anthropological records tuibatulabal ethnography

95 Pages·2007·24.74 MB·English

ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RECORDS
2:1
....
TUIBATULABAL ETHNOGRAPHY,
BY
ERMINIE W. VOEGELIN
UNIVERSVY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
1938
TU*0 BATULABAL
ETHNOGRAPHY
BY
ERMINIE W. VOEGELIN
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Vol. 2, No. 1
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
EDITORS: R.H.LowIE, A. L. KROEBER,R.L.OLSON
Volume 2, No. I, pp. i-84, Pls. i-6, i6 figures in text
TransmittedApril 5, 1937
IssuedMarch 9, 1938
Price, $I.oo
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON, ]ENGLAND
TheUniversityofCaliforniapublicationsdealingwithanthro-
pologicalsubjectsareniowissuedintwoseries.
The series in American Archaeology and Ethnology, which
was established in 1903, continues unchanged in format, but is
restrictedtopapersinwhich theinterpretative element outweighs
the factual orwhich otherwiseareofgeneral interest.
The new series, known as Anthropological Records, is issued
in photolithography in a larger size. It consists of monographs
which are documentary, of record nature, or devoted to the
presentation primarily ofnewdata.
MANUFACTUREDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA
CONTENTS
Page
Salient features of TUbatulabal culture . 1
* *
Method of study . . . . . . . . . 7
9 * 0 * *
Habitat . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
0 * *
Basic subsistence . . . . . . . . * 0 11
. * *
Dress and adornment . . . . . . . * 0 22
* * *
Shelter. 24
9 * e * *
Means of transport . . . . . . . 26
* * . * *
Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
. * *
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
0 * *
Fire . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . * 0 29
. * *
Glue, pitch, and asphalt . . . . * * * 0 30
. * *
Basketry, woven ware, and cordage * . 30
0 * *
Leatherwork . . . . . . . . . . . * 34
0 *
Receptacles ... . . . . . . . . . 34
. * *
Musical instruments . . . . . . . 35
* *
Tobacco.
36
0 * *
Population and ethnogeography 39
* * *
Social organization . . . . . . . 41
. * *
Cycle of life . . . . . . . . . . * * . * * 45
Recreation
. . . . . . . . . . . 47
0 * *
War . * *
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
* *
Property, trade, division of labor 50
** 0 * *
Myth of contest to determine ion of labor 53
Chieftainship, law, conduct . . . 55
* * @
Aesthetics and knowledge . . . . 57
* * @
Therapeutical practices.
59
0 * *
Religious beliefs . . . 60
0 4 * * @
Shamanism . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
* * @
Magic, portents . . . . . . . . . 66
* * @
Rituals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
. 4 * * @
Autobiography of FP . . . . . . . 72
0 . * *
Bibliography
. . . . . . . . . . 81
0 . * *
Explanation of plates . . . . . . 84
0 a * *
FIGURES IN TEXT
1. Map of Tubatulabal and neighboring groups .................
. .
.................
2. Fish corral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . .14..
................. . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. Moccasin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4. Sandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
........*.....*......
5. Women's tattoo patterns . . . . . . . . . . ..24
6. Seating arrangement in sweat ho.use . . . . . . . . ................... . . . . . . . .25
* * * 0 . .. . . . . . . . . .
7. Flaked artifacts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8. Basketry and pottery shapes . . . . . . . . . 31
[iii]
iv ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Page
9. Basket design elements 33
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10. Rabbitskin blanket frame and warp setup . 33
. . . . . . . . .
11. Map of hamlet sites . 42
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12. Fingermark game ...................... 48
13. Pictographs . 61
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14. Pictographs . 61
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15. Position of camps in brush enclosure 69
. . . . . . . . . . .
16. Feather wand carried at burnings 70
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
PLATES
1. Informants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
2. Habitat views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
* * * * * e 0 0 0 0 0 0 t 0 0 0 0 0
3. Tobacco field, pruned plants . . . . . . . . . . . 87
. * * * * * 0 0 a 0 * 0 0 0 a 0 0 0
4. Gathering tobacco, preparing leaves for curing . . . 88
* * * * * 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * 0 0 0 0 0
5. Cured tobacco, pit mortar, tobacco balls . . . . . . 89
* * * * * 0 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0 0 0
6. Sweat-house ruins, necklace, transitional house type, s*plit rock 90
TUBATULABAL ETHNOGRAPHY
BY
ERMINIE W. VOEGELIN
SALIENT FEATURES OF TUBATULABAL CULTURE
Four or five generations ago--it need have This economic adaptation of the Tibatulabal to
been no farther removed in point of time--a the resources of their area is peculiarly interest-
traveler entering the South Fork valley of the ing. Lacking all knowledge of agriculture, the TU-
Kern, in what is now east-central California, batulabal used as staple vegetable foods the nat-
would have found throughout the length of this ural products of two, rather than one, culture
narrow, mountain-rimmed valley small clusters of areas--the acorns of California and the piinons of
domed willow and tule houses. In these houses, the Great Basin. Similarly, the'ir flesh foods were
or ranging in groups over the valley and foot- a combination of two varieties of wild game--the
hills, he would have been likely to encounter deer of California and the rabbits of the Great
certain brown-skinned people, who obviously knew Basin, together with an appreciable use of fish
this region as their home. that is more characteristic of California than of
Today white men's ranches dot this same val- the Basin. Taken by and large, as far as the food
ley. Automobiles speed up and down its well- quest was concerned the Tibatulabal might have
signed highroad; cowboys riding beside restless been transplanted either over the crest of the
heras of range cattle, and shepherds trailing Sierras eastward a few miles into the Great Basin
slow-moving flocks of dun-colored sheep, trav- desert area, or an equally short distance west-
erse its length. But the valley and the surround- ward into the Great Valley of south-central Cali-
ing foothills still shelter the descendants, now fornia, and they could have adapted themselves
few in number, of those brown-skinned Mongoloids with a minimum adjustment in food-gathering tech-
who less than a century ago spoke a Shoshonean niques to the resources of either of these natu-
language exclusively, and knew nothing of agri- ral areas. .But there were also many varieties of
culture and herding, of metal products and writ- plants available to the Tlbatulabal within their
ing. region, of which they made no use; a few of these
During three successive suimmers it was my are listed in the following monograph. Such a
privilege to visit this valley, and to work with list illustrates, in concrete fashion, the nega-
certain of the Tuibatulabal Indians whose parents tive response of Tiibatulabal culture to part of
or grandparents had inhabited it in pre-white the floral environment and indicates selective
aays. My purpose was to obtain as complete a processes at work, even in this simple culture,
description as possible of the manner in which which materially affected the responses that the
the "old-timers had lived out their lives in environment elicited.
this region. By direct observation, questioning, In obtaining some of their foods, the TUba-
obtaining genealogies and census lists, visiting tulabal displayed an ingenuity that is only fully
former hamlet sites, collecting botanical speci- revealed when all the details of the techniques
mens, gossiping, the aim was in part, at least, are considered. Few botanists perhaps realize
attained. The former mode of life of the Thba- that the honey dew deposited by aphids on the
tulabal, in large measure existent today only in stalks of the common cane is capable of being
the minas of certain elderly persons, appeared collected in sufficient quantity to be made into
upon consideration of its details to have been sugary cakes, and that this was regularly done
extremely interesting, despite its structu-ral among such groups as the Tiibatulabal, the Sur-
simplicity. prise Valley Paiute,8 the Owens Valley Paiute,'and
The Ttbatulabal say that they have always the more distant Yavapai and Papago groups.' Or
lived in the region where they are found today, that the minute saline crystals which dry weather
but, as Dr. Lowie has pointed out,' the absence brings out on the stems and leaves of salt grass
of migration myths is a characteristic of Sho- can also be obtained in quantity, by using a
shone mvthology, to which Tilbatulabal mythology technique similar to that employed for beating
is fairly closely allied.2 However, other evi- the honey dew off canes. Yet the Tubatulabal have
dence, including the economic adaptation they been treating salt grass thus for generations,
have made to thei'r peculiar semidesert, semi- and have not yet lost their taste for this pun-
Californian environment, inaicates that the gent plant product. Nor have they ceased to ap-
TUbatulabal are by no means newcomers to their preciate other of their "luxury" plant manufac-
area, although probably they originally entered tures, includ"ing a native chewing gum, which is
it from the desert regions to the east.
3Kelly, 103.
1Lowie, 233. 'Steward, 1933, 245.
OGayton, 1935a. 'Yavapai and Papago (Gifford, correspondence).
Ili
2 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
made from the milky sap of a species of Asclep- peculiar to it; the period of greatest leisure
ias that is run into hollow sections of the was encompassed by the winter months. This was
stalks of an Eriogonum species and laid on hot the time when the day's work was short, and of
ashes until the sap congeals; the resulting mas- no great moment, when stored acorns and pinfons,
ticatory excels, in native estimation, any vari- dried fish and flesh, were relied on for food,
ety of "store gum" that can now be obtained. when long nights could be whiled away in story
The treatment of tobacco by the Tiubatulabal telling and making ingenious string figures that
also follows along unusual lines. Fortunately, represented such well-known mythological charac-
I was able to watch the tobacco process from be- ters as Hawk flying, or Bear in a house.
ginning to end; this was most opportune, since During the heat of summer both clothing and
the Tiibatulabal are among that compact group of housing were at a minimum among the TUbatulabal.
central and southern California tribes' who use Men often went naked; in colder weather men and
tobacco in a peculiar native form. It is true women wore knee-length double aprons made of
that they smoke it occasionally, as was done tanned deerskin, crude leather shirts, and rab-
over so much of North America; but mainly they bitskin blankets draped over their shoulders.
chew or "eat" it mixed with lime, and before the Women were tattooed slightly, and sometimes ap-
tobacco can be consumed thus, it undergoes a plied red paint to their faces as a bleach to
lengthy and varied treatment. Access to the lighten the skin. Both sexes ordinarily went
plant is easy to the Tiibatulabal, since large hatless; when traveling they wore clumsy fitting
patches of two species of tobacco grow wild in moccasins, but mainly went about barefoot. Raw-
their area; the plants are not used, however, hide sandals were used, but only for a special
without expenditure of some care upon them dur- purpose; men wore them when tending the crackling
ing the growing stage. Wild tobacco plants are brush fires on which pin-on cones were piled in
partly deleaved and rid of their side shoots at order to force open the scales of the cones. Dur-
regular intervals before the artificially en- ing the summertime a willow roof, supported by
larged leaves are finally gathered; tobacco thus four crotched poles and usually lacking side
occupies, among the Tilbatulabal, the unique po- walls, served as the principal form of shelter.
sition of being the only plant upon which any On pin-on expeditions several families camped to-
effort was expended to better its natural growth. gether, sleeping inside a circular brush enclo-
The curing of the tobacco also follows along sure, such as was also often used for dances.
what may seem to us novel lines; the shredded Hunters often utilized dry cavern-like recesses
green leaves are rolled up inside bundles of between two huge boulders for a night's lodging\
leafy willows, after being sprinkled with water in the mountains. What care the Tiibatulabal gave
and the broken meats of Digger pine nuts; these to house building was mainly expended on the
willow bundles are then laid out in the sun for domed tule- and brush-covered houses they occu-
several days so that the tobacco inside them may pied during the winters. When such a house was
cure. The tobacco is then dried, pulverized, and to be built, the man of the family obtained the
made up into balls. As for the lime that is willow poles and set them up in the form of a
eventually mixed with the tobacco just before it circular framework; his wife and children col-
is consumed, some of it was obtained from burnt lected the tules to cover this framework. Such
shells, but much of it was and still is dug from a division of labor was typical for the TUbatula-
natural deposits. Digging lime thus and slaking bal. Men performed the more strenuous, but often
it with water after burning it is said to have irregularly recurrent tasks; women's labor in-
been an aboriginal procedure, though there is volved a daily routine of duties that were time-
room for doubt concerning the accuracy of this consuming, but less strenuous than those of the
latter statement. men. It was always a man's work to handle the
The adjustment the Tiibatulabal had made to bow, woman's to make use of the pit mortar in
their habitat entailed an appreciable amount of which acorns and seeds were pounded. This matter
seasonal shifting about from one locality to was decided long ago, in a contest held during
another in order to take advantage of those the mythical age, when all the birds and animals
natural resources which the region offered. Dur- were human in form and lived as human beings do
ing the winter and early spring they lived in now. The humorous series of events that led to
small hamlets situated either on the floor of the contest arranged by Coyote which set this
the valley or in the foothills that rim the precedent for the division of labor are narrated
flood-plain valley. In summer and early fall in a well-integrated myth given in full in the
family groups moved higher up into the mountains, following monograph. This myth is known at pres-
to fish, hunt small game, and gather pifnons. In ent only for the Tubatulabal, but variants of it
late fall groups journeyed westward to harvest will doubtless be found to occur in the mytholo-
the yearly supply of acorns, before returning to gies of neighboring tribes when these mythologies
the hamlets for the winter. Each season had its become better known.
food gathering and other economic activities Besides her work connected with gathering and
6See tabulation on distribution of tobacco, and preparing plant foods it was also woman's.task
the general paragraph about distribution else- to weave the several varieties of twined and
where (p. 38).
VOEGELIN: TUBATULABAL ETHNOGRAPHY 3
coiled baskets that she used as implements and the tribes of this region. Nor did the Tubatula-
food containers, and to fashion the few pots bal traders hesitate to avail themselves gratis
used in cooking. Her basketry work was often as of commodities which could be gathered on such
fine and well-executed as her pottery was coarse trips and put to good use after they had returned
and crude. Some women even went so far as to home. For example, they picked up lumps of asphal
play with their technique in basketry making, tum on the beach when they visited the Ventur-
and fashioned coiled jars out of long strands of enos, and brought them home to be used for a
strung pinons, while camping at the pifion grounds. variety of purposes.
These "pin-on jars" were made in a coil technique, The Tiubatulabal also traded among themselves;
and were similar in shape to the small-mouthed, toward the end of winter, especially, dried deer-
round-shouldered display type of jar that the meat might be much in demand; chia seeds, yellow-
Tiibatulabal used to keep their clamshell disk hammer-quill bands, fine baskets, etc., each had
currency in. After being made, a pifion jar was a fixed price in the standard lengths of imported
filled with loose nuts and brought home from the clamshell disks used as currency. There were even
pifion grounds; eventually it and its contents loans made in this currency, but no interest was
were shelled and eaten. charged on such. There were many other ways in
That the Tubatulabal, in common with a few which this currency was also used, besides its
Yokuts groups, the Western Mono, and the Owens trade uses. Short lengths of clamshell disks
Valley Paiute, had pottery at all is somewhat of were distributed to visitors arriving from afar
an anomaly; as a usual thing people engaged in a for a "big fiesta" or mourning ceremony; they
seminomadic, hunting-gathering type of culture were used to pay the singers and dancers at such
lack pottery, or if they make it, have obviously a fiesta;'strings changed hands frequently dur-
borrowed the trait from near-by groups having a ing the gambling games that accompanied a fiesta;
more complex culture. Concerning the crude gray- and lastly, loose clamshell disks were scattered
black unpainted ware made by Tiubatulabal women, in quantity among the crowd of wailing people
one guess about its origin might be that pottery circling the fire during the burning of the tule
making was a trait borrowed by the Tiibatulabal image that culminated a mourning ceremony. At
from certain southern Californian groups with "little fiestas" or face-washing ceremonies,
which the TUbatulabal have had trade contacts given to absolve mourners from the taboo that en-
since early historic times at least. This facile joined their abstaining from meat after the death
explanation with its "common-sense" basis falls of a near relative, money jars full of currency
wide of the mark, however; investigation of the were put on display, and their contents given to
problem analytically soon establishes the fact certain persons who washed the faces of the
that Tubatulabal pottery differs markedly from mourners before the latter could join in the
that of southern Californi'a. That the pottery- feast which was served as part of the fiesta.
making complex as practiced by the Tubatulabal Lastly, the familiar disks were also put to orna-
probably derived ultimately from the Southwest mental use, women and girls wearing necklaces,
was suggested several years ago by Dr. Gayton;7 earrings, and bracelets made from strings of
a recent study of the distribution of the prac- clamshell beads.
tice of molding and baking clay artifacts in If a man possessed a large amount of this
western North America made by Heizer offers currency, he stored it, carefully coiled in long
convincing evidence in support of Dr. Gayton's lengths, in sacks made of the entire skin of an-
assumption. From northern Arizona to central telope, mountain sheep, or deer. These sacks he
California there is an almost unbroken line of hid in some well-concealed crevice on a boulder-
continuous distribution of true pottery ware;" strewn slope of the foothills, telling no one
this shows whence Tiibatulabal pottery derived. where his cache was situated. In event of sudden
The trips the Tilbatulabal made beyond the death, his wealth remained hidden, its where-
borders of their own area led them,in early his- abouts unknown to his relatives, who might search
toric times at least, to points a hundred miles for it assiduously, but fail to find it. If, how-
or more west and southwestward, and somewhat ever, either in a wealthy person's lifetime or
shorter distances north and eastward. Men and after his or her death, a relative or even a non-
women went on such trips, afoot, in couples or relative stumbled by accident on such a cache, it
in small groups, to trade and obtain certain was "finders keepers," and the currency passed
natural resources they had need of, that their into new hands.
own area lacked. Being mainly at peace with Possession of wealth in the form of this na-
their immediate neighbors, the Tubatulabal were tive currency was also a factor entering into
able to pass through alien territory with a mini- the selection of a new "chief" or headman, al-
mum of risk from sudden attacks. By a system of though descent and the character and abilities
silent trade they exchanged the pifnons, balls of of the candidate were also taken into considera-
prepared tobacco, and other commodities they had tion by the small group of old men who met from
brought with them, for lengths of white clam- the various hamlets to choose the chief. These
shell disks which passed as currency among all old men did not constitute a formal council, nor
7Gayton, 1929, 250. 7aHeizer, 44. was the office of chief itself an institution of
4 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
any sharply defined formality, yet, nonetheless patrilineally; this made the hamlet groups ex-
it entailed upon the man who held it certain ogamous units, since the Tiibatulabal regarded
judicial and administrative duties, gave him a the marriage of lineal or collateral kin with
certain prestige among his fellowmen, and con- extreme aversion, as one of the worst deeds of
strained him to observe certain rules of eti- which human beings could be guilty. There was,
quette, none of which latter was, however, of a however, no formal rule of local exogamy between
very onerous nature. "A man with a good heart," hamlets, nor were there any other exogamic units,
who was at least middle-aged, and who preferably such as clans, phratries, or moieties within the
possessed some wealth and was related by blood, structure of this simple society. The personnel
either paternally or maternally, to a former of hamlet groups varied somewhat from year to
chief, would be the sort of person the old men year; families shifted their residence from one
would choose. Such a man might expect to occupy hamlet to another, often for very trivial rea-
the position of chief among the TUbatulabal for sons.
