Archaeology of the Wiyot Territory_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and
Ethn., Vol. 14, No. 3 (Berkeley, 1918), p. 243.
[28] H. R. Wagner, _Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America_,
California Historical Society, Special Publication No. 4 (San Francisco,
1929), p. 158.
[29] For details see Kroeber, _Handbook_, pp. 78-79, pl. 9; and Loud,
_Ethnogeography_, pp. 243, 244.
[30] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 157, 158.
[31] "Fray Benito de la Sierra's Account of the Hezeta Expedition to the
Northwest Coast in 1775," trans. by A. J. Baker, introd. and notes by H.
R. Wagner, _California Historical Society Quarterly_, IX (1930), 218.
[32] See T. A. Rickard, "The Use of Iron and Copper by the Indians of
British Columbia," _British Columbia Historical Quarterly_, III (1939),
26-27, where the Hezeta finds are expressly discussed. Rickard's opinion
also differs from Wagner's.
[33] Francisco Eliza in 1793 said: "The Puerto de Trinidad is quite
small; no vessel can be moored so as to turn with the wind or tide. The
bottom for the most part is rock. The land consists of quite high and
extended hills full of pines and oaks" (H. R. Wagner, "The Last Spanish
Exploration of the Northwest Coast and the Attempt to Colonize Bodega
Bay," _California Historical Society Quarterly_, X [1931], 335). For
photographic views of Trinidad Bay see Thomas T. Waterman, _Yurok
Geography_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XVI, No. 5
(Berkeley, 1920), pls. 1, 16.
[34] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 278, inferentially concurs with this
conclusion.
[35] Reprinted in _Drake's Plate of Brass_, pp. 32-46.
[36] Reprinted in _Drake's Plate of Brass_, pp. 27-30, and by Wagner in
_Drake's Voyage_, pp. 274-277.
[37] Printed in Zelia Nuttall, _New Light on Drake_, Hakluyt Society,
ser. 2, Vol. 34 (London, 1914), pp. 50-51.
[38] As Barrett (_Ethno-Geography_, map at end), Kroeber (_Handbook_,
pp. 272-275), and C. H. Merriam ("Distribution and Classification of the
Mewan Stock in California," _American Anthropologist_, IX [1907],
338-357), show, the Coast Miwok inhabited both Bodega Bay and Drake's
Bay territory. Thus the language (except for minor dialectic
differentiation) and culture are undoubtedly very similar at both bays.
This makes the problem of exclusive selection somewhat difficult. The
Madox vocabulary (see below, p. 282) was first presented in E. G. R.
Taylor, "Francis Drake and the Pacific: Two Fragments," _Pacific
Historical Review_, I (1932), 360-369.
[39] The Fletcher-Madox vocabulary list does not resemble the Yurok
words for the same items or phrases.
[40] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 147. B. Aginsky ("Psychopathic Trends
in Culture," _Character and Personality_, VII [1939], 331-343) quotes
Fletcher's description of Indian weeping and self-laceration, and calls
them Pomo, asserting that Drake landed in their territory and that the
ceremonies given in honor of the English exemplify the "Dionysian" phase
of Pomo culture.
[41] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 158.
[42] Don Francisco Mourelle, "Journal of a Voyage in 1775 to explore the
Coast of America, Northward of California ...," in _Miscellanies of the
Honorable Daines Barrington_ (London, 1781), pp. 471*-534*. See also
Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 158.
[43] Kroeber. _Handbook_, fig. 21.
[44] Roland B. Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," _Bulletin of the American
Museum of Natural History_, Vol. XVII, Pt. III (1905), fig. 19.
[45] John P. Harrington, "Tobacco among the Karuk Indians," Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bull. 94 (1932), 17-18, 40.
[46] The Coast Miwok word for tobacco is _kaiyau_. For the North,
Central, Eastern, and Northeastern Pomo it is _saxa_, _saka_, _sako_:
for the Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern Pomo it is _kawa_,
_tom-kawa_ (Roland B. Dixon, "Words for Tobacco in American Indian
Languages," _American Anthropologist_, XXIII [1921], 30).
[47] See discussion in Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California
Anchorage."
[48] Berthold Laufer, "Introduction of Tobacco into Europe," Field
Museum of Natural History Anthropological Leaflet No. 19 (1924), pp. 6
ff.
[49] _Handbook_, p. 277.
[50] Compare Fletcher's statements of the attitude of the Indians with
that of Cermeno, who was in Drake's Bay in 1595 and said, "... the other
Indians approached in an humble manner and as if terrorized, and yielded
peacefully" (Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 159).
[51] This custom is a general central Californian cultural feature. See
E. M. Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn.,
Vol. XIX, No. 2 (Berkeley, 1926), pp. 286, 287, 291; R. B. Dixon, "The
Northern Maidu," pp. 242, 252; A. L. Kroeber, _The Patwin and their
Neighbors_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XXIX, No. 4
(Berkeley, 1932) p. 272; C. Purdy, "The Pomo Indian Baskets and Their
Makers," _Overland Monthly_, XV (1901), 449. See also below, notes 56
and 57.
[52] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," fig. 33.
[53] Fritz Krause, _Die Kultur der Kalifornischen Indianer_ (Leipzig,
1921), map 4.
[54] A rather lengthy digression must be made here since the details are
involved. S. A. Barrett ("Pomo Buildings," _Holmes Anniversary Volume_,
Washington, D.C., 1916, p. 7) states that semisubterranean,
earth-covered houses were used about 1900 by men of means (chiefs, good
hunters, lucky gamblers, and medicine men). This house was a small
edition of the larger dance house (described by Barrett,
_Ethno-Geography_, p. 10). Fletcher's description says that in the
majority of houses the combined roof entrance and smoke hole was
present. This qualification does not exclude the possibility that some
houses had the ground-level tunnel entrance which should be expected in
the area. In historic times the Pomo seem, in large part, to have given
up making these permanent dwellings in favor of less permanent mat- or
grass-covered houses, which were inexpensive and more convenient to
erect. The same process of loss seems to have occurred among the Coast
Miwok, since Dr. Kelly's informants did not remember such houses.
Archaeological sites in the Point Reyes-Drake's Bay region show numerous
circular depressions which are clearly the remains of such houses. A
further indication of their presence at an earlier time can be gained
from "linguistic archaeology." The Sierra (Interior) Miwok use the word
_kotca_ for the earth-covered, underground house with combined roof
entrance and smoke hole (S. A. Barrett and E. W. Gifford, "Miwok
Material Culture," _Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of
Milwaukee_, Vol. II, No. 4 [1933], p. 198). The same word for house
(i.e., dwelling) is present among the Coast Miwok (Barrett,
_Ethno-Geography_, word no. 64, p. 71), who once had a similar house, as
is shown by archaeological remains, but abandoned it in ethnographic
times. It is not unreasonable on these grounds to assume the presence in
Coast Miwok territory of the type of house described by Fletcher.
[55] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration of the Northwest Coast and
the Attempt to Colonize Bodega Bay," _California Historical Society
Quarterly_, X (1931), 331.
[56] Bolton, _Historical Memoirs of New California by Fray Francisco
Palou_, Vol. IV, p. 48.
[57] I. T. Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography." (MS).
[58] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 158. J. Broughton, in his _Voyage of
Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean ... in the Years 1795 ... 1798_
(London, 1804), said that the Drake's Bay Indian men whom he saw were
naked, but that the women were clothed "in some degree."
[59] "Menzies' California Journal," ed. by Alice Eastwood, _California
Historical Society Quarterly_, II (1924), 302-303.
[60] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration," p. 331.
[61] James Colnett, _The Journal of Captain James Colnett aboard the
"Argonaut" from April 26, 1789 to November 3, 1791_, ed. by F. N. Howay,
Champlain Society, Publ. No. 26 (Toronto, 1940), p. 175.
[62] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 159.
[63] Exact documentation is impossible here, but such an explanation
would fit the facts, and the custom of sending a messenger to announce a
visit was a feature of the whole area (Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 49).
[64] See E. W. Gifford and A. L. Kroeber. _Culture Element
Distributions, IV: Pomo_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol.
XXXVII, No. 4 (Berkeley, 1937), elements nos. 805-807, p. 154.
[65] Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, p. 415.
[66] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[67] Stephen Powers, _Tribes of California_ (Washington, D.C., 1877),
pp. 165, 169, 170, 181; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, pp. 286, 287; Barrett,
"Pomo Buildings," p. 11. See also above, p. 261, n. 42. I can see no
possible relationship between the clear account by Fletcher of
self-laceration and Wagner's discussion of tattooing (_Drake's Voyage_,
p. 494, n. 49). As the comparative notes cited clearly show, the tearing
of the flesh by the California Indians is no "story" which needs an
involved, roundabout, and improbable explanation.
