Southern Diegueño Customs

SOUTHERN DIEGUENO CUSTOMS
BY
LESLIE SPIER
SOUTHERN DIEQUERO CUSTOMS
LESLIE SPIER
INTRODUCTION
The following notes are the result of twelve days' work (July-
August, 1920) with the Southern Diegueiio near Campo, San Diego
county. They are offered in this fragmentary form because an oppor-
tunity to revisit these people may not present itself for some time.
The information was all obtained from one man, Jim McCarty, a
fairly well informed individual of over eighty. He has also furnished
the material given in Edward II. Davis' The Diegueiio Ceremony of
the Death Images' and Edward Winslow Gifford's Clans and Moieties
in Southern California.2 Will F. Coleman, a Northern Diegueno half-
blood, served as interpreter.
The phonetic system is that of Kroeber and Harrington,3 with a
few modifications: my g and k, gw and kw correspond to k and kw.
Initial k is usually 'k; is also present. I follow Waterman4 in
-
writing R for r and r for r. The vowel system is that of the Phonetic
Transcription of Indian Langiuages.5
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
THE TRIBE
The Southern Diegueino, who now reside on the divide between
San Diego and Imperial counties, do not draw the line separating
them from their congeners to the north, west, and south'with any
sharpness. In spite of the dialectic difference which sets them off,
they describe some of their localized gentes as belonging to the North-
' In Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
v, 1919.
2 Present series, xiv, 155-219, 1914.
3 Phonetic Elements of the Dieguefno Language, present series, XI, 177-188,
1914.
4 The Religious Practices of the Diegueao Indians, present series, viii, 272,
footnote 1, 1910.
5 Smithsonian Miseellaneous Collections, LXVI, 2, 1916.
298 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 20
ern Diegueiio as well. This does n6t mean that the lya'tcaRp gens of
the southern people, for instance, is equated to an identically named
gens of the northerners; rather, the lya'tcaRp gens is included with
one or the other group according to the exigencies of the moment.
Certain gentes are also found in Baja California, Mexico; among
whom, it is suggested, a dialectic change is met some distance below
the border. The essential idea is one of focus: they look upon the
localized gentes at the center of their habitat as clearly forming a
culture group, whereas those who live beyond this limited range may
or may not be considerel Southern Dieguefio.
The territory of the Southern Diegueino lies eastward of Cuyamaca
mountain and Rio del Tia Juana to the hills on the eastern border
of the Imperial valley, from San Felipe river on the north to some
undetermined point in Mexico not far south of the boundary. Their
principal settlements lie north and south along the divide which the
San Diego-Imperial county line now follows: the country to the south
and particularly that to the east is hunting territory.
They call themselves tipai', people.6 The name 'kwltxa'l (marau-
der?) was recorded for a local group, comprising several of their
gentes, living on the east slope of Cuyamaca mountain, and ikwainij
tipai' (blackwood people), for a similar group. The Northern
Diegueiio are called kiumiai, which Kroeber,7 however, assigns merely
to a local group of those people. This may be the case, for the
members of the same tribe living at Santa Ysabel are called itLkipa'.
The inhabitants of Mexico, who speak a closely related dialect, are
called xaxuwa'k. The Shoshoneans of Warner's Hot Springs are
hakw6tc, the Yuma, 'kwltca'n, and the Cahuilla, kawi'.
Their relations with the Northern Dieguenfo.were intimate: inter-
marriage may have been common. Their intercourse with the Yuma
was probably greater than with the tribes of the peninsula and cer-
tainly more so than with the Cahuilla and Mohave.76
The degree of national consciousness is difficult to fix, but appar-
ently it is only slight. The real unit, welded by social cohesion, is
the local group in which one gens predominated, perhaps to the
6 Waterman recorded kawakipai, southern people, but this may apply only to
the Northern Dieguenlo. DuBois gives Western Indians for " the Dieguefio as
far south as Manzanita" (The Religion of the Luisenlo and Diegueno Indians
of Southern California, present series, viii, 138, footnote 192, 1908).
7 The Indians of California, in press as a bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology.
7a Heintzelman notes that the Cocopa were allied with the Jacum Indians
(Dieguefio) and other tribes southward in Baja California (in 34 Cong., 3 Sess.,
House Ex. Doe. 76, Washington, 1857, Indian affairs on the Pacific, p. 43).
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueio Customs 299
exclusion of all others. Nevertheless, some feeling of solidarity is

indicated by the joint action in the following episode. When my
informant, Jim McCarty, was at the age of puberty (about 1855) all
the Southern Diegueno went east to fight the Yuma, but suffered
defeat at their hands.7b The remnants then fled to Indian Wells
(xateupai, dig for water) in the desert and to Brawley (camikwatLau',
many bird tracks). Thence they proceeded first to Harper's Oil
Wells (tamu'kwatcuka'Rt, red willow) near the Salton sea, then to a
point east of Mountain Springs (xakEru'wiyu'p, water in lines), then
to a camp (xakwino6x, resounding water) a mile south, and finally
to a cove to the east (wikwliniL, black rock). From this place they
moved westward, starving, to naL'i in the foothills, where they found
mescal to eat. Lya'teaRp gens then went south to Blue lake
(Ewi'm1uLuL, near Signal mountain?) and hILmiaRp gens east to
xamatwa'Rt, red muddy water. Later all the Southern Diegueiio
returned to the last mentioned place; there were no Mexicans there
at that time.
GENTILE ORGANIZATION
The gentes8 (cimuiL) are patrilineal, exogamous groups, each
definitely associated with a restricted locality which is probably its
usual summer home. Twentv-one gentes are remembered of which
one, kalya'rp, butterfly, was extinct sixty or more years ago.
'kwaxa', extinct?
tumau', grasshopper (tumau)9
lya'tcaRp'0 (yatcap)
neeix hawo6tc, usually simply neeix (naxwatc)
waipu'k, king snake
h'T,miaRp (hetmiel)
kwatL, a hide (kwatL)
hiuLwa', twined basket
'kwitaRk, fire split rock (kwitak)
'kwamai', high" (kwamai)
7b Noted by Heintzelnan as a recent event in 1857 (loc. cit., 40).
8 Called clans by Gifford, present series, xiv, 167-174, 1918.
9 The bracketed forms are those recorded by Gifford, Clans and Moities in
Southern California, present series, xiv, 168, 1918. Two gens names given by
Gifford were not recognized by my informant: hakisput was thought to be a ren-
dering of hakiULkIL, peeping into a house, and haiyipa to be kiyi'pE, a gathering.
The latter may be identical with my paipa', although the location given is contra-
dictory.
10 Does not mean "short" (Gifford, loc. cit., 173). Names for which no mean-
ing is given are said to be meaningless.
11 Possibly in reference to their occupation of the highest portion of the tribal
range.
miskwi's (miskwis)
kwi'nEhitc, (kanihitc, kwinhitc)
hItLmawa' (hiLmawa)
oswai'
LitC, worthless; recently became extinct
kalya'rp, butterfly; extinct
x0ti'm, drum12
kwainyi'L, black
saiku'r (saikul)
paipa'
nlxkai'
There are no myths explanatory of the names for which meanings
were obtained, but it is said that tumau', grasshopper gens, ate grass-
hoppers.
The loci of the gentes are given in the following list of places
remembered as their homes during the middle of the last century.
Roughly the Campo district may be assigned to miskwi's, with the
'kwitaRk to the southeast in Mexico. Paipa' and oswai' were imme-
diately south and east of Jacumba. The watershed north from Boule-
vard held hlLmiaRp contingents. Moving northwestward across the
higher portion of the divide, near Laguna we would have found
kwainyi'L south of La Posta (leaving the country northeast of the
Agency unoccupied), hitLmawa at Manzanita, saiku'r lying westward
between this place and Buckman's Springs, where paipa' was located,
and 'kwamai extending over the western and northern slopes of
Laguna mountain into the valley of Vallecito creek. Waipu'k was
located in this valley. The range assigned to Litc lies along the San
Felipe drainage near Warner's Hot Springs and near San Felipe:
perhaps the intervening territory should be included. Tumau' lived
south of the present Salton sea, with nlxkai', huLwa', and kwatL at
the edge of the hills to the east. The last named may also have been
found in the Signal mountain district in Mexico. Lya'tcaRp settle-
ments were located near Coyote Wells in the Imperial valley.
However, according to Heintzelman the Yuma lived along New
River to the "Salt Lake" and possibly west of San Felipe in 1850.'3
Possibly this conflict of testimony is to be resolved by assuming either
that these Diegueiio settlements were north of any Yuma groups, or
that they were temporary winter residences among them, or, as seems
12 Thought to be derived from Spanish tambor; the drum is not native with
these people.
13 Heintzelman, loc. cit., 40-42.
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueiio Customs 301
most probable, that the Yuma had driven the Diegueno from this
territory shortly before Heintzelman's day.136
As the data stand, there is some overlapping of these areas. This
may either be merely apparent and due to the indefiniteness of local-
ization,14 or it may indicate the occupation of the same site by two or
more gentes at different periods. It seems most probable, however,
that such gentes, with others as well, lived in these localities either
in single communities or within a small.radius. My informant was
told as a small boy that the gentes formerly lived in clearly segregated
localities, but were beginning to mingle.'5
'kwaxa. These were only a fewv when McCarty was a boy: he saw
them at Yuma, but does not know their home district. This may be
a Northern Dieguefio gens living in the eastern desert.
tumau'. Lived north of the western groups of Yuma in the
Imperial valley, at tamu'kwateuka'Rt, north of Brawley, and at
xa'tcami'kwatLau', west of that town. At one time they were with
the kwatL gens at Mateoto6p, gorge, at the northern foot of Super-
stitious mountain. This gens is said to be distinct from the Northern
Dieguefio gens of the same name, which agrees with the information
given Gifford by the latter.16
lya'taRp. Their permanent residences were at xakaniux, east of
Coyote Wells on the edge of Imperial valley, at xakuruwi'p, a half-
mile east, and also scattered about the valley. This is identical with
the Northern Dieguefno lya'taRp gens.
neeix. The only locality remembered is miLkw!Lnok (long ?
canyon) at the head of the West Carrizo gorge near Warner's Hot
Springs. Although this is described as the northern limit of their
territory, it places them within the Northern Dieguefno range. Pre-
sumbaly this gens, like the last, had members in both tribal groups.
waipu'k. A myth ("Origin of Death," p. 331) relates that this
gens, then named lakwi's, moved westward to xatapl'L (a grass), west
of Calexico, where nearly all died of starvation. Only one family
came west to Vallecito. They now live at kwlemlt, west of Julian.
13a The distribution of these groups has some bearing on the supposed existence
of the Kamia, since a part of their territory is also assigned to the latter people.
Further, it was stated on several occasions that there was no foreign group inter-
vening between themselves and the Yuma. Cf. A. L. Kroeber, Yuman Tribes of
the Lower Colorado, present series, xvi, 478, 1920.
14 The informant 's descriptions were vague in the extreme for one not acquainted
with the geographic details of his country. The obvious step was to go over the
ground with him, but this was impossible.
15 Obviously this may be rationalization rather than fact.
16 Loc. cit., 173.
hlLmiaRp. Distributed from mokopa', a high peak nine miles

south of Jacumba in Mexico, northward in a narrow strip to hauwit-
ca'r, west of Carrizo Springs on the mountain heights. From south
to north the settlements were axmanyEha', south of the Jacumba
valley, ILkiiuyum and wikiutciurap, near Jacumba, sawwiya', west of
that town, hakwuiskiu'r, east of it, hakwasax (stinking water), hak-
wasiL (salt water) and extukwaihw6Lp to the north, wihoptcotL, five
miles in that direction, sitcaknua', north of the Jacumba valley, and
matpitL on its northeastern side. Continuing north the occupied sites
were pamu', wiyunai'E, near the preceding, hatciuktcui'kE, a little to
the north, wikwlnyul (striped rock) a big mountain north of Jacumba,
paihai'tL, eight miles above Tule valley, sokwlti'p, to the north,
h-untokkoLwa'wa (frog's house), still farther north but south of
hauwitca'r, near Carrizo Springs. During my informant's boyhood
he lived at hatawl'ra, Mountain Springs, where he was born, moving
eastward to nupno'p, then to the north at iswa'wa, a canyon in the
desert north of Coyote Wells, then north to karwixa' in the foothills
(Coyote mountains ?), westward to the divide at widjlpawlL, south-
east of Boulevard, when he was a little older, and finally when full
grown at WiSpiu'L (pointed rock), nine miles north of Boulevard, and
at sumkwoha', to the west.
kwatL.17 Lived in part in the foothills on the eastern edge of
the Imperial valley north of Brawley at sltca'Rknylwa' (screech
owl's house), a half-mile north at mataka'l (round mound), at
tcama'Rtcana'r (where food is cached) a mile north, at xacami'kwa-
Lau' (many bird tracks) three and a half miles north, and three miles
north at tamu'kwotcuka'Rt (tamu, willow). They also lived north
of Enseiiada'5 in Baja California at ax*t'a (arrow reed), at 'kwapo'L
to the east, and at sanxeli'p (San Felipe, the place has no native
name) to the south, at xatamu'r (lake) northeast of ax.t'a, at
matnui'k (bend) to the east, and at xa'kwlsiyai' (shaman spring),
southeast. The Mexican group are E'kwaL in their own dialect.
hi!Lwa'. This group lived at three places named above, slt-
ca'Rknylwa', tcama'Rtcana'r, and mataka'l; although in this connec-
tion it was stated that these lay east of Imperial and their respective
positions were reversed.
'kwitaRk. Their territory lay roughly south of the international
boundary from Morena Butte eastward to a point some distance
17 Gifford locates this gens at hakwaskwak (bitter water) in Jacumba valley,
Baja California.
18 Presumably a place in southern Imperial valley is meant, not the seaport.
southeast of Jacumba. They lived at mlLkwatai in the Campo valley,

to the east on the site of Warren's Hotel according to Gifford, at
xakwakwo'k (bitter water) south of Valentina (two miles south of
Campo in Mexico, at xakaiyE (ford) to the east, at x*akwalma's (three
cottonwoods) southeast, at piulatcau', southeast in Mexico and south
of the Agency at xanylmcop (white water), Hipass railroad station,
at matkurkur (heaped dirt), Round mountain station west of
Jacumba, at xakwakwa's (yellow water) on the south side of the
Jacumba valley in Mexico where prickly pears are gathered, at
xasi'kwaiyarau' (burnt black birds), five miles southeast of the town
over the mountain, at wikwltekwiuL' (gap between rocks) west of the
last but fifteen ( ?) miles south of the town, at muspl'lyayau (sparrow
hawk), under a high peak, at xakiutkti't to the southeast, at kwapen-
kiu't (cross) a mile and a half south, and at xatai' (big water) a
half-mile south and twenty miles southeast of Jacumba.
'kwamai'. This gens lived throughout the length of Rattlesnake
valley west of Laguna mountain at xakwapaiL (water on hillside),
a big spring at Pine Valley, at xakwitcEploi'ik (boiling springs) seven
miles northeast, at wikllyutei's (singing rock: it whistles and sings
when one passes), an equal distance in the same direction, at tlSi'L
(a grass) near the north end of the valley, and at ku-mtaukwilLk to
the east. In the vicinity of Vallecito anid San Jacinto creeks, they
lived at matniu'k (bend) where the creek makes a sharp turn in Mason
valley near Vallecito, at wilpici' (rock, chemissa brush) three miles
southeast, at kwaitealtc'al (crevice: water flows from three crevices)
a mile farther southeast, at xakwltEpailp (water on bank) a half-mile
southeast, at tsiLmukx-a' (shoulder water) to the south, at matLaiu'-
inya' (sandy road) a mile east at Indian Potrero, probably Palm
Spring school, and at xapukax-a (lizard water) one mile east. The
country to the east is cut off by Vallecito mountain (probably the
Fish creek mountain of the maps). They also lived about Laguna
at plLyakai', seven or more miles north of La Posta at the foot of
Laguna mountain, at xaRpuwi' (lilac, Laguna ranger station), at
xaRpsi'tL (pottery clay spring) at the southern end of the lake, at
tcaunylwa (Chauny 's house) nearly a mile north of the lake, at
wi'kana'RLaxa' (shell rock water), a small lake three-fourths of a
mile east of the preceding, at wikopxau' a mile north, and at yaRxkai'
(wild plums) on the mountain two miles northwest of the last men-
tioned.
southeast of Jacumba. They lived at mlLkwatai in the Campo valley,

