they would turn their faces sky- ward and repeat a prayer similar to the following: Behold the sun south above. Look at me down to the north. Let me wash my face with water; let me eat; let me eat food. I have no pain. Let me wash my face with water. Today let me kill a deer and bring it home to eat. Look at me down to the north, grandfather sun, old man. To the south and north I am active. Today I shall be happy. This prayer was repeated twice almost verbatim by an informant. The nature of these prayers seems to have varied with the individual tem- perament, from supplication to exhortation. Formalized prayers either were not used or are not remembered today. Prayers were addressed principally to the sun (sas), although an informant who gave no actual version of a prayer remarked that formerly people used to talk about Olhlbes all night and that 48 Kroeber, A. L., Indian myths from South Central California, UC-PAAE 4:175, 1907. 44 For prayer to the moon, see Miscellaneous Attitudes concerning the Supernatural. 73 74 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. in the morning before breakfast they asked for help. Another informant re- ported that as a child her grandmother warned her, saying: "Do no wrong, the above-people (Olelbes) will see you." Some confusion apparently existed concerning the power addressed. It was identified both as the sun and as Olelbes. It seems doubtful, however, that the two were fused, since in the mythology they are differentiated and Sun plays the part of the malignant father-in-law in one of the favorite tales." On the other hand, it seems odd that an otherwise unelaborated power should have been addressed in prayer. The very meagerness of the development of prayer and the general vagueness of the speculation on divine powers may account for the contradictions and irrelevancies. COSMOLOGY AND RELATED SPECULATIONS The cosmology of the Wintu, like most of their religious and speculative thought, was unformalized and varied from individual to individual. There existed, however, a consistent concept of the first people, who possessed an admixture of animal and human characteristics. They were supposed to live in mythologic times, or, as informants say, bola (myth) times. Several worlds preceded this present one. The most coherent account was received from Charles Klutchie, one of the most powerful shamans in the area. His specula- tions were undoubtedly dictated by his tribal milieu, but they must not be considered fixed nor must it be thought that all the Wintu share his views and are equally speculative. The first Indians appeared near where the hatchery on the McCloud river now is. Nomi*stowa looked down and said: "What kind of people are we going to bring up [i.e., educate] ? They need water." So he drew his finger down from Mount Shasta, forming the McCloud river. Then he made fish and deer and all kinds of food. In four or five days all the McCloud valley was full of people. Four different times the world has been destroyed and it will be destroyed once more. First there was wind which blew the people away; then the water came. The next destruction was by fire; the next was by wind and water; and the last time it was by water. After each destruction a different people came, and eaeh time they were destroyed because the people became tired. The world will be destroyed once more when all the Indians are gone. The world will be destroyed by a flood. In the beginning there was bedrock here, and the gopher brothers began kicking earth down from the north. They made the mountains. In addition to Klutchie's more or less coherent account of cosmology and cosmogony, several other fragmentary ideas were recorded. Thus there was the widespread concept of a world flood (waidamemin) preceded by a great wind which swept the world clean. When the water rushed down from the north it left only bedrock. After the flood came the long-tailed people and Pounds-himself-with-his-elbow (Hakamintakona).4" The long-tailed people did nothing but play all day. They shot at targets with bows and arrows. Pounds-himself-with-his-elbow made large holes in the ground. Nomrestowa disliked these people and feared Pounds-himself, so another flood was sent to destroy them. According to some informants the first people were contem- 45 Du Bois and Demetracopoulou, op. cit., 291 f. 46 Du Bois and Demetraeopoulou, op. cit., 282 f. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography poraneous with the long-tailed ones. After the second flood came the present Indians. Sadie Marsh thought that the long-tailed people lost their tails and became the present Wintu. This was an isolated report and may be a pale reflection of garbled Darwinism. The moving of the moon's reflection in water was said to be caused by the grizzly bear which runs around in the moon. An eclipse (sastile) was caused by the bear's eating the sun. No myth is known in connection with this belief. When an eclipse of either the sun or the moon occurred, a great noise was made to frighten away the bear. After the eclipse all food, and even water, was thrown away, for it was feared that blood from the sun or moon had spattered it.47 Charlie Klutchie, after telling the story of Tultcuheres, said that the sun every day goes far to the west to the big water and goes around underground to come up in the east. The moon is the silvery underside of the sun's belly. Rainbows (sakikayi) seem to have been associated with no explanatory ele- ments. Shooting stars or a shower of meteorites were believed to be the spirits of shamans who had died and were traveling to the afterlife. Lightning (waloka) might be produced by a few very powerful shamans, but this does not seem to have been the necessary and only explanation of the phenomenon. Thunder (tumukus) might be caused by a menstruant who violated the taboo of a sucker sacred place (q.v.). In the mythology, thunder and lightning are a pair of destructive twins born of Grizzly Bear woman.'8 Northern lights were a portent of epidemic illness. Earthquakes were a sign of heavy snows to come in the approaching winter. Various constellations were recognized by the Wintu, but material on the subject was not very satisfactory. The north star was called waidaweris; the Pleiades, lokos; the morning star, sanihastleritcas; and stars generically were known as Luyuk. The interest in, and speculations concerning, the end of the world today greatly engross the abstract thinkers, especially therefore the shamans, among the Wintu. The following quotations were obtained from a Bald Hills inform- ant. The informant in her ordinary speech and thought was far from poetic or speculative, but she was apparently greatly interested in the prophecies of the shamans. She had paid two shamans to speak about these matters, and in the report of their prophecies the transition from her usual matter-of-fact conversation to a really high poetic style was remarkable. Prophecy of Kate Luwlcie (ten years ago).-People talk a lot about the world ending. Maybe this child [pointing to her eldest child] will see something, but this world will stay as long as Indians live. When the Indians all die, then God will let the water come down from the north. Everyone will drown. That is because the white people never cared for land or deer or bear. When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don't chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the white people plow up the ground, pull up the trees, kill everything. The tree says, "sDon't. I am sore. Don't hurt me." But 47 Du Bois and Demetracopoulou, op. cit., 291 f. 48 Du Bois and Demetraeopoulou, op. cit., 296, 395. 75 76 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. they chop it down and cut it up. The spirit of the land hates them. They blast out trees and stir it up to its depths. They saw up the trees. That hurts them. The Indians never hurt anything, but the white people destroy all. They blast rocks and seatter them on the earth. The rock says, "Don'tl You are hurting me." But the white people pay no attention. When the Indians use rocks, they take little round ones for their cooking. The white people dig deep long tunnels. They make roads. They dig as much as they wish. They don't care how much the ground cries out. How can the spirit of the earth like the white man? That is why God will upset the world-because it is sore all over. Every- where the white man has touched it, it is sore. It looks sick. So it gets even by killing him when he blasts. But eventually the water will come. This water, it can't be hurt. The white people go to the river and turn it into dry land. The water says: "I don't care. I am water. You can use me all you wish. I am always the same. I can't be used up. Use me. I am water. You can't hurt me." The white people use the water of sacred springs in their houses. The water says: "That is all right. You can use me, but you can't overcome me." All that is water says this. "Wherever you put me, I'll be in my home. I am awfully smart. Lead me out of my springs, lead me from my rivers, but I came from the ocean and I shall go back into the ocean. You can dig a ditch and put me in it, but I go only so far and I am out of sight. I am awfully smart. When I am out of sight I am on my way home." Here Mrs. Fan remarked, "Sometimes Kate doctors so long it is awful." Kate Luckie (eight years ago).-[The shaman had heard of the Pacific highway, but had never seen it.] That road lies right on the backbone of the world. It is a nice smooth road. But the world is disgusted. It is getting tired. It is a nice smooth road, it has no bumps, but many are going to be killed on it. Oars will turn over and will go off because the earth is tired of all these people who travel. It wants to get rid of these people. Tilly Griffen (four years ago).-[Mrs. Fan asked Tilly, "What about these people giv- ing money to a white man-Collett? You are all over the world, seeing and hearing all. What is being said?"] They [white people] dug money out of our land and took it far away and piled it up. It is there. The poor Indians are driven back into the hills where there is no water. The gold feels sorry for them. The Indians are going to the place where it is piled up. The money is glad. The gold hopes that the Indians will talk well. It turns over and rattles. Gold rattles, and silver rattles with a different sound. "We should be glad to go back to our home. Don't bother with the white man. Write a letter yourselves. The headman will help you. Don't hire a white man. You know how they are. They steal from their own brothers and sisters and fathers. How would they treat you Indianst If you want the money which came out of your ground, get it yourselves." We Indians never hurt the ground to get it out because we never knew we would have to eat on it. We had our own food. We got our own acorns, our own deer, our own fish, our own seeds. We didn't have gold and silver to buy food with. We knew nothing of blasting rocks and crushing them all up. Emma Wallace (ca. fifteen years ago).-[When she was in a trance, she was asked when the world would end.] The world would end any moment if it weren't for God. North-drainage-place-south-slope-across-the-great-water [Waikenpombohememnalti] is up far to the north. Tules grow there. Sometimes the water becomes angry and rises to half the length of the tule stem. The water says, "I am going to go over this tule and clean the whole world." Then God says: "What is your hurry? Don't be in a hurry. Quiet down. There is plenty of time." He scolds the water. Every once in a while the water rises again. Then God says: "I have just two or three of my children walking around on the surface of the ground. I shall tell you when they are gone. Then you can go. My children are the Indians. They are the first ones. When they are gone you may break loose." Any- time now the day may come. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography CONCEPTS OF THE SOUL AND THE AFTERWORLD The Wintu group under one word, Les, the souls of living persons and the spirits of deceased ones. A ghost may be designated as either LES or loltcit; if it makes itself visibly manifest, the latter term is more explicit. The LeS exists when the person lives, but the loltcit is a post-mortem manifestation. The Lus is best distinguished from the shamanistic spirit or yapaitu, elsewhere discussed, in the words of an informant: Yapaitu is something in the hills, they are never people. You never see them. Les is somebody who is dead. It is what a person has with him. Maybe it is somewhere in the back of the head.'9 When a person is alive his Les is always around the house. If you travel your Lus follows you but doesn't get there until evening. Your Lee is always about a day or half a day behind you. When somebody buries a man he always sees his Les sometime soon after. It is like a whirlwind. Your hair stands on end and you feel a chill. Not everybody can see a res. The spirit of the deceased is consistently reported to manifest itself in whirlwinds of dust. When a Wintu sees a spiral of dust whirling about his house, he feels that it is the spirit of a relative, which must then be offered acorn meal, scattered where the swirl has appeared. Also clear water, or water in which a red paint rock has been crushed, is sprinkled on the ground. Red paint rock water is frequently put in the basket buried with a person, sprinkled on graves, and drunk by some shamans who call it their food. Sup- posedly this red water never dries up. The spirit is said also to be able to drink water out of the palm of the relative's hand. Shamans have the power of communicating with the dead and may have the ics of a deceased person as a guardian spirit. An instance of communication50 with the deceased, Mrs. Fan reported, occurred when one of her sons died away from home. A shaman, Tilly Griffen, while in a trance prophesied that Mrs. Fan would soon receive bad news in a letter. Mrs. Fan felt that her son had died, and she therefore went to another shaman, Emma Wallace, to learn what she could. Emma Wallace was informed by her father's Les, which was her guardian spirit, that the spirit of Mrs. Fan's son was olel (above, generally rendered into English as in heaven). He had said that he was sorry not to have died at home, to have left his body behind, but that his body would be sent back to his home. The next night Emma Wallace was asked what the white people would do about sending the body back to Bald Hills. She said: "The white people have turned his face this way. They are sending him back. He is in a good box, in an awfully pretty house (coffin). They are talking a lot. Some want to send him back. Some want to leave him there." Three days later the same shaman said that the next morning the body would arrive. So complete was the faith in her prophecy that a grave was dug and preparations made for a funeral. The next morning they all went to Anderson and found that a truck bearing a coffin had arrived. On another occasion Kate Luckie, a powerful shaman, lost a niece. Kate went into a trance and tracked her niece to heaven. She saw the tracks leading to the door. God (OlelbesLes, above-being spirit) asked Kate what she wanted. She said she wanted her niece, but God refused because the niece had already gone through the door. Kate could 49 The localization of the Les was unique to this informant. Others consistently denied any special seat of the soul. 5o For a similar instance see Burials and Mourning Customs. 77 78 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. not enter the door because she was still alive. This incident when compared with the usual accounts of the Wintu coneepts of the hereafter shows obvious Christian influences. The lAs of a deceased person may also manifest itself as a ghost, and then it may be referred to as a loltcit. One informant said that the lis turns into a lolteit a few days after death. By Harry Marsh, who said that he had seen one, they are described as looking like fog. Another informant said that a lolteit is met at night and is nothing but a scalp and a bundle of bones. The vision is said to rob a person of his strength. If one is brave enough, one should kick a loltcit. One informant said that this would transform it into a bundle of straw and an ace like those used in gambling games. The older people say that today the younger Wintu are capable only of seeing a loltcit, though formerly it could also be heard. The only persistent ghost tale is recorded for the McCloud area. A woman is supposed to have ventured into a cave on a peak north of Nosoni creek and to have fallen down a deep hole in its floor. Her body was never recovered, and around that vicinity she may now be heard wailing in the cave. Nels Charles, a shaman of moderate ability, reported hav- ing once seen a ghost on the path ahead of him. He was in no wise frightened, he said, and the spirit, though it looked as solid as a man, quickly disappeared. He said that a ghost would never look at a person. It always turns away its head. One other occurrence concerning the LeS concept which is slightly at vari- ance with the general opinion might well be quoted here. It was given by Mary Adler, a half-blood who lives near the Shasta boundary. When you walk in the sun sometimes you see two shadows-a dark one and a light one. The dark one is heavier and stays on earth when you die. The other one goes up above. The dark one is the bad one, the one which makes all the trouble. The light one stays with the body three days after a person dies. That is why you should wait three days before burying people. The dark one leaves the body a month before a person dies. There are two of these dark Les living around my house. One is my granddaughter and one is my niece. You can hear them laughing and singing and sometimes you see a kind of blur. The presence of these haunting spirits was vouched for by another Wintu who was present. Sleep and dreams are not associated with the wandering of the Les from the body. The journey of the soul after death varies in detail from informant to in- formant. Immediately after death the soul stays about its old haunts, repass- ing all the trails and spots it knew in life. No definite number of days is set for this period of lingering. It is usually considered to last from three to five days. Thereafter the soul is represented as traveling northward. There it looks back, sees relatives mourning, and only then realizes that it has been over- taken by death. Some say the soul goes to Mount Shasta and from there goes up to the Milky Way. Others say the soul goes to a spring which no one has seen but about which all souls know. Here it drinks the water until its stomach is filled and then it rises "like a balloon," or, as another informant indicated, it goes up in a whirlwind. Jo Bender said that sick people should be faced toward Du Bois: Wistu Ethnography this spring. After the soul has risen to the Milky Way,5' it travels southward to the point where the trail divides. There a person is stationed who ascer- tains if the spirit be truly that of a dead person. Then the spirit is told that the trail to the west is the wrong one but that the trail to the east is straight and leads to large plains covered with green grass and flowers.52 There many Indians live "who are always having a big time." This account is far more complete than most informants would or could give. The skeleton of belief to which most agree is the trip north, the ascent to the Milky Way, and the journey south along this spirit trail. No one was able to elaborate the concept of the guardian at the division of the trail, but Emma Wallace was reputed to have had this being as one of her guardian spirits. The burial oration which follows is an injunction to the departing spirit. You are dead. You will go above there to the trail. That is the spirit trail. Go there to the beautiful trail. May it please you not to walk about where I am. You are dead. Go there to the beautiful trail above. That is your way. Look at the place where you used to wander. The north trail, the mountains where you used to wander, you are leaving. Listen to me: go there. Over and above the concepts clustering about spirits and ghosts, there is one of the vital principle which is referred to as the winesxuyat. No one knows what it looks like and it dies when its owner dies. It is behind the ear. "It is your life; it makes you wake up from sleep; it makes you think things; without it you would be like a deaf and dumb person; it is what guides you all the time." Very few persons were able to verbalize the winesxuyat concept, and reference to it is limited almost entirely to the mythology. Deer also have a winesxuyat; "it is what gives them that wild look all the time." Curtin,"8 doubtless on the basis of myths, describes the winesxuyat as a miniature attendant who is placed in the topknot on the hero's head and who warns him of danger. Nothing of this sort was reported. Norelputus, who gave Curtin the myths, may have had a Northern Yana concept in mind, since he was half Yana. SACRED PLACES Saered places (sauel) were spots of unusual configuration to which were at- tributed indwelling spirits. Pot holes; peculiarly shaped rocks, often in animal forms; caves, seepage holes, whirlpools in the river, and knolls were all repre- sentative sacred places. Many spirits, principally of coyote, suckers, and deer, but also of wolf, grizzly bear, and Suptcit (a mythical person), 54 were sup- 51 Milky Way is called eusyemerL, i.e., soul or spirit trail. 52 Flowers are almost invariably mentioned in connection with olel (above) in dream songs. 58 Curtin, op. cit., 492. 54 Du Bois and Demetracopoulou, op. cit., 242 f. 79 80 University of Califormia Publcatiomn in Am. Arch. and Ethn. posed to reside in these places. At Greyrocks in Stillwater there was a large limestone formation which resembled a bear hide. This place was called Wimaitcaki (grizzly bear ?) and was esteemed as a sacred place by the local Indians until a mining enterprise destroyed it. Tilly Griffen and her mother- in-law, Anne Griffen, saved some of the debris. Tilly Griffen subsequently dreamed of a grizzly bear which asked her, "Why did the white people come and spoil my place ?" Again, on the east bank of the McCloud river opposite the United States Salmon Hatchery there is a rock resembling a salmon's heart. The arteries of the heart are distinguishable. Near it a streak of black earth was identified with the blood vessels lying along the salmon's backbone. Instances of this sort could be indefinitely multiplied. The presence of the spirit dwelling in one of these places manifested itself to passers-by through the buzzing sound usually associated with it. The sacred places were sources of supernatural power. Their potency and their effects differed. Their use was chiefly the prerogative of men. In fact, women, especially unmarried girls and menstruants, avoided them, even mak- ing arduous detours when trails led past them. A woman who ignored the taboo connected with these places might bring illness, bad dreams, or disaster to her people. She also ran the risk of being abducted by the spirit. The follow- ing anecdote is illustrative. If a young woman stumbles on a rock in the water around Begum she'll get swollen feet, and holes come in them so she can't walk. I saw a woman like that. If she goes to a doctor to get cured he'll call a sucker spirit and try to drive out the pike which made her that way. But if the pike likes the woman he won't go. That's why men will carry women across dangerous waters. One type of sacred place was used by women. This was the coyote sauel. The shamans naturally visited the sacred places most frequently since they were the persons most interested in supernatural rapport. Saud were used by them in the acquisition of the genii loci type of spirit. The procedure of obtaining supernatural rapport employed both by aspiring shamans and by less ambitious persons was the following. A man left his house without speak- ing to anyone. The spot was reached usually in the evening, and a small fire was made. If the saud were a pool, the man bathed, lay down by the fire, and slept. After a time he awoke, prayed for whatever boon he wished, and dived into the water, attempting to reach bottom. This was usually accompanied by prayers for good fortune. A lucky person would find a sacred pool to be not very deep, but an unlucky one would have difficulty in reaching the bottom. Also, a fortunate person might find a charm stone (q.v.) in the saud. After swimming and praying he lay down again to sleep. All dreams were consid- ered significant. At dawn the man again prayed and swam in the same spot. Prayers (q.v.) to the sun could not be omitted during, and directly after, visits to a sauel. Sometimes a man traveled from one place to another for two or three days in quest of dreams and supernatural rapport. If he gained a guardian spirit at any place, that is, if he dreamed of the genius locus and it seemed well disposed toward him, he might become a shaman. During the Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography seeking of power a strict fast was observed and the petitioner had to be naked, or at most could wear only an apron. Upon returning to his village, he ob- served strict silence until he had partaken of food. Thereafter he was free from food taboos, although a strict person or an aspiring shaman would ab- stain from deer meat and salt. This comparatively elaborate procedure was generically referred to as tule (swimming) and water saud were known as mEmtuli saudl (water-swimming sacred-places). The description just given corresponds to the strictest procedure in the use of the most sacred sauel. To some sacred places far less sanctity was attached. The more casual use of saudl was discovered in a visit to two of them made with the shaman, Fanny Brown. Both were of course coyote sacred places, since these alone are open to women. The first one visited was a rock, called nortcepi, on the west bank of the Sacramento river near Antler. It was considered by Fanny Brown to be her own particular sauel because she had discovered it. It consisted of a hole in a rock which was about the length and breadth of her forearm. The cavity had been covered with another stone. Fanny Brown re- moved the covering and thrust her arm into the hole. She carefully scraped out whatever earth and leaves had fallen into it, chanting the while in the fol- lowing manner: "I want to be lucky, I want to be lucky. I want to get beads. I hope that I'll have a good hand with sick people. I hope they get better. I hope they sleep well when I doctor them." After cleaning out the hole she care- fully replaced the covering rock. Then, squatting on the boulder, she patted it affectionately and held her rheumatic knee against it for curing. Another coyote sacred place known to several persons in the community was visited. It was only about twenty yards from the Pacific highway and was called Sedimtowi or coyote treasure. Again the saud consisted of a tubular cavity in a large boulder. This one was larger than a man's arm, fully as long, and clear of debris. Fanny said that Ed Alexander and many others fre- quently visited this sauel to obtain luck in gambling, since that was its greatest virtue. She had, however, also come here to cure her arm and leg which had been partly paralyzed. Below the Sedimtowi sacred place Fanny reported a bear sauel but refused to go to it. Within half a square mile on the west bank of the Sacramento, and in the course of approximately an hour and a half, two sauel had been visited and one other identified. This gives some idea of the numerousness of sacred places. As we have seen, sacred places were sources of supernatural power espe- cially for shamanistic undertakings, and were petitioned for luck in gambling. Hunting prowess was also sought at these spots. Frequently young men who were just beginning to hunt used them to assure themselves of skill in the future. A young man, however, was often discouraged from this by his elders, who feared he might acquire an undue amount of supernatural power and thereafter be set off from other young men by a variety of taboos on food and sexual intercourse. They were afraid that a broken taboo would react un- favorably on him. However, such a risk was run only if he visited some of the more fearful saunl. 