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[Illustration: Francis Drake being "crowned" by the natives of New
Albion (California) in June, 1579. (From Arnoldus Montanus, _Die
unbekante neue Welt_; the Dapper issue, Amsterdam, 1673.)]
FRANCIS DRAKE AND
THE CALIFORNIA
INDIANS, 1579
BY
ROBERT F. HEIZER
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES
1947
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS
IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY
EDITORS (LOS ANGELES):
RALPH L. BEALS, FRANKLIN FEARING, HARRY HOIJER
Volume 42, No. 3, pp. 251-302,
plates 18-21, 1 figure in text, 2 illus.
Submitted by editors February 27, 1946
Issued March 20, 1947
Price, cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.25
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES
CALIFORNIA
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON, ENGLAND
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
PAGE
General Background 251
The Trinidad Bay Landfall Theory 255
The Arguments for the Bodega Bay or Drake's Bay Landfall 258
Analysis of the _World Encompassed_ Account 259
Additional Ethnographic Items in the Richard Madox and
John Drake Accounts 273
Supposed Indian Traditions of Drake's Visit 276
Recapitulation and Conclusion 277
APPENDIX
I. The Sources 280
II. Excerpt from _The World Encompassed by
Sir Francis Drake_ 283
Plates 293
FRANCIS DRAKE AND THE CALIFORNIA
INDIANS, 1579
BY
ROBERT F. HEIZER
GENERAL BACKGROUND
For nearly a century, historians, geographers, and anthropologists have
attempted to solve the problem of locating Francis Drake's anchorage in
California, but the opinion of no one investigator has been universally
accepted. Indeed, it seems likely that the problem will forever remain
insoluble in detail, although it may well be reduced to the possibility
that one of two bays, either Drake's or Bodega, was the scene of Drake's
stay in California.
Historically and ethnographically, Drake's California visit is
exceedingly important. He was the first Englishman to see and describe
the Indians of Upper California, and the third Caucasian to mention
them. The account of the voyage given in _The World Encompassed by Sir
Francis Drake_ (London, 1628) (of uncertain authorship but usually
attributed to Francis Fletcher) gives the earliest detailed description
of California Indian life, including such particulars of native culture
as ceremonial behavior and linguistic terms. This account is reproduced
in Appendix II, below.
Historians and geographers have long since stated their reasons and
qualifications for presenting certain conclusions about the location of
Drake's anchorage, but anthropologists have never insisted vigorously
enough that their contribution might be the most decisive of all in
solving the problem. If it can be shown that the Indian language and
culture described in the accounts of Drake's voyage to California are
clearly those of one or another of the coastal Indian tribes, there will
then be definite and unequivocal reasons for believing that in 1579
Drake landed on a part of the California coast inhabited by that tribe.
Preliminary attempts at this type of solution have already been made,
first by the greatest authority on the California Indians, Professor A.
L. Kroeber,[1] and more recently by William W. Elmendorf and myself.[2]
In order to establish the background for the present study, it will be
advisable to recapitulate the various opinions and claims. They may be
listed under the headings: geographical, historical, and
anthropological.
_Geographical._--George C. Davidson, eminent and versatile scientist,
first approached the problem of the location of Drake's California
anchorage in 1858.[3] In the following years, as his familiarity with
literary and cartographical sources expanded, he published other
works,[4] and in 1908[5] he made his final statement. Davidson first
thought that Drake's landfall had been in San Francisco Bay, but after
more careful study he concluded that Drake's Bay was the anchorage (see
pl. 20). Davidson's views have been carefully and critically reviewed by
Henry R. Wagner[6] and J. W. Robertson.[7] Among other contributions
relating to the problem of Drake's anchorage should be mentioned the
works of Hubert Howe Bancroft[8] and the studies of Edward E. Hale,[9]
as well as the searching analysis of Alexander G. McAdie and a more
recent but similar paper by R. P. Bishop.[10]
_Historical._--Although the trail was blazed by Davidson, it is Wagner
who first claims our attention. He has concluded, after an exhaustive
study of all available evidence, that Drake anchored first in Trinidad
Bay and later in Bodega Bay. The harbor now called Drake's Bay was not,
according to Wagner, the site of Drake's landfall in 1579. Robertson,
next mentioned above, is the author of a critical review of previous
"arguments advanced by certain historians in their selection of 'The
Harbor of St. Francis.'"
_Anthropological._--Wagner's major work on Drake bears abundant evidence
that this historian, at least, is cognizant of the value of the
ethnographic check method. However, he has not utilized all available
documentary or ethnographic data to the fullest extent--a procedure of
the utmost importance.
Davidson used the ethnographic method of solving the problem when he
identified the Limantour Estero shellmound site with the Indian village
depicted on the border map _Portus Novae Albionis_ of the Jodocus
Hondius map _Vera totius expeditionis nauticae_ (Amsterdam, 1590?)[11]
and cited as evidence a tradition of the Nicasio Indians. In his day,
many Coast Miwok Indians from Drake's Bay and Bodega Bay must have been
still living. If at that time he had obtained from them the information
which can no longer be found, owing to the extinction of the tribe, he
would have performed an inestimable service.
