A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

had come in contact with civilization he was not inferior in intelligence to the nomad aborigines of the country east of the Rocky mountains.

Sebastian Viscaino thus describes the In- dians he found on the shores of Monterey Bay three hundred years ago:

"The Indians are of good stature and fair complexion, the women being somewhat less in size than the men and of pleasing countenance. The clothing of the people of the coast lands consists of the skins of the sea-wolves (otter) abounding there, which they tan and dress bet- ter than is done in Castile; they possess also, in great quantity, flax like that of Castile, hemp and cotton, from which they make fishing-lines

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and nets for rabbits and hares. They have ves- sels of pine wood very well made, in which they go to sea with fourteen paddle men on a side with great dexterity, even in stormy weather."

Indians who could construct boats of pine boards that took twenty-eight paddle men to row were certainly superior in maritime craft to the birch bark canoe savages of the east. We might accuse Viscaino, who was trying to induce King Philip III. to found a colony on Monterey Bay, of exaggeration in regard to the Indian boats were not his statements con- firmed by the engineer, Miguel Constansó, who accompanied Portolá's expedition one hundred and sixty-seven years after Viscaino visited the coast. Constansó, writing of the Indians of the Santa Barbara Channel, says, "The dexterity and skill of these Indians is surpassing in the construction of their launches made of pine planking. They are from eight to ten varas (twenty-three to twenty-eight feet) in length, including their rake and a vara and a half (four fcet three inches) beam. Into their fabric enters no iron whatever, of the use of which they know little. But they fasten the boards with firmness, one to another, working their drills just so far apart and at a distance of an inch from the edge, the holes in the upper boards corresponding with those in the lower, and through these holes

pitch and calk the seams, and paint the whole in sightly colors. They handle the boats with equal cleverness, and three or four men go out to sea to fish in them, though they have capacity to carry eight or ten. They use long oars with two blades and row with unspeakable lightness and velocity. They know all the arts of fishing, and fish abound along their coasts as has been said of San Diego. They have communication and commerce with the natives of the islands, whence they get the beads of coral which are current in place of money through these lands, although they hold in more esteem the glass beads which the Spaniards gave them, and of- fered in exchange for these whatever they had like trays, otter skins, baskets and wooden plates. * * *

"They are likewise great hunters. To kill deer and antelope they avail themselves of an

admirable ingenuity. They preserve the hide of the head and part of the neck of some one of these animals, skinned with care and leaving the horns attached to the same hide, which they stuff with grass or straw to keep its shape. They put this said shell like a cap upon the head and go forth to the woods with this rare equip- age. On sighting the deer or antelope they go dragging themselves along the ground little by little with the left hand. In the right they carry the bow and four arrows. They lower and raise the head, moving it to one side and the other, and making other demonstrations so like these animals that they attract them without difficulty to the snare; and having them within a short distance, they discharge their arrows at them with certainty of hitting."

In the two chief occupations of the savage, hunting and fishing, the Indians of the Santa Barbara Channel seem to have been the equals if not the superiors of their eastern brethren. In the art of war they were inferior. Their easy conquest by the Spaniards and their tame subjection to mission rule no doubt had much to do withi giving them a reputation for infe- riority.

The Indians of the interior valleys and those of the coast belonged to the same general fam- ily. There were no great tribal divisions like they pass strong lashings of deer sinews. They , those that existed among the Indians east of the Rocky mountains. Each rancheria was to a certain extent independent of all others, al- though at times they were known to combine for war or plunder. Although not warlike, they sometimes resisted the whites in battle with great bravery. Each village had its own terri- tory in which to hunt and fish and its own sec- tion in which to gather nuts, seeds and herbs. While their mode of living was somewhat no- madic they seem to have had a fixed location for their rancherias.

The early Spanish settlers of California and the mission padres have left but very meager accounts of the manners, customs, traditions, government and religion of the aborigines. The padres were too intent upon driving out the old religious beliefs of the Indian and instilling new ones to care much what the aborigine had for- merly believed or what traditions or myths he

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

had inherited from his ancestors. They ruth- lessly destroyed his fetiches and his altars wherever they found them, regarding them as inventions of the devil.

