Four of these names are clear. The fifth, Ouluke, is very probably Tuluka of Barrett. Since these five groups are sharply defined by the Napa Valley and since Yount obviously was talking about that area, his size estimate was excessive. He says 100 miles by 20, whereas the valley actually is about 40 miles in length from the Bay to Mt. St. Helena and perhaps on the average 15 miles in width, from the crest of one range across to the other.
With regard to numbers Yount says (1923, p. 56):
"It is not yet eight years [evidently referring to the year 1843] since the above named valley swarmed with not less than eight thousand human beings, of whom there are not now [1851] left as many hundreds.... The poor remnants of all the five tribes above named now mingle & wander up and down the valley promiscuously together...."
There is also an account of the destruction of the Caymus (1923, p. 59). A great many, if not most of them, were killed by being burnt in a sweathouse. The guilty parties were stated to be two Indians from San Rafael, but the motives were obscure. This event occurred some time during the later days of Yount's tenure, for, continues the manuscript, "at a period long previous to the tragical event above related, Yount embarked in erecting a small flour mill...."
Although Alexander Taylor, in his Indianology, mentions some of the subtribes of the Wappo, he gives no useful population data. On the other hand, John S. Hittell talked about the Napa Valley Indians in an article in the Hesperian Magazine entitled Notes on Napa Valley (1860, p. 55). He gives the same tribes, or subtribes, as were mentioned by Yount in the manuscript edited by Camp. These were the Mayacomas, the Callajomanas, the Caymus, the Napa Indians, the Soscol, and the Ulacas. He then adds the following:
Their rancherias were numerous throughout the length of the valley.... It is not known how many of these Indians there were, no census having been taken nor any careful estimate having been made, at the time, by anybody. Mr. Yount thinks their number was not less than three thousand, and possibly twice as many. It would have been an easy matter to collect a thousand warriors in those times.
Shortly afterward C. A. Menefee (1873) wrote a history of Napa and adjacent counties, using Hittell and Alexander Taylor as his only written authorities. No historical scholar in the professional sense, Menefee nevertheless devoted a full chapter to the Napa Valley Indians, and gives evidence of having undertaken to secure such information as he could from local residents. His statements are not sensational and appear within reasonable limits to be reliable.
He lists the six tribes exactly as does Hittell. He expands on Hittell's quotation from Yount thus (1873, p. 19): Yount said that "in round numbers there were from 10,000 to 12,000 Indians ranging the country between Napa and Clear Lake. Of this number he [Yount] says there were at least 3,000 in Napa County, and perhaps twice that number." At one point Menefee comments (1873, p. 18): "No estimate of their [Indians'] numbers appears to have been made until 1823, and it was known that they had then greatly decreased."
Menefee's principal contribution, however, is a rough computation of the surviving Indian population in 1843. This estimate occurs nowhere else to my knowledge, and I think was no doubt secured by Menefee through personal interviews with early settlers. He says (1873, p. 18) that there were 50 to 100 Indians on the Bale rancho, 400 at Caymus rancho, 600 at Salvador rancho, a "large number" at Soscol. Amplifying this count, he says: "It was the custom of the Indians to establish their rancherias upon the grants of the early settlers, in order to gain a livelihood by occasional labor." Also: "These were in some sense permanently fixed and residing constantly in one place. Besides these there were thousands of nomads, who roamed the valleys and mountains...."
Menefee also describes the destruction of an Indian community, the Callajomanas. This time it was a group of white ranchers from Sonoma Valley who became incensed at stock depredations, came to the village, and slaughtered 300 Indians—according to Menefee—as they emerged from a sweathouse. Whether this tale is confused with the account of Yount on the Caymus tragedy is difficult to say. The circumstances and the number of Indians involved may well be garbled, but that some such incident took place is highly probable.