Now to analyze the happenings of June 26. The "Embassadors or messengers" of Fletcher are probably correctly identified, since the custom of having messengers who announce the coming of a chief and his party is known to have existed at least among the Pomo[69] and probably among the Coast Miwok, although there is no specific mention of such a practice among the latter. Even the custom that messengers should ask for a present for the "king" (i.e., chief) is known to have been observed by the Pomo.[70] It is impossible to identify the man who bore the "scepter" or "mace," a black stick about four and a half feet long, but the scepter itself seems identifiable with the staff known ethnographically to have been used in the central California Kuksu or ghost ceremony.[71]
The assemblage of the black stick with pendant "feathered crowns" and clamshell disk beads has not been noted by any modern ethnographer, but the flat, circular, centrally drilled white beads of clamshell are familiar ([pl. 18, c]). They were made from clamshells dug at Bodega Bay, the source of these beads for most of the Indians of central California.[72] It is of some interest to note that in later times the beads have been very abundant, and that in the last 350 years the manufacture and use of clamshell disk beads have been much increased. The net "crownes" covered with a pattern of colored feathers are described by Fletcher in terms so general that exact identification is difficult. They may have resembled some of those illustrated by Dixon, who collected them from the Northern Maidu.[73] At least, net caps with feather decorations were commonly used in Coast Miwok[74] and Pomo[75] ceremonies. The king's guard was probably composed of a number of male initiates of a secret society who naturally would separate themselves from the women and children when engaged in ceremonial duties.[76] The net cap of the king or Hioh was different from that of the others, and it is not improbable that it was one of the flicker-quill headbands so well known for the area ([pl. 18, a]).[77] This identification is at best tentative, however, since there was in this area a bewildering array of types of feather-decorated ceremonial headgear. The king's coat of conyskins seems to have been distinguished from those of his guard. The guards' coats may have been made of pocket gopher or mountain beaver skins, and the king's coat was possibly of woven rabbitskin blankets, common to both the Pomo and the Coast Miwok.[78] What seems unusual is that there is no mention in Fletcher's account of the feather cloaks or skirts used in later times on ceremonial occasions. I have been unable to find any ethnographic data on a special skin coat for chiefs or ceremonial leaders. The down-filled head net undoubtedly refers to the central Californian net cap.[79] The feather plumes mentioned by Fletcher as worn on the head by persons close to the king may have been of several of the numerous types used in central California. Examples are illustrated by Dixon[80] and Kroeber.[81] The repeated mention by Fletcher of the use of feathers indicates clearly that their ceremonial use was highly developed at this period. The single feathers resembling "horns" are an ethnographic feature of the costume of the ghost dancer among the Pomo,[82] and although there is no documentary evidence that the Coast Miwok wore feathers in such a manner, it seems likely, in view of the very close correspondence between Pomo and Coast Miwok ceremonial features, that they did so. The practice of painting the body is an almost invariable feature of Coast Miwok[83] and Pomo[84] ceremonies.
The gifts brought by the women in round baskets included bags of Tobah (already discussed), broiled fish, the seed and down of some plant (milkweed?),[85] and a root called Petah or Patah. Neither the Pomo nor the Coast Miwok remember today any root or bulb with a name resembling Petah or Patah. Elmendorf and I have agreed with Kroeber that Petah is probably to be linked with the word "potato" in one or another of its various forms. Kroeber thinks that the description indicates the wild onion (Brodiaea), called putcu in Coast Miwok, and this is not improbable. However, soaproot (Chlorogalum), which was sometimes baked into a bread, would also fill the description. It is called haka by the Coast Miwok, and it is barely possible, though hardly probable, that haka could have been heard and recorded as Patah or Petah. Since Fletcher speaks of Petah as a root, it seems improbable that he was describing acorns (called ümba in Coast Miwok); yet even this remote possibility may be entertained, since Madox recorded cheepe as bread, and Coast Miwok tcipa means acorn bread. The word Petah, and botanical identification, must remain in limbo until further data are at hand.
The feather-decorated baskets offer evidence, as Barrett and Kroeber have indicated, that Drake landed on the coast immediately north of San Francisco Bay. The baskets ([pl. 19]) are described as shaped like a deep bowl, covered with a matted down of red feathers worked into various patterns, and further embellished with pendant drops of pearl shell (Haliotis) and two or three disk beads in various places. Such baskets were made only by the Coast Miwok,[86] Pomo,[87] Lake Miwok, and Wappo. Kroeber states that these baskets "served as gifts and treasures; and above all they were destroyed in honor of the dead."[88] It is clear that, in 1579, feathered baskets similar in manufacture and use to the native baskets of today were known in this Coast Miwok area.
