Chapter XX

MUSIC AND ART

Music of local tribes was limited indeed. It was usually made by men. Only Atsugewi among the Lassen tribes possessed the drum, and this is believed to have been of recent introduction. It was a tambourine type: flat, cylindrical, a foot or so across, and with buckskