Part 3
According to the information of Merriam and Goddard, the Wailaki may be divided into three groups--the Eel River Wailaki, the North Fork Wailaki, and the Pitch Wailaki. The eastern group, the Pitch Wailaki, occupy the drainage of North Fork Eel River above Asbill Creek, Hulls Creek, and Casoose Creek. Their western boundary begins in the north on Salt Creek near its confluence with North Fork Eel. It runs south from this point along Salt Creek and beyond it, crossing the North Fork of the Eel just above the mouth of Asbill Creek and intersecting the Yuki-Wailaki line near Summit Valley. The northern border of the North Fork Wailaki begins in the west on the main Eel River at the mouth of Cottonwood Creek, about three miles north of the mouth of North Fork Eel, and runs from there eastward for about six miles, where it hits the western boundary of the Pitch Wailaki. The western boundary of the North Fork Wailaki is the main Eel River from the mouth of Cottonwood Creek south to the Yuki line near Bell Springs Railroad Station.
The Kato-Wailaki line runs from the head of Blue Rock Creek in the east to the mouth of Hollow Tree Creek on the South Fork of the Eel in the west. This is Kroeber's version of the boundary. Merriam's version places the line somewhat south of this, beginning at Rattlesnake Creek in the west and going eastward south of Blue Rock Creek. Since I have ceded the drainage of Blue Rock Creek to the Yuki (see p. 160) in accordance with the views of Kroeber, I must, as a corollary, accept the northern boundary of the Kato as given by him.
The net result of the foregoing discussion is that the line surrounding the Athabascan peoples of Northwestern California remains much the same as Kroeber showed it in 1925, whereas the tribal boundaries are considerably changed. In the north, the Chilula and Whilkut occupy almost entirely different areas and the Hupa have been divided into two subgroups. On the coast, the Bear River and Mattole are divided, but this division had been shown by Goddard and Nomland previously. The Sinkyone have been divided into two subgroups and the Wailaki into three.
A really major difference is the accretion of territory by the Nongatl. This group is one about which least is known and this may be the reason why the map shows their territory as so extensive. It is very likely that data from a few good informants would show that the Nongatl actually comprise several distinct groups. There is a hint of this in Essene's account of Lassik war stories (1942, p. 91). He notes that the Nai'aitci, centering near the town of Bridgeville, were distinct from the Blocksburg people. Both of these groups are placed within the Nongatl area. No doubt more detailed information than we possess would show that the area which we have labeled Nongatl was actually occupied by two, three, or even more distinct groups.
GROUPS
KATO
The Kato are the southernmost of the California Athabascans (see pl. 11, _e_ for a view of Kato territory). They are surrounded on three sides by Yukian peoples and consequently resemble culturally the peoples of Central California rather than those of Northwestern California. The name Kato appears to be of Pomo origin and it was first thought that the Kato language was a dialect of Pomo (Powers, 1877, p. 147). It was not until 1903 that Goddard showed their Athabascan affinity (Goddard, 1903_b_).
Information on the ethnogeography of the Kato is derived from several sources. Merriam's notes contain some information, which seems to have come from a man named Bill Ray, who was living near Laytonville on August 16, 1922. This man had been Goddard's informant in 1906, when Ray was already between sixty and sixty-five years old (Goddard, 1909, p. 68, pl. 9) and he served also as Kroeber's informant in 1923 (Kroeber, 1925_b_).
The Merriam notes contain, in addition to several village names, a few place and tribal names which I present herewith.
Kato: to-chil´-pe ke´-ah-hahng
Jackson V. people (inc. Branscom): sin´-k[=o]k ke´-ah-hahng
Wailaki: we´-tah^ch
Yuki of Round V.: chinch´
Coast Yuki: bahng´-ke´-ah-hahng
Southern Sinkyone: ketch´-ing ke´-ah-hahng
Tribe on the N side of Rattlesnake Cr. and E of South Fork Eel division of Wailaki (?): tek´ ke´-ah-hahng
Long V.: kin-t[)e]^{hl}-pe
Laytonville: ten-tah^{ch}-tung
Cahto Pond (now drained): to-chil´-pa
Long V. Cr.: shah´-nah
South Fork Eel R.: nahs-ling´-che
Rattlesnake Cr.: tal-tl[=o]l´-kwit
Main Eel R.: tah-ke´-kwit
Blue Rock: seng-chah´-tung
Bell Springs: s[)e]^{ch}-pis
Round V.: kun-tel-ch[=o]-pe
Jackson V.: kus´-cho-che´-pe; kas-tos´ cheek´-be
Branscomb Mt.: k[=i]k; ch[=i]s´-naw
VILLAGES
The villages of this group are mostly taken from Barrett (1908, pp. 280-283) indicated below by (B). Those taken from Merriam's notes are distinguished by (M). The information given with each of the villages is sometimes a direct quotation but most often is paraphrased.