The best account that has come down to us of the primitive life of the Southern California aborigines is found in a series of letters written by Hugo Reid and published in the Los An- geles Star in 1851-52. Reid was an educated Scotchman, who came to Los Angeles in 1834. He married an Indian woman, Dona Victoria, a neophyte of the San Gabriel mission. She was the daughter of an Indian chief. It is said that Reid had been crossed in love by some high toned Spanish señorita and married the Indian woman because she had the same name as his lost love. It is generally believed that Reid was the putative father of Helen Hunt Jackson's heroine, Ramona.

From these letters, now in the possession of the Historical Society of Southern California, I briefly collate some of the leading character- istics of the Southern Indians:

GOVERNMENT.

"Before the Indians belonging to the greater part of this country were known to the whites they comprised, as it were, one great family under distinct chiefs ; they spoke nearly the same language, with the exception of a few words, and were more to be distinguished by a local intonation of the voice than anything else. Be- ing related by blood and marriage war was never carried on between them. When war was consequently waged against neighboring tribes of no affinity it was a common cause."

"The government of the people was invested in the hands of their chiefs, each captain con- manding his own lodge. The command was hereditary in a family. If the right line of de- scent ran out they elected one of the same kin nearest in blood. Laws in general were made as required, with some few standing ones. Rob- bery was never known among them. Murder was of rare occurrence and punished with death. Incest was likewise punished with death, being held in such abhorrence that marriages between kinsfolk were not allowed. The manner of put- ting to death was by shooting the delinquent

with arrows. If a quarrel ensued between two parties the chief of the lodge took cognizance in the case and decided according to the testi- mony produced. But if a quarrel occurred between parties of distinct lodges, each chief heard the witnesses produced by his own people, and then, associated with the chief of the oppo- site side, they passed sentence. In case they could not agree an impartial chief was called in, who heard the statements made by both and he alone decided. There was no appeal from his de- cision. Whipping was never resorted to as a punishment. All fines and sentences consisted in delivering shells, money, food and skins."

RELIGION.

"They believed in one God, the Maker and Creator of all things, whose name was and is held so sacred among them as hardly ever to be used, and when used only in a low voice. That name is Qua-o-ar. When they have to use the name of the supreme being on an ordinary oc- casion they substitute in its stead the word Y-yo-ha-rory-nain or the Giver of Life. They have only one word to designate life and soul."

"The world was at one time in a state of chaos, until God gave it its present formation, fixing it on the shoulders of seven giants, made ex- pressly for this end. They have their names, and when they move themselves an earthquake is the consequence. Animals were then formed, and lastly man and woman were formed, separ- ately from earth and ordered to live together. The man's name was Tobahar and the woman's Probavit. God ascended to Heaven immediately afterward, where he receives the souls of all who die. They had no bad spirits connected with their creed, and never heard of a 'devil' or a 'hell' until the coming of the Spaniards. They believed in no resurrection whatever "

MARRIAGE.

"Chiefs had one, two or three wives, as their inclination dictated, the subjects only one. When a person wished to marry and had selected a suitable partner, he advertised the same to all his relatives, even to the nineteenth cousin. On a day appointed the male portion of the lodge

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

brought in a collection of money beads. All the relations having come in with their share, they (the males) proceeded in a body to the resi- dence of the bride, to whom timely notice had been given. All of the bride's female relations had been assembled and the money was equally divided among them, the bride receiving noth- ing, as it was a sort of purchase. After a few days the bride's female relations returned the compliment by taking to the bridegroom's dwelling baskets of meal made of chia, which was distributed among the male relatives. These preliminaries over, a day was fixed for the cere- mony, which consisted in decking out the bride in innumerable strings of beads, paint, feathers and skins. On being ready she was taken up in the arms of one of her strongest male rela- tives, who carried her, dancing, towards her lover's habitation. All of her family, friends and neighbors accompanied, dancing around, throw- ing food and edible seeds at her feet at every step. These were collected in a scramble by the spectators as best they could. The relations of the bridegroom met them half way, and, tak- ing the bride, carried her themselves, joining in the ceremonious walking dance. On arriving at the bridegroom's (who was sitting within his luut) she was inducted into her new residence by being placed alongside of her husband, while baskets of seeds were liberally emptied on their heads to denote blessings and plenty. This was likewise scrambled for by the spectators, who, on gathering up all the bride's seed cake, de- parted, leaving them to enjoy their honeymoon according to usage. A grand dance was given on the occasion, the warriors doing the danc- ing, the young women doing the singing. The wife never visited her relatives from that day forth, although they were at liberty to visit her."

