Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved.
Italics in the footnotes citations were inconsistently applied by the typesetter.
The following changes were made or suggested:
Page xlix: "Viena" is a possible typo for "Vienna"
Page xlix: "Megico" is a possible typo for "Mejico"
Page 18: The opening quote mark is missing in the quote ending "in company,"
Page 37: "AlÄsku" should possibly be "AlÄksu"
Page 104: "von 10 bis 12 Pud" should possibly be "von 10 bis 12 Pfund"
Page 105: "mit grellen Farben" should possibly be "die mit grellen Farben"
Page 203: Viaye changed to Viage
Page 210: "Some of women would with difficulty" is apparently missing a word
Page 212: Crane's Topog. Mem. possibly should be Cram's
Page 283: Farnham's Trav., pp. 81-; is missing an end page reference
Page 401: "galeon" should possibly be "galleon"
Page 413: Footnote 591 is missing its anchor
Page 417: Footnote 597 is missing its anchor
Page 420: Footnote 601 is missing its anchor
Page 468: "to the west fork of Walker's river the south.'" is apparently missing a word
Page 606: headquarters possibly should be headwaters
Page 699: gray colors possibly should be gay colors
Page 763: looses possibly should be loses
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.
VOLUME I.
THE NATIVE RACES.
Vol. I. WILD TRIBES.
SAN FRANCISCO:
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1883.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
All Rights Reserved.
PREFACE.
In pursuance of a general plan involving the production of a series of works on the western half of North America, I present this delineation of its aboriginal inhabitants as the first. To the immense territory bordering on the western ocean from Alaska to Darien, and including the whole of Mexico and Central America, I give arbitrarily, for want of a better, the name Pacific States. Stretching almost from pole to equator, and embracing within its limits nearly one tenth of the earth's surface, this last Western Land offers to lovers of knowledge a new and enticing field; and, although hitherto its several parts have been held somewhat asunder by the force of circumstances, yet are its occupants drawn by nature into nearness of relationship, and will be brought yet nearer by advancing civilization; the common oceanic highway on the one side, and the great mountain ramparts on the other, both tending to this result. The characteristics of this vast domain, material and social, are comparatively unknown and are essentially peculiar. To its exotic civilization all the so-called older nations of the world have contributed of their energies; and this composite mass, leavened by its destiny, is now working out the new problem of its future. The modern history of this West antedates that of the East by over a century, and although there may be apparent heterogeneity in the subject thus territorially treated, there is an apparent tendency toward ultimate unity.
To some it may be of interest to know the nature and extent of my resources for writing so important a series of works. The books and manuscripts necessary for the task existed in no library in the world; hence, in 1859, I commenced collecting material relative to the Pacific States. After securing everything within my reach in America, I twice visited Europe, spending about two years in thorough researches in England and the chief cities of the Continent. Having exhausted every available source, I was obliged to content myself with lying in wait for opportunities. Not long afterward, and at a time when the prospect of materially adding to my collection seemed anything but hopeful, the Biblioteca Imperial de MÉjico, of the unfortunate Maximilian, collected during a period of forty years by Don JosÉ MarÍa Andrade, litterateur and publisher of the city of Mexico, was thrown upon the European market and furnished me about three thousand additional volumes.
In 1869, having accumulated some sixteen thousand books, manuscripts, and pamphlets, besides maps and cumbersome files of Pacific Coast journals, I determined to go to work. But I soon found that, like Tantalus, while up to my neck in water, I was dying of thirst. The facts which I required were so copiously diluted with trash, that to follow different subjects through this trackless sea of erudition, in the exhaustive manner I had proposed, with but one life-time to devote to the work, was simply impracticable. In this emergency my friend, Mr Henry L. Oak, librarian of the collection, came to my relief. After many consultations, and not a few partial failures, a system of indexing the subject-matter of the whole library was devised, sufficiently general to be practicable, and sufficiently particular to direct me immediately to all my authorities on any given point. The system, on trial, stands the test, and the index when completed, as it already is for the twelve hundred authors quoted in this work, will more than double the practical value of the library.
Of the importance of the task undertaken, I need not say that I have formed the highest opinion. At present the few grains of wheat are so hidden by the mountain of chaff as to be of comparatively little benefit to searchers in the various branches of learning; and to sift and select from this mass, to extract from bulky tome and transient journal, from the archives of convent and mission, facts valuable to the scholar and interesting to the general reader; to arrange these facts in a natural order, and to present them in such a manner as to be of practical benefit to inquirers in the various branches of knowledge, is a work of no small import and responsibility. And though mine is the labor of the artisan rather than that of the artist, a forging of weapons for abler hands to wield, a producing of raw materials for skilled mechanics to weave and color at will; yet, in undertaking to bring to light from sources innumerable essential facts, which, from the very shortness of life if from no other cause, must otherwise be left out in the physical and social generalizations which occupy the ablest minds, I feel that I engage in no idle pastime.