81 82 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. A variety of requests over and above those already mentioned could be made of the spirits inhabiting sacred places. A woman might ask to be a skill- ful basketmaker, a man might wish to become a good craftsman, and so forth. One might also ask that the animosity of an enemy be removed. Unfavorable dreams after a visit were counteracted by expeditions to other sacred places. Certain sauel also were sought out in case of witchcraft (see Shamanism). Frequently, petitions for power were accompanied with offerings. Syke Mitchell reported visiting a cave near Wilson Flat on the Pit river and seeing there bows and arrows, toggles, and similar property which had been left by persons who had requested aid from the spirits. Also, as is indicated in the section on Shamanism, sacred pools were the proper places for the disposal of shamanistic regalia. The influences of sacred places were frequently malignant. Chiefly they were feared by women because of the sacredness which surrounded them. It was reported that a sucker spirit in a saudl harbored, for some reason, ill feel- ing toward a woman. It killed her children one after another. Finally a neigh- bor went on her behalf to the spirit's hole, filled it with the white "grass" used in baskets, and set fire to it. In so doing the neighbor destroyed the spirit. This was considered a very daring procedure and shortly thereafter she became a shaman. The occurrence illustrates nicely the struggle against malignant forces which might be waged by persons with supernatural power. CHARM STONES AND OTHER CHARMS Strangely shaped stones found anywhere might be picked up and kept by the finder as a charm (xosi). Were the particular attributes of the charm not disclosed by its shape, a shaman might be asked to reveal them by consult- ing his spirits. Usually, however, the shape of the stone denoted the type of charm, and pragmatic evidence of its efficacy often revealed to the owner its attributes. The supernatural and natural forms of charm stones and their efficacies are listed below. Deer charm (nop xosi): Enterolith extracted from deer, or random stone shaped like scrotum of buck. Most common type of xosi. Gave luck in hunting; attracted deer to place where it was kept. Rattlesnake charm (tlak xosi or tlaknak, i.e., rattlesnake navel): Most commonly am- monites, relatively plentiful near Sacramento river below Redding. Coiled shape naturally suggests association with snake. Rattlesnake buttons or stones resembling them con- sidered charms. Brought good luck, but were laden with mana which would reaet with particular deleteriousness on persons who treated them carelessly. Coyote charm (sedim xosi): Large quartz crystals; particularly valuable in bringing luck to gamblers. Wolf charm (lubelis xosi): Reported; not described. Sucker charm (tcir xosi): Nondescript pebble with a concavity on one surface. Brought luck to fishermen. Other flat ovate stones, two or three inches long and pierced at one end for suspension, were identified as luck charms. Particular usages for them seem to have been the same as those accorded to other xosi. Were believed to ward off illness. Du Bows: Wintu Ethnography The care of charm stones was similar to that bestowed on sacred regalia and resembled all placating procedures among the Wintu. They might not under any circumstances be brought into the dwelling house. Anyone who did so would not only incur personal risks, but also would be suspected of wanting to poison someone. Charm stones had to be wrapped in grass or hide and buried or in some way secreted at a distance from dwellings. When the owner desired luck he went secretly to their hiding place, blew smoke on them, spat acorn meal over them, and prayed to them for success. Visits to charms, had to be spaced from one to three months apart. "One must not bother them all the time. If a charm doesn't like the man who owns him he just goes away and you don't find him when you go back to him." Persons who observed strictly the care required by charms would not eat salt, and would not associate either with menstruating women or with women who had recently borne children. Otherwise the stone might disappear. Women were not supposed to possess charm stones. They were not even sup- posed to see them, for their presence was detrimental to a charm's efficacy. However, the only charms which were seen by the ethnographer were owned by a woman. The following is an account of the visit to them. Before leaving the dwelling Ellen Silverthorne took an acorn and on the way to the charm stones masticated it thoroughly. About three hundred yards from the house was a white oak with a cavity in its trunk. In the hole lay a quart Mason jar covered and filled with oak leaves. In addition to the leaves the jar contained two rattlesnake charms, one coyote charm, two sucker charms, and a large stone chipped in several places. All but the last had been found by the informant herself. The last had been given her by her uncle and she did not know what kind of charm it was. The informant held these stones in her hand. One by one she blew smoke at them and spat the masticated acorn on them. Then rubbing them between the palms of her hands she prayed for luck in general. She said that she often talked to them from her house and blew smoke in their direction. "They are all around and hear and see everything." A charm which has not been properly cared for may avenge itself in a way more detrimental than merely disappearing. It may cause its owner illness. A shaman must be called then to intercede with it. Ellen Silverthorne reported that Flora Curl became ill after a visit to her house because her (Ellen's) charms did not like Flora. Rattlesnakes and rattlesnake charms are definitely associated with eye trouble and blindness. If the owner of such a charm eats salt, "he will get sore eyes." Two cases of blindness caused by the misuse of rattlesnake charms were reported. Joe Bender: My brother found a rattlesnake rattle and kept it. His wife was pregnant. It was a bad thing to do when his wife was like that. Two or three months after the baby was born it went blind and the doctors couldn't make it better. The boy died when he was still young. I wouldn't touch a rattlesnake or anything that had to do with it. Syke Mitchell: I was walking along the railroad track near tunnel 4 [just south of Delta]. I saw a bright rock. Wherever I looked I saw that rock. Finally I picked it up. It was like a rattlesnake button. I put it in my pocket and forgot about it. I came home and went in the house where I had a young boy, just three weeks old. My mother-in-law was a doetor. She doctored and said I had that stone in my pocket. I remembered then and went outside and hid it. That fall I went to pick fruit down in the valley. I worked pretty hard. The next day I had a pain in my hip. I had to use crutches. I came home 83 84 Uni-versity of California Publication in Am. Arch. and Ethn. and for eight months I was laid up with rheumatism. A white man brought me a box with two hundred and fifty body pills. I did as he told me and took ten a day for twenty- five days. I drank only clear cold water during that time. The rheumatism went away, but in a month I was blind. It was because I took that charm into the house where there was a new baby. I can tell the difference between light and dark. My charm used to show me about so that I never lost my way. Now I have lost it, so I need people to take me around or I lose my way. It was indicated above that charms were acquired by chancing upon them. Also they were frequently found in sacred places when one went to petition for luck. Charms were reported to multiply if they liked their owner. The possessor would find two or three identical stones where he had left only one. This, however, was rare. A man before he died might tell a male relative where he had hidden his charms and indicate that the relative might appropriate them. The inheritor could accept them or not at his discretion. If a charm had been found at a particular sacred place it was proper to return it to the same location if the owner did not wish to keep it. A charm might also be broken up when its possessor died. The term xosi is applied also to magnesite cylinders .(see Valuables), but these do not partake of the characteristics described for charms in this section. Wild sunflower root was often called tcarau xosi (a flat-land charm), but its nature was that of a general disinfectant and medicament. To pat a sacred- place rock and ask for luck was called xosuna xosi (to make a chaxm for oneself). Again, other charms were used by the Wintu which were not called xosi. A shed snakeskin was treated in much the same way as the charm stones. It was wrapped in grass, secreted, and propitiated with smoke and acorn meal. The seeds of the tamarack were strung and worn about the neck to bring luck when one went fishing. Tcuetci (an unidentified root smelling like celery) kept sucker spirits away and was carried especially when a person fished. It was chewed by shamans and then placed in the mouth of a patient to ward off sucker spirits. WEREBEASTS Werebeast is a term coined to cover a number of related concepts of the Wintu dealing with supernatural animals capable of changing themselves into hu- man form. Beliefs concerning these beings must be distinguished from those concerning neighboring Indians who are supposed to transform themselves into animals (see Ethnogeography); the first are of animals assuming human form, the second of human beings assuming animal form. The werebeasts are designated most commonly in Wintu as puyukensus (mountain inhabitants), since one of the consistent associations with them is that they live in mountain areas. In English the Wintu refer to them as mountain lions, mountain boys, bush boys, and so forth. The concept of werebeasts must also be distinguished from that of genii loci, which are spirits (yapaitu) and often the familiars of shamans. The points of similarity between genii loci and werebeasts are that they both may exert malignant influences and that they both are localized. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography However, werebeasts are always malignant whereas genii loci are only oc- casionally so. Genii loci are deliberately sought out, especially by men. The areas inhabited by werebeasts are deliberately avoided by both men and women. Only the rare shaman will seek out a werebeast spirit as a familiar. A series of comments by informants will best illustrate the dangers entailed in meeting werebeasts and the means of circumventing the dangers. Wash Fan: Once I saw a brush boy behind Ono. He was about three and a half feet high. It was in the middle of the afternoon. He jumped from a bank, erossed the road, and went in behind a manzanita bush. My mule never saw him. There weren't any tracks on the road and nothing in the bush. I was sick with a headache for a whole week after that. There are two places on the Harrison Gulch road where they can be seen if they want to be seen. Not everybody can see them. One man saw them and he had himself doctored. He was afraid of them. Ellen Silverthorne: I was always warned by grandma not to go into the mountains. I am afraid of mountains. If I saw a werebeast I'd hit him with a rock. They are bad people. Werebeasts take girls and kill them, or they may come home and die. Sometimes the girls are doctored but mostly they die, if they manage to come home at all. They come home and don't know anything, they are just as if drunk. They talk funny and don't know what they say. I never saw a werebeast, but I knew a woman who went to a place that was no good; it is called Tekiel on Statten's creek. Werebeasts are wolverines [taret]. They take the shape of men. This woman saw a man but knew it was a wolverine. It had hair between its fingers. So the woman said, "Wolverine, go on." So a wolverine jumped up and ran away like a dog. Once a woman talked to one. She came home, went in the house. She didn't know any- thing. She lay down. She had two wolverine babies, they were just like dogs. They killed them. Once a white man put his gun against a tree when he was hunting. He looked for it but couldn't find it. The werebeast took it. If you take a child into the mountains you must hang the little round bone of a fish around his neck. Bulidum [ginseng?] also keeps werebeasts away from people when you hang it around your neck. Sara Fan: If a young woman goes into the mountains she may go crazy. Baldy [a mountain near the Bald Hills area] is a very bad place for werebeasts. My daughter-in- law almost got caught up there ten years ago. She urinated when she was menstruating and didn't cover up the place. Mountain lion smelled the blood. She heard him smelling around. If a girl goes into the mountains and wishes she could see her sweetheart, and moun- tain lion hears this, he says, "All right." He shows up on the trail. He looks like a man, he looks good, he talks good. The girl thinks it is the man she likes. But when he touches you, you see fur between his fingers. You say, "You are a werebeast," and throw ashes on him. Then he leaves you alone. If he gets you he will take you into the mountains and you will go crazy. At Lewiston about twenty-five years ago there was a couple. They had just been married. They were white people. The woman loved the man a lot. They lived near a werebeast sacred place.56 She said she wished her man would come back. The werebeast heard her. In the middle of the morning a man came. It was cloudy that day. He had clothes just like her husband. She ran to the door and he hugged and kissed her. He picked her up and carried her to the bed. They lay together. When he got up he looked different. He stepped out and turned into a mountain lion. The woman was scared. She cried. Then her husband came. She told him what happened. That afternoon she was 55 Called bulinmak in the Bald Hills dialect. Its translation is the equivalent of puyukensus in the MeOloud and neighboring subareas, i.e., mountain inhabitant. 56 This is the only informant who associated werebeasts with sacred places (sauel). See next anecdote by same informant. 85 86 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. hit by a poison. Foam ran out of her mouth. She had spasms and died. Mountain lion took her spirit. She was a white woman, too. A man or a doctor may try to swim [tule] at a werebeast sacred place but he has got to be awfully careful. If he gets a mountain lion spirit he becomes mean. Albert Thomas has a mountain lion spirit. When he doctors with it he wants everything rapidly, espe- cially his pipe and tobacco. If he doesn't get it he gets up and runs off. When you doctor with a mountain lion spirit you may get a person's soul and never bring it back. When a stranger is in the mountains near Baldy he is in a bad place. If he gets de- layed there he feels scared. The mountain lions make you feel as though you were being followed. If you want to stop and talk to them, you will go crazy. A male mountain lion will follow a woman. A female mountain lion will follow a man. Indians are afraid of them more than anything else. From the data just given it may be concluded that werebeasts seek sexual intercourse with humans, from which madness and unnatural offspring may result. Also, children are subject to their malignant influence. In addition, there is a suggestion that they commit thefts. They may be identified by the fur between their fingers. Their evil influence may be warded off by the recog- nition of their true nature or by protective amulets. Once an individual has been overpowered, even a shaman may not be able to save him. Another manifestation of werebeasts' activities is contained in the follow- ing anecdote, told by the daughter of the man involved. Sadie Marsh: My father felt bad. He wasn't living with my mother any more. He decided he would have werebeast children. He went to a sacred place, Lilunbos, on the Sacramento river. He broke off two sticks about a foot long. He kept them about a week, then went to Campbell's place [on the upper McCloud river]. There was an Indian woman called Mary who had an Indian house there. He put his two Lilun sticks on the rafters to see if they would turn into snakes. Mary said he'd have to go very straight. He talked to the two sticks, told them to be good, not to do harm. He just wanted to see what would happen. Then the next morning he went away. He was gone for about a year. Mary watched the sticks. Toward midnight she heard a whistle. She knew. She smoked and talked to the sticks, told them not to feel bad and to stay away from others so as not to be killed. The next morning when she got up both the sticks were gone. She closed the door and left. In the afternoon she went back and on the board were two tiny snakes a couple of inches long. She put spit in her hand and put it down. The two snakes crawled into her hand and licked up the spit. Mary took care of them, talked to them. She went down to the creek. She saw a big long snake. She didn't kill it but put spit in her hand and the big snake licked up the spit too. The snake didn't look seared, just sad. Mary told her boys and girls not to kill any snakes. After my father died, Mary brought down the two small snakes in a box and put it in his right hand when he was buried. Later they came out and watched over the grave. Tilly Griffen doctored and said that the snakes said: "We are only sticks, we don't die. We have brothers and sisters." They whistle. That means they want acorn soup and smoke blown to them. "We are always with our brothers and sisters," they said. I have heard them when I was sick or in the mountains. This account does not synchronize with others concerning werebeasts be- cause here they play a beneficent role. In fact it would be difficult to classify it under werebeast manifestations had not the informant explicitly stated that the snakes were werebeast children.57 57 Two werebeast tales are included in Du Bois and Demetracopoulou, op. cit., 372, 373. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography MISCELLANEOUS ATTITUDES CONCERNING THE SUPERNATURAL No indication has been discovered that the Wintu had a first-salmon ceremony. There was no new-moon ceremony among most of the Wintu. The Hayfork subarea presented the only exception, if one may trust the report of a single informant. Her account was that at every new moon the headman of a village offered food olEl, that is, up in. The informant insisted that the moon and not the sun was addressed, although the same word, sas, is used for both lumi- naries. The headman prayed as loudly as he could and asked the moon to "stand by them." The food offered at the time of the prayer had to be con- sumed entirely. This offering gave strength and spiritual fortitude. It was not thought to affect the food supply in any way. If the economic surplus per- mitted, the chief might invite a near-by village to participate. In the McCloud subarea a parent might pray for the health and good for- tune of a child as a new moon set in the west. The child's hand was held up in the attitude of prayer while the parent offered smoke to, and interceded with, the moon. This was the only prayer to the moon offered in that area; and ap- parently it was rarely used. Another set of activities among the Wintu which depended on the super- natural for its efficacy was that of weather control. These activities were trivial and incidental. They played no important part in the people's lives, but rather represented a subsidiary collection of superstitions. Wind might be made to blow by whistling or by singing particular songs. This method was usually employed by women when they were winnowing seeds or berries. Another method, apparently known only in Bald Hills, was to suspend a frame from a limb. The frame was made of buckeye in the shape of a cross, and then was interwoven diagonally with fine string. The whole object was only three or four inches long. One informant said that it made the wind blow. Another reported that it caught the wind and kept it from blowing. Since the frame was called kahimtcine, or wind bringer, the former explana- tion seems the more probable. Wind could also be brought by planting on top of a hill a stick three or four feet long with several feathers tied to the end. In the words of the informant from Bald Hills, "Not everyone did this, just a few men and women who believed in things." The feathered stick, like the frame, was called kahimtcine. Two ways of causing rain were reported. An old man, Mose Worley, was said to have sung certain songs and to have whistled to produce rain. The other method was the following: "A lucky man or woman gets sticks that lightning has struck. They pick up splinters from trees that have been hit by it. When they burn them it makes the rain heavier." Rain could be stopped by shamans. The story is told that after four con- secutive days of rain Sunusa, a shaman-chief of the Upper Sacramento, smoked and danced outside his earth lodge with the result that by afternoon the weather had cleared. Sometimes shamans were solicited to exert their powers in this manner, but they received no pay for it. Only very good doctors 87 88 University of California Publioatin in Am. Aroh. and Ethn. might hope for success, "even though they sang all night." Another method of controlling rain is called nomtentca (urinating westward). A naked child, either a boy or girl, was sent out into the rain and told to dance around the house at a distance of four or five feet from it. The act was accompanied by songs. Only a fortunate or "lucky" child would stop rain in this fashion. Girls were supposed to be more successful than boys. There is some indication that adults may also have employed the device. The custom centered in Bald Hills and was frequently unknown to McCloud and Sacramento informants, who were more familiar with intercession by shamans. There was also among the Wintu a supernatural bird called Wukwuk, which is supposed to have existed but is now said to be either extinct or very rare. Some informants seem to identify Wukwuk with the bald-headed eagle; from the description of others it might be considered a condor; while still others describe it as a large white water bird. A myth58 associates Wukwuk with the Loon Woman character and corroborates the description of this animal as a large white water bird. As one informant said, "The Indians themselves had no real idea about it." The feathers were particularly desired by shamans and the quills were con- sidered the best type of poison container. A Hayfork informant gave this account of her meeting with Wukwuk: It was down on the flat after dark. I heard something stepping along behind me and I was pretty scared. I thought maybe it was a yuki [enemy], but it was Wukwuk walking there. He looked at me with his shiny eyes. I said: "Let me get old, like you. Give me strength; keep my spirits up." Then that Wukwuk flapped its wings and flew up. I jumped, I was so scared, and its power raised me up.r* SHAMANISM Shamanism among the Wintu was the most important socio-religious aspect of their culture. Until the appearance of the modern cults shortly after 1870, it must have been their chief preoccupation with the supernatural. Yet it existed in a society so simple that there was never any need for great elabora- tion. The shaman initiation ceremony of former days was the nearest approach to such an elaboration. There was none of the specialization of shamans found in adjacent areas. The social pattern demanded no rattlesnake shamans, no weather shamans, no bear shamans, no outfit doctors, no exclusive poisoners. No particular prestige or wealth was automatically derived from shamanism. Individual ability determined the degree of profit to be drawn from super- natural rapport. Initiation ceremony.