life, once he were selected. If, however, his If a bride had been paid for, residence of a
conduct became unseemly during his incumbency, newly married couple was patrilocal; if a man
he could expect to have criticism leveled against served the briae's parents in lieu of paying for
him publicly during fiestas, to have his deci- their daughter, post-marital residence was matri-
sions disregarded, and finally to be supplanted local for a few years. In itself, marriage was a
by another chief whom the old men had chosen. simple enough affair; after the first child was
How large a group did a chief represent and born, the young couple generally moved into a
serve? We shall never be able to state, with ab- house of their own, often situated near the
solute accuracy, the answer to this qubstion, ex- groom's parents' house. For some women child-
cept for the present time; the total population birth was easy, for others extremely difficult;
-of the TUbatulabal now, including mixed bloods if a woman were sterile she might be given herb
and individuals who have moved out of the area concoctions in order to overcome this undesired
as well as those who have remained in it, num- condition. During a particularly difficult birth
bers 145 persons. But in aboriginal times, just various efforts would be made to relieve the par-
prior to white settlement of the area, the Tu- turient's pain and cause the child to be born
batulabal and a closely related band, the Pala- quickly; a person possessing an amulet having
gewan, probably numbered between 300 and 500 in- supernatural power might rub this over the woman's
dividuals. Using a system of checks and counter- body. Breech presentations were prevented by
checks discussea in detail in the following holding a pregnant woman suspended upside down,
monograph, the above-mentioned figure seems to with her head hanging downward, for such time un-
be as close an estimate as can now be made of til the baby had reassumed a normal position with-
the aboriginal population for the Tubatulabal in the womb. After childbirth mother and infant
proper and the now-extinct Palagewan. Together lay on a warm pit for several days.
these two groups occupied a mountainous area of No puberty ceremonies were held for a girl when
some 1300 square miles; much of this area was she experienced her first menses, nor were there
visited only occasionally, during a few brief any group initiation ceremonies for adolescent
months in summer, by individuals from the two boys. Women ate neither "meat nor grease" during
bands; a goodly part of it may not have been their menstrual periods; and since most of the
traversed at all, from one year's end to the salt that was procured from the salt lakes on the
next. To say, then, that the Tubatulabal-Palage- desert was used to cure meat and fish, and was
wan population averaged one person per every never used to season acorn mush, the taboo against
3-5 square miles is somewhat misleaaing, for the meat also included an implicit one against salt.
population of these two groups actually centered A girl's mother or grandmother instructed young
in the southern third of their territory, within girls in womanly matters, since there was no for-
an area of about 500 square miles. This makes mal puberty ceremony. The lack of a boys' initia-
the population, for the southern third of the tion ceremony likewise put the burden of respon-
area, 1 person to every 1 or 1.6 square miles. sibility for a boy's education on his father or
Both the TUbatulabal and the smaller Palagewan grandfather or some other old man of the group;
bands were essentially aggregates of a number of at sundown old men often lectured to youths about
tiny hamlet groups; each of these hamlets con- hunting customs, and how they were to behave. But
sisted of from two to six household groups which the greater part of a boy's or girl's education
were, in turn, comprised of the members of a consisted in imitation of the acts of his or her
single biological, bilateral family, plus one or elders, with whom they were constantly associated
two other relatives, such as widowed children or from babyhood onward, except during such times as
parents, or orphaned nieces or nephews, etc. their parents left them with near relatives and
Sometimes a son and his wife, or a daughter and went off on trips that were too strenuous for
her husband, might also be included in the house- young children to take.
hold. The members of the household groups com- All misfortune, especially sickness and death,
prising a single small hamlet were generally all was (and still is) attributed either directly or
interrelated by blood, either matrilineally or indirectly to witchcraft. Witches were born to
VOEGELIN: TtBATULABAL ETHNOGRAPHY 5
follow their profession, and had certain super- minister the drink, and were not permitted to
natural guardian-helpers, such as Coyote, to aid eat or drink anything for three days; on the
them in their nefarious designs against such evening of the third day they were given a long
persons as had incurred their ill-will. The na- draft of the jimsonweed drink, and soon fell in-
tive term for a shaman is a*zowa-l; women might to a stupor from which they awakened some 12
have shamanistic power as well as men, but there hours later. During this stupor various animals
-were noticeable differences as to how members appeared to some of the vision seekers; these
of the two sexes exercised it. A male a.-owa'l animals became the seekers' "pets," taught them
could either sicken a person, or cure him of songs, and told them how to obtain amulets,
sickness, whereas a woman a.zowa-l could only use- which contained magical properties that protected
her power for evil. "Bad" a-.-gowa.ls, women and men the wearers from harm. The drinking of jimsonweed
who use their power only for giving people "hard was not obligatory for all members of the group,
luck," are the most feared members of the com- and the drink was never administered in summer-
munity; the Tiibatulabal gossip about them in low time for any purpose whatsoever, since in the heat
tones and see every misfortune as a result of of summer people could not abstain from water for
their malice. The deeds of evil shamans often three days, and if they drank water and then drank
caused the latter to meet a violent end; exas- jimsonweed they were likely to become bloated and
perated members of the community would first ob- die.