The scepter bearer, prompted in a low voice by another man, delivered a long oration. The Coast Miwok have such orators; among those Indians the office of speechmaker is a special one.[89] The Pomo have orators,[90] as do most other central Californians. The Amen, or sign of general approbation, following the oration has already been commented upon. Then the natives performed a dance to the accompaniment of a song led by the scepter bearer (or orator)[91] and joined in by the men, while the women danced but remained silent. Among the Pomo and Coast Miwok each ceremony has a song in connection with its observance. [92]
The episode of the crowning has no parallel in native custom or ceremonial behavior, probably because "crowning" was a unique experience for the Indians as well as the English. This fact should be kept in mind in judging and estimating the natives' actions and reactions—they were as puzzled as the English. Drake was specifically honored by the Indians, and there is no reason to doubt Fletcher when he states that the name Hioh was given to him. It has been suggested that Hioh was a term of salutation or an interjection,[93] but there is no reason to believe that this was so. The word finds possible equivalents in Coast Miwok for chief, hoipu, hoipa, or friend, oiya.[94] Since the Interior Miwok word for chief is haiapo, there is a bare possibility that the hoi of today may have been rendered hai in 1579, though there is no direct evidence to support this suggestion. It should be mentioned here that the Madox account independently verifies Fletcher's remarks on the episode of the crowning, as well as the word for "king" (chief?), which Madox renders as Hioghe.[95]
The close scrutiny of the English by the Indians following the "crowning" ceremony indicates that the main business of the day (i.e., the ceremonial crowning by secret society initiates) was over, and that the general public could now take part in the festivities. Of great interest are Fletcher's statements to the effect that the most youthful Englishmen were repeatedly selected as recipients of personal sacrifice and adoration which took the form of lamenting, moaning, weeping, wailing, and self-lacerating. Only one conclusion can be drawn: the Indians supposed that they were looking upon relatives returned from the dead, and hence performed the usual mourning observances.
After all these ceremonies were concluded, the Indians showed the English their infirmities, aches, sores, and wounds, and it was made clear that if the English would but blow upon them they would be made well. This accords fairly well with the curing aspect of certain local ceremonies. For example, the Kuksu doctor of the Pomo might cure by blowing "his whistle over the various parts of his body, particularly those recognized by the patients as the seats of pain."[96] There is no mention of the use of whistles in connection with the ceremony enacted by the Indians. Whistles are so commonly used in local ceremonies that their omission is noteworthy. The detailed nature of the account indicates that this feature was not so strongly developed in 1579 as it is today in local native custom.
General observations, and occurrences from June 27 to July 23.—The natives were almost constant visitors, and it is noted that ordinarily every third day they brought their "sacrifices" (?). From this and other indications it seems possible that the ceremonial number of the Indians was three. The ceremonial number of the adjoining Pomo is four.[97] The Coast Miwok ceremonial number was probably four, though there is no direct evidence to support this supposition. The Indian bow is spoken of as weak and "more fit for children than for men," a remark to be expected from the English, who were even then employing the famous longbow. The English were impressed with the strength of the natives, but, for Indians accustomed to transporting everything on their backs, their feats of strength seem not surprising. It is also noted that the natives were good at running and that this was the ordinary means of travel. The English admired the native surf fishing. Kroeber has interpreted the passage, "if at any time, they chanced to see a fish, so neere the shoare, that they might reach the place without swimming, they would neuer, or very seldome misse to take it," as signifying diving for fish in the surf. Since this unusual practice is not otherwise recorded ethnographically for any coastal Californian tribe, some other explanation may be in order, and I suggest that Fletcher may have had reference to surf fishing with a round hand net, a practice known to have been followed by the Coast Miwok.[98] One gets the impression that the English found much to admire in their native friends.
Drake, his gentlemen, and others of the ship's company made an expedition into the interior to see the native villages and the country round about. The houses were all of the semisubterranean, circular type discussed previously. Two animals were seen, as also herds of deer and great numbers of "conies," a name which, as used by Fletcher, seems to fit no known animal living today in this coastal area.[99]