Stewart, or the Mah-to-poma of Merriam, whose permanent villages were
inland but who ranged a large territory extending to the coast.
According to Stewart there were three minor divisions of the group,
with three permanent villages, Mato, Kabedile, and Kulakau, each of
which had its own chief. On no other evidence would we be justified in
ascribing 200 persons to each subgroup. Stewart says (p. 33): "The best
guesses of my informants placed the primitive population at about 500
persons, half of them in the main village of Mato." That would give 250
to Mato and 125 each to Kabedile and Kulakau. This estimate appears too
low, particularly since the informants were all born in the 1860's,
twenty years after the first contact with the white man.
Merriam (in his "Northern Pomo," together with a separate manuscript
entitled "Sherwood Valley rancherias") transcribed and checked
Barrett's village list. As was his custom he initialed in ink those
names which he confirmed by independent investigation, leaving unmarked
those for the existence of which he considered he had no certain
evidence. For Sherwood Valley he gives 25 names. Of these, 3 were taken
from Barrett without confirmation, leaving 22. Seven of the latter are
given by Merriam alone, in addition to those appearing on Barrett's
list. Merriam mentions Mah-to-chutte and also Ma-chah-tah, each of
which he says was a "big rancheria." It is very probable that these
were variants of the same name or were parts of the same village. Hence
they may be combined as representing Stewart's Mato. Merriam also
mentions Kah-ba-de-la-chut-te and Kah-baht-be-dah-chut-te, which appear
to be variants for Stewart's Kabedile. Also included are
Bo-shahm-koo-che (Bocamkutci), Cha-bo-tse-y-chut-te (Kabotsiu), and
Tan-nah-shil-chut-te (Tanacil), all of which are stated by Stewart (p.
35) to have been parts of Kulakau. This reduces Merriam's effective
list to 17.
Mato is stated by Merriam to have been a "big rancheria." This is in
line with Stewart's impression that the village contained at least 250
persons. This number may therefore be accepted without much hesitation.
Kabedile (or Kah-baht-be-da-chut-te) is said by Merriam to have had 30
to 40 house holes. He also mentions the fact that the Mexicans
perpetrated a massacre here in 1846, in the course of which 25 were
killed and many children stolen for slaves. If we take the lower limit
mentioned for houses and reduce one-third, we still get a probable 20
houses, which at 14 persons per house gives a minimum population of 280
persons. Stewart gives Kulakau and the three villages considered to be
parts of it equal rank with Mato and Kabedile. Merriam says of
Cha-bo-tse-y-chut-te (Kobotsiu) that it was a "big village." Hence we
may safely ascribe 250 persons to the town.
Merriam adds certain comments on the villages. Boo-tah-kah-chut-te had
a "big round house." Che-ah-po-y-chut-te was of "fair size but no
roundhouse." She-ko-ki-chut-te consisted of "two big rancherias and
roundhouse." The other 10 villages are listed merely by locality
without additional information. We encounter here a clear instance of
the perplexity which pursues us throughout the Pomo area. We must
accept either the combined word or Barrett and Merriam that there were
numerous subsidiary villages inhabited in Sherwood Valley during
aboriginal times or the word of Stewart that there were not. At this
point it must be emphasized again that by 1840 the Northern Pomo had
been invaded by Spanish-Mexicans from the San Francisco Bay region and
their aboriginal social order had been partially disrupted.
Furthermore, we know that they had been exposed to serious inroads by
disease, such as the great smallpox epidemic of the 1830's. In
particular, that of 1837, the so-called "Miramontes epidemic," began at
Fort Ross and is known to have seriously involved the Russian River
Valley. There is much reason to believe, therefore that the population
decline began by 1830, with its accompanying shifting and consolidation
of villages. Both Barrett and Merriam did their field work among the
Pomo from 1900 to 1910, say as an approximate date 1905. A
seventy-year-old informant at that time could thus actually remember
the year 1840. But a similar individual in 1935 could remember of his
own knowledge only to 1870. He would have to draw on second- and
third-hand information imparted by his forefathers. As Stewart (p. 29)
says of one of his Sherwood Valley informants his "father's father told
JMc of 'old times'." It is hardly to be expected that an old man could
very accurately transmit population data secured as a small boy at his
grandfather's knee. For these reasons I think Merriam's village names
cannot be discarded, unless specific evidence proves that they are
errors. They must be accepted as villages which at one time were
inhabited. There remains of course the possible contingency that some
of these places had been abandoned before the advent of the first white
influence or that they were spots inhabited for a short time during the
upheaval accompanying the American invasion. Since there is no
conceivable way in which we may ascertain the true facts in detail,
perhaps some arbitrary correction is desirable. Consequently the
following procedure is suggested: estimate the population on the basis
of all the Merriam names, then reduce by one-third. Such a method
should take care of all instances of temporary villages, camp sites
etc.