to the east on the site of Warren's Hotel according to Gifford, at
xakwakwo'k (bitter water) south of Valentina (two miles south of
Campo in Mexico, at xakaiyE (ford) to the east, at x*akwalma's (three
cottonwoods) southeast, at piulatcau', southeast in Mexico and south
of the Agency at xanylmcop (white water), Hipass railroad station,
at matkurkur (heaped dirt), Round mountain station west of
Jacumba, at xakwakwa's (yellow water) on the south side of the
Jacumba valley in Mexico where prickly pears are gathered, at
xasi'kwaiyarau' (burnt black birds), five miles southeast of the town
over the mountain, at wikwltekwiuL' (gap between rocks) west of the
last but fifteen ( ?) miles south of the town, at muspl'lyayau (sparrow
hawk), under a high peak, at xakiutkti't to the southeast, at kwapen-
kiu't (cross) a mile and a half south, and at xatai' (big water) a
half-mile south and twenty miles southeast of Jacumba.
'kwamai'. This gens lived throughout the length of Rattlesnake
valley west of Laguna mountain at xakwapaiL (water on hillside),
a big spring at Pine Valley, at xakwitcEploi'ik (boiling springs) seven
miles northeast, at wikllyutei's (singing rock: it whistles and sings
when one passes), an equal distance in the same direction, at tlSi'L
(a grass) near the north end of the valley, and at ku-mtaukwilLk to
the east. In the vicinity of Vallecito anid San Jacinto creeks, they
lived at matniu'k (bend) where the creek makes a sharp turn in Mason
valley near Vallecito, at wilpici' (rock, chemissa brush) three miles
southeast, at kwaitealtc'al (crevice: water flows from three crevices)
a mile farther southeast, at xakwltEpailp (water on bank) a half-mile
southeast, at tsiLmukx-a' (shoulder water) to the south, at matLaiu'-
inya' (sandy road) a mile east at Indian Potrero, probably Palm
Spring school, and at xapukax-a (lizard water) one mile east. The
country to the east is cut off by Vallecito mountain (probably the
Fish creek mountain of the maps). They also lived about Laguna
at plLyakai', seven or more miles north of La Posta at the foot of
Laguna mountain, at xaRpuwi' (lilac, Laguna ranger station), at
xaRpsi'tL (pottery clay spring) at the southern end of the lake, at
tcaunylwa (Chauny 's house) nearly a mile north of the lake, at
wi'kana'RLaxa' (shell rock water), a small lake three-fourths of a
mile east of the preceding, at wikopxau' a mile north, and at yaRxkai'
(wild plums) on the mountain two miles northwest of the last men-
tioned.
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueio Customw 305
paipa'. Two widely separated places are assigned to this gens,

pitLyakai', at the southern foot of Laguna mountain, also occupied
by 'kwaimai' gens, and yaloho', a half-mile south of Jacumba. It was
denied that this was identical with the Northern Diegueino gens of
similar name (baipa).19
nlxkai'. Lived in the hills east of Brawley.
Two gentes, neeix hawo'tc and LitC, are located in Northern
Dieguefio territory; the first was probably a Northern Diegueino gens
as well. It is curious that only four of these gentes may be recognized
among the twelve gentes of the northern people listed by Gifford :20
this may be an indication of the essentially local character of the
gentes of both groups. Gwaha is probably identical with our 'kwaxa,
as the informant's indirect evidence would also indicate. Letcapa
is clearly lya'tcaRp; probably a single gens, in spite of being asso-
ciated with two distinct localities. My informant spoke of them as
a southern people when listing the gentes, but as northern when
detailing ceremonies. When questioned, he asserted that some indi-
viduals belonged to both groups.21 Baipa and paipa', tumau and
tumau' are said not to be the same people, with which, regarding the
latter, Gifford's information agrees.
Several gentes are represented in distant groups of allied speech
in Baja California, viz., hlLmiaRp, kwatL (locally E'kwaL) ,22 xotun,
and possibly others.23 My informant, a hMLmiaRp, believes those of
the same gentile name are distantly related to him.24 Possibly they
represent the same group.
The largest gentes during the middle of the last century were
hMLmiaRp, neeix (although the short list of settlements does not sub-
stantiate this), and kwatL; next in size were miskwi's, tumau' (again
their number seems an over-estimate), 'kwamai', and 'kwitaRk; the
smallest were hitLmawa' (of whom there were only three families in
my informant's boyhood), oswai', and saiku'r. There was only one
19Gifford, loc. cit., 173.
20 Loc. cit., 173.
21 I doubt that the dialectic difference would prove a barrier, but there is no
evidence.
22 Possibly the Akwa'ala or Ekwa'ahle known to the Mohave. See A. L.
Kroeber, Yuman Tribes of the Lower Colorado, present series, xvi, 476, 1920.
23 Paipa' has its analogue in Pais or Pai-pais, given as the name of a tribe
located along the western and northwestern spurs of the San Pedro Martir sierra
and reaching down to the mouth of the Colorado. See Arthur W. North, The
Native Tribes of Lower California, American Anthropologist, n.s., x, 239, 1908.
24 Mexican conscription has created an artificial division at the border, so that
the Campo people know little of the southerners who they assert are their relatives.
family of waipu'k and but a few 'kwaxa during this period. The
list of settlements would suggest that the remaining gentes were small,
though i,itc may have been somewhat larger than the rest. It is
estimated that hlI,miaRp numbered three or four times the present
total population25 (250), which would mean that the entire southern
group included from 3500 to 5000 souls. While the lesser figure is
not impossible, it seems exaggerated.
The occupancy of the gentile territories was seasonal. Winter
found them living in groups of mixed gentile affiliation among the
foothills on the edge of the Colorado desert. In the spring they
returned to the mountains, keeping pace with the ripening of the
wild food staples, and passing the summer in their respective terri-
tories, where they lived in little groups about the valleys. The whole
territory was not occupied at one time: when a locality was hunted
out or fruits ripened elsewhere, they moved on. In the course of a
year or so, however, all of the recognized settlements would have been
occupied.256
Notions concerning rights to the territories must have been vague
despite the theory that one gens could not gather vegetable products
nor hunt within the territory of another without their permission.
The owners26 would order the trespassers off and enforce their will
with weapons. The difficulty in accepting this as a fact lies in the
mingling of the gentes even in the mountains. On the other hand,
this may be a reflection of. the enmity which periodically flared
up between the gentes. HlLmiaRp fought with their western and
northern neighbors, miskwi's and 'kwamai'. Miskwi's fought with
kwainyi'L, their northern neighbors, and with the Northern Diegueino
to the west. HlLmiaRp and miskwi's once went north of La Posta to
fight 'kwamai, but the latter, getting wind of it, built a stone "fort,"
which is still extant,27 whereupon the former failed to come to grips.
A typical incident, precipitating such a fight, was an occasion when
a 'kwamai' man's wife, fetching water in the valley (kwiniLyiya'ka,
black canyon) north of the Agency, was abducted by a band of
hlLMiaRp, who carried her to Mountain Springs. Miskwi's are also
knowvn to have fought with 'kwamai about women. On the whole, these
antagonisms seem to extend north and south along the divide. On
25 The informant evidently wished to exaggerate the importance of his own
gens.
25a Heintzelman notes that the Jacum Indians (Diegueno), located in the
mountains, were more numerous in summer than in winter (loc. cit., 43).
26 There seems to be no definite individual ownership of wild products.
27 A similar structure is said to stand east of the Agency.
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueno Customs 307
the other hand, there were definite preferences among the gentes;
that of hILmiaRp for hItLmawa' and oswai', for instance, was so strong
that they commonly lived together. The other gentes regard hiLmiaRp
people as the most stupid, according to a member of that gens.
There was no ownership of the groves of bearing oaks in the
mountains. On the other hand, it is said that hiLmiaRp owned patches
of wild plum trees (axkai.) and scrub oak (xwiup) at siikoti'p (seeping
water) in Tule canyon, north of Boulevard, and of red oak (snau)
at xawitcar (water in crevices) at Manzanita. Other gentes could
not take these products, but these places lie within the district they
describe as hlLmiaRp territory.
Each gens owned one or. more eyries from which eaglets were
taken for use in the mourning ceremony (EwukEr-6k). HllLmiaRp
gens had an. eyrie on a peak called hamlLtcahwai' near Jacumba;
paipa' owned another at watEtayu'mp, six miles south of Guiyapipe.
Another gens wishing to hold the ceremonV28 approaches any mem-
ber of paipa', for instance. A relative of the individual approached
is purposely sent, for then no pavment is demanded. In each gens
there are two individuals, who may be women, who watch and cap-
ture the eaglets; one of these, the eagle owner (Espakwinhot) has
this function by reason of his special knowledge, the other he chooses
and trains as his assistant and successor after his death. These two
watch the eaglets until they have down on their heads, when they
take whatevei number are in the nest, one or two. It is considered
fortunate if there are two, for then there will be two used in the dance
and donations will be correspondingly great. The eaglet, feeling
ashamed when caught, w%Till not eat for four days. He is kept by the
recipient gens for about a month in a dome-shaped brush house, a
meter high, which is provided with a door through which the bird
is fed by the eagle feeder (Espakwutsau'E). The eaglet will eat jack-
rabbits, cottontails, and the hind quarters of deer, but not squirrels.
A clay vessel, painted in a special style, is made to hold his supply
of water, because he is a person (i.e., one of the tipai). This is the
reason why no one would kill an eagle except at the mourning cere-
mony (this is true even today), and why it receives such care during
its captivity. During this time, however, there is no specially
religious attitude (prayers, etc.) toward the eagle. The bird cries
out at daylight on the day he is to die, for he knows his approaching
fate. Only one who knows how may kill him by pressing under the
28 Compare Waterman, The Religious Practices of the Diegueno Indians, pres-
ent series, viii, 314-320, 1910.
left wing over the heart.29 All the feathers are saved. When used in
the dance, they are the residing places of the spirits of the dead, who
leave when the feathers are stored away.29a
An eagle nest, belonging to hitLmawa', situated fifteen miles east
of Guiyapipe on the slope facing the desert, remained when nearly
all the members of the gens had died. Jim McCarty, a hiLmiaRp,
took two birds from the nest. The owner PasEnu', discovering this,
came to Jim and accused him of theft. Jim did not answer until
almost an entire sack of tobacco had been consumed. Then he said
that, since the gens was practically extinct, they no longer owned it,
but that he would for a time. PasEnu', taken aback, looked around at
the assemblage and then asked for the larger eagle. Jim refused;
PasEnu' 's gens was almost gone; if he was entitled to any, it was
the smaller one. So PasEnu' had to be satisfied with the smaller one.
The only suiggestion of a totemic complex was the statement that
Wildcat was a h!LmiaRp and therefore wildcats could not be killed by
members of this gens. Nor could any others kill them for if they
were discovered a fight might be precipitated. I doubt this statement,
for no reason could be given why this taboo, which is apparently a
general one, is connected with this gens.
It is stated further that the mocking bird (cakwillau') is a
hiLmiaRp and that it is raised by members of this gens because they
want information that the bird can give. Again I believe my in-
formant wished to enhance the estimate of his own gens by ascribing
to it a relation which may rather hold for the whole tribe. Wild
mocking birds tell when the daylight, months, and seasons are near.
Fledglings are kept in a globular cage (hapEtuItL) of fine mescal fiber
cord, twentv or more centimeters in diameter, in the bottom of which
is a bed of chamissa rabbit skin (Epa'Rle'm's), the finest rabbit fur, to
keep them warm. When released the bird roosts on a pole above the
house, and does not fly off for some time. The owner continues to
feed it; when he moves, the bird follows shortly. When a hiLmiaRp
goes huntinig, the bird flies to him far from home, perches on
his head, and thus rides back to the house. These are good birds
(isa"kwaxa'n); one takes to them as to humans, because they under-
stand most things.
29 Coleman noted that a Northern Dieguenlo shaman exhibited a little red
feather which he said had pierced the eagle's heart.
29a The Mono dance around a young black eagle two weeks after capturing it,
then sell it to another village that they may do likewise (Powers, Tribes of Cali-
fornia, Contributions to North American Ethnology, iII, 398.)
1923] Spier: Southern Dieguenio Customs 309
CHIEFTAINSHIP
Organization within the gens is of the slightest. Each had a male
chief30 ('kwaipai'), whose principal function was leading the mourn-
ing ceremony. The office is generally hereditary, but with an element
of informal selection among the possible heirs by the people at large.
The prospective chief must be one who exhibits generosity. When
his reputation is established, he gives a dance; at this time they call
him chief. He must be liberal, even with his wife and daughters if
others want to dance with them. If the chief 's son was stingy, people
would not want him for their leader. A blood relative would be
chosen, or, in default, some good member of the gens.
The chief 's function was to admonish his gens mates and to make
images for the mourning ceremony. He would commonly lead the
warriors, but others would slip off to raid on their own account. If
one of the latter killed a fellow-tribesman, the chief would permit a
gentile relative of the dead man to take revenge on the murderer.
TcEkwa'kEw1'tc (philanderer) was to have been made chief of the
hiLmiaRp gens in succession to Kiulkuwai'. They lived together.
Kfulkuwai' wanted the former, whom he liked, to succeed, but he
refused. Then the gens took the following members of their group
successively as chiefs: KiurkuRwai', Tcuriiwu'r, Xotmiutc, Kwatclkl'tc,
and Mat'kwl'n, all of whom lived before Jim McCarty's day (prior
to 1850).31
The first chief of hlLmiaRp gens that my informant knew was
Pilo'n,32 his father's father's brother (nyEwi'). He told Jim to note
all things well, particularly the mourning ceremony, so that he could
some day be chief. Pilo'n was succeeded by Kumpi'r, his "younger
brother."33 As the former was dying he told Kumpi'r that he "gave
the chieftainship" to him. He had been instructing him for years;
everyone knew what the succession would be. As Kumpi'r was dying,
he gave the office to his son (xomai'), Slpa'nkwoxi' (labia minora),
who lived to be an extremely old man, dying about 1908. The latter
was married for the first time (si-yuwau) when this transpired. He
was chief only eight years. He remarried after his first wife died;
30 The tribal chief and the assistant gens chiefs are modern innovations (com-
pare Gifford, loc. cit., 168).
31 This list may not cover any great span of time.
32 Jim does not know whether Pilo'n 's father or any of his mother 's relatives
were chiefs.
33 This man was a shaman, see page 312.
when the second died, he took a third. She left him. Then he
told Jim that he could not be chief much longer because he had no
wife to serve him. "You can see that there is not much work neces-
sary to be chief. It is onlv four days' work (at the mourning cere-
mony)." Jim agreeing, the others present consented, saying that he
was a suitable choice.34 Jim, who called Slpa'nkwoxi' "older brother"
(oplx ?), was about forty years old and married when he became
chief, a matter of forty years ago. Jim gave his first mourning cere-
mony at Guiyapipe (wiapai'p, a rock leaning on another, or witupai'p,
a rock rests on a pillow).
C Tori'm (hMLmiaRp gens) + 2 (neeix gens)
I 1C
g Kumpi'r + S HwaLnatcEwai (Kwainyi'L gens) d Enam + ? Kwispa'l waikwaiyU'L
(big head) t Siyu'k
g Sipa'nkwoxi' (c OpI'x?) c TilEmui'r d Xalapo'ka (big lizard) + 9 Rose (neeix)

(Jim McCarty)
MARRIAGE
As the exogamous gentes are more or less localized, a wife is
normally taken from another- settlemeint, but there is no studied
attempt at local exogamy. There seems to be no preferential marriage
between the gentes.
When a young man desires to marry, he visits the girl's family.
If she signifies her approval, he does not approach her, but hunts
until he accumulates an abundant supply of rabbits and venison (but
not deer hides), which he presents to her parents for their food. Then
her parents say, "You see he is a good man; he kills rabbits for us -
to eat. Why do you sit there, why don't you go with him?" The
girl replies, "But he isn't here now;. how can I go away with him?"
Then should the man fail to come at night, a lad is dispatched for
him. He leaves in the morning, his mother or some other elderly
woman relative coining to fetch the girl to their home. If it is agree-
able, the couple establish their permanent residence in his father's
house; otherwise they build a house for themselves nearby. Tem-
porarv matrilocal residence is occasionally practiced, particularly
when the groom has no property of his own. Should this arrange-
ment prove satisfactory, it is continued indefinitely. Presents of food
are informally reciprocated by the man 's and the woman's family
from time to time. Avoidance of any sort is unknown.
34 T am by no means sure that anyone but our hero recognized him as chief!
Marriage was normally monogamous because a man could not

support more than one wife, but occasionally a man had two or
three wives (sihtoxwi'k'is, si-1toxmu'k'is, to have two (three) women).
It is said that such polygamous unions were confined to the kwatL,
tumau', and nixkai' gentes, but this seems doubtful. Plural wives are
Southern Dieguefio; they are frequently stolen, and it is preferable
that they be sisters, "because they are related." Both wives live
in a single house on opposite sides of the fire. At meals they sit on
each side of their husband (?).
Adultery or maltreatment is a sufficient cause for divorce, public
opinion being of little weight in the matter. A woman can leave her
husband, their children remaining in the care of another woman,
and people will not interfere. Simnilarly a man can leave his wife.
A man will kill his wife's lover if the latter is ca-ught in the act.
Otherwise they will fight, though not to kill, with any handy weapons,
sticks, or stones. The husband's relatives become angry, but they
advise him to leave the woman and not take the risk of fighting. The
husband does not destroy his rival's property, but appropriates it;
not bv way of compensation, but in order to deprive him of his
weapons. If a woman thinks her husband guilty, she leaves, telling
him to keep his lover. S;he does not fight.
If a man maltreats his wife, her brothers or father's brothers,
but not her father, will remonstrate; if he grows angry, they will
fight. A man may beat his wife if she refuses to obey him, but if he
beats her too much she may leave him and no one can interfere.
Should a wife prove ill-tempered, mean, or cook his food improperly
or dirtily, the husband may say, "If you are tired of cooking, you
mav go home," and she goes. His parents would not interfere. Such
a woman may marry immediatelDy; her second husband owes nothing
to the first.
RELIGION
SHAMANISM
The Southern Dieguenio have curing and rattlesnake shamans, but
know the bear and weather shamans only as foreign types. Most of
the principal performers in the religious ceremonials are shamans:
the other participants have at least some claim to be regarded as such.
In fact, my informant does not make ainy sharp distinction between
those he styles shamans (gwlsi'yai) and the other performers; evi-
dently only a difference of degree is involved. For example, while
he makes no claim to be a shaman himself, as the following para-