1. netce'l[=i]gût (B). At a point about 9 mi. nearly due W of the town of Laytonville and about 3 mi. SE of the confluence of the E fork of the South Fork of Eel R. with the South Fork of Eel R. This village is on top of the ridge separating these two streams and is on the property of Mr. Jacob Lamb.
2. yictciLti'ñkût, "wolf something-lying-down creek" (B). On the S bank of Ten Mile Cr. at a point about 5 mi. WNW of the town of Laytonville.
3. sentca'[=u]kût, "rock big creek"; or kave'mato (Northern Pomo dialect name), "rock big" (B). On Big Rock Cr. at a point about 1-1/2 mi. from its confluence with Ten Mile Cr., or about 5-1/2 mi. nearly due W of the town of Laytonville.
sen-chow´-ten (M). Kato name for their village at Big Rock, about 4 mi. N of their present rancheria in Long V.
4. ka'ibi, "nuts in" (B). On the NE bank of Ten Mile Cr. at a point about 3 mi. downstream from the town of Laytonville.
5. neb[=o]'c[=e]gût, "ground hump on-top" (B). On what is known as the Wilson ranch at a point about 1 mi. W of Laytonville.
6. seLgaitceli'nda, "rock white run-out" (B). About 300 yds. E of the house on what is known as the "old" John Reed ranch about 1 mi. N of Laytonville.
7. bûntcn[=o]ndi'lyi, "fly settle-upon under" (B). Just NW of Laytonville and but a short distance from the place now occupied by the Indians near Laytonville.
8. ko'cbi, "blackberry there" (B). About 1-1/2 mi. WSW of Laytonville and on the SW bank of the Ten Mile Cr.
9. tc[=i]b[=e]'takût, "fir tips creek" (B). About a mile SW of the town of Laytonville and about 1/2 mi. up the creek which drains Cahto V. from its confluence with Ten Mile Cr.
che-pa-tah-kut (M). A former village in the northern part of Long V. on the James White place.
10. dist[=e]gû'ts[=i][=u], "madrona crooked under" (B). On the western side of Long V. at a point about 2 mi. SSE of Laytonville.
11. t[=o]dji'Lbi, "water? ... in" (B). At the site now occupied by the Indians at Cahto. This site is on the W bank of the small creek running from Cahto into Ten Mile Cr.
12. bûntcten[=o]ndi'lkût, "fly low settle-upon creek" (B). On the N bank of the northern branch of the head of the South Fork of the Eel R. at a point about a mile SSW of Cahto.
13. kûcy[=i]'[=u]yet[=o]kût, "alder under water creek" (B). On the N bank of the South Fork of Eel R. at a point about 3 mi. SW of Cahto. This site is about 1/2 mi. E of the ranch house on the Clark ranch.
14. ne'[=i]yi, "ground under" (B), probably signifying that the village was situated under a projecting ridge. On the S bank of the South Fork of Eel R. at a point about 3 mi. S of Branscomb.
15. s[=e]ne'tckût, "rock gravel creek" (B). On the NW bank of the small stream known as Mud Springs Cr., which is tributary to the South Fork of Eel R. This site is about 3 mi. a little S of E of Branscomb. There are on this creek, and not far from this village site, several springs which flow a very thin blueish mud, thus giving the creek its name.
16. tontce'kût, "water bad creek" (B). About 1/4 mi. W of the South Fork of Eel R. and about 1 mi. SW of Branscomb.
17. senansa'^{n}kût, "rock hang-down creek" (B). On the E bank of the South Fork of Eel R. at a point about 1-1/2 mi. downstream from Branscomb.
