Part 4

[15] J. W. Robertson (_Francis Drake and Other Early Explorers along the Pacific Coast_, San Francisco, 1927), in discussing Kroeber's analysis of the Fletcher account (_op. cit._, p. 177), says: "There seems to be no proof either that Drake landed at any particular harbor, or that anything can be adduced so specific as to establish his residence on this coast." The latter part of this statement cannot be maintained seriously in the face of Kroeber's presentation of direct evidence to the contrary.

[16] Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California Anchorage."

[17] The words recorded by Fletcher are in _The World Encompassed_. The Madox vocabulary was printed by E. G. R. Taylor, "Francis Drake and the Pacific," _Pacific Historical Review_, I (1932), 360-369. Madox's account has been further discussed by Wagner in the _California Historical Society Quarterly_, XI (1932), 309-311.

[18] See Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, map facing p. 332, and Kroeber, _Handbook_, fig. 22, p. 274, for the area held by the Coast Miwok.

[19] For details see _California Historical Society Quarterly_, XVI (1937), 192.

[20] For particulars see _Drake's Plate of Brass: Evidence of His Visit to California in 1579_, California Historical Society, Special Publication No. 13 (San Francisco, 1937).

[21] See R. B. Haselden, "Is the Drake Plate of Brass Genuine?" _California Historical Society Quarterly_, XVI (1937), 271-274. Haselden's queries have been answered already. W. Hume-Rotherby (review of _Drake's Plate of Brass Authenticated_, in _Geographical Journal_, CXIV [1939], 54-55) points out that the letters engraved on the plate (B, N, M) are not paralleled by other sixteenth-century inscriptions, and that the form of the numeral 5 is suspect. These and other problems which he poses have the effect of creating a smokescreen of doubt without contributing anything new. Wagner is skeptical of the date on the plate (June 17) and of the fact that the plate is of brass rather than lead ("Creation of Rights of Sovereignty through Symbolic Acts," _Pacific Historical Review_, VII [1938], 297-326).

[22] Allen L. Chickering, "Some Notes with Regard to Drake's Plate of Brass," _California Historical Society Quarterly_, XVI (1937), 275-281, and "Further Notes on the Drake Plate," _ibid._, XVIII (1939), 251-253.

[23] Herbert E. Bolton, "Francis Drake's Plate of Brass," in _Drake's Plate of Brass_, California Historical Society, Special Publication No. 13 (San Francisco, 1937).

[24] C. G. Fink and E. P. Polushkin, _Drake's Plate of Brass Authenticated_ ... California Historical Society, Special Publication No. 14 (San Francisco, 1938).

[25] Wagner's theory is not stated explicitly in any one place, hence specific reference is impossible. See his _Sir Francis Drake's Voyage around the World_ (San Francisco, 1926), pp. 156-158, 169.

[26] This is shown even more clearly on the Hezeta map of 1775 reproduced by Herbert E. Bolton, _Historical Memoirs of New California by Fray Francisco Palou_, 4 vols. (Berkeley, 1926), Vol. IV, facing p. 16. George C. Davidson in his _Identification_ (pp. 17-18, 34, 39) made a similar identification of the Indian village site at the Limantour Estero in Drake's Bay.

[27] Bolton, _op. cit._, n. 19. See also L. L. Loud, _Ethnogeography and Archaeology of the Wiyot Territory_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. 14, No. 3 (Berkeley, 1918), p. 243.

[28] H. R. Wagner, _Spanish Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America_, California Historical Society, Special Publication No. 4 (San Francisco, 1929), p. 158.

[29] For details see Kroeber, _Handbook_, pp. 78-79, pl. 9; and Loud, _Ethnogeography_, pp. 243, 244.

[30] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 157, 158.

[31] "Fray Benito de la Sierra's Account of the Hezeta Expedition to the Northwest Coast in 1775," trans. by A. J. Baker, introd. and notes by H. R. Wagner, _California Historical Society Quarterly_, IX (1930), 218.

[32] See T. A. Rickard, "The Use of Iron and Copper by the Indians of British Columbia," _British Columbia Historical Quarterly_, III (1939), 26-27, where the Hezeta finds are expressly discussed. Rickard's opinion also differs from Wagner's.

