The following sketch of Athabascan culture attempts to provide some
background for the later discussion of the various groups. In this
sketch I have not used the material from the Hupa, since they are
virtually identical with the Yurok and not at all typical of the more
southern Athabascans.
_Subsistence._--For information on Athabascan economy I have relied
heavily on Essene's account of the Lassik (1942, p. 84). There was, no
doubt, variation among the different groups, but for the most part, they
must have followed a similar pattern.
The most difficult time in the annual cycle of food production was
winter. There were then few fish and almost no game animals or crops for
gathering. From late November to early March people had to rely on food
that had been stored the previous year. Essene's informant said that
about every four or five years there would be a hard winter, but she
could remember only one when people actually starved to death.
In February or March the spring salmon run began, and after that the
danger of starvation was past. At about this time the grass began to
grow again, and the first clover was eaten ravenously because of the
dearth of greens during the winter.
The herb-gathering and salmon-fishing activity lasted until the spring
rains ended in April or May, when the people left their villages on the
salmon streams and scattered out into the hills for the summer. Usually
only a few families would stay together during the summer, while the men
hunted deer, squirrels, and other animals and the women gathered clover,
seeds, roots, and nuts. Food was most plentiful at this season, and
the places visited varied with the abundance of different crops. If a
certain crop was good, the Indians would spend more time that summer in
the area where the crop grew best. The next year they might go somewhere
else. The vegetation of the Athabascan habitat is not well enough mapped
to permit a precise delineation of these various summer camping grounds.
In September or October, when the acorns were ripe, the Indians would
return to their winter villages and smoke meat for storing and probably
store the acorns. Each family built a new house to protect it from the
heavy winter rains. After the first rain in the fall the salmon run
again in some of the streams of the region and were caught and smoked
for winter storage.
It is evident that the crucial factor in the economy was the amount
of food stored for winter and that this food supply was a controlling
influence on the size of the population, since, in bad years, people
starved. At least, this was so for the Lassik, and it was no doubt true
among the other groups as well. Salmon, meat, and acorns were doubtless
the chief foods stored, and thus population size would have responded
quite sensitively to the quantity and condition of the salmon, deer, and
oak trees.
_Social organization._--For social organization I have had to rely
mostly on Nomland's accounts of the Sinkyone and Bear River groups
(1935, 1938). The primary social unit among the California Athabascans
was the simple family, including a man, his wife, and his children.
Although polygyny was known, at least among some groups, it was rare,
and the possessor of two wives was reckoned a rich man. Most marriage
was by purchase; the levirate and sororate were common. Divorce was also
common and might be obtained by a man because of his wife's barrenness,
laziness, or infidelity.
The next social group, larger than the family, was the tribelet. Kroeber
(1932, p. 258) has defined the tribelet as follows.
Each of these [tribelets] seemed to possess a small territory
usually definable in terms of drainage; a principal town or
settlement, often with a chief recognized by the whole group;
normally, minor settlements which might or might not be occupied
permanently; and sometimes a specific name, but more often none
other than the designation of the principal town. Each group acted
as a homogeneous unit in matters of land ownership, trespass, war,
major ceremonies, and the entertainment entailed by them.
This definition, given for the Pomo, fits the Athabascan area very well.
Merriam usually refers to these groups as "bands," while Goddard calls
them "subtribes." In the body of this paper I use the word "band" when
quoting or paraphrasing Merriam, otherwise I call them "tribelets."
The tribelet was the largest corporate group in the area. A
larger group, which I call the tribe, has been identified by most
ethnographers. This latter group ordinarily had no corporate
functions, unless it happened to be coterminous with, and therefore
indistinguishable from, the tribelet. The tribe, as the term is used
here, was a group of two or more tribelets--or occasionally one single
group--with a single speech dialect, different from that of their
neighbors. The tribe was also culturally uniform, but not necessarily
distinct from its neighbors in this respect. The similarity between
people of a single tribe evidently gave them a feeling of community but
had no further effect on their social or political organization.
The following tribes have been identified in the Athabascan area, each
including several tribelets, except for the Bear River tribe, which
consists of one single tribelet.