In addition to this list, there are two other sources of information on villages. First, Curtis (1924, 14:184) presents a list of six villages, almost all of which it is impossible to locate. None of the names corresponds to any given by either Barrett or Merriam, and they are therefore suspect as village names, though they may be valid place names and are certainly good Athabascan. In the list below Curtis' orthography has been changed slightly. The changes follow the pattern set by Curtis in his Hupa village lists (Curtis, 1924, Vol. 13).
_Curtis List (1924, 14:184)_
chunsandung, "tree 1-1/2 mi. W of Laytonville prostrate place" on the site of the cemetery
tsetandung, "trail emerges At the foot of the mountain place" W of Laytonville
totakut, "water center" N of tsetandung. On a knoll down which water flowed on two sides
chekselgindun, "they N tsetandung killed woman place"
yitsche Ltindung, "they found wolf place"
seyuhuchetsdung, "old stone house place"
The second source is the notes of Goddard, who did extensive work in the area in 1906 (Goddard, 1909), though mostly on language and myth. His notes contain information on two villages, neither of which can be located because the township and range coördinates have been changed since the time of recording and also because the name of the creek mentioned does not appear on maps in my possession. The two cards bearing the information have the penciled notations 51 and 52 written on their corners. This indicates that Goddard had recorded at least 50 other sites for the Kato, a conclusion which is further corroborated by his own statement (Goddard, 1909, p. 67). Our information on Kato villages is therefore correspondingly incomplete.
_Goddard List (Goddard, Notes)_
ne^{=e=}[-l]soki, "ground blue tail" SW sec. 26, T. 22 N., R. 15 W. On a flat 200 yds. N of Blue Hill Cr. and 150 yds. W of the river. There are 3 deep pits on the eastern edge of the higher flat. Bill thought there were 3 others 100 yds. S where a white man's house had stood, ne'^{[-l]}s[=o]k[=i] k[=i]yahûn.
t'un[-l]tcintcki, "leaves black tail" W sec. 26, T. 22 N., R. 15 W. On the higher bank 50 yds. N of tûn[-l]tcintckw[=o]t, the next creek N of Blue Hill Cr. and 400 yds. W of the river. There is timber W. Dr. Wilson used to live there. The site has been plowed. Bill counted six places where he thought houses had been.
WAILAKI
The Wailaki, the southernmost group of Athabascans on the Eel River, are as little chronicled as most of the Athabascan groups. As far as geography and language are concerned we have very good information (Goddard, 1923_a_; 1923_b_), but there is very little general ethnography. Kroeber was able to devote to them only a little more than three pages in the Handbook (1925, pp. 151-154), and we know scarcely more today.
The territory of the Wailaki lies for the most part outside the redwood forest (pls. 11_b_, _c_) and for that reason they had access to a more abundant supply of the food, particularly acorns, used by the interior peoples than did most of the Athabascan groups. Perhaps for this reason, or perhaps simply because of proximity, the culture of the Wailaki shows considerable affinity with the culture of Central California and correspondingly less with that of Northwestern California. This affinity is particularly evident in their tribelet organization, which obtrudes itself in the accounts of both Goddard and Merriam. In the groups farther north such organization receives little attention.
Merriam's information on the Wailaki consists for the most part of ethnogeography, including villages, tribelets, and place names. His informants in this group were Fred Major and Wylakki Tip. I have been able to find out nothing about Fred Major, but Merriam gives the following statement on Wylakki Tip.
My informant, known as Wylakki Tip, a full blood Tsennahkennes [Eel R. Wailaki, but see Kroeber's data, p. 229], whose father and mother were born and lived at Bell Springs, tells me that they belonged to the Bell Springs Canyon band known as Tsi-to-ting ke-ah, named from the neighboring mountain tsi-to-ting. He adds that from the mouth of Blue Rock Creek northward the Tsennahkennes owned the country to the main Eel, and that the present location of Bell Springs Station, on the west side of the river, is in their territory but that the east side of the river from Bell Springs Station to the mouth of Blue Rock Creek was held by a so-called Yukean tribe.
In Merriam's notes there is no general statement on the Bahneko or North Fork Wailaki; he was evidently somewhat undecided whether they were truly a distinct group. However, he comments on the Tsennahkennes, or Eel River Wailaki, as follows.