[33] Francisco Eliza in 1793 said: "The Puerto de Trinidad is quite small; no vessel can be moored so as to turn with the wind or tide. The bottom for the most part is rock. The land consists of quite high and extended hills full of pines and oaks" (H. R. Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration of the Northwest Coast and the Attempt to Colonize Bodega Bay," _California Historical Society Quarterly_, X [1931], 335). For photographic views of Trinidad Bay see Thomas T. Waterman, _Yurok Geography_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XVI, No. 5 (Berkeley, 1920), pls. 1, 16.

[34] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 278, inferentially concurs with this conclusion.

[35] Reprinted in _Drake's Plate of Brass_, pp. 32-46.

[36] Reprinted in _Drake's Plate of Brass_, pp. 27-30, and by Wagner in _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 274-277.

[37] Printed in Zelia Nuttall, _New Light on Drake_, Hakluyt Society, ser. 2, Vol. 34 (London, 1914), pp. 50-51.

[38] As Barrett (_Ethno-Geography_, map at end), Kroeber (_Handbook_, pp. 272-275), and C. H. Merriam ("Distribution and Classification of the Mewan Stock in California," _American Anthropologist_, IX [1907], 338-357), show, the Coast Miwok inhabited both Bodega Bay and Drake's Bay territory. Thus the language (except for minor dialectic differentiation) and culture are undoubtedly very similar at both bays. This makes the problem of exclusive selection somewhat difficult. The Madox vocabulary (see below, p. 282) was first presented in E. G. R. Taylor, "Francis Drake and the Pacific: Two Fragments," _Pacific Historical Review_, I (1932), 360-369.

[39] The Fletcher-Madox vocabulary list does not resemble the Yurok words for the same items or phrases.

[40] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 147. B. Aginsky ("Psychopathic Trends in Culture," _Character and Personality_, VII [1939], 331-343) quotes Fletcher's description of Indian weeping and self-laceration, and calls them Pomo, asserting that Drake landed in their territory and that the ceremonies given in honor of the English exemplify the "Dionysian" phase of Pomo culture.

[41] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 158.

[42] Don Francisco Mourelle, "Journal of a Voyage in 1775 to explore the Coast of America, Northward of California ...," in _Miscellanies of the Honorable Daines Barrington_ (London, 1781), pp. 471*-534*. See also Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 158.

[43] Kroeber. _Handbook_, fig. 21.

[44] Roland B. Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," _Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History_, Vol. XVII, Pt. III (1905), fig. 19.

[45] John P. Harrington, "Tobacco among the Karuk Indians," Bureau of American Ethnology, Bull. 94 (1932), 17-18, 40.

[46] The Coast Miwok word for tobacco is _kaiyau_. For the North, Central, Eastern, and Northeastern Pomo it is _saxa_, _saka_, _sako_: for the Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern Pomo it is _kawa_, _tom-kawa_ (Roland B. Dixon, "Words for Tobacco in American Indian Languages," _American Anthropologist_, XXIII [1921], 30).

[47] See discussion in Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California Anchorage."

[48] Berthold Laufer, "Introduction of Tobacco into Europe," Field Museum of Natural History Anthropological Leaflet No. 19 (1924), pp. 6 ff.

[49] _Handbook_, p. 277.

[50] Compare Fletcher's statements of the attitude of the Indians with that of Cermeno, who was in Drake's Bay in 1595 and said, "... the other Indians approached in an humble manner and as if terrorized, and yielded peacefully" (Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 159).

[51] This custom is a general central Californian cultural feature. See E. M. Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XIX, No. 2 (Berkeley, 1926), pp. 286, 287, 291; R. B. Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," pp. 242, 252; A. L. Kroeber, _The Patwin and their Neighbors_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XXIX, No. 4 (Berkeley, 1932) p. 272; C. Purdy, "The Pomo Indian Baskets and Their Makers," _Overland Monthly_, XV (1901), 449. See also below, notes 56 and 57.

[52] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," fig. 33.

[53] Fritz Krause, _Die Kultur der Kalifornischen Indianer_ (Leipzig, 1921), map 4.