graphs show, he commands a measure of esoteric power which he
uses in orthodox shamanistic fashion. The reasons for the lack of
distinction may be that there is no clearly defined mode of becoming
a shaman, and, on the other hand, the acquisition of analogous knowl-
edge by all who pass through the toloache initiation.
My father's oldest brother, Kumpl'r, was a shaman. He was a good shaman:
as far as I know, he never lost a patient. That was all he did, for he was blind from
birth. They brought patients to his house for treatment. He blew down and along
a patient's abdomen, as the latter lay on his back on the ground; then he sucked the
foreign matter out, u', u'; then he blew the pain away again. When heart or stomach
hurt, he sucked the "bad blood" out to relieve the pain. (No incision was made and
no blood flowed, however.)
I do this, too, but I know only a little; not so mueh as my uncle. For some reason
I am not so good as he. I have doctored a few here and cured them. One child
retained its urine: I did not blow, I pressed its groins to force out the urine. The
child was nearly dead but recovered. Sometimes I blow and sometimes I rub, but
I do not use herbs much. I have been given the power to cure with my hands. I
spit and blow on my palms and cure with these. I feel with my hands: if the patient's
body is cold, I rub it until it is warmed. Then when I feel that he is warm I let him go.
When I blow upon the ground it smokes far below.
According to my informant, those who imbibe the jimsonweed
drink during the initiation ceremony received the powers which the
shamans have put into it by blowing (see below). Those who receive
many powers become shamans. He attributes his own slight capacity
to the loss of these powers during the toloache trance, occasioned by
his neglect to cover his face with horned owl feathers and to place
raven feathers beside him.
The further character of his beliefs concerning himself are
revealed by the following incidents. Recently he was seated near
his house where his wife was stationed. Suddenly he had a pre-
monition: he told her that a man had died far to the east where the
sun rises. lie said, "In a few days you will know whether I am
telling a fact." She replied, "Yes, your dreams at night always
come true, but I do not place much faith in your daydreams."
Then he told her to wait until Ramon should return from Yuma. In
a few days Ramon arrived with the news that a man had died there.
On another occasion, the wild plum bushes near his house told him
that someone had died. He was sitting nearby, when the bush came
down and whispered to him. He had his back to it so that he did not
see it. Bushes were once people; that is why they talk. These plum
bushes are his property; they are supposed to tell him. That is why
he knows things of this sort.
he makes no claim to be a shaman himself, as the following para-

graphs show, he commands a measure of esoteric power which he
uses in orthodox shamanistic fashion. The reasons for the lack of
distinction may be that there is no clearly defined mode of becoming
a shaman, and, on the other hand, the acquisition of analogous knowl-
edge by all who pass through the toloache initiation.
My father's oldest brother, Kumpl'r, was a shaman. He was a good shaman:
as far as I know, he never lost a patient. That was all he did, for he was blind from
birth. They brought patients to his house for treatment. He blew down and along
a patient's abdomen, as the latter lay on his back on the ground; then he sucked the
foreign matter out, u', u'; then he blew the pain away again. When heart or stomach
hurt, he sucked the "bad blood" out to relieve the pain. (No incision was made and
no blood flowed, however.)
I do this, too, but I know only a little; not so mueh as my uncle. For some reason
I am not so good as he. I have doctored a few here and cured them. One child
retained its urine: I did not blow, I pressed its groins to force out the urine. The
child was nearly dead but recovered. Sometimes I blow and sometimes I rub, but
I do not use herbs much. I have been given the power to cure with my hands. I
spit and blow on my palms and cure with these. I feel with my hands: if the patient's
body is cold, I rub it until it is warmed. Then when I feel that he is warm I let him go.
When I blow upon the ground it smokes far below.
According to my informant, those who imbibe the jimsonweed
drink during the initiation ceremony received the powers which the
shamans have put into it by blowing (see below). Those who receive
many powers become shamans. He attributes his own slight capacity
to the loss of these powers during the toloache trance, occasioned by
his neglect to cover his face with horned owl feathers and to place
raven feathers beside him.
The further character of his beliefs concerning himself are
revealed by the following incidents. Recently he was seated near
his house where his wife was stationed. Suddenly he had a pre-
monition: he told her that a man had died far to the east where the
sun rises. lie said, "In a few days you will know whether I am
telling a fact." She replied, "Yes, your dreams at night always
come true, but I do not place much faith in your daydreams."
Then he told her to wait until Ramon should return from Yuma. In
a few days Ramon arrived with the news that a man had died there.
On another occasion, the wild plum bushes near his house told him
that someone had died. He was sitting nearby, when the bush came
down and whispered to him. He had his back to it so that he did not
see it. Bushes were once people; that is why they talk. These plum
bushes are his property; they are supposed to tell him. That is why
he knows things of this sort.
Other men cure snake bites. One, named ARPU'S, lives at Manzanita at present.
He claims to do it, but I never saw him; nevertheless I do not doubt him.
Old people eat snakes. They do not kill single individuals but go to a den where
plenty can be found, "like going fishing."
The Southern Dieguefno have no bear shamans (o'RskwanyEwai', to
have relations with a bear), but know of their existence among the
people to the north. The following account is significant in view of
this lack. The incidents refer to a Shoshonean of La Jolla, whose
identity is unknown to my informant.
This man wanted a woman at La Jolla to receive him. She refused; "You have
too much hair, I do not like you." The bear said, "No, I am human." He went into
some thick brush and when she passed he told her to come to him. Again she refused.
He offered to cover her with the bearskin and she consented. Nothing came to pass,
because he was a bear, not a human. This woman bore four children. She wanted
to see him, so she thought of him and he came. He was human. He looked at the
children: the woman told him to put his hand on them. He asked "How did it
happen that four were born at one time?" She said, "These are the fruit of our
union." Four months later he told his brother what he had done, but the latter
scoffed, "You could not transform yourself into a bear." The man replied that some
day he would show him. One day the brother went after wood. The bear man said
he would show him. The brother broke off a quantity of sticks and, taking a big
load on his head, started home. Then the bear rushed out growling. The brother
threw down his load and looked around: there was a bear tearing up the ground.
When the brother started to run, the bear caught him, and throwing him to one side,
broke his arm. The bear said, "You see that I could kill you, but you are my brother.
I told you I could do this, but you disbelieved me. Now your arm is broken for
remembrance." Then the bear man returned home, where he stayed one night.
Then he said, "I want to visit the people living far to the south. I will leave
my family here." He went south to gather piion nuts at Picacho mountain in Mexico.
People saw bear tracks there, but they soon heard that it was a human who assumed
the shape of a bear. They saw his track where he went to water, and where he had
gone to another spring (in the foothills?), taken some mescal fiber, and made sandals:
they saw the traces. Then he returned to the first spring at Picacho. He had removed
his sandals: they saw again where he had gone to water. The people then said that
the tracks were not those of a real bear, but of a man who transformed himself into
one, so they stopped getting water there.
Two brothers, Kapamha'n and HwasEmtl'tc, saw the tracks. One said, "'.I think
it is not a bear;" the other, "It is a bear." "I believe some man made the tracks."
The bear man, who was nearby, heard them: "I will show you two, first, that I am
a bear, and then that I am human." One day when they went after wood, they saw a
jackrabbit. The bear man was near them. Just as they turned away, he rushed out
growling, throwing up the ground. He ran at them, caught one, and threw him some
distance off, but without hurting him. He said, "I heard you say that I was not a
bear: you see that I am. Now I am going to show you that I am a man." He went
into the brush: in a short time a man came out and walked away clad only in a bear
skin. Those two were so frightened that they returned without the wood.
That man went to Matkurkur near Jacumba, and then north to Tcaulnylwa
(Henry Chauny's house) at Laguna. There he met TitLyau, who said the former
was a bear, for he saw the tracks. TitLyau went to Lauxa at Guiyapipe, where they
told him that they had seen bear tracks. He said, "Yes, he has been everywhere.
I think he is not a bear, only a man. If he is a bear, I will kill him." So he tracked
him, carrying a gun. The bear man overheard him and, coming out of a canyon in human
guise, met and talked with him. " I heard you tell the others that you intend killing
me. Why do you wish to do that: I am human and yet a bear. I can kill you if I
wish: I will show you." After retiring to the bushes, he rushed out growling and
waving his paws, while TItLyau watched. He returned to the bushes. "Now you
have seen me: the best you can do is to return home."
Weather shamans are known from Northern Dieguefio and Yuma
instances.
MAGICAL BELIEFS
Hair clippings, if not used in the manufacture of the cord with
which the hair is bound, are burned, for should their owner die he
would cry to see his hair blowing about. Another reason for burning
them, and nail parings as well, is that a shaman may use them to
cause their owner to become insane and die. A man gathers his wife's
combings for this reason and also because the shaman may attract the
wife. A shaman may gather the dirt in which one spits and place it
on a red ants' nest so that the victim will die of "tuberculosis." Or
he may gather the dirt which has been urinated on, or the faeces,
thus stopping the functions of the bowels, when death ensues.
Arrowheads are placed under rocks about the camp to prevent
its inmates being bewitched. Shamans are the only persons who wear
them, with the same intent, during a dance. They are suspended by
a cord about the neck, hanging either on breast or back, or worn over
the heart.36
Cigarettes (1Lwitca'tc) are made from short lengths of elder
(kopoL), from which the pith is removed. One end is plugged with
a little ball of milkweed fiber, and the tube loaded with tobacco by
filliping the side with the finger nail. One smokes such cigarettes to
cure a. cold or cough, singing the following song four times, by which
time the pain and mucus have disappeared:
Ko sa mi xa no
I am sick with a co'd
aRtc mi yai
groan
aRtc mi 'kwllp
tossing with malease.
When a man sneezes (wil's) a girl is talking about him.
36 Arrowheads are not charms against the lightning; in fact, there are none
known.
INITIATION CEREMONY
The toloache ceremony is called hoRLoi', although this is properly
the name of the dance which accompanies the administration of the
drink.
Perhaps only a small proportion of the men drank the jimsonweed;
those who wished to learn to dance and sing. Some men never drank
it, and it was never given to women. One woman, Ly'lmas, was
initiated by the Hakwatc (Luiseiio and Cupeiio Shoshoneans of La
Jolla and Hot Springs), who gave her but a small quantity to drink.
She can dispense it to men or women, but she never has. Jimsonweed
is taken but once in a lifetime. A morsel of the root is held in the
mouth while playing peon, for it causes one to guess better.37 In
case of a narrow escape from danger or sickness, an impromptu
performance of the hoRLoi' dance is held in order to restore one's
luck. This dance lasts half the night.
While it was stated that the ceremony is given by the gens, what
is probably meant is that it is given by the inhabitants of a particular
locality, among whom one gens would naturally predominate. A
member of any gens whatever might be initiated if he desired.
Boys who have reached maturity and even grown men are initiated.
As many as a dozen or more might partake at one time, but it is
preferable not to have too many, because it is necessary to have old
men to watch them during the entire period.
The ceremony is held at some convenient time during cold weather.
It is said to continue through "four nights and days," with the
administration of the drug on the fourth night, but I gather that
the program is nevertheless very free. The first day, people simply
gather to feast. Each night is occupied with dancing, the perform-
ance beginning late in the day and lasting perhaps until dawn. The
jimsonweed is given only at night: if drunk during the day, one's
ears would burn up. The drinking rites may be followed by the fire
ceremony, which occurs on this night alone. Several days later (two,
in one case) the ground painting is made and the attendant tests
performed.
When I first learned this dance there were a number of Northern Dieguenio
at Xawi' (tule) at Vallecitos. At this time my people did not know the dance,
although the Northern Dieguefio did.37a I was a grown man: that is why I wanted
37 The leaves are not chewed as among the Havasupai and Apache.
37a DuBois (present series, viii, 74-76, 1908) implies that the Southern
Dieguenlo received the cult from the north only within the last two or three gene-
rations.
to learn. The shamans there were Tasmi'tc, X ai'Im, Wuna'u'n, the oldest, Tcowa'l,
-
and Karo's, the greatest of all; all were Northern Diegueflo, members of the lya'tcaRp
clan, which was holding the dance. Other shamans present were Naxamai', Ina's,
Kopasw'r, Kw6'ktok6'k, and S6nso'n, of whom the first three belonged to lya'tcaRp
and the fourth to kwainyi'L gentes.38 X ai'Im was the leader (kwaipai) of these
shamans; he was not the chief of a clan. He made speeches before the dance began
and again before the toloache was administered. When I arrived I asked him if I
might learn, to which he agreed. I did not pay him. Late in the afternoon, they
locked me in the shaman's house (Ewa'gwlsiyai'), so that I was forced to fast. This
was a long house, with a peaked roof rising to about the height of a man, and provided
with a door in its northern end. Ina's came just after dark to ask if I was asleep.
I said, "No;" he said, "Do not sleep." He said that because they were to give me
the jimsonweed (malkapi't) at midnight. I heard them pounding it.
The mortar (kalmu') is made of soapstone, with a cavity 15 cm. in diameter and
a hand in depth. The soapstone pestle is 30 cm. long. X * ai'lm, the owner, kept
them with the clay drinking cup (sukwl'nEmat) in a cave south of Vallecitos, whence
he fetched them when the ceremony began. He told the hiding place to some
other shamans, among them Tasmi'tc, against his death. Anyone who entered that
cave would sicken and die. These objects were not painted for the ceremony.
The shamans formed a circle about the mortar and growled. They peered and
then blew into it. Wuna'u'n, called wExapsu'i, the blower, who was seated to one
side, cried "Wai7waa" four times: after each shout the others cried "Xaa" into the
mortar. Then they sat back while Tasmi'tc pounded the jimsonweed root. Only
that root is taken for this purpose which points to the north; it is 15 cm. long. It is
gathered afresh for each ceremony by the one who is to mash it. Tasmi'tc pounded
for a time, chanting "tcoka (I pound?)" with each stroke. Then he stopped while
Wuna'u'n cried "Waxu1a," and the others answered, "Xaa." Again Tasmi'tc
pounded, crying "tcoka yuni," and the pair of cries followed. Pouring water into
the mortar Tasmi'tc sang:39
kwTsi mai men e mai a no
kwl si mai men e mai a no
hai ku ra ne tca
to re mo mo7,a mog7a mooa
e si pEma'r towlm mona mo-la
The others joined after he had begun the song. Whenever they stopped, the two
cries were repeated. The shamans groan thus into the mortar in order to breathe
their powers into the drink. Tasmi'tc then poured it, about a pint, through a basket
strainer (sukwa'l) into another vessel. Thereupon Wuna'u'n cried "Waxuaya" four
times, while the others answered " Xaa" into the vessel.
Then Naxamai' led me from the house, saying that everything had been pre-
pared. I was seated on the inverted mortar facing north. 4
38 These four may be Southern Dieguenlo: the fifth is an ltLkipa', a Northern
Dieguefio.
39 This informant had the same difficulty in giving the words without the air,
that has often been commented on.
40 This account would indicate that he was initiated alone, but in describing
the later tests, he speaks of two fellow-initiates. This may mean that he drank
toloache twice: once near Vallecitos, here described, and again at Manzanita, as
a partly understood statement would also imply. It is possible, however, that the
three initiates drank separately during the same night, or even that the other two
are figments of his imagination, invented to bring out the penalty of failure in
Two lya'tcaRp women, Yulyema's (little eyes)41 and Sawe'l (Isabel), stood on
opposite sides of me within a ring of shamans. All faced north except the women,
who faced me.42 These two women told me what to ridicule; to dance to ridicule
the deceased members of the Neeix gens; to wit, Hama'RL, 'KwastEu'tc, Aleeix,
and K6tckwlL.
Tasmi'tc set the vessel directly before me. I was expected to gaze right into it.
YulyEma's then told Wuna'u'n to come close in front of me. He cried "Weee"four
times, each time Sawe'l replying with the same cry. Tacmi'tc gave the vessel to me.
I held it while all cried, "Wlsl'x -aiya, wlsl'x aiya (he drinks it);" then I drank.
Again they cried and I drank. Four times they cried and it was finished. Then
Naxamai' led me back to the house. Everyone was ridiculing me while I drank:
another time I would reciprocate.
In general, when several boys are to drink at one time they are
brought to the dance ground in a body. Before they arrive, the
shaman to the north (Wuna'u'n in the case above) slightly raises a
sack (kuipuhwa') of tobacco, which lies near the fire north of the
mortar, four times. When the shaman to the south cries, "Weee,"
he raises it on high four times, crying, "Weee." The boys walk to
the dance ground; and, dividing into small groups, enter on the north,
south, and east sides repeatedly. Each elderly sponsor (informally
called kupeau, caretaker) leads his charges to the north shaman, then
to him on the south, and finally back to the fire where the boys remain
standing. They are then seated in a semicircle about the mortar. All
face north, for they are afraid of the south. (According to another
statement, they sit to the east, with the man who administers the
drink at the northern end of their line.) The boy at the eastern end
of the line receives the first drink, the next finishes the preparation;
for each mortar full is supposed to furnish two drinks. The second
cupful, made at the same time as the first, is given to the third, fourth,
and fifth boys, if there are that many present, care being taken that
each receives a third. All the while a woman opposite them (both
northeastern and western sides are specified) is singing and dancing.
She cries, "So and so is going to drink." Shamans near her shout,
"Wlsl'x*aiya (he drinks it)." A group of shamans move around the
dance ground dextrally, waving owl plumes, taken from their head-
dresses, up and down. They cry, "Xaa, Xaa," while the boys drink
and afterward whenever the leading shaman cries out. A woman
standing opposite the boys, who has that function (the same woman
41 This may be the woman, Lylmas, mentioned above.
42 Usually the two shamans, who are stationed to the north and south of the
performers, have each a female singer with them on the fourth night. After the
boys are brought to the dance ground, all four proceed to the east side where they
stand to supervise. The two women mentioned in the paragraph above correspond
to these two singers.
as above ?) cries " Weeit ": two men then take the first boy to the fire.
With each succeeding cry, two more men lead another initiate to the
same place. Each pair then promenades and dances around the fire
with their charge. When the boy becomes so dizzy that he cannot
proceed, one man takes him on his back, in such a fashion that his
face is upturned, and continues the dance about the fire. Finally,
when the boy has almost lost consciousness, he is carried into the
house.
After the drinking rite, the small boys who have gathered at the
dance are sprinkled by the man who prepares the drink with a small
brush dipped in toloache. This is by way of a preparatory initiation.
To resume, they built a big fire in front of the house after they left me. Naxamn ai
told me, "If you feel dizzy, strike on the house, so I will know to enter and care for
you." I said that I was all right, although I felt the effects immediately. I could feel
my heart beating hard. I sat up and, although it was dark, I thought I saw the
ground moving; so I rapped on the house. He came in and out continually to watch
me.
Finally he led me out to where the shamans were gathered about a big fire of
mesquite. I could not see well, but I saw a big fire. Naxamai' and Ina's held me
by the arms (those two were not related to me) while we circled the fire in the lead
of the shamans. We circled three times in a clockwise direction and had nearly
completed the fourth circuit, when I fell down in a stupor. They carried me to a
shade nearby, where all watched me, even the women, to prevent me from running
away. Near dawn I woke and looked about, but everything was strange. Everyone
was still dancing. They had extinguished the big fire with hands and feet (see fire
ceremony below) and built a smaller in the same place, so that they could dance
until daylight. There were two singers, Matxau and KwItci6'l, who were not shamans.
After I looked at the dawn I gazed at the fire; it appeared blue, the peoplc about it
looked red. Then they dragged me again around the fire. When the sun shone, I
regained possession of my senses for a moment but again relapsed. This condition
lasted all this day and the next night. The next day they said that they were going
to have me dance again. Some said that I would not be able; that I would dance into
the fire. But I said that I could dance all right. I remembered: I danced the whole
hoRLoi' perfectly. All were pleased, so I returned home the following day.
(After the boys have recovered, visitors from other localities usually sing their
songs so that they may learn them.)
Two days after drinking, when I recovered, they led me in the daytime from the
shade to the dance ground in order to show me the ground painting. First my entire
body was painted black with charcoal, then placing a morsel of salt meat in their
mouths, they blew a little saliva on me. The ground painting was made and explained
by Xai'lm. The central figure (a) represented Hat6tkFu'r, the Milky Way, those on
both sides local geographic features, and the outer figures, the constellations, as
follows: (b) Wi'toloi, Viejas mountain near Descanso, (c) XTwi', a rock in the ocean
near San Diego (the Coronados?), (d) Wikaiyai', San Jacinto mountain, (g)
WikEmVI'n, Picacho mountain in Mexico (h) Sahai', a mountain east of Picacho
mountain (i) Xatai', a spring nearby, (j) P6miyai' ha'RpE (P6miyai"s, a spirit's,
entrance?), east of Xatai', (k) XakwTnnyTmc6p (white water), far east of the
Picacho, (1) CIltik, a constellation (m) Ci'i, the constellation "Buzzard," (n) Amu',
the constellation "Mountain sheep," (three stars), (o) Koxo'a'p, the jealous star,
and (p) Xltca', Pleides. The Milky Way was represented by a braided cord of milk-
weed (ahoRL) fiber, four fingers in width. The mountains and stars were indicated
by piles of variously colored seeds: gray seeds of the flax (tpCY'L), red from a bush
30 cm. tall (owa'L), pink from a waist-high bush with red blossoms (matapa'), white
from a vine (Ekwai'), black seeds from the "live forever" (kwItLyinyau') used for o,
and black seeds from a similar plant bearing thorns (pILmoL) used for p. The pile b
and the line e were marked with white earth (matnYlmc6p); the line f with red owa'L
seeds. No circle was drawn about the figure.
fZ / (D)
0 EE
Fig. 1. Ground painting, as explained on page 319.
Near the ground painting, on its western side, was the jumping ground
(matwa'a'r), a rectangular pit running north and south, 125 by 45 cm. at the mouth,
and about waist deep. The shamans sat about it. I crouched on the southern side
with my big toes on the edge while resting one thumb and forefinger on each side
of the pit. Wuna'u'n cried, "Hui," four times; then I jumped clear to the
opposite end. I had practiced with two leaps to reach my position at the pit. A man
stood on each side to catch me if I fell into the pit: such men never assist the initiate,
however. Should a boy fall back into the pit, he will soon die.
The old man who cared for me then led me forward and back a few meters to
stand toeing the testing circle (matLha'tcaho'tpa, ground -) to the northeast of the
pit. This is a circle, 30 cm. in diameter, drawn on the ground, with a small hole at
its center. I was given a morsel of heavily salted meat to hold under my tongue to
induce the flow of saliva. I stood erect, toeing the circle, with my hands behind
my thighs, and dropped the spittal into the hole. If a boy misses, he will soon die.
Two other initiates were present: one fell back into the pit; the other failed in his
aim. These two are now dead, while I, who was successful, have lived to an old age.
These three things were destroyed four days later.
Then I was led back to the shade, where I was given a small piece of mescal,
although I was extremely hungry. During the time I fasted and thirsted, I wore a
belt, braided of four pieces of "quinine weed" (xakwEx a'r), which makes one feel
-
replete. Those who care for the initiates and the pair of women singers (p. 318) fast
each night, but eat in the morning.
When I drank the jimsonweed, I saw the horned owl (a'u') and the raven (xatai')
in a trance. I dreamed of these because their feathers are worn in the headband
during the hoRILoi' dance. These two looked like men, as we believe them to be.
I dreamed of many things at that time, but I only remember these two. After I
returned home, I slept. I should have covered my face with owl feathers and placed
raven feathers at my side, but I failed to. Raven and Horned Owl spoke to me in
my sleep: they resembled humans. Raven said to Horned Owl, "I believe he does
not like our way." The latter replied, "Yes, let him go: let us not teach him the
other things that he should learn." Two days and nights passed in sleep; during this
period I could hear the powers within passing out by my ears. I heard them plainly.
So I no longer had knowledge: all I could remember concerned only Raven and
Horned Owl. After the powers flew out, my whole body felt light and active; before
that it had been heavy and gross. One sees these things because the shamans have
blown their powers into the drink; those who thereby receive many powers become
shamans. I also saw Coyote in my dream. I asked him, "What now?" and he
whispered, "Another shaman is coming to bewitch you. You will die in four days."
I told him that he lied, but Coyote repeated, "Yes: you will die in four days' time."
But I am not yet dead. No one believes Coyote; he is such a confirmed liar. Coyote
resembled a man except that his ears were those of a coyote.
The animal seen in the trance is the "pet" of the visionary: he is one of his own
people, his friend. He is not supposed to kill such animals: I do not kill ravens or
horned owls. Should he desire something, he consults the animal. Shamans who
wish to cure talk to the ainimals in their sleep and learn the herbs, etc., wherewith
to cure.
FIRE CEREMONY
The fire ceremony (au'Etasl'phis, extinguishing the fire) is said
to have been derived from the Shoshoneans to the north, who in turn
received it from the great snake, Mattiawlt. It is held only at night,
following the hoRLoi' dance, that is, the administration of the jimson
weed. Its performance is undertaken when those present believe that
there are a sufficient number of shamans present at the hoRLoi' to
succeed in extinguishing the fire.
Only shamans, those who took part in the initiation rites, partici-
pate in actually extinguishing the flames. They wear six plumes
thrust upright into the headband in such a manner that the feathers
nearly obscure the face. These plumes are composed of bunches of
horned owl and raven feathers fastened to short sticks. The head-
band (hwatL tokwl'n) is made of twisted, frayed feathers from the
same species.
Two circles of men and women are formed, with hands joined,
facing the fire. The inner circle comprises shamans for the most part;
the outer, unimportant people. They dance in a circular course,
stamping, not shuffling, singing hoRLoi' songs. Two shamans sit on
opposite sides of the fire (probably outside of the inner circle) crying,
"Xaa, xaa." The shaman on the north supervises the outer circle;
the one on the south, the inner.43 During the dance each taps two
43 Possibly the jurisdictions are confused, since the northern shaman is the
principal leader.
sticks together: those of the northern shaman are carried part of the
time by a man in the inner dance circle. Two other shamans are
located on the east and west sides, respectively. Each moves to the
northern man, then to the southern, and finally back to their stations,
crouching as they walk and crying, "Xaa, xaa."
The outer circle moves dextrally, the inner sinistrally through
four circuits. At the cry "Wlp, wlp," from the northern shaman,
repeated by his southern colleague, the direction of dancing is reversed
for four additional circuits. When the northern director thinks that
the dance has continued for a sufficient time, he signals to the man
carrying his sticks in the inner circle to rush out to the west and
tap them together as a signal for all to sit down. Immediately the
shamans proceed to extinguish the fire with their feet and hands, the
outer circle crowding in on these performers, singing the while. If
the northern shaman observes that the shamans cannot control the
fire, he leaps into its midst and sits there facing east, south, west, and
north, and then emerging resumes his place to the north watching the
others. When he is on the fire, he is thinking how he is going to
extinguish it.
According to another statement, the shamans first squat (not
seated on the ground) about the fire, with the two directors formiing
part of their circle. They first push the ashes together with their
feet. Each carries a wooden wand: that of the shaman on the north
is a bullroarer, being attached to a milkweed (ahoRLnyimco'p) string.
The northern shaman cries, "Wawa7aa," the others, "Waa," where-
upon all jab their wands into the coals. They then circle in single
file counterclockwise around the fire four times, crying "Waxaa."
On the fifth circuit, the circle is broken on the west side, half return-
ing clockwise for a complete circuit, while the others continue, until
they meet again on the west side, when the whole group again circles
counterclockwise four times. The shamans on the north and south
stop at their original stations. Suddenly the northern shaman springs
onto the bed of coals. The others immediately rub and pat the embers
with their hands, breathing and beating with their headplumes on
them until they are extinguished. The plumes are not scorched.
They spit "blood" on the fire, but not on their hands.
The swallowing wand ('kwahwotco'o'ka, blood, to insert) is not
used, but Coleman has seen it among the Northern Dieguefio of Santa
Ysabel, where a shaman drew a long feather from his throat with
which to beat out the fire.
The shaman's wand ('kwoto6t) is made of pine; shaped much like

