Even as late as the closing years of the nineteenth century many of
the Pomo were convinced that bear doctors were still active; this in
spite of the fact that the whites had at that time long possessed
complete control of the entire region, and had succeeded, purposely
or otherwise, in suppressing most of the aboriginal practices of the
Indians. Evidently the belief was a deeply rooted one in the native
mind. On the other hand, since the nefariousness of the alleged
practices would cause them to be carefully concealed, there are now
some Pomo skeptics who maintain that bear doctors never existed.
Both men and women of middle or old age could become bear doctors,
the same name[14] being applied to both. In fact, it is said that
women sometimes made very successful bear doctors; even a woman so old
and feeble that she could hardly walk would acquire great powers of
endurance and swiftness through this magic.
It is said that a bear doctor always learned from an old person who
was or had been one. The training for both men and women was precisely
the same and they were on a par in every way. A female bear doctor
could not operate during her menstrual period, but a male bear doctor
was similarly restricted by the menstrual periods of both his wife and
his female assistant or the other female members of his household. He
was even prohibited from going near his bear hiding-place during his
wife’s menstruation. The periods of other members of his household also
restricted him.[15]
No specific fee was paid for instruction in bear-doctoring, but the
instructor was given a large share, usually one-half, of the spoils
obtained by the new doctor in his murders. Also he could command the
assistance and protection of his pupil, who must stand ready, if
necessary, to lay down his life for his instructor. Each bear doctor
selected some friend to whom he willed his entire outfit and whom
he instructed fully in its use. Upon his death this protegé took
possession of the paraphernalia and the hiding place of his friend and
used them as he saw fit.
A bear doctor might “catch” a man who was out in some lonely spot,
particularly a solitary hunter, take him to his hiding place, and teach
him his secrets.[16] Particularly was this the case if the bear doctor
happened to be a man possessed of few friends, since it was thought
necessary for him to will his paraphernalia to some one. Stories are
told of specific instances in which persons have been thus made captive
and instructed. Thus:
An old she-bear caught a young hunter from a village in the Santa
Rosa Valley. She first jumped out upon him from her hiding place
and frightened him badly. She rolled him about on the ground and
made as if to kill him. Though greatly frightened, the boy made
no outcry, but watched her closely. Finally she sat astride him
for quite a long time and the boy ceased to be alarmed. She then
led him away over the long journey to her hiding place on a high,
rocky peak east of Santa Rosa. On the way they heard, late in the
afternoon, the people down in the valley calling his name as they
searched everywhere for him.
Finally they arrived at the bear’s cave in the rocks, where she
had a bed of moss and leaves just as a bear usually does in its
den. In the early part of the evening the boy became homesick and
fearful of his fate and began to cry. It was then that the bear
doctor revealed herself. She removed her suit, showing her human
form, and said to him: “I did not catch you to kill you. I desire
only to show you how we become bear doctors and instruct you in our
magic. Only human beings live in this section of the mountains.
In the morning I shall place my bearskin suit upon you and you
shall practice bear-doctoring.” This did not, however, reassure
and comfort the boy, and he continued to sob and weep during the
greater part of the night, despite the repeated assurances of the
bear doctor that she would not harm him, but was, on the other
hand, just like an elder sister to him and wished to teach him
powerful magic. She finally prepared a good meal for him and he
forgot his fright and, temporarily, his own people.
During the night she taught him her songs, and at daybreak began to
instruct him in the ritual of donning the suit. This, of course,
required that he should completely strip himself. At first he was
much ashamed, but the bear doctor told him that he must not be, any
more than if he were only exposing his nose.
About midday, this part of the instruction being finished, she put
her own suit on him and gave him his first practice. She told him
to first jump four times along the ground and then jump up and try
to catch a high limb of a near-by tree, trying repeatedly until he
could catch the limb. Then he would be able to do anything that she
could.
She then stepped back, looked him over, and smiled at him. This
made him conscious and he hung his head and did not move until she
commanded him to jump. At first he jumped only short distances,
but he continued his practice for four days, each day donning the
suit with the elaborately regulated ritual, and finding, each day,
that he could jump a little farther and a little higher than on
the previous one. At last he succeeded in reaching the limb and in
jumping down at one jump and back to the starting point in four
more.
His tutor rejoiced at his success, and said: “Now you will succeed
in every way and enjoy good luck, secure plenty of beads and other
goods, be able to travel far and possess great endurance.”
She then gave him a complete outfit and told him that he would
thereafter procure an easy living and wealth if he would use it
and observe the secret rites she had taught him. She, herself,
had acquired great quantities of property--beads, food, and other
commodities--which she stored in her hiding place.
A bear doctor was not permitted to kill more than four people in one
year, upon penalty of the loss of his magic power and consequent
capture upon his attempt to kill the fifth.