[54] A rather lengthy digression must be made here since the details are involved. S. A. Barrett ("Pomo Buildings," _Holmes Anniversary Volume_, Washington, D.C., 1916, p. 7) states that semisubterranean, earth-covered houses were used about 1900 by men of means (chiefs, good hunters, lucky gamblers, and medicine men). This house was a small edition of the larger dance house (described by Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, p. 10). Fletcher's description says that in the majority of houses the combined roof entrance and smoke hole was present. This qualification does not exclude the possibility that some houses had the ground-level tunnel entrance which should be expected in the area. In historic times the Pomo seem, in large part, to have given up making these permanent dwellings in favor of less permanent mat- or grass-covered houses, which were inexpensive and more convenient to erect. The same process of loss seems to have occurred among the Coast Miwok, since Dr. Kelly's informants did not remember such houses. Archaeological sites in the Point Reyes-Drake's Bay region show numerous circular depressions which are clearly the remains of such houses. A further indication of their presence at an earlier time can be gained from "linguistic archaeology." The Sierra (Interior) Miwok use the word _kotca_ for the earth-covered, underground house with combined roof entrance and smoke hole (S. A. Barrett and E. W. Gifford, "Miwok Material Culture," _Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee_, Vol. II, No. 4 [1933], p. 198). The same word for house (i.e., dwelling) is present among the Coast Miwok (Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, word no. 64, p. 71), who once had a similar house, as is shown by archaeological remains, but abandoned it in ethnographic times. It is not unreasonable on these grounds to assume the presence in Coast Miwok territory of the type of house described by Fletcher.

[55] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration of the Northwest Coast and the Attempt to Colonize Bodega Bay," _California Historical Society Quarterly_, X (1931), 331.

[56] Bolton, _Historical Memoirs of New California by Fray Francisco Palou_, Vol. IV, p. 48.

[57] I. T. Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography." (MS).

[58] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 158. J. Broughton, in his _Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean ... in the Years 1795 ... 1798_ (London, 1804), said that the Drake's Bay Indian men whom he saw were naked, but that the women were clothed "in some degree."

[59] "Menzies' California Journal," ed. by Alice Eastwood, _California Historical Society Quarterly_, II (1924), 302-303.

[60] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration," p. 331.

[61] James Colnett, _The Journal of Captain James Colnett aboard the "Argonaut" from April 26, 1789 to November 3, 1791_, ed. by F. N. Howay, Champlain Society, Publ. No. 26 (Toronto, 1940), p. 175.

[62] Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, p. 159.

[63] Exact documentation is impossible here, but such an explanation would fit the facts, and the custom of sending a messenger to announce a visit was a feature of the whole area (Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 49).

[64] See E. W. Gifford and A. L. Kroeber. _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XXXVII, No. 4 (Berkeley, 1937), elements nos. 805-807, p. 154.

[65] Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, p. 415.

[66] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[67] Stephen Powers, _Tribes of California_ (Washington, D.C., 1877), pp. 165, 169, 170, 181; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, pp. 286, 287; Barrett, "Pomo Buildings," p. 11. See also above, p. 261, n. 42. I can see no possible relationship between the clear account by Fletcher of self-laceration and Wagner's discussion of tattooing (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 494, n. 49). As the comparative notes cited clearly show, the tearing of the flesh by the California Indians is no "story" which needs an involved, roundabout, and improbable explanation.

[68] For the Coast Miwok and Pomo words for "sing" see Barrett, _Ethno-Geography_, word no. 265, pp. 67, 79. The Pomo words are totally unlike _Gnaah_ or _koya_. See also Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California Anchorage," pp. 214, 216. There is a logical possibility of a copying error in _Gnaah_ from Fletcher's manuscript notes. If it had originally been written _Guaah_ or _Gyaah_, it would be very close indeed to _koya_.

[69] E. M. Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XXXIII, No. 1 (Berkeley, 1932), p. 49, and _Pomo Folkways_, p. 192; S. A. Barrett, _Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch, and Ethn., Vol. XII, No. 10 (Berkeley, 1917), p. 402, and "Pomo Buildings," p. 11.

[70] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 403.

[71] Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, pp. 207-208; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 366; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 425. The Kuksu staff was feathered on the end, whereas that of Calnis was somewhat shorter and did not have the feather tuft. Kroeber, _Handbook_, pp. 261-262; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, pp. 110, 128.

[72] They were manufactured chiefly by the Pomo and Northern Coast Miwok. See E. W. Gifford, _Clear Lake Pomo Society_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (Berkeley, 1926), pp. 377-388; Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 248; Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography"; Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, (pp. 186-187).

[73] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," figs. 29, 30, Pl. XLIX.

[74] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[75] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 433; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 178.

[76] Cf. Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 405, 438-439.

