OUR CHRIST.
A young woman of the Pech-ic-la’s, the upper division of the Klamath
tribe, lived at Caw-ah-man, now known as Orleans Bar. She was the
mother of Po-lich-o-quare-ick, our Christ, and never married after the
birth of her son, and lived single all her life, residing with her
folks at Orleans Bar. Caw-ah-mis-o-ma, the mother of our Christ, during
the years of her womanhood, would go alone daily to a high rock, not
heeding the remonstrances of her parents and kindred, and would ascend
the sides of this rock to its top, where she would seat herself and
weave baskets every day. She went alone every day for nearly three
years to this rock and made baskets, and one day Wah-pec-wah-mow (God)
appeared to her and said that she would bear him a male child, which
would be His Son, and this Son would be our Christ, or Savior, who
would be a very wise and talented man of the two tribes and would rule
our people.
Upon reaching her home that evening she told her parents and the people
of the tribes that she soon would give birth to the Son of God, that
God himself, having appeared before her, made facts known to her, and
that she should not be looked upon in disgrace by her people. Her
parents and a great many of the people of the Klamath tribes believed
her story to be true and they made ready to receive the Child.
Caw-ah-mis-o-ma gave birth to a son as she had said, and cared for the
infant in her father’s home, giving it the name of Po-lick-o-quare-ick,
proclaiming the child to the tribes as the Son of God. Her parents and
a great many of the people of the tribe believed in the infallibility
of the child, while a number of the people did not believe in him as
infallible, and regarded him as a bastard child. Some of our Talth, or
High Priests, did not believe in his divine birth and considered him
as the bastard son of man, however, they recognized his great powers
and wisdom as an ordinary man. Most of my people worshiped the child as
divine.
During the childhood and boyhood years of Po-lick-o-quare-ick he sought
the solitudes of a great creation, as he never played with other
children, and never mingled in the social gatherings of his people.
As a little child he played alone, and when he had reached the age of
about two years, he had a little canoe that he would play with and sail
it in the waters at Orleans Bar. This little toy boat was one of his
earliest playthings, and when he left his early childhood scenes he
left this boat at Orleans Bar on the south bank of the river in a rift
or crevice of a large rock. There, to this day the Indians say you can
see the little boat that he played with and which has turned into a
solid stone, and is still the perfect shape of a small boat. (This I
have not seen).
While yet a small boy of tender years, Po-lick-o-quare-ick came down to
the river to Ca-neck, alone, where he spent a great deal of his early
boyhood years in restless wandering, as he was never still. He would
never go with his mother, or with any one else as he went from place
to place alone. On the south side of the river at Ca-neck is a small
lake at the foot of the hill back from the river, and is surrounded
on the outer banks by marshy lands. This lake cannot be observed from
the river or village, and its existence might never be known except by
coming upon its very banks. He spent a great deal of his time playing
in his solitary ways about the lake. Just back of this lake is a rock
that our Christ used as a place where he would continually be sliding
down its side, he wore away one large and some small groove with his
heels, in this solid stone, which can be seen to this day. (This I have
seen many times and my people rub their fingers on these grooves and
then rub the fingers on their eyes, to cure weak or sore eyes.) About
half a mile below the lake, located on the same side of the river, is
another rock, where the young man went for prayers which he offered up
to his father, (God) to bless him with great powers and wisdom. As he
knelt at the top of this rock in prayer he left the sunken imprint of
his knees and feet in the rock, which is still visible.
Another rock concerning our Christ is located a short distance above
the lake on the bank of river, which was his special fishing place,
where he would sit on the rock and fish. Here also in the solid stone
is the sunken imprint of his bare feet and knees, and also the pool
of water, close by, that he cast his fish in; all of which are left
as his written memoirs of his past existence. These are his written
annals left upon the rocks; the traditions handed down through the
long centuries when the Christ himself had passed away, far out on the
ocean waves, perchance to a better land than that, which had given him
birth. (This place I have been close to many times, yet I never went
to see it.) He could speak the language of any tribe or nation without
teaching, and could peer into the darkness of the past, telling the
events of bygone times. He could gaze into the future and tell of the
events to be, so great was his wisdom; he could also command anything
he wanted, and his commands would be answered, to his every wish.
When he was in the prime of his years he took a lot of valuable things,
such as cheek, cheese (the scalp of the woodcock) and other things, got
into his canoe and started down the river and when he arrived where
Bill McGarvey’s store afterwards was built, he stopped and took a rest
in the early morning sunshine. This is the reason this place is the
warmest and most sunny the year round, that is to be found in any part
of our whole territory. After resting as long as he wished he started
on down the river. Many of the Indians followed after him, and as they
were crowding quite close he commanded that an opening be made through
the rock bluff at Reck-woy, which was done and this turned the Klamath
river into the ocean at that place, some six miles south of where it
went into the sea before, at Ah-man. (Wilson Creek) Thus they never
caught up to him but could see out in the ocean, gliding gently on
towards the west. He had previously told them that he was ready to go
and was going, that in some future time he would come back. He was the
wisest man that we have ever had among our people, he knew all things
and could do all things and we hold his name with great reverence. It
is the custom of our young women to use the expression; “when we get
married and if we have children, we wish they can talk all languages
like Po-lick-o-quare-ick.” My people for many generations look for
him to come back, but since the coming of the Ken-ne-ah’s, the white
people, they are losing trace of his name and the things that he did,
and it will soon be lost. It is now my desire, after many years of
thinking, to write it all out so it may be preserved for the American
Indians, that they may know something of the religion and teachings of
our forefathers.