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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1920)
T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N PAGE 4 G IAN T W OLVES OF THE SEA T he killer w hale usually travels and h u n ts in “ schools” or packs of from three to a dozen or m ore individuals, according to th e N ational G eographic M agazine. U nlike m ost w hales, the m em bers of these schools do not travel in a strag g lin g p arty , b u t swim sid e by side, th eir m ovem ents as reg u larly tim ed as those of soldiers. A reg u larly spaced row of advancing long black fins sw iftly c u ttin g the u n d u lated surface of th e sea p ro duces a sin g u larly sin ister effect. T h e evil im pression is well justified, since killers are the m ost savage and rem orseless of w hales. T h e jaw s are arm ed w’ith rows of effective teeth , w ith w hich th e anim als attack and devour seals and porpoises and even destroy some of th e larger w’hales. K illers are like g ian t wolves of th e sea, and th e ir ferocity strik es te rro r to o th e r w arm -blooded in h a b ita n ts of the deep. T h e E skim os of the A laskan coast of Bering sea consider k illers as actual w olves in sea form . T hey believe th a t in th e early days, w hen the w’orld was young and m en and anim als could change th e ir form at will, land wolves often w ent to th e edge of the shore ice an d changed to k iller w hales, and th e killers retu rn ed to the edge of th e ice and came o u t as wolves, to go rav en in g over th e land. Some of th e natives assure me th a t even today certain wolves and killers are still endow ed w ith th is pow er an d , on ac co u n t of th eir m alig n an t character, are m uch feared by h u n ters. K illers are know n to swallow small seal and p o r poises en tire and attack large w hales by te arin g aw ay th eir fleshy lips and ton g u es. W hen attack in g larg e prey th ey w ork in packs, w ith all the u n ity and fierce ness of so m any wolves. TH E N A M E “C A LIFO R N IA ” E arly in the 16th cen tu ry th ere was published in Spain a rom ance entitled “ Las S ergus de E sp la n d ia n .” T h is w ork told of th e doings of a pagan queen of A m azons who w ith allies from the “ rig h t hand of th e In d ie s” assisted in th e attack on C onstantinople, or S tam boul, as th e T u rk s called it. T h e nam e of th is A m azonian queen was Calafia and h er kingdom w hich possessed a w ealth of gold, d ia m onds and pearls was called C alifornia. It is supposed th a t the nam e of the queen was derived from “ C a lif,’ ’ th e title of M oham m ed’s successor. In th e rom ance th e follow ing passage appears: “ K now th a t on th e rig h t hand of th e Indies there is an islan d , called C alifornia, very close to th e T e r restrial P aradise, and it was peopled by black wom en w ith o u t any m an am ong them , for they lived in th e fashion of the A m azonia. T h ey were of stro n g an d h ard y bodies, of ard en t courage and of g reat force. T heir island was the stro n g est in the w orld, w ith its steep cliffs and rocky shore. T h e ir arm s were all of gold and so w as the harn ess of th e w’ild beasts w’hich they tam ed and rode. P'or in th e w hole island there was no m etal but gold. T hey lived in caves w rought out of th e rocks w ith m uch labor. T h ey had m any ships w ith w’hich they sailed out to other countries to obtain b o o ty .” W hen C ortez and De G rijalva, S panish explorers, in 1534 visited the Pacific coast of N orth A m erica and discovered th e peninsula of Low’er C alifornia w hich th e y th o u g h t w’as an island, th ey believed th a t they were near th e coast of A sia. As they found the co u n try sim ilar in m any respects to th a t described in the rom ance— pearls wyere found in th e g u lf along th e eastern side and th e m o u n tain s yielded gold— th ey nam ed the land C alifornia. JU V E N IL E D E L IN Q U E N T S H A R S H L Y TREATED F re q u e n tly th e stu d e n t of A m erican history finds it difficult to u n d ersta n d w hy some of th e early colonists who cam e to Am erica as a place of refuge from unjust persecution and law s unreasonable restric tin g their re ligious w orship in th e Old W orld should them selves have insisted on the enforcem ent of cruelly rigorous laws and in m any instances have dealt so harshly w’ith persons of a religious faith different from th eir ow n. C onnecticut w hich took th e lead in providing for the education of children had some m erciless law s for p u n ish in g y o u th fu l evil-doers. P rof. W . B. Bailey of Y ale, in a pam phlet, “ C hildren Before the C ourts in C o n n e c tic u t,” issued by th e federal c h ild re n ’s bureau, tells us about some of these h arsh legal p ro visions relative to c h ild re n . T h e code of 1650, re-enacted 22 years later, p ro v id ed: “ If any child or children aLove 16 years old, and of sufficient u n d ersta n d in g , shall curse or sm ite th eir n atural father or m other, h eo r they shall be p u t to d eath , unless it can be sufficiently testified th a t th e p aren ts have been very u n ch ristian ly negligent in th e education of such children or so provoked them by extrem e and cruel correction th a t they have been forced th e re u n to to preserve them selves from death or m aim ing. E x o d u s 21:17; L eviticus 20:9; E x o d u s 2 1 :1 5 .” I t was fu rth e r provided th a t “ if any man have a stubborn or rebellious son of sufficient u n d erstan d in g and years, viz., 16 years of age, w hich will not obey th e voice of his father or th e voice of his m other, and th at w hen they have chastened him he will not harken u nto them ; then m ay his father or m other, being his n atu ral parents, lay hold on him and b rin g him to the m agistrates assem bled in co u rt, and testify u n to them , th a t th e ir son is stu b b o rn and rebellious and w’ill not obey th e ir voice and chastisem ent, but lives in su n d ry notorious crim es, such son shall be put to death. D euteronom y 2 1 :20,21.”