[68] For the Coast Miwok and Pomo words for "sing" see Barrett,
_Ethno-Geography_, word no. 265, pp. 67, 79. The Pomo words are totally
unlike _Gnaah_ or _koya_. See also Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis
Drake's California Anchorage," pp. 214, 216. There is a logical
possibility of a copying error in _Gnaah_ from Fletcher's manuscript
notes. If it had originally been written _Guaah_ or _Gyaah_, it would be
very close indeed to _koya_.
[69] E. M. Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch.
and Ethn., Vol. XXXIII, No. 1 (Berkeley, 1932), p. 49, and _Pomo
Folkways_, p. 192; S. A. Barrett, _Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians_,
Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch, and Ethn., Vol. XII, No. 10 (Berkeley,
1917), p. 402, and "Pomo Buildings," p. 11.
[70] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 403.
[71] Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, pp.
207-208; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 366; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 425.
The Kuksu staff was feathered on the end, whereas that of Calnis was
somewhat shorter and did not have the feather tuft. Kroeber, _Handbook_,
pp. 261-262; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, pp. 110, 128.
[72] They were manufactured chiefly by the Pomo and Northern Coast
Miwok. See E. W. Gifford, _Clear Lake Pomo Society_, Univ. Calif. Publ.
Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (Berkeley, 1926), pp. 377-388;
Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 248; Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography"; Gifford
and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, (pp. 186-187).
[73] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," figs. 29, 30, Pl. XLIX.
[74] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[75] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 433; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 178.
[76] Cf. Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 405, 438-439.
[77] Illustrated in Kroeber, _Handbook_, fig. 20. See also Gifford and
Kroeber, elements 88, 89; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 432; Kelly, "Coast
Miwok Ethnography." And see Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," Pl. XLVIII,
fig. 25.
[78] Gifford and Kroeber, element no. 4. Kelly, "Coast Miwok
Ethnography."
[79] Illustrated and described by Kroeber, _Handbook_, pl. 55, _a_, and
pp. 264, 269, 388, and illustrated by Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," fig.
33. See also Gifford and Kroeber, elements nos. 81 ff.; Barrett,
_Ceremonies_, pp. 407, 432; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 200. The
down-filled net cap was used by the Coast Miwok in the Kuksu and other
ceremonial performances.
[80] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," figs. 19-21.
[81] Kroeber, _Handbook_, fig. 21.
[82] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 407, n. 12.
[83] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography"; Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, pp.
158, 159 (Drake's Bay).
[84] Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 158; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 407, 433;
Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions: IV, Pomo_, element
no. 96, pp. 207-208.
[85] I can find no record that the down of milkweed (or of any other
plant) was used. Most ethnographic accounts (see n. 79) above list the
use of eagle down. That Fletcher was probably correct in attributing the
source of the downy substance to a plant is shown by his reference to
the seeds of the same plant. There is also the probability that he saw
the plant itself on the journey into the interior. From my own
observation I know that at least three different plants producing such
down grow on Point Reyes.
[86] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography." Dr. Kelly's informants at Bodega
in describing just such baskets said, "They were just for show"--i.e.,
had no practical or utilitarian use. Her San Rafael informant also knew
of such baskets.
[87] For illustrations and description see J. W. Hudson, "Pomo Basket
Makers," _Overland Monthly_, ser. 2, XXI (1893), 571, and C. Purdy, "The
Pomo Indian Baskets and Their Makers," _ibid._, XV (1901), 438, 446. O.
M. Dalton ("Notes on an Ethnographical Collection from the West Coast of
North America ... Formed during the Voyage of Captain Vancouver,
1790-1795," _Internationale Archiv fuer Ethnographie_, Vol. X [Leiden,
1897]), shows (fig. f, p. 232; Pl. XV, fig. 4) several Pomo baskets
which might as well have been the ones described by Fletcher. It seems
possible that these were collected at Bodega Bay, since some of the
Vancouver party visited there, but this is not certain. In Mission times
many Coast Miwok and even some Pomo were brought to San Francisco and
San Jose as neophytes. These individuals might well account for the
Pomo-Coast Miwok type of feathered baskets collected there in the early
nineteenth century by von Langsdorff or Chamisso, both of whom
illustrate such pieces in their published accounts. Barrett, _Pomo
Indian Basketry_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. VII, No. 3
(Berkeley, 1908), discusses at length (pp. 141-145, 168) feather and
shell materials used in the manufacture of these decorated baskets. A
number of examples are shown in Barrett's plate 21. The same
anthropologist ("Pomo Buildings," pp. 1-17) mentions the use of
feather-decorated baskets among the Pomo as sacrifices to the dead.
[88] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 245.
[89] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[90] Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_,
element no. 807, p. 197, n.
[91] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 400, mentions a principal singer who
started and led the air of the songs, but does not indicate whether he
might be identifiable with the "scepter bearer."
[92] See Barrett, _Ceremonies_, _passim_; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_
and _Pomo Folkways_, _passim_; Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography"
_passim_.
[93] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 492, n. 37. Wagner says that this word
"sounds" to him like an exclamation. To Elmendorf and me it "sounds"
like the Coast Miwok word for chief or friend. The latter proposal rests
upon both phonetic and semantic resemblances.
[94] For the Coast Miwok words for "chief" and "friend" see Barrett,
_The Ethno-Geography of the Pomo Indians_, words nos. 62, 64, pp. 70,
71. The Pomo words (p. 58) are totally unlike those of the Coast Miwok.
Barrett, _Ceremonies_, mentions a Kuksu curing call, _hyo_, which was
repeated four times. Although the call is phonetically similar, the
context is so unlike, that a correspondence with Fletcher's word for
chief or king is improbable.
[95] Taylor, _loc. cit._, p. 369.
[96] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 412, 431; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu
Cult_, p. 118.
[97] Kroeber, _Handbook_, table 10, p. 876.
[98] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[99] The ground squirrel and Point Reyes mountain beaver have been
variously identified as Fletcher's "conies." See Wagner, _Drake's
Voyage_, p. 492-493, n. 42.
[100] See photograph in McAdie, "Nova Albion--1579," fig. 1.
[101] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[102] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 277.
[103] These "burnt offerings" are ascribed to the Trinidad Bay Yurok by
Wagner (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 157), but there is no need to look so far
afield for parallels when the Coast Miwok-Pomo area fits the case so
well.
[104] Memorial ceremonies for the dead are a characteristic feature of
central California culture; see Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, p. 117
(Coast Miwok).
[105] Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California Anchorage."
[106] For evidence of this, using the words on Drake's plate of brass,
see Allen Chickering, "Some Notes with Regard to Drake's Plate of Brass"
and "Further Notes on the Drake Plate."
[107] Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 171. Cf. the Huchnom song
facing p. 144.
[108] Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, pp. 103, 127, 128.
[109] Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, pp. 374, 392, 393. See also Barrett,
_Ceremonies_, pp. 409, 413.
[110] Because of the high degree of similarity between all phases of
Pomo and Coast Miwok ceremonies, a close correspondence, or even
identity, in the songs connected with these ceremonies may safely be
assumed.
[111] Davidson, "Identification of Sir Francis Drake's Anchorage," p.
35.
[112] J. P. Munro-Fraser, _History of Marin County_ (San Francisco,
1880), pp. 96-97.
[113] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 148, 167, 494.
[114] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration," p. 334.
[115] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 167.
[116] A. L. Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, XV: Salt, Dogs,
Tobacco_, Univ. Calif. Anthro. Rec., Vol. VI, No. 1 (Berkeley, 1941),
pp. 6 ff., map 5.
[117] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."
[118] Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 200.
[119] Kelly's informant did say that "before steamers used to travel
along the coast" certain occurrences in connection with this belief in
the land of the dead took place. This may be a memory of an incident
which once was more specifically remembered. At best, however, it is
improbable that there would be any tradition of Drake's visit per se.
[120] Such incidents are not uncommon in California. Note, for example,
the legendary significance of Mount Diablo to the Indian tribes of
central California.
[121] I disagree with Wagner's statement (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 169):
"The truth probably is that Drake stopped at two or three different
places on the coast [Trinidad Bay, Bodega Bay] and the writer of the
original narrative or the compilers who worked on it embodied in one
description those of all the Indians he met." The part of the _World
Encompassed_ account treated here has shown itself to be a homogeneous
description, interspersed with some naive interpretation of west-central
California coast Indian culture, and cannot be looked upon as a
composite description. To believe otherwise would seriously distort the
facts. This conclusion I submit as one of the most important results of
the present inquiry.
[122] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 492-495, does select the Pomo as
having the customs and manners described by Fletcher. In this he was
inevitably guided by the more abundant Pomo data. Kroeber's selection of
Drake's Bay as the site of the anchorage (_Handbook_, p. 278) rests upon
the same grounds as my conclusion. Wagner (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 497, n.