-Formerly shamanistic powers were acquired in an initiation ceremony open to both men and women. That is, there existed the pattern of a communal seeking for guardian spirits. A chief who owned an earth lodge, at the behest of the experienced shamans of the vicinity, an- nounced an initiation dance (Lahatconos). This occurred either in spring or 58 Du Bois and Demetraeopoulou, op. cit., 355 f. 59 The nature of Wukwuk described in Curtin, op. cit., 494-495, is greatly at variance with that shown by the data given above. Du Boi,8: Wintu Ethnography in late autumn. All persons desirous of acquiring shamanistic powers pre- sented themselves. Some candidates might already have had premonitory dreams or experiences, but these were not prerequisite. The ages of the candi- dates varied from shortly past puberty to middle life. The ceremony began in the evening. The shamans and the candidates danced naked around a manzanita-wood fire and sang to invoke the spirits. Dancing lasted all night. Those who failed to gain a supernatural experience dropped out after a few hours and went to bathe. No disgrace was attached to them for failure. The arrival of a spirit was announced by a whistling sound above the smokehole of the earth lodge. The chief or a skilled interpreter stood in the lodge and told from where the spirits were coming. If a spirit found a candi- date suitable it entered his body, usually through his ears. Thereupon the be- havior of the novice became frenzied. His body jerked convulsively, saliva poured from his lips, and blood might flow from his mouth and nostrils. A short period of frenzied dancing in this condition was followed by uncon- sciousness. He fell heavily to the ground and was carried by the older shamans to one side of the lodge where he was carefully watched over and sung for. When consciousness returned, the novice was instructed in the nature and re- quirements of the spirit which had possessed him, the songs appropriate to it, and the food taboos which had to be observed for its proper care. For five days the successful initiate remained under the supervision and instruction of his seniors. If he left the lodge he carefully covered his head and refrained from looking about him. Although no case information was procurable on the subject, it seems probable that instruction included methods of sucking out poisons, for which the tongue had to be rolled in a particular fashion, and the various sleight-of-hand tricks formerly associated with shamanistic powers. Among the legerdemain accomplishments were those of extinguish- ing a lighted brand at a distance, and of sucking coals from the bottom of a basket or sparks from the end of a fire stick used in the roasting of venison. Informants stressed the idea that much power was to be derived from "eating fire." Much time was given to learning songs. Every shaman was required to be a good singer and possessed a number of doctoring songs associated with his various spirits. No strict property rights were attached to the songs, but they were usually recognized as belonging to particular shamans. After a doctor's death his song might be taken over by the person who inherited his regalia and perhaps his spirits. Lay persons and shamans not in a trance considered it bad luck to sing these songs. This belief persists, and the songs are therefore difficult to collect. During the period of instruction the candidates were supposed to observe a complete fast. Whether they actually did or not is problematic. Some inform- ants reported that it was merely necessary for candidates to abstain from meat and salt. On the last day of the ceremony the shamans, new and old, went to the river to bathe and purify themselves. Then their bodies were painted with red, white, and black streaks to represent intrusive disease objects. All the people gathered for the dance which followed outside the earth lodge, but 89 90 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. only the shamans participated. They danced in a circle brandishing in their hands feather wands, flowers, mountain-squirrel skins, and regalia or valu- ables of all kinds. This performance lasted one day. Thereafter the initiates were considered prepared for shamanistic practices. The actual reputation of the individual as a shaman, however, depended upon the success of his sub- sequent cures and prophecies. As before stated, those persons who failed to obtain a visitation from a spirit rarely persisted after the first night, and no onus was attached to them. One informant estimated that fifteen or twenty persons might try, of whom only two to five might succeed. It was permissible to make other attempts in fol- lowing years. Some informants believed a candidate failed because he was "wormy" (tcaha). Small red and white worms were said to have lodged in his head. Experienced shamans were reputed to be able to detect this condition in a candidate. Were an older doctor well disposed toward a person, he might offer to suck out the worms. One informant reported that this purifying pro- cess was administered to all candidates at the beginning of the initiation cere- mony. Another informant said, on the contrary, that the extraction of the worms destroyed a person's chance of becoming a shaman, and told of Surrey Barnes, who wanted to become a doctor against the wishes of other shamans. She became ill, and when she was treated, worms were extracted from her and this definitely ruined her opportunities of gaining strong supernatural powers. Still another informant reconciled these contradictory statements with the following unsolicited explanation: "Doctors look over people who want to become doctors. If they suck out a black worm or a red worm that person will never become a doctor, but if they suck out a white worm, they are all right and can get to be a doctor."f0 Biographical data on recent shamans.-Today, with the disintegration of native customs and the disappearance of earth lodges, the yearly initiation ceremony has been abandoned. All acknowledged and practicing shamans of the area are so-called "natural doctors." The chief prerequisite for becoming a "natural doctor" seems to be a "sorry feeling." Perhaps the best manner of describing the modern shamanism would be to give a number of biographical and autobiographical accounts obtained. The biography of the late Memkis, whose English name was Ed, was given by Wash Fan, of the Bald Hills subarea in which Memkis lived. The account is as far as possible in the words of the informant. Ed had many doctors in his family and he became a doctor in a natural way. He didn't have to undergo the Lahatconos [initiation ceremony] or have doctors help him with his spirit. For about a year before he became a doctor he wandered about in a state. Every- thing he saw he took and if anybody tried to stop him he went wild. One man followed him about everywhere he went and watched over him to see that he didn't hurt himself. This man wasn't a relative. He was just a friend. Ed always had a boy with him, too, who carried everything Ed took from people. When Ed came out of his state he gave 60 A more detailed and probably for the most part accurate description of the initiation ceremony is to be found in Curtin, op. cit., 511-516. This account also eontains some notes on shamnism in general. Ds Bois: Wintus Ethnography back the things he had taken. He always returned the things to the right people. He never made mistakes. Sometimes people would try to mix him up, but they never could. One day Ed did something very queer. Below Wateak's village there is a deep well-like hole with water in it. This is a sacred place [q.v.]. Ed went there. He had fifteen dollars in his pocket. He was angry because they rattled, so he threw all the money down into the water. The water is too deep to get the money out of. I guess it is still there. Ed had a big feather [condor or eaglet]. He got it from his mother, or maybe from his uncle. They both were doctors. Some people still have these feathers, but will not show them. Ed kept his feather in the crack of a rock facing west above Julia Ranes's house in Ono. The crack is in a ledge about four feet from the ground. He laid the feather in a wooden box, put it in the crack, and sealed up the hole with bits of rock. I used to go to look at the feather with him sometimes. Sometimes the quill was white like that of an ordinary feather. Sometimes it was red and full of poison. Ed was killed about fifteen years ago. I guess I'm the only one who knows where that feather is, but I'm afraid to go near it. Another, more generalized account of shamanism was given by Sarah Fan. Her version of the process entailed in becoming a shaman is more nearly inter- mediate between the older communal and the recent individualistic procedure just described. Doctors have to starve themselves. They have a hard time. I don't see why they want to be doctors. My grandma and grandpa were doctors. So was one of my cousins and four of my uncles, but I wouldn't want to be one. It is too hard. They go to muxbuli [a sacred place in the neighborhood]; four or five of them go, men and women. They slide down a hole in the cave there. There is a big room at the bottom of the hole. When they get down there they sing songs. They yell to Yolla Bolly [a peak in the northern main Coast range]. A pike lives in that hole. They ask him to help them. They say to him, "Come over and talk to me so I can be a doctor." Then they hear a noise like rocks falling; they hear a buzzing in their ears. They dance and dance as if crazy. Blood comes from their mouths and noses. By and by they fall unconscious. They fall over in a trance. Maybe two or three will become doctors. Then the other doctors tell them how to be good, how to talk well. They promise them feathers. They blow acorn meal over them. Maybe they will give them red-headed woodpeekers' heads. After that they all go to a sacred place to swim. Then when they go home they mustn't eat deer meat. They shouldn't eat deer meat or salt before they go. If they do the spirits won't look at them. When a person first becomes a doctor he just stands around and sings and sings. He never seems to get hungry. Sometimes they wander off and do crazy things. Then some- one has to follow them and bring them home. All this time they go to sacred places. After a while they turn good. At first they are very strong. They can lift a house, they are so strong. Later they settle down and can doctor people. They lose lots of blood. It pours out of the mouth. Yolla Bolly is the favorite spirit of the Bald Kills doctors. Albert Thomas doctors with Yolla Bolly spirit. The shamanistic history of Albert Thomas was obtained from two or three sources. He is half Wintu and half Achomawi, and was brought up in the latter tribe. However, he has obtained local spirits in the Wintu area, and has resided among the Wintu sporadically for a long time. He speaks when in a trance in Achomawi or else in nomsus (which may mean the language of any western group). For ordinary communication with the Wintu he uses Eng- lish. He travels from one tribe to another and his reputation as a shaman is widespread in northern California. In the Wintu area, at least, no jealousy is felt toward Thomas by the other shamans. In fact, his most powerful rival in the area, Charles Klutchie, is reputed to hold him in high esteem and they 91 92 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. are described as "partners." Actually any partnership which may exist seems to consist mostly in a tacit agreement to stay out of each other's way. The following anecdotes of Thomas' shamanistic history throw light on the general topic of modern shamanism. Wash Fan once more was the source. One summer Albert Thomas and I were camping at Watson gulch. I took Thomas to the Duncan creek sacred place. He almost got a spirit, but the spirit from Yolla Bolly told him not to get it yet because I was the only one there to take care of him. That night we went home and in the middle of the night I heard Thomas sing a song I knew. He was singing in Wintu. He doesn't know Wintu talk. He talks puisus [Achomawi]. So I got up and filled an Indian pipe for him and I talked to him. Thomas talked. He called all the mountains around here by name although he hadn't been much in this country then. Most of the time he talked nomsus [west country]. We stayed together two months that summer. I used to go around and interpret for him. I went as far south as Vina. The first time that the lizard spirit came to him I couldn't understand very well what he said, so he told me to call the "old white man" spirit. Then a white man's spirit came to him and he began talking in English. That summer, I used to see Thomas draw fire with his hands from a lamp and light his pipe with it. I saw him do it often. He said it was elee- tricity which drew fire. Once I saw him lift a blazing piece of live oak. He didn't even scorch his shirt or hair. He does this best when he has the lizard spirit. But he can do it only when he is in a tranee. Sarah Fan's account further describes Thomas' shamanism. I don't know whether Thomas has any doctors in his family. He became a doctor only after he married and had three children. He visited sacred places regularly. He asked for luck. He promised to take good care of it, to be good.6' If a spirit told him not to eat, he wouldn't. If it told him to eat something he didn't want, he would. He swam all the time, even when it was icy cold. He doesn't like Christian people." He is teaching his boy to be a doctor now. The boy is fifteen or sixteen years old. You need another doctor to help you be a doctor. If another doctor gives you some poison and you run it in your ear or your head, then you get to be a doctor quickly without dancing. You can't see this poison in the daytime but at night poisons have a queer long spark. Another shaman of wide repute in the area is Fanny Brown (pl. 2b). She is from the Upper Sacramento subarea and now must be a woman of sixty-five. The opinions concerning her are given first since they throw some light on her autobiographical material. She is definitely considered a dangerous person. She is commonly accused of being a poisoner and is rarely called to attend a patient. Outside of the incident of Nels Charles, given by one informant, there is no report of her being asked to treat a sick person. She does go, however, to sick persons without being solicited. Most of the anecdotal material concern- ing her deals with poisoning and has been reserved for a later section. Her powers of clairvoyance, however, are revealed in this account by Wash Fan. Fanny's boy was killed. He was found in the river [Sacramento]. They said he had been drowned. Fanny went into a trance and told all that had happened. She said he had been murdered and that his body had been kept under the house for two days. Then it was thrown in the river. She told where the body would be found in the river between Kennett and Keswick. People looked for the body and found it just where she said it would be. Ever since then she has sent poison to us here a lot. She feels vicious n This use of the word good with its ethical implication may have had one of two causes: either the language difficulty of Sarah Fan or, more probably, the fact that she had become recently an ardent Pentecostal. " Meamning Pentecostals, who have done much faith-healing among the local Indians. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography because she lost her boy. [The same informant in speaking of the inheritance of regalia cited Fanny Brown again:] If a relative knows where a doctor's materials are she can claim them, espeeially if she is a doctor, because then she can talk to them right. That is what Fanny Brown did. Fanny Brown herself gave the following account of the acquisition of her supernatural powers. My nephew died of consumption while I was holding him in my arms. When he died my heart jumped up. For about two minutes my body got stiff. I was crying. I felt as if I were drunk. I saw a tattooed woman standing about twenty yards away from me. She was a spirit and wanted to take the boy away. The man who took care of my nephew gave me a eigarette. I smoked a little and my heart jumped back again. My head was dizzy. I dropped down. That night I went home to sleep. Every little while something made me sing. I don't know what made me sing. I would half sleep for a little while, then I would sing some more. That went on all night. That was the first time I felt the spirit. I was pretty old already. I was married and had lost a child. I think maybe it was my baby's spirit which came to me. My baby was a boy a month old when he died. The next night I didn't sleep either. I sang again. I was in a trance and asked my boys for tobacco. I sang all night. After I sang I came to. My heart was making me do this all the time. I was like this for about three weeks. I sang every night. During those three weeks I didn't know anything. I felt a hot and cold pain come in one ear, go through my head, and come out the other. The pain lasted all the time during those three weeks. When- ever I doctor now that pain comes back, but it goes away as soon as I eome to. The next time I doctored, one of my boys was sick. He only had a little headache. I smoked and sang, and then I sucked once or twice and he got better. I suck just the way a baby does. I didn't know what I was doing, but they told me about it afterward. My brother and my sister were doctors; my mother and father were not. I became a doctor after they died. I got all their powers and their spirits. They came to me little by little. My brother had two spirits. My sister had two-a sucker spirit and a human one. I don't know what two my brother had. I don't know what human soul my sister had. I was a little girl then. My mother told me about her. My sister and brother got to be doetors by dancing in a sweat house. I have a bunch of feathers to use in doctoring. It was hidden in the mountains by a great old-time doctor. My brother found it and brought it in the house to me and left it there. The feathers should all come from the wings of eagles. Tail feathers are too short. If a man who isn't a good doctor holds a bunch of these feathers, he will get a headache. It is dangerous for him to handle them. I made my own headdress [yellow- hammer] and necklace [of rattlesnake rattles]. I killed my own rattlesnakes. A person who is a good doetor isn't afraid of rattlesnakes. I don't know what a "pain" looks like. Some people say it looks like a sliver of bone. A big pain is like this and is called yapaitu dokos [dangerous obsidian or arrowpoint]. When I suck out a pain I chew it up and kill it with my teeth, then I spit it out into a bundle of grass. I never swallow it. I hide the bundle of grass in the bushes. Once I doc- tored a man three days and nights and I got out a pain every time I sucked. I always get out a yapaitu dokos, but they are of different colors-red, white, black. There is no par- ticular color for each sickness. One sickness may have different colors. Since the white man has come there are all kinds of new sicknesses, like coughs, venereal diseases, rheu- matism. Those aren't from real pains. Indian doctors can't do anything with them. Doctors from other places [i.e., other tribes] will point feathers secretly at a young boy or girl. Ee gets sick, then one of our doctors has to suck the feather out of the boy or girl. I sucked feathers out of two of my boys who ran around a lot with Round Mountain people [Achomawi or Yana]. When you doctor, the interpreter asks the doetor questions and gets answers. When 93 94 University of California Pusblications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. a doctor is in a trance he talks another language. I don't know how or when I learned doctor's language. It is just my spirit talking to my heart. A fourth shaman among the Wintu is Tilly Griffen. She is a woman of about seventy from the Stillwater subarea. She is held in high repute, third perhaps to Albert Thomas and Charles Klutchie. Unfortunately she proved very re- ticent-characteristically so, if one may judge from the paucity of informa- tion concerning her to be culled from the rest of the tribe. Wash Fan, who was a mine of information on other shamans, had only the following to say con- cerning Tilly Griffen: She lost her boy. She went crazy-like. Then she became a doctor. She sings about her boy all the time when she doctors. Her boy was almost a man when he died. Tilly likes whiskey. She doctors with her boy's spirit, with a sucker spirit, and another one-I don't know what it is. She talks a lot about the ground when she doctors. Her own account is almost as brief and devoid of details. I lost my boy. I felt sorry. I cried and cried, every day; that's how I came to doctor. I did not sleep, just cried all day and all night. But after I started doctoring I quit cry- ing. Now I never cry. First I Laha [went into a trance] a few times, then I went to help sick people. Nobody danced with me. Nobody showed me how to doctor. Sometimes when I doctor, Nels Charles helps me, sometimes Charlie Klutchie helps me. Jo Charles never sends his spirit to help me when I doctor. My spirit goes up and tells Nels's spirit, so Nels's spirit comes down and helps me. I have no feathers [regalia in general]. Charles Klutchie, who has been mentioned frequently already, is the pre- eminent doctor in the opinion of the Wintu. He also provedj difficult to ap- proach. His English is very limited, and an interpreter is obviously a handi- cap in discussing a subject on which so much reticence is observed. Klutchie refused to act as informant on the plea that he had a large family which re- quired his full time to provide for. He was one of the few men who had steady employment and in addition spent all his free time in gardening, hunting, or fishing. He gave the impression of being a remarkably normal and emotionally stable individual about fifty years of age, with an unusually strong physique. Information concerning him gathered from several sources tallies so well that the reconstruction of his acquisition of shamanistic powers may be considered accurate. Jake Cornish, who acted almost always as his interpreter, gave the follow- ing meager sketch: Charlie's father was a great doctor. I think he heard his father doctoring and learned from him. He has four spirits, I think. One is the spirit of his boy who died. I don't know how he got it. Sadie Marsh provided a fuller account. Charlie had a boy. He was about eleven years old. Once he got into a fight and was stabbed, but was cured. One day he came home. Charlie was going to town. Before he went the boy said: "Papa, you had better come back soon. Don't stay too long." Charlie didn't understand what the boy meant. He stayed in town a long while and when he came back the boy was dead. Charlie felt so bad he just went crazy. He felt bad because he hadn't understood what his boy meant. He was living at Sisson then. He went out and spent the night on Mount Shasta. He didn't eat anything. He traveled around Mount Shasta for a month, crying and singing and not eating anything. He didn't know how Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography long he was gone. He tried doctoring [i.e., going into a trance] several times. He was half-crazy. He didn't know what was wrong. Once he was at Fort Jones and a nomkensus doctor [probably a Shasta Indian] helped him through. That is why he talks nomkensus sometimes when he doctors. Nomkensus doctors have the strongest doctor songs. They can make people go crazy just with songs. Another brief account of Klutchie was: His spirit bothered him when he got older. Finally he got Indians to doctor him and they told him what was the matter. He doctored his own wife first. After that, he got to be known all over. Nels Charles is another shaman of the Wintu area. He is not held in high esteem as a doctor, but is of particular interest from a psychological as well as a cultural point of view. Facts are included which bear on his own per- sonal development and which show the amalgamation of European and native American elements. Material is drawn from biographic and autobiographic accounts. The autobiographic material is presented first and as nearly as pos- sible in his own words. There has been, however, some ordering of the material by the writer. Certain discrepancies are obvious. I am forty-six years old. My grandfather, father, and one uncle were doctors. I went to ChemawaOg from 1900 to 1911. My eyes bothered me, so I could attend classes for only six years. I had pneumonia the first year and it affected my eyes. Sunshine bothered them. I couldn't read much. At Chemawa I was taught by the Y.M.C.A. I cooked for them. They taught me to be a baker at Chemawa. I used to teach the boys there to bake. I was like one of the family to the superintendent. He used to trust me to take money to the bank. I used to go often to the guard house and talk to the bad boys there. They would feel bad and would cry and promise to reform. I was given these boys to work with and to show them the right way to aet. In 1907 or 1908 I was hurt lifting. I was very strong and could lift heavy weights. I had a hemorrhage and was taken to the school hospital, where they took care of me. I owe my life to the superintendent. He was always good to me. I was about seventeen or eighteen when I began dreaming. A person came to me [in dreams] who sang and asked me questions. He sang doctor songs. I was away from home then and from my folks who were doctors. I dreamed more and more. I felt stronger and stronger. I knew more and could tell quicker what would happen. I didn't know who the spirit was who came to me. After two years different spirits came to me. I never knew how many spirits came, though some doctors might. I began doetoring about 1911, but I had begun dreaming maybe ten years before that. I knew before I began helping people that my power was growing. When the spirits started on me I would wake up at night [not really wake up] and they would put me through an examination. They would make me try to doctor a man. They would show me a man and ask me to look at him. They would say, "What is the matter with him?" Sometimes they showed me a -dead man and then I would dream that I pulled him up alive again. I dreamed songs too and could then get up and sing them. In my dreaming the spirit which came to me was light. He would say: "Wake up. Don't sleep." He taught me to help people. The spirit would pray. He would put up his hand and make things disappear. He taught me to say words to make old people young, and things like that. He would say, "That rock shall break," and it would. The man who came in my dreams looked like church pietures of God. He wore a crown. Once I dreamed this: I followed a road. I went to follow the spirit. A person told me to go south. "At the four roads take the right one or you will get lost and never 68 An Indian school in Oregon. 95 96 University of California Publication8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. arrive."6 I followed the road and came to a big lake. I saw a big building with marble posts and all of marble. I saw the spirit with a golden crown seated on a chair. He raised his hand and said, "This building shall drop into the lake," and the building did. The water nearly splashed on me. I went up steps in front of the spirit. I stood and looked at him. I saw thousands of men lined up on a big platform. The spirit said, "All these men who have done wrong shall march to the front." I was afraid I would be put in one of the lines. Then the spirit said, "Three men shall take a tomahawk and a club." They did and stood there. Then he raised his hand and said, "These men shall march out to heaven or to hell." Then they marched out. He picked them out. Then he told the men with a tomahawk and a club to march to the high seat. One with a tomahawk stood on one side, and one with a club stood on the other. Then the spirit told the men going to hell to march between the two. It was a place with nice lawns. Then God reached over and said, "Fire shall rise from hell," and a big tank of fire raised itself. The men with a tomahawk and a club threw the men into hell. They took them under their arms and threw them in the fire. Then he asked different people about their transgressions, sorting out the good from the bad. Those going to heaven were marched off to one side. I was afraid I would be put in the fire. After a while I was called up to the gold seat. The spirit asked what I was doing there. I said that I had been told to take that road. He asked me what wrong I had done. I said I didn't know of having done any wrong. The spirit said, "You have no business around here." Then he told me to look up there where nice flowers were and where all good people go. He asked if that was where I wanted to go. I said I didn't know. The spirit said I didn't have to go to heaven. I was afraid of the fire. Then he pointed to a marble and gold road. He told me it would take me back to where I had come from. I turned and went back. I turned and saw people still being thrown in the fire. This dream came to me in 1908 or 1909. That was the first dream I had. I always went to church. The spirit always taught me in my dreams, but when I woke up I was afraid to try what he had taught me. He helped me read the minds of other people. With the help of the spirit I used to tell what would happen at Chemawa. I never used my spirit, and it went off from me-just like Indian doctors'. In 1911 I came back here. In 1912 I began smoking tobacco. Before I came home I never used tobacco or drank. The smell made me sick. Early in 1912 I went to Napa.65 I guess I was there about six months. I began really doctoring when I came back. Some- times a spirit is too strong for a doctor, so another doctor must be called in. Some spirits are vicious and abuse you. They make you run out in the hills, where you have a trance. Spirits look you over first. If you aren't right they won't stay with you: it is just like a man and woman living together. My spirit abused me. I ran away from my folks. I'd have spells for two or three months. Then I'd be all right. Later on, these attacks won't return because the other doctors will straighten you out for good and your spirit will stay with you. Charlie Klutchie and Tilly Griffen straightened me out. I was sick, I couldn't eat. My spirit wasn't right. I was lost. Nothing was right with me. If people said mean words my heart jumped and tears came into my eyes. My spirit bothered me like that, and my folks didn't understand. They took me down to Napa, where I stayed for six months. The white doctors there didn't know what was wrong. While I was there my spirit kept coming to me and examining me as before. Before I went to Napa, Charlie Klutchie and Tilly Griffen sang for me. They sang for me when I came back, too. The doctors in Napa saw I had nothing wrong with me and they let me go when my sister wrote them a letter. Before doctoring, I got other doctors to strengthen me by singing. I went to Charlie Klutchie and Tilly Griffen. I paid them to sing for me. In order to keep a spirit, you must take care of yourself. You must keep away from women who are having their 64 See current Wintu beliefs about the fork in the spirit trail in the section on Con- cepts of the Soul and the Afterworld. 