USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 3
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The counter-trades of the North Pacific Coast, following the sun southward during the autumn, reach the coast of Southern California shortly after the rains have begun in the northern por- tiou of the State. The first rain may come anywhere from the middle of October until the middle of November. A south wind comes in from the sea; clouds bank up along the southern horizon, and then about the mountain tops, and broken, rainy weather lasting for several days follows, during which time the precipitation amounts to from two to three inches. The first rain may also give snow in the mountains, but not always, nor to any great depth.
After three or four weeks of clear, pleasant weather comes another rain, much like the first, and this time generally with a decided snowfall in the mountains, as the temperature is con- siderably lower. These rains clear the atmos- phere of much of its dust, so that mountains many miles away seem near enough to approach in a morning's drive. With the coming of the
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
rains the land begins to turn green from the springing grasses.
About the latter part of December may be expected one of the heavy winter storms. Set- ting in with a strong south wind from the sea, laden withi moisture, this is condensed by the cooler air of the mountains and uplands, and rains fall for a week or more, in almost daily showers, which come mainly during the after- noon and night. The precipitation may amount to six or eight inches. On the mountains it will be snow.
Jannary is often a month of clear skies, and to many the pleasantest portion of the year, as the air seems to be fresher and more bracing.
In February another storm, like that of De- cember, may be expected; then scattering rains, of two or three days' duration, at intervals of several weeks, through March and April, and then the "rain season " is over.
The annual average precipitation at Los An- geles is eighteen inches, while along the base of the mountains back of the plains it is thirty to forty inches. The amount of rain per year therefore varies greatly, from almost none on the plains in the interior to forty inches or more about the coast mountains, whose cold summits first capture the moisture from the warm currents fresh from the sea. Northward, the rainfall at Visalia averages only 10g inches; at Stockton, 15; Sacramento, 19; San Francisco, 24; Portland, Oregon, 53; and Sitka, 110. To compare with principal States in the east, we will mention that the average precipitation in Lake States is about 30 inches, and at Mobile and Pensacola about 60 inches. The reason that Los Angeles County has more rain than the counties just north is the peculiar configura- tion of the coast line and the mountain ranges. But here there are only about forty rainy days in the year.
In common with the whole Pacific Coast, the shore line of Southern California has, from May to September, the night fog, which comes rolling down from the sea in the evening, and remains in the form of clouds just overhead
until nine or ten o'clock the next morning. This fog, as such, however, does not always come from the sea; for often it is formed from the cold air above coming down in masses amid the moist warm air upon the ground. This fog is not so chilly and disagreeable as that further north, while it in a manner serves instead of the rain season, as to its effect npon vegeta- tion.
The "percentage" of humidity (invisible moisture) in the atmosphere at Los Angeles is 68, San Diego 71 San Francisco 76, Mojave and Colorado deserts probably 60 or below, Yuma 43, Salt Lake 44, New Orleans 79, Florida 75, and New York 72.
Following the same lines across the continent for comparison, the average number of cloudy days per year is found to be at New York 119, Salt Lake 88, San Francisco 79; on the more southern line, Florida 51, New Orleans 97, Yuma 14, Los Angeles 51, and San Diego 85.
On the Pacific Coast the winds are more reg- ular than in any region east of the Sierra. The winds here are never as violent as they often are at every point in the east, but neither is there so great an extent of dead calm. Nearly always there is a gentle current, never a de- parture from this. The sea breeze starts in upon the land about the middle of the day, and the land breeze sets in to sea during the night and continues until nine or ten o'clock the next morning. The northeast trade wind is an upper dry current, off-shore, dropping down at night to become the off-shore land breeze. While it is on high, the sea breeze is coming in landward. Thus the stagnant, life- less air of the heated spells of the Atlantic Slope and of the Mississippi Valley is here an impossibility.
From a table of observations taken during the last twelve years, it is found that the lowest temperatures for the winter months were from 28° to 42°, and the highest, for the warmer months, 81° to 105°; but during that period the thermometer rose above 100° only 12 days, and above 90° 168 days. Half of those days,
HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
9
however, were in September and October! It was below 32° only seven days.
The maximum velocity of the wind ranged from seventeen to forty-six miles per hour, but was over twenty-five miles per hour only forty-
three times. The daily movement ranged from 100 to 183 miles-that is, the average move- ment just over the tops of buildings ranged from a slow walk, by a man or horse, to a fair trot.