BURIALS.

"When a person died all the kin collected to mourn his or her loss. Each one had his own peculiar mode of crying or howling, as easily dis- tinguished the one from the other as one song is from another. After lamenting awhile a mourning dirge was sung in a low whining tone, accompanied by a shrill whistle produced by blowing into the tube of a deer's leg bone.

Dancing can hardly be said to have formed a part of the rites, as it was merely a monotonous action of the foot on the ground. This was con- tinued alternately until the body showed signs of decay, when it was wrapped in the covering used in life. The hands were crossed upon the breast and the body tied from head to foot. A grave having been dug in their burial ground, the body was deposited with seeds, etc., accord- ing to the means of the family. If the deceased were the head of the family or a favorite son, the hut in which he lived was burned up, as likewise were all his personal effects."

FEUDS-THE SONG FIGHTS.

"Animosity between persons or families was of long duration, particularly between those of different tribes. These feuds descended from father to son until it was impossible to tell of how many generations. They were, however, harmless in themselves, being merely a war of songs, composed and sung against the conflict- ing party, and they were all of the most obscene and indecent language imaginable. There are two families at this day (1851) whose feud com- menced before the Spaniards were ever dreamed of and they still continue singing and dancing against each other. The one resides at the mis- sion of San Gabriel and the other at San Juan Capistrano; they both lived at San Bernardino when the quarrel commenced. During the sing- ing they continue stamping on the ground to express the pleasure they would derive from tramping on the graves of their foes. Eight days 'was the duration of the song fight."

UTENSILS.

"From the bark of nettles was manufactured thread for nets, fishing lines, etc. Needles, fish- hooks, awls and many other articles were made of either bone or shell; for cutting up meat a knife of cane was invariably used. Mortars and pestles were made of granite. Sharp stones and perseverance were the only things used in their manufacture, and so skillfully did they combine the two that their work was always remarkably uniform. Their pots to cook in were made of soapstone of about an inch in thickness and procured from the Indians of Santa Catalina.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Their baskets, made out of a certain species of rush, were used only for dry purposes, although they were water proof. The vessels in use for liquids were roughly made of rushes and plas- tered outside and in with bitumen or pitch."

INDIANS OF THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL.

Miguel Constansó, the engineer who accom- panied Portolá's expedition in 1769, gives us the best description of the Santa Barbara Indians extant.

"The Indians in whom was recognized more vivacity and industry are those that inhabit the islands and the coast of the Santa Barbara channel. They live in pueblos (villages) whose houses are of spherical form in the fashion of a half orange covered with rushes. They are up to twenty varas (fifty-five feet) in diameter. Each house contains three or four families. The hearth is in the middle and in the top of the house they leave a vent or chimney to give exit for the smoke. In nothing did these gentiles give the lie to the affability and good treatment which were experienced at their hands in other times (1602) by the Spaniards who landed upon those coasts with General Sebastian Vizcayno. They are men and women of good figure and as- pect, very much given to painting and staining their faces and bodies with red ochre.

"They use great head dresses of feathers and some panderellas (small darts) which they bind up amid their hair with various trinkets and beads of coral of various colors. The men go entirely naked, but in time of cold they sport some long capes of tanned skins of nutrias (ot- ters) and some mantles made of the same skins cut in long strips, which they twist in such a manner that all the fur remains outside; then they weave these strands one with another, forming a weft, and give it the pattern referred to.

"The women go with more decency, girt about the waist with tanned skins of deer which cover them in front and behind more than half down the leg, and with a mantelet of nutria over the body. There are some of them with good features. These are the Indian women who make the trays and vases of rushes, to which they give a thousand different forms and grace-

ful patterns, according to the uses to which they are destined, whether it be for eating, drinking, guarding their seeds, or for other purposes; for these peoples do not know the use of earthen ware as those of San Diego use it.

"The men work handsome trays of wood, with finer inlays of coral or of bone; and some vases of much capacity, closing at the mouth, which appear to be made with a lathe-and with this machine they would not come out better hol- lowed nor of more perfect form. They give the whole a luster which appears the finished handi- work of a skilled artisan. The large vessels which hold water are of a very strong weave of rushes pitched within; and they give them the same form as our water jars.

"To eat the seeds which they use in place of bread they toast them first in great trays, put- ting among the seeds some pebbles or small stones heated until red: then they move and shake the tray so it may not burn; and getting the seed sufficiently toasted they grind it in mor- tars or almireses of stone. Some of these mor- tars were of extraordinary size, as well wrought as if they had had for the purpose the best steel tools. The constancy, attention to trifles, and labor which they employ in finishing these pieces are well worthy of admiration. The mortars are so appreciated among themselves that for those who, dying, leave behind such handiworks, they are wont to place them over the spot where they are buried, that the memory of their skill and application may not be lost.

"They inter their dead. They have their cem- eteries within the very pueblo. The funerals of their captains they make with great pomp, and set up over their bodies some rods or poles, ex- tremely tall, from which they hang a variety of utensils and chattels which were used by them. They likewise put in the same place some great planks of pine, with various paintings and fig- ures in which without doubt they explain the exploits and prowesses of the personage.

"Plurality of wives is not lawful among these peoples. Only the captains have a right to marry two. In all their pueblos the attention was taken by a species of men who lived like the women, kept company with them, dressed in the same garb, adorned themselves with beads, pen-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

dants, necklaces and other womanish adorn- ments, and enjoyed great consideration among the people. The lack of an interpreter did not permit us to find out what class of men they were, or to what ministry they were destined, though all suspect a defect in sex, or some abuse among those gentiles.

"In their houses the married couples have their separate beds on platforms elevated from the ground. Their mattresses are some simple petates (mats) of rushes and their pillows are of the same petates rolled up at the head of the bed. All these beds are hung about with like mats, which serve for decency and protect from the cold."

From the descriptions given by Viscaino and Constansó of the coast Indians they do not ap- pear to have been the degraded creatures that some modern writers have pictured them. In mechanical ingenuity they were superior to the Indians of the Atlantic seaboard or those of the Mississippi valley. Much of the credit that has been given to the mission padres for the patient training they gave the Indians in mechanical arts should be given to the Indian himself. He was no mean mechanic when the padres took him in hand.

Bancroft says "the Northern California In- dians were in every way superior to the central and southern tribes." The difference was more in climate than in race. Those of Northern Cal- ifornia living in an invigorating climate were more active and more warlike than their sluggishı brethren of the south. They gained their living by hunting larger game than those of the south whose subsistence was derived mostly from acorns, seeds, small game and fish. Those of the interior valleys of the north were of lighter complexion and had better forms and features than their southern kinsmen. They were divided into numerous small tribes or clans, like those of central and Southern Cali- fornia. The Spaniards never penetrated very far into the Indian country of the north and consequently knew little or nothing about the habits and customs of the aborigines there. After the discovery of gold the miners invaded their country in search of the precious metal. The Indians at first were not hostile, but ill

treatment soon made them so. When they re- taliated on the whites a war of extermination was waged against them. Like the mission In- dians of the south they are almost extinct.

All of the coast Indians seem to have had some idea of a supreme being. The name dif- fered with the different tribes. According to Hugo Reid the god of the San Gabriel Indian was named Quaoar. Father Boscana, who wrote "A Historical Account of the Origin, Customs and Traditions of the Indians" at the missionary establishment of San Juan Capis- trano, published in Alfred Robinson's "Life in California," gives a lengthy account of the relig- ion of those Indians before their conversion to Christianity. Their god was Chinigchinich. Evi- dently the three old men from whom Boscana derived his information mixed some of the religious teachings of the padres with their own primitive beliefs, and made up for the father a nondescript religion half heathen and half Christian. Boscana was greatly pleased to find so many allusions to Scriptural truths, evidently never suspecting that the Indians were imposing upon him.

