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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1879)
336 THE WEST SHORE. November, 1873, THE Ml WOK INDIANS. The Mi-wok in the Ur t Indian nation in CuuoraiAi both to poMukliflfl iod extent of territory. Their lOOiMi dominion extended from the snow-line of the Sierra Nevada to the Haii Joaquin river, and from the Cnsitmnes to the Fresno. The inonnUin valleys were thickly peopled a far ent an Yosomito; the great and fertile San Joaquin plain., and the hank of the bag lih-full atreama of the Mokelnmni', the Stanislaus, the Tuolumne, the Merced, the 'howchilU anil the San Joaquin were anciently crowded with multitudes of thnae Indian!. Kvcn the islands of the San .loaiiiin were inndn to sustain their ipiotn, for on Heather I stand there are Maid to bo there mains of a puluiia village. The rich alluvial laudii aloiiK the lower Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Moroeil contained tin- heart of the nation. probably the origin of the word "Cosumnes," which is pronounced koz u-niy (accent on first ayllahh ). Although the largest, this is proba bly Mm lowest naliou m California, presenting one of the most hopeless and saddening specta cles of heathen races. They eat all creatures tli.it swim in the waters, all that lly through the air, and all that creep, crawl, ur walk upon the earth, with a down or so exceptions. They have the most degraded and superstitious hclicfs in wood spirits, who produce those disastrous con Mirations to which California is suhject; in water-spirits, who inhabit the riverB, consume the lish, ami in fetichistiu Bpirits, who assume the forms of owls and other birds, to render their lives a terror by night and by day. In occasional specimens of noble physical stature they were not lacking, especially in Yoscmito and other mountain valleys; but the utter weakness, puerility, and imbecility of their conceptions, anil the unspeakable ob leeoity of some of their legends, almost surpass 1 elief. within the masses of hair. The Chief Caotahi John, was at least 70 years old, yet hit head was still percentihiv rlattnd 1 could almoat encircle it with my hands"" 1 For food they depend principally on scorns They had, in common with many triliet both in the Sierra and in the Coast range, a kind of granary to storo them in for winter. When tht crop was good and they harvested more thai they wished to carry to camp just then, with a forethought not common among barbarians they laid by the remainder on the spot. Select ing a tree which presented a couple of forks a few feet from the ground, but above the reach of wild animals, they laid a pole across, and at that aa a foundaticn, wove a cylinder shaped granary of willow wicker-work, three or few feet in diameter and twioe as high, which they filled with acorns and covered with thatch. There they remained safe. Aa these wen often miles from a village, the circumstance de notes that they reposed no small confidence in each other's honesty. It goes near to refnte si. together the frequent allegations that they an lfiIN Mufabh tl. .,.,( f the densest pop ulation of aucirnt California, in langiu,. .,( ibo nation was more homo geneous Uian u,.i,v ..there. t ( , w,.v ramified. From the upper red of tl. Yo.cn.it,' traveling 1M miles with the sun. and from oaumiiM .uthaij I.. IV,. ,uro was - aicoly a change of . liable. There are. alwaye, iiiaii abrupt dialectic departure, but the nwl remain, and ia quickly caught by the lnd.au of adiflcn i dial. . , , , v , , 1(ll'Uj more than the dill.rr.,t h... .,,, ,.,, u. h M are apparent in the Hugh,!, language aeommgly rntiroly .UuVenl to a fouignnr. but only an unimportant, well undent 1 xtii to a native. North of Hie Stanislaus these ...!.. .. .Il-.i tbemaelvt. , ,rol ,-men I; south u. the Mer ! oad. avtm. on the Krmiut , limk- 1 Merced U10 word " rivw " is t upper Tuolumne, mm in mi: on the Stanislaus ml MokeJuinne, eo lit I saa ls This is uu louliUslljr the origin ol ll v.,,,,1 kr IuiubV whieh u locally pronounced ,. kabu-nr" .accent on n,,l s. liable fta alio foe-Mas, iWm m AOOBM QJUVABIB8 OF tiik MIWOK Indians. A in.iority of nil who have anv well delined idea, wh.U,vr on thu subject, believe in the annihilation f tu, ,,,,1 U,r (M.n WM "('"'"d 'o as Mrh, representing the memory "' J H was. While other trilie. mitigated the tinal terror by an asaured belief " Happy ,.U,ru Ud, the Mi. wok iro do ,tl, . grmi ami .u.l.d .alienees to the death of a dog that will live no more J "r Mi-wok uonatrutit M rll(ie allair. of pole, and hruahwoo.1, which thev r with earth in the winter; in summer thoy move into, ,ra hru.hwo.Kl .helters. Higher up in the mountains ih.v ....L- . " J mmmmmm "uii.uier 1011141 ot 'l.lli'he.iiik in I ... . ...... ..I . -1 ... ...v .... j., , hit j,i J 1 oiH-n, and a lu com', with ua' fire iu front laabuou u oil.' side of It The 1y apcuaJ poinU to be notl , their 1 , "io ainallne.. of their hea.1. lying M li e ImH Ul.y Imukh wbw if.nU Msjor le.heii l'oers, in l-ow. ll , Contribu- jjywfa Kt i..gy, ,rotu SJS thu sketch is taken Myi: .. Wt , j f a rancher,, near Chiiiem Camp, and was sur tW t the diminutive balU which lurked a nation of thieve. Now -a-dava. thev most of their granarie. close to camp, either right on the ground or elevated on top of some MU. They are very foud of hare, and make com fortable nilx of their skins. Theae are cut into narrow slits, dried in the iun, and then mad iuto a wide warp bv tying or sewing .tring. acroa. at interval, of a few inches. Soap net ia uaed iu the manufacture of a kind ol glue, and the aquawe make bruabes of the fibrous matter encaaing the bulb, with which they .weep oat their wigwama. With million, of tall .traight pine, in the mountain, the M i wok had no mean, of crossing riven., except log. or clumay rafta All their bowa and arrow, were bought of the upper mountaineers White shell butums, pierced in the center and strung together won UMd aa money, rated at $5 a yard: periwinkle, at II a yard. Their chieftainahip, such aa it ia, hereditary when there is a eon or brother of oonuBanding inlloence, which la seldom; otherwise, he throat aside for another. The Chiaf ia ply a master of oeremoniea. When bo deride, to hold a dance in his village, he diapatches