This definition, given for the Pomo, fits the Athabascan area very well. Merriam usually refers to these groups as "bands," while Goddard calls them "subtribes." In the body of this paper I use the word "band" when quoting or paraphrasing Merriam, otherwise I call them "tribelets."
The tribelet was the largest corporate group in the area. A larger group, which I call the tribe, has been identified by most ethnographers. This latter group ordinarily had no corporate functions, unless it happened to be coterminous with, and therefore indistinguishable from, the tribelet. The tribe, as the term is used here, was a group of two or more tribelets—or occasionally one single group—with a single speech dialect, different from that of their neighbors. The tribe was also culturally uniform, but not necessarily distinct from its neighbors in this respect. The similarity between people of a single tribe evidently gave them a feeling of community but had no further effect on their social or political organization.
The following tribes have been identified in the Athabascan area, each including several tribelets, except for the Bear River tribe, which consists of one single tribelet.
Kato: The Kato probably included at least 2 tribelets, but we have no information on this point.
Eel River Wailaki: 9 tribelets.
North Fork Wailaki: 6 tribelets.
Pitch Wailaki: 4 tribelets.
Lassik: Probably several tribelets, but there is no information.
Nongatl: There is evidence of 6 subgroups of the Nongatl. Some of these may be dialect divisions, that is, tribes. The information is not sufficient to permit definition and they have therefore been grouped under Nongatl. The extent of Nongatl territory indicates that there must have been several tribelets.
Lolangkok Sinkyone: There were at least 2, and possibly more, tribelets.
Shelter Cove Sinkyone: There were at least 4 tribelets.
Mattole: 2 tribelets.
Bear River: The Bear River tribe consists of a single tribelet.
Whilkut: The 4 subdivisions of the Whilkut—Chilula Whilkut, Kloki Whilkut, Mad River Whilkut, and North Fork Whilkut—all appear to be tribelets. It is possible that the Mad River Whilkut spoke a different dialect than the other groups and, if so, they should be given tribal status. The evidence is not clear on this point and I have therefore included them simply as a Whilkut tribelet.
Hupa: 2 tribelets are to be distinguished for the Hupa proper. In addition, Merriam distinguishes the South Fork Hupa as a distinct dialect division. The linguistic separation is not supported by Goddard or Kroeber and I have therefore included the South Fork Hupa under the Hupa proper, but as a separate tribelet. This gives a total of 3 tribelets for the Hupa.
In general, it may be stated that the California Athabascans did not have the strong local organization characteristic of Central California. Emphasis on wealth, although present, was less strongly developed than among the Yurok and therefore did not lead to the fragmented villages and tight family organization of that group. This statement, of course, does not apply to the Hupa, and probably not to the Whilkut, both of which were more like the Yurok.
Religion and the supernatural.—The clearest account of the religious practices of the Athabascans is given by Nomland (1938, pp. 93-98), who obtained her information from the Bear River woman, Nora Coonskin, herself a shaman. The account, however, may not be representative of the Athabascans as a whole.
The Athabascans thought that each person had a spirit which, leaving him when he died, might come back to earth as a small creature about two feet high. This returned spirit could communicate with shamans. When a person had a fainting spell, the spirit departed from the body and a shaman had to be called in order to get the patient's spirit back. If the shaman failed, the patient died. Shamans' spirits went to a special afterworld and were accompanied only by the spirits of other shamans.
Shamans were important among the Bear River people and probably among the other Athabascans as well. They might be either men or women; most often they were women, men being thought less powerful. The first signs of a shaman's power came in childhood, the visible signs being, for example, excessive drooling in sleep. If the childhood omens were proper, the training began about the age of twelve, under the direction of an older shaman, the main ceremony being a series of dances performed on five successive nights. Other ceremonies followed; then the girl was a full-fledged shaman. She was not supposed to use her power for a period of two to five years or it would harm her. The fee for training the initiate was large, 200 to 300 dollars in Indian money (perhaps a 6-8 ft. string of dentalia shells).
There were two types of shamans—curing shamans and sucking shamans. The curing shaman sang and danced for two nights while her spirit searched for the spirit of the patient. A shaman's fee was from five to ten dollars per night; if the patient died within two months, the fee had to be returned.
The sucking shamans could suck out pains which were causing illness. These shamans were paid more because they were more powerful; having greater power, they were in greater danger and had a shorter life expectancy.