The Native Races (Complete 5 Part Edition). Hubert Howe Bancroft

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СКАЧАТЬ one at Smith River forty-two feet long, eight feet four inches wide, and capable of carrying twenty-four men and five tons of merchandise. The natives take great care of their canoes, and always cover them when out of the water to protect them from the sun. Should a crack appear they do not caulk it, but stitch the sides of the split tightly together with withes. They are propelled with a piece of wood, half pole, half paddle.475

      WEALTH IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Wealth, which is quite as important here as in any civilized communities, and of much more importance than is customary among savage nations, consists in shell-money, called allicochick, white deer-skins, canoes, and, indirectly, in women. The shell which is the regular circulating medium is white, hollow, about a quarter of an inch through, and from one to two inches in length. On its length depends its value. A gentleman, who writes from personal observation, says: "all of the older Indians have tattooed on their arms their standard of value. A piece of shell corresponding in length to one of the marks being worth five dollars, 'Boston money,' the scale gradually increases until the highest mark is reached. For five perfect shells corresponding in length to this mark they will readily give one hundred dollars in gold or silver."476 White deer-skins are rare and considered very valuable, one constituting quite an estate in itself.477 A scalp of the red-headed woodpecker is equivalent to about five dollars, and is extensively used as currency on the Klamath. Canoes are valued according to their size and finish. Wives, as they must be bought, are a sign of wealth, and the owner of many is respected accordingly.478

      Among the Northern Californians, hereditary chieftainship is almost unknown. If the son succeed the father it is because the son has inherited the father's wealth, and if a richer than he arise the ancient ruler is deposed and the new chief reigns in his stead. But to be chief means to have position, not power. He can advise, but not command; at least, if his subjects do not choose to obey him, he cannot compel obedience.

There is most frequently a head man to each village, and sometimes a chief of the whole tribe, but in reality each head of a family governs his own domestic circle as he thinks best. As in certain republics, when powerful applicants become multiplied—new offices are created, as salmon-chief, elk-chief, and the like. In one or two coast tribes the office is hereditary, as with the Patawats on Mad River, and that mysterious tribe at Trinidad Bay, mentioned by Mr. Meyer, the Allequas.479

Their penal code is far from Draconian. A fine of a few strings of allicochick appeases the wrath of a murdered man's relatives and satisfies the requirements of custom. A woman may be slaughtered for half the sum it costs to kill a man. Occasionally banishment from the tribe is the penalty for murder, but capital punishment is never resorted to. The fine, whatever it is, must be promptly paid, or neither city of refuge nor sacred altar-horns will shield the murderer from the vengeance of his victim's friends.480

      WOMEN AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.

In vain do we look for traces of that Arcadian simplicity and disregard for worldly advantages generally accorded to children of nature. Although I find no description of an actual system of slavery existing among them, yet there is no doubt that they have slaves. We shall see that illegitimate children are considered and treated as such, and that women, entitled by courtesy wives, are bought and sold. Mr. Drew asserts that the Klamath children of slave parents, who, it may be, prevent the profitable prostitution or sale of the mother, are killed without compunction.481

Marriage, with the Northern Californians, is essentially a matter of business. The young brave must not hope to win his bride by feats of arms or softer wooing, but must buy her of her father, like any other chattel, and pay the price at once, or resign in favor of a richer man. The inclinations of the girl are in nowise consulted; no matter where her affections are placed, she goes to the highest bidder, and "Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair." Neither is it a trifling matter to be bought as a wife; the social position of the bride herself, as well as that of her father's family thereafter, depends greatly upon the price she brings; her value is voted by society at the price her husband pays for her, and the father whose daughter commands the greatest number of strings of allicochick, is greatly to be honored. The purchase effected, the successful suitor leads his blushing property to his hut and she becomes his wife without further ceremony. Wherever this system of wife-purchase obtains, the rich old men almost absorb the female youth and beauty of the tribe, while the younger and poorer men must content themselves with old and ugly wives. Hence their eagerness for that wealth which will enable them to throw away their old wives and buy new ones. When a marriage takes place among the Modocs, a feast is given at the house of the bride's father, in which, however, neither she nor the bridegroom partake. The girl is escorted by the women to a lodge, previously furnished by public contributions, where she is subsequently joined by the man, who is conducted by his male friends. All the company bear torches, which are piled up as a fire in the lodge of the wedded pair, who are then left alone. In some tribes this wife-traffic is done on credit, or at least partially so; but the credit system is never so advantageous to the buyer as the ready-money system, for until the full price is paid, the man is only 'half-married,' and besides he must live with his wife's family and be their slave until he shall have paid in full.482 The children of a wife who has cost her husband nothing are considered no better than bastards, and are treated by society with contumely; nobody associates with them, and they become essentially ostracized. In all this there is one redeeming feature for the wife-buyer; should he happen to make a bad bargain he can, in most instances, send his wife home and get his money back. Mr. Gibbs asserts that they shoot their wives when tired of them, but this appears inconsistent with custom.

      ADULTERY AND CHASTITY.

Polygamy is almost universal, the number of wives depending only on the limit of a man's wealth. The loss of one eye, or expulsion from the tribe, are common punishments for adultery committed by a man. A string of beads, however, makes amends. Should the wife venture on any irregularity without just compensation, the outraged honor of her lord is never satisfied until he has seen her publicly disemboweled. Among the Hoopahs the women are held irresponsible and the men alone suffer for the crime.483 Illegitimate children are life-slaves to some male relative of the mother, and upon them the drudgery falls; they are only allowed to marry one in their own station, and their sole hope of emancipation lies in a slow accumulation of allicochick, with which they can buy their freedom. We are told by Mr. Powers that a Modoc may kill his mother-in-law with impunity. Adultery, being attended with so much danger, is comparatively rare, but among the unmarried, who have nothing to fear, a gross licentiousness prevails.484

Among the Muckalucs a dance is instituted in honor of the arrival of the girls at the age of puberty. On the Klamath, during the period of menstruation the women are banished from the village, and no man may approach them. Although the principal labor falls to the lot of the women, the men sometimes assist in building the wigwam, or even in gathering acorns and roots.485 Kane mentions that the Shastas, or, as he calls them, the Chastays, frequently sell their children as slaves to the Chinooks.486 Dances and festivities, of a religio-playful character, are common, as when a whale is stranded, an elk snared, or when the salmon come. There is generally a kind of thanksgiving-day once a year, when the people of neighboring tribes meet and dance. The annual feast of the Veeards is a good illustration of the manner of these entertainments. The dance, СКАЧАТЬ