In 1908, S. A. Barrett published his important work on Pomo
ethnogeography in which he reproduced the California data on the voyage
of Drake and made a brief evaluation.[12] After attempting a linguistic
check with the word _Hioh_ and directing attention to the
feather-decorated baskets as Pomo-like, Barrett concludes that "these
facts therefore point further to the tenability of the belief that
Drake's landing was somewhere north of San Francisco bay, possibly even
north of Point Reyes, though Pomo of the Southern and Southwestern
dialectic area may have journeyed down to Drake's bay bringing their
boat-shaped and ornamented baskets...."[13]
In Professor Kroeber's _Handbook of the Indians of California_ there is
an ethnographical analysis of a paraphrased version of _The World
Encompassed_, together with an inquiry (more searching than that of
Barrett's in 1908) into the identification of the words, such as _Hioh_,
_Patah_, _Tobah_, and _Gnaah_, which appear in the Fletcher account.[14]
Kroeber summarizes: "The ethnologist thus can only conclude that Drake
summered on some piece of the coast not many miles north of San
Francisco, and probably in the lagoon to which his name now attaches. He
is assured that the recent native culture in this stretch existed in
substantially the same form more than 300 years ago, and he has
tolerable reason to believe that the Indians with whom the great
explorer mingled were direct ancestors of the Coast Miwok."[15]
A verification of Kroeber's view has recently been presented in a short
paper written by Heizer and Elmendorf[16] on the identification of the
Indian words in the sixteenth-century accounts of Francis Fletcher and
Richard Madox.[17] (Madox's account is reproduced in App. I, below.) In
this paper it is shown that Drake must have landed in territory occupied
by the Coast Miwok-speaking natives (fig. 1), but the exact location of
his landing is not positively indicated since there are four bays along
Coast Miwok territory in which Drake might conceivably have
anchored.[18] Of these four bays, Bolinas, Drake's, Tomales, and Bodega,
only two, Drake's and Bodega, can be considered seriously.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Location of west-central California Indian
linguistic groups. A, Bodega Bay; B, Tomales Bay; C, Drake's Bay; D,
Bolinas Bay; E, San Francisco Bay.]
A final piece of evidence, this time archaeological, has recently come
to light in the plate of brass left by Drake in 1579. This plate was
originally found at Laguna Ranch (pl. 21) on Drake's Bay in 1934
(?),[19] was moved elsewhere, and was rediscovered in 1936.[20] Although
some skeptics have questioned the genuineness of the plate of
brass,[21] they have not altered the facts establishing the plate's
authenticity as shown by the investigations of such scholars as Allen
Chickering,[22] Professor Herbert E. Bolton,[23] and Drs. Fink and
Polushkin.[24] Consequently, the problem of Drake's anchorage is nearer
solution. Although the plate is a portable object, it was probably not
carried far. It could have been carried to Drake's Bay from Bodega Bay;
but, on the other hand, it could always have been at Drake's Bay. In the
absence of evidence that it was moved early in its history, it may not
be claiming overmuch to assume that the post with the plate of brass was
originally erected in Drake's Bay.
So much, then, for an abbreviated review of the opinions on the location
of Francis Drake's California anchorage. Arguments have been advanced,
by other students, that Drake anchored in Trinidad, Bodega, or Drake's
Bay. It is my purpose here to analyze, as carefully as possible, the
ethnographic data contained in Francis Fletcher's account in _The World
Encompassed_, with the hope of determining in which of these bays Drake
actually stayed in June, 1579. The Trinidad Bay landfall theory will
first be investigated, in an attempt to determine whether the Indians
mentioned in Fletcher's account are identifiable with the Yurok tribe
which, in historic times, occupied this territory.
THE TRINIDAD BAY LANDFALL THEORY
Henry R. Wagner is the chief proponent of the Trinidad Bay theory, and
bases his conclusion upon two lines of evidence, (1) cartographical and
(2) ethnographical.[25] The Jodocus Hondius map, with a small inset of
the _Portus Novae Albionis_, does resemble Trinidad Harbor, but since
all admit that the Hondius "Portus" is imperfectly drawn, and only
generally impressionistic, it can hardly be maintained that it resembles
less the outline of Bodega Bay or Drake's Bay. Wagner points out that
there was a Yurok village near the spot indicated on the Hondius map as
occupied by an Indian town.[26] But in Drake's Bay and Bodega Bay, the
outlines of which also resemble that of the _Portus Novae Albionis_,
there are also Indian shellmounds in about the same relative position as
the village shown on the Hondius map.
Fletcher's reference to a "canow" has led Wagner to identify this with
the Yurok dugout log canoe. If Fletcher's "canow" were described in any
detail, it would settle the problem of whether it meant a Yurok dugout
log canoe or a Coast Miwok tule _balsa_ such as was used in Drake's or
Bodega Bay. Kroeber has also commented upon this unenlightening word,
saying, "Either custom changed after Drake's day, or his canoe is a
loose term for the tule _balsa_ which was often boat-shaped, with raised
sides, especially when intended for navigation." Wagner says in answer,
"To this it may be objected that ... tule _balsas_ were in use in
Drake's Bay in 1595 and were so recognized without difficulty." They
were recognized indeed, _but by a Spanish sailor already familiar with
the type_. Fletcher in his offhand manner dismissed the native boat with
a word which _he_ was familiar with. Perhaps the strongest argument in
favor of identifying Fletcher's "canow" as a tule _balsa_ lies in the
fact that he states that a single person came out to the _Golden Hinde_.