KGW
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
THE ABORIGINES.
CHAPTER II.
THE ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN.
ID the Indian originate on the continent of America, or did he come from the great Asiatic home of the race? There are facts which seem to point to the latter question as the one that should be answered in the affirmative. Four hundred years ago both of the continental Americas were thickly inhabited by them, from the British possessions on the north to Tierra del Fnego on the sonth. Mexico and Peru were even the seats of an advanced civilization, and they themselves had been pre- ceded by other civilizations so remote that they rival the most ancient of Greece or Egypt. They are to be read in the mounds of the Missis- sippi Valley, the ruins of Arizona, Mexico, Central America, and further sonth. These objects carry the mind back of the era of the white man, with his written records, back of the time of the Montezumna, with his painting and his priests, back and beyond the time when even the foundations of the Casa Granda were not yet laid nor the mounds were surveyed. There is even suggested to the mind a time when the whole country was without a soul living in all the broad space from Behring's Strait to Cape Horn. How, then, came the Indian to people all this vast waste? The following facts are snb- mitted for what they are worth, as perhaps throwing some light upon the question.
1. Numerous instances are extant of the ship- wrecks of Chinese and Japanese junks upon the Pacific Coast. Washington Irving in his Astoria, mentions the circumstance of a Chinese junk having been wrecked near the month of the Columbia River prior to the year 1812, part of the crew of which was living. The Flat-head Indians killed all the men and appropriated the women for wives, so at least a part of the Indian race in that section are of Asiatic origin. Titus Fey Cronise, in his Natural Wealth of California, records a similar instance. The Chinamen said that their vessel had been dismasted in a typhoon off the Chinese Coast, and that they had drifted for seventeen months on the water, sub- sisting on their cargo of rice and what fish they could catch and what rain water they could save. J. Ross Browne notes the wreck of a Japanese junk that was found on the coast of Lower Cali- fornia.
2. In the Pacific Ocean there is a great " gulf stream," so to speak, that flows around from the Asiatic Coast to America, a stream that is much greater than the one in the Atlantic, and as fully defined in power. It was in this stream that the wrecks above noticed floated to America, and actually added to its population. The query may now be pnt, How long have these additions been going on? If the answer be, as long as China- men have had boats, then there is a fact number.
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IIISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
3. Very old is the Chinese civilization, defi- nitely known at least for 3,000 years. Long ago they had not only boats but the mariner's com- pass; it was possible for them to have navigated the peaceful ocean. If, in the inexorable law of change, civilization never stands still, then dur- ing the great Chinese civilization that was, it is not only possible but probable that the Chinese did navigate the Pacific. Let there be no begging of the question; identical languages would not be spoken by autocthons on opposite sides of unnavigable waters.
4. Several vocabularies which have been compiled show the identity of some of the Indian languages of California with the Chinese. On no stronger argument than the similiarity of languages is the kinship claimed of the different Indo-European races. It is not asserted that all Indians are of Asiatic origin. Strong claims are made by the Welsh and Norwegians that they had American colonies in pre-Columbian times, while in the theories of some the island of Atlantis also plays a prominent part. The in- fusion of the blood of these pre- historic European immigrants, if there were such, into the truly aboriginal stock, may account for the superiority of the eastern and southern Indians over those of the Pacific Coast.
Be all that as it may, when the Spaniard came, the valleys of California were filled with Indians. Most that is known of the Los Angeles County Indians comes from the pen of Perfecto Hugo Reid, a Scotchman, who spent many years among them. It has been thought best to give his writings in full.
His letters were first published in the Los Angeles Star in 1852. The following has been carefully compared with the original manu- script in the possession of Don A. F. Coronel.
LETTER I.
"The following are the rancherías, with the corresponding present names:
Yang-na, Los Angeles.
Sibag-na,
San Gabriel.
Isanthcog-na,
Mission Vieja.
Sisit Canog-na,
Pear Orchard.
Sonag-na,
Mr. White's place.
Acurag-na,
The Presa.
Azuesag-na,
Azusa.
Cucomog-na,
Cucamonga.
Pasinog-na,
Rancho del Chino.