Tsennahkennes ... A Nung-gah^{hl} Athabascan tribe in north-central Mendocino County, California, occupying the greater part of the mountainous country on both sides of main Eel River from Red Mountain and the upper waters of East Branch South Fork Eel easterly to Salt Creek, and from a few miles south of Harris southerly to Rattlesnake Creek. Their territory thus includes the major part of Elkhorn Creek, the headwaters of East Branch South Fork Eel, Milk Ranch Creek, and Red Mountain Creek, practically all of Cedar Creek, and the whole of Bell Springs and Blue Rock Creeks. The old stage road from Cummings north to Harris, passing Blue Rock and Bell Springs, traverses their territory.
WAILAKI PHONOLOGY
It is clear that in recording Wailaki words Merriam followed the same principles that guided him in his published works on other Californian languages. In transcribing the Achomawi language he said (1928, p. vi), "All Indian words are written in simple phonetic English, the vowels having their normal alphabetic sounds." For a more precise determination I have made a comparison of words recorded by both Merriam and Goddard. The values of the symbols used by Goddard are taken from a list he gives in his Wailaki Texts (1923_b_, p. 77) together with Phonetic Transcription of American Indian Languages (Amer. Anthro. Assoc., 1916), a report which Goddard helped prepare.
A total of twenty-eight words recorded by both Merriam and Goddard were found. Although the discrepancies seem great, this is because Merriam used Webster's English orthography whereas Goddard used a technical one modified from the old Smithsonian system. Whatever the limitations of Merriam's orthography for considerations of grammar (which he did not try to obtain), his recordings consistently check Goddard's independent information and serve as complete identifications of places and ethnographic facts.
_Goddard's Wailaki Phonology_
+--------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------- | | Labial | Apical | Frontal| Dorsal -------------+--------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------- | fully voiced | g | +----------------------------------- | medium voiced | b d G +--------------------+----------------------------------- Stops | voiceless | | non-glottalized | t k | +----------------------------------- | voiceless | | glottalized | t' k' -------------+--------------------+----------------------------------- | non-glottalized | ts tc Affricates +--------------------+----------------------------------- | glottalized | ts' tc' -------------+--------------------+----------------------------------- | voiceless | s c Spirants +--------------------+----------------------------------- | voiced | -------------+--------------------+----------------------------------- Nasals | | n ñ -------------+--------------------+----------------------------------- Semivowels | | w y -------------+--------------------+----------------------------------- | voiced | l Laterals +--------------------+----------------------------------- | voiceless | [-l] -------------+--------------------+-----------------------------------
Goddard gives the following vowels.
i as in pique (written with an iota by Goddard) e as a in fate E as in met (written with an epsilon by Goddard) a as in father A as u in but (written with an alpha by Goddard) o as in note
Following is a rough correspondence between Goddard's and Merriam's orthographies.
_Comparison of Orthographies_
_Goddard_ _Merriam_ a ah (occasionally a or e) A ah, e, u, i (in order of frequency) ai a, i Ai i b b c s (once sh) d d, t e e E e, [=a] g [-l]g written as sk G does not occur h h i [=e], [)e] (oi written i) I i, u k k (ky written ch) k' k l does not occur [-l] kl, often not recorded at all ([-l] written sk) m n (Goddard says n sometimes becomes m by assimilation. Evidently it is n phonemically) n n (occasionally ng, once not recorded at all) ñ ng (occasionally n, twice not recorded at all) o o (occasionally u) s s t t t' does not occur tc ch (once tch) tc' does not occur ts does not occur ts' does not occur u does not occur w does not occur y y, ky written ch, kiyah always written ke-ah or ka-ah
TRIBELETS
The subgroups of the Wailaki (map 5) are called bands by Merriam and subtribes by Goddard but it is clear that they correspond precisely to the definition of tribelet given by Kroeber (1932, pp. 258-259), a fact which Kroeber noted at the time (p. 257). Goddard says (1923_a_, p. 95):
[They] had definite boundaries on the river as well as delimited hunting grounds on an adjoining ridge. In the summer and fall they appear to have been under the control of one chief, and to have camped together for gathering nuts and seeds and for community hunting. In winter they lived in villages and were further subdivided.