A word as to the Nations of which this work is a description, and my method of treating the subject. Aboriginally, for a savage wilderness, there was here a dense population; particularly south of the thirtieth parallel, and along the border of the ocean north of that line. Before the advent of Europeans, this domain counted its aborigines by millions; ranked among its people every phase of primitive humanity, from the reptile-eating cave-dweller of the Great Basin, to the Aztec and Maya-QuichÉ civilization of the southern table-land,—a civilization, if we may credit Dr Draper, "that might have instructed Europe," a culture wantonly crushed by Spain, who therein "destroyed races more civilized than herself."
Differing among themselves in minor particulars only, and bearing a general resemblance to the nations of eastern and southern America; differing again, the whole, in character and cast of features from every other people of the world, we have here presented hundreds of nations and tongues, with thousands of beliefs and customs, wonderfully dissimilar for so segregated a humanity, yet wonderfully alike for the inhabitants of a land that comprises within its limits nearly every phase of climate on the globe. At the touch of European civilization, whether Latin or Teutonic, these nations vanished; and their unwritten history, reaching back for thousands of ages, ended. All this time they had been coming and going, nations swallowing up nations, annihilating and being annihilated, amidst human convulsions and struggling civilizations. Their strange destiny fulfilled, in an instant they disappear; and all we have of them, besides their material relics, is the glance caught in their hasty flight, which gives us a few customs and traditions, and a little mythological history.
To gather and arrange in systematic compact form all that is known of these people; to rescue some facts, perhaps, from oblivion, to bring others from inaccessible nooks, to render all available to science and to the general reader, is the object of this work. Necessarily some parts of it may be open to the charge of dryness; I have not been able to interlard my facts with interesting anecdotes for lack of space, and I have endeavored to avoid speculation, believing, as I do, the work of the collector and that of the theorizer to be distinct, and that he who attempts to establish some pet conjecture while imparting general information, can hardly be trusted for impartial statements. With respect to the territorial divisions of the first volume, which is confined to the Wild Tribes, and the necessity of giving descriptions of the same characteristics in each, there may be an appearance of repetition; but I trust this may be found more apparent than real. Although there are many similar customs, there are also many minor differences, and, as one of the chief difficulties of this volume was to keep it within reasonable limits, no delineation has been repeated where a necessity did not appear to exist. The second volume, which treats of the Civilized Nations, offers a more fascinating field, and with ample space and all existing authorities at hand, the fault is the writer's if interest be not here combined with value. As regards Mythology, Languages, Antiquities, and Migrations, of which the three remaining volumes treat, it has been my aim to present clearly and concisely all knowledge extant on these subjects; and the work, as a whole, is intended to embody all facts that have been preserved concerning these people at the time of their almost simultaneous discovery and disappearance. It will be noticed that I have said little of the natives or their deeds since the coming of the Europeans; of their wars against invaders and among themselves; of repartimientos, presidios, missions, reservations, and other institutions for their conquest, conversion, protection, or oppression. My reason for this is that all these things, so far as they have any importance, belong to the modern history of the country and will receive due attention in a subsequent work.
In these five volumes, besides information acquired from sources not therein named, are condensed the researches of twelve hundred writers, a list of whose works, with the edition used, is given in this volume. I have endeavored to state fully and clearly in my text the substance of the matter, and in reaching my conclusions to use due discrimination as to the respective value of different authorities. In the notes I give liberal quotations, both corroborative of the text, and touching points on which authors differ, together with complete references to all authorities, including some of little value, on each point, for the use of readers or writers who may either be dissatisfied with my conclusions, or may wish to investigate any particular branch of the subject farther than my limits allow.
I have given full credit to each of the many authors from whom I have taken material, and if, in a few instances, a scarcity of authorities has compelled me to draw somewhat largely on the few who have treated particular points, I trust I shall be pardoned in view of the comprehensive nature of the work. Quotations are made in the languages in which they are written, and great pains has been taken to avoid mutilation of the author's words. As the books quoted form part of my private library, I have been able, by comparison with the originals, to carefully verify all references after they were put in type; hence I may confidently hope that fewer errors have crept in than are usually found in works of such variety and extent.
The labor involved in the preparation of these volumes will be appreciated by few. That expended on the first volume alone, with all the material before me, is more than equivalent to the well-directed efforts of one person for ten years. In the work of selecting, sifting, and arranging my subject-matter, I have called in the aid of a large corps of assistants, and, while desiring to place on no one but myself any responsibility for the work, either in style or matter, I would render just acknowledgment for the services of all; especially to the following gentlemen, for the efficient manner in which, each in his special department, they have devoted their energies and abilities to the carrying out of my plan;—to Mr T. Arundel-Harcourt, in the researches on the manners and customs of the Civilized Nations; to Mr Walter M. Fisher, in the investigation of Mythology; to Mr Albert Goldschmidt, in the treatise on Language; and to Mr Henry L. Oak, in the subject of Antiquities and Aboriginal History.
CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
ETHNOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION.
Facts and Theories—Hypotheses concerning Origin—Unity of Race—Diversity of Race—Spontaneous Generation—Origin of Animals and Plants—Primordial Centres of Population—Distribution of Plants and Animals—Adaptability of Species to Locality—Classification of Species—Ethnological Tests—Races of the Pacific—First Intercourse with Europeans
CHAPTER II.
HYPERBOREANS.
General Divisions—Hyperborean Nations—Aspects of Nature—Vegetation—Climate—Animals—The Eskimos—Their Country—Physical Characteristics—Dress—Dwellings—Food—Weapons—Boats—Sledges—Snow-Shoes—Government—Domestic Affairs—Amusements—Diseases—Burial—The Koniagas, their Physical and Social Condition—The Aleuts—The Thlinkeets—The Tinneh
CHAPTER III.
COLUMBIANS.
Habitat of the Columbian Group—Physical Geography—Sources of Food Supply—Influence of Food and Climate—Four extreme Classes—Haidahs—Their Home—Physical Peculiarities—Clothing—Shelter—Sustenance—Implements—Manufactures—Arts—Property—Laws—Slavery—Women—Customs—Medicine—Death—The Nootkas—The Sound Nations—The Chinooks—The Shushwaps—The Salish—The Sahaptins
CHAPTER IV.
CALIFORNIANS.
Groupal Divisions; Northern, Central, and Southern Californians, and Shoshones—Country of the Californians—The Klamaths, Modocs, Shastas, Pitt River Indians, Eurocs, Cahrocs, Hoopahs, Weeyots, Tolewahs, and Rogue River Indians and their Customs—The Tehamas, Pomos, Ukiahs, Gualalas, Sonomas, Petalumas, Napas, Suscols, Suisunes, Tamales, Karquines, Tulomos, Thamiens, Olchones, Runsiens, Escelens, and others of Central California—The Cahuillos, DiegueÑos, Islanders, and Mission RancherÍas of Southern California—The Snakes or Shoshones proper, Utahs, Bannocks, Washoes and other Shoshone Nations
CHAPTER V.
NEW MEXICANS.
Geographical Position of this Group, and Physical Features of the Territory—Family Divisions; Apaches, Pueblos, Lower Californians, and Northern Mexicans—The Apache Family: Comanches, Apaches Proper, Hualapais, Yumas, Cosninos, Yampais, Yalchedunes, Yamajabs, Cruzados, Nijoras, Navajos, Mojaves, and their Customs—The Pueblo Family: Pueblos, Moquis, Pimas, Maricopas, PÁpagos, and their Neighbors—The Cochimis, Waicuris, Pericuis, and other Lower Californians—The Seris, Sinaloas, Tarahumares, Conchos, Tepehuanes, Tobosos, Acaxees, and others in Northern Mexico
CHAPTER VI.
WILD TRIBES OF MEXICO.
Territorial Aspects—Two Main Divisions; Wild Tribes of Central Mexico, and Wild Tribes of Southern Mexico—The Coras and others in Jalisco—Descendants of the Aztecs—The OtomÍs and Mazahuas Adjacent to the Valley of Mexico—The Pames—The Tarascos and Matlaltzincas of Michoacan—The Huaztecs and Totonacos of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas—The Chontales, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, Cuicatecs, Chatinos, Miztecs, Zapotecs, Mijes, Huaves, Chiapanecs, Zoques, Lacandones, Choles, Mames, Tzotziles, Tzendales, Chochones and others of Southern Mexico
CHAPTER VII.
WILD TRIBES OF CENTRAL AMERICA.
Physical Geography and Climate—Three Groupal Divisions; First, the nations of Yucatan, Guatemala, Salvador, Western Honduras, and Nicaragua; Second, The Mosquitos of Honduras; Third, the nations of Costa Rica and the Isthmus of PanamÁ—The Popolucas, Pipiles and Chontales—The Descendants of the Maya-QuichÉ Races—The Natives of Nicaragua—The Mosquitos, Poyas, Ramas, Lencas, Towkas, Woolwas, and Xicaques of Honduras—The Guatusos of the Rio Frio—The Caimanes, Bayamos, Dorachos, Goajiros, Mandingos, Savanerics, Sayrones, and Viscitas living in Costa Rica and on the Isthmus
AUTHORITIES QUOTED.