If it had been a Yurok dugout, and particularly in the open bay of
Trinidad, one man could not have managed the canoe. For example, the
Bruno de Hezeta account of Trinidad Bay in 1775 states: "Before they
[the Spaniards] drew near the land to drop anchor four canoes carrying
twenty-four men came out to receive them. They drew near the ships and
were given food and beads, with which they went away without
fear...."[27] It might also be worth noting that Fletcher states that
the person in the canoe remained "at a reasonable distance staying
himself," and would accept only a hat, "refusing vtterly to meddle with
any other thing...." One other account may be cited to support the
identification of the "canow" with the _balsa_. Sebastian Cermeno, in
1595 at Drake's Bay, wrote, "... many Indians appeared on the beach and
soon _one of them_ got into a small craft which they employ, like a
cacate of the lake of Mexico."[28]
By inference, the native house described by Fletcher has been identified
as a Yurok house. I do not think this claim will hold, since the house
in Fletcher's account is described as semisubterranean, circular,
conical-roofed, covered with earth, and with a roof entrance, whereas
the Yurok dwelling (_not_ the sweathouse), built wholly of planks, is
rectangular, is a surface structure except for an interior rectangular
pit, has a round door entering just above the ground and through the
side wall, and bears a double-ridged roof with two slopes.[29] Thus, the
house described by Fletcher cannot be a Yurok house of Trinidad Bay. On
the other hand, as will be shown in detail later, the house described by
Fletcher is the central California earth-covered dwelling, typical of
the Coast Miwok of Drake's Bay and Bodega Bay.
Wagner, in his attempt to show that Drake landed at Trinidad Bay, makes
a further point. He says: "An additional indication that Drake was in
this bay [Trinidad] may be gleaned from the finding there of knives in
1775 by Bruno Heceta.... It seems probable, then, that the knives found
at Trinidad by Heceta were relics of Drake's expedition."[30] It is
scarcely credible that numbers of iron knives, sword blades, and such
implements could have been preserved through two centuries of use. Since
the wooden-sheathed knives were expressly stated to be ill-made, and in
view of Fray Miguel de la Campa's statement in 1775 that "one of them
[i.e., one of the Indians] made his [knife] from a nail which he had
found in a piece of wreckage and had beaten out with a stone,"[31] it is
more than likely that the Trinidad Indians' knives were pounded out of
pieces of iron found imbedded in local sea-borne wreckage.[32] Logic and
probability lead inevitably to the conclusion that there is nothing in
the fact that knives were found at Trinidad Bay in 1775 from which to
suspect or to postulate Drake's presence in that place two centuries
earlier.
Now for a brief comparison of some specific Indian culture elements and
examples of the language, as reported in _The World Encompassed_ and in
Richard Madox's narrative, with those of Yurok Indian culture. Madox was
chaplain on Edward Fenton's expedition of 1582, and in his diary are
some notes on California which he jotted down after conversation with
some members of the crew which had sailed with Drake two years earlier.
The flat shell disk beads of the account are not an element of Yurok
material culture. The standard Yurok shell bead is the hollow tusk shell
(_Dentalia indianorum_), which is long, cylindrical, and of small
diameter. The feathered net caps may possibly find cognates in the
flicker headbands of the Yurok, though these bands were known over the
whole of interior and coastal California (cf. pl. 18, _a_). The
feathered baskets, however, cannot possibly be Yurok, since their
manufacture and use is restricted to the Pomo-Miwok-Wappo tribes which
lived far to the south of the Yurok. The "canow" of Fletcher, as had
been pointed out, can hardly be equated with the heavy Yurok river- and
ocean-going dugout canoe. This brief comparison should be convincing
evidence that Drake's chronicler did not describe the Trinidad Bay
Yurok; but there is added evidence in the word forms of the Madox
vocabulary. Madox gives "bread" as _Cheepe_, which the Yurok render
_pop-sho_. "Sing" is given as _Gnaah_ in _The World Encompassed_, the
Yurok word being _wer-o-rur_. "Chief" is given by Fletcher and Madox as
_Hioh_ or _Hioghe_, the Yurok word being _si-at-lau_.
The decision of whether or not Drake entered Trinidad Bay, which is not
convenient as a port, and is, moreover, rock-studded,[33] must rest in
part upon a study of the Hondius _Portus Novae Albionis_, of which,
Wagner says, "... perhaps a very close approximation to the actual
configuration of the bay [in which Drake anchored] cannot be expected."
Certainly the native customs, houses, and language do not offer the
slightest support to the theory that Drake observed the Yurok
Indians.[34]
THE ARGUMENTS FOR THE BODEGA BAY OR DRAKE'S BAY LANDFALL
Wagner, then, has attempted to prove that Drake landed in Bodega Bay;
Davidson and McAdie, that he anchored in Drake's Bay; whereas Kroeber,
Heizer and Elmendorf, Barrett, and Bancroft failed to reach a decision
on which bay gave anchorage to the _Golden Hinde_.