tain permission fromi the chief, and then kill Live ants, wrapped in small balls of eagle
such individuals. Curing shamans were on the down, were also administered to individual vision
other hand respected and their prestige grew as seekers, as well as to persons suffering from
the number of cases they cured mounted, just as various ailments; the effect produced when the
it dwindled and they became suspect of evil de- ants bit the lining of the stomach was similar to
signs when they failed to cure patients. A cur- that produced by drinking jimsonweed.
ing shaman devoted an entire night to minister- Besides the jimsonweed ceremony, to which only
ing to his patient; he danced, sang, and sucked a minimum of ritual was attached, two other cere-
at the affected spot in an effort to extract the monies were held sporadically among the'Tilbatula-
disease object which had been injected by witch- bal; both of these were connected with death.
craft and was causing the illness. During the Burial itself was effected with little ceremony;
night's performance the shaman's animal helper immediately after a death occurred the relatives
arrived from afar off and advised the shaman how of the deceased assembled at the house and spent
to treat the patient. Any number of persons the ensuing night in wailing; the next day the
might witness a curing performance, but the sha- corpse was taken up in the hills and depositea
man conferred with his supernatural helper pri- in a shallow grave underneath a huge boulder.
vately, outside of the house where the cure was The mourners then dispersed. From three weeks to
taking place. After extractiLng'the aisease ob- six months later, certain relatives of the de-
ject, which often looked like a spider, worm, or ceased, who after the death had not been permit-
clot of blood, the shaman oftentimes gave his ted to eat meat, had their faces washed by one or
patient certain practical advice, such as to more friends, whom they pai'd liberally for this
move from the dwelling house where he was stay- ritual act. If there occurred later a death that
ing, or to take certain he'rb medicines. Some- obliged one of these same face-washers to undergo
times a doctor divulged the identity of the witch the meat taboo, he or she had his face washed by
who had sickened his victim; he always knew, just the same person for whom he had previously per-
as he knew who had stolen anything, or where lost formed this service and, theoretically at least,
objects could be found; if, however, the witch paid the former as much as he himself had pre-
was a relative of his he was likely to shiela viously received. Sometimes the return payment
him or her. fell short of the original, sometimes exceeded
Various herb medicines were also used to treat it, but some payment in currency was always made.
illness; the plants used were many, but jimson- After the face-washing ceremony everyone sat
weed (Datura meteloides) was preeminent among down to a feast, at which the mourner broke his
them. Jimsonweed was once a man, who, when he or her fast and ate meat. To partake of any flesh
died, told the people to dig his roots if they food before the taboo was thus removed was equiv-
were in need of help; therefore, before a TUba- alent to eating of the corpse itself, and con-
tulabal digs the roots, he makes a short speech stituted an insult to the deceasea which might
to the plant. be avenged by witchcraft.
Not only was jimsonweed taken medicinally for A year or so after the death of a person, a
various disorders, and used as an anodyne, but "big fiesta" was held, if the relatives of the
young men and women who were past puberty were deceased were sufficiently enterprising and pos-
urged to drink a decoction made from the roots, sessed of wealth enough to hold such a ceremony.
in order to obtain supernatural guardian spirits This mourning anniversary was a six-day affair,
and "long life." Small groups of young people to which visitors from other tribes were invited;
who had decided to take jimsonweed were put un- it entailed the collecting of a large amount of
der the charge of an old man who knew how to ad- food on the part of the person giving the ceremony,