Applying the above principles, we may assign 150 inhabitants to
Boo-tah-kah-chut-te ("big roundhouse"), 50 to Che-ah-po-y-chut-te
("fair-sized but no roundhouse"), and 200 to She-ko-ki-chut-te ("two
big rancherias and roundhouse"). Two houses, or say 30 persons, may be
allocated to the other 10 sites of Merriam. The total would then be
700, which, reduced by one-third, gives as a final value 470.
For the Mato-pomo as a whole the population figure is 1,250. It is
difficult to see how a much lower figure could be set for the area.
For the Northern Pomo collectively there has been derived a population
estimate of 5,040. It is of interest to compare this figure with the
values cited by Heintzelman.
This officer listed eight names which can be indentified as falling
within the group being discussed. They are as follows.
1. _Si-dam._ This is _sedam_ of Barrett (1908, p. 141) and of
Stewart (1943, p. 41), located in Potter Valley.
2. _Po-ma Pomes._ This is _pomo_ of Barrett and Stewart, likewise
in Potter Valley.
3. _Kal-il-na-pomas._ This group was located between Martoo
(Sherwood) and Metumki (Little Lake) valleys and is possibly
equivalent to kalal-nokca, a village below Ukiah (Barrett, personal
communication). However the habitat specified by Heintzelman does
not support Barrett's surmise. The group undoubtedly lived much to
the north of Ukiah.
4. _She-bal-na-pomas._ These were in Sherwood Valley and are
referred to by Barrett (1908, p. 147, fn.) as the Shi-bal-ni Pomo.
5. _Calli-tal-pomas._ Dr. Barrett is unable to identify the name
but the people lived in the same vicinity as the tribes mentioned
previously. It is possible that they may have been the _kabelal_ of
Stewart (1943. p. 39).
6. _Yo-pomas._ Dr. Barrett thinks (personal communication) that
this term may signify _Yo kai pomo_ ("south valley people") who
would have lived near Ukiah. But Heintzelman states that they lived
between Kinomo (Round) Valley and Martoo (Sherwood) Valley, and
hence must have been Northern Pomo.
7. _Maa-to-ma-pomas._ With regard to these people Dr. Barrett
writes me as follows: "Possibly refers to Little Lake or Willits
Valley people _mtomkai_, or _bitomkai_ (1908, p. 128, fn.), or to
_mitoma_, on a knoll in the town of Willits (ibid., p. 145)." The
latter hypothesis appears the more probable (Stewart, 1943, p. 36
ff., discusses this subtribe at length). Heintzelman adds the
information that the Maa-to-ma-pomas are divided into seven tribes,
of which the _Sho-he-shas_ are the most numerous. Barrett (1908, p.
146, fn.) thinks that the latter people are the Chow-e-chak of
M'Kee. Heintzelman further says that the territory covered extends
from Metumki (Little Lake) Valley to the coast.
8. _So-as._ Barrett considers (personal communication) that this
name refers to the village of _sosa-tca_, in Sherwood Valley (cf.
1908, p. 147).
Irrespective of conflicts in terminology it appears that Heintzelman
fairly well covered the area usually assigned to the Northern Pomo
under the eight designations just listed. His total population value is
5,350, slightly greater than but very close to the estimate derived
from ethnographic data (i.e., 5,040). This close correspondence will be
seen as specially significant when we come to examine his report on the
Central and Southern Pomo.
_Northern Pomo ... 5,040_
CENTRAL POMO
_Ukiah._--In the Ukiah area are included four of Stewart's subtribes:
the Yokaia of Ukiah Valley, the Ciego of Largo, the Cokoa of Hopland,
and the Yobakeya of Echo. There are all consolidated by Merriam in his
manuscript entitled "Tribe List of Yo-ki-ah Pomo" and will be
considered together.