Kato: The Kato probably included at least 2 tribelets, but we
have no information on this point.
Eel River Wailaki: 9 tribelets.
North Fork Wailaki: 6 tribelets.
Pitch Wailaki: 4 tribelets.
Lassik: Probably several tribelets, but there is no
information.
Nongatl: There is evidence of 6 subgroups of the Nongatl. Some
of these may be dialect divisions, that is, tribes. The information
is not sufficient to permit definition and they have therefore been
grouped under Nongatl. The extent of Nongatl territory indicates
that there must have been several tribelets.
Lolangkok Sinkyone: There were at least 2, and possibly more,
tribelets.
Shelter Cove Sinkyone: There were at least 4 tribelets.
Mattole: 2 tribelets.
Bear River: The Bear River tribe consists of a single tribelet.
Whilkut: The 4 subdivisions of the Whilkut--Chilula Whilkut,
Kloki Whilkut, Mad River Whilkut, and North Fork Whilkut--all
appear to be tribelets. It is possible that the Mad River Whilkut
spoke a different dialect than the other groups and, if so, they
should be given tribal status. The evidence is not clear on this
point and I have therefore included them simply as a Whilkut
tribelet.
Hupa: 2 tribelets are to be distinguished for the Hupa
proper. In addition, Merriam distinguishes the South Fork Hupa
as a distinct dialect division. The linguistic separation is not
supported by Goddard or Kroeber and I have therefore included the
South Fork Hupa under the Hupa proper, but as a separate tribelet.
This gives a total of 3 tribelets for the Hupa.
In general, it may be stated that the California Athabascans did not
have the strong local organization characteristic of Central California.
Emphasis on wealth, although present, was less strongly developed than
among the Yurok and therefore did not lead to the fragmented villages
and tight family organization of that group. This statement, of course,
does not apply to the Hupa, and probably not to the Whilkut, both of
which were more like the Yurok.
_Religion and the supernatural._--The clearest account of the religious
practices of the Athabascans is given by Nomland (1938, pp. 93-98),
who obtained her information from the Bear River woman, Nora Coonskin,
herself a shaman. The account, however, may not be representative of the
Athabascans as a whole.
The Athabascans thought that each person had a spirit which, leaving him
when he died, might come back to earth as a small creature about two
feet high. This returned spirit could communicate with shamans. When a
person had a fainting spell, the spirit departed from the body and a
shaman had to be called in order to get the patient's spirit back. If
the shaman failed, the patient died. Shamans' spirits went to a special
afterworld and were accompanied only by the spirits of other shamans.
Shamans were important among the Bear River people and probably among
the other Athabascans as well. They might be either men or women; most
often they were women, men being thought less powerful. The first
signs of a shaman's power came in childhood, the visible signs being,
for example, excessive drooling in sleep. If the childhood omens were
proper, the training began about the age of twelve, under the direction
of an older shaman, the main ceremony being a series of dances performed
on five successive nights. Other ceremonies followed; then the girl
was a full-fledged shaman. She was not supposed to use her power for a
period of two to five years or it would harm her. The fee for training
the initiate was large, 200 to 300 dollars in Indian money (perhaps a
6-8 ft. string of dentalia shells).
There were two types of shamans--curing shamans and sucking shamans. The
curing shaman sang and danced for two nights while her spirit searched
for the spirit of the patient. A shaman's fee was from five to ten
dollars per night; if the patient died within two months, the fee had to
be returned.
The sucking shamans could suck out pains which were causing illness.
These shamans were paid more because they were more powerful; having
greater power, they were in greater danger and had a shorter life
expectancy.
_Connections with other groups._--The foregoing account of economy,
social organization, and religious practices does not by any means make
up a complete picture of Athabascan life, but it illustrates certain
salient factors. In particular, the connections with Northwestern
California are clear. So far as influence from Northwestern California
is concerned the Athabascans may be divided into three groups: the
Hupa and Whilkut on the north are an integral part of the northwestern
culture center; the Wailaki and Kato on the south are essentially
Central Californian; and the groups in between are transitional, but
more northern than southern in their outlook.