[559] The Meewocs 'believe that their male physicians, who are more properly sorcerers, can sit on a mountain top fifty miles distant from a man they wish to destroy, and compass his death by filliping poison towards him from their finger-ends.' Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327.
[560] 'I incautiously entered one of these caverns during the operation above described, and was in a few moments so nearly suffocated with the heat, smoke, and impure air, that I found it difficult to make my way out.' Bryant's Cal., p. 272.
[561] 'Zur Heilung bedienen sich die Schamane der Kräuter und Wurzeln, grösstentheils aber saugen sie mit dem Munde das Blut aus der kranken Stelle aus, wobei sie Steinchen oder kleine Schlangen in den Mund nehmen und darauf versichern, sie hätten dieselben aus der Wunde herausgezogen.' Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 95; see also pp. 83, 91, 94-5. 'Until now it has not been ascertained that the Indians had any remedy for curing the sick or allaying their sufferings. If they meet with an accident they invariably die.' Comellas' Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. 'Ring-worm is cured by placing the milk of the poison oak in a circle round the affected part.' Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 440. 'Among the Meewocs stomachic affections and severe travail are treated with a plaster of hot ashes and moist earth spread on the stomach.' Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327. See further: Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 140; Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 370; Holinski, La Californie, p. 173; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 324; Beechey's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 35, 78; San Joaquin Republican, Sept., 1858; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 63; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., pp. 103, 107; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 193; Pickering's Races, in Id., vol. ix., p. 109; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 333; also quoted in Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 237; Kneeland's Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52; Kelly's Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284; Powers' Pomo, MS.; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 166; Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 94; Delano's Life on the Plains, p. 295; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 152.
[562] 'From north to south, in the present California, up to the Columbia river they burnt the dead in some tribes, and in others buried them. These modes of sepulture differed every few leagues.' Taylor's Indianology, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. A dead Oleepa was buried by one woman in 'a pit about four feet deep, and ten feet in front of the father's door.' Delano's Life on the Plains, p. 301. At Santa Cruz 'the Gentiles burn the bodies of their warriors and allies who fall in war; those who die of natural death they inter at sundown.' Comellas' Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. The Indians of the Bay of San Francisco burned their dead with everything belonging to them, 'but those of the more southern regions buried theirs.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 363. In the vicinity of Clear Lake all the tribes with the exception of the Yubas bury their dead. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289.
[563] 'Los Runsienes dividian últimamente entre los parientes las pocas cosas que componian la propiedad del difunto. Los Eslenes, al contrario, no solo no repartian cosa alguna, sino que todos sus amigos y súbditos debian contribuir con algunos abalorios que enterraban con el cadáver del fallecido.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 172. 'If a woman dies in becoming a mother, the child, whether living or dead, is buried with its mother.' Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437.
[564] 'Die nächsten Anverwandten schneiden sich das Haar ab und werfen es ins Feuer, wobei sie sich mit Steinen an die Brust schlagen, auf den Boden stürzen, ja bisweilen aus besonderer Anhänglichkeit zu dem Verstorbenen sich blutrünstig oder gar zu Tode stossen; doch sind solche Fälle selten.' Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. 'The body is consumed upon a scaffold built over a hole, into which the ashes are thrown and covered.' Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. See also: Tehama Gazette, May, 1859; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 171-2; Powers' Pomo, MS.; also in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 502, vol. x., p. 328, vol. xii., p. 28; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, April 4, 1861; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 448-50; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 306; Placerville Index, 1857; Marmier, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 230, 236; Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 369; Folsom Dispatch, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 9, 1860; Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 225; D'Orbigny, Voy., p. 458; Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 242; Forbes' Cal., p. 195.
[565] In the Russian River Valley the Indians 'sind weichherzig, und von Natur nicht rachsüchtig ... sie erlernen mit Leichtigkeit mancherlei Handarbeiten und Gewerbe.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 77-8. Near Fort Ross 'sind sie sanft und friedfertig, und sehr fähig, besonders in der Auffassung sinnlicher Gegenstände. Nur in Folge ihrer unmässigen Trägheit und Sorglosigkeit scheinen sie sehr dumm zu seyn.' Kostromitonow, in Id., pp. 81-2. 'They appear ... by no means so stupid' as those at the missions. Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 26. At Bodega Bay 'their disposition is most liberal.' Maurelle's Jour., p. 47. At Clear Lake 'they are docile, mild, easily managed ... roguish, ungrateful, and incorrigibly lazy ... cowardly and cringing towards the whites ... thorough sensualists and most abandoned gamblers ... wretchedly improvident.' Revere's Tour, pp. 120-1. In the Sacramento Valley they are 'excessively jealous of their squaws ... stingy and inhospitable.' Kelly's Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 114. 'A mirthful race, always disposed to jest and laugh.' Dana, in Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. 'Possessed of mean, treacherous, and cowardly traits of character, and the most thievish propensities.' Johnson's Cal. and Ogn., p. 143. In the vicinity of San Francisco Bay 'they are certainly a race of the most miserable beings I ever saw, possessing the faculty of human reason.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 13. 'For the most part an idle, intemperate race.' Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 78. 'They are a people of a tractable, free, and louing nature, without guile or treachery.' Drake's World Encomp., p. 131. 'Bastantes rancherias de gentiles muy mansos y apacibles.' Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 497. 'Son muy mansos, afables, de buenas caras y los mas de ellos barbados.' Palou, Noticias, in Id., tom. vii., p. 59. At Monterey they 'étaient lourds et peu intelligents.' Those living farther from the missions were not without 'une certaine finesse, commune à tous les hommes élevés dans l'état de nature.' Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 134. 'Ces peuples sont si peu courageux, qu'ils n'opposent jamais aucune résistance aux trois ou quatre soldats qui violent si évidement à leur égard le droit des gens.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 297. 'The Yukas are a tigerish, truculent, sullen, thievish, and every way bad, but brave race.' Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 306. The Tahtoos were very cowardly and peace-loving. Powers' Pomo, MS. Than the Oleepas 'a more jolly, laughter-loving, careless, and good-natured people do not exist.... For intelligence they are far behind the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains.' Delano's Life on the Plains, p. 297. The Kannimares 'were considered a brave and warlike Indian race.' Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. The condition of the Wallas 'is the most miserable that it is possible to conceive; their mode of living, the most abject and destitute known to man.' Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 241. The Fresno River Indians 'are peaceable, quiet and industrious.' Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 304. A rational, calculating people, generally industrious. Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 291. On the coast range north and east of Mendocino 'they are a timid and generally inoffensive race.' Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 304. In Placer County they are industrious, honest, and temperate; the females strictly virtuous. Brown, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 243. Lazy, trifling, drunken. Applegate, Ib. In Tuolumne: friendly, generally honest, truthful; men lazy, women industrious. Jewett, Id., p. 244. In the Yosemite Valley, 'though low in the scale of man, they are not the abject creatures generally represented; they are mild, harmless, and singularly honest.' Kneeland's Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. At Santa Clara they have no ambition, are entirely regardless of reputation and renown. Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 21. In stupid apathy 'they exceed every race of men I have ever known, not excepting the degraded races of Terra del Fuego or Van Dieman's Land.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 97. At Santa Cruz 'they are so inclined to lying that they almost always will confess offences they have not committed;' very lustful and inhospitable. Comellas' Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. At Kelsey River they are 'amiable and thievish.' Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 124. 'In general terms, the California Indians are more timid, peaceable, and joyous than any of their neighbors.' Stephens, in Powers' Pomo, MS. 'Their stupidity, insensibility, ignorance, inconstancy, slavery to appetite, excessive sloth and laziness, being absorbed for the time in the stir and din of night-watching and battle, give them a new existence.' Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 366. 'Faul und jeder Anstrengung abgeneigt.' Osswald, Californien, p. 63. 'Stupidity seemed to be their distinctive character.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 239. 'Loose, lazy, careless, capricious, childish and fickle.' Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 2, 1860. 'They are really the most harmless tribes on the American continent.' Gerstaecker's Nar., p. 212. Revengeful, timid, treacherous and ungrateful. Kelly's Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284. 'Cowardly, treacherous, filthy and indolent.' Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. 'Dull, indolent, phlegmatic, timid and of a gentle, submissive temper.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. 'In stature no less than in mind are certainly of a very inferior race of human beings.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 168. 'Pusillanimous.' Forbes' Cal., p. 183. 'Ils sont également extrêmes dans l'expression de la joie et de la colère.' Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 58. 'Seemed to be almost of the lowest grade of human beings.' King's Rept., in Bayard Taylor's El Dorado, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 210. 'Die Indianer von Californien sind physisch und moralisch den andern Indianern untergeordnet.' Wimmel, Californien, p. 177. 'Su estupidez mas parece un entorpecimiento de las potencias por falta de accion y por pereza característica, que limitacion absoluta de sus facultades intelectuales; y así quando se las pone en movimiento, y se les dan ideas, no dexan de discernir y de aprender lo que se les enseña.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 164. 'I noticed that all the Indians from Southern to Northern California were low, shiftless, indolent, and cowardly.' Miller's Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 16. Cowardly and treacherous in the extreme. Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son, MS.
[566] At Santa Catalina 'las mujeres son muy hermosas y honestas, los niños son blancos y rubios y muy risueños.' Salmeron, Relaciones, p. 18, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv. See also Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712. At Santa Barbara, 'son mas altos, dispuestos, y membrados, que otros, que antes se avian visto.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 714. On the coast from San Diego to San Francisco they are 'd'une couleur foncée, de petite taille, et assez mal faits.' Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 226. At San Luis Rey, 'sont bien faits et d'une taille moyenne.' Id., p. 171; quoted in Marmier, p. 229. An Indian seen at Santa Inez Mission 'was about twenty-seven years old, with a black thick beard, iris of the eyes light chocolate-brown, nose small and round, lips not thick, face long and angular.' Cal. Farmer, May 4, 1860. The Noches 'aunque de buena disposicion son delgados y bastante delicados para andar á pié.' Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 295. 'Well proportioned in figure, and of noble appearance.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45. 'The women (of the Diegeños) are beautifully developed, and superbly formed, their bodies as straight as an arrow.' Michler, in Emory's U. S. and Mex., Bound. Survey, vol. i., p. 107. The Cahuillas 'are a filthy and miserable-looking set, and great beggars, presenting an unfavorable contrast to the Indian upon the Colorado.' Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 134.
[567] The ordinary cloak descends to the waist: 'le chef seul en a une qui lui tombe jusqu'au jarret, et c'est là la seule marque de distinction.' Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 172; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 229.
[568] These capes Father Crespi describes as being 'unos capotillos hechos de pieles de liebres y conejos de que hacen tiras y tercidas como mecate; cosen uno con otro y las defienden del frio cubriéndolas por la honestidad.' Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., pp. 291-2; see also Id., p. 312.