THE WHITE DEER-SKIN DANCE.
The fish dam being completed, all except the ones that are to stay
there, Lock-nee, Normer, the Wah-clures and the Char-rahs now move
down the river and go to their different homes to prepare for the White
Deer-skin Dance. This dance is held about ten miles down the river
from where the fish dam is put in, and this place they call Wah-tec
and is a pretty place containing about fifty acres, of a nearly level
place, being a high bar or flat so that no water ever gets over it, and
situated on the north side of the river, just down under the village
on gentle sloping place. There is a large spring of cold water flowing
from under the upper flat or high bar, while some forty steps below the
dance ground there is another spring, larger than the other, clear and
cold, which is used for part of them that camp, all being some three
hundred yards down the river below the old Klamath Bluff’s or Johnson’s
store, that was put there in the year 1855 or 1856 by a man named
Schneider, and owned so long by Bill McGarvey. Before the dance starts
two that are of high birth, one girl and one man, the man can be young
or old but they must be of high birth, and sometimes one of them is a
Talth, goes first and cleans off the ground, (all of which parts I have
taken) by taking the grass off, then sweep it clean, then three smooth
stones that are set well down in the ground but extending above the
ground some eight or ten inches. These stones have been for a long time
and are for the three in the center of the row of dancers, which are
fifteen and seventeen in number; the girl makes a small fire and then
places her incense roots on it to burn so as to please Wah-pec-wah-mow,
she remains there to keep up the fire while the dance is in progress.
This man and girl are called May-wa-lep, and eat their regular meals
each day. When all is in readiness for the dance to start in the
evening of the first day, the two first villages up the river from the
dancing place, all dressed in their robes and regalia, go down to the
river bank and get into a large boat or canoe, one sits in the stern
to paddle and keep it pointed down the river until they come to where
they have prepared their camping place for the dance. The first village
up is called Cor-tep, and the next one above it is Pec-wan, Pec-wan is
where the big Talth Lodge is situated for the Po-lick-las division,
and is very wealthy. This village is my birthplace and always comes
in strong with the finest of regalia and the most beautiful display
of deer skins. Now each village dances separate and one at a time, as
the Cor-tep village dancers come up and form themselves into line, the
three in the center are the leaders and the middle one of the three is
the one that lowers the pole that has the deer skin on it. He raises
his right foot and starts to sing, letting his foot down at the same
time, and the rest all follow. Now there stands at each end of the row
of dancers those who in their right hand hold a large flint which they
call Ne-gam, this has a strong buck skin string tied tightly around it
and then looped around the wrist so as to keep it from slipping off the
hand, and as the dancing starts they go back and forth in front of the
row of dancers passing each other at middle of the row of dancers, and
they have a whistle in progress. After dancing until they are all tired
out, they stop and the three in the middle of the row sit down on the
stones while the rest stand, all raising the pole on which the deer
skins are held, letting the butt end of the pole rest on the ground.
After the Cor-tep village has danced out they retire to their camp,
and in from fifteen to thirty minutes the Pec-wan village dancers come
up and go through the same performance. The regalia and deer skins are
the common kind, and the count of the days that the dance is to run
has not yet commenced as these two villages may dance two dances for
each day, after the first evening, for three or four days before the
rest of them can get ready to come, there are five of them in all.
Next above Pec-wan to come is Ser-e-goine then Mo-reck and the next is
Cap-pell where the fish dam is, when they all get to the dancing place
they dance ten days and each village dances in its turn. They start the
first dance about nine o’clock in the morning and it is fully twelve
o’clock, midday, before the last one has finished. Now bear in mind
that there are two or three men all the time in the different camps
asking the men, one and all to come in and dance, it does not matter
from where they come or to what tribe they belong, they are asked to
come in and take a part in this great festival, so that the dancers
are changing all the time, and from one village to the other and which
ever village they dance in, they are invited to eat at their camp all
is free and no one is allowed to go hungry, and there would be some
from far off that could not speak a word of the Klamath tongue only
by signs with the hands, yet they were carefully looked after, shown
around, fed and asked to get in and dance, the others carefully guiding
them through so they would make no mistake and it was considered the
worst of ill manners to make light of their mistakes anywhere in their
presence, they were guaranteed protection and courtesy and seen to get
home without being harmed or molested.
[Illustration: BEGINNING OF THE WHITE DEER-SKIN DANCE.]
The different dance camps have a number of women, sometimes eight ten
or twelve and they work like beavers, cooking and preparing the food,
these women are the sisters, aunts and other relatives. Some of them
may own one half of all the valuable parts of what they are dancing
with and all may own some part. As with the Klamath Indians the women
own by inheritance or accumulation all of their own wealth just the
same as the men do and a wealthy woman is just as much sought for a
wife by the Klamath Indians as they are by the whites and just the same
a wealthy man is sought for by the women as they are by the whites.