65 Where there is a state insane asylum. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography monthlies. Your spirit tells you if a woman is sick. But some spirits are made just to help women who are sick. You must never eat with a woman who is like that. You can talk to her, though. If a doctor eats with such a woman, it will make him sick. He may be able to doctor himself by going into a trance and singing, but it may make him so sick he will die. My power is not so strong as it used to be. My power is not so great be- cause my spirits worry. They don't know what to do with themselves. When they were strong, I was strong and could cure patients. But after I lost my sister and some aunts, I was worried and that bothered my spirits. I was weakened. My spirits aren't sure whether they can cure a sick person and they are weakened by not being sure. If a person abuses me I mustn't wish him to be sick, or die, or have bad luck. That would ruin me. My spirits might think differently and that would weaken my power. Spirits talk to my heart and know what I think. Different doctors have different ideas. Spirits protect a doctor from sickness. I haven't been sick since I began dreaming even though I have been around smallpox, measles, and influenza. This constitutes most of the autobiographical data obtained from Nels Charles concerning the acquisition of his powers. The rest of his material bears on shamanism in general, but has been included here because it helps to complete the picture of Nels Charles in relation to the supernatural, and re- veals the extent to which he was in touch with his own cultural traditions as opposed to those of Europeans which he acquired at school. When you go into a trance-when spirits come to a doctor-the doctor and the people hear a whizzing noise. Then the doctor feels a hotness. I always feel mine in my head. When you doctor, if one spirit doesn't work, another comes to help it. You smoke tobacco to call a spirit. A doctor has just a certain number of spirits. Four or five is a large num- ber to have. The doctor never knows what spirits come to him. It is the interpreter [see below, section on Interpreters] who calls the spirits and knows how many come. The doctors speak in a language that has higher words in it. One word can mean many things. I never learned this language. I can't even talk Wintu well, but when a spirit enters me the spirit talks and they say I talk Wintu perfectly well. It is just like talking with un- known tongues and getting the spirit in the Pentecostal church. A doctor may sing for several hours and not locate a sickness. During the singing he tells what happens, what happened a few days ago, what will happen by and by. While he is singing he is in a trance. All this time the doctor's spirit is watching for the poison. Today doctors sing more. In the old days they sucked more. You are in a trance when you suck. When you suck you might extract a stone. The spirit in the doctor sees the bad blood, and shows the doctor where to suck. I have sucked people, but I never know what I extract. When you suck you have a suikolom [see below, section on Regalia] full of water. A doctor takes some in his mouth and sucks. That is so that his mouth will be wet. He has some extra water in his mouth when he sucks. I don't know whether there is any special way of holding the tongue. The suikolom must be kept whether the patient gets better or not. It belongs to one's spirit and is very important. To pull a poison out with your hand is harder than when the sickness just needs sucking. The doctor's spirit kills the poison. My spirits travel about all the time, they know everything. It is the same as when a person's spirit can wander off to places far away when he dreams. Spirits often travel in the mountains. Sometimes puyukensus [werebeasts] are the spirits. Sometimes a person travels in the mountains and the mountain-boy spirits possess him, and he becomes a doctor. In the old days doctors would find things by singing. For instance, if a dog were lost while hunting, a doctor would sing and talk to the dog and tell him where his master was. I don't feel weak or tired after doctoring. I don't know how many people I have doc- tored. I never got any doctoring things [regalia] from my folks. 97 98 University of California Publication8 in Am. Arch. and Bthn. No biographical account of Nels Charles was very full. He is generally con- sidered a shaman of inferior ability, and it is known that his shamanistic seizures first came upon him sometime before the Great War. At the time he was employed by a white man. He "went out of his head" and for several months would keep escaping from his family and disappearing in the hills. After a period of several days he would return of his own accord, or be found, in deplorable condition. On occasion he was so violent that he had to be tied to a bed in the house. He foamed at the mouth, held himself rigid, and "seemed to be staring at a person." The white people of the vicinity were concerned and had him removed to an insane asylum at Napa. He was variously reported to have been there from a few months to three years.66 Informants agreed that there was nothing wrong with him. No onus whatsoever seems to have been attached to him for the period spent in the asylum. On his return he became a doctor. Wash Fan with the aid of Jake Cornish acted as interpreter for him on one occasion after his return. Wash Fan gave the following account of the incident: I interpreted for him when his sister's spirit came to him for the first time. Nels always liked his sister a lot. He talked in her voice. I knew his sister and I could tell it was her voice. I had called the Yolla Bolly spirit, but his sister's spirit interfered and wanted to talk first. I don't think Nels is a very big doctor. Two informants reported that a hostile shaman had "ruined" Nels, had taken away his power. One accused Fanny Brown of this malignant conduct on an occasion when Nels had called her in to help him with his spirit. It is significant that Nels made no such accusation, although he admitted the diminution of his powers. One further piece of information was obtained concerning Nels Charles. This is a report from the Napa State Hospital which states that he was diag- nosed as an "epileptic psychotic (equivalent)." Two more persons remain to be considered whose supernatural powers are sufficiently great to include them in the ranks of shamans. Neither one ranks as a powerful agent and both are modest in their claims. Their actual experi- ences seem to be as valid as those of better shamans. Why they hold themselves somewhat inferior was hard to determine. Perhaps it is because they are unable to inspire the confidence necessary to achieve cures. Jo Charles has sought powers by visits to sacred places and by dancing, in which he is skilled. Jenny Curl, his sister, related one of his attempts. It is a particularly enlightening episode because it shows the persistence of the old initiation ceremony in its degenerate condition. Also it includes interesting information concerning EDC Campbell, of whom there will be occasion to speak later. John Miles had a little house on the McCloud. There were several Indians there. They were going to dance with EDC and Jo. For five nights they danced with them in the dark. Suddenly EDC screamed. Short Jim [her husband, a shaman] said: "She is raw. She will never be a doctor." That was because she screamed before the power came on 66 Actually he was there four months. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography her. She must have been dizzy and screamed before her full power came on her. When they were through dancing they lighted the lamp and EDC was sitting there without any clothes on. Jo danced and danced, too. He danced naked. I heard Jo fall. He fell flat on his back with his head to the north. Then they lighted the lamp. Short Jim was in a trance. He said, "Don't talk loud or disturb him [Jo Charles]." The next morning Jim doctored with him and from then on Jo was a doctor. He had dreamed before then. He was afraid to go out in the dark. Even now he is still afraid. His father was a great doetor and gave him power. [Jenny did not mean spirits by this. Exactly what she meant by "gave him power" could not be learned.] Jo's attempt to gain power at a sacred place was also related by Jenny. He went to a sacred place near Ono with Wash Fan. Jo sat down and smoked. Wash smoked, and talked to that place. He said: "Don't be afraid. They are my people." Sud- denly a big rainbow turned up. It came again. It was right below the falls of the sacred place. Jo came home and dreamed about the place. After that he doctored with that sacred-place spirit. These biographical accounts given by Jo Charles's sister would indicate that he was a doctor of some consequence. Fred Griffen, however, said forthrightly: "Jo Charles is just a fake doctor. When he gets drunk he sings and tries to doctor, but when he is sober he never goes to help sick people." In frequent conversations with Jo Charles I have never heard him claim shamanistic powers. However, I think that Jo Charles may definitely be ranked as a lesser shaman, comparable perhaps to Nels Charles. It is significant that Jo was one of the doctors summoned to a joint seance of all shamans at the time of an epidemic some years ago. This occasion will be described later. Whereas Jo Charles did not positively claim shamanistic power, Kate Luckie definitely disclaimed it. Sarah Fan, however, considered her a doctor and professed great admiration for her powers of prophecy (see Cosmology and Related Speculations). Wash Fan's comment reveals that he believed her to be a shaman, even though no longer a good one. Kate Luckie comes from Hayfork, but she has lived around here [Ono] a lot. She used to be a good doctor. Her father was a good doctor, too. But she has ruined herself. She wasn't careful. If she was called she would come and then didn't doctor right. She just played around with you and let you go. In a couple of days you'd be sick again. There are too many Hyampom [southwestern Wintu] ways in her doetoring. You mustn't mix up ways of doetoring. Kate's own account of the acquisition of her powers was the usual one of the loss of a relative. The substance of it is the following: The normuk [south people] of Stony creek had sent flshhooks, yapaitu dokos, and similar poisons against her son. The boy was treated by his grandfather, called John Doctor. He sucked out of the boy's throat the fishhooks and yapaitu dokos. These Kate saw in the grandfather's hand. As her son lay dying, Kate felt overpowered by sleep which was not like real sleep. She lay down in the corner of the room and lost con- sciousness. Her spirit then traveled to "the house above" where a being reminiscent of the Christian God showed her a book in which her name had been recorded at the time she was baptized (?). He read her five pages of names of people who had died. He showed her a great assembly of people burying relatives. He said: "You aren't the only one. All your enemies will go the same road." Then a man came with a wide strap onto which she stepped. He took her through a gate and put her down on earth. Kate then went on to describe her grief after the death of her child. Soon after, her father also died. "He 99 1University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. seemed to take my heart and spirit away. After my people died I was crazy-like. My brother had to take me around all the time and keep up my spirit.... Once I helped a paralyzed boy. I fixed him up so he was only crippled. Once I made John Sisk's wife bet- ter. She was crazy. But I never felt that I was a real doctor. I just talk about things. The accounts given above of Jo Charles and Kate Luckie seem definitely to include them among shamans. There are, however, certain individuals who cannot be so ranked, but who have had supernatural experiences of a shaman- istic type. Perrin C. Radcliff and Ellen Silverthorne rejected their experi- ences; those of Tilly Brock and Jenny Curl were inhibited by relatives, and that of EDC Campbell was definitely quashed by other shamans. Perrin Radcliff's rejection of shamanistic powers is given in his own words. I was very sick. My father called in a doctor. His name was Tuntciriki. He doctored me every night when it was dark for three or four nights. He made me stand up. He said I might become a good doctor. He called to different places around here, telling the spirits to come. Soon I saw electric sparks jumping all around the house. He called again and a stronger flash came. This time I felt it burn my navel. I got weaker and weaker. After a while I fell down as if dead. The next day when I came to my senses I started singing. People said I acted just like a doctor. I guess my body couldn't carry the spirit and it left. The next night the doctor slept close to me. In the middle of the night I woke up with a terrible pain in my left ear. I yelled to my father. I guess the doctor was putting some kind of spirit into my brain through my ear. After that I began getting better. The dizziness went away. My father, Kalteululi, told me most doctors were only tricksters. They did tricks with their hands. The following year Perrin Radeliff again gave an account of his experience. The additional information is here included in his own words. I had been down in Tehama picking grapes. I was sick for a month. They brought me back here. A white doctor said I was poisoned from watermelons. I was dizzy. They called in an Indian doctor. He said I ought to become a doctor. I was out of my head. He held me up and my father called to different sacred places. Different spirits came, two or three at a time. Then the third time a strong light came in my mouth, in my ear, 1 don't know. Then I felt it burn my belly. I didn't know anything for two or three hours. The doctor said that the spirit didn't stay because I didn't know how to take care of it. The last spirit came from the north, but I don't know from which holy place. I was about twenty when this happened. After both narrations the informant was asked why he did not try to become a shaman, and each time he denied interest in the practices and belittled their value. The informant was educated, had read many books, and speculated on Euro-American culture as opposed to his own. Ellen Silverthorne, in the course of anecdotes about werebeasts, remarked that she often dreamed of spirits but that she would have nothing to do with such dreams. "I never paid any attention to them. I never wanted to be a doctor." She may be considered as a person who definitely rejected super- natural powers. Tilly Brock, now an old woman between eighty-five and ninety years old, is a person who had shamanistic inclinations which were never developed. When she was only eighteen or nineteen she entered an earth lodge at the time of an initiation ceremony, which was then still practiced. All the others present were between twenty-five and thirty years old (according to her niece, Sadie 100 Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Marsh, who gave this information). "She felt a whizzing in the air and a spirit hit her in one ear. After that she used to wake up in the middle of the night singing doctors' songs. Her husband always shook her and woke her up when she acted this way. That weakened her power. Now she can't doctor at all. It might make her sick if she tried." Jenny Curl is another who showed shamnanistic inclinations but, again, her husband "ruined her" by rudely awakening her every time she showed an in- clination to go into a trance. From the foregoing accounts it may be concluded that shamanistic powers could be rejected and denied among the Wintu. There was no compulsion to accept supernatural experiences. The next account is inserted despite its length because of its undoubted value. It not only tells of the obtaining of shamanistic powers and how such an attempt might be thwarted by other shamans, but also describes joint shaman- istic seances at the time of an epidemic, the care and inheritance of regalia, and so forth. The chief character is EDC Campbell, who was previously men- tioned in connection with Jo Charles's shamanistic experiences. At present EbC is a woman about sixty-five years old, of superior intelligence, a domi- neering temperament, some wealth, and with an inordinate ambition for prominence. As a result she is unpopular in the tribe. This may account for the persistent thwarting of her desire to become a shaman. Despite the disin- tegration of the old culture, persons suspected of being charlatans are not tolerated as doctors. The account begins with the shamanistic powers of one of EDC's husbands, from whom she later obtained the regalia which caused difficulties. Two or three informants reported installments of the whole story. Where overlappings occurred, deletions have been made, but substantially the account is given in the words of Wash Fan and Sadie Marsh. EDC had a husband called Short Jim Thomas. He came from Rocky Plains, the other side of Millville [Yana territory]. His father was Jack McCloud. Jack became a doctor in the regular way [i.e., in a sweat-house initiation ceremony]. But Short Jim became a doctor by grieving. His mother died and he felt sorry. He wasn't a great doctor-just about like Nels Charles, I guess. You can get to be a doctor by just feeling bad, like Charlie Klutchie and Tilly Griffen. You dream and dream and then the spirit of the dead person gets into you. Short Jim had lots of stuff [regalia]. He got it from his father. Old Jo gave Short Jim all his stuff too, except the poison-holder [made of a bird's leg bone]. The poison-holder was going to be buried with him, but people were afraid to do that because it might poison anybody who went to the graveyard. Short Jim died in the house. He had all his stuff there. Before he died he told EDC to throw it in the river or to burn it up. It is best to throw it in a sacred place. That keeps it from doing harm. They tell it to be good and to turn into something else. EDC didn't throw that stuff away. Charlie Klutchie wanted it but EDC wouldn't give it up. I think she has it now. She handles it and tries to learn something, but she doesn't know how. It has to be smoked over and fed at certain times; or you have to dream about it and go see it. EDC doesn't know how to do this. She is getting weaker and weaker. It is very bad to sing doctor's songs when you aren't a doctor. But if a spirit likes you he'll come to you quickly. EDC tried singing and dancing close to the river one morning. She did all sorts of crazy things. Now she is sick. You have to be at least a little doctor before doing that sort of thing. 101 102 University of California Publicatiown in Am. Arch. and Ethn. One winter, a few years ago, everybody got sick. All the doctors got together for a dance-Nels Charles, Jo Charles, Charlie Klutchie, and Tilly Griffen. They all went to Pat Silverthorne's house [on the McCloud river at Baird]. The doctors danced and sang all night. They sent their spirits out everywhere to learn where the poison was coming from. Toward daybreak Charlie Klutchie said, "Do you see something [i.e., in a trance] I" Jo and Tilly said, "Yes." Charlie Klutchie said: "There's a woman up the river who is trying to see if she can make people sick. She got up early in the morning and swam in the river. She sent this stick down." [The stick was a sonopokteumas, used to pierce the nasal septum; it had to be discarded after use if disease were to be kept away.] The doctors all thought Charlie was right. They knew he was talking about EDC. They said EDC sang a song to it [the stick], telling it to go to all the Indians. Just as daybreak came, the doctors went to catch that stick. They told everybody to sing carefully. They started out. One doctor went toward the river; one went to the creek; one went to the tree near the gate. Certain people had to follow the doctors, so that nothing would happen to them. I [Sadie Marsh] followed Tilly Griffen. They knew just what they were to catch. I saw Tilly act as though she were chasing something. Suddenly it looked as though she had caught something. She looked as though she were going to fall the way doctors do when they get something. There were two of us and we caught her around the waist to keep her from falling. Blood spurted out of her nose because she had caught the sonopok- teumas. We helped her get back to the house. All that time I never saw what she had in her hand. After about an hour all the doctors came back. They had been walking around in the snow without any shoes on. Somebody put down a pan of water. In the old days they would have used a suikolom [striped doetor's basket]. The doctors put their hands in it and let go of what they had caught. Tilly had caught a sharp stick-like thing. I didn't see what the rest had. After that, they decided to send for EDC. Charlie Klutchie told them to. EDC came. All the doctors went into trances and Charlie Klutchie was strengthened by the others. The more doctors there are the better a doctor feels. He told her to do away with all her stuff. EDC cried. Charlie told her Short Jim didn't feel good. He was watching his chil- dren [regalia]. EDC said she had put all the stuff away. Charlie looked at her hand and told her what things she hadn't destroyed and where they were. He told her to get it [the regalia] and bring it back to them by the next night. They wanted to throw it in the whirlpool [a sacred plaee] here near Herault where doctors throw their stuff. EDC brought the stuff down the next day in a sack. Charlie Klutchie went into a trance and looked over the things in the sack. He said some things were missing, but EDC said they weren't. The next morning Tilly Griffen, Fred Griffen [her husband], Jake Cornish [a favorite interpreter of Charles Klutchie], and EDC went to throw the stuff in the whirlpool. Tilly "doctored" while EDC was supposed to throw the sack in. Jake is nearly blind, so he can't see. I don't know what Fred was doing. Anyway, people believe EDC didn't throw it all away. About a month later, one of the Silverthornes was sick. They sent for Charlie Klutchie and he said it was EDC. He said that she told the spirits, "I want to kill someone before I die because I lost a child and I want them to feel that way." [Her only son had been killed in the World War.] Charlie Klutchie said she had better be careful. EDC has been sick often since then. In June [1929] she was sick. She got Charlie to doctor her. He worked on her for two nights. He told her again to destroy the stuff. He said no Indian doctor was going to help her again. They couldn't do anything for her, anyway. This terminates the accounts of individual shamanistic experiences col- lected. They not only give details on the general shamanistic practices of the area, but also indica.te the differences between the old and the modern form of acquiring supernatural power. The gap between the communal earth-lodge search for a guardian spirit and the modern individualistic "dreaming" Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography method motivated by sorrow is bridged by more or less private seanees in which an experienced shaman helps a novice to acquire and control spirits. The change from old to new shamanism extends naturally to practices in curing, shamanistic contests, sleight-of-hand performances, and so forth. The differences of today are caused by a loss or relaxation of faith in the ability of modern shamans. One is left with an impression of slovenliness in the modern situation. Attitudes toward old and recent shamans.-The varying views of the Wintu themselves on the change in shamanistic practices is best illustrated by a series of quotations: Wash Fan: In the old days people might become doctors without going into an earth lodge. They were just natural doctors. Nowadays people get to be doctors, too, without going into earth lodges. Maybe they aren't real doctors. There is too much sorriness in their becoming doctors. A natural doctor just walks around and suddenly does something crazy, like walking into water. Practicing in an earth lodge wasn't natural. They were treated very roughly in there. Nowadays even Albert Thomas can't cure a big sickness any more than the rest. Sadie Marsh: Earth-lodge doctors are stronger than dream doctors. Jenny Curl: Formerly doetors who doctored in an earth lodge grew to be very old. Then they just faded away without getting sick. I Bill Curl: Best doetors become doctors in an earth lodge. The others are raw doctors like Nels Charles, Charles Klutchie, and Jo Charles. Nels Charles: Today doctors sing more. In the old days they sucked more. Today sick- nesses are hard to handle. You get one sickness out and another comes right back. Fanny Brown: Since the white man has come, there are all kinds of new sicknesses. They aren't real "pains." Indian doctors can't do anything with them. EDC Campbell: Formerly people didn't have many sicknesses. Now they have many, and doctors' spirits can't fight them. They don't know what to do about them. Jo Charles: In the old days there were earth-lodge doctors. Now everybody is a sacred- place doctor. A sacred-place doctor can be as strong as an earth-lodge doctor. Shamanistic contests.