[77] Illustrated in Kroeber, _Handbook_, fig. 20. See also Gifford and Kroeber, elements 88, 89; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 432; Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography." And see Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," Pl. XLVIII, fig. 25.

[78] Gifford and Kroeber, element no. 4. Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[79] Illustrated and described by Kroeber, _Handbook_, pl. 55, _a_, and pp. 264, 269, 388, and illustrated by Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," fig. 33. See also Gifford and Kroeber, elements nos. 81 ff.; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 407, 432; Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 200. The down-filled net cap was used by the Coast Miwok in the Kuksu and other ceremonial performances.

[80] Dixon, "The Northern Maidu," figs. 19-21.

[81] Kroeber, _Handbook_, fig. 21.

[82] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 407, n. 12.

[83] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography"; Wagner, _Spanish Voyages_, pp. 158, 159 (Drake's Bay).

[84] Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, p. 158; Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 407, 433; Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions: IV, Pomo_, element no. 96, pp. 207-208.

[85] I can find no record that the down of milkweed (or of any other plant) was used. Most ethnographic accounts (see n. 79) above list the use of eagle down. That Fletcher was probably correct in attributing the source of the downy substance to a plant is shown by his reference to the seeds of the same plant. There is also the probability that he saw the plant itself on the journey into the interior. From my own observation I know that at least three different plants producing such down grow on Point Reyes.

[86] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography." Dr. Kelly's informants at Bodega in describing just such baskets said, "They were just for show"--i.e., had no practical or utilitarian use. Her San Rafael informant also knew of such baskets.

[87] For illustrations and description see J. W. Hudson, "Pomo Basket Makers," _Overland Monthly_, ser. 2, XXI (1893), 571, and C. Purdy, "The Pomo Indian Baskets and Their Makers," _ibid._, XV (1901), 438, 446. O. M. Dalton ("Notes on an Ethnographical Collection from the West Coast of North America ... Formed during the Voyage of Captain Vancouver, 1790-1795," _Internationale Archiv fuer Ethnographie_, Vol. X [Leiden, 1897]), shows (fig. f, p. 232; Pl. XV, fig. 4) several Pomo baskets which might as well have been the ones described by Fletcher. It seems possible that these were collected at Bodega Bay, since some of the Vancouver party visited there, but this is not certain. In Mission times many Coast Miwok and even some Pomo were brought to San Francisco and San Jose as neophytes. These individuals might well account for the Pomo-Coast Miwok type of feathered baskets collected there in the early nineteenth century by von Langsdorff or Chamisso, both of whom illustrate such pieces in their published accounts. Barrett, _Pomo Indian Basketry_, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., Vol. VII, No. 3 (Berkeley, 1908), discusses at length (pp. 141-145, 168) feather and shell materials used in the manufacture of these decorated baskets. A number of examples are shown in Barrett's plate 21. The same anthropologist ("Pomo Buildings," pp. 1-17) mentions the use of feather-decorated baskets among the Pomo as sacrifices to the dead.

[88] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 245.

[89] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[90] Gifford and Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, IV: Pomo_, element no. 807, p. 197, n.

[91] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, p. 400, mentions a principal singer who started and led the air of the songs, but does not indicate whether he might be identifiable with the "scepter bearer."

[92] See Barrett, _Ceremonies_, _passim_; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_ and _Pomo Folkways_, _passim_; Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography" _passim_.

[93] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 492, n. 37. Wagner says that this word "sounds" to him like an exclamation. To Elmendorf and me it "sounds" like the Coast Miwok word for chief or friend. The latter proposal rests upon both phonetic and semantic resemblances.

[94] For the Coast Miwok words for "chief" and "friend" see Barrett, _The Ethno-Geography of the Pomo Indians_, words nos. 62, 64, pp. 70, 71. The Pomo words (p. 58) are totally unlike those of the Coast Miwok. Barrett, _Ceremonies_, mentions a Kuksu curing call, _hyo_, which was repeated four times. Although the call is phonetically similar, the context is so unlike, that a correspondence with Fletcher's word for chief or king is improbable.

[95] Taylor, _loc. cit._, p. 369.

[96] Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 412, 431; Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, p. 118.

[97] Kroeber, _Handbook_, table 10, p. 876.

[98] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[99] The ground squirrel and Point Reyes mountain beaver have been variously identified as Fletcher's "conies." See Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 492-493, n. 42.

[100] See photograph in McAdie, "Nova Albion--1579," fig. 1.