Stewart is very positive that these four tribes all lived in one
central village. He says regarding the Yokaia: "Although several
villages are given by Barrett for this area, there is no doubt that
during the winter months the population was concentrated in one main
village" (p. 43). Regarding the Cokoa: "Politically, as well as
geographically, the Cokoa resembled the Yokaia. Both had a single
central village of importance where the population was concentrated"
(p. 43). Merriam credits Barrett with 37 village names, to which he
adds none himself. Of the 37 he confirms only 13. Since the other 24 of
Barrett are doubtful, they may be excluded. Of Merriam's 13 Stewart
says specifically that three were camps not permanent villages. Two,
Kah-chi-o (Katcayo) and Shah-na-na-oo (Caneneu) were proved by Stewart
to have existed only subsequent to the white invasion. One may belong
to the Booneville tribe and another is a tribal, not a village, name.
Four, Kah-ka-eu (Cokadjal). Ko-lo-ko (Koloko), Lema (Ciego), and Shanel
(Canel) were the main villages, as stated by Stewart. There remain
unaccounted for only Bok-shah (Barrett's Bokca), regarding which
Merriam says it had a sweathouse and was "practically permanent," and
Katch-a-wah-low. Merriam's conclusions thus coincide to a remarkable
degree with those of Stewart and justify the assumption that, where the
two investigators clearly differ, considerable weight should be given
to Merriam's account.
The largest of the four main villages was Canel, or Shanel. Comment has
already been made upon the fact that both Stephen Powers' and Stewart's
informants, proceding from entirely different premises, reached the
conclusion that the town had a primitive population of 1,500. This
figure therefore, however incredible, must be accepted. It is
noteworthy in passing that if we apply the family number of 14 to the
104 houses shown by Powers on his map of the town, the population is
computed at 1,456, almost identical with the other estimates.
For the Yokaia, originally settled at Cokadjal, Stewart says: "The
population ... has been variously estimated at from 500-1,000
persons...." Since such estimates are likely to be somewhat low, and in
view of the size of Canel, we may take the upper limit, 1,000
inhabitants.
The status of Lema (Ciego) is dubious. Stewart says the people had no
chief and the tribe was composed of "soldiers." The town was very well
known at the time of white occupation, however, and must have held at
least 150 persons.
The Yobakeya at Koloko were also warlike and Stewart calls them a
"small group." But he also says that one of his informants told him
there were about 60 survivors of the tribe in his youth (approximately
1865). This fact argues an aboriginal membership of at least 300
persons.
For the Yo-ki-ah linguistic subdivision of the Northern Pomo as
presented by Merriam the collective population is thus estimated at
2,950.
_Point Arena._--The Point Arena area is a large territory comprising
300 square miles along the coast. Stewart designates its occupants the
Bokaya and includes three subtribes centering in the villages of Kauca,
Pdahau, and Lacupda. Merriam separates two groups, the Bo-yah, which
included Kauca and Pdahau, and the Kan-no-ah, or the Lacupda people
("Tribe List of Bo-yah" and "Tribe List of Kan-no-ah").
One of Stewart's informants, a woman born about 1880, said that the
aggregate population was 380. This appears much too low. Merriam lists
29 villages, of which many are taken from Barrett without confirmation.
On the other hand Stewart says (p. 48) regarding Pdahau: "there is no
doubt that other villages were occupied contemporaneously with it,
although it was impossible to get the exact status of all the sites
mentioned by Barrett." Hence the acceptance of some of Barrett's and
Merriam's villages must be considered.
Merriam's list includes Stewart's three main villages. It also includes
Itcetce and Kodalau, which Stewart says were settled after the American
occupation. Merriam also gives the following, some of which are on
Barrett's list:
1. Kah-bim-mo ("permanent village")
2. Kah-sha-lem ("permanent village, large town. Inhabitants moved
many years ago to Cha-cha. Used as slaves by man named Shoemaker.")
3. Kah-sil-shah-ko ("acorn camp and winter rancheria")
4. Kah-ya-a-lin ("acorn camp and winter rancheria")
5. Kup-pish-ko ("permanent village")
6. Shah-dah ("permanent village")
7. We-chahl (of the Kan-no-ah, "very large permanent village")
The remaining 17 village names are credited to Barrett without comment
or confirmation.
Suppose we accept the values put on Pdahau, Kauca, and Lacupda by
Stewart's informant, i.e., respectively 200, 100, and 80. Then we
should allow 150 each for Merriam's "large" villages, nos. 2 and 7
above. The other five were apparently small and may be conceded 30
persons each. Of the final 17 sites it will be fair to admit the
probably simultaneous existence of two-thirds of them, or let us say
12, at the rate of 30 persons per village. The total for the area then
becomes 1,190 inhabitants. Using Stewart's figure of 300 square miles
for the area the density would thus be 3.97 persons per square mile or
less than Gifford found for the Coast Yuki. Such an estimate seems
extremely conservative.