-An older trait of shamanism among the Wintu, which has disappeared entirely today, was the shamanistic contest. Material on the subject was scant. A number of informants reported that shamans would gather together and display their powers. The contest seems to have been for the most part a sleight-of-hand performance. Nels Charles gave a brief account of such a contest between his aunt and another shaman. I saw her doctor against another woman. They put five pitch knots about as far off as that tree [ca. fifteen feet], and lighted them. Then by clapping her hands she put them out. It was the kind of spirit she had. It made her strong to do things like that. I heard it was a thunder or lightning spirit that gave her this power. It is difficult to determine how much actual sleight of hand was and still is used. The extraction of disease objects, the eating of coals, and so forth, belong in this category. The eating of coals was reputed to strengthen the shaman and make him impervious to any harm that a "pain" which he extracted might do him. Sleight-of-hand performances were reported for Charles Klutchie and Albert Thomas. The former is said to have embraced a glowing metal stove while he was in a trance and to have come away unharmed. The sleight-of- hand performances of the latter are given in his biography. 103 104 University of California Publications in Aim. Arch. and Ethn. Solicitation of shamans' services.-Usually a member of the family goes to the shaman and gives him the pay which he is to receive for his treatment. This may consist of the actual object offered in payment or it may be a symbol of it. For example, if a large basket is to be paid, either the basket itself or a bunch of maidenhair-fern stems may be presented. If the shaman breathes on the gift it is a sign that he consents to undertake the treatment. The member of the family then returns home with the payment. The shaman accompanies him or arrives shortly thereafter. If he cures his patient he returns at a later date to collect his fee. Should he fail, however, he is not entitled to payment. Today payments are made in money at the time of the seance, or just after it, and vary with the number of nights a shaman works over his patient. He may receive anywhere from two dollars to thirty dollars for a successful treatment. At present, payment is made whether or not a cure is effected. Treatments.-At the house of the patient, either the man of the family or the interpreter who has accompanied the shaman fills a pipe. All present sit around the patient while the shaman smokes. He swallows large puffs and, after smoking a pipe or two, goes into a trance. His spirits are summoned by the interpreter. In modern seances, summonses are often omitted. Once the spirits have arrived the shaman begins to sing and prophesy, and examines the sick person, bending low over him, touching him here and there with his hands. After this preliminary and diagnostic procedure any one of several curative methods may be employed. They are based on three concepts of illness current in the area, namely, disease-object intrusion, soul loss, and spirit pos- session. The two predominating curative procedures are disease-object extrac- tion, either by sucking (winina) or by massage (semin), and soul capture (Eldilna). In the soul dance (Lestconos), another treatment, exorcism is com- bined with extraction of disease objects. The Lestconos requires much power, but the Eldilna treatment needs even more and is considered the most difficult to perform. Sucking is considered the easiest cure. For the most common treatment, the winina, there is brought to the doctor a small cuplike basket (suikolom) on which is a striped design of fern. The basket is given by the family of the sick person and retained by the shaman after his cure is completed. The doctor moistens his mouth with the water contained in the basket. He retains a small quantity, then applies his lips to the place where the "paim" is supposed to be, and sucks. He seldom sucks for more than a minute at a time, but he may suck several times before extracting the "pain." Blood may be drawn in the process. One shaman boasted of this abi]ity, but said she had lost it of late through eating hot foods. "Old-timers never ate anything hot-it spoiled their sucking," she said. After the "pain" has been extracted, the shaman puts it in a bundle of grass, pine needles, or leaves. It is considered safest to bury the bundle with angelica or sunflower roots, which are destructive of poisons. "Pains"are also chewed up and killed with the teeth before being put in a bundle of leaves or grass; then burying is not essential. Should the shaman fail to extract the poison, he smokes again and other spirits are summoned. Two or three nights may be spent in this pro- Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography cedure. The doctor may return to his own house in the meantime. If he is not summoned again, he frequently will not return to the patient. If, however, the patient recovers, the doctor is free to return and collect the promised fee. Instead of sucking to extract the pain, the shaman may use massage (sEmin). This procedure is considered to be far less effective and is therefore employed less frequently. One informant thinks it a far more difficult method of treatment than sucking. It is doubtful whether this represents the general opinion. The eldilna method of treatment is employed by the shaman only when a patient is very ill and near death. It may be resorted to after the winina method has proved ineffectual. The supposition is either that the person's soul (Les) has already left his body because of the gravity of the illness, or that it has been stolen by a malignant werebeast. The doctor's spirits must go in search of the soul. The audience sings while the doctor dances. Then he begins to look to the right and left, and to wander about as though in search of something. His behavior is described as "arazy." He usually goes outside and is followed by one or two persons. If his spirit succeeds in locating the straying soul, he falls to the ground.67 Unconscious, he is carried back to the patient and laid down beside him. The shaman then speaks, and restores the soul by placing his hand over the patient's heart, where souls are believed to reside. He may also recommend to the relatives dietary restrictions for the patient. This treatment for restoration of the soul obviously differs from the others, which are for extraction of disease objects. The Lesteonos, or soul dance, is the most spectacular of shamans' methods. In this treatment the audience again sings while the doctor dances. He may use a cane from which he suspends the striped basket previously mentioned. Dur- ing the dance he snatches at the air as though grasping an unseen object. Should he catch a poison he chews it up and spits it into the basket. Poisons thus extracted from the air are never shown. This performance lasts all night and is said to assist the doctor in locating the poison in the patient's body and in making it suitable for extraction. Toward morning the shaman begins mas- saging the patient (semin). The latter is then made to stand upright. The doctor performs some sleight-of-hand trick, probably the favorite one of eating coals. (In one description, five pitch sticks were lighted and the doctor thrust each in turn into his mouth to extinguish it, smacking his lips as though he were eating something palatable.) Then the doctor once more begins to massage the patient, who is still held in an upright position. If the poison is located, the shaman tugs at it and finally falls over, grasping it in his hands. Assistants plunge his hands in water because they are supposed to be hot. When he regains consciousness he finds himself grasping the poison. He may then identify it and tell from what spirit or sacred place it came. He may even give the reason for its presence. For example, a poison may enter the heart if the taboo against eating with a menstruating woman has been broken. 67 Note resemblance of this eldilna treatment to that used in a joint s6ance at the time of epidemic illness, described above. 105 106 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. One other curative method is known to the Wintu, but it is frowned on as ineffectual. The procedure is to wave a bundle of feathers over the patient or actually stroke him with it to the accompaniment of shamanistic songs. In other words, the illness is treated simply by exorcism. Fanny Brown was re- ported to use this method, having given up the sucking one. The comment upon it was that "she was getting lazy and wasn't much good." One shaman, Fanny Brown, reported that eagle claws are used by doctors to scrape the flesh of a sick person. The poison adheres to the claw and is wiped off by the shaman with his left hand and with a gesture is dissipated upward. Such poison is never visible. This is the only report obtained of this type of treatment. If it exists at all, it would seem to be based on a disease concept somewhat aberrant to disease-object intrusion. There are recognized also, as among most American Indians, the purely natural-one might almost say, profane-illnesses as opposed to the sacred. In the list of the former are included such injuries as snake bite, a broken limb, childbirth, and so forth. The care of profane illnesses is usually relegated to lay persons and to lay methods. Thus, a broken arm will be tightly bound, a minor headache will be treated with the smoke of sunflower roots (more severe ones require bleeding either by gashing the head with a flint knife or by beating the nose) , and so on through a long list of practical cures known to many persons within the tribe and in which a shaman may not necessarily be versed. One informant was under the impression that shamans are well acquainted with herbs and their curative powers. If this is true of certain individual shamans, it is a nonsupernatural and exoteric interest which does not per se appertain to shamanism. Prophecy and ckirvoyance.-Prophecy and clairvoyance, rather than the curative treatments just described, consume the greater part of the time de- voted to seances and frequently are their sole concerns. No patient is neces- sary to motivate a seance. Four examples of prophecy in its most poetic and speculative aspect have been included under Cosmology and Related Specu- lations. Examples can be multiplied indefinitely. One is included here because it illustrates a prophetic function of the shaman previously more important than it now is, namely, the outcome of a communal hunt. It was customary in the past to consult shamans about the location of game and the most successful hunter of the following day. Doctors before a hunt will tell just where to find the game and which gun will kill it. Tom Millie had a poor gun. He was going along just as a brush beater. Before leaving, the doctor said, "Millie's gun is going to have all the luck." The next day he shot two deer and a bear.69 The range of subjects suitable to shamanistic prophecy seems to be un- limited: the future of the world, the outcome of a suit against the United States Government, the solution of murders, disappearances, losses, thefts, the success of a hunt, and so on ad infinitum. A shaman may also go into a trance to end bad weather (see Miscellaneous Attitudes concerning the Super- 68 Powers, op. cit., 239. 69 For further hunting prophecies see Hunting. Du Boiw: Wintu Ethnography natural). The validity of prophecies and clairvoyance rests on the firm belief that shamans' spirits are "all over the world," that "they travel around all the time and tell doctors everything that happens. Doctors know everything. If you try to hide something, if you killed someone, they can see it." No formal distinction is made between curative and prophetic shamans. A good doctor functions equally well in both fields. However, it is evident from the preceding biographical accounts that there are degrees of super- natural rapport. Like Kate Luckie, a person may have the power of prophecy without feeling "strong enough" to cure. Her prophecies, particularly in the realm of speculative thought, are excellent, yet she denies that she is a "real doctor" because she is not successful in performing cures. It would seem that to prophesy requires less potent supernatural rapport than does curing. Both, however, appear to depend upon the possession of spirits. It is conceivable that the inability to cure, which in native lore is assigned to insufficient super- natural power, rests in reality upon failure to learn techniques of curative procedures and their accompanying sleight-of-hand performances. Interpreters.-Shamans and their audience feel the need of an interpreter when a s6ance is in progress. The shaman by repute uses under such circum- stances an esoteric language. Actually no examples of a truly incomprehen- sible shamanistic language were procurable, and no shamans or interpreters were found who had been taught such a tongue. We are in all probability deal- ing here with a social fiction based upon the use of a somewhat more ornate language comparable to that used by a good narrator of myths. At most a few obsolescent words and circumlocutions may be employed. In this connection the shamanistic prophecies on the bear hunt (see Hunting) are illustrative of the veiled language which may be used. The interpreter merely repeats the words of the shaman in a simpler fashion and elaborates his prophecies with running comments. The interpreter of highest repute in the area is Jake Cornish, who acts chiefly for Charles Klutchie. Another good interpreter, Wash Fan, said of him: "He is a good interpreter. He never misses a word." The process of becoming an interpreter and his function are best described in Jake Cornish's own words. I had never interpreted before. When I started, Charlie Klutchie asked me to talk for him. I have learned a lot since then. I have traveled all around with him, to Round Mountain, Colusa, Paskenta, all over. There they don't talk like us, so I interpreted in English. When a doctor talks he says things differently. They call sunflower root yumsek instead of kolomsek. When they are doetoring a sick man and say, "The sun begins to come up, he is going to drink water," that means the sick person will get well. When a doctor says hamili it means to go somewhere in a crooked way (by a tortuous route). People don't use that word nowadays. Doctors don't know what they say or sing. The spirits tell them their words. The interpreter lights a pipe and calls the spirit. He must know what spirit is needed. Then he gives the doctor the pipe and the spirit who was called for comes. Just one spirit at a time is called. Sometimes the spirit summoned may not come or may be intercepted by another, as in an instance reported by Wash Fan. He was interpreting for Nels Charles and had summoned the Yolla Bolly spirit; instead, the soul of 107 108 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Nels Charles's sister came and spoke. If two or three doctors have a joint seance, onily one interpreter is used. In the report of a seance by Albert Thomas given below it is to be noted that three persons in turn acted as inter- preter, although only one charged herself with lighting his pipe and keeping him supplied with tobacco. Seances.- To illustrate topics which have been discussed above, two seances witnessed by the ethnographer are described. The seance by Fanny Brown was concerned entirely with prophecy. The seance by Albert Thomas exempli- fied not only prophecy, but also curative methods, the function of the inter- preter, the disposal of poisons, and so forth. At half-past four, one afternoon, at the request of the ethnographer, Fanny Brown gave a s6ance in a grove of trees near her house. It lasted about an hour. The only persons present were the shaman, her husband, her son, the wife of a near-by rancher, and the ethnographer. Fanny spread on the ground a quilt which she had brought from her house, took off her shoes, and sat on her heels in the center of the mat. Her husband, acting as interpreter, filled an ordinary pipe with Edgeworth tobacco and lighted it. When it was drawing properly he handed it to her. He was not observed to have sum- moned any spirit. Fanny began smoking in the usual fashion, chatting the while about the robbery she had recently suffered. Then she said, "I guess I'd better stop talking." She puffed two or three times on the pipe and then, with a loud sucking noise, drew in a large mouthful of smoke which she seemed to swallow rather than inhale. Her eyes closed and her body became tense. She continued to swallow a large mouthful of smoke every two or three puffs until the first pipe was consumed. As it burned out her inter- preter thrust another wad of tobacco into the bowl and held a match to it. When ap- proximately half of the second pipeful had been smoked, Fanny began alternately to groan and sob. The sobbing consisted of two sharp gasps. The interpreter removed the pipe from her hand. Her upper body relaxed, her head hung forward, and the muscles of her face shook with the swaying motion of her body. Suddenly she sat erect and put her fingers to her ears (on a previous occasion she had said that her ears caused her much pain when she doctored). In this position she began to sing. After singing several minutes she sobbed again and then spoke in a somewhat higher pitched and more strained voice than usual. Her interpreter leaned forward, listening intently and oecasionally assent- ing or interspersing questions. He did not relay the meaning of her words to the audi- ence, but her son, who is bilingual, gave the gist of her remarks although he was not acting officially as her interpreter. After speaking approximately five minutes, Fanny again placed her hands to her ears and began singing another song. Alternating in this fashion between song and prophecy, she passed the rest of the hour. Sometimes her eyes opened. She remained squatting on her heels with the upper part of her body held upright. She gestured frequently and violently. As she came out of her trance her body once more slumped forward, her muscles relaxed, and she shook from side to side. Her face muscles were loose and quivering. She uttered a sobbing, blubbering sound difficult to describe. Only about three minutes were necessary for her to regain consciousness. She then fell back on the mat apparently fatigued. Throughout the performance her husband paid the greatest attention to what she said and her son was obviously im- pressed and once even frightened. The subjects of her conversations were the following. She spoke during three successive intervals of prophecy of the direction in which the person went who had recently robbed her and where he had hidden the loot. It is signi- ficant that the property was never recovered. Next she said that a nephew of hers had been badly cut with a knife in a quarrel and that, although he would live, he would never walk again. Before the s6ance, she had spoken to the ethnographer on this sub- ject and expressed a wish to go to Trinity Center to see if she could help him. A few days later she actually undertook the forty-mile journey, but found the nephew un- Dtu Bois: Wintu Ethnography crippled. Another subject of propheey was a letter which she expected at Delta. This also had been mentioned before the seance. However, a visit to Delta the following day yielded no letter. Next, her husband, who had lost a highly prized Indian pipe in the robbery, asked where it was to be found. In answer she repeated her previous statement concerning the hiding place of the stolen goods. Then in the same interval of prophecy she said that two Yreka (Shasta) Indians were lurking in the vicinity and might poison them all. This information was particularly disquieting to her son, who seemed to have complete faith in her prophecies. The last prophecy dealt with weather. She predicted that it would become much hotter, that all the creeks would dry up, and that in the Sac- ramento valley the people would die of heat. This may have borne some relation to the ethnographer's declared intention to leave the vicinity and work with other informants to the south. The following day Fanny Brown was asked what spirits had come to her in the seance. She replied that she herself did not know, but that her husband had told her it was the swallow spirit which she had acquired at McCloud falls some time ago and which had never before come to her. She seemed nowise elated or impressed at the visitation of this new spirit. The other seance took place in Anderson and was given by Albert Thomas, whose biography has been recorded above. It lasted from sundown to eleven o'clock at night- approximately two and a half hours. It took place in a room of the house where Thomas, his two wives, and various hangers-on were residing at the time. The only light was from a small kerosene lamp. Sixteen persons were present, among whom were four patients. Two had traveled over nearly a hundred miles of mountain roads to see him. Thomas sat near a couch on a packing box. His mother and his two wives acted in turn as inter- preter. They all used English. The procedure of inducing a trance-like state was similar to that described for Fanny Brown, but was somewhat less spectacular and exaggerated. Thomas went into a trance after smoking one pipe. Throughout the s6ance he smoked at frequent intervals. Whenever he seemed to be returning to consciousness his wife lighted either a pipe or a cigarette and passed it to him. For the first three-quarters of an hour the seance was prophetic. The shaman went from topic to topic-the murder of a wife by her husband, which would occur in a few days; the illness of the child lying on the bed in the same room; the presence of the ethnographer, whom he urged to watch him closely because he doctored in the old way; the places where he had doctored, some as far away as Crescent City (Tolowa). Throughout this rambling discourse his mother inter- preted for him only when he spoke in Achomawi. Whenever he used Wintu those present seemed to understand fully what he was saying. This partly substantiated the belief that the reputed esoteric language of shamans and their need of interpreters is mostly a social fietion. Finally, without any apparent signal, a young man who was partly para- lyzed stripped to the waist and stretched himself out on the couch. Thomas kneeled by him and sang. The others joined in the song. Then Thomas sipped water from a small basket, apparently retaining a small quantity in his mouth. He applied his lips to the place which he said hurt the man. It was approximately above the heart. He sucked and then spat into another basket. He diagnosed the illness by saying that the patient had been operated on below the heart and that something was moving there, that his pipe (oesophagus) was stopped up, and that blood was not circulating into the intestines, which was why the man had no appetite. After this he sang and sucked again. Finally he sucked very hard and in so doing lifted the upper part of the man's body from the couch. One of his wives lighted a cigarette and stood over him blowing smoke on him. With a sudden jerk Thomas drew the poison from the patient. His mouth gave the im- pression of being full. He staggered to his feet and out of doors. His wife followed, sup- porting him and blowing smoke over him. When they returned the wife said that he had spat out a large quantity of white frothy matter. A neighbor of the ethnographer leaned over and remarked with skepticism and amusement that it was careless to leave the poison where it could get anybody who passed and not to bury it in a hole with angelica 109 110 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. root. Thomas went back to the same patient, sucked a few times, and ran his mouth up and down the affected parts. His lips quivered and produced a blubbering noise. Then he blew with a whistling sound toward the southeast and rubbed his hands together as he pointed them in the same direction. This ended the treatment. The patient arose. He had four or five deep red welts on his body which were approximately the size of silver dollars. Thomas resumed his singing and talking. After an interval of some fifteen minutes the second patient lay on the couch. This man paid three dollars for his treatment and handed the money to the wife, who was acting as interpreter. This was the only financial transaction carried out at the s6ance. The same procedure was followed and again a poison was extra-cted and disposed of outside. The shaman always drank before applying his mouth to the patient's body and always expectorated after sucking, but he seemed to go outside to empty his mouth only after a poison had been extracted. In subsequent treatments on two women he apparently failed to extract the "pain," because he did not leave the room nor seem particularly staggered after sucking vigorously. The actual treatment-his sucking and singing while he crouched over the sick per- son-lasted only from ten to fifteen minutes; the four patients occupied less than one of the two and a half hours taken up by the s6ance. The center of interest for the audi- ence undoubtedly lay in the prophecies and comments of the shaman. The prophecy was mostly gossip. No names were given, but descriptions seemed to make known the persons under discussion to many of those present. No solemnity accompanied the performance; there was some laughing and talking, though never enough to interrupt the shaman. Albert Thomas' prophecies had at times the moralizing flavor of a Christian sermon. He prophesied an adultery, for instance, and then dilated at length upon the harm it would work on the children and the spouse. In contrast to the moaning and sobbing with which he entered the trance, he came out of it immediately after treating the last patient and without apparent effort. In theory, he had been unconscious of his behavior and words during the two and a half hours which had passed. His eyes had been open most of the time, his gestures and move- ments had been deliberate and natural, and there had been no indication that he was not fully conscious. Upon further inquiry it was learned that several different spirits had possessed Thomas. However, observation yielded no evidence of changes in behavior corresponding to changes in spirits beyond an occasional alteration in language. The shaman used his natural voice throughout. His mother, although she acted as his interpreter part of the time, was frequently ignorant of the spirit communicating with her son. She said he knew all that went on in the world because he "doctored sun and moon" (i.e., with their spirits) and they saw everything. She said also that he called on thunder and lightning, a fact which seemed to impress her deeply. An interesting conversation took place before the treatment of the third patient. It was presumably between two spirits. The second spirit, who had just arrived, haggled over the price he might demand of the first spirit should he (the second spirit) cure the patient. There was talk of payment in salmon, acorn soup, and other native foods. It was considered a highly diverting episode by the audience. Thomas made no effort to change his voice or in any way to characterize the two spirits. The most impressive part of the performance was the singing, which Thomas' deep vibrant voice entirely dominated. He set and ended the songs. If he broke off and began sucking before the song was over, the other persons continued singing until he took it up again. During the whole performance Thomas' son, a boy of fifteen or sixteen years, watched with closest interest and sang diligently. This seemed to confirm the report given by Sarah Fan that the boy was training to become a shaman. Poisoning.