[101] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[102] Kroeber, _Handbook_, p. 277.

[103] These "burnt offerings" are ascribed to the Trinidad Bay Yurok by Wagner (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 157), but there is no need to look so far afield for parallels when the Coast Miwok-Pomo area fits the case so well.

[104] Memorial ceremonies for the dead are a characteristic feature of central California culture; see Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, p. 117 (Coast Miwok).

[105] Heizer and Elmendorf, "Francis Drake's California Anchorage."

[106] For evidence of this, using the words on Drake's plate of brass, see Allen Chickering, "Some Notes with Regard to Drake's Plate of Brass" and "Further Notes on the Drake Plate."

[107] Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 171. Cf. the Huchnom song facing p. 144.

[108] Loeb, _The Western Kuksu Cult_, pp. 103, 127, 128.

[109] Loeb, _Pomo Folkways_, pp. 374, 392, 393. See also Barrett, _Ceremonies_, pp. 409, 413.

[110] Because of the high degree of similarity between all phases of Pomo and Coast Miwok ceremonies, a close correspondence, or even identity, in the songs connected with these ceremonies may safely be assumed.

[111] Davidson, "Identification of Sir Francis Drake's Anchorage," p. 35.

[112] J. P. Munro-Fraser, _History of Marin County_ (San Francisco, 1880), pp. 96-97.

[113] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 148, 167, 494.

[114] Wagner, "The Last Spanish Exploration," p. 334.

[115] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 167.

[116] A. L. Kroeber, _Culture Element Distributions, XV: Salt, Dogs, Tobacco_, Univ. Calif. Anthro. Rec., Vol. VI, No. 1 (Berkeley, 1941), pp. 6 ff., map 5.

[117] Kelly, "Coast Miwok Ethnography."

[118] Powers, _Tribes of California_, p. 200.

[119] Kelly's informant did say that "before steamers used to travel along the coast" certain occurrences in connection with this belief in the land of the dead took place. This may be a memory of an incident which once was more specifically remembered. At best, however, it is improbable that there would be any tradition of Drake's visit per se.

[120] Such incidents are not uncommon in California. Note, for example, the legendary significance of Mount Diablo to the Indian tribes of central California.

[121] I disagree with Wagner's statement (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 169): "The truth probably is that Drake stopped at two or three different places on the coast [Trinidad Bay, Bodega Bay] and the writer of the original narrative or the compilers who worked on it embodied in one description those of all the Indians he met." The part of the _World Encompassed_ account treated here has shown itself to be a homogeneous description, interspersed with some naive interpretation of west-central California coast Indian culture, and cannot be looked upon as a composite description. To believe otherwise would seriously distort the facts. This conclusion I submit as one of the most important results of the present inquiry.

[122] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, pp. 492-495, does select the Pomo as having the customs and manners described by Fletcher. In this he was inevitably guided by the more abundant Pomo data. Kroeber's selection of Drake's Bay as the site of the anchorage (_Handbook_, p. 278) rests upon the same grounds as my conclusion. Wagner (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 497, n. 10) takes issue with Kroeber and raises several objections without answering them satisfactorily.

[123] Wagner is concerned over this fact. He says (_Drake's Voyage_, p. 498, n. 24) that a reference to Drake's Estero should have been included in the narrative "since the Indian villages were almost entirely located upon it." In answer it may be observed that the Indian villages of Drake's time were situated sporadically around the shore of Drake's Bay as well as on the estero. One might as well ask at the same time why Fletcher did not mention Tomales Bay if Drake were at Bodega?

[124] Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 151.

[125] And, significantly, the Drake plate of brass uses the words "Nova Albion." This is independently attested by John Drake in his first declaration.

[126] See Francisco de Bolanos' explicit mention of the white cliffs in Drake's Bay as prominent landmarks (Wagner, _Drake's Voyage_, p. 498, n. 19). See also Davidson, "Identification of Sir Francis Drake's Anchorage," p. 31. Richard Madox refers to the California anchorage as "Ships Land," perhaps the name given to the place by the sailors themselves.

APPENDIX I

THE SOURCES

There are in existence at least three useful independent accounts of Sir Francis Drake's California visit in 1579. These are: (1) the _World Encompassed_ and the similar _Famous Voyage_ accounts; (2) the second deposition of John Drake, and (3) the valuable notes of Richard Madox.