The religious belief of the Santa Barbara Channel Indians appears to have been the most rational of any of the beliefs held by the Cali- fornia aborigines. Their god, Chupu, was the deification of good; and Nunaxus, their Satan, the personification of evil. Chupu the all-powerful created Nunaxus, who rebelled against his cre- ator and tried to overthrow him; but Chupu, the almighty, punished him by creating man who, by devouring the animal and vegetable products of the earth, checked the physical growth of Nunaxus, who had hoped by liberal feeding to become like unto a mountain. Foiled in his am- bition, Nunaxus ever afterwards sought to in- jure mankind. To secure Chupu's protection, offerings were made to him and dances were instituted in his honor. Flutes and other in- struments were played to attract his attention. When Nunaxus brought calamity upon the In- dians in the shape of dry years, which caused a dearth of animal and vegetable products, or sent sickness to afflict them, their old men interceded with Chupu to protect them; and to exorcise their Satan they shot arrows and threw

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

stones in the direction in which he was sup- posed to be.

Of the Indian myths and traditions Hugo Reid says: "They were of incredible length and contained more metamorphoses than Ovid could have engendered in his brain had he lived a thousand years.".

The Cahuilla tribes who formerly inhabited the mountain districts of the southeastern part of the state had a tradition of their creation. Ac- cording to this tradition the primeval Adam and Eve were created by the Supreme Being in the waters of a northern sea. They came up out of the water upon the land, which they found to be soft and miry. They traveled southward for many moons in search of land suitable for their residence and where they could obtain susten- ance from the earth. Thus they found at last on the mountain sides in Southern California.

Some of the Indian myths when divested of their crudities and ideas clothed in fitting language are as poetical as those of Greece or Scandinavia. The following one which Hugo Reid found among the San Gabriel Indians bears a striking resemblance to the Grecian myths of Orpheus and Eurydice but it is not at all probable that the Indians ever heard the Grecian fable. Ages ago, so runs this Indian myth, a powerful people dwelt on the banks of the Arroyo Seco and hunted over the hills and plains of what are now our modern Pasadena and the valley of San Fernando. They com- mitted a grievous crime against the Great Spirit. .\ pestilence destroyed them all save a boy and girl who were saved by a foster mother pos- sessed of supernatural powers. They grew to manhood and womanhood and became husband and wife. Their devotion to each other angered the foster mother, who fancied herself neglected. She plotted to destroy the wife. The young woman, divining her fate, told her husband that should be at any time feel a tear drop on his shoulder, he might know that she was dead. While he was away hunting the dread signal came. He hastened back to destroy the hag who had brought death to his wife, but the sorceress had escaped. Disconsolate he threw himself on the grave of his wife. For three days he neither ate nor drank. On the third day a whirlwind

arose from the grave and moved toward the south. Perceiving in it the form of his wife, be hastened on until lie overtook it. Then a voice came out of the cloud saying: "Whither I go, thou canst not come. Thou art of earth but I am dead to the world. Return, my husband, return!" He plead piteously to be taken with her. She consenting, he was wrapt in the cloud with her and borne across the illimitable sea that separates the abode of the living from that of the dead. When they reached the realms of ghosts a spirit voice said: "Sister, thou comest to us with an odor of earth; what dost thou bring?" Then she confessed that she had brought her living husband. "Take him away!" said a voice stern and commanding. She plead that he might remain and recounted his many virtues. To test his virtues, the spirits gave him four labors. First to bring a feather from the top of a pole so high that its summit was in- visible. Next to split a hair of great length and exceeding fineness ; third to make on the ground a map of the constellation of the lesser bear and locate the north star and last to slay the celestial deer that had the form of black beetles and were exceedingly swift. With the aid of his wife he accomplished all the tasks.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184