WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:05.240 Part one of California History two pieces. This is a 2 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.919 LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. 3 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:13.480 For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. 4 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:19.760 Recording by David Wales. California History two pieces by various 5 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.760 Part one Types of Indian Culture in California nineteen o 6 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:32.320 four by Alfred Lewis Croeber, Part one. Only one attempt 7 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.679 to give a systematic account of the Indians of California 8 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.159 has been made. More than twenty five years ago. Stephen 9 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:43.479 Powers wrote his famous Tribes of California, which, with all 10 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.359 its defects, still stands unrivaled in comprehensiveness and usefulness, the 11 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:53.159 one work on California which every anthropologist must cite. The 12 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:56.679 last few years have seen more extended research of the 13 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:02.200 Indians of the state. The Ethnological and Archaeological Survey of California, 14 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.959 conducted by the Department of Anthropology of the University of California, 15 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.239 through the liberality of Missus Phoebe A. Hurst, is intended 16 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:15.040 to secure and preserve for record as much information about 17 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:18.120 the Indians, and to say for the people of the state, 18 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:21.680 as many of the remains and objects illustrative of the 19 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.560 native life as possible. From the time of the first 20 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:29.959 settlement of California, its Indians have been described as both 21 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.879 more primitive and more peaceful than the majority of the 22 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.640 natives of North America. On the whole, this opinion is 23 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:41.079 undoubtedly true. The practical arts of life, the social institutions, 24 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:45.120 and the ceremonies of the California Indians are unusually simple 25 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.519 and undeveloped. There were no war for its own sake, 26 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:53.799 no confederacies of powerful tribes, no communal stone pueblos, no 27 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:59.079 totems or potlatches. The picturesqueness and dignity of other Indians 28 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:04.359 are lacking. In general rudeness of culture, the California Indians 29 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:08.319 are scarcely above the Eskimo, and whereas the lack of 30 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:11.800 development of the Eskimo on many sides of their nature 31 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.879 is reasonably attributable in part to their difficult and limiting environment, 32 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:21.800 the Indians of California inhabit a country naturally as favorable 33 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.560 it would seem as might be if the degree of 34 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:30.319 civilization attained by people depends in any large measure on 35 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:34.680 their habitat, as does not seem likely, it might be 36 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:38.280 concluded from the case of the California Indians that natural 37 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:43.319 advantages were an impediment rather than an incentive to progress. 38 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:47.120 Throughout the greater part of the state, the civilization of 39 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:50.159 the Indians is very much alike. While the number of 40 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:53.919 groups and of divisions corresponding to tribes, and the number 41 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:57.879 of languages is large, and no two groups show exactly 42 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.560 identical customs and beliefs, the general type of culture is uniform. 43 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:07.199 The exceptions are southern California and the northwesternmost part of 44 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:11.879 the state, but the territory covered by these divergent cultures 45 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:15.520 is comparatively small, and more than two thirds of the state, 46 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:20.280 including all the central part, show a fundamental ethnical similarity 47 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:25.520 whose distinguishing characteristics, furthermore, are not found outside of the state. 48 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:30.039 It is therefore possible to speak of typical California Indians 49 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:35.599 and to recognize a typical Californian culture area. A feature 50 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.800 that should not be lost sight of in connection with 51 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:43.120 the Indians of California is the great stability of population. 52 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:48.039 This condition must always be given consideration in any attempt 53 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:52.199 to explain the linguistic diversity existing in the state. The 54 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.759 extraneous races that have made their way far enough into 55 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:59.360 the state have been completely assimilated to the condition of 56 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:03.960 life of their neighbours. The Adabascan Hoopa are almost identical 57 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.560 in culture with the non Adabascan Uruk, the Adabascan Cato, 58 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:14.120 with the northernmost of the Californian Pomo. As in other 59 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:18.399 regions of America, a culturation has proceeded at a more 60 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:24.120 rapid rate than migration. Throughout the typical culture area of California, 61 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:28.240 the Indians lived primarily on vegetable products. They were of 62 00:04:28.279 --> 00:04:33.319 course also hunters, especially of small game, and wherever there 63 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:38.079 was opportunity, fishermen, but it is probable that plant food 64 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:42.240 formed as large a proportion of their subsistence as of 65 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:45.399 any of the non agricultural and even some of the 66 00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:50.040 agricultural tribes of the continent. North of Mexico, the staple 67 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.319 