MUSIC AND ART
Music of local tribes was limited indeed. It was usually made by men.
Only Atsugewi among the Lassen tribes possessed the drum, and this is
believed to have been of recent introduction. It was a tambourine type:
flat, cylindrical, a foot or so across, and with buckskin shrunken over
one end.
The shamans of all tribes used cocoon rattles. These were made of large
cocoons from which the moth pupae had been removed through a small hole.
Pebbles or seeds were then inserted and usually five or six
cocoons—among Atsugewi as many as thirty—were tied onto the end of a
wooden handle and dried. Cocoon rattles were considered dangerous and
were usually kept hidden out of doors, being used by shamans only when
doctoring.
A single split stick clapper was employed generally for all types of
singing and dancing, not being reserved for any special type of person
or ceremony.
Deer-hoof rattles were made from the small hard “dew-claws” from the
backs of deer legs. About twenty dew-claws were tied loosely with thongs
to a strip of buckskin which was then wrapped about a stick with a plain
handle. The deer-hoof rattle was operated by vigorously jerking it
lengthwise, in and out. It was used exclusively in the important puberty
rites when girls attained womanhood.
[Illustration: Deer-hoof rattle, length about ten inches (after
Dixon)]
[Illustration: Maidu split-stick clapper, twenty inches long]
[Illustration: Maidu cocoon rattle eight inches long]
[Illustration: Maidu bird-bone whistles]
[Illustration: Atsugewi deer-claw rattle]
[Illustration: Universal split-stick dancing rattle]
[Illustration: Maidu cocoon rattle]
[Illustration: Flute and bull-roarer of local manufacture]
Atsugewi and Yana employed hunting bows as musical instruments by
holding one end in the mouth and plucking the string with fingers.
Mountain Maidu did so too, but like the others only for their own
amusement.
Bone, cane, and elder whistles were blown at dances. Flutes, the most
tuneful of Indians’ instruments, were not played at ceremonies or at
dances, curiously enough, but just for self amusement, or in the case of
mountain Maidu also for courting pretty girls. Flute melodies were
supposed to tell stories, but words were not sung to help the
interpretation. Yana made a six-hole flute; other tribes of the Lassen
area used a four hole model. In all cases they were open, reedless
instruments blown at an angle across one end. The flute was most
frequently made of elder wood—mountain Maidu burned the holes into it
with live coals.
Except for basketry designs art as such is virtually non-existent. A few
simple designs were painted onto hunting bows, and some nose and ear
pendants might be considered jewelry art forms, but of the lowest
development. The application of face and body paints and tattooing were
also simple examples of Indian art.
There appear to be no cliff or cave paintings in the vicinity of Lassen
Peak, but they are abundant in Lava Beds National Monument about 75
miles to the north. A different matter is that of petroglyphs which, in
California, usually have been made by striking or pecking smooth rock
surfaces with small hard stones. Some of these are to be found in the
Atsugewi and central Yana territories at lower elevation. However, these
symbolic markings were not executed by the local tribes. Atsugewi
believe them to have been made by mythological characters. It appears
that the petroglyphs must have been made by the predecessors of the Hat
Creek and Nozi Indians, for these people claim no knowledge of even the
meaning of the rock writings. Shortly before going to press the first
petroglyph known to come from the Lassen vicinity was found in the
territory of the Southern Yana. The site is one where numerous obsidian
chips and arrowpoints have been found on a gently south sloping, open
forested portion of Lassen Volcanic National Park headquarters area at
an elevation of almost 5000 feet and situated slightly west of the
village of Mineral and just north of the north edge of Battle Creek
Meadow.
This find on a 10 inch boulder appears to be of ancient origin. The
surface has weathered considerably yet not so much that the character of
the carving has been altered. It is apparent that the quarter inch deep
grooves have been made by rubbing rather than by pecking with hard
rocks. This is all the more interesting since the boulder bearing the
carving is of a tough hard and site lava. It is indeed unfortunate that
the significance of this Battle Creek Meadows petroglyph is unknown. The
authorities venture the opinion that the stone may have been used in
puberty ceremonies. If so, whether by the Southern Yana or their
predecessors we do not know either.
[Illustration: Battle Creek Meadows petroglyph about nine inches
long. The eye-shaped area A is a smooth flat one eighth of an inch
below the level of the rest of the rock surface. The grooves
bounding it are more than one quarter inch deep and of V-shaped
cross-section while the other markings are much shallower troughs
with rounded bottoms some being quite vague. B, C, D, and E indicate
deeper rounded depressions. F is a smooth and very uniform slightly
concave area.]