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

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СКАЧАТЬ offal from the entrails and cooking body and intestines together. Lizards, snakes, grasshoppers, and ants are thrown alive into a dish containing hot embers, and are tossed about until roasted; they are then eaten dry or used to thicken soup. Grasshoppers, seeds, and roots, are also gathered and cooked in the same manner as by the nations already described. The Gosh Utes take rabbits in nets made of flax-twine, about three feet wide and of considerable length. A fence of sage-brush is erected across the rabbit-paths, and on this the net is hung. The rabbits in running quickly along the trail become entangled in the meshes and are taken before they can escape. Lizards are dragged from their holes by means of a hooked stick. To catch ants a piece of fresh hide or bark is placed upon the ant-hill; this is soon covered by vast swarms of the insects, which are then brushed off into a bag and kept there until dead, when they are dried for future use. Among the hunting tribes antelope are gradually closed in upon by a circle of horsemen and beaten to death with clubs. They are also stalked after the fashion of the Californians proper, the hunter placing the head and horns of an antelope or deer upon his own head and thus disguised approaching within shooting distance.

      NATIVE FISH-WEIR.

      Fish are killed with spears having movable heads, which become detached when the game is struck, and are also taken in nets made of rushes or twigs. In the latter case a place is chosen where the river is crossed by a bar, the net is then floated down the stream and on reaching the bar both ends are drawn together. The fish thus enclosed are taken from the circle by hand, and the Shoshone as he takes each one, puts its head in his mouth and kills it with his teeth. Captain Clarke describes an ingeniously constructed weir on Snake River, where it was divided into four channels by three small islands. Three of these channels were narrow "and stopped by means of trees which were stretched across, and supported by willow stakes, sufficiently near to prevent the passage of the fish. About the centre of each was placed a basket formed of willows, eighteen or twenty feet in length, of a cylindrical form, and terminating in a conic shape at its lower extremity; this was situated with its mouth upwards, opposite to an aperture in the weir. The main channel of the water was then conducted to this weir, and as the fish entered it they were so entangled with each other, that they could not move, and were taken out by emptying the small end of the willow basket. The weir in the main channel was formed in a manner somewhat different; there were, in fact two distinct weirs formed of poles and willow sticks quite across the river, approaching each other obliquely with an aperture in each side of the angle. This is made by tying a number of poles together at the top, in parcels of three, which were then set up in a triangular form at the base, two of the poles being in the range desired for the weir, and the third down the stream. To these poles two ranges of other poles are next lashed horizontally, with willow bark and withes, and willow sticks joined in with these crosswise, so as to form a kind of wicker-work from the bottom of the river to the height of three or four feet above the surface of the water. This is so thick as to prevent the fish from passing, and even in some parts with the help of a little gravel and some stone enables them to give any direction which they wish to the water. These two weirs being placed near to each other, one for the purpose of catching the fish as they ascend, the other as they go down the river, are provided with two baskets made in the form already described, and which are placed at the apertures of the weir."

For present consumption the fish are boiled in water-tight baskets by means of red-hot stones, or are broiled on the embers; sometimes the bones are removed before the fish is cooked; great quantities are also dried for winter. Some few of the Utahs cultivate a little maize, vegetables, and tobacco, and raise stock, but efforts at agriculture are not general. The Snakes sometimes accompany the more northern tribes into the country of the Blackfeet, for the purpose of killing buffalo.618

In their persons, dwellings and habits, the Utahs are filthy beyond description. Their bodies swarm with vermin which they catch and eat with relish. Some of the Snakes are of a more cleanly disposition, but, generally speaking, the whole Shoshone family is a remarkably dirty one.619

      WEAPONS OF THE SHOSHONES.

The bow and arrow are universally used by the Shoshones, excepting only some of the most degraded root-eaters, who are said to have no weapon, offensive or defensive, save the club. The bow is made of cedar, pine, or other wood, backed with sinew after the manner already described, or, more rarely, of a piece of elk-horn. The string is of sinew. The length of the bow varies. According to Farnham, that used by the Pi Utes is six feet long, while that of the Shoshones seen by Lewis and Clark was only two and a half feet in length. The arrows are from two to four feet, and are pointed with obsidian, flint, or, among the lower tribes, by merely hardening the tip with fire. Thirty or forty are usually carried in a skin quiver, and two in the hand ready for immediate use. Lances, which are used in some localities, are pointed in the same manner as the arrows when no iron can be procured. The Snakes have a kind of mace or club, which they call a poggamoggon. It consists of a heavy stone, sometimes wrapped in leather, attached by a sinew thong about two inches in length, to the end of a stout leather-covered handle, measuring nearly two feet. A loop fastened to the end held in the hand prevents the warrior from losing the weapon in the fight, and allows him to hold the club in readiness while he uses the bow and arrow.620 They also have a circular shield about two and a half feet in diameter, which is considered a very important part of a warrior's equipment, not so much from the fact that it is arrow-proof, as from the peculiar virtues supposed to be given it by the medicine-men. The manufacture of a shield is a season of great rejoicing. It must be made from the entire fresh hide of a male two-year-old buffalo, and the process is as follows. A hole is dug in the ground and filled with red-hot stones; upon these water is poured until a thick steam arises. The hide is then stretched, by as many as can take hold of it, over the hole, until the hair can be removed with the hands and it shrinks to the required size. It is then placed upon a prepared hide, and pounded by the bare feet of all present, until the ceremony is concluded. When the shield is completed, it is supposed to render the bearer invulnerable. Lewis and Clarke also make mention of a species of defensive armor "something like a coat of mail, which is formed by a great many folds of dressed antelope skins, united by means of a mixture of glue and sand. With this they cover their own bodies and those of their horses, and find it impervious to the arrow." I find mention in one instance only, of a shield being used by the Utahs. In that case it was small, circular, and worn suspended from the neck. The fishing spear I have already described as being a long pole with an elk-horn point. When a fish is struck the shaft is loosened from its socket in the head, but remains connected with the latter by a cord.621 Arrows are occasionally poisoned by plunging them into a liver which has been previously bitten by a rattlesnake.622

      MANNER OF MAKING WAR.

The tribes that possess horses always fight mounted, and manage their animals with considerable address. In war they place their reliance upon strategy and surprise; fires upon the hills give warning of an enemy's approach. Prisoners of war are killed with great tortures, especially female captives, who are given over to the women of the victorious tribe and by them done to death most cruelly; it is said, however, that male prisoners who have distinguished themselves by their prowess in battle, are frequently dismissed unhurt. Scalps are taken, and sometimes portions of the flesh of a brave fallen enemy are eaten that the eater may become endued with the valor of the slain. He who takes the most scalps gains the most glory. Whether the warriors who furnished the trophies fell by the hand of the accumulator or not, is immaterial; he has but to show the spoils and his fame is established. The Snakes are said to be peculiarly skillful in eluding pursuit. When on foot, they will crouch down in the long grass and remain motionless while the pursuer passes within a few feet of them, or when caught sight of they will double and twist so that it is impossible to catch them. The custom of ratifying a peace treaty by a grand smoke, common to so many of the North American aborigines, is observed by the Shoshones.623 СКАЧАТЬ