was everywhere acorns, but an abundance of other plant products, 68 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:58.120 consisting more largely of seeds than of berries or roots, 69 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:03.000 were known and eaten. The dwellings of these California Indians 70 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.519 were sometimes of a tolerable size, but may be described 71 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:10.839 as having been huts rather than houses. Structures of brush 72 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.800 or of tulle were common. Wood was also used, but 73 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.800 consisted of sticks, pieces of bark, and similar materials, rarely 74 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.040 or never of split or dressed planks. Whatever part of 75 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.959 the structure had any weight and was raised above the 76 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.279 ground was either leaned against supports or rested on forking 77 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:36.040 upright logs. The shape of the houses was conical or domed, 78 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:39.600 and either thatching or a layer of earth was usually 79 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.079 depended upon to keep out the rain. Almost all the 80 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:47.759 tribes had assembly houses, generally known as sweat houses, that 81 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:51.319 were larger than the dwelling houses. Only in the regions 82 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.000 where the use of the sweat house was confined to 83 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:58.399 sweating and sleeping and to lesser ceremonies was it smaller 84 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:04.040 than the house. The arts were unusually primitive. Basketry alone 85 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:09.000 had reached a considerable development. Pottery was unknown, except perhaps 86 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:12.120 for rude attempts by some of the tribes in contact 87 00:06:12.199 --> 00:06:17.680 with the Shoshonians. Rope and string were everywhere, but woven 88 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:22.879 textiles nowhere made within the state. Felling or large cutting 89 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:26.720 implements other than wedges of antlers, and these had a 90 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.839 very limited use, were not employed. The art of carving 91 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:36.000 was exceedingly rude. Such objects as tubular wooden pipes and 92 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.480 small paddles for stirring semi liquid vegetable food were made 93 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.560 by perhaps the majority of tribes, but even these objects 94 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:49.360 were not found everywhere. Pipes of reeds and soup stirrers 95 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:52.519 of looped sticks were the only ones used by certain 96 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:56.879 tribes of the Sierra Nevada. What carved native work there 97 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:02.279 exists from California is notably deficient in ornament. The scanty 98 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:08.160 decorations are simple and crude. Of realistic representation, either in 99 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:11.720 two or in three dimensions, there appears to be virtually 100 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:15.560 none beyond the patterns on baskets, and in these the 101 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:20.439 conventional side in most cases far outweighs the realistic, the 102 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:26.759 interpretations of designs being pattern names and not symbolism. Picture 103 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.079 writing is foreign to the mind of the California Indian. 104 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:35.480 The social organization was both simple and loose. There was 105 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.399 no trace of a gentile organization. Tribes can scarcely be 106 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:44.680 spoken of with correctness. Beyond the family, the only bases 107 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:48.879 of organization were the village and the language. The villages 108 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:54.120 were often not continuously inhabited, the population being inclined to 109 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:58.360 shift within confined limits. They were connected into groups of 110 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:03.160 little definiteness, whose common bond was similarity of language and 111 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:08.120 sometimes frequency or cordiality of intercourse, but which were without 112 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:13.920 political coherence. In most cases, these larger groups were without names. 113 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:19.120 The village communities almost always were named from localities. Generally, 114 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:23.000 the systematic classification of the divisions of any larger body 115 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:26.279 of Indians is difficult on account of the lack of 116 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.959 organization in population and social life. The village was the 117 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:35.399 approximate equivalent of a localized clan, but being the largest 118 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:40.240 political unit, it corresponded in a measure to a tribe. 119 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:44.039 In so simple a condition of society, difference of rank 120 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:48.639 naturally found, but little scope. The influence of chiefs was 121 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:53.399 comparatively small, and distinct classes as of a nobility or 122 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:58.639 of slaves were unknown. There was, however, little communistic tendency 123 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:04.159 accompanying the simplicity of social organization, for individual property rights 124 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:08.360 were developed, and what organization of society there was was 125 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:13.159 largely on the basis of property. The ceremonies of California 126 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.639 are characterized, as compared with those of the Indians of 127 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:19.960 the rest of America, by a very slight development of 128 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.480 the extreme ritualism that is so characteristic of the American Indians, 129 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.440 and by an almost entire absence of symbolism of any kind. 130 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:34.039 Fetishism is also unusual among the Pomo and Yakuts, and 131 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:38.399 perhaps other groups. Fetishes are used to some extent, as 132 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:42.200 has been observed by Stephen Powers, but usually in connection 133 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:47.639 with individual shamanistic efforts rather than with communal or tribal ceremonies. 