those figured by Waterman,4 pointed at one end and flaring at the
butt; about 75 cm. in length, 5 cm. in width, and flat, but 0.5 cm. in
thickness. Near the butt end is a band of sinew wrapping, under
which owl feathers are caught, with those of the yellow hammer in
addition on each broad face. All these wands, or at least those used
at my informant's initiation, were derived from the Shoshoneans of
Warner's Hot Springs. The one which served as a bull roarer came
originally from the same people, who gave it to the Northern Diegueino
of San Felipe. It was brought to Vallecitos for this ceremony by
Kwistu'c, a member of the neeix gens. This wand is said to resemble
the broadest example figured by Waterman:45 it was plain and had
a stone arrowhead inserted in the butt. Another short wand, painted
black and lacking the arrowhead, was brought at the same time, but
the shamans fearing to use it, hid it at some distance.
RIDICULING CEREMONY
The precise purpose and precedure of the stereotype ridiculing
which is an integral part of these ceremonies is far from clear. Dur-
ing my informant's initiation, he was instructed by two women to
exemplify by his dancing the ridiculing of the dead of a gens to
which neither he nor they belonged (see p. 318). At the same time,
everyone ridiculed him while he drank the toloache; for his part, he
had every intention of reciprocating on an appropriate occasion.
Ridiculing also formed the subject of a. definite ceremony, as illus-
trated by the following account.
I was working at PILkeru'k in the foothills near the desert for a bolt of calico.
I went to Snau'kwltti'n at Little Manzanita in order to give it to 'Kwiarau'. But
he died at MiLkwlLnuk, Long Canyon near Carrizo, before I arrived. PaiyU'n,
Ikwllil'k (white wood), and Aturpau', all, like myself, memb6rs of the hlLmiaRp gens,
were there. During the day we hunted rabbits and prepared food. When we were
satiated, we were ready to dance. At night we four sat about a small fire, shaking
gourd rattles (xalma'R) while we stamped and sang. We sang about 'Kwiarau', of
the neeix gens4^ (the one ridiculed is called oyau'pE), because we liked his people.
We ridiculed them. He was not related to any of us: we do not sing if the deceased
is a relative. We mocked the mourners in this song:
mi no sok hariyaux
let alone desist
mi no sok Inyapniyaux Inyaphayaima'ha
I do not like dance about one
44 Present series, VIII, figs. 1, 2.
45 Loc. cit., fig. 1, no. 4.
46 He stated that h!LmiaRp and neeix are the only gentes which ridicule, but
this is doubtful.
mi no sok hYLtamokau'a towa'rowar

cut off hair extremely tired
onyaiyau'hTtc hapTloyau'hTtc matami'Inpa
you look pitiful you know how to all cry
paint yourself
A man or woman, particularly the latter, might strip off all his clothes in order to
make the ridicule stronger. If a member of the ridiculed gens is present, he cannot
become angry, but in time he will reciprocate.
On this occasion, I wanted to dance four nights, but a woman died there, so that
we danced only for two nights, continuing until daybreak on the second. Then I
cut the bolt of calico into short lengths which I distributed to everyone at the dance.
We burned the woman nearby during the next forenoon, and wailed for her through
that and the succeeding day. We then washed ourselve3 over the ashes of the pyre
and destroyed the vessels which had contained the water, on the spot. Otherwise,
we should have been visited by this dead woman.
WHIRLING DANCE
The whirling dance (tlpkwirp, to spin in a circular course) is not
characteristic of the Southern Diegueiio but of their northern con-
geners. During my informant's boyhood (1840-1860) it was not cus-
tomary for the southern people to attend this dance, with the excep-
tion of one man, Matxan, of the lya'tcaRp gens. The account which
follows was obtained from Will F. Coleman, a Northern Dieguefio
half-blood. It differs from Watermana's account in some particulars.
The dance is held at only one time, on the morning following the
fire ceremony. The chief shaman sNvings the bull roarer once as he
faces first the sun, then south, west, and north, in order to summon
the other shamans ('kwotot aRi'ra, to call with, or swing, the wand).
All these join him at the dance ground. The chief shaman, who
keeps the ceremonial regalia in a house to the northeast of the dance
ground, gives the necessarv paraphernalia to the two performers,
who don them in the ceremonial structure (n7i'iyau'wE, feather house)
north of the ground. The dancer is painted with stripes of white
ashes, red, blue, etc. He wears a kilt (nipxai') of eagle feathers
closely strung on a cord. In each hand he carries a wand of hard
burr oak (samtai'), 40 cin. long, flat, roasted brown, and painted with
red iron oxide. His fellow carries two similar sticks: he wears the
headband and plumes used in the fire ceremony. A bunch of eagle
feathe-rs hangs from the rear of the headbaand by a cord, 8 cm. long.
The associate runs from the ceremonial house, crying, "Aaa,"
tapping his wands together, circling by the west to stand at the east
side of the dance ground. He taps4ea three strokes three times, stop-
ping to cry between each trio. Meanwhile the chief shaman stands
before his house. The dancer then runs, crouching and waddling,
from the ceremonial house to the center of the dance ground. Here
he first faces south, west, north, and east, runs to his associate, before
whom he stands, resting on his two wands, while he listens to the
associate sing three or four songs in a low voice. The associate taps
twice, thrice, and then a repeated series of three strokes. The dancer
trots around the ground three times in a counterclockwise direction,
while the shaman swings the buill roarer three times. Two female
singers are seated to the northeast, where other women join them to
sing. When the dancer reaches the southwestern side, he faces the
women, grunts, taps his sticks together, then trots circling in a
counterclockwise direction again for three circuits, holding his wands
by the middle. As he passes his associate, the latter taps his own
wands: after the fourth circuit, the dancer passes him a short dis-
tance, when the latter taps and the former taps in answer. Then the
dancer continues his dextral circuit, spinning in his course. The
associate grunts and taps twice: the dancer stands before him resting
on his wands.
When the associate thinks, that the dancer is rested, he taps; the
shaman begins to sinig softly; the associate taps again, and the shaman
sings louder; the associate taps thrice, the dancer then replies with
two strokes and resumes his trotting circuit of the ground. The
associate taps again and the dancer jumps from side to side as he
passes him, resting on his wands at each leap. Each time he jumps
the associate cries, "Huu, huu, and taps; the dancer answering with
taps. The latter next jumps as he passes the shaman; he and his
associate tapping again in an identical manner. He circles in this
manner four times: after he has passed the associate on the fourth
circuit, the latter taps, to which he taps irn reply, and then proceeds
to spin through two eircuits. The associate then commences to tap
rapidly and follows the dancer around for a half-circuit and out to
the ceremonial house.
In this connection, the informant stated that the bull roarer is
hung over the entrance of the ceremonial house to protect its
contents, after the regalia have been replaced; hence it is called
46a While the Southern Dieguenio do not tap sticks together in their dances, this
is said to be the common habit of the dialectically related people of Baja Cali-
fornia.
wa'a'kiupeau', house watcher. The house has no door, but the bull
roarer is considered to close it effectually, for no one, save a shaman,
will enter, else he will fall stricken, or ultimately sicken and die.
This statement may also apply to the Southern Diegueino.
ECLIPSE CEREMONY
The eclipse ceremony begins, either in the day or at night, as
soon as the sun or moon enters the shadow (inya' wisau', nibbles the
sun; h'tLya' wisau', nibbles the moon). No explanation is given of
what it is that devours these bodies. The chief begins to sing the
song of the people (tcayau' mitipai'). Young and old shout, because
they are perturbed, since an eclipse causes sickness. After this cere-
mony, they bathe in cold water. There is no corresponding ceremony
on the, occasion of the new moon, as among the Northern Dieguefio.47
COMPARATIVE OBSERVATIONS
While these field notes are too scanty for any definitive statements,
they offer a number of tenative contrasts to the published Northern
Dieguenio data. Even if other ceremonies of which no details were
recorded, viz., the image,48 eagle (which may be included in the
image ceremony), and girls' adolescent ceremonies,49 are added, no
ceremony unknown to the Northern Diegueno is found. On the
contrary, not only are their ceremonies the counterpart of those of
the northern 'group, but they are fewer and slightly less elaborate.
There is nothing indicative of a greater degree of borrowing from the
Mohave and Yuma.
It is also probable that the Chungichnish doctrine,' known to the
northern people, is only slightly developed here, since no systematiza-
tion of the religious material was offered by my informant.
The larger differences are the absence of weather and bear
shamans, the whirling dance, and the clothes-burning ceremony,
although this may be combined with the image ceremony. The
specific form of "war'" dance is not known, but the dance at the
boys' initiation (hoRLoi) is clearly its analogue.
47 'Waterman, op. cit., present series, VIII, 328, 1910.
48 See Edward H. Davis, The Dieguenlo Ceremony of the Death Images, Con-
tributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, v, no. 2,
1919.
49 Horatio N. Rust, A Puberty Ceremony of the Mission Indians, American
Anthropologist, n.s., viii, 28-32, 1906.
Some of the minor differences, other than those noted in the