Pimocag-na,
Rancho de Ybarra.
Awig-na,
La Puente.
Chokishg-na,
La Jaboneria.
Pimng-na,
Isl. of S. Catalina.
Toybipet,
San José.
Hutucg-na,
Santa Ana (Yorbas).
Ahupquig-na,
Santa Anita.
Mang-na,
Rancho Feliz.
Hahamog-na,
Rancho Verdugos.
Cabueg-na,
Cahuenga.
Pasecg-na,
San Fernando.
Suang-na,
Suanga (Wilmington).
Pubug-na,
Alamitos.
Tibahag-na,
Cerritos.
Chowig-na,
Palos Verdes.
Nacaug-na,
Carpenter's farm.
Kinkipar,
Isl. of S. Clemente.
Houtg-na,
Rancho Lugo.
" Irup and San Bernardino, etc., belonged to another distinct tribe possessing a language not at all understood by the above lodges; and, although reduced by the Spanish missionaries to the same labor and religion, they never amalga- inated their blood, they being considered as much inferior, and named Serranos (Mountaineers).
" The captains, or chiefs, of each lodge took its name followed by ic, with sometimes the alteration of one or more final letters. For in- stance, the chief of Azucsag-na was called Azncsavic; that of Sibag-na, Sibapic. The title of a chief's eldest son was Tomear; of his eld- est daughter, Manisar.
" Suanga was the most populous village.
" The Cahuillas were named by the Spanish missionaries, thus misnamed as a tribal name, the word cahuilla signifying master.
LETTER II.
" They have a great many liquid sounds, and their gutturals are even softened down so as to
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
become agreeable to the ear. (Here follows a vocabulary of about fifty words, and an example of the verb as conjugated, as follows:) Nahacna, to hear.
Nonim nahacna, I hear.
O-a nahacna,
Thou hearest.
Mane nahacna,
He or she hears.
Non him nahacua, I heard.
O-a him nahacua, Thou heardest.
Mane him nahacua, He or she heard.
Nop nom nahacua, I shall hear.
O-pam nahacua, Thou shalt hear.
Mane-pom nahacna, He or she shall hear.
LETTER III.
" The Santa Inéz tongue is understood by the Indians of the Purissima, Santa Barbara* and San Buenaventura, with this difference, that the two latter splutter their words a little more, which almost seems impossible. The lis used in this tongue, although not in the Gabrielino, which is strange. The only word in the Gabriel tongue which has an l is an in- terjection, alala, equal to our Oho! The Ser- ranos have no / either, in use, and their language is as easy as that of San Gabriel. The Serranos generally employ a t, when the Gabrielinos would use an r.
LETTER IV .- GABRIELINO.
" Father, mother, husband, son, daughter, face, hair, car, tongue, mouth and friend are words never used withont a personal pronoun; as, father, nack; my father, ni nack; thy father, mo nack; his or her father, a nack. If they had children, instead of saying ni asum, my husband, they often say ni taliaisum, which may be translated 'part of my body.' All brothers older than the speaker are styled apa; ni apa, my brother; all younger, by apeitz, my younger brother. They have no word to ex-
press Indian. Tahat signifies people. The whites are termed chichinabro, reasonable be- ings. Face and eyes are expressed by the same word. Ear, nanah; the leaves of a tree are called its ears. Snow and ice are the same *. Tobagnar, the whole earth; lahur, a portion of it, a piece of land. Caller, forest. No word to signify tree; all varieties have their special names. Cabatcho, good-looking. Zizu, devil, an evil spirit. Qua-o-ar, God. Held in great reverence, and the name was seldom pronounced among them. They generally used the term Y-yo-ha-riv-gnina, that which gives us life.
LETTER V .- GOVERNMENT, LAWS AND PUNISHMENT.
"The government of the people was in the hands of the chiefs, each captain commanding his own lodge. The command was hereditary in a family, descending from father to son, and from brother to brother. If the right line of descent ran out, they immediately elected one of the same kin nearest in blood. Laws in general were made as they were required, with the exception of some few standing ones. Rob- bery and thieving were unknown among them; and murder, which was of rare occurrence, was punished by shooting the delinquent with arrows until dead. Incest was held in deep abhorrence and punished with death; even mar- riages between kinsfolk were not allowed. The manner of death was by shooting with arrows.