The girl keeps her fire burning while the dance is going on and the man
assists her at all times. Now the village to which the dance belongs
starts about dark in the evening and goes through the same performance,
each giving a dance, keeping it up till about nine o’clock at night,
when they retire to their different camps where they all take their
evening meal, after this they all prepare to sleep for the night, and
the most of them sleep until full daylight in the morning, when they
rise to go through the same routine. On the last day at this place,
or the tenth day of the dance, (oh-pure-ah-wah) this being the great
day, all that are to be there have come, and this day they bring out
the white deer-skins, the longest of the flints, some of which were
red while others were streaked with red and white, the white being the
most valuable, some of them are twenty and twenty-two inches in length
and from four to five inches wide in the center of the blade and quite
heavy to handle; at this the Pec-wan village leads all others in white
deer-skins, they having five that are white and many that are light or
nearly white, all being dressed softly and nicely with the whole skin,
nose, ears and the hair left on, even the hoofs are white and the nose
and ears are decorated with the red feathers of the woodcock or Indian
hen taken from the scalp of the bird and put on stripes of buck-skin
with small pieces of the abalone shell hanging down in front of the
nose of the deer some four inches long. Ser-e-goine comes next with the
longest flints, the most valuable belonging to a family of sisters,
and the other villages that make up the five come in, in rotation as
to riches in valuable articles for the dance, now the upper river or
Pech-ic-las comes in to the different dances with their valuables as
to the line of relationship or old time friendship, and the women
put in their wealth and take their places and help to cook and wait
on all just the same as the Po-lick-las, yet they speak a different
language but are so closely mixed in marriage and so many of them
speak both tongues and the whole meaning of the big dance being just
the same to both that there is no mistake between them in any part of
the management of the dance. The men all wear a buck-skin blanket made
of two and three deer skins, dressed with the hair on and made very
soft, these are sewed together with the sinews of the deer, used for
thread, with a bone needle and to the lower part of the blanket they
sew the tails of the civet or ring tail cat. This blanket is fixed so
as to be tied around the waist and hangs down below the knees with
the cat tails dangling at the bottom, if clear dry weather they wear
these blankets with the hair side next to their skin, which leaves
them looking very white, but if it turns damp or commences to rain the
blankets are turned with the hair side out so as not to get the flesh
side wet and soiled. All of the dancers have great rolls of shell
beads, called Turk-tum, strung around the neck, hanging down over the
breast and reaching to the waist. These shells are the same species of
shells as the cheek, only they are shorter and do not have the value
by from fifty to one hundred times as much, and all have head dresses
but no feathers only the one bald eagle or other eagle feather that is
stuck in the back of the hair and stands up perpendicular. The four men
that stand at the end of the row of dancers and which carry the large
flints and whistles in their mouths have for a head-dress a close woven
cloth which we make ourselves from the small tread fibers of the flag,
these are twisted into strands and woven into a thick, heavy cloth,
these are some eight inches wide by three feet in length, or more,
and are ornamented with the tusks or teeth of the sea lion, fastened
at the upper edge of the piece and this cloth is placed center of
forehead, then back to the back of the head and tied, leaving the ends
floating with the tusks sticking out in front. This head-gear is called
cher-wer-ner, and the blankets are called cah-ane. This white deer-skin
place is called Wah-tec and the village that sits just back of the
dance place at the brow of the high flat, or bar, is of the same name.
The Wah-tec village is north of the dancing place and just north of
the village is the level flat where they play their stick game which
is as rough as the white mans’ foot ball game. This game is called
werlth-per and I have seen them pile in heaps at this game and many
get hurt, there must be no fighting, yet they take a deceptive way of
hurting one another if there is a dislike between them, just like the
whites do. The white deer-skin dance at the end of ten days comes to an
end at this place and the whole place is alive with Indians from all
parts. Now the whole thing comes to a halt and all that are managing
the dance return to their villages for more supplies. This stop is for
one day only and now the stick game starts; and they may have several
games between the up river and lower rivers, during the next few days.
After the one day stop, so as to replenish provisions, they all start
very early on the morning following and first go down the river from
Wah-ker-ah about one mile to where a small creek enters into the river,
this creek known as Bloxer Creek, but we call it Hel-le-gay-ow, this
is on the north side of the river where this creek comes into the
river, now when they get to creek, they being on the south side and
close to the entrance of the creek to the river, here all halt, this
being where there are two trails, one goes down next to the river,
crossing the creek and up to a small flat just at the foot of the hill,
with the large pepperwood trees hanging it, is a place where the dance
starts, and this trail and to this place, none can go unless they are
born of the highest marriage. The girl and man that are of high birth
have already gone and cleaned off the grounds, made the fire and are
burning the incense. When the host arrives here they must give all
their valuable articles that are to be used at this place, over to the
poorest and shabby looking ones, if they have the right birth to take
them over this piece of road or trail, to this place, Hel-le-gay-ow,
and all from all parts know whether they have the birth, as this is
kept close track of by the full blooded Klamath Indians. And if any
persists or offers to go over this trail, to this place, they will be
told very firmly to keep back and if needs be they will tell them that
they are not born good enough to pass this way, but wait and go the
other way. There has never been one of mixed blood of any part with the
white man or any other mixture of blood, that they would let go this
way. Only pure Klamath Indians are allowed. There was never a white
man (ken-e-ah) that they would consent to let pass this way, for they
did not know what kind of people the whites were and that the white
marriages were not such as to give them the birth.
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE KLAMATH RIVER NEAR PEC-WAN.]
[Illustration: At every place where my people hold the White Deer-Skin
Dance, (Oh-pure-ah-wall) we have this same way, that we separate the
Talth and high birth from the other classes.
Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah.]
I can pass and have passed many times and have the training to know
which can, and those that are not allowed, and the powerful in riches
have to stop and take the upper trail, such as Pec-wan Colonel and
Captain Sur-e-goine Jim and others whose wealth and influence that the
white man thought would allow him to any part or place. I am one that
knows that the birth is the one great event that gave to my people more
honor, more power and more of everything in this life than all the
riches in the whole world could buy. My people do not talk and tell of
this for many reasons, they do not tell the white man thinking that
they might wish to disobey the rule or right to stop them, and of all
the white men that have married the Indian women, we do not think that
a single one of them ever told their husband of this for the reason
that they themselves did not have the birth to pass over this part of
the trail, and was therefore ashamed to let their men know that such
was the case, and the white men thinking nothing of it stopped and did
not notice that such was the case, it is kept from the mixed bloods
where their fathers raised them in the same way, not even their own
mothers telling them, ashamed for her children to know of her birth,
and the mixed bloods that are raised among the Indians know that their
birth does not admit them, so keep in their right place and are also
ashamed to say anything about it, and so it has been kept until I told
my husband, we being duly and truly married in the high marriage of
my law and married in his law, my husband being a Free and Accepted
Mason, how it was and for him to look and see for himself, but to stay
back and that we would take the upper trail and go with the rich, the
warrior and the throng that could not go the lower trail, where my
father (A Talth) and sisters could and did go, yet they were poor and
other that could go, there being few that could go while many went the
way we did. This I never could have and which was very easy to see when
once told and shown. Now after the Talth and them that have the birth,
have done their dancing at this Hel-le-gay-ow, the girl and man slip
out and go on up the hill through the timber into the other trail for a
short distance and there clean off another place, make a small fire and
place on it the incense to burn and the girl sits down in front when
the dancers come following up and as they come into the trail.
Now all the rich, the proud of all but their birth, comes in behind,
and as they come up to the next dance place and form into line to
dance, all can look on and see, soon this is done, and the same is done
in two more places until the whole of them finally arrive at a large
prairie that they call Bloxer, meaning wide in shape, as they come to
the opening they cross a small branch and turn to a flat between two
small branches or creeks that contain about two acres, at the foot of
the raise from the flat is a large spring of cold, clear water flowing,
here they halt for the final wind-up. They have been at this all day
and the girl and the man (May-wa-lep) have the fires burning the
incense, in the evening they dance, each one dances their turn, using
here the white deer-skins and all of the finest of their regalia and
valuables, after the dance is over they have their supper and retire,
tired out. Early the next morning all is astir and they dance the five
dances in the forenoon and eat dinner in the after part of the day.
The last and final dance is to come when this is finished late in the
night, about nine o’clock, then all take their meal, when many of them
depart and the great White Deer-Skin Dance is closed for two years
at least, or maybe more, and all go home. Now when we speak of the
dance being closed for two years or more, we mean by this of the old
and ancient laws, by which it was conducted, for it has already been
carried through in a spurious or farcical way by them that are of low
birth, not having a single one that was a Talth to take the lead and
carry it through in proper form, but the white man sees it and does
not know the difference.
Those of high birth come to the remaining Talth to ask a few questions
while the Talth answers them in a smooth tone of voice, which is their
gift and lets it pass on in quiet, knowing that it is forever done.
The Talth that now live make only one last request of the living, that
is, that when they come to give up this life, that before they are
laid away, when being prepared for burial, that the emblem or mark of
the Talth be placed on them. This is four black stripes placed on the
breast eight inches in length, one half inch wide and one inch apart,
and on each arm between the shoulders and elbow, there is to be three
stripes four inches long, same width and one inch apart, which are the
marks or emblem of the Talth.
When they are prepared for the last resting place, the grave, and these
emblems or marks are never put on any of them unless they have been put
through the secrets of the Lodge, and carry in their breast that true
name of Wah-pec-wah-mow, (God) there are only two of these left, one is
myself and the other my father. This chapter now closes and we take up
the greatest of all, the Lodge dance, (Wah-neck-way-la-gaw) called by
the whites by many different names.