descriptive accounts, were made the subject of specific inquiry. The
ridiculing songs of the initiation ceremony and other occasions corre-
spond to the "bad songs" of the Northern Diegue-no girls' adolescent
ceremony. There is no use of water as an emetic at the conclusion
of the toloache dance; the boys are not bathed, nor are they painted
at the same points50 or in the same manner; there is no crawling
with dragging poles, no delousing, no placing of hunger-belts in the
creek, no footrace, nor are plumes and wands received at this time.
No animals are shown in the ground painting, no netting figure in
the jumping pit, and the procedure is different. In fact, the whole
Southern Dieguefno ceremony appears to be curtailed, particularly
in the observances following the administration of the drink, in con-
trast with that of the northern group. The hoRLoi differs from the
northern "war" dance in that there is no shaking of fists; nor is
there any at other times. The southern fire ceremony lacks speeches,
sword-swallowing, the willow-bark drink, and vomiting (although
these are known by hearsay),* and uses no rattles. The northern
people do not stab the fire with wands.
The cultural position of the Southern Diegueiio in ceremonial
matters is clearly one of dependence on the northern groups, both
their relatives and the Shoshonean tribes.5
SONG CYCLES
Most song cycles are derived from the mythical serpent (page 331),
others are more recent acquisitions, according to native theory. For
convenience the Mohave and Southern Diegueino song series cited by
Kroeber52 are also listed below.
Mohave Diegueno (Kroeber) Diegueiio (Spier)
Birds ............
53 hasa"tcio'x (bird song)
Av'alyunu
Alysa
Tumanpa Tu-tomunp toma'np (bird starts to fly)
Raven
Salt Salt
Turtle
Deer
50 The analogy between the white powder blown on the northern boys and the
Mohave custom of blowing frothy saliva, suggested by Waterman, loc. cit., 297,
footnote 58, is borne out by our data.
51 It may be noted in passing that I see little that the Southern Diegue-no have
in common with the Havasupai that might be called "Yuman characteristics."
52 MS Indians of California.
58 Isa means "bird."
Mohave Diegueiio (Kroeber) Diegueiio (Spier)

Eagle Ispa' (eagle)
Kwiya-humara Kuya-homar
Shaman's
Orup ortl'p (sad)
Keruk
Kachahwar xax* wa'r (scraping drum54 stroke)
Awi-kunchi
Akwil
Hortloi hoRLoi' (dust around fire)
Tuharl toxa'r (vibrating rattle)
Tipai tipai (people) 5
Isa53
djokwa'r (speech)
tasl'tL (to rattle)
xALtamataie' (hair on top of head)
nylmitciohls (wild-cat song)
parhaultcio'hls (fox song)
nylkwar (bird resembling the
sandhill crane)
Although orit'p and tcaihotai' (big song) were first given as names
of series, it was stated later that they were only songs occuring in
series. Fox song belongs to wild-cat song as "a sort of chorus." The
eagle song is sung as the captured eaglet flutters, shaking off his
down, in the mourning ceremony. Fox, wild cat, bird, and nylkwar
were obtained subsequent to the mythical serpent incident. My
informant's gens (hlLmiaRp) received rattle, speech, big song, basket
scraping, and eagle songs directly from the serpent. Tumau' gens
got the vibrating rattle and hair-on-head songs. In the same manner
the Mohave obtained toma'np. The Southern Dieguefio borrowed
tipai' from the Shoshonean TutLipa of Santa Ysabel and hoRLoi' from
the Shoshonean 'Koxwai (San Luis people of Pala), each of whom
had received their songs from the serpent. Kuya-homar, given in
Kroeber's list, was recognized in the form nyiman-kumar, which is
the same as toma'np.
MYTHS
ORIGIN MYTH56
These hills were always high, but in those days there was salt
water on both the west and east sides. A man emerged from the sea,
and opened his eyes so that he could see the sun. Then another man
Undoubtedly scraping a basket was meant.
54
The Kamia equivalent is Pi'ipa, which means "person" in Mohave.
55
A variant of the myth given by the same informant through the same inter-
56
preter to Gifford (present series, xiv, 170-172, 1918).
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueino Customs 329
emerged, but he could not see the sun, for he was blind. There were
two foxes, a silver fox and a common fox, which belonged to these
men. The blind man felt about for his property, the silver fox, but
failed to locate it; instead he felt the common fox. He asked the
other, "Is this my fox?" to which the latter replied, "Yes, that is
yours." Then the blind man knew that the one he felt was not his
own. So he made many animals, the coyote, the long-legged birds,
and he also made the moon. He showed the other man their reflection
in the moon, but the appearance was fleeting. After the latter had
gazed at this, he turned to look for the blind man. But he failed
to see him, for the ground had opened and swallowed him. The other
then went to the sky. Now we hear the blind man down below: he
causes the earthquakes. If he were to roll over quickly, the earth
would turn over, but he rolls only a little which causes the tremors.
The man above wondered how he was going to make humans.
HIe reached into the earth, in the place where the blind man had
descended, to feel for something. He pulled out some red clay with
which he made a man, and then a second. Near midnight, he looked
down to where they lay by a little fire he had provided: one still
retained its shape, the other had fallen to pieces; So he made them
over several times. The fire was still burning: the man above said,
" I hear some one talking. There must be some one alive down there. "
The clay-man answered, "Yes." "The man who descended under
the earth tried to make human beings, but he failed; so I had to
create you. Now that I have made you, I will name you mama.ipadj,
man, and mamasi-1, woman." Then he said, "I wonder what I will
do with these two people whom I have made." He watched them.
During the night they rose several times. When it was nearly day-
break these two fell asleep. He then ascended to the sky, where he
is now (sic).
When the people were left there, there was sea in all this country.
The bedbugs were driven into the sea, so that it has been dry ever
since. Then the men above told Wild Cat to instruct the men. The
latter then told them how to count the months by lunations.
One of the clay-men, Tcikumat, was sick far in the east. But the
big birds, Sand Hill Crane (makulk), Goose (lali'k), and Meadow
Lark (petLatu'k), flew about, saying that he was not sick. The time
he fell sick at Natcupa'k was the month Lakwo'L: he died in the month
LanvymcE'p. He was nearly dead when they brought him here from
the east.57 They first took him to Matnaipai, far north of here,
in the month Latai'; then to Nyiaharp (sun's entrance, probably
inyaharp) in the month Lapisu'; then to Matplmyai in the month
La/mEtinya'. He was nearly dead when they transported him from
there: they took him home again to Natcupa'k. He died in the month
Lanitca' (sic.). Just before he died he said that he was going to name
another month.
The aforementioned birds gathered wood for his pyre, which was
complete when he died. He called in all the big blue flies. Then a
big fire started (elsewhere)* when they saw it, they sent Coyote to
investigate. Coyote returned, reporting that it was false, that there
was no fire. There was another fire nearby, in the direction of
Nyiaharp. Again they told Coyote to go to see if that was a fire.
Again Coyote returned, saying that it was false. Then another fire
started far east at Natcupa'k. Again they told Coyote to investigate.
While he was absent the big blue flies set fire to the pyre with their
fire drills. Badger stood on the east side of the fire, Wild Cat on
the west. By the time Coyote returned, the entire body, excepting
the heart, had been consumed. As he came along he called to them
to take his father's brother (nYEwi) out of the fire. Then he ran in,
snatched the heart from the fire, and ran off toward the east with it.
Bullet Hawk (tsaharptsii), who had been watching, pursued him, but
although he struck him several times, he could not make him drop it.
Coyote ran on and on to Wi'iwa' in the east, until he grew so hot
and tired, that he laid it down, having decided to eat it. Then he
took it up again and went on to a cave called Wlklsai (greased rock).
Then he carried it farther east to the edge of the sea, where he laid
it down gently so that no trace of blood should show on the ground.
He started to eat it, slowly and carefully. There was just a tiny drop
of blood at the center, which, falling into the water, was transformed
into many birds (of a certain variety, having red wings; machwa'tE,
red body. When we lost that great man, we lost all his knowledge;
hence we know so few of the arts of life.
Wild Cat took charge of what was left. "I have all Tcikumat's
belongings, " he said. He gathered all the people and started to
dispose of the articles. Returning (westward?) from Natcupa'k he
came to Wikami',5 where he decided to burn them all. So he started
the mourning ceremony. They gathered wood with which to build
57The narrator was not at his ease during the preceding portion of this story.
57aA big mountain "east of the Chimney Peak (Picacho) and west of the
Parker reservation; " probably the sacred mountain of the Mohave is meant.
the enclosure (keriuk). Then they sent Sand Hill Crane to summon
Mattiawl't, the mythical snake. He flew along singing, kertuk, keriuk,
which is his own peculiar sound. When Mattiawl't arrived, he coiled
his length around the interior of the enclosure. He commenced in
the afternoon and stopped at sundown. Then he told them to make
it larger. By midnight he had completely filled the enlarged struc-
ture, and again he told them to make it larger. He filled this, too,
by daybreak. Then Wild Cat told them to set fire to the enclosure.
Mattiawil't was burned asunder; part flew back to the place he had
come from, the rest burst into fragments. Each piece that flew off
to the people was a song. Each gens received a song: djokwa'r
(speech), tcaihotai' (big song), oriTi'p (sad), tasltL (to rattle), toma'np
(bird starts to fly), hoRLoi' (dust around the fire), tipai' (people),
xeLtamataie' (hair tied on top of head), toxa'r (vibrating rattle),
xax*wa'r (scraping stroke on drum?), and ispa' (eagle). They also
got wailing (wumi'). That is how I (i.e., his gens) came by tcaihotai'.
The people who had the songs traveled to the north and then around
to the western sea. The peoples who acquired the songs were 'kwaxa,
'kwltca'n (Yuma), tumau', lya'tcaRp, neeix, kawi' (Cahuilla), waipu'k,
and hlLmiaRp, my own gens.5I From this time they have been sep-
arate peoples. All the bushes about here are people. Lizard said that
they could not all live together. "If all the gentes live here together,
they will die off one bv one." That is the end (yE'a'mE).
ORIGIN OF DEATH
When those two creators formed people, they also made Wild Cat.
The people started migrating from Wikami'; their tracks are still
in the rocks there. At that time the sea reached the foot of the moun-
tains. The creators told Wild Cat that he would know everything
concerning people, and that he should therefore care for them. He
first made a big mourning ceremony at Wikami' and then led the
people westward to this country. Here they scattered as the several
gentes. As they traveled, he named the bushes. Among the people
was the waipu'k gens; they were then called lakwi's. The people of
this gens were tired of traveling by the time they reached Miulki't,
so they went south to XataplL. Here all the waipu'k perished, save a
few who then came here. All the others followed Wild Cat, circling
northward and westward to the salt water; then, when they found
their progress blocked, they returned eastward and have lived here
since.
58 This list of gentes is incomplete (see p. 299).
Wild Cat told them that there were many people. He said that
the country was too poor for all the people to live together. "One
woman or man must die each year, so that others can l;ve. " But the
people said, "No, we do not want to die to make room for others."
So they sent for Lizard (xakwa'l). He brought a large sack of
tobacco. Wild Cat said, "I told these people that some would have
to die each year in order to leave room for the others." Wild Cat
had sent for Lizard to gain his support. Wild Cat said that the latter
was still older than he. Lizard told him that what he had said was
proper. Then everyone assented, so that now one or two of us die
each year. As the people grew, all the brush and rocks about here
grew with them.
BUNGLING HOST
Once Rabbit was Coyote's wife. The red wing blackbirds wanted
this woman, too, so they married her. When Coyote saw this, he set
off on a long journey. He found a broken willow lying across the
trail. This swung back and forth in the wind, squeaking "eh, eh,"'
but Covote said, "You shan't have anything to do with me." He
thought the willow he heard was Rabbit. He came to a house. Then
he thought, "How am I to recover that good woman (i.e., Rabbit) ?"
He carried a brand into the thick brush where he sat down and said,
"Now I am going to find out why that woman likes that fellow with
his yellow shoulders. I will try to make mine better yellow shoulders
than his; perhaps she will then prefer me. " He burned his shoulders
with the brand to make them red so that Rabbit should say, "Well,
this man looks better than the other."
When Coyote arrived at Red Wing Blackbird's house, he found
him absent, but Rabbit, who was sitting there, looked at the new-
comer. Coyote walked up: Rabbit turned her side to him. "Do you
like me or not?" he asked. She said to him, "I will not have you at
all: go back." When Blackbird returned, he asked, "Who was that
man who wanted to have red shoulders such as mine?"
Coyote went off by the trail on which he had previously traveled.
He reached the willow; again it squeaked. As it dragged back and
forth, it caught him by the penis and held him fast. He cried as
loud as he could. iHe extricated himself by breaking his penis off,
saying, "I won 't go near you any more; I thought you were a good
man."
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueiho Customs 333
Coyote lived alone. Every day he went about visiting the boys
who played about there. Wild Cat had a wife. He invited all his
own people and everyone else who lived in the vicinity to a feast. He
had a large pot, which he filled with water and set on the fire. He
took a large stick (chisel?) which was used for pounding mesquite,
and beat his own head with it. Coyote watched him all the while.
Every tiine Wild Cat struck his head, splinters would fly from the
stick into the pot. All the people were drinking the soup. Coyote
had nothing, but lie wanted to impress others, so after he had eaten
to repletion, he invited them to a feast at his own house. Wild Cat
said to Coyote, "No, I have something else left for tomorrow." He
set up a forked pole, up which he climbed and defecated into the
pot. Next morning all ate of it, including Coyote. When they had
finished, Coyote said to Wild Cat, " Bring all your people to my
camp tomorrow. I am going to give a. feast." Wild Cat gathered all
the people he could and started for Coyote's house. The latter had
girls at his house when they arrived. The two parties remained
separated; wild cats on one side, coyotes on the other; not mixed,
as they had been at Wild Cat's house. Coyote instructed one of the
girls to give him some water so that he could set his pot on the fire.
He held his head over the vessel while he struck it with a rock. Each
time he struck, blood spattered about, until a large puddle was
formed. Wild Cat told him to desist. Coyote told them to come
again the following day. iHe set up a forked pole and climbed into
the fork. He told the others to place the pot under him. They started
to fill it with water but he said, "No." He defecated worms into it
until it was filled. When they saw this, they said it was not fit to
eat, so they all went away.
Coyote continually visited Wild Cat. Wild Cat said, "I think
that you had better come to another feast." Wild Cat told Coyote
and his people to find a spot provided with thick brush. When they
found the thicket, Wild Cat invited Coyote and his family. Wild
Cat stood in the center of the patch and told them to set it afire on
all sides. The fire was burning from every direction; when it had
nearly reached him, he sang:
ma'tkapois hoi'kapois hoi
earth descend
ma'tkapois hoi'kapois hoi
yua'rmarrup rup rup rup
descend slowly bobbing up and down
He sank into the ground. When the fire had died down he came
out by the same place and went home. He asked them, "Why don't
you eat the rabbits and other animals which were roasted in the
fire?" Coyote and his family ate all they could and carried the
remainder home.
Next day Coyote went to Wild Cat's house and invited him to
come with his people to surround a thicket. They searched for a
large thicket. Wild Cat began to understand Coyote: that the latter
could not do the things he could. So he warned Coyote that he had
better not fire the brush, else he would be consumed. But Coyote
said, "Yes, come watch me anyhow. You will get plenty to eat at
my fire, too." Wild Cat said, "Yes, I will come to watch you, but I
will see you burned instead of seeing things cooked for me to eat."
Coyote circled around to look at the thicket. He said, "All watch me
closely when I am in the center; you will see what I can do." Then
he stood right in the middle. "All right," he said, "now set fire to
it all around." Wild Cat stood close to the fire watching Coyote.
Coyote sang just as Wild Cat had done on the preceding day. After
he sang, he only bounced up and down; he did not sink into the
ground as Wild Cat had done. His feet were burned off, and he was
consumed with the rabbits.59
FOOD GATHERING
Acorns are ripe in the month Lakwo'L (September) and fall to the
ground during the following month, Lany1mcE'p. Mush (cawi') is
made of the acorns of the black (ku'phaRL), red (isnyau), and scrub
oaks (ixwuip),6° as well as of the seed of the wild plum (lxkai).
Acorns are gathered by women in their carrying nets (?) and dumped
into the storage baskets which stand in the groves on the hills. These
baskets are set on posts a quarter meter from the ground and are
woven so closely that rodents cannot gnaw through them. The acorns
are stored, each variety separately, until Lanltca' (February) in the
spring when it is warm and the nuts are sufficiently dry. Women
and old men crack the nuts on the spot between two convenient stones
in order to extract the kernels. The meats are stored in clay vessels
and cached in the rocks.
59 Coleman told of a Northern Dieguefio version in which Wild Cat, having
claws, climbs a tree; Coyote, having none, cannot climb, but must jump up and
down until consumed.
60 These native terms mean both tree and nut.
Mortars (koxmu'), mere hollows in boulders or the bedrock, are