In the following pages I shall analyze by comparative ethnographic
technique the cultural data relating to the California Indians as given
in the several accounts of the Drake visit in 1579. These sources are:
1. The _World Encompassed_ account, which I judge to be the
fullest and most reliable.[35]
2. The _Famous Voyage_ account, which is abbreviated and
therefore less complete in detail.[36]
3. The second declaration of John Drake (1582), a brief
independent account of the occurrences in California (see
below, App. I).[37]
4. Richard Madox's notes on "Ships Land" (New Albion), which
contain a revealing vocabulary of the Indian language.[38]
An exhaustive ethnography of the Coast Miwok has never been published.
The main sources of Coast Miwok ethnography used in this paper may be
enumerated as follows:
1. Data contained in various historical accounts. These are,
for the most part, incidental data and are not, even in total
amount, extensive. The accounts will be cited at the
appropriate places below.
2. Published ethnographic notes such as are given in S. A.
Barrett's _The Ethno-Geography of the Pomo and Neighboring
Indians_, A. L. Kroeber's _Handbook of the Indians of
California_, and many others which likewise will be cited
below.
3. The extensive manuscript notes on the Coast Miwok in the
possession of Dr. Isabel Kelly. Dr. Kelly has kindly lent her
material for the purpose of checking ethnographic items.
ANALYSIS OF THE WORLD ENCOMPASSED ACCOUNT
On June 17 (Old Style), Drake's ship entered "a conuenient and fit
harborough." The next day, "the people of the countrey shewed
themselues; sending off a man with great expedition to vs in a canow."
On the 21st, the ship was brought near shore, her goods were landed, and
defense works were erected. Numbers of natives made their appearance for
a brief time, then returned to their homes in a near-by village. At the
end of two days (June 23), during which no natives had been seen, there
appeared "a great assembly of men, women, and children." As the narrator
says, the local people seen on the 23d had probably "dispersed
themselues into the country, to make knowne the newes...." There follows
in the narrative a long and detailed account of the activities of the
natives who remained assembled near the camp of the English. Finally,
after three more days (the account says June 26), word of the strange
newcomers had spread even further, and there "were assembled the
greatest number of people, which wee could reasonably imagine, to dwell
within any conuenient distance round about." Among these were the
"king," the _Hioh_ of the Indians, and "his guard, of about 100 tall and
warlike men."
This sequence of visits is of some interest. If Drake landed at Drake's
Bay, the natives seen by him on June 18 and 21 were certainly local
Coast Miwok living close at hand around the bay. The influx of people
on the 23d probably means that they were drawn from relatively near-by
Coast Miwok villages--from near Olema, or from both shores of Tomales
Bay. But even larger crowds of natives came on the 26th, and among them
were the _Hioh_ and his retinue. The group arriving on the 26th probably
came from some distance. If this crowd gathered at Drake's Bay, they
could well have been recruited from Bodega Bay, and possibly included a
number of Southern Pomo neighbors. The elapsed time (i.e., between June
21 and June 26) can be readily accounted for by two factors: (1) time
for communication to be established from Drake's to Bodega Bay and for
the return of the Bodega people, and (2) time for convocation of the
group, decision on a plan of action, and preparation for the elaborate
ceremony performed at the English camp on the 26th.
If, however, Drake landed in Bodega Bay, the situation would be somewhat
different. The visitors of the 18th and 21st would be Bodega Coast
Miwok. Those arriving on the 23d could have been Tomales Bay or Olema
Coast Miwok, and the arrival on the 26th of the _Hioh_ with his retinue
and followers might mark the presence of Southern Pomo, or, less
probably, Central Pomo who were concentrated in the interior some fifty
miles north of Bodega Bay.
It is credible, then, that Drake landed in either Drake's Bay or Bodega
Bay, since the native words listed by Fletcher and Madox all belong to
the Coast Miwok language and not to any Pomo dialect.[39] It is
improbable that the ceremonies, customs, and material culture forms
described by Fletcher can be _specifically_ attributed to the Pomo, as
intimated by Wagner,[40] for at least three reasons: (1) Northern Coast
Miwok and Southern Pomo cultures are practically indistinguishable; (2)
the words _Hioh_ and _Gnaah_ seem to be Coast Miwok words rather than
words of Pomo attribution; and (3) if Drake landed in Coast Miwok
territory it is unlikely that the Pomo would be permitted to enter the
territory of their southern neighbors and to perform a ceremony which
the Coast Miwok themselves were as well able to do.
Following is an examination of the day-by-day account of Fletcher.
_June 18._--A single man in a "canow" (probably a tule _balsa_) came out
to the ship and delivered an oration. The canoeman also brought with
him, and threw into the ship, a bunch of black feathers tied in a round
bundle, and a small basket filled with an herb ("Tobah"), both of which
were tied to a short stick.
In 1595, Sebastian Cermeno noted almost exactly the same thing in
Drake's Bay,[41] and something very similar was observed by Francisco
Mourelle in Bodega Bay in 1775.[42] Cermeno says: "On the day on which
the ship anchored in the bay, about four o'clock in the afternoon, many
Indians appeared on the beach and soon one of them got into a small
craft which they employ like a cacate of the lake of Mexico. He came off
to the ship, where he remained quite a time talking in his language, no
one understanding what he said." Mourelle's statement is similar: there
is no mention of a speech by the Indians in "tule canoes," but they
presented the Spanish with plumes of feathers, "bone rosaries" (shell
bead necklaces?), garlands of feathers which they wore around their
heads, and a canister of seeds which tasted like walnuts.