_Booneville and Yorkville._--In this area are found the Pdateya of
Booneville, which Stewart puts among the Northern Pomo, and the
Danokeya of Yorkville. The corresponding names used by Merriam are the
Lah-ta and the Ta-bo-ta. Very little is known of either group. Stewart
mentions the village of Lemkolil near Booneville and Late and Maboton
in the Yorkville region. Merriam gives Barrett's list (in his
manuscript entitled "Ta-bo-ta and Lah-ta") without comment. For the
Ta-bo-ta there are 10 villages and for the Lah-ta 9. Since we have
absolutely no other leads we may assign the three main villages 100
inhabitants each, and deduct one-third from the remainder to allow for
Barrett's nonpermanent sites. There would then be 10 presumptive
villages with 30 persons each, or 300 for all of them. The total
population for the two groups together would then be 600.
_Stewart's Point._--The tribe at Stewart's Point is known as the Kacia
(Stewart) or the Kah-chi-a (Merriam, manuscript entitled "Tribe List of
Kah-chi-a pomo"). Also included are Stewart's Yotiya of the Southern
Pomo, a group for which I find no account in Merriam's notes.
Stewart has made a particularly exhaustive study of this group and
states that the population range extended from 800 to 1,200 persons.
Merriam gives 82 names of villages. Stewart makes it quite clear that
aboriginally the Kacia had no permanent settlements on the coast
itself. All their villages were at least four or five miles inland,
except Mitini and Powicana. We must delete therefore all the coastal
villages of Barrett and Merriam except the two mentioned. This
immediately removes 27 names, leaving 55. Of these, 16 are mentioned by
Stewart as "villages which were occupied more or less permanently" (p.
50). Five of them had assembly houses. Of the remaining 39 sites, 30
are confirmed by Merriam from Barrett's list or are given by him in
addition to Barrett. If we consider that the larger, known population
of the villages such as Mitini balances errors in Merriam's list and
the mean number of persons per village was 30, then the total for the
group is 46 times 30, or 1,380. To this should be added, according to
Stewart, 100 for the Yotiya, making 1,480 in all. This is somewhat, but
not excessively, greater than Stewart's estimate.
For the Central Pomo as a whole we may turn once more to the record
left by Heintzelman. For the area here being considered he lists five
tribes.
1. _Uk-a-is._ These are stated to be located "above the canyon of
the Russian River," and are obviously the villages grouped around
Ukiah. A discussion of the Yokaia is given by Stewart (1943, pp.
43-45).
2. _Sinals._ This term clearly refers to the village of Shanel,
already mentioned with respect to population.
3. _Bo-kas._ These were located "in the vicinity of Fort Ross" and
included no doubt the Bokeya of Point Arena as well as the
survivors around Fort Ross.
4. _Ta-bi-tas._ These were "in Anderson's Valley" and refer to the
inhabitants of the village Tabate (Kroeber and Stewart) or to the
group called the Pdateya by Stewart.
5. _Bo-i-os._ These were located "south of Booldam River on the
coast," in other words south of Big River near the boundary between
the Northern and Central Pomo.
Since the region of Ukiah, Hopland, Booneville, Point Arena, and Fort
Ross was well explored and even extensively settled by 1855, it is
entirely probable that Heintzelman recorded all the existing natives of
the area. Regardless of terminology the five names above leave no
important fraction of the territory unaccounted for. Heintzelman's
total for the population is 2,100, a figure which should be compared
with the value of 6,220 obtained through the use of village lists,
together with house and family number.
For the Athapascan and Yukian peoples, as well as for the Northern
Pomo, a marked correspondence could be observed between the two sets of
data, even though entire identity could not be achieved. For the
Central Pomo, on the other hand, there is a striking disparity: the
Heintzelman estimate reaches only one-third the value obtained from
ethnographic sources. Since Heintzelman could reach his maximum
accuracy among the relatively well known Central Pomo, as opposed to
the remoter northern groups, we cannot ascribe his low count to
ignorance or carelessness on his part. The most reasonable explanation
is that the Central Pomo had already by 1855 suffered a reduction in
population of from one-half to two-thirds of the aboriginal level. Such
an hypothesis is entirely consistent with all we know of Mexican and
American settlement in Sonoma and southern Mendocino counties and,
furthermore, tends to lend support to the much higher figures reported
by Heintzelman for the more northerly tribes.
_Central Pomo ... 6,220_
SOUTHWESTERN POMO
This group, consisting principally of the Kacia of Stewart's Point, has
already been discussed under the Central Pomo.
SOUTHERN POMO
In this area lived five large groups, named variously by different
students, centering around Dry Creek, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Santa
Rosa, and Sebastopol. The Pomo residue, mentioned by Barrett, and
others who survived in Alexander Valley are here omitted since they may
be more appropriately considered as contributing to the predominantly
Wappo population. Likewise, the village of Wilok, east of Santa Rosa,
is probably considered more satisfactorily in conjunction with the
neighboring Wappo.
Modern ethnographic data are of little value for estimating the
population of the Southern Pomo, however carefully it may have been
secured. The Spanish and Mexican missionaries, accompanied by the
military, entered the area certainly before 1820 and by the year 1835
the Southern Pomo had been relocated in the missions, conscripted for
labor, or carried off by disease. Shortly after 1840 the Americans
began to appear and as a result the original village pattern was
completely disrupted. Hence it is relatively useless to compute
population from the sites which in recent years have been remembered by
Indian or white informants. Merriam, following Barrett, lists about 80
village names but in very few instances endorses Barrett's findings by
subscribing his initials. To attempt any detailed analysis of these
sites would serve no useful purpose whatever.
It is clear from the opinions expressed by Kroeber and Stewart that the
Southern Pomo exhibited the same general type of social organization as
the Central Pomo, namely, a splitting into subtribes with each of the
latter inhabiting a single, large main village. Several of these have
been reasonably well identified, some by modern ethnographers and some
by the early missionaries and civil contemporaries. There are 15, the
existence of which is sufficiently well assured. They are as follows:
1. Amalako Dry Creek Stewart
2. Amako Cloverdale Stewart, Merriam
3. Makahmo Cloverdale Stewart, Merriam, Kroeber
4. Amatio Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam
5. Kale Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam
6. Mukakotcalg Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam
7. Wotokkaton Healdsburg Merriam, Kroeber
8. Tsoliikawai Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam
9. Batiklechawi Sebastopol Merriam, Kroeber
10. Masikawani Sebastopol Stewart, Merriam
11. Hukabetawi Santa Rosa Merriam, Kroeber
12. Kabetsiuwa Santa Rosa Stewart, Merriam
13. Gualomi Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam
14. Chichiyomi Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam
15. Levantoyome Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam
If each of these fifteen villages had a population of only 300 Indians,
a low value considering the huge congregations in the Ukiah-Hopland
region, the total for the Southern Pomo could be set at 4,500.
There is a little contributory evidence to be obtained from the mission
records. These documents, which are to be found in the Bancroft Library
of the University of California, include baptism records for the
missions of San Rafael and Solano, those which drew upon the Pomo for
converts. Up to 1834 there had been baptized 268 persons from
Levantoyome, 90 from Gualomi, and 44 from Chichiyome. Conversions in
peripheral areas like that of the Southern Pomo were always far from
complete, particularly at the end of the mission period. Many of the
natives were killed in the incessant skirmishes and massacres of the
time, many were enslaved directly by rancheros, many died of disease,
but by far the greatest number simply fled the approach of the white
man. It is quite reasonable to suppose that not more than one-third of
the natives were ever actually brought into the missions for
conversion. This would mean an average of 402 persons for the three
subtribes or villages just mentioned, Levantoyome, Gualomi, and
Chichiyome. Extended to the entire 15 known principal villages, the
total would be 6,030.
A second possible method consists of area-density comparisons. The
over-all density in the sum of the Potter Valley, Calpella, and Ukiah
areas can certainly have been no greater than that originally existing
in the region of the Southern Pomo, for of all the Pomo subdivisions
the southern group possessed the most favorable habitats and the most
prolific food supply. The population found for the three northern areas
mentioned above was 5,090 and the area according to Stewart (pp. 57-59)
was 585 square miles. The density was thus 8.70 persons per square
mile. The corresponding value for the Clear Lake Pomo is 7.34. The area
of the Southern Pomo, including the five groups discussed here was 745
square miles. At the northern density of approximately 8 persons per
square mile the population would have been 5,960.
The two methods employed therefore yield essentially similar results
and make possible the estimate of 6,000 persons for the Southern Pomo.