134 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:51.759 The most important ceremonies of the Maidu of the northern 135 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:54.919 Sierra Nevada have been said by Dixon to be an 136 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:59.519 annual mourning ceremony and the observances of a secret society. 137 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:04.919 The tribal mourning ceremonial, variously known as burning cry or 138 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:08.080 dance of the dead, seems to be found in some 139 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.879 form among all the divisions of the main part of 140 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:14.759 the state, excepting the Pomo and Yuki, as well as 141 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:19.159 among all the tribes of southern California, but in the 142 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:24.440 northwesternmost region of the state only faint reminiscences of it occur. 143 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:29.399 Something corresponding to a secret society is also found in 144 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.399 the greater part of the state, although in many very 145 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:36.000 different forms to some of which the strict organization of 146 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:41.000 a society can scarcely be said to belong. It seems, however, 147 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.720 that there is everywhere either some ceremony conducted by a 148 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:48.519 special group of men, or an initiation of children or 149 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:53.519 young men. The dance costumes consist primarily of feathers. They 150 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:58.559 are not complex and often without delicacy, but sometimes striking 151 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:04.120 mythological characters are at times represented. The disguise of such 152 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:08.600 characters consists of feathers and paint masks not being used. 153 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:14.679 Restrictive beliefs in regard to all phases of life, especially birth, death, names, 154 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:19.000 and sexual matters, are very strongly developed in California and 155 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:22.159 have led to a long series of prescribed usages and 156 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.399 prohibitions which play as large a part in the life 157 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.360 of the people as analogous restrictions do among the tribes 158 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:34.240 of the North Pacific Coast and northern Adabascans and the Eskimo, 159 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.720 and decidedly more than among the tribes of the Mississippi 160 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:42.799 Valley or those of the agricultural Southwest. Generally speaking, the 161 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:47.240 characteristics of culture that have been enumerated pertain to all 162 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:52.159 the Indians between Point Conception and Cape Mendocino and between 163 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:56.200 this stretch of coast and the Sierra Nevada, extending from 164 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:01.279 north to south from Mount Shasta to the Tahatchife Range. 165 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.799 In the northwestern part of the state is found another 166 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.240 type of culture, the territory of which is very much 167 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.720 more limited. This culture centers about the Lower Klamath River 168 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.360 and extends to the south as far as Lower Eel River. 169 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:21.360 The Indians showing this culture most conspicuously are the Carrock, 170 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:26.799 the Yuruk, and the Adabaskan Hoopa. Only these three tribes 171 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:31.320 practice the so called white deerskin dance. The Weshaks of 172 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:36.080 Humboldt Bay, the Atabascan tribes of Redwood Creek and more 173 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:40.879 southern streams, the Adabaskan Tullowa of Smith River on the 174 00:12:40.919 --> 00:12:44.759 coast to the north, and the Shimerico of Trinity River 175 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:48.799 to the southeast, all show more or less the same culture. 176 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:53.440 Considerable traces of the same type of civilization are also 177 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.399 found among the Shasta on the east and among the 178 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:01.679 Adabascans along the Lower Eel River in southern Humboldt County, 179 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:06.039 but so many typical elements of the Northwestern culture are 180 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:10.000 lacking among these last two groups, and they present so 181 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:13.480 many resemblances on the one hand to the Indians of 182 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:17.639 Oregon Pitt River and the Sacramento Valley, and on the 183 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:21.759 other to the Yuki and Pomo tribes of Mendocino County, 184 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.559 that they may more properly be included in the larger 185 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:29.919 central group. To the north, the limits of the northwestern 186 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:34.320 Ethnical province seem to have been formed by the Sisku Range, 187 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:38.159 except along the coast, where the type of culture perhaps 188 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:42.960 undergoes a more gradual transition through the various Anabascan tribes 189 00:13:42.960 --> 00:13:47.120 of southern Oregon. In some of their characteristics, the Indians 190 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:51.159 of this northwestern region of California resemble the tribes on 191 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.480 the Pacific coast between the Columbia River and Alaska. In 192 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:59.720 some respects, however, they are typically Californian, and in still 193 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:05.919 others they have reached considerable specialization. The subsistence of the 194 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:10.720 Indians of northwestern California is less predominantly vegetable than in 195 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:14.679 the remainder of the state. Salmon constitutes perhaps as great 196 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:18.320 as staple as acorns, and along the coast much dependence 197 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:22.440 is placed upon seafood dugout canoes of a distinct and 198 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.320 unvarying type are used in the region wherever the coast 199 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:30.639 or the rivers permit navigation, while boats hewn out from 200 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.320 logs appear to be somewhat used in other parts of 201 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.600 northern California, yet they lack finish, and through the larger 202 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:40.559 part of the state the nearest approach to a canoe 203 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:44.399 has always been the boat shaped raft of Tully's. The 204 00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:48.840 houses of the northwestern Indians also are distinctly superior to 205 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:51.679 those in other parts of the state, though they are 206 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.919 not large, never exceeding twenty five feet in greatest dimension. 