The feather bundle cannot be specifically identified, but it may be the
ceremonial black feather bundle (pl. 18, _b_) most often associated with
the central California Kuksu cult. Some of these have been illustrated
by Professor Kroeber[43] and R. B. Dixon.[44] The small basket filled
with the herb called _Tobah_ or _Tabah_ has led some students to
identify this herb as tobacco (_Nicotiana_ sp.) John P. Harrington
quotes the sections from _The World Encompassed_ which contain mention
of _Tabah_ or _Tobah_, and assumes that the word has reference to
tobacco (_Nicotiana bigelovii_).[45] Upon what grounds he identifies the
herb mentioned by Fletcher as tobacco is not stated, since the local
words for tobacco are different,[46] nor is it stated in the account
that the herb was smoked. Wagner doubts that the herb called _Tobah_ was
tobacco, and in this he and I are in agreement. It cannot be determined
whether or not a Nicotiana was referred to by Fletcher, nor is it likely
that this question will ever be settled. What does seem clear is that
"Tobah" is not an Indian word, but the name applied to the herb by the
English narrator.[47] This supposition is enhanced by the fact that _The
Famous Voyage_ mentions the herb by the name "tabacco," a word already
known in England before Drake started on his voyage around the
world.[48] It may be concluded that Fletcher's word "Tobah" or "Tabah"
comes from the English word "tabacco," "tobacco," "tabaco," and is not a
California Indian word. In this conclusion I am in agreement with
Professor Kroeber.[49]
_June 18-21._--There is no mention of Indians between the 18th and the
21st of June. After referring to the man in the "canow," Fletcher
continues, "After which time, our boate could row no way, but wondring
at vs as at gods, they would follow the same with admiration." This
would indicate that June 19 and 20 were spent exploring the bay in a
small boat to discover a proper spot for careening the treasure-laden
ship, which had sprung a leak at sea.
_June 21._--On this day the ship was brought near shore and anchored.
Goods were landed, and some sort of stone fortification was erected for
defense. The Indians made their appearance in increasing numbers until
there was a "great number both of men and women." It is clearly apparent
that the natives were not simply curious, but acted, as Fletcher points
out, "as men rauished in their mindes" and "their errand being rather
with submission and feare to worship vs as Gods, then to haue any warre
with vs as with mortall men." It would seem that the natives
demonstrated clearly their fear and wonderment at the English, and it is
certain that they behaved as no other natives had done in the experience
of the chronicler. The English gave their visitors shirts and linen
cloth, in return for which (as Fletcher thought) the Indians presented
to Drake and some of the English such things as feathers, net caps,
quivers for arrows, and animal skins which the women wore. Then, having
visited for a time, the natives left for their homes about
three-quarters of a mile away. As soon as they were home, the Indians
began to lament, "extending their voices, in a most miserable and
dolefull manner of shreeking." Inserted between the passages dealing
with the departure of the Indians to their homes and their lamenting is
a description of their houses and dress. The houses are described as
"digged round within the earth, and haue from the vppermost brimmes of
the circle, clefts of wood set vp, and ioyned close together at the top,
like our spires on the steeple of a church: which being couered with
earth, suffer no water to enter, and are very warme, the doore in the
most part of them, performes the office of a chimney, to let out the
smoake: its made in bignesse and fashion, like to an ordinary scuttle in
a ship, and standing slopewise: their beds are the hard ground, onely
with rushes strewed vpon it, and lying round about the house, haue their
fire in the middest...." The men for the most part were naked, and the
women wore a shredded bulrush (tule? _Scirpus_ sp.) skirt which hung
around the hips. Women also wore a shoulder cape of deerskin with the
hair upon it.
[Illustration: Another representation of the "crowning" of Francis
Drake. (From an old engraving; provenience not known.)]
From the foregoing facts some important conclusions can be drawn.
First, the wonderment of the natives is but an extension of attitudes
they had daily shown from the 17th to the 20th; and similar
manifestations continued throughout the long stay of the English.[50]
The English were looked upon as unusual, perhaps supernatural, visitors,
since nothing is more clear than the fact that they were not treated as
ordinary mortals. Kroeber has suggested that the Indians regarded the
English as the returned dead, and there is much to be said for this
view, as will be shown later. The doleful shrieking, weeping, and crying
are evidence _sui generis_ that the presence of the English was in some
way associated with ghosts or the dead.[51]
The circular semisubterranean house, roofed over with poles and
earth-covered, is also characteristic of a wide area of central
California. The Coast Miwok of Drake's Bay and Bodega Bay[52] used these
houses, as did the Pomo.[53] It is clearly not a temporary brush-covered
house like those seen in the Bodega-Tomales Bay region.[54] The "caules
of network" undoubtedly refer to the well-known net caps of central
California,[55] a type so widespread that exact localization or
provenience is impossible.