-Thus far, the present account has dealt with the legitimate and beneficent activities of Wintu shamans. However, the illegitimate and malig- Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography nant practice of poisoning.is not unknown in the area, although it is not the usual pattern. Most of the material on poisoning deals with Fanny Brown, who has an unsavory reputation in this respect. Before recording the stories about Fanny Brown, it may be well to direct attention to an instance of malig- nant shamanistic activity, mentioned previously, in which EDC Campbell was reported-to have sent poison down the river to spread disease promiscuously. Sadie Marsh commented upon Fanny Brown in the following manner: Fanny is strong in poisoning, that is why many people won't call her when they get sick. When I was married to Bob Davis, his mother and Fanny didn't get along together. Fanny always said she would get even with Bob's mother. Bob got sick and Fanny came to see him. She smoked and doctored over him. She said he didn't have long to live and it would be better if he went quickly. After that she said to me: "Tomorrow, just as the sun comes up over the mountain, he will become unconscious. He won't live through the day, maybe." The next morning Bob became unconscious just as Fanny said he would, but other doctors had been working with him all night, so he didn't die. Then all the doctors went to see Bill Curl's son who was sick, and only three or four people stayed with Bob. He asked us to move him out and to face him north. He lay like that without moving and with his eyes wide open. He asked for soup and beans. He ate them. Then he ate acorn soup. About nine o'cloek in the morning he died, just as Fanny had wished. He wouldn't have died but for Fanny. This seems a rather indirect and remote example of poisoning when con- sidered in relation to the very definite poisoning practices in California. It resembles very much more the placing of a curse. All other instances are of more characteristically Californian pattern. There exists a sharp antagonism between the two shamans Fanny Brown and Charles Klutchie. Several informants reported the rivalry. Its origin seems to lie in Fanny Brown's jealousy of Charles Klutchie's large family. She herself had ten children, all but one of whom are now dead. Each accuses the other of "shooting poisons" at his home. Klutchie once said that Fanny was trying to poison one of his sons but that he was strong enough to stop it, although doing so gave him frequent headaches. The procedure was to hold a small woodpeeker-head feather on the palm of the hand, talk to it "good and kind, just as to a baby, tell it what to do," and then blow it toward the victim. A yapaitu dokos (see below) also served the same purpose. This might or might not be done while in a trance. Spitting toward the victim was also a method reported. Once a poison has done its task it is supposed to return to the sender. However, should it be intercepted by a shaman and sent back, the sender's health and even his life may be endangered. On one occasion several Wintu were gathered at Syke Mitchell's house. Fanny left and Jake Cornish, who is Charlie Klutchie's favorite interpreter, discovered where she had been sitting several rattlesnake rattles, which are considered highly dangerous. Charlie Klutchie and Tilly Griffen thereupon consulted their spirits. They revealed that Fanny had left the rattles there to do harm to Tilly Griffen. Tilly Griffen and Charlie Klutchie very often work together and are close cooperators. Since Tilly had never been reported to have attempted poisoning, Fanny's attack on her seemed particularly offensive to the informant. On another occasion Tilly actually became ill. When the shaman treated her, he said that Fanny had sent poison against her. Wash Fan told of another rivalry between two Wintun shamans. Each attempted to prove himself the more powerful, and for more than a year their machinations against each other continued. Finally, one, Tcibat, died; Waiklalawa, the other, lived only two days longer but nevertheless proved himself thereby the stronger. In spite of the poisonings which are still practiced and the rivalries which still persist, the consensus is that poisoning was more common formerly than it illl 112 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Bthn. is now, also that poisonings were far more frequent between two shamans than between a shaman and a lay person. Professional jealousy seemed to give rise to feudlike behavior which might involve, as victims, the families of the rivals. On the whole, ho*ever, the impression was gained that Wintu shamans were not necessarily feared in the community as potential poisoners, but rather were considered sources of protection against the malignancy of super- natural forces. Witchcraft.-Closely associated with the poisoning activities of shamans are the witchcraft practices of lay persons, in which stress is laid on exorcism or a word-perfect knowledge of a formula. This is not true of shamanistic per- formances, so far as was discoverable. Witchcraft is associated with the idea of placing a curse, and there is no actual "shooting" of the disease object into the victim as in the more conventional poisonings. In this it resembles the first poisoning reported for Fanny Brown. The only detailed report of witchcraft activity is given in the words of the victim. Other more generalized informa- tion indicates that witchcraft is not always used as a love charm as the in- stance here given implies. If you want to make a person love you, or if you want to kill him, you go to the moun- tains and get some wood. You shave it and make a nest of it. Then you roll up a hair of the person you want to poison and put it in the nest. You have to do this at just certain sacred places in the mountains. After that you spit on the hair. From time to time you go there and say, "I want her to live only three years." You always say three years. Anybody who knows just the right song can do it. Men do it to women and women do it to men. I don't know whether men ever do it to men, or women to women. The only way you can stop it is to have a doctor find out about it. Ed Alexander took my hair to a place in the mountains and left it there. He sang a song. He put a yomluli70 with it, too. I was going with Lee Barnes then. I used to have dreams about Ed while I was half awake. I'd see him coming toward me but I could never see his head. Lee would wake me up and I would tell him that Ed was bothering me. Sometimes I would scream in my dreams. I began getting awful headaches in the top of my head-just as if someone were pounding there. All that was while I was at school at Chemawa. I came home in 1909. I kept on having headaches. I told my mother about it. Sometimes my nose bled until 1 almost fainted. So mother sent my sister Carrie to Jo Thomas [a shaman] with two dollars. He came over about three o'clock in the afternoon. I just lay there. He got some water and began sucking on my head. He sucked the top of my head and the bridge of my nose. He got dry blood from my nose. He doctored for about an hour. Then he said: "A young man lives in a certain place. He has taken her hair and has put it in a sacred place." He said I didn't have long to live. He said the man sang a certain song saying I would have only three years to live. Then my mother told Jo to send the poison back to Ed or else to kill it. Jo said he would keep it himself to make him stronger. Mother said that was all right. Old Charlie Tip did the same thing to mother once. He grabbed hair from her head. But Ed got combings from me. Tip did it because mother wouldn't live with him. I had lived with Ed for eight months when we were both at school. Inquiry of other informants revealed that hair was the only object suitable for the contagious magic of witchcraft in the area. Clothing, spittle, exereta, and so forth were unknown as objects over which charms could be made. Disease objects.-There are two principal manifestations of the supernat- ural in shamanistic activities. First are the pains, which are the outward 70 An unidentified flower used by shamans. See below under Regalia. Du& Bois: Wintu Ethnography and visible signs of supernaturalism. They may attack both lay persons and shamans. Second are the spirits, which possess only shamans and furnish them their powers. The presence of spirits, however, may be apprehended by lay persons. Pains seem to be the same as poisons in form. The two terms may and have been used interchangeably. They are of the following types: Yapaitu dokos: Supernaturally dangerous obsidian or arrowheads. Generally de- scribed as slender needle-like objects resembling fish bones or splinters. Reputed to mul- tiply very fast; capable of being sent long distances. One shaman says of them: "That is a poison used by spirits. Doctors can get them out, but they hardly ever show them to people.- I have never seen one." Feathers: Small ones such as are extracted from a woodpeeker scalp. Small fish, insects, birds, etc. These objects are extracted by shamans in the course of curative seances. If they stick in the shaman's throat, he uses an eagle's feather to remove them. To examine them too closely, especially in a skeptical mood, entails much danger. When a doctor wishes to harm a person he sends these same pains, which are then called poisons, against his victim. There are also supernatural illnesses which are not caused by the intrusion of disease objects or by soul loss, but which a shaman treats with the same curative methods previously described or simply by exorcism while he is in a trance. These illnesses seem to lie more nearly in the classification of posses- sion by malignant spirits and are the results of breaking taboos. The following anecdote is typical: Eva Klutchie went fishing in Willow creek when she was menstruating.n She fainted. Her mouth went all crooked and twisted. A wolf spirit had got her. Her father, Charlie Klutehie, doctored her. Her mouth never really straightened out until the Pentecostals prayed over her. The same informant told a similar tale of a man whose face became distorted because he fished in a sucker sacred place. His eyes twitched and turned out "just like a sucker's." A woman, who was not a shaman, "smoked over him but he died anyway." On the whole, however, the concept of illness as caused by the breaking of a taboo, and of the possession by a malignant spirit which ensues, is much less common than that of disease-object intrusion; that is, actual occurrences of the former illness are rarer and the ideas on the subject are far less clear in the minds of informants. However, the concept itself exerts a strong fear influence and acts as a deterrent in breaking taboos. Spirit familiars and their care.-The second type of supernatural mani- festation concerns the spirits which possess and direct shamans. These seem to be of four types. There are the human souls, genii loci, animal spirits (in- cluding werebeasts), and nature spirits. Human souls are usually those of near relatives and are probably more common in the newer form of shamanism than they were in the old. Genii loci are very common. Their exact nature is of course difficult to determine. They seem to be spirits or forces resident in certain sacred places (q.v.), which have awesome associations in the minds of 71 It is taboo for women to fish then. 113 114 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. the Wintu. The most common animal spirits are the sucker (aiteiwi) and the lizard (tcirwiL). They may at times be definitely localized and thereby over- lap somewhat the genii loci classification. Finally, by nature spirits are meant such phenomena as the sun, stars, and rainbows. This type is rarer than the others. The number and types of spirits possessed by shamans is indicated below. This is not a complete list either of the shamans possessing spirits or of the spirits which they possess, for informants are vague and reticent on the sub- ject. The list is arranged in the order of classification given above. Albert Thomas- Human soul: That of a white man. When possessed by it, Thomas speaks English. Yolla Bolly mountain. Mountain lion; lizard spirit: Latter from Glass mountain. Thomas reported to act like lizard when possessed by it-stands on hands and feet, shakes head from side to side. Thunder, lightning, sun, and moon. Tilly Griffen- Human soul: That of her grown son. Sucker spirit. Charles Klutchie- Human soul: That of his son. Snake, sucker, bird: Bird is the mythical Wukwuk. Pipe: Only spirit of inanimate object reported. No further information concerning it was available. Nels Charles- Human soul: That of his sister. Yolla Bolly mountain. Fanny Brown- Human souls: That of her nephew (?); also that of one of her sons. Sucker, swallow: Latter from McCloud falls. Morning star, whirlwind: Latter in mythology swept over earth before flood came which ended previous world. Fanny reports her brother had two spirits which were un- known to her. Her sister had human-soul and sucker spirit. Jo Charles- Human soul: Not identified. Another shaman declared he had never heard Charles summon a soul. 'Two genii loci. Sucker spirit: Localized in a holy place on the McCloud river. Sucker (aitciwi) spirits considered particularly valuable in curing facial twisting caused by breaking fishing taboo. The behavior of a shaman possessed by a sucker spirit may be particularly frenzied. One woman is reported to have run and "jumped in the river. She lay on the water all doubled up. She floated down the river that way. Then she stood up and came back to the house. In the old days they let them alone. Today they go catch them because the spirits are not so strong." Another anecdote is told of a shaman, Big Mary, who was Nels Charles's paternal aunt. *There was a bunch of people drying salmon. Nels teased and teased Big Mary, half insulting her. She got a stick and hit him. He ran, then came back and laughed. She said she would make him kiss a sucker. Nels just teased her and told her to go ahead. So Mary went down to the river and just picked out a sucker. She stuck it in Nels's mouth. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Then she took the sucker back to the river and talked to it. She said: "Poor brother, did Nels bite you? I'll take you back." Then she put it back in the water. She was a doctor and had a sucker spirit. Ground-squirrel and yellow-jacket spirits were described as "short stay" spirits. "They leave after a day. You can't doctor with them [i.e., cure], but mountain spirits stay a long time." Other animal spirits reported were the deer, rabbit, grouse, and dog. Many other spirits are procurable, especially in the genii loci and animal classes. The genii loci are as numerous as the sacred places. The presence of spirits is announced by a buzzing sound accompanied usu- ally by a sharp pain in the ears. Shamans are of course most susceptible to the manifestations, but lay persons also may be affected, as is shown by the shamanistic experience of Perrin Radcliff given above. Sadie Marsh also re- ports having encountered spirits under far more usual circumstances. She said: Ray and I were going along a trail. He said he felt a sharp pain in his ear. Then I passed the place and I felt the spirit too. If the horse hadn't kept on going I should have fallen off. It was about two or three in the afternoon. I heard it coming along buzzing. It went through my ear and traveled on. I was very dizzy but did not feel sick. The deliberate summoning of spirits is of course done only in seances and has already been described. It may be well to stress again that only one spirit at a time is supposed to be active. When a shaman fails to locate a pain with the aid of one supernatural guardian he will call, in turn, others which axe at his disposal. Shamans are required to exert certain precautions to ensure the well-being and power of their spiritual guardians. A few of the restrictions are listed below. It is considered harmful: To drink intoxicating liquors. Albert Thomas reputed to have lost much strength by drinking to excess. To eat hot foods. They destroy sucking powers. Charlie Klutchie reported to abstain from European foods before s6ance. Odor of cooking food distasteful to spirits when the shaman is in trance. To eat with menstruating woman. Some women doctors said to observe this restriction also. To have intercourse with menstruating woman. Female shamans not debarred from practicing while menstruating. To live loose moral life. To keep regalia in living quarters, or to treat them carelessly. To neglect occasional periods of prayer and fasting at sacred places. To ignore food taboos imposed by particular spirits. Food taboos frequently men- tioned but no specific ones reported. Only food association made with particular spirit positive rather than negative. Sucker spirit demands wild onions, pine seeds (morit); shaman using this spirit often eats these two foods ravenously. May wear necklace of pine seeds upon which he will chew when in trance. Certain shamans abstain from bear meat, trout, deer tripe, but without apparent relation to possession of bear, trout, or deer spirits. Food prohibitions of shamans seem to be only generalized ones of tribe. Regalia.-The shaman's regalia are far from formalized. What the shaman considers sacred to his profession varies from individual to individual. Any 115 116 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. object fraught with mana in other respects may be adapted to shamanistic purposes. Some of these objects, however, are not manipulated exclusively by shamans. Lay persons may attempt to derive power or luck from them. Ob- jects which have been reported to serve as shamanistic paraphernalia are given below, roughly in the order of their importance, and accompanied by whatever comments were obtainable. Feathers of large birds: Most potent supernatural objects in possession of shamans; occasionally owned by lay persons. May be procured from Wukwuk (mythical bird)," condors (?), eagles, cranes. Reputed to give shamans strength and to assist them in en- tering trances. Condition of feathers supposed to be constantly in flux-sometimes filthy and ragged, on other occasions clean and whole. This constant change "shows they have life in them." Two lay persons reported to own crane tail feathers; cared for them as shamans care for regalia, but such procedure always felt to be dangerous. Baskets: Suikolom (see Basketry) or striped basket used to contain water during seance. Given by patient's relatives to shaman, retained by him as trophy. Approxi- mately the size of a large cup; characterized by diagonal, vertical, or horizontal stripes of maidenhair fern overlaid on white "grass" background. Not felt to be sacred. Very much smaller basket of similar type called Lestconos kolom (soul-dance basket) not so commonly seen. Tied to shaman's staff, used to contain captured disease object in Lestconos treatment. Degree of this basket's sacredness unknown. Similar baskets used profanely to contain red-clay water used in burials and to propitiate souls which mani- fest themselves in swirls of dust. Staffs (Lestconos tolok or soul-dance sticks): Only one seen-ordinary European walk- ing stick, handle covered with modern woven beadwork. Native staffs said to be of maple or fir, four or five feet in length, about one and one-half to two inches in diameter. Shamans use them when dancing in s6ances. Probably profane, since shaman who showed his to ethnographer kept it in dwelling. One informant reported that they should be kept outdoors. Tilly Griffen said doctors- preserved their "pains" in these staffs. Rattlesnake rattles: Used as necklaces, between rattles small feathers frequently inter- spersed. Snakes in general, rattlesnakes in particular, regarded with much fear. Few Wintu can be induced to touch them dead or alive. One shaman, Cottonwood Charlie, probably a Wintun, reputed to have rattlesnake for pet. Was in habit of removing buttons from snake's tail. "Pain" containers (dolunms): Made of hollow leg bone of bird. No definite information coneerning use procurable. Yomluli: Unidentified flower reputed never to die; properly possessed only by shamans. Cocoon rattles: Reported by one informant only, who said their use was widespread. This unlikely, although they were known in area. Also doubtful if they were exclusive property of shamans. May have been introduced and used by adherents of modern cults (q.v.). Yellowhammer headbands: Reported by one informant formerly to have been used only by shamans and dream dancers (see Modern Cults). This improbable. Today rare but not considered sacred. Felt to be merely valuable pieces of property. From the foregoing list, which is probably not complete, it may be con- cluded that shamanistic paraphernalia are not elaborate, and that most of them are not very sacred in nature. Feathers are the most power'ful. Of two modern shamans, one denied possessing feathers or rattlesnake buttons and the other denied owning any regalia at all. Charles Klutchie had a staff. Fanny Brown possessed a rattlesnake necklace and a featherwand made of turkey ("?) tail feathers. These, with a headdress and black silk dress which she wore for 72 See Miscellaneous Attitudes toward the Supernatural. Du& Bois: Wintu Ethnography more important seances, were kept in a small outhouse. Many regalia listed may indeed be only ornaments favored by shamans as well as by any other persons able to afford them. Objects considered truly sacred are not freely displayed and are given particular care. They are never brought into the liv- ing quarters, but are secreted in trees or in rock crevices away from the house. Sometimes small shelters at a distance from the living quarters are built to contain regalia. Such houses are used only by shamans and are avoided by other people. The danger of keeping regalia in the living quarters is not so much that the regalia may be defiled as that a weak person may be harmed by contact with them. As one informant expressed it: "Some young woman might get knocked down and get a sickness from them. She would get a big headache and die, especially if she were having her periods." Regalia are fed with acorn meal and have smoke blown at them from time to time. Red-rock water may be put in a basket near them. Similar treatment is accorded to charm stones owned by lay persons. To neglect propitiating regalia in this fashion decreases their potency. The passing of regalia from parent to offspring or between siblings depends in large measure upon the inheritor's shamanistic interests and ability. There is nothing set or formal in the transmission. It resolves itself, to all appear- ances, into possession's being "nine-tenths of the law." A near relative natur- ally has the best opportunity of acquiring regalia upon the death of a shaman. If a shaman's regalia are found after his death and no capable person is at hand to appropriate them, the proper procedure is to throw them into a sacred place in a river or stream. They should not be burned or buried. One informant reported that a cache of regalia was found after its owner had died. Several shamans fought for it and as a result all became very ill. The instance is not well authenticated, but may have significance in the light of the struggle over regalia reported in the EDC Campbell affair. The possession of certain regalia is said to be demanded of the shamans by the spirits they own. The shaman himself does not necessarily procure new objects. A relative may do this, being rewarded by the favorable regard in which the shaman's spirit then holds him. Once the regalia have been accepted by a shaman no one else may touch them. To regalia really sacred in nature, mana undoubtedly belongs. In fact, there exists in Wintu the word yapaitu,73 which is perhaps best translated as mana when applied to religious concepts. To what degree there exists an intimate connection between regalia and spirits is difficult to determine. Fanny Brown inherited her brother's regalia but was ignorant of his spirits. On the other hand, one informant stated, "If a doctor has a sucker spirit and he dies and someone else uses his stuff (regalia), this spirit comes back to it." This state- ment may represent the theoretical and ideal situation, but it is doubtful whether it represents many, if any, actual instances. 78 Its significance is dangerous, awesome, sacred. Today it is the generic term for whites as opposed to Wintu (people). Kate Luckie reports that this name for white people was given by her grandfather, who was a shaman in the Hayfork subarea. He was one of the first to see the light-skinned strangers. He ran back to the village shouting, "Yapaitu, yapaitu." The term has since been applied to Caueasians. 117 118 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Summnary.