207 00:14:56.440 --> 00:15:00.159 Both walls and roof are made of split and hewn planks. 208 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.960 The door is a circularly cut whole in the front, 209 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:08.039 and the roof is gabled, neither thatching nor earth being 210 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.200 used to keep out the rain. The houses are built 211 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.360 approximately square about a smaller central pit. The sweat house 212 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:19.440 in this region is smaller than the house. It is 213 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:24.720 rectangular and almost entirely below ground. It is the habitual 214 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:28.200 sleeping place of the men, and while used for certain 215 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:33.240 ceremonial purposes, is of greater importance as a true sweat house. 216 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:37.279 It thus differs considerably from the much larger, round or 217 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.120 dome shaped assembly houses of groups such as the Pomo 218 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:46.240 or the Maidu in the central region throughout California. Heat 219 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:49.919 in the sweat house is produced directly by a smoking fire, 220 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.399 and not by steam, as is the custom over the 221 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:57.720 larger part of North America. The arts of the Indians 222 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.519 of this northwestern region are also so more developed than 223 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:05.799 those anywhere else in the state. Certain objects, such as 224 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.440 tubular pipes are made with nicety of finish, acorn soup 225 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.279 paddles are ornamented with geometrical carving that sometimes reaches a 226 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:19.440 fair degree of elaborateness. Other objects that are made only 227 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:24.240 in this region in the state are holocylindrical purses of elkhorn, 228 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:28.759 larger wooden boxes of the same shape, and elcorn spoons 229 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.320 with carved handles. In spite of the tolerable proficiency in 230 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.960 carving of the Indians of this region, their ornamentation is 231 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:42.519 confined almost exclusively to triangles and acute angles, and any 232 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:46.840 attempt at realistic representation, whether of animals or of the 233 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:50.559 human figure, such as is so characteristic of the North 234 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.519 Pacific coast, seems to be foreign to their minds. The 235 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:59.960 basketry of the northwestern tribes is exclusively twined in this respect. 236 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.600 The tribes of the extreme northeastern part of the state 237 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:09.119 agree with them. Everywhere South, coiled basketry not only occurs 238 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:14.400 but predominates. The dead are regularly buried in this region. 239 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.079 Throughout the central area, burning seems to be more usual, 240 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:24.759 although the practice varies. Society in northwestern California is organized 241 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.720 only upon the basis of the family in the village. 242 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:31.559 The villages are more prominent and stable than among the 243 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:36.519 Central Californians. The village communities might be said to represent clans, 244 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:40.279 but as there is nothing resembling a totemc or gentile 245 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:44.599 name and no requirement of exomine, and as the numerous 246 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.920 local legends refer not to the ancestors of the people 247 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.680 of that place, but to the place itself, and moreover 248 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.680 are known to the entire group or stock, and not 249 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.759 only to the inhabitants of one village, it must be 250 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:02.039 recognized that these village community are quite different from plants 251 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.400 such as are found among the Haida, or Iroquois, or Pueblos, 252 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.359 or even the Quaquitil or the Blackfeet. It is very 253 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:14.240 probable that the same type of social organization prevailed along 254 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:18.319 the coast northward for some distance, and that the hintes 255 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:21.920 of the Adabascans of Oregon described by J. O. Dorsey 256 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.559 are nothing more or less than village communities. There is 257 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:30.119 in this region a reminiscence of the North Pacific Coast 258 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:33.920 in the importance of wealth as a factor in society. 259 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.200 Separate classes of nobles and common people do not exist 260 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:42.359 in northwestern California, but in almost all affairs of life, 261 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.440 it is the man of wealth who is the one 262 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.400 of importance, with a consistency that would seem strange to 263 00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:52.319 the southwestern or eastern Indians of the United States, but 264 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:56.160 intelligible to the Indians of the North Pacific Coast. This 265 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:01.119 prominence of wealth finds perhaps its greatest expression in ceremonials. 266 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:05.079 The acquisition and retention of wealth are the chief aim 267 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.640 in life of the Indians of this region, and connected 268 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:13.119 with this are a mercenary temper and lack of truthfulness, 269 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:17.119 shown also by the tribes of the Pacific coast northward. 