The Fletcher account is fairly specific on particulars of dress--women
wore shredded bulrush skirts and deerskin shoulder capes, and men were
ordinarily naked. The bulrush or tule-fiber clothing is attested for
Bodega Bay[56] and Drake's Bay,[57] but it is also found generally
throughout central California. Men were generally naked in California,
so Fletcher does not note here a distinctive cultural trait. The wearing
of deerskin capes by the women is not strictly substantiated by the
observations of later explorers, although Cermeno (1595) said that the
women in Drake's Bay "covered their private parts with straw and skins
of animals."[58] Archibald Menzies noted that the women in Tomales Bay
wore a deerskin wrapped around their middle and reaching to the
knees,[59] and Francisco Eliza said that near Bodega Bay "the women
cover themselves from the waist down with deer skins."[60] Colnett
mentions the Indian dress of deerskins in Bodega Bay.[61]
_June 23._--On this day, after a two-day absence, "a great assembly of
men, women, and children" appeared at the camp of the English. The
Indians stopped at the top of the hill at the bottom of which Drake's
camp was pitched, and one man made "a long and tedious oration:
deliuered with strange and violent gestures, his voice being extended to
the vttermost strength of nature...." At the conclusion of the speech or
oration, all the other Indians reverently bowed their bodies "in a
dreaming manner" (?) and cried "_Oh_" in approbation. Then the men,
leaving their bows, women, and children behind them, came down to the
English with presents and gifts. While the men were gift giving, the
women cried and shrieked piteously, tore their cheeks with their
fingernails until the blood flowed, tore off the single covering from
the upper parts of the body, and, holding their hands high, cast
themselves on the ground with great violence, regardless of
consequences. The English, grieved at this spectacle of sacrifice,
attempted to dissuade the Indians by praying and indicating by signs
that their God lived above. During this "performance" (prayers, singing
Psalms, and reading chapters of the Bible), the Indians "sate very
attentiuely: and obseruing the end of euery pause, with one voice still
cryed, Oh, greatly reioycing in our exercises." The natives were
watching with great interest what seemed to them a ceremonial
performance (which it actually was, but not in the sense in which the
Indians understood it). The singing of Psalms interested the Indians
most, and whenever the natives came, says Fletcher, their first request
was _Gnaah_, an entreaty that the English should sing. After the Indians
and English had exchanged ceremonial performances of a religious
nature, the Indians again departed, giving back to the English
everything they had received.
The oration by the man at the top of the hill may perhaps be likened to
a speech that Cermeno made note of, when, in 1595, he was at Drake's
Bay: "... Indians from near by kept coming and the chief talked a long
time."[62] It is not improbable that the speaker mentioned by Fletcher
was a messenger dispatched to announce the later coming of the big
chief.[63] Or, the orator may simply have been a local village chief who
delivered a long address or salutation to the English. The existence, at
least, of such orators is known.[64] The signal of approbation, "Oh,"
has already been remarked upon by S. A. Barrett: "The expressions of
assent and pleasure which are here noted are those commonly used not
only by the Moqueluman Coast Miwok peoples of this region but by the
Pomo to the north where such expressions as _o_, _yo_, _iyo_, varying
with the locality, are heard, as evidences of approval of the sentiment
expressed by the speaker, or of satisfaction with the performance of a
dance."[65] When the preliminaries were over, the men came down the
hill, and the women remained behind, lamenting, and lacerating their
flesh. Crying and tearing the cheeks with the fingernails, as an
ethnographic practice in connection with mourning, is documented for the
Coast Miwok[66] and Pomo.[67] The word _Gnaah_, by which (so Fletcher
states) the Indians asked the English to sing, can possibly be likened
to the Coast Miwok _koya_, "sing."[68] If it is granted that _Gnaah_ is
equivalent to _koya_, there is good reason to believe that Coast Miwok
were the main frequenters of Drake's camp, since Fletcher says, "...
whensoever they resorted to vs, their first request was _Gnaah_, by
which they intreated that we would sing." The words for "sing" in
neighboring Indian tongues are so unlike _Gnaah_ that no idea of
connection can be entertained.
_June 26._--After three days, there "were assembled the greatest number
of people which wee could reasonably imagine to dwell within any
conuenient distance round about." Included in the crowd were the "king"
and his "guard" of about one hundred men. Before the king showed
himself, two "Embassadors or messengers" appeared, to announce his
coming and to ask for a present "as a token that his comming might be in
peace." Drake complied, and soon the "king with all his traine came
forward." The king and his retinue "cryed continually after a singing
manner" as they came, but as they approached nearer they strove to
"behaue themselues with a certaine comelinesse and grauity in all their
actions." In the front of the procession came a man bearing the "Septer
or royall mace," a black stick about four and a half feet long, to which
were tied long, looped strings of shell disk beads, and two "crownes," a
larger and a smaller, made of knitwork and covered with a pattern of
colored feathers. Only a few men were seen to wear the disk bead
necklaces ("chaines"). Fletcher observes that in proportion to the
number of "chaines" a man wears, "as some ten, some twelve, some
twentie, and as they exceed in number of chaines, so are they thereby
knowne to be the more honorable personages." Next to the scepter bearer
was the king (_Hioh_), surrounded by his guard. On his head he wore a
net cap ("cawle") decorated with feathers in the same manner as the
"crownes" described above, "but differing much both in fashion and
perfectness of work." From the king's shoulders hung a waist-length coat
of the skins of "conies." Members of his guard each wore a coat of
similar cut, but of different skins. Some of the guard wore net caps
"stuck with feathers," or covered with a light, downy substance,
probably milkweed down. Only those persons who were close to the king
wore the down-filled or down-covered net caps and feather plumes on
their heads.