-From a description of various phases of Wintu religion and from a discussion of shamanism itself, it becomes evident that supernatural experiences were had by most of the tribe. The custom of praying and fasting at sacred places, the care of sacred objects such as amulets or feathers, the contacts with souls and spirits, were all common experiences of lay persons. What distinguished a shaman from a lay person was not the nature of his supernatural rapport, but its strength. And, as has been pointed out, even within the ranks of shamans the strength of the rapport varied from indi- vidual to individual and their powers were evaluated accordingly. Therefore, since there was nothing unique in a shaman's powers, since no wealth emphasis was attached to the position, and since there was no strong pattern of shamanistic malignancy, the part played by such persons had no very great sociological import. This is consistent with the simple and unfor- malized social life of the Wintu. Personalities are more important than social forms. However, the shamans as a sociological factor must not be minimized too much. In their hands lay the transmission and molding of speculative thought. Their reputation of knowing all that transpired may well have ex- erted a deterring influence on the commission of crimes and the practices of witchcraft. They were called upon to predict the outcome of hunts, to restrain inclement weather, and in many different ways were allowed to direct and shape social undertakings. Their opportunities were second only to those of chiefs, if indeed they did not surpass them. The hold of shamanism upon the Wintu in comparison to that of chieftaincy may be revealed in the fact that today shamanism still flourishes and has adapted itself to the impact of eighty years of European contacts, whereas chieftaincy has disappeared and has been definitely rejected by persons themselves entitled to the rank. MODERN CULTS A discussion of recent phases of Wintu religion has been reserved for a gen- eral paper dealing with religious phenomena since 1870 in northern Califor- nia. It is desirable, however, to indicate briefly the general nature of modern Wintu cults. From the year 1870 onward, reverberations of the ghost dance of 1870 reached the Wintu from the south, brought by successive groups of pro- selytizers. The new doctrine of the return of the dead was eagerly embraced. The Wintu called these introductions the Southland dance (norpomtconos). It possessed certain characteristic features of the Pomo-Patwin ghost dance, such as the striped pole, special dance houses, and the foot drum. After the first revivalistic furor, which did not last more than one year, the Wintu began dreaming songs which were made the occasions for calling dances. This so- called dream dance (yetcewestconos) persisted until approximately twenty years ago and is still sometimes danced in a very degenerate form, although no one at present dreams new songs. Psychologically and ceremonially the dream dance is an outgrowth of the Southland dance, but it is considered a separate movement by the Wintu. Du Boi: Wintu Ethnography 119 A third movement, the Big Head dance (bohempoyok), passed through the Upper Trinity subarea about 1880 and again about 1890. It consisted of short- lived dances centering about two large feather headdresses and two feather capes which were sold to the Wintu by people from the south with instructions to transmit the regalia northward. The earlier set of feathers was sold in turn to the Shasta, but for the later set no purchasers were found. The Wintu east of the Trinity drainage did not participate directly in the movement, and re- ciprocally, the northwestern Wintu had no part in the Southland dance and its subsequent developments. 120 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. ARTIFACTS THE MATERIAL CULTURE of the Wintu has been supplanted in large part by European artifacts. Most of the information contained in the following pages is based on hearsay, which is particularly unsatisfactory in this realm of cul- ture. Whenever possible, museum articles were used to check verbal informa- tion. At best, the following catalogue is fragmentary. It will be noted that dis- cussion of the uses to which material objects are put has been included in the preceding sections. CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS Blankets.-Deer hide (alpawa); wealthy used deer hide as mattress and sewed fox or rabbit skins together for cover. Woven rabbitskin blankets (yakam) known, but doubt- ful if made by any section of Wintu, although said to have been woven in Bald Hills. Rock pillows, neck rests, etc., not used. Grass or boughs often used as mattress (see Crafts- men and Specialists). Belts.-Worn chiefly by men. (1) Human hair rolled loosely on thigh. Long enough to circle waist twice; two strands held apart in three or four places by four-strand plaiting. Fastened in front with buckskin. "Wouldn't sell one for $40 or $50." (2) Porcupine-quill belts reported only from Bald Hills; very rare. Quills soaked; half-hitched at both ends over warp of twine; several bands to give breadth to belt. (3) Bead belts, made in recent times. Capes (xipat).-Worn by both sexes. Whole hide, usually of deer, tied together in front by legs. Hair side worn against body except in rain. Capes of rabbit hides sewn together used in Stillwater. Clothing.-Men usually naked; might wear hide breechcloth. Women unclothed until adolescence, then wore shredded maple-bark apron, either front (tcahahi) or complete skirt, which hung to just below knees. This garment for everyday wear. Also fringed doe- or fawnskin front apron (loios) and back apron (iepil). Or fringed-skin skirt strung with pine nuts; nuts ground off at both ends, meat extracted, shells strung on thong, end of thong braided with other pieces of leather to form tassel. Tied around waist with two extra thongs looped through slits in waist band. Leather-fringed aprons also wrapped with grass for decorative effect (pl. 3). People from Stillwater and Bald Hills reputed to wear fewer clothes. Earrings.-Shell pendants. Nose pieces, shells or bone (see Education of Children). Feather work.-Yellowhammer headbands; netted-down caps. Used for dance and orna- mental purposes. Feather skirt and cape introduced with modern cults; on coarse net, one-half of quill split off near base, folded over net and tip thrust back into quill. Occa- sionally tip wrapped instead of pushed back into quill. Turkey feathers customary for skirts and capes. Feather wands: bunches of feathers wrapped on ends of flexible sticks; several sticks wrapped together to form one wand; held in hand when dancing. Feather plumes: introduced with modern cults (1); straight firm stick covered with feathers. Dance regalia kept wrapped up in house. Both men and women might make them, if they knew how (see Shamanism). Hats (takus).-Worn occasionally by women for dress purposes; never by men (see Basketry). Headbands.-Strips of fox, mink, otter, or white belly fur of wolf. Mink especially liked for this purpose. Feather with wrapped quill might be stuck between band and back of head. Yellowhammer headbands highly prized. Leggings.-In cold or snowy weather, grass stuffed into moccasins and wrapped around legs. Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography Moooains.-One piece, seam from big toe to arch, and up heel. Ankle strips cut from same piece when possible. When piece too small, separate ankle strips used. For pattern inferred from finished specimen, see figure 1. Extra sole cut from deer's neck, sewed on with fine strips of buckskin. Thongs for lacing inserted ankle-high. Special racing moccasin without extra sole. Undecorated. Men and women wore moccasins for distance walking or snow; otherwise went barefooted. Fig. 1. Moccasin pattern inferred from finished specimen. a, toe seam; b, heel seam; c, short ankle-flap; d, long ankle-flap. Fig. 2. Snowshoe. Greatest diameter, 18 inches (1-27943b). Neo7claces.-Olivella (Lonok) common ornamental shell of nonmonetary type. Called woman's shell. Strings often interspersed with seeds or glass beads. Piece of abalone shell used as separate pendant, dress ornament, or pendant on necklace. Much appre- ciated but of no monetary value. Shaman might wear necklace made of woodcock scalps 121 1Univereity of California Publicatid8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. interspersed with rattlesnake rattles. Monetary shells, that is, clam disks and dentalia, used for personal adornment (see Trade and Values). Pine-nut necklaces of various kinds of pine. Snowshoes (tautcus).-Circular frame of hazel, lashed together with grapevine. Ir- regular cross-lacing of grapevine, or deer hide preferably with hair still on. Toe loop- tied to cross-lacing; single strap at heel led around heel and through toe loop (see fig. 2). HOUSES Earth lodge (alteresLut).-Circular, semisubterranean lodge 15 to 20 feet in diameter; one center post; smokehole entrance and exit by way of notched center post or ladder of stick rungs lashed to post with grapevine. Men dug pit to shoulder depth; women carted earth from excavation. Center post forked; rafters radiated from center post to edge of pit every 3 or 4 feet; lashed to center post. At right angles to rafters pickets lashed 1 to 2 feet apart. Roof covered with brush, pine needles, earth. Women carried in these supplies. Earth scraped over roof from circumference inward. Used as men's gathering place; sleeping place for unattached men in cold weather; sweating; shamans' initiation. Women ordinarily debarred. Manzanita preferred fuel in lodge because of hot smokeless flame. Evergreen boughs as beds. Found in larger permanent villages; regularly occupied in winter. Built preferably 100 to 300 yards from creeks. Semisubterranean dance howie (Lut).-Larger than earth lodge; replaced it shortly after 1870 with introduction of modern cults. Downward-sloping corridor entrance, ca. 10 to 20 feet long; oriented south or southeast. Corridor: 2 long rafters supported by forked sticks at doorway end, resting on ground at earth-lodge end (i.e., slanting diagon- ally downward to level of lodge), or supported at earth-lodge end by 2 longer forked sticks; cross-poles on corridor rafters; covered with earth; low, person had to stoop to enter. Pit 30 to 50 feet in diameter, 4 to 7 feet deep; 2 to 4 center posts in house; sides of pit lined with upright logs met by rafters as they sloped downward from ridgepole to edge of pit. Used as men's gathering place, especially as dance house, restricted as sweating lodge; women admitted more freely. Screen opposite entrance for dancers. Drum opposite entrance in front of screen. No smokehole entrance. Dream-dance howuse (yetcewes Lut).-Large structure, round or square; built of boards, only slightly banked with earth; shingle roof; Euro-American door. UTsed for recent cult dances; never for sweating or gathering place for men. Said to accommodate from 200 to 300 people. Measurements of dance house built for Big Head cult in Upper Trinity: diameter, 39 feet; 4 center poles, ca. 11 to 12 feet high; squared upright timbers ca. 7 feet high set side by side around circumference; earth slightly banked around exterior wall; no corridor entrance. Dwelling (krewel or Iona krewel).-Conical bark house; no center pole; 3 or 4 main poles in framework and other smaller ones, lashed together; covered with bark and ever- green boughs. Slight excavation from 1 to 3 feet; earth banked up outside. Corridor en- trance more frequent in Bald Hills; low, ca. 4 feet long. Circular entrance; conical burden basket used as door. Objects stored around house under eaves. Women made ex- cavation and gathered bark; men built rest of dwelling. Fire in center, or outside; no structural smokehole; beds on either side of fire; floor covered with evergreen boughs or grass. Dwelling (waipomkrewel, i.e., north-place house)i.-Reported only from northernmost parts of region; considered rare type. [Excavation7' was circular pit ca. 30 inches deep by 12 to 15 feet in diameter; or elliptical pit as much as 30 feet in length for accom- modation of 2 or 3 families. Two heavy forked posts were placed in pit near opposite edges; on each side near top, connecting these posts, was lashed ridge timber, either in natural state or split from cedar log. At each side of excavation, to right and left of axis of ridge, another pair of shorter posts was set up; members of each pair connected in 74Bracketed data abstracted from Curtis, 14:81-82. 122 Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography like manner by timber lashed near tops of posts. These 2 timbers were the plates. Sec- tions of sapwood, from decayed logs, laid for roof from plate to ridge, concave side exposed. Shorter slabs set up in circle (or ellipse), tops leaning against edges of roof and bottoms on edge of pit. Roof and walls covered with bark slabs. Usual exit for smoke. Low narrow doorway between 2 wall beams. Sometimes only 2 upright posts; leaning against them and along ridge, long rafters with butts resting on edge of excava- tion; that is, roof and walls were one.] Steam sudator-y (Lidunas).-Domical brush shelter; ca. 5 feet high; 4 feet or more in diameter. Poles of frame y2-inch to 1 inch in diameter thrust in ground every 12 to 18 inches; bent in toward center; tips lashed together (pl. Id). Covered with brush. Hot stones in center on which water was poured. Chiefly for cleansing; minor uses: lustration for bad luck in hunting, menstrual contamination; therapeutic, with occasional blood- letting. No prayers in sudatory. After steaming, person plunged in cold water. Steam sudatory reported to be a recent introduction within last 100 years from north and east."5 Menstrual lodge (yeltum krewel).-Brush shelter similar to sudatory, not so tightly built; sized to accommodate one person with comfort (see Puberty and Menstrual Ob- servances). Temporary brush shelter.-Summer dwellings in hills. Bird blinds.-See Hunting. Salmon house (buki)i.-Erected over shallow spot where fish drew near shore before making diagonal crossing upstream. "These Indians when the salmon are running, wade into the river and drive down two stakes in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. They are fastened together with willow withes. A couple of poles are now laid, extending from the shore, and resting in the arms of the cross. On these poles, direetly over the channel where the fish pass, a wicker structure of willow is erected in the form of a tall beehive. This is so closely woven with branches and leaves as to shut out the light. It is open at the bottom, which extends to within a few inches of the running water. It has also an opening at the side nearest the shore sufficiently large to admit the head, shoulders, and arms of the Indian. A small hole is also left at the top, through which the shaft of the spear passes. Everything being ready, the Indian lies on the poles, his head and arms in the beehive, and the remainder of his body and his legs resting on the pole outside. No light comes to his eyes except that coming up through the water. His whole con- trivance is, in fact, constructed on the principle of the water telescope.... The Indian can see the bottom of the stream and all the fish that pass, while the fish cannot see him."" Flooring of white stone laid on bottom of stream reveals more clearly presence of salmon (see Fishing). MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Musical bow.-None. Drum.-None until introduction of modern cults. Flute (tlilus).-Usually of elderberry wood; any pithy wood might serve; 10 to 12 inches long; ca. %-inch in diameter; 4 or more stops; open at both ends; blown across upper end; not played with nose; for love serenade chiefly or for personal amusement, not for dances. Used to imitate ducks, geese, frogs, grasshoppers. Stories woven around these performances (?). Battle (Lasasus).-Split stick variety; elderberry wood; pith removed from split por- tion; ca. 1% feet long; beaten against left palm (pl. 2c). A rectangular notch, 2 or 3 inches long, just above handle on upper clapper, gives greater flexibility to some. In one specimen cut penetrated to hollow portion. Occasionally upper clapper decorated with 75 Kroeber, Handbook, 312, suggests that Achomawi received it in recent times from Klamath and Modoc, who in turn received it from Warm Springs and Umatilla groups farther north. 76 Redding, B. B., California Indians and their food, Californian, 4:442-445, 1881. 123 Uni'versity of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. incised design. Cocoon rattles rare; probably of recent introduction. Deer hoof rattle for adolescents only (see Puberty and Menstrual Observances). Whistle (pak tlilus, i.e., bone flute).-Bird leg bone; ca. 4 to 7 inches long; pierced in center; plugged with pine gum; considered a variety of flute by Wintu. Used for dances. WEAPONS'" Armor (yule).-Elkskin; whole hide used; split down belly, laced together in front; legs cut off and wearer's arms thrust through holes; neck of animal placed around wearer's neck; rump of hide hangs down to wearer's heels. Skin often dyed red with alder. Proteets whole body except head and arms; restricts movements. Used in war and at dances. Rod armor also, reported by Curtis."8 A Q 4A@ C e f ~~~~~~~g Fig. 3. Stone artifacts. a-d, arrowpoints: a (1-27980), b (1-27993), each 1 inch long; o (1-27978), llh inches long; d (field sketeh). e, spear point (1-27966), 3J/ inches long; f, anvil or hammer-stone (1-27972), 4% inches long, 2 inches thick; g, arrow polisher (1-28013), 38/4 inches long; h, arrow straightener (1-27962), 4' inches in greatest diam- eter; i, pestle (1-28033), 10 inches long. Arrow (not).-Shaft of reed or pithy wood; tip of hardwood inserted in hollow center of main shaft, and glued; point of obsidian; total length oa. 3 feet. Three bands of hawk or buzzard feathers split and wrapped on; sometimes in addition glued with pitch or salmon-skin glue. Nock groove ca. %-inch deep. May have bands of color near feather- ing. Arrows counted in sets of 20. Blunt arrows for birds. Release, primary. Release gesture used in telling myths differed from actual release; that is, right arm held straight out from shoulder at right angle to side of body; left arm flexed across chest, thumb and middle finger of left hand flicked to indieate arrow release" (see Craftsmen and Specialists). 77 See War. 78 Curtis, op. cit., 14:80. 79 Arrow figured in Mason, 0. T., North American bows, arrows, and quivers, SI-AR, 1893, pl. 91, 1894. 124 Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Arrowpoints (dokos).-Chiefly obsidian, some of other tractable stone; red and white considered supernaturally poisonous, especially red; gray thought particularly efflcacious for bear; no natural poison used. Notched point attached by figure-eight lashing; used in hunting (fig. 3b). Unnotched point glued in split end of arrow, sometimes bound with sinew (fig. 3a, c). Used in war because point remained imbedded in flesh when arrow was extracted. Points made by pressure-flaking with bone or horn awL Stone held on heel of thumb protected by deerskin guard. At Soda Springs, East fork of Trinity river, cache of arrow and spear points; oa. 1500 already removed. Of types figured, some have one flat, one convex surface. One aberrant type (fig. 3d). Bone points also reported ( ) (see also Crafts- men and Specialists). Arrow polisher (lkruteus).-Two flat stones with opposed grooves. Small enough to be held in one hand (fig. 3g). Further polishing with coarse Equisetum. Arrow 8traightener.-Flat perforated rock. Wood softened by passing through leaves steaming on coals (fig. 3h). Bow (kulul).-Yew, seasoned by suspending in shade with weight on one end until dry; "best to get wood for bows and arrows in midsummer before the sap sinks." Back reen- forced with shredded deer sinew (lau); strips 3 to 4 inches long, chewed soft; pasted on in parallel strips with salmon-skin glue. Bow bent reversely when sinew applied to give stiffness. Horns of bow turn outward. Length ca. 3 to 3Y? feet; greatest breadth above and below grip, ca. 1? to 3 inches; cross-section: inside flat, outside convex; thick- ness Y4-inch to %-inch. Grips both pinched and unpinehed, either wrapped with buckskin for ca. 3?2 inches or unwrapped. Back usually painted with triangles in 4 decorative bands. Tips: triangular notches, often bound with sinew; below tip, on more ornate bows, bands of otter fur, buckskin, or sinew. String: twisted sinew, best from either side of deer's backbone; looped over top notch, looped and wrapped on bottom notch; top loop unstrung when not in use. Bow held horizontally or diagonally to ground when shot. Short bows, ca. 1?2 feet, used for entering bear dens. 80 Club.-Heavy wood such as manzanita or oak, ca. 1?2 feet long, one end knotted, un- fashioned. Dagger (tilteup).-Made from bone in foreleg of bear; ca. 10 inches long; tip sharp- ened; perforated handle through which thong handle is passed (modern ?). Formerly worn in man's topknot. Bear bone considered poisonous. Daggers also made of deer bone (nopteup). tTsed only for fighting. Indistinguishable from awl. Quiver (apmes).-Hide obtained by skinning animal over its tail, therefore no seam; no compound pouch. Used with fur side in. Hung over shoulder. Otter and fisher quivers most popular; fox, skunk, raccoon quivers used also. Held usually ca. 40 arrows (2 sets of 20); other small articles might be carried in it8' (see Trade and Values). Shield.-None. Sling (bimteus).-Strip of sinew fastened to either end of an oblong of leather. For small game. Contradictory statements on its use in war. Oblong stones with an encircling groove found arehaeologically, identified by some informants as sling stones, by others as charm stones. Spear (alwanus).-212 to 3? feet long; points ca. 6 inches long, 21/2 inches wide (fig. 3e). Used as thrusting implement in war or bear hunt. TOOLS Boat.-No canoe. Raft (nudoli), 2 or 3 logs, or bundles of poles, ca. 10 feet long, lashed in 3 or 4 places with grapevine or withes. Brush sometimes piled on to keep navigator above water. No paddles; used poles. Chiefly to cross streams; no navigation up and down rivers. Supplies or even small children floated across streams in large baskets. s0 Bow figured in Mason, op. cit., pl. 63, fig. 3. 81 Quiver figured in Mason, op. cit., pl. 91. 125 126 University of California Publication8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Bridge (kawi).-Two logs thrown across stream. On upper MeCloud and upper Sac- ramento, more complicated structure called waipomkawi (north-place bridge); 2 long forks; tips lashed together with grapevine; nonforked ends of branches thrust in earth on either side of stream and weighted down with rocks; lower branch of fork used as footway, upper as hand rail. Fire.-Carried in smoldering white-oak limb, or small bark bucket with earth hearth. Kept on household hearth by covering coals with ashes. If coals burned out, fire bor- rowed. Log laid on fire, burned in half, ends shoved gradually into fire until consumed. C Fig. 4. Netting instruments. a, shuttle (1-27952), 7 inches long; b, mesh measure (1-27953), 514 inches long; c, mesh knot. Fire drill.-Hearth of cedar; small hole with guide notch along edges to fit tip of buckeye drill (tilikus); drill twirled between palms until wood dust smolders and ignites dry grass placed near hole of hearth. Hearth and drill wrapped in fawnskin to keep dry. Fire fan.-No special article, any shallow basket used. Mortar.-Small ones a few inches in diameter still used to grind pigments, pulverize seed; also used by old people whose teeth are poor to soften meat. Large ones found archaeologically, not used at present. Instead, hopper used. Shallow depressions found in bedrock ascribed by modern Indians to constant use of hopper in one spot. Occasional bedrock mortars considered charm stones or sacred places. Metate.-One metate seen, of porous stone, irregularly oblong with slight ovate depres- sion on one surface. Use unknown to Wintu. Was unearthed at depth of 4 feet on south bank of Pit river near junction with McCloud. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography Pestle (satak).-Range from short, crude, cylindrical stones to long, shapely ones. Greatest diameter at pounding end, tapers toward top; no collar or bulb ordinarily (fig. 3i). Small pestles ca. size of finger to pulverize pigments, soften food, etc. Heavy ones reduced in size by pecking with rock. Hammers and anvil8.-Similar in shape, differ only in function. Roughly oblong with rounded edges; very little artificial shaping (fig. 3f). Knives (tcehet).-Naturally or artificially edged stone; crudely retouched by per- cussion or pressure. Dull side held against filat of palm; used for skinning or carving. Obsidian flakes preferred material. Large obsidian blades 10 by 2 inches resembling those of northwestern California found in making highway. Known to, but not possessed by, modern Wintu. Said to have belonged to wealthy in former times as treasures or war weapons. Slate knife oa. 1 foot long reported from Bald Hills as weapon hung from wrist in war. Fig. 5. Deep-water dip net (1-28012), 140 inches long, 32 inches in greatest width. Obsidian (dokos).-For arrowpoints, spearheads, knives. Obtained in large lumps from Glass mountain, 60 miles to northeast, in individual or joint expeditions. Pieces not exposed to sun preferred. Blocks split off by building fire (see Craftsmen and Specialists; Weapons). Bope (tcek).-Of iris (putiri), milkweed (koroti), or oceasionally Indian hemp (bok). Iris most common. Two-ply cordage rolled on thick. Made up in coils (loptci) ca. 2 feet long tied together at one end; one end looped into slip noose, other end knotted. Coil con- tains oa. 15 to 20 feet, length for deer snare. Fishlines preferably of iris. Grapevines also much used as coarse binding material; passed through fire slowly; made flexible by twisting between hands (see Craftsmen and Specialists). Thumb guard (tcayi).-Mussel shell pierced with two holes on each side; string passed through holes and around thumb. Used to serape iris leaves to extract rope fiber. Mussel shell generally used as scraper. Mesh measure.-Smooth flat oblong of wood (fig. 4b). Mesh shuttle.-Flattened length of wood, sharpened at one end; perforated by slit through which loops are strung (fig. 4a). Mesh knot, see figure 4c. Carrying-bag (xam)).-Oblong of net with mesh "as fine as shoe eyelet" folded in two, sewed up sides, with drawstring in top. Carried in hand, over shoulder. Used by men only. Deep-water dip net (koro) .-Frame is, roughly, large triangle ca. 6 to 7 feet in length; base of triangle curved stick lashed to sides; ca. 3 feet across base of triangle. Net ca. 3 feet deep (fig. 5) hung from base of triangle. G-rasped at peak of triangle and at crosspiece inserted between two sides, Used in high muddy water (see Fishing). Shallow-water dip net.-Bow and arrow type, that is, curved semicircular rim with brace at right angles. Conically shaped net (see Fishing). Double fish net (suyukoro).-Oblong net with; pole handles at either end. Two men grasp handles, one at each end of net; proceed downstream, net held at right angles to 127 128 University of Californms Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. bottom of river. When fish felt or seen, net quickly flipped into horizontal position above surface. Large mesh; used for salmon (see Fishing). Snare.-Noose snare (Bald Hills): noose suspended by loops from two branches; pegged down with 2 loops to earth; end of noose fastened to firm base; set in game trail; as animal runs forward, noose tightens (see Hunting). Noose snare (McCloud): sus- pended from young tree bent over to act as spring; held open by network of small, easily broken loops; fastened with trigger, set in deer trail; deer releases trigger by entering noose (see Hunting). Fish trap (xahi).-Willow basket roughly resembling Wintu cradle in shape, that is, one end and 2 sides bent upward. Placed on rifile facing upstream, so mouth is slightly below surface and rear is out of water because of drop in level at riffle. Two wings a b IN Mig. 6. a-d, salmon harpoon (field sketch). a, shaft; b, prongs; c, toggles; d, line attach- ing toggles to shaft. e-i, detail of toggle (1-27949): e, hollow stick; f, cord leading to shaft; g, deer-bone point; h, twine wrapping; i, coating of pitch. weighted with stone, or entirely of stone, hold trap in place and direct fish. Fish enter trap at mouth and strand at dry end (see Fishing). Deadfall for small rodents.-Two flat stones propped apart by wedge of parched acorn. Upper stone falls and crushes rodent that gnaws through acorn (see Hunting). Fishhooks.-Bone with natural curve in nose of deer; one end sharpened into point. Two thorns or bones tied together to make fishhook. Limited use of hooks in fishing (see Fishing). Harpoon.