10) takes issue with Kroeber and raises several objections without
answering them satisfactorily.
[123] Wagner is concerned over this fact. He says (_Drake's Voyage_, p.
498, n. 24) that a reference to Drake's Estero should have been included
in the narrative "since the Indian villages were almost entirely located
upon it." In answer it may be observed that the Indian villages of
Drake's time were situated sporadically around the shore of Drake's Bay
as well as on the estero. One might as well ask at the same time why
Fletcher did not mention Tomales Bay if Drake were at Bodega?
[124] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 151.
[125] And, significantly, the Drake plate of brass uses the words "Nova
Albion." This is independently attested by John Drake in his first
declaration.
[126] See Francisco de Bolanos' explicit mention of the white cliffs in
Drake's Bay as prominent landmarks (Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 498, n.
19). See also Davidson, "Identification of Sir Francis Drake's
Anchorage," p. 31. Richard Madox refers to the California anchorage as
"Ships Land," perhaps the name given to the place by the sailors
themselves.
APPENDIX I
THE SOURCES
There are in existence at least three useful independent accounts of Sir
Francis Drake's California visit in 1579. These are: (1) the _World
Encompassed_ and the similar _Famous Voyage_ accounts; (2) the second
deposition of John Drake, and (3) the valuable notes of Richard Madox.
_The Famous Voyage and The World Encompassed._--The _Famous Voyage_,
first printed in 1589, was compiled by Richard Hakluyt from three
sources--John Cooke's manuscript, the _Anonymous Narrative_, and the
Francis Fletcher manuscript.[A-1] _The World Encompassed_, which
probably was in manuscript form a few years after Drake's return to
England, did not appear in print until 1628. The sources of this account
are the Fletcher manuscript, the Edward Cliffe account, and the
relations of Nuno da Silva and Lopez de Vaz.[A-2] It is obvious to any
reader that the _Famous Voyage_ and _World Encompassed_ accounts of the
California Indians are closely similar in wording, the chief difference
between the two being that the latter account is fuller than the
former.[A-3] The richer detail does not indicate literary padding, since
the additional information is ethnographically sound. One gets the
impression that the _Famous Voyage_ version is an abridgement of _The
World Encompassed_ account itself, or perhaps its source, though if this
is so in fact only the bibliographers can tell. Henry R. Wagner has
carefully analyzed the various accounts of the Drake voyage,[A-4] and is
inclined, no doubt with good reason, to treat the _World Encompassed_
version as "untrustworthy"; yet this characterization hardly holds for
what it tells of the California Indians, which, within limits of
interpretation, is a straightforward, detailed ethnographic record, of
convincing authenticity.
It is fairly certain that Francis Fletcher's "Notes" was the source of
the description of California Indian manners and customs, since, as
Wagner points out, the descriptions of the Patagonians and Fuegians in
the first half of the Fletcher manuscript (the second half is now lost)
agree very closely in wording with the descriptions of the California
coast Indians.[A-5]
Of Francis Fletcher, chaplain and diarist of the Drake expedition, O. M.
Dalton says:
... it may ... be suggested that Fletcher was not such a
romancer as has sometimes been supposed. There is really a
large amount of information condensed in his few pages,--as
much, or perhaps more, than is to be found in many chapters of
later and more diffuse historians or travellers. That he should
have seen strange and unprecedented occurrences in the light of
his own limited knowledge and of the narrow experience of his
time, was after all a psychological necessity. His narrative,
like the sea-god Glaucus in Plato's Republic, is obscured by
strange incrustations; nevertheless with a little patience the
fictitious shell may be removed and the solid fact discovered
intact beneath it.... It is apparent that the whole passage
describing Drake's interview with the "King," on which some
ridicule has been cast, is chiefly absurd because the narrator
inevitably reads into the social conditions of an uncultured
tribe something of the European etiquette of the day.... It was
only natural that a difficulty should have been experienced by
minds, not scientifically trained, in finding an appropriate
terminology by which to describe unfamiliar objects.... Other
instances might be quoted, but the above are sufficient to show
that Fletcher described scenes that actually passed before his
eyes, while the inferences he drew from them were erroneous. It
is only fair, if small things may be compared with great, that
the humble chronicler of a later day should be accorded the
same liberal method of interpretation which has long been
granted to classical authors.[A-6]