Following the procession of the king and his guard came the "naked sort
of common people." Their long hair was gathered behind into a bunch in
which were stuck plumes of feathers, but in the front were only single
feathers which looked "like hornes." Every Indian had his face painted
in black or white or other colors, and every man brought some sort of
gift. The procession was brought up behind by the women and children.
Each woman carried against her breast a round basket or so, filled with
a number of articles such as bags of _Tobah_; a root called _Petah_,
which was made into meal and either baked into bread or eaten raw;
broiled pilchard-like fishes; and the seed and down of milkweed (?). The
baskets are carefully described by Fletcher as "made in fashion like a
deep boale ... [and] about the brimmes they were hanged with peeces of
shels of pearles, and in some places with two or three linkes at a
place, of the chaines aforenamed: thereby signifying, that they were
vessels wholly dedicated to the only vse of the gods they worshipped:
and besides this, they were wrought vpon with the matted downe of red
feathers, distinguished into diuers workes and formes."
As the crowd of people came near, they gave a general salutation and
were then silent. The scepter bearer, prompted by another man who
whispered, delivered in a loud voice an oration which lasted half an
hour. When the oration was ended, "there was a common _Amen_, in signe
of approbation giuen by euery person...." Then the company, leaving the
little children behind, came down to the foot of the hill where the
English had their camp. Here the scepter bearer began to sing and danced
in time to the song. The king, his guard, and all the others joined in
the singing and dancing, except the women, who danced but did not sing.
The women had torn faces, their bodies showed bruises and other
lacerations which had been self-inflicted before the Indians had
arrived. After the assembly of natives had concluded their dance, they
indicated by signs that Drake should be seated. This done, the king and
several others delivered orations to Drake, and, concluding with a song,
placed the crown upon his head and hung all the shell disk bead
necklaces around his neck. Many other gifts were tendered to Drake, and
the name _Hioh_ was bestowed upon him. Fletcher interpreted this
ceremony as the giving up of the kingdom to Drake, a thought hardly
ascribable to the Indians. It is quite clear, however, that Drake was
individually and specially honored by the leader of the California
natives, and was invested with a name, _Hioh_.
After the "crowning" was concluded, the common people, both men and
women, dispersed among the English, "taking a diligent view and survey
of every man." When a native found an Englishman who pleased his fancy,
and the youthful Englishmen were preferred, a personal "sacrifice" in
the form of weeping, moaning, shrieking, and tearing of the face with
the fingernails was offered. As might be expected, such a scene was
embarrassing and uncomfortable to the English, and the strongest efforts
were of no avail in disabusing the Indians of their "idolatry." After a
time the Indians quieted down and began to show to the English "their
griefes and diseases which they carried about with them, some of them
hauing old aches, some shruncke sinewes, some old soares and canckred
vlcers, some wounds more lately receiued, and the like, in most
lamentable manner crauing helpe and cure thereof from vs: making signes
that if we did but blowe vpon their griefes, or but touched the diseased
places, they would be whole." The English applied various unguents to
the affected places, continuing the treatment as the natives resorted to
the camp from time to time.
Now to analyze the happenings of June 26. The "Embassadors or
messengers" of Fletcher are probably correctly identified, since the
custom of having messengers who announce the coming of a chief and his
party is known to have existed at least among the Pomo[69] and probably
among the Coast Miwok, although there is no specific mention of such a
practice among the latter. Even the custom that messengers should ask
for a present for the "king" (i.e., chief) is known to have been
observed by the Pomo.[70] It is impossible to identify the man who bore
the "scepter" or "mace," a black stick about four and a half feet long,
but the scepter itself seems identifiable with the staff known
ethnographically to have been used in the central California Kuksu or
ghost ceremony.[71]
The assemblage of the black stick with pendant "feathered crowns" and
clamshell disk beads has not been noted by any modern ethnographer, but
the flat, circular, centrally drilled white beads of clamshell are
familiar (pl. 18, _c_). They were made from clamshells dug at Bodega
Bay, the source of these beads for most of the Indians of central
California.[72] It is of some interest to note that in later times the
beads have been very abundant, and that in the last 350 years the
manufacture and use of clamshell disk beads have been much increased.
The net "crownes" covered with a pattern of colored feathers are
described by Fletcher in terms so general that exact identification is
difficult. They may have resembled some of those illustrated by Dixon,
who collected them from the Northern Maidu.[73] At least, net caps with
feather decorations were commonly used in Coast Miwok[74] and Pomo[75]
ceremonies. The king's guard was probably composed of a number of male
initiates of a secret society who naturally would separate themselves
from the women and children when engaged in ceremonial duties.[76] The
net cap of the king or _Hioh_ was different from that of the others, and
it is not improbable that it was one of the flicker-quill headbands so
well known for the area (pl. 18, _a_).[77] This identification is at
best tentative, however, since there was in this area a bewildering
array of types of feather-decorated ceremonial headgear. The king's coat
of conyskins seems to have been distinguished from those of his guard.