" All prisoners of war were invariably put to death, after being tormented in a most cruel manner. This was done in presence of all the chiefs; for as war was declared and conducted by a council of the whole, so they had to attend to the execution of enemies in common. A war dance on such an occasion was therefore grand, solemn and maddening. [The war-clubs were all made of hard, heavy wood, and some of them were slightly ornamented.]
" If a quarrel ensued between two parties, the chiefs of the lodge took cognizance in the case and decided according to the testimony produced. But if a quarrel resulted between
* The writer learned In the vicinity of Santa Barhars that this people designated themselves ss Siogtin. The band occupying the region ahont the Cathedral Oske was known as the Smuwitch. That located nearer the coast, at the P'artera, the Saqpill. All town vil- lages, I. e, at Santa Barbara, were called Mikique. The Indians formerly living in Santa Cruz Island (now extinct) termed themselves Tehnma. In these namea the q is sounded as the German ch in nicht.
* The ward at the present lime Is iú at.
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
parties of distant lodges, each chief heard the witnesses produced by his own people, and then, in council with the chiefs of the other side, they passed sentence. Should they disa- gree, another chief, impartial, was called in, who heard the statements made by the two captains, and he decided alone. There was no appeal from his decision. Whipping was never re- sorted to as a punishment, restitution being invariably made for damages sustained in money, food and skins.
" If a woman proved unfaithful to her hus- band and he caught her in the act, he had a right to put her to death, if he chose, without any interference by any of the tribe. But what was more generally practiced, he informed the paramour he was at liberty to keep her, and then he took possession of the other's spouse. The exchange was admitted as legal by all con- cerned, and the paramour would not object.
" Although they counted by moons, still they had another mode for long periods, which was to reckon from the time the sun was farthest north till he was at his sonthern extremity, and then back again. Summer was counted from the time frogs were first lieard to croak. This was used to count war scrapes by, and under the recollection of the chief. When other tribes had to be chastised, the chief sent an express to all other lodges. They brought up from children a number of males, who were taught to hear long stories by the chief and to repeat them word for word. In this manner they became so perfect as to be able to recite the longest oration any one could produce.
" They were not much given to travel, for they only relate of one who left his people and proceeded north till he came to the land where the geese bred; and even he appears to have possessed that property ascribed to his race; for on his return he informed them of having fallen in with people whose ears reached down to the hips; others of a small stature; and finally people so perfect that they would lay hold of a rabbit or other animal, put it near the mouth, draw a long breath and then throw the
rest away, which on examination was nothing but excrement! They sucked with their breath the essence of the food and so lived without any calls of nature!
LETTER VI .- FOOD AND RAIMENT.
"The animal food used by the Gabrielinos consisted of deer meat, young coyotes, squirrels, badgers, rats, gophers, skunks, raccoons, wild- cats, small crow, blackbirds, hawks and snakes, with the exception of the rattlesnake. A few ate of the bear, but in general it was re- jected, on superstitious grounds. A large lo- cust or a grasshopper was a favorite morsel, roasted on a stick at the fire. Fish, quails, seals, sea otter and shell-fish formed the prin- cipal subsistence of the immediate coast range lodges and islanders. Acorns, after being di- vested of the shell, were dried and pounded in stone mortars, put into filterers of willow twigs, worked into a conical form and raised on little sand mounds, which were lined inside with two inches of sand; water added and mixed up, filled up again and again with more water, at first hot and then cold until all the bitter prin- ciple was extracted; the residue was then col- lected and washed free of any sandy particle it might contain; on settling, the water was ponred off; on being boiled it became a sort of mush, and was eaten when cold. The next favorite food was the kernel of a species of plum, which grows in the mountains and isl- ands. It is sometimes called the mountain cherry, although it partook little of either, having a large stone wrapped in fiber and pos- sessing little pulp. This, cooked, formed a very nutritious, rich, sweet aliment, and looked much like dry frijoles. Chia, which is a small, gray, oblong seed, was procured from a plant ap- parently of the thistle kind, having a number of seed vessels on a straight stalk, one above the other, like sage. This, roasted and ground, made a meal which was eaten, mixed with cold water, being of a glutinous consistence and very cooling. Pepper seeds were also much used; likewise the tender tops of wild sage. Salt was
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
used sparingly, as they considered it having a tendency to turn the hair gray. All their food was eaten cold or nearly so.