270 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:20.960 A limited number of slaves were formerly held, but they 271 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:24.839 invariably entered this condition of life through debt, not through 272 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:29.440 capture in war, marriage is a definitely regulated system of 273 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:35.680 outright purchase. Injuries or crimes are compounded by payments. In 274 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:38.960 case of war, which seems to have been carried on 275 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:42.920 only by individual villages or small groups of connected villages, 276 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.200 the conclusion of peace consisted of payment by each party 277 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:53.279 for all persons killed and property destroyed on the other side. Consequently, 278 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.039 it was the victors whose payments to the inferior party 279 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.799 were the greater, and anything like the tribut that has 280 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:04.559 been mentioned as paid by certain tribes to the Hoopa 281 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.279 was an impossibility with a social organization of these groups. 282 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.319 In place of the disc like perforated shell beads of 283 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:18.480 central California, Dentalia form the chief medium of exchange in 284 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:22.519 the northwestern region, but there are other classes of articles 285 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:28.880 that constitute wealth. Prominent among these are woodpecker scalps, obsidian implements, 286 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:34.160 and unusually colored deer skins. An important feature of difference 287 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.160 from the tribes of the North Pacific coast is the 288 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.240 complete absence of the potlatch or any form of gratuitous 289 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:46.240 or ceremonial distribution of wealth. Both the tribal mourning ceremony 290 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:51.240 and the secret society or initiation rite are wanting. Among 291 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:56.119 the Northwestern tribe. Their most characteristic ceremonies are held only 292 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.720 at certain localities. The religious element in them is surprisedly slight, 293 00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:05.279 consisting almost altogether of the ministrations of one man who 294 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:09.680 has certain actions, none of them very striking, prescribed or 295 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:14.319 forbidden to him. His most important function is the recitation 296 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.720 of a formula, which is little else than the myth 297 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:20.759 of the origin of the dance of that place. In 298 00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:25.279 the dance itself, almost anyone may participate, and all parts 299 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.519 of the ceremony in which the priest is not directly 300 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:33.640 concerned are not regarded with distinct reverence. For the important 301 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:36.319 men of the tribe, the dance is, above all else 302 00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:39.960 an opportunity for a display of their wealth, which is 303 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:45.359 worn and carried by the dancers. Formulas similar to those 304 00:21:45.559 --> 00:21:49.680 spoken for the dances exist for all ceremonies and for 305 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:54.680 numerous purposes, such as war, love, hunt, and fishing. They 306 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:58.240 all bear the same general character, being virtually a myth 307 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:02.279 relating the origin of the self, ceremony or action in question. 308 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:07.559 These formulas are what is most sacred in the religious 309 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:10.519 life of the Indians of this region. They may be 310 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:14.559 compared in many respects to the Karakias of the Maori. 311 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:18.519 They show the great virtue attached by these tribes to 312 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:22.680 words as compared with actions. In matters of religion. The 313 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.079 same tendency is revealed in the almost utter lack of 314 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:30.680 visible ritualism, which is perhaps even more complete than among 315 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:36.480 the Central Californians. Like the Central tribes, the Northwestern Indians 316 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:41.680 show very little inclination towards mysticism or any form of symbolism, 317 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:46.480 even in the most sacred matters. The ceremonial and the 318 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:51.079 mythical number is five or ten. In Central California it 319 00:22:51.160 --> 00:22:56.519 is usually four. Shamanism rests upon the same general basis 320 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:00.279 of thought as elsewhere in America, but shows considered both 321 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:05.119 specialization in some directions. Among at least one tribe, the 322 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:08.720 Uruk of the Lower Klamath River, there appears to be 323 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:13.319 no definite conception of a guardian spirit or supernatural helper, 324 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:19.440 an idea universal throughout the continent. Nevertheless, the actions gone through, 325 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:23.480 both in the acquisition of shamanistic power and in its 326 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:28.039 practice appear to be the same as elsewhere. The mythologies 327 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:31.440 of the Northwestern and especially of the central region of 328 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:35.400 California are quite different from those found in other parts 329 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:39.279 of North America, and their special characteristics may be best 330 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:43.799 brought out by a comparison. The mythologies of all peoples 331 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.680 contain an attempt to explain the world. This is true 332 00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:51.680 of more than the almost ever present creation myth Among 333 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.960 primitive people who have not come under the influence of 334 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:58.960 one of the world religions, most myths end with an 335 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.480 account of the ordagen of something in nature or among men, 336 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:08.240 an animal or plant, a particular rock, a custom, an implement, 337 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:11.440 the shape of an animal, or the coloring of a bird. 338 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.319 So prevalent is this tendency that it has been thought 339 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:19.880 by certain scholars that mythology was primarily an attempt at science. 