The guards' coats may have been made of pocket gopher or mountain beaver
skins, and the king's coat was possibly of woven rabbitskin blankets,
common to both the Pomo and the Coast Miwok.[78] What seems unusual is
that there is no mention in Fletcher's account of the feather cloaks or
skirts used in later times on ceremonial occasions. I have been unable
to find any ethnographic data on a special skin coat for chiefs or
ceremonial leaders. The down-filled head net undoubtedly refers to the
central Californian net cap.[79] The feather plumes mentioned by
Fletcher as worn on the head by persons close to the king may have been
of several of the numerous types used in central California. Examples
are illustrated by Dixon[80] and Kroeber.[81] The repeated mention by
Fletcher of the use of feathers indicates clearly that their ceremonial
use was highly developed at this period. The single feathers resembling
"horns" are an ethnographic feature of the costume of the ghost dancer
among the Pomo,[82] and although there is no documentary evidence that
the Coast Miwok wore feathers in such a manner, it seems likely, in view
of the very close correspondence between Pomo and Coast Miwok ceremonial
features, that they did so. The practice of painting the body is an
almost invariable feature of Coast Miwok[83] and Pomo[84] ceremonies.
The gifts brought by the women in round baskets included bags of _Tobah_
(already discussed), broiled fish, the seed and down of some plant
(milkweed?),[85] and a root called _Petah_ or _Patah_. Neither the Pomo
nor the Coast Miwok remember today any root or bulb with a name
resembling _Petah_ or _Patah_. Elmendorf and I have agreed with Kroeber
that _Petah_ is probably to be linked with the word "potato" in one or
another of its various forms. Kroeber thinks that the description
indicates the wild onion (_Brodiaea_), called _putcu_ in Coast Miwok,
and this is not improbable. However, soaproot (_Chlorogalum_), which was
sometimes baked into a bread, would also fill the description. It is
called _haka_ by the Coast Miwok, and it is barely possible, though
hardly probable, that _haka_ could have been heard and recorded as
_Patah_ or _Petah_. Since Fletcher speaks of _Petah_ as a root, it
seems improbable that he was describing acorns (called _uemba_ in Coast
Miwok); yet even this remote possibility may be entertained, since Madox
recorded _cheepe_ as bread, and Coast Miwok _tcipa_ means acorn bread.
The word _Petah_, and botanical identification, must remain in limbo
until further data are at hand.
The feather-decorated baskets offer evidence, as Barrett and Kroeber
have indicated, that Drake landed on the coast immediately north of San
Francisco Bay. The baskets (pl. 19) are described as shaped like a deep
bowl, covered with a matted down of red feathers worked into various
patterns, and further embellished with pendant drops of pearl shell
(_Haliotis_) and two or three disk beads in various places. Such baskets
were made only by the Coast Miwok,[86] Pomo,[87] Lake Miwok, and Wappo.
Kroeber states that these baskets "served as gifts and treasures; and
above all they were destroyed in honor of the dead."[88] It is clear
that, in 1579, feathered baskets similar in manufacture and use to the
native baskets of today were known in this Coast Miwok area.
The scepter bearer, prompted in a low voice by another man, delivered a
long oration. The Coast Miwok have such orators; among those Indians the
office of speechmaker is a special one.[89] The Pomo have orators,[90]
as do most other central Californians. The _Amen_, or sign of general
approbation, following the oration has already been commented upon. Then
the natives performed a dance to the accompaniment of a song led by the
scepter bearer (or orator)[91] and joined in by the men, while the women
danced but remained silent. Among the Pomo and Coast Miwok each ceremony
has a song in connection with its observance.[92]
The episode of the crowning has no parallel in native custom or
ceremonial behavior, probably because "crowning" was a unique experience
for the Indians as well as the English. This fact should be kept in mind
in judging and estimating the natives' actions and reactions--they were
as puzzled as the English. Drake was specifically honored by the
Indians, and there is no reason to doubt Fletcher when he states that
the name _Hioh_ was given to him. It has been suggested that _Hioh_ was
a term of salutation or an interjection,[93] but there is no reason to
believe that this was so. The word finds possible equivalents in Coast
Miwok for chief, _hoipu_, _hoipa_, or friend, _oiya_.[94] Since the
Interior Miwok word for chief is _haiapo_, there is a bare possibility
that the _hoi_ of today may have been rendered _hai_ in 1579, though
there is no direct evidence to support this suggestion. It should be
mentioned here that the Madox account independently verifies Fletcher's
remarks on the episode of the crowning, as well as the word for "king"
(chief?), which Madox renders as _Hioghe_.[95]
The close scrutiny of the English by the Indians following the
"crowning" ceremony indicates that the main business of the day (i.e.,
the ceremonial crowning by secret society initiates) was over, and that
the general public could now take part in the festivities. Of great
interest are Fletcher's statements to the effect that the most youthful
Englishmen were repeatedly selected as recipients of personal sacrifice
and adoration which took the form of lamenting, moaning, weeping,
wailing, and self-lacerating. Only one conclusion can be drawn: the
Indians supposed that they were looking upon relatives returned from the
dead, and hence performed the usual mourning observances.