located at every camping place. The meats are reduced in these with
a heavy stone pestle (xamukai'). Sometimes a leafy bower is formed
of a few long boughs thrust into the ground to protect the worker
perched on her boulder. The ground meal is sifted by tossing in a
flat coiled basket in such a manner that the larger fragments are
shaken over the near edge and under the right arm. When the whole
is sufficiently ground, it is heaped into a shallow twined basket, which
has been placed on a pad of twigs, in order to leach out the bitter
elements. First, cold water is used while other water is being
warmed; this in turn is added as the water seeps away. After a half-
hour the meal stands in a stiff dough, which is removed by handfuls
and stirred into a pot half-full of cold water set on the fire. As it
stiffens, more cold water is added. The cooking is completed when
its taste is satisfactory. The several varieties of acorns are mixed
according to taste.
Wild plums are cracked on the metate with the mano. The meats
are spread in the sun to dry until they can be rubbed between the
hands and tossed in a coiled basket to remove the hulls. They are
then ground in a rock mortar. Leaching proceeds as with acorns,
save that only cold water is used. The cooking process is identical.
The metate (lxpi') is a granite slab (one specimen is rectangular,
45 by 30 cm.), with a slight oval depression on one face. The mano
(xaplitca') is an ovoid stone (one measuring 23 by 9 by 6 cm.). The
metate is set level on the ground for grinding, the mano being pushed
back and forth with a rolling motion, but not rocked from side to side.
The seeds of a wild plant (Ekwa'Rp, possibly pigweed or goose-
foot) are roasted, ground, and made into a mush. The meal is some-
times worked with a little water into flaky cakes, which are eaten
dry. The seeds of the white sage are ground and eaten dry, but not
cooked; those of the squaw weed (hlLpo'k) are either prepared in
the same way or made into a mush. The leaves of the nettle are eaten
when it is young.
The following list of foodstuffs was obtained from a fragmentary
account of my informant's boyhood. It is chiefly interesting as indi-
cating those foods, besides the obvious ones which are not mentioned,
which struck him as peculiarly different from those he uses today.
Gila monster, jackrabbit, a large lizard (hamsu'L), wood rat (ama'Lk),
mescal ('ama'L), a sprout-like plant (' amaL) ,61 a seed bearing plant
61 The first word has raised pitch on the second syllable, the second, normal.
(ha'WL), an oily seed ground for flour (awo'L), wild flaxseed (6pCI'L),
barrel cactus (lxmaL, the pulp of which provides water), prickly
pear (?), ('kop6'L, when green it is cooked like pumpkin, when ripe
the seeds are ground), cholla cactus (cc'te', of which both blossom and
seeds are eaten), and the seeds of a high bush (akwai').
Doves (a larger variety, kaly-aswi', and a smaller that lives about
the rocks, t'IkEmu') are not eaten by young people although their
elders may. The dove is a person (tipai), but he is disliked. Still
this is similar to eating a human being.
HUNTING
When I was a boy I always hunted with my father's younger brother. I was about
1.3 m. tall when he first took me hunting. I had a small bow and arrows, little
better than toys. My uncle told me to poke into a pack rat's nest with a long stick.
I asked him instead to let me shoot when the rat sat outside, but he said, "No, you
can't wound him." I insisted and shot, but the arrow failed to penetrate for lack
of power. I cried and shuffled my feet in chagrin. My uncle told me that it was no
use for me to try, anyway, because he would not let me eat it. "If you eat the rat,
or anything you kill, you will have worms in your stomach." Up to the time I
married I never ate what I killed. Others can eat the game, but a boy cannot eat
his kill until he is adult. One who refrains is always lucky. When I was a grown boy,
whenever I went to hunt, I killed several rabbits almost immediately. But now I see
small boys eating the rats and rabbits they kill, and as they do not die of worms in
the stomach, I presume that there is no reason for this notion.
I killed my first deer at Wilnyai' in the foothills on the western side of the desert.
My wife was with me. At that time I and my people were fleeing from smallpox.
There was a herd of five does, a small buck and a larger one, near some small rain-
pools. The old buck had fine antlers; he was as big as a bull. I crawled near them;
when they caught sight of me they fled, the big buck last. He circled to where the
does were; there he stood looking back at me. I shot him in the back with my muzzle-
loader, and he fell into a deep hole. I skinned him, cutting down the belly and inside
the legs, and around the neck back of the ears; I cut the carcass open from neck
to tail and eviscerated it, broke off the ribs near the backbone with a sharp stone,
cut up the body and placed it on the hide, which I had stretched out. The carcass
was cut into four pieces, each fore-shoulder and the adjacent ribs in one, the hind
quarters separately. I piled the meat on a tall bush (ax * p'a'L, a mesquite?) beyond
the reach of coyotes. All the while I was hallooing and burning brush to attract
attention, but no one came, so I left at sundown. I carried home the paunch full of
blood, some meat, and the liver, all rolled in the hide.
But before I reached camp it was so dark that I could not see my way. I found
a white man's road with some peculiar tracks, so I fired my musket to attract my
people. One old man heard me but he went back to sleep. I did not know where they
were so I walked directly ahead. They had little dogs in the camp, but they did not
bark at me. I was passing right by, when a woman saw me, and said, "Yes, he
killed a buck; he is carrying it into camp." I went on to my own camp. My wife's
mother immediately rose and cooked the meat. Next day I borrowed a horse and
returned to the carcass. I tied the quarters together and placed them on the saddle.
Everyone had meat then; each received a little piece. My wife's mother carried
pumpkin seed and beans to La Posta.62 While we were there eating that deer, we held
the hoRLoi' dance (see Initiation, page 316). We danced with an old shaman to see
if the smallpox was following us. He said no, so we left, satisfied.
Long ago when I was young I saw many mountain sheep that came close to our
house at Xatawir, and climbing on the rocks stood looking at me. They used to be
abundant. I was told that they were full of maggots (?). After they told me that
the sheep were dying I found them lying dead in piles among the rocks. We dragged
one down to the house; its body was infested with little black ticks. They told me to
skin it to see if the flesh was good. We found the flesh black. Ever since there have
been very few sheep in this country. Then we went to the foothills to gather mescal.
Deer tracks were plentiful, but the animals were difficult to kill, so we turned to
mescal. We remained there one winter and then returned to Xakwlskti'r on the
mountains. My father's brother discovered a band of mountain sheep a short
distance north on a ledge. Together with some others he overtook them and killed
a big ram which he skinned and butchered.
We left Xakwlskti'r to go to Xaptai' (north of Boulevard). My uncle said, "I
am going after a buck." He chased the deer and killed two with arrows before noon.
He brought them home. So we decided to stay in this place; it was my home for a
long time.
Then my uncle said, "We will go and eat some red oak acorns." We moved west
of Boulevard on the north side of the draw. There we all lived together. We made
sacks to hold the acorns and hunted rats and rabbits. Each day before sunset we
built a fire and lay close to it, because we had no cover. I hunted every day because
we had little to eat.
Jim McCarty added the following advice given him by Paiyo'n,
the oldest man now living: one should not choose a buck with straight
horns but rather one with spreading antlers, because it will not be
able to make good progress through the brush when fleeing. Chase
a wounded buck in the heat of the day for it will then be exhausted
sooner.
A hot day is chosen for a rabbit hunt (inyaigEaRx). A group
from one locality, of indiscriminate gentile affiliation, surround and
set fire to a patch of brush to drive the animals out, hallooing the
while. Arrows and crooked sticks (xuimpu') are used. The latteir
are furnished with a pyramnidal point at the end, intended to pierce
the quarry. These are also used for mountain sheep. Individuals got
only such rabbits as they killed. There is no fixed leader in this
hunt, nor has it any esoteric significance.
Nets (wlnyi'p) of the size of carrying nets are used in hunting
rabbits. Several of these nets are set over the runways with cords
which, passing through the meshes as draw strings, are entwined in
the bushes. When many are hunting together they drive the rabbits
into these purse nets; but when there are only few, they set fire to the
brush to drive the rabbits.
62 The significance of this is not clear.
The trap (witolu'mE, a rock which slips and falls) is formed of

a stone resting in an oblique position on a little post which in turn
stands on an acorn. This is used for small rodents, squirrels, rats,
mice, or any animal that eats acorns. Snares are not used.
"Colorado salmon" are found in the overflow pools of New river
in the Imperial valley. They are shot with arrows (which do not
have lines attached) just back of the fins. One has to aim a little
under the fish.
HOUSES
Houses are built only for winter use because the building of them
is hard work. Summner camps are located under convenient trees.
Neither the dome-shaped house nor the square, flat-roofed shade are
built; the reason offered for the absence of the latter being that the
heavy posts are difficult to cut.
The house ( 'Ewa) is a simple gable set directly on the ground.
It is 2 m. long and 1.5 m. high at the ridge (fig. 2,A). Two forked
posts (i'itcEko'L, forked wood) set up in the middle of the gable ends
support a ridge pole (i'ihopo6xt6t, backbone wood). Poles are laid
slanting against the ridge pole on both sides at quarter meter inter-
vals, each let into a separate hole in the ground, 30 cm. deep. These
poles are tied at the ridge with ropes of Spanish dagger (sa'a) fiber,
which never rots. Long branches of chamissa brush are laid hori-
zontally on these rafters (i'icowi'r, wood set in rows). Dry tangle-
foot grass (xaiwa't), which grows 50 to 70 cm. in length, is mashed
into a stringy mass, and spread over the brush. A second layer is
added to bring the thickness of the roof covering (towl'pa, packed)
to 10 cm. As the sides rise, they are covered with damp dirt, branches
of chamissa brush being first set upright along the slope to provide
a rough surface which will hold the dirt. Frequently two brothers
and their wives work together, one couple on each side. The ground
is dug with a sharp stick and carried in on old basket. The wooden
shovel is slower than the basket in such work.
The house always faces east. A trench is dug along the western
gable end, in. which poles are closely set and tied to the end rafters.
Long chamissa brush branches are set upright against the rafters to
hold a tightly wedged mass of tanglefoot grass. The opposite end is
similarly treated, except for an entrance (wina'L), measuring 1.25
by 0.5 m., beside the forked post. The jambs and lintel are bound
with tanglefoot grass (fig. 2, B). A layer of the grass is bent over
1923] Spier: Southern Dieguefio Customs 339
the jamb, the free ends being held between two longitudinal sticks
which in turn are sewed together with cords. The entrance is usually
left open, but in winter a mat of tules is arranged as a hinged door
(wa'a). The horizontal reeds are twined at intervals with cords and
a stick is fastened down each edge. One stick is tied to the center
post to form a hinge; the other may also be tied to fasten the door.
A B C
Fig. 2. A, front elevation of house; B, section A-B; a, jamb; b, wall-poles;
c, matted brush and grass; d, grass placed over jamb; e, sticks sewed together to
hold grass in place; C, ground plan: AA, brothers, and BB, their wives, C, D, a
stranger and his wife.
The interior arrangement of the house is shown in the ground

plan (fig. 2, c). The fireplace (a'uEnyihaLa'pE, where they burn fire)
is close to the door; there is no pit. Stone supports for cooking vessels
are not placed directly in the fireplace, but to one side. Manzanita
roots, chiefly, are used for fuel; they do not give off much smoke;
what little there is escapes by the door. For a night fire, two short
logs are placed end to end, with the fire between. They are pushed
together as consumed. When sleeping out of doors, fires are built
on both sides of the bed. Within the house, a man and his brother63
sleep next the fire, their wives beyond them, and their children at
head and feet, or the babies are placed between them. A stranger
and his wife would sleep back of the fire.
A stranger stands before the house. Immediately he is seen he
is invited in, because it is cold. Formerly people took care of their
persons. The householders say, KExa'p, come in; then KEpwa', be
seated; Xama'l kEsau', eat some greens; CEwVlm kEma', eat it with
mush. Xo, yes. They set before him whatever they have cooked. As
he leaves, Inya'kEpa'rex iyo', I am going on; to which the host re-
sponds, Kiyl'ma, go ahead, or Xo.
63 My informant curiously referred to the house being built and occupied by
two brothers and their families: this does not seem significant.
DRESS AND ADORNMENT

As a rule men wear nothing whatever. Some wear a short, narrow
apron of white sage twigs pendant from a milkweed (ahoRLnylmco'p)
cord. Women wear two such aprons, one before, the other behind.
Children do not wear even this scanty garb until they are a meter or
more tall. A very long rabbit-skin blanket is used in winter for a
shirt, poncho-wise. A short median slit is left for the neck and it is
tied under the arms.
Sandals are not worn about camp by either sex, but only when
journeying, collecting wood, etc. Extra sandals are not carried on
one's travels because they can be made in a short time. Sandals are
made of mescal fiber or rawhide; moccasins are not used.
A basketry cap (nyipu'L) is worn by men and women to protect
the top of the head from the strain of the laden carrying net. It is
also worn by the women when grinding, the hair being wound around
the head and completely covered by the cap, so that it will not fall
into the meal. The cap fits the head snugly, yet is somewhat conical.
The women 's cap is made in diagonal twine, using two weft elements,
with simple twining at the edge (wikwa', twine weaving; wEkwotc,
twine stitch). Both warp and weft are the narrow leaves of a sedge
(?, mlskwa'). The warps simply cross at the point of origin. The
man 's cap64 is coiled, using bundles of mescal fiber, 1.5 mm. in
diameter, for both warp and sewing elements. The awl ('apuk) used
in this work is a pointed bone from the foreleg of a deer.
A man 's hair is banged across his forehead at the level of the
eyebrows; at the sides and back it hangs full length, nearly to the
hips. The back hair is caught together within two turns of a cord.
Since this loose queue interferes when running, it is doubled up and
tied. The cord is made of human hair; combings or hair cut off
by mourning women, etc., are used. As hair is difficult to roll into
a cord between palm and thigh, it is only started thus, then tied to
a small hook-like twig, which in turn is rolled on the thigh. The
finished portion of the cord is wound on the twig: the kinks are
worked out to the free end. When rolling is completed, the cord is
twice doubled back on itself and twisted by means of the same device
into a three-strand cord.
64 No specimen was seen.
WTomen's hair is banged across the forehead somewhatO higher

than men's. The hair at the temples hangs in three-strand braids
to the breast: that in back hangs loose and is singed off at the small of
the back. Such singeing, as at the forehead, is done with a hardwood
coal.
Little boys'65 hair was singed short over the entire head, that of
lads of fifteen or sixteen years was similarly short except for the
scalp-lock, which hung to the waist. Later "when they think of
women" they let their hair grow like men.
Little girls' hair is allowed to grow. When about six years old,
mud (matca') is put on it to destroy vermin; this is washed out
immediately. Girls approaching maturity begin to cut the bang.
There is nothing in dress or adornment which distinguishes married
from unmarried women.
Nettle pods (matkasi's ur, nettle ball) provided with hooked
spines are used as combs by both sexes. Men obtain a whole mistletoe
plant (hitLu'c) near Jacumba; they mash this, mix it with the dis-
integrated lava mud found at the hot springs, and plaster it over
the head. This destroys vermin and prevents the hair falling out.
When the hair is so plastered it is brought around the crown and
twisted together above the forehead. Women do not use this paste,
but wash their hair each morning with hot water alone. They use
a brush (hu-tci) of mescal fiber (epia'L).
A B C D
Fig. 3. Facial decorations: A, man, black paint; B, man, center stripe in red,
eyes and cheeks in black; C, woman, red; D, woman, tattooed lines.
The purpose of face painting (yiuanyu'r, eye stripe)66 is deco-