"The men wore no clothing. The women of the interior wore a short waist skirt of deer- skin, while those of the coast had otter-skin. Covering for sleeping consisted of rabbit-skin quilts. The women wore earrings, the men passing a piece of cane or reed through the ear lobe. The earrings of the women were com- posed of four long pieces of whale's tooth, ground smooth and round, about eight inches in length, and hung, with hawks' feathers, from a ring of abalone shell. Their necklaces were very large and heavy, and consisted of their money beads, of beads made of black stone, and pieces of whale's teetli, ground round and pierced. They nsed bracclets of very small shell-beads on both wrists."
[The black beads referred to are made of dark, greenishi black serpentine, some specimens resembling diorite excepting as to hardness. They vary in size, the smallest one measuring about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, and one- eiglith in thickness, and the largest known to the writer measures seven-eighths of an inch in diameter and one and a half inches in length. The perforation in this specimen is one-fourth of an inch in diameter, and presents transverse striæ caused by the sand used in drilling. The shell beads were usually made of Haliotis and Trivola. Shell money-beads were flat, and about one-third of an inch in diameter. Other beads used for necklaces were cylindrical or sub- cylindrical, larger in the middle than toward either end. Many of them, found. in graves, present the same style of delicate perforations as we find in the beads from Santa Cruz Island. The writer is of the opinion that these narrow perforations were made by means of sea-lion's whiskers as drills, and extremely fine silicious dust. The channels are scarcely large enough to admita good-sized thread, and in several beads which have split lengthwise it is apparent that drilling was done at both ends, as the perfora- tions cease a short distance beyond the middle
of the bead, thus passing one another, perhaps less than the tenth of an inch. It is evident, from the appearance of other unfinished speci- mens, that the boring was begun by using a stone drill,-of which many and various forms occur,-after which the bristle was applied. The channels are slightly conical toward the outer end, and at about one-fourth the length of the shell there is a constriction beyond which and near the middle of the bead the channel again becomes wider, assuming an elliptical form. * *
* A body was recently discovered on Santa Cruz Island, with which was obtained a bunch of these bristles carefully wrapped from end to end. Furthermore, it is well known that Chinamen on the Pacific Coast purchase all the bristles of the sea-lion that can be obtained, pay- ing twenty-five cents apiece therefor, to be pre- pared and sold as toothpicks.
Most of the shells required for use were ob- tained at the Santa Catalina Islands. These, as well as the islands opposite Santa Barbara, are fine localities for Haliotis shells even at this time. The serpentine used in making beads, ollas and large rings was also obtained at the islands first named.]
LETTER VII .- MARRIAGES.
"Chiefs or captains had one, two or three wives, as their inclinations dictated: their sub- jects only one. When a person wished to marry, and had selected a suitable partner, he advertised the same to his relations. On the day ap- pointed, the male portion of the lodge and inale relations living at other lodges brought in their contributions of shell-bead money, gen- erally to the value of twenty-five cents each. The contribution ready, t ley proceeded in a body to the residence of the bride, where all her relations were assembled. The money was then divided equally among them, the bride receiving nothing, as it was a purchase. After a few days, the bride's female relations returned the compliment in taking to the bridegroom's dwell- ing baskets of meal made of chia, which was distributed among his malee rlations. These
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.
preliminaries over, a day was fixed for the ceremony, which consisted in decking ont the bride with innumerable strings of beads, paint and skins. Being ready, she was taken up in the arms of one of the strongest of the tribe who carried her, dancing, toward her sweetheart's habitation, all her family connections dancing round and throwing food and edible seeds at her feet at every step, which were collected by the spectators as best they could in a scramble. The relations of the groom came and met them, taking away the bride from the carrier, and doing the duty themselves as likewise joining in the ceremonious walking dance. On arriving at the bridegroom's lodge, who was within wait- ing, the bride was inducted into her new resi- dence, placed beside her husband, and baskets of seeds emptied on them to denote blessing and plenty. These were likewise scrambled for by the spectators, who, in gathering up all the "seed-cake" departed, leaving them to enjoy their honeymoon according to nsage. The bride never visited her relations from that day forth, but was at liberty to receive their visits.
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