-Long spear for salmon house, ca. 15 to 20 feet in length; short one, 10 to 12 feet in length. Shaft (kir) of fir; 2 prongs (noni) of hardwood, painted black with pitch darkened by bark soot to be less conspicuous (fig. 6a-d). Toggles (lama) of pithy wood, ca. 3% inches long, in which deer-bone point is thrust so as to protrude slightly beyond wooden sheath; whole wrapped with twine, eovered with pitch; no barbs (fig. 6e-i). Cord of toggles runs to shaft. When fish is speared, toggles come free of prongs, lodge sideways in flesh, remain fastened to shaft by cord. Small spears made as children's toys to spear suckers (see Fishing). Decoy.-Deer head skinned; stuffed; antlers replaced by imitations in wood to make decoy lighter. Carried until deer is sighted, then tied on head "like a hat." Hunter imi- tates deer until close enough for shot. Removes decoy and rapidly releases arrow. Used only in north, an avowed borrowing from Shasta. Horns alone used as decoy occasionally in south (see Hunting). Pipe.-Wooden pipes (tcidokhola) most common (fig. 7a-d); usually of ash; bored by sealing, with pitch, grub into pithy eenter and letting it eat its way through. Bowl, stem Du Boiw: Wintu Ethnography or mouthpiece occasionally separate pieces. May be dyed with alder bark. Smoked in vertical position. Splits mended with shredded sinew wrappings. Stone pipes (waihola, i.e., north pipe) of soft stone (fig. 7e); bowl hollowed with awl of seasoned deerhorn, point rested on stone and handle rotated. Wooden stem; decorated with mink fur, strung shells, etc.; filled by pouring tobacco in cupped palm of left hand and stuffing it in bowl with finger of right hand. Tobacco (lol).-Wild plants collected. Some old men reputed to have scattered seed in black soil near dwelling. Seed stalks usually left to replant selves. Leaves dried, pul- verized, stored in small baskets. Never chewed. Smoked by shamans to induce trance; A a b c d e Fig. 7. a-d, wooden pipes. a (1-27951), 10'4 inches long; b (1-27950), 11% inches long; c, d (field sketches); e, stone pipe bowl (1-27970), 414 inches long. by older people among whom pipe is passed at discussions and settlements. Smoke placates ghosts, dispels evil dreams. "Tobacco was pretty scarce in those days.... When the plant (Niootiana bigelovii) makes its appearance above ground in the spring, they frequently loosen the earth about it with a sharpened stick, and pile brush about each plant to prevent it being trod upon and injured." Tobacco pouch.-Deerskin oblong, folded double; sides sewed; 6 to 7 inches wide; 7 to 10 inches long; thong drawstring. Used in preference to basket when traveling. Awl (tcup).-Bone or horn; sharpened at one end by rubbing on stone; varying sizes. Used for sewing, flaking, and so forth (see Craftsmen and Specialists). Wedge (takal, i.e., tongue).-Of horn or wood; for splitting wood. Tree felling.-Tree circled with pitch; burned; charred band hacked. Digging-stick (sen).-Made of hardwood; straightened by steaming; 3 to 4 feet long; ca. thickness of thumb; sharpened at both ends; points hardened in fire. Held in center; used with short sharp blow. Larger ones for graves and house pits. 82 Redding, G. H. H., An evening with Wintoon Indians, Californian, 2:564, 1880. 129 130 University of California Publication8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Hooked stick (laknateus).-Small stick lashed to end of pole at acute angle. Used to pull dead branches from trees for firewood; pull branches within reach for acorn picking. Mwuh paddle (toloi).-Oak; ca. 30 inches long; blade ca. 7 inches long, 4 inches wide. Undecorated. Preferred to spoon because less mush adheres to cooking-stones in acorn soup when paddle is used to remove them. Spoon.-Not used; horn and bone spoon of northwestern California known. Bru,sh.-Hair brush (kius): coarse fibers from bulb of Indian soaproot made into cylin- drical bundle ca. 4 inches long, 2', to 3 inches in diameter; wrapped in center with 5 or 6 twists of twine. Thumb held on top of brush when used. Meal brush (balus): finer soaproot fibers; series of cylinders from %-inch to %-inch in diameter wrapped together horizontally to give broad fiat surface like modern paint brush's. Paint brush.-Feather tip; used for fine designs such as those on bows. Du& Bois: Wintu Bthnography BASKETRY To BASKETRY a separate section is given because it represents one of the only technical proficiencies of a high order possessed by the Wintu, and because it has the added interest of being one of their most developed mediums of aes- thetic outlet. Perhaps for the latter reason its persistence-value has been some- what higher than that of other articles of material culture. An economic ex- planation for its persistence could only partly be valid, for Wintu basketry at its best is inferior to that usually required by tourists and collectors. Wintu basketry is all either open- or close-twine. Trade and gift pieces of coiling are found in the region, but the boundary for the manufacture of coil- ing lies between the Wintu of Bald Hills and the Wintun. Coiled baskets are fax more common in Bald Hills than in the other subareas. A few women of the region know how to coil but they admit the superiority of the Wintun weavers. The situation is paralleled in the McCloud and Upper Sacramento subareas in respect to the well-made basketry hats of the Shasta. The Shasta make smoother and finer hats than the Wintu, who frankly admire and copy the patterns and weaving of their northern neighbors, and prefer a trade article to one of their own manufacture. In other words, the Wintu are on the southern fringe of twining and the northern fringe of coiling. In neither art do they excel. Baskets are standard articles for gift and trade among the women. Esti. mates of values assigned to them are given in the seetion on Trade and Values. Materials- Pine root (sek): Yellow pine preferred. Roasted in hot ashes 2 or 3 hours, less if small. Small root split into 4 pieces by holding one end between teeth and pulling root slowly away from body. This method used for splitting all binding materials. Allowed to season in sun. Length not changed after gathering. Before use, soaked, split, scraped with knife to desired size. A coil 5Y2 inches thick and 22 inches in circumference sells for ca. 10 cents. One weaver living in Redding buys from $1 to $1.50 worth at a time. Willow: Only size desired for particular basket gathered; bark removed. Not roasted. Tied into bundles to keep twigs straight. Soaked overnight before using. Hazel (top): Same as for willow. Skunk bush (Rhus trilobata). Grapevine (halat). Redbud (elepmi). Xerophyllum grass (pili): Gathered high in mountains in midsummer. Hard to procure. Sweated in damp cloth bag, or bundle of fern or green grass, for about 2 days, then steamed and dried in sun to bleach. Tied in bundles. Bunch ca. 5% inches in circumfer- ence, white and pliable-50 cents. Woodwardia fern (kerketci): Stem pounded with rock, 2 white strands extracted from stem. Always dyed red with alder bark. Bark steeped in hot water and fern fiber soaked in brew; or, according to Curtis,88 fibers are drawn between lips while alder bark is being chewed. Rolled in coils. Soaked before using. 88 Curtis, op. cit., 14:79. 131: 132 University of California Publications8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Maidenhair fern (teimel): Gathered in midsummer. Soaked overnight, flattened with fingernails, then split in two. Wrapped in bundles to keep stalks straight. Bundle ca. 8 inches in circumference-5O cents. Porcupine quills: Split, dyed yellow. Rare and highly prized as overlay material. A maker of large coarse baskets said that all materials were gathered by the maker herself. She had never heard of buying them. Another informant, who lived in Redding and was known for the fineness of her work, bought most of her materials and from her were obtained the prices given above. Maiden- hair fern, roots, and grass were the three materials she usually purchased. Although she was one of the best basketmakers in the tribe she had "never learned to handle grass." The sources for materials were sometimes fought over. Pine trees, for instance, which grew near one's dwelling were felt to be one's own and trespasses were resented. The following comments by an in- formant are revealing. Basketmakers used to watch where others went to get roots. Then they would try to go to the same place. My mother went 'way around so no one would see where she went to get roots. Once I took some willows from a tree down there near that old lady's house. That old lady said to me [sarcastically], "Why don't you take more?" Then she said to other people afterwards: "I want people to leave my things alone. My things must be pretty good since people come here to get them." It was the same way with grass. It is hard to get and just certain people know where it grows good. Basket types.8"-The outline shapes of basket types are indicated in figure 8. kopi (pati): conical burden basket; close twine. Hazel or willow warp, pine-root weft. Used for manzanita berries, seeds, earth in excavation of lodge, or other fine materials which would sift through open-twine baskets. Carried with tumpline of buckskin passed over forehead or upper chest. Tumpline fastened through heavy willow rim (kulus) wrapped with grapevine, or passed diagonally around body of basket, to which it was fastened in 2 or 3 places by buckskin loops. (Fig. 8a.) on kopi: conieal burden basket; open twine. Hazel or willow warp, weft of same material, or pine root. Used to carry coarse material. Carried as above. Period of use estimated 2 to 5 years. tos kopi: conical burden basket; very roughly made of 4 or 5 warp sticks lashed to- gether with grapevine. Might be lined with maple leaves. Made for unexpected loads, usually by men. Discarded after use. gn: shallow, round or shovel-shaped tray; open twine. Hazel or willow warp and weft. Edge might be re8nforced with 2 or 3 rows of close twine, sometimes of pine root. Used to sift manzanita and other berries or seeds, as plate, or seedbeater. (Fig. 8b, c.) dausap or setep (tekes): shallow round plate ("like a dishpan"); close twine. Willow warp, pine-root weft, occasionally decorated with grass and fern overlay. Size varied. Used as plate, dipper, cover for containers. (Fig. 8d.) kenus (tobuk): flat-disk sifter; close twine. Willow warp, pine-root weft; occasionally deeorated with grass and fern overlay. Used to sift acorn meal. Piece of bark or any other suitable flat object might be substituted. (Fig. 8e.) kawi: hopper for pounding acorns; close twine. Willow or hazel warp, pine-root weft; often decorated with grass, or grass and fern bands. Re8nforced sides (not always) with heavy bands bound to exterior by particularly heavy pine root in course of weaving. Heavy rim, wrapped with split grapevine. Hopper rests on flat rock called simis. (Fig. 8f.) takus: hat; close twine. Usually trade piece from Shasta or imitation thereof. Ornate design with more abundant use of Woodwardia than characteristic of most Wintu pat- terns. Also used as temporary cup. 84 Native names given in brackets are Bald Hills equivalents. Du Bois: Wintu Ethnography kolom: cup or bowl serving basket, close twine. Willow warp, pine-root weft. Overlay design in grass, or grass and one or two fern colors. Approximately size and shape of hat, but tends to narrow at top. Most common basket for artistic effort. (Fig. 8g.) sui kolom (olsukas kolom): refers to design (sui-stripe); vertical, diagonal, or hori- zontal stripes of maidenhair or Woodwardia Size varies from that of hat to miniatures n-inch in diameter. Small ones used in shamanism as cup or poison-container. Sometimes C b a lt~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ S S S d * fIN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ h k Oa4 81oIa j Inches. Fig. 8. Basketry shapes. a, small conical burden basket (1-16540), showing tumpline, close twine; b, open-twine tray (1-16587); o, shovel-shaped open-twine tray (1-27932); d, close-twine plate (1-27938); e, sifter (1-16585); f, hopper with re8nforced rim (1-16549); g, serving basket (1-16568); h, cooking-basket (1-16562); i, storage basket with reen- foreed rim (1-27942); j, cradle (1-16573); k, ladle (1-27946). called Lahi kolom, that is, trance basket. Made by relative of patient and presented to shaman, who keeps it (see Shamanism). Also kept by some to ward off illness. One in- formant made one while she had influenza to prevent other members of family from falling ill; in a dream was warned twice by a dead person to make it. Often hung outside of dwelling. Can be "talked to" like charms. Also made for navel cord of infant (see Birth). Only basket with ceremonial connotation. puluk (teluk): cooking-basket; close twine. Usually larger and less elaborate than kolom, but overlap between 2 types exists. Food usually cooked in puluk and served in kolom. Largest ones used to float supplies across streams. Variation in name depends on immediate use, thus: mem (water) puluk, or yiwit (soup) puluk. (Fig. 8h.) 133 4 University of California PUblicatiot8 in Am. Arch. and Ethn. tatas: storage basket; open twine; coarse work. Skunk-bush, or hazel, warp and weft. Usually drawn together somewhat at mouth. Lined with maple leaves. Acorns, salmon, etc., kept in it. (Fig. 8i.) klol: baby basket (see Birth). Open twine in bands 3 or 4 rows deep. Skunk bush or hazel, not willow. Sitting type "is little more than an ovate tray with a handle at the end."86 Occasionally shallow basketry disk (tumukus) of fine open twine hung over child's face to keep off insects. Edge and handle reenforced by wrapping several warp elements with grapevine. Child strapped in with buckskin strips laced back and forth between 3 pairs of buckskin loops placed opposite each other and tied through back of basket. Carried in arms, rarely on back unless mother needs to use arms, then tumpline employed. Also hung from trees. Not stuck upright in ground. (Fig. 8j.) pateekus: ladle of willow or hazel. Twig bent into loop. Two ends wrapped to form handle. Loop wrapped with split twig in shape of figure eight. Used to lift salmon from boiling water, etc. Not reported in Bald Hills. (Fig. 8k.? xawas: seedbeater; fan-shaped; end opposite hand curves around toward hand. Bald Hills only (?). Maple-leaf linings: large leaves. Through lobes of each, stems of other leaves thrust; sheet ca. 2 feet square; then turned over and stems braided together. Laid in storage baskets. Basketmaking.-Baskets are rested on the knee while being woven. One ex- pert basketmaker said that she always began a kolom with four willow rods and a triple weft, the latter to give greater firmness when subsequent warp elements should be inserted. To insert or replace a warp element, the end of the new rod is chewed and laid overlapping the old one. It is bound in with a weft stitch and on the next round the new rod may be used as a separate ele- ment. Xerophyllum "grass," used as an overlay element on pine root, has a rough and a smooth side. The smooth side is used on the surface of the basket. The same is true of maidenhair. The grass or fern is inserted under the pine root, the willow warp is pulled out of alignment, the root is led over the warp, and the overlay element is placed over the root base. All are twisted to keep the smooth side out. Where two colors like grass and maidenhair are used, the strand of the first color is not carried along under the second, but is broken off after it has served to anchor the second strand. When a basket is finished, all the ragged weft elements on its interior are clipped. The basket is then soaked, shaped, and filled with sand until it has dried in a symmetrical form. Old baskets are occasionally reshaped in this manner. The soaking keeps them pliable, and drying them in the sun bleaches the grass overlay. The only care of baskets, outside of this, is to keep the inside clean and to stuff them when they are being transported. At present only eleven Wintu women still make baskets, according to the count of three weavers. Of these, two are experts in fine work and one in coarse and inferior work for which strong hands rather than deft fingers are re- quired. Skilled and industrious basketmakers are believed to be short-lived because they must "bend over so much and their hands are always wet." It was estimated that a serving basket seven or eight inches in diameter, with a flying geese design, would require from one to two months of work. 85 Kroeber, Handbook, 92; also pl. 35. ,134 Du Boi8:. Wsntu Ethnography1 To permit another person to finish the basket which one has started, is tantamount to presenting to that person one's luck and skill as a weaver. Sometimes an old woman will purposely let a younger relative fall heir to her powers in this manner. Thus Clara Conway's aunt, who had taught her to weave, urged Clara to finish her baskets as she grew older and prepared to give up weaving. For some time Clara was recognized as the most skillful weaver in the tribe, although she seldom procured her own materials. Subse- quently Clara taught Susie Popejoy to weave and started baskets which she permitted Susie to finish, simply because she discredited the current super- stition. Now Clara admits that Susie makes better baskets than she does. "I guess there may be something in it, after all," was her comment. Coarse baskets are mended by lashing together the two broken edges with either grapevine or redbud splints. These two materials are also used to bind on thick willow or hazel branches which serve as rims or reanforcing bands on certain baskets. Buckskin is never used to patch baskets, "because it would shrink and get hard if cooked in a basket mended that way." Whether it is used to mend baskets in which no cooking is done, was not learned. However, pieces of cloth are sometimes used at present to reenforce the broken point of conical burden baskets. Designs.-A basketmaker will use the same design frequently, but as a rule she disposes of baskets bearing duplicate patterns. Sara Bayles, who made large coarse baskets, said that she never deliberately copied anyone else's de- sign, although she admitted that she was often influenced by other persons' patterns. The same informant had never heard of dreaming designs; but Clara Conway had heard of one instance, which had occurred some thirty years ago. She considered the design (fig. lld) a very poor one. Basketmakers who pride themselves on their work often place designs on the bottoms of service baskets. These are referred to in English as "signa- tures," and they seem to serve that purpose since they usually identify the weaver. A part of such a signature is shown in figure 9. Design colors were rated, by several weavers, in the following order of de- creasing merit. The list may be accepted as a stable evaluation. Porcupine overlay (yellow, white, black): Never used alone; always in conjunction with Xerophyllum and maidenhair; occurs only on carefully made baskets. Characterized as "most valuable." Xerophyllum and maidenhair overlay (white, black): Characterized as "prettiest" in contradistinction to "most valuable" of porcupine overlay. "The best we had; like silver and gold." To be served food in a basket of this type was a mark of esteem. Xerophyllum, maidenhair, and Woodwardia (white, black, red). Xerophyllum and Woodwardia (white, red): "They are cheap; wear out easily; the red fades." Xerophyllum and pine-root weft (white, buff): "Just for coarse work." Figure 10 represents a series of conventional and accepted designs which illustrate the more important design elements in common use. The chief com- ponents of design a are the quail crest, which the Wintu call lizard (tciwil 135 6 Univer8Aty of California Publicatiom in Am. Arch. and Bthsn. Fig. 9. "Signature" on bottom of basket. a _ 77 7 -- . ' _e-X c c Fig. 10. "Old-time" basketry designs. d 136 Du Bo'": Wintu Bthnography tciwil) , and the simple elbow-joint element, which is usually called rib (kuril kurilis). This design is highly admired and considered difficult to make. De- sign b is called deer excreta (nopum genesis), and, although considered easy to execute, is one of the generally approved designs. Design c is an idealized flying geese pattern which was sketehed on a piece of paper by an informant. She first laid out the squares and then filled in the parallelograms. This is a design as highly approved as the quail crest, and is considered as difficult to make. In Wintu it is variously called arrowpoint (dokos dokos), dry leaf (dalas dalas), or flying geese (lakum leli). Designs d and e are both well ap- proved ones which illustrate combinations of elements. A series of triangles set point to base is usually designated as sucker tails (tcir sutu). a b o d Fig. 11. Reeent basketry designs. Figure 11 is a group of modern designs which were considered either amus- ing or in bad taste by all the older and more fastidious women who were ques- tioned. Designs a and c were explained as adaptations from quilt designs. Design b is a goat, which is of particular interest because of the attempted fore- shortening in the presentation of the legs, and because of the quail crest ele- ment which terminates the tail. This is the only realistic representation of an animal in basketry, and it was thought very amusing by the older people. They seldom failed to notice and comment upon the one conservative element in this design, namely, the quail crest. Design d is the dream design previously mentioned. It must be borne in mind that these two figures have been chosen to repre- sent two extremes. Figure 10 shows some of the most generally approved and used designs of aboriginal Wintu basketry, while figure 11 illustrates the more radical modern experimentation. 86 Note the frequency of reduplication in Wintu design names. Thus tciwil tciwil aetually means lizard-lizard. 137 University of Calfornia Publicatina. in Am. Arch. and Ethn. CONCLUSION IN DISCUSSING the cultural status of the Wintu in relation to the rest of north- ern California, two sets of factors must be considered. First, the Wintu were a hill people as opposed to the valley peoples of the south. Secondly, they were intermediate between two spheres of influence, that of northwestern and that of central California. Eastern or Basin influences were minimal for three reasons: (1) Achomawi intervened between the Wintu and outside sources of influence; (2) the geographic environment was non-Basin; and (3) Basin cul- ture was mostly generalized and lacking in unique complexes, as compared to that of northwestern and central California. The only distinctly eastern in- fluence was the recently introduced steam sudatory. The eastern trait of using pine nuts was so widespread, and so trivial in Wintu economy, that it is of almost no significance. In balancing northwestern and central Californian influences there is the difficulty of forming a clear concept of a descriptive type culture for both regions and then determining its presence or absence. However, certain traits are significant in indicating the intermediary position of the Wintu. For ex- ample, the Wintu were on the southern fringe of the northwestern twining technique and materials in basketry. The brimless hat was a northern infiltra- tion. Yet trade pieces of coiling were known and very occasionally imitated, although with a minimum success. Dentalium from the northwest and clam- disk money from central California met in the Wintu area, and it would be difficult to prove the preponderance of one or the other form of money as a medium of transvaluation, where such transvaluations occurred at all. The southern magnesite cylinders were highly prized, but on the other hand so were the obsidian blades of the northwest. The plank house of the northwest, the conical bark house of hill peoples, and the men's sweat house of central California were all found in the area. On the other hand, the foot drum of the earth lodge was only a very recent introduction. Hoppers like those of the northwest were the usual articles for making acorn flour, but stone mortars were also known and large ones may have been more common in earlier days. The direct sand leaching of meal also had northwestern affiliations. The deer- hoof and split-stick rattles of the north and south respectively both occurred in the region. Iris, milkweed and, to a lesser degree, Indian hemp were all used as string fibers. The chief gambling game of the men was central Cali- fornian in form, whereas the women's was northern. On the other hand, signi- ficant northwestern artifacts were lacking, such as the canoe, spoon, adze, stool, and shaped maul. When we consider the ceremonial and religious aspects of culture the dif- ferentiations seem to pass from the comparison of northwestern and central spheres of influence to the contrast of hill and valley, or of simple and com- plex. The Wintu lacked the elaborations of both the central and the north- 138 Du Boi8: Wintu Ethnography 139 western Californians. They had no first-salmon ceremony, no deerskin dance, no wealth-display ceremonies such as are found in northwestern California. They also lacked the kuksu, hesi, and annual mourning ceremonies of the southern peoples. If any selection of dominating patterns could be made for the Wintu, they would consist of the salmon, deer, and acorn complexes in their economy and their material life. In the socio-religious fabric, shamanism was paramount. But more characteristic of Wintu culture was its amorphous construction, the absence of pressure upon the individual, the lack of integrating drives. It was a society in which the individual's personality was important for social suc- cess, but only because society had so few formalized hurdles or barriers. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS USED American Anthropologist Bureau of American Ethnology-Bulletins Contributions to North American Ethnology Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Smithsonian Institution-Annual Reports University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology [141] AA BAE-B CNAE JRAI SI-AR UC-PAAE EXPLANATION OF PLATES Plate 1. a, site of Nosono village on the upper McCloud river. b, junction of McCloud and Pit rivers. ?, village site on MeCloud river near junction with Pit. d, framework of steam sudatory. Plate 2. a, Ellen Silverthorne, full-blood, showing pestle, hopper, stone base, and method of steadying hopper. b, Fanny Brown, full-blood shaman. Note snake rattles on necklace. ?, Harry Marsh holding split-stick rattle and squatting in position assumed by musician. Plate 3. Dance apron strung with pine nuts, described under Clothing and Ornaments. [143] UNIV. CALIF. PUBL. AM. ARCH. a ETHN. VOL. 36 HABITAT VIEWS; STEAMI SUDATORY. [ 145 ] d I DU BOIS I PLATE I H-- n} a w , t w4 -J_\5 0 m 0; i \ : ;.t;.I t 0 2 -5 Df%n v 0 -A0 _ D <\uSiKN;1e i-X^s ..t :s . 0 (~~~~f. - - its s s " " i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ' | - - - t <~~~~~~~ Ef r4 _ '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0, Ie u 4 t E U 146] UNIV. CALIF. PUBL. AM. ARCH. & ETHN. VOL.*86 DANCE APRON [147] [DU BOIS] PLATE 3