340 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.319 The American Indians, like other men, are constantly moved by 341 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:27.359 this tendency, but on the whole, their accounts of the 342 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:32.440 origin of the world are remarkably incomplete and incoherent. Their 343 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:36.839 creation myths are undeveloped. Those of one of the highest groups, 344 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:42.599 the Mexicans, are noted for their fragmentarianness and inconsistency. It 345 00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:45.799 seems as if the impulse to give an explanation of 346 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:49.440 phenomena by means of myth were never present in the 347 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:53.000 minds of the Indians, but that it is overpowered by 348 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:58.279 other impulses, especially a ceremonial and a narrative one. These 349 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:02.480 tendencies give form to the stories. The explanations due to 350 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:08.359 philosophical tendency are incidents incorporated in the stories. In some degree. 351 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:13.319 This holds true even of American creation myths. Often they 352 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:17.599 contain far more myth than creation. Almost all the North 353 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:20.960 American Indians have an idea of the appearance of the 354 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:24.839 Earth after a great flood or from the primeval water. 355 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.880 Usually this belief is connected with the idea of the 356 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.960 successive diving of various animals to bring up Earth from 357 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.319 the bottom of the water for the formation of the world. 358 00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:40.319 In most cases, this episode is really the most important 359 00:25:40.359 --> 00:25:44.000 part of the myth and the side that most interests 360 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:48.319 and impresses the Indians. This is shown by the frequency 361 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:52.920 with which this to us insignificant incident is told in 362 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.000 connection with the origin of the Earth. Even more by 363 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.200 the fact that the making of the Earth in this 364 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:03.359 way is often recounted as being a renewal, its real 365 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:07.480 origin being unaccounted for, and in some cases by the 366 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.000 degradation of the entire account of the flood, the diving, 367 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:14.240 and the renewal of the world to an incident in 368 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:18.480 the life of a Trichy hero. The same lack of 369 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.640 feeling for a systematic philosophy is evident in the absence 370 00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:26.240 of any comprehensive idea of the act or process of 371 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:32.519 creation in American Indian myths. Primitive races like the Africans, Australians, 372 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:38.640 and Andamanis have developed these conceptions further, while the Polynesians 373 00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:41.839 and others have replaced it by the equivalent one of 374 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:46.359 birth or growth. These two ideas also run through the 375 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:49.799 mythologies of the more civilized races of the Old World, 376 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:54.359 but in America they are lacking. Without creation, there are 377 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:59.359 no creators in America. While the readily reached abstract idea 378 00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:04.079 of a prime and supreme deity occasionally breaks through, it 379 00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:07.880 is quickly forgotten and never really enters into a mythology 380 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.640 so as to influence it deeply. There are a number 381 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:16.680 of cases of such rationalizing origin and creation myths. For instance, 382 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:21.400 among the Blackfeet, they are a bald recital of disconnected 383 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:26.759 creations without beginning or end, without character or plot, and 384 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:30.480 in no real relation with the live body of the mythology. 385 00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.880 They differ from it in spirit and are clearly superimposed 386 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.559 upon it. Not only creators, but gods are a conception 387 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:44.240 that does not flourish among the American Indians. Distinct deities 388 00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:47.200 have been evolved by the more developed nations of the 389 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:53.839 Old World, conspicuous for their mythology, such as India, Babylonia, Egypt, 390 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:58.200 Greece and Norway. Some of these deities create and some 391 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:03.200 do not, but they always have character. Character is an 392 00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:09.119 element in mythology wherever there is true polytheism. Even mythologies 393 00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:13.720 of less developed races such as the Polynesians, produce deities 394 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:17.720 through the conception of characters. The Indian seems to have 395 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:22.160 been unable to form characters as such, and consequently is 396 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:26.920 without real gods. His substitutes for them, in ritual as 397 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:31.400 well as in myth are either animals or personages, distinguished 398 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:36.599 by identification with colours, with directions, with substances, or with 399 00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:42.839 ceremonial ideas white shell woman, animal species present character. Ready 400 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:47.440 made and ritualistic figures offer some approach to an equivalent, 401 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:50.680