rative. Men began to paint only after my informant was grown
(1875?); before this only women did so. At this time several men
were sent to a locality near the Colorado in Mohave territory to fetch
65x!nmai', little boy; xomi', boy a little larger; 'kwoxmix, boy of fifteen or
sixteen; siqyuwau, to have a wife for the first time; siqhai (young woman), girl
approaching maturity.
66 There is no word for "face."
red pigment (iron oxide?). Men paint the entire face black; women
paint face and body red. Women draw a black stripe across each
eyelid extending out on the temple " to protect the eyes and see
better." Other styles are shown in fig. 3. A typical philanderer's
invitation to a woman is: mEwuvo yi'umatanyu'rva xa'namatma'Rwa
("you see my face is painted, is it good or not?"). She answers, xa,
mamEx-a'na ("yes, you are good"). He says, yanaRx- ("let us go").
Adolescent girls alone are tattooed (awukwi'tc, mouth tattoo), the
operation being performed after a big dance by four women relatives,
usually her mother, mother's sister, and two daughters of the latter.
Lines are marked with charcoal only on the chin (fig. 3, D), the
design is punctured with a bundle of seven or eight prickly pear
spines (o6xpa'), the wounds are squeezed dry of blood, and ground
charcoal of willow (iyau'), mesquite (a'noL), cottonwood (axa), or
chamissa bush (lpcl) rubbed in once. As the operator punctures she
sings:
sa nylkaxma'
quail
sowa'rE sowa'rF wi
striped, speckled67
sa nylkaxma'
pUtCo'lE pUtCo'lE wi
dove
nyixwa'toyowi'
blood exuding
The wounds are healed in four days' time.
MANIJFACTURES
Fire drills are made of a bush (toxma') bearing a white stalk,
which grows in the desert.68 A section of the stalk, 30 cm. long, is
rubbed to a point on a stone for the drill. The hearth is made of
another section split in two and with notches cut in the edge. Dry
sage bark for tinder is pounded until the fibers are loose. This is set
about the point of the clrill, which is rotated between the palms.
The domestic fire is not permitted to go out.
Cords are made from the, fibers of mescal, milkweed, and from
human hair, but not from the fibers of yucca, reeds, or nettles. The
common milkweed (ahoRL) yields a brownish cord, another variety,
67 Refers to the markings on a quail 's head.
68 Not yucca, bear grass, nor an allied plant.
white milkweed (ahoRLnyimcO'p), a white, soft, and strong cord. A

rolled cord (ikwl'p) contains one or two rolled strands, a braided
cord (axkwlr; Enu'p, to braid), three or more.
4,7
XA
Fig. 4. Diagrammatic sketch of carrying-net knots: A, knot for six-strand

loop; B, knot for first row of meshes; C, knot for second row of meshes, the net
having been reversed.
The carrying net (hatL!po') made by men69 is 1.5 m. long and at

least as wide when stretched out. It consists of three parts: a
loop 15 cm. in diameter, a similar loop formed in the end of the tie-
string, and a net of simple lozenge-shaped meshes formed between
these loops by one continuous cord. Twenty-five meters of two-strand
69 Possibly by women also.
cord are prepared from mescal fibers: this takes about a day. Long
dry mescal leaves are pounded on a rock to free the fibers of con-
nective tissue. These are soaked until soft when they are divided into
bundles of the same size and rolled, two at a time, on the thigh. The
sticky mescal juice is previously smeared on the thigh to bind the
fibers. New bundles of fibers are added to the two strands as needed.
The completed cord is pulled back and forth around a post to break
off the protruding ends of the fibers.
The first loop and the tie-string are each three-ply braid, formed
by doubling a cord of appropriate length back on itself six times
and braiding the resulting strands in pairs. This leaves only two
raw ends in each that need be tied. Next one end of the long cord
is tied through the first loop with a slipknot (t'ono'k, any knot) and
carried back to the loop to be tied again for a total of fifteen times
fig. 4, B). For the next row of knots, and for each succeeding row,
the net must be turned over so that the work always proceeds from
left to right, fig. 3, c). Curiously enough, in the square knots by
which these meshes are tied, the cord passes first to the right instead
of the left, thereby twisting the whole mesh. No gauge is used for
the meshes: when extended to the full they are 18 cm. long. This
continuous cord ends with an ordinary square knot on the same side
of the net on which it commenced, its end being knotted so as not
to pull out. An end of the tie-string is passed through the last row
of meshes and looped in the same manner as the first loop (see fig.
4, A). To fasten the net for carrying, the tie-string, 1.5 m. long, is
passed once through the loop at the opposite end and tied to the loop
just described. The tie-string may be threaded several times through
both edges of the net to purse them together when a large object is
to be carried. The laden net normally rests on the small of the back
with the tie-string or burden-band passing over the forepart of the
top of the head, which is protected by a basketry cap.
Sandals (hamnyau') are of two types: woven, the most used, and
rawhide. The woven sandal is made of the long dry leaves of mescal
(Ema'L), which are pounded and soaked in water to remove the con-
nective tissue. The separated fibers are thoroughly dried on a rock.
For use, they are dampened and gently pounded with the mano.
For the needed foundation and tie-cords, bundles of fibers are rolled
on the thigh into loose strings (ikwVlp) about 45 cm. long and 1 cm.
in diameter. To roll into a two-ply cord, two of these are placed
side by side, the butt end of one opposite the tapering end of the
other. Holding the two in the left hand, they are rolled separately
on the right thigh by a single movement of the right palm; when the
left hand is released, the torque in each springs to the left causing
them to twine as a two-ply cord. Four loops of this cord, 40 cm. in
circumference, and a fifth, 95 cm. in circumference, are tied with a
square knot.70
A C
B D
Fig. 5. Sandals: A, diagrammatic sketch of toe portion, showing wrapped
foundation cord, toe loop, and woven bunches of fibers; B, diagrammatic sketch
showing heel drawn up to heel loop; C, method of tying woven sandal; D, method
of tying rawhide sandal.
As the weaver. sits on the ground, the large loop is stretched

between foot and hand. The proximal end, destined for the toe of
the sandal, is wrapped over a length of 8 cm. with bundles of loose
fiber until it is 2 cm. in diameter (hutcuwa'wa, the beginning). The
loose ends are fastened by twisting together. At this stage the work
may be temporarily held by slipping the loop over the knee or under
the heel of the disengaged foot. One of the small loops, intended
for the toes (mixanUkE, foot loop; mi, foot), is passed over the
foundation cord, as shown in fig. 5, A). A loose bundle of fibers is
placed against this loop, a second lapping it in the opposite direction,
70 These dimensions are for a child's sandal.
the two are woven together alternately over and under the foundation
cord, and the whole pushed tightly against the toe portion. New
bundles of fiber are added in pairs. The butt ends of the fibers are
lapped; these ends protrude on the sole. The sandal is made the
width of the palm. When the heel is neared a second small loop
(miatiksaxanUkE, heel loop) is introduced in the same way as the
toe-loop. The weaving (wE'kwlL) is continued, but the sandal is
made narrower, introducing but one bundle of fibers at a time.
When the length is completed, these wefts are forced up on the
foundation cord as tightly as possible. A sandal must not be too
long, else it will -slip and chafe. The ends of the foundation cord
are then half-tied and carried through the heel loop,'drawing the
heel sharply upward (fig. 5, B). To tie on the sandal, the ends of this
tie-cord (miuso'La) are brought forward around the ankle, through
the toe loop, wrapped twice about itself, and tied (fig. 5, c).
Sandals are woven by men and women. A pair can be made in
two hours. They are woven so tightly that no thorn or stick can
puncture them. In use they must be turned over frequently, other-
wise they will soon wear out. To reverse the sandal, the loops are
pulled through on the sole, and the tie-cord retied on this side.
Rawhide sandals (akwaL hEmyau') are cut in the shape of the
sole from any part of a raw deer-hide. Cuts are made on both sides
of the foot near 'the heel, so that there will be two short tabs to
extend up the sides of the foot. Two long buckskin strings are
inserted near the toe, where they are held by knotting under the sole.
These strings pass between the toes, through holes in the tabs, back
of the heel, and forward under the strings, back of the heel again,
and are tied in front of the ankle (fig. 5, D). Fiber, rather than
rawhide, sandals are worn on snow or wet ground because the latter
would be slippery.
Large rabbit-skin blankets (clikwi'r), such as good hunters might
make, measure 1.5 by 1 m. For such blankets twenty jackrabbits
or forty cottontails would be required; thirty jackrabbits would
provide a somewhat wider robe. The blankets were also made of the
small blue chamissa rabbits, but of these even more skins were
required than'if made of cottontail fur (kwlmyau' cikwi'r, hotLyau'
c'kwi'r, oph6r cikwi'r, respectively jackrabbit, cottontail, and chamissa
rabbit-skin blanket). Few if any blankets, however, were made of
one species alone. The raw skin, cut in strips, is closely wrapped
around a milkweed fiber cord to form a thick rope. This is wound
back and forth between two rows of stakes to form a warp through
which wefts of milkweed fiber cord are tied at intervals. Save for
occasional use as ponchos and robes, these blankets are bedding.
Granaries for acorns and other seeds are set up in the oak groves
as well as near the houses. One type is a roughly woven basket; the
other is moulded within a frame of poles. The storage basket
(clkwiIn) is made of any material, usually a willow (halasi'), but
sometimes of a tougher wood (lnkxai, "coffee berry") through
which the rodents cannot readily gnaw. The basket, usually made
by a man, resembles a huge bird's nest, with flat bottom, fairly straight
sides, but narrower at the mouth than near the base, into which the
sides gradually round. Of two specimens seen, one is the largest
size made, and measures 70 cm. in height, 75 cm. diameter across
the rim, with a maximum diameter of 1 m. near the base; the other,
55 cm. in height, 50 cm. rim diameter, 85 cm. maximum diameter,
with walls 4 cm. thick. These baskets are truncated cones: sometimes
the basket is conical, and the tip must then be pried open with a
sharp stick. The basket is coiled counterclockwise, working on the
near side, mouth up. The green leafy twigs are cut diagonally, leav-
ing a sharpened butt. Two are twisted together and the coil for the
base started. The butt of a new twig is thrust into the mass beside
one of the two elements to lengthen it. The elements are twisted
once (near element moving over and away from the workman), a
new twig added to the opposing element, and so on, each new twig
introduced fastening the coil to the existing structure. In rough
work the butt ends are permitted to project on the interior surface,
but for a fine finish they should not protrude. Such granaries are
set out of reach of rodents on platforms (a crib of poles, for example)
near the house, never inside it.
The other type of granary (sihiumikwi'l) is built within a frame
constructed on four posts, 1.4 m. high. These posts are set in the
ground, a meter apart, at the corners of a square. A platform is
built 40 cm. above the ground, consisting of two rails fastened to
opposite pairs of posts, and crossed by other sticks. The upper ex-
tremities of the posts are then connected by short rails, while others are
placed vertically close together between the posts, being tied to both
upper and lower rails, as well as to each other. This forms a
rectangular box of poles standing off the ground. All tying is done
with the leaves of the Spanish bayonet. A mixture of tanglefoot
grass and chamissa brush is rammed between the poles and inside the
box, leaving a cylindrical hollow for storage space. Spanish dagger
leaves are then tied tightly across the top in several directions, and
tanglefoot grass is rammed in from above to seal the receptacle. Such
a granary also stands near the house.
Although baskets are decorated, as a rule such designs are mean-
ingless. Some figures, however, represent the rattlesnake.
A coarse brown pottery is made in the form of ollas, bowls, and
platters, as well as pipes and rattles. The product is comparatively
thin-walled, hard, containing much sand for tempering, unslipped,
but sometimes painted with linear devices in red. Specimens of ollas
obtained are globular, but with wide mouths.71
Clay pipes have the bowl bent at a sharp angle to the stem. A
nipple is formed below the bowl to facilitate holding. The stem is
always of clay, pierced with a twig, never of reed. The pipe is
about 12.5 cm. in length.72 Neither the straight tubular pipe nor
one of stone is use. Sections of cane are also used for cigarettes
(page 315).
Tobacco (op) is of several varieties: Coyote tobacco (Nicotiana
attenuata) , which grows rapidly where ground has been newly
burned over; lmkwoxnoi', which grows wild to a height of 30-45 cm.;
and a better "tobacco" (Salvia Clevelandi) called by its Mexican
name "salvareal." Coyote tobacco is sometimes planted near the
camps, but it is given no care. Smoking was appropriate at any
time of the day.
The mush paddle (xa'yaL) is a flat oak stick about 50 cm. long
and 2 cm. thick; half its length is blade, 6 cm. wide; the handle is
2.5 cm. wide, both portions being elliptical in cross section.
A tree is felled by means of a fire built around its foot. If some-
what rotten the tree will burn quickly. But for a hard wood, bark
is piled over the fire to form a chimney-like structure in order to
create a draft. The fire is constantly poked with a branch (sakaltc,
poker) to keep it burning vigorously. If the flame tends to climb the
tree, mud is smeared on the trunk at the danger point. Large boughs
are similarly burned off after the tree is felled. Wedges were not
used in timber working. The direction of cutting, as in trimming a
stick, is toward the body.
71 Those figured by DuBois, Dieguefio Mortuary Ollas, American Anthropol-
ogist, n.s., ix, 484-486, 1907, have much smaller mouths. These may be from
Northern Dieguenio territory: the exact provenience is not stated.
72 The pipe sketched by my informant resembles those figured by Heye, Cer-
tain Aboriginal Pottery from Southern California, Indian Notes and Monographs,
vii, pls. Xb, XI, fig. 20, a, b, 1919.
73 Identified by Dr. W. A. Setchell.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Rattles were originally made of clay alone, since, according to
my informant, gourds are a recent acquisition. The clay rattle had
a bulb as big as one's fist, drawn out into a handle. Little clay balls
are placed inside at the time the rattle is modeled. They are rolled
about to smooth them before the rattle is baked.
Gourds (halma') are derived from the Mohave, who traded them
to the Yuma. Gourd seeds were first exchanged for Dieguefno acorns
within the lifetime of my informant. Rows of holes, arranged longi-
tudinally, merely increase the sound. The surface is painted in
red with longitudinal bands formed of zigzags bordering on a straight
line. Palm seeds (Emu'i) are placed within. Gourd rattles do not
have wooden handles. Rattles are not made of turtle shells, although
such rattles are credited to the Northern Dieguefio and Yuma.
Jinglers (tasi'L) are made of deer hoofs ('kwukmi 'kumpul, deer-
foot nail). The feet are boiled until soft, when the hoofs may be
removed. The tips of these are cut off while soft, leaving a hole by
which they may be threaded on a cord to dry. They are then strung
on short, rolled mescal fiber cords, one end of which is notted. These
cords are tied together into a bunch. This rattle is sounded by a
vertical jerking motion.
Drums are not made: "an olla would break if used for a drum."
Baskets are not used for this purpose, but the name of a song,
xax.wa'r, meaning a scraping drum stroke, presumably refers to
rasping a basket. Notched sticks are not used.
Only one old man, Turank, who was not a shaman, used the
musical bow. He held a common bow, lacking any resonator, by the
grip in his mouth, tapping it with a flat stick or his finger, but not
with an arrow. He also made a fiddle of a hollowed yucca stalk,
fitted with a bridge and horsehair strings, and played with a bow
strung with horsehair. lie was the only one who had a flageolet
(wllwlil). He played day and night. No one gave him any atten-
tion: he was the only one who knew what end he had in view.
WEAPONS
The best bow (ati'm) is made of mountain ash (ix.tui'p). Screw
bean mesquite (is) is also strong; the common mesquite (a'na'L)
is less so, while common bows are made of a "coarse" willow ('aiyau).
Oak is not used, cherry (Iitu't) is not sufficiently strong, and mul-
berry does not grow in this locality.
The green branch is dried, until it is to be worked, when it is
softened by burying, it in wet ground and then warming it at a fire.
It is trimmed to size at the middle, tapering toward the ends, but
the cutting is done only on the face destined to be the inside. Notches
are cut in each end. While the stick is still warm, the ends are
bent in, and it is lightly strung to keep this shape. It is trimmed
to the final form a day later. Care is always taken that the butt
of the bough is the lower end of the bow, both in manufacture and
use. The length of the bow is two arm lengths (i.e., from the tip
of the middle finger to the head of the humerus); the lower or butt
half, measured first, is a little longer than the upper. A willow
specimen is 1.2 m. long. The width of the bow at the grip is that
of the stick; its thickness just half. The dimensions at the ends are
not fixed, nor is the position of the nocks, which are within 2 cm.
of the ends. The upper nock is shallow. The inner face of the bow
is flat; the outer, rounded, is the original surface of the bough. The
bowstring must be removed from a bow of screw bean mesquite, else
dampness will make it set in too great an arc. The common mesquite
bow is kept strung, slightly flexed; the willow bow, more flexed. Most
of the curvature in the latter bow is near the ends. As a rule, the
bow is strung so loosely (mEwa'L) that a fillip of the string will
cause it to slap the bow. For shooting, the string is tightened (Ewl'r)
until it rings (Ew'Ir tci'lyElyE); it is then tight enough to shoot a
jackrabbit.
The sinew-backed bow is known as a possession of the Chemehuevi.
According to Coleman, the Northern Diegueiio wrap the bow with
sinew for a distance below the nocks to keep it from splitting.
The bowstring is made of the stalk of the milkweed (aho'RL).
After the outer layers are scraped off, the stalk is mashed and
the connective tissue worked out, leaving the fibers. These are
rolled (yikwl'p) into a string on the thigh. Another milkweed
(aho'RLny!mcop) provides an inferior string, which must be thicker
than the first because it wears out quickly. Sinew bowstrings