I. There is close agreement on the boundaries of the northernmost Wailaki tribelet on the western side of the Eel. Merriam gives the names kun-nun´-dung ke´-ah-hahng, ki´-kot-ke-ah-hahng, ki-ketch-e k[=a]-ah-hahng, and ki-ke´-che ke´-ah-hahng as designations for the group. He says the territory of this group runs from Chamise Creek in the north to Pine Creek in the south. Goddard gives the same name (rendered kaikitcEkaiya) and the same boundaries for the group.
The territory north of Chamise Creek on the west side of the river is assigned by Merriam to the taht´-so ke´ah tribelet of the Lassik. This attribution would seem to indicate that Merriam has put his northern Wailaki boundary too far north, that it should hit the Eel at Chamise Creek rather than at Kekawaka Creek. Goddard calls these people the da[-l]sokaiya, "blue ground people," which no doubt corresponds to taht´-so ke´ah. He says, "It is doubtful that they should be counted as Wailaki, but they were not Lassik and probably spoke the same dialect as the Wailaki."
II. This tribelet is called s[)e]-tah´-be ke´-ah-hahng or s[=a]-tah´-ke-ahng by Merriam. In one place his notes say that the territory includes land on both sides of the Eel, running south of Indian Creek on the western side. This is clearly not so, for he refers several times to a different tribelet occupying that area. That the tribelet was confined to the east side of the river is further indicated by Goddard, who gives Pine Creek on the north and Natoikot Creek on the south as the boundaries. Goddard's name for the tribelet is sEtakaiya.
III. Goddard says that there was a tribelet on the west side of the Eel whose territory was bounded on the north by Natoikot Creek and extended south to a point opposite the mouth of North Fork. His name for this group is taticcokaiya. Merriam's name for the group in this general area is tah-chis´-tin ke-ah-hahng. He does not give any boundaries for them.
IV. and V. Merriam gives the following names for the tribelet occupying the territory around Blue Rock and Bell Springs Creeks: tsi-to´-ting ke´-ah, from the name of Bell Springs Mountain; sen-chah´-ke´-ah; s[)e]-so ke´-ah-hahng, "Blue Rock Band"; then´-chah-tung k[=a]´-ah, "Blue Rock Band." On the other hand, he gives the following names for the people who occupied the west bank of the Eel for a mile or more south of the mouth of North Fork: nin-ken-n[=e]tch k[=a]-ah-hahng; nung-ken-ne-tse´ ke´-ah; n[)e]-tahs´ ke-ah-hahng. Goddard says that the entire stretch from the mouth of North Fork south to Blue Rock Creek on the west bank of the river was occupied by a single tribelet called nIñkannitckaiya, a name clearly corresponding to Merriam's names for the people on the west bank of the Eel, south of North Fork. I am inclined to think that Merriam is correct and that there were two tribelets in this area. Merriam's notes include five different references to the southern tribelet as a separate group, so there is a distinct impression of autonomy. If Merriam is correct in separating the two groups, the division line no doubt falls a mile or two north of Bell Springs Creek.
VI. On the eastern side of the river Merriam gives two names for the tribelet holding the land south from Kekawaka Creek. He says the yu-e-yet´-te ke´-ah was the tribelet north of Chamise Creek. Their southernmost village, called sko´-teng, was on the east side of the river a half-mile or a mile south of Kekawaka Creek. The sko´-den ke´-ah Merriam gives as the name of the tribelet on the east side of the Eel River and about a half-mile south of Kekawaka Creek. Goddard gives i[-l]kodAñkaiya, corresponding to Merriam's sko´-den ke´-ah, as the name of the group extending from about two miles south of the mouth of Chamise Creek nearly to the mouth of Kekawaka Creek. Both Merriam and Goddard indicate some doubt whether these people were Wailaki.
VII. Merriam gives the names ch[=e]s-kot k[=e]-ah-hahng, chis´-ko-ke´-ah, and t[=o]s-ahng´-kut for the tribelet living in Horseshoe Bend. The first two names come from the word chis-kot, the name for Copper Mine Creek. Goddard also gives these last two names for the group (written tciskokaiya and tosAñkaiya, "water stands people"), and he says their territory includes the land between Copper Mine Creek on the south and a point a mile or two south of Chamise Creek on the north.