(pecma' 'mariuka) are also used. The method of tying both ends is
shown in fig. 6, A.
C
Fig. 6. Bows and arrows: A, method of tying bowstrong; B, method of trim-
ming arrow vane; C, clay arrow-shaft straightener.
Arrows ('kopa'l) are made of arrow reed provided with a wooden

foreshaft, or entirely of wood. The latter are more effective against
big game. The length of the reed shaft is from the tip of the middle
finger to the head of the humerus. The length of the foreshaft is
estimated: it protrudes about 15 cm. Wooden arrows are 5 cm.
longer than the reed shaft. Smaller reed arrows, about 6 cm. shorter
than the above (measured between the same points but with the elbow
bent) which are provided with longer pointed foreshafts, are used
for quail, rats, squirrels, and rabbits.
The arrow shaft is straightened on a stone provided with grooves
of graded size. This straightener (XoptcuitL) should preferably be
of soapstone, but one of clay (fig. 6, c) will serve. It is heated, but
not so that it will burn the shaft; then the arrow is bent where neces-
sary in the groove, pushing it back and forth, and turning it at the
same time. The shaft is more readily straightened if it is not wetted.
Straightness is determined by sighting. After several are prepared,
one stops to feather them.
The nock is cut in the reed shaft and the forward end is cut off
squarely. Sinews are chewed and then wrapped, but neither glued
nor tied, around this end, as well as at any point where the shaft
shows signs of splitting. The best feathers are those of the brown
chicken bawk (sokwllnyEn6'k, or pEkwa'L), and, to a lesser degree,
those of the black hawk ('kwi'nya') ; others are of little use. The
young of these birds are raised, four or five together, in a large dome-
shaped structure, so that feathers may be plucked when desired. The
quill is split, but both parts of the feather cannot be used on the
same arrow, for the three vanes must face the same way. If so placed,
the arrow will spin, but if one faces in the opposite direction, the
rear end will rotate out of the axis of flight. The upper end of the
half-feather is cut off square, leaving a few barbs by which to fasten
it (fig. 6, B). The down is left on the lower end. The feather is
buried in damp earth, the barbs are straightened and burned off
obliquely to the shaft, leaving them wider at the nock. The three
vanes are wrapped on, first near the nock, then by their forward
ends, the sinews being bitten off close, but not tied. The only deco-
ration given arrows is the painting of the shaft between the vanes
with pifion gum (ahwi'vuhanyai') mixed with charcoal, or less fre-
quently with red roasted iron oxide (? Ekwa'r).
The foreshaft (tapo6tL) is made of the chamissa bush (lpxl'). The
green branch is warmed until soft, straightened, and whittled to
size. The pointed end is inserted in the pith channel of the reed to
the first joint, beiiig held with pifion gum. The tip is notched to
receive the arrowhead which is tied in, but not glued.
Stone arrowheads (pa'wi) are used against big game only. These
are 2.5 cm. long, or smaller, triangular, sometimes with notches in
the base, but preferably notched in the sides. A mere pointed
foreshaft may be used even against deer. Blunt arrows ('kupa'l
gEwunwfin) are not made by the Southern Dieguefio, but they are
known as Yuma projectiles.74
74 The latter are said to call them ' kupa'l tasu'p, and to use them against
animals as large as jackrabbits. They are known to cause internal hemorrhages
and compound fractures.
A bowguard (seLya'a'p, band on hand) has been used only since

the advent of the whites. This extends the length of the forearm
and is provided with buttons and fringes.
The quiver (mlishwlip) is made of buckskin, and possibly of coyote
and fox hides. Mountain lion hide is used, but such quivers are too
short. A rectangular piece, in which the tail is included, is cut
from the tanned75 buckskin. This is folded lengthwise, another strip
(k utsa'L, fringe) is similarly folded and inserted in the open edge
of the first piece, where the four layers are sewed with a running
stitch. The second piece is then cut straight across into fringes. A
stick is fastened in the fold of the first piece, and the lower end of
this sewed up to form a bag. Loose arrowheads are carried in the
bottom. A mescal fiber string is threaded around the mouth, so that
the quiver can be tied around the waist, where it hangs obliquely
at the back with the opening to the right. It may also be hung at
the right hip.
The Northern Dieguenio alone tan a whole coyote skin and sew
up the belly from the nose nearly to the tail. This hangs on the
back head down; the hind legs are looped to go about the neck and
the forelegs may be tied around the waist, so that is it worn like a
knapsack. The tail hangs down the back. Arrows put in this sack
stand vertically back of one's neck. A conical pottery cup, in which
the arrows may rest, is placed in the bottom. In war, venom of the
rattlesnake or the gila monster is put into this cup. The flesh of
horses killed with these poisoned arrows is eaten.
The bow is grasped just below the middle, and held vertically
nearly at arm 's length, with the arrow to the left of the bow where
it is guided by the left forefinger. A modified tertiary release is
used, grasping the arrow at the vanes between the thumb and second
joint of the forefinger, with the tips of the index and third fingers
bearing on the string. The arrow is pulled well back to the right
shoulder. The bow is not thrown forward with the release.
Jackrabbits could easily be killed at fifty-five to ninety meters
distance. Jim McCarty has seen mountain sheep killed with a single
shot: thirty-five meters is the usual distance. In shooting at a dis-
tance, the archer sits down with the bow extending horizontally
across the soles of his feet, using a wooden arrow for the missile.
75 In tanning, the skin is dehaired while resting on a log; brains are mixed
with mescal fiber and dried until needed; this mixture is rubbed on the inside of
the hide, which is allowed to stand; 'it is then soaked and rubbed over a pointed
post.
Paiyo'n, who puts his foreshaft in the fire to make it glossy, on one
occasion shot entirely through the body of a deer in this manner at
a distance of one hundred paces. No allowance is made for windage
or the effects of rain: one aims directly at the mark.
Arrows, bows, and guns must be removed from houses in which
there are menstruating women. Nor can such a woman eat any
game, else the bow, etc., will lose its efficacy (noxwi', also "poisoned
by a rattlesnake"). Men who have had connection, or others who
have slept with women in this condition, are warned away by the
hunters, else game will not be sighted.76
Clubs are also used as weapons. A heavy club (aLapLap, flat)
is made of mesquite (axpa'L) or lilac (mEkwIL). This club is
half a meter long, curved, thick, and flat, with notches cut into the
convex edge. A loop is passed through a hole in the handle so that
it may be hung from the wrist or the back of the belt. This club is
used with a slashing stroke in striking at the foe's head. A spiked
club (mlLtcls), of about the same length, resembles an angular hook.
It consists of the fork of a sapling with the shorter branch sharpened.
The cylindrical and ball-headed clubs (mlLtcahwai', or hwa'Lmatu'tc,
head hitter) are not used, though they are known as weapons of the
Yuma and Cocopa.
The Northern Dieguefio are said to use a wooden poniard
(apa'knlmu'yl) resembling an awl, 15 to 20 cm. long, but with a knob
for a butt. This is carried concealed under the armpit; men even
slept thus with it.
GAMES
Arrow games are few. A bundle of grass (suikulyYlp) is thrown
into the air with the hand that holds the bow and an attempt is made
to hit it before it touches the ground. A hit wins an arrow from the
opponent; his turn begins, when one misses. The opponent does not
tap his own bow to make the archer miss.
In another game two parties would shoot at each other with
arrows lacking foreshafts. My informant was told by his uncles
on one occasion that they intended to play all morning until they
were tired.77
76 One man burns the gun sights with a match to destroy this contamination.
This is said not to be a Mexican custom.
77 Shooting at an opuntia cactus mark, or at a rolling barrel cactus, is unknown.
Th'e Northern Diegueino are said to have a game called ana'n, with
rats for stakes. An unfeathered arrow (sEkEmui'm) is released to
stick into the ground 90 to 150 meters distant. Each man in turn
shoots an arrow at this mark. The closest shot wins one rat, until
a fixed number of points are made, when the remainder of the stakes
are won. Should an arrow strike the nock of the goal arrow, or pierce
its shaft, the archer wins all the stakes. This game is played either
before or after rat-hunting. Arrows are also wagered.
The same people are said also to play a game (iteix ananE, disk
game) with stone disks, 7.5-10 cm. in diameter, fashioned from slabs
of sandstone. As in the arrow game just described, one disk is
thrown off some distance, and the others thrown at'this mark. The
nearest cast counts one: if the cast stone rests on the object-disk,
this competitor wins the stakes.
The hoop and pole game (atiu'rp, live?) is played by men alone.
The poles (atiu'rp) are 3 meters long, and from 3 to 4 cm. in diameter
at the butt. Poles are styled "man's" or "woman's"; the former
has a single ring cut near the butt, the latter, two rings. My in-
formant usually used a "man's" pole. The hoop (kEpatcu'lya),
15 cm. in diameter, is made of a bundle of mescal fibers arranged in
a circle, bound with a cord of the same fiber to a thickness of 2 cm.
The game is not played on a made course, but to a distant point,
perhaps a mile or more away. The hoop is held vertically, palm up,
against the wrist, and thrown forward and down to roll. The poles
are thrown by the two players, after a'brief run, so that the hoop
will fall on a pole. The hoop must rest in such a manner that its
upper segment extends beyond the edge of the pole. This counts one.
If the hoop simply rests on the pole, but does not clear, it is a miss
(mlnna'tLya, fell over by itself). A stream of sand dropped from the
hand is used to determine doubtful cases. If the hoop rests in the
notch (either notch of the "woman's" stick), or on the end of the
pole above the notch, it counts three. Piercing the hoop is a mis-shot
(sa'k6o'p a). The one winning the point throws the hoop. Six points
win the stakes.
The hoop is a woman of whom one dreams. If she likes the player
he will win no matter how the pole may be thrown. But if she is
jealous, because the man sleeps with another, she will give the game
to his opponent. A loser might ejaculate, si'xkowa'tcpltc nyinohwim
tcawo'mdjls (That woman yonder caused me to lose).
In general, luck comes from dreams: the night gives the dream
(isEnRIU1p ha'napsi'wldjls. my luck is very good).
My uncle, Kumpi'r, who was a shaman, was a champion player of this game. He
played it day after day, everywhere. This is the only game for which there was a
leader (hotu'rpEm kwaipai', hoop and pole chief). When I last saw him he was so old
that he did nothing but lead the game. He was given many things for being leader.
They bet rabbit skin blankets. If several men went to the Yuma to play, he went as
their leader because he invariably won. After he became blind, they also took him
along. He told them how he had always won; that the night had given him luck.
Whenever they won they wanted to divide with him but he refused, saying that he
was sufficiently provided for. They took him along because he had luck and also
because he knew the game and could settle disputes. He would let them play with
his own lucky poles.
Girls and young women juggle (mai'mawo'tx) as they stand
quiet.75 Onlv two objects are tossed, pinon nuts, small pumpkins
or watermelons, or stones. One hand is used until a missile is dropped,
then the other. Northern Dieguefio girls begin with two or three,
increasing the number to seven.
Poles are balanced (i'Epcakwi'ya' se'Lpi, to stand a stick on the
finger) by young men as they walk about. They are held on the
middle finger. Occasionally when slipping the man tosses the pole
to catch it again on the palm, where it is slid back onto the finger.
This is not considered a definite game.
String figures (for which there is no generic name) are played
with by girls and women only. Names of some of the figures are
Wild Cat's head, Fox's nose, Coyote's nose, the Milky Way, and
the carrying net. But anyone might make a certain figure to see
if it resembles a boy or girl, thus forecasting an expected birth.
Another figure mav be made to show whether or not one will be
bitten by a rat when hunting.
78 My informant observed, when the Havasupai custom was described, that
*' girls who walk about while juggling are not good, because they do that to
attract attention. "
1923] Spier: Southern Diegueho Customs 357
CALENDAR AND STAR LORE

The Southern Dieguefio year is divided into two identical periods
of six named "months" each corresponding roughly to a lunar
month.
Corresponding
Month to Characteristics Gifford79 DuBois'O
xaLakw6'L September ilyakweL (cold) hutlkwurx
xaLanylmcE'p October acorns drop; snow hexanimsup hutlnama-
(snow) shap
xaLatai' November greatest cold; xatai (cold) hutltai
rain; snow (January)
xaLaplsu' December hexapsu (rain) hutlpswi
xaLa'mRtlnya' January slightly warm hatyamatinya hutlmata-
July (rain) nai
f
xaLlnItca' February warmer; yucca ixyanidja (growing) hutlanaxa
August grows
The year 81 (mata'mp) begins when the weather turns sharp and
a constellation of five stars, the Hand, rises in the morning. At the
end of the half-year (mata'mpxaxkai, hlLya'homxo'x. haiya') the
series of six names is repeated without change.82 In the second
half, for instance, the moon waning August 8, 1920, marked the
month xaLa'mEtinya', which preceded the last month, xaLanltca', the
close of which would mark the end of the hot weather. The descrip-
tive phrases given for the winter series are intended as character-
izations of the months, not as translations. The month is called
hILya, moon, but it cannot be a true lunar month, both because there
are only twelve months recognized, and because certain months are
indicated by the appearance of particular constellations. The first
month, xaLokwo'L, begins when the Hand rises in the morning; in
the third month, xaLatai', the constellation Buzzard rises in the
morning during the moon's last quarter (then the buzzards flock from
the east) ; and in the fourth month the constellation Cllu'k rises in
the morning while the moon is new.
Such a system of twelve named periods would present difficulties
if an attempt were made to harmonize them with the months of
the lunar year. It would necessitate accounting for the omission
79 Present series, xiv, 169; obtained from the same informant, whose coupling
of xatai with January contradicts the data he gave me.
80 Present series, viii, 165, footnote 304; Miss DuBois' series begins with
hutlnamashap and has hutlkwurx in fourth place.
81 Spans of years are definitely indicated, as mata'mptepho'k', eight years.
82 Leona Cope, Calendars of the Indians North of Mexico, present series, xvi,
141, 1919, implies that the Dieguefio periods begin at the solstices, but there is
nothing in the authority cited to confirm it.
of about a month, or an intercalation in some as yet unexplained

manner. It is far more reasonable to suppose that the named
"months" represent only seasons corresponding more or less inexactly
to the actual lunations. It is gratuitous to suppose that these Indians
feel the need of or have an interest in proportioning the year into
a number of exactly equivalent periods. Rather they find it con-
venient to designate spans of days which for the most part will
correspond roughly to the lunations, without precisely fixing their
limits. There is therefore no question of an intercalation necessary
to make the procession of names fit the procession of the lunar
months. The discrepancy, though it may be noted, is not a matter
to be reckoned with, since the names are sufficiently fixed within the
year by the appearance of the constellations, and can be made to
designate the nearest lunar month without a violent wrench of the
system. That this is not simply speculation as to the manner in
which the Dieguenio operates was evidenced at every point by my
informant. He had no difficulty in giving the sequence of the months
and their approximate Spanish equivalents, nor in describing the
correspondence of the constellations with the months. But he could
neither define the beginning nor the duration of a month according
to our calendar or according to the lunations. It was evident through-
out that he was interested only in designating a series of short periods,
more or less fixed, which occurred without much reference to the
lunations.
The Southern Diegueflo have considerable star lore. In addition
to the constellations mentioned above, viz., the Hand, the Buzzard
(ci'i), and the constellation Cllu'k, which consists of an arc of
stars with a secant of three larger ones, they recognize the Jealous
Star (koxo'a'p), the Mountain Sheep (amu'), consisting of three
stars,83 the Pleiades (xitca'), of which there are seven, the Milky
Way (hatotkEu'R), and others. Near Vallecito is a deep canyon
('kwlLiuphawu; 'kwlituip, look at stars canyon), from the bottom of
which one can see the stars in the daytime.
The solstices (h'Lyatai) are observed. My informant knows at
which points on the mesa east of his house the sun will appear to
rise at the solstices. The winter solstice occurs during the month
xaLapisu', when the moon is at the end of its last quarter, but it is
said that the summer solstice is during xaLatai', which would be May,
according to the calendar above.
83 DuBois identifies this name with Orion (present series, viii, 165, footnote
304, 1908); cf. Waterman, toc. cit., footnote 66.

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SOUTHERN DIEGUENO CUSTOMS

exclusion of all others. Nevertheless, some feeling of solidarity is

hlLmiaRp. Distributed from mokopa', a high peak nine miles

southeast of Jacumba. They lived at mlLkwatai in the Campo valley,

southeast of Jacumba. They lived at mlLkwatai in the Campo valley,

paipa'. Two widely separated places are assigned to this gens,

g Sipa'nkwoxi' (c OpI'x?) c TilEmui'r d Xalapo'ka (big lizard) + 9 Rose (neeix)

Marriage was normally monogamous because a man could not

he makes no claim to be a shaman himself, as the following para-

he makes no claim to be a shaman himself, as the following para-

Fig. 1. Ground painting, as explained on page 319.

The shaman's wand ('kwoto6t) is made of pine; shaped much like

mi no sok hYLtamokau'a towa'rowar

Some of the minor differences, other than those noted in the

Mohave Diegueiio (Kroeber) Diegueiio (Spier)

Mortars (koxmu'), mere hollows in boulders or the bedrock, are

The trap (witolu'mE, a rock which slips and falls) is formed of

The interior arrangement of the house is shown in the ground

DRESS AND ADORNMENT

WTomen's hair is banged across the forehead somewhatO higher

The purpose of face painting (yiuanyu'r, eye stripe)66 is deco-

white milkweed (ahoRLnyimcO'p), a white, soft, and strong cord. A

Fig. 4. Diagrammatic sketch of carrying-net knots: A, knot for six-strand

The carrying net (hatL!po') made by men69 is 1.5 m. long and at

As the weaver. sits on the ground, the large loop is stretched

than the first because it wears out quickly. Sinew bowstrings

Arrows ('kopa'l) are made of arrow reed provided with a wooden

A bowguard (seLya'a'p, band on hand) has been used only since

CALENDAR AND STAR LORE

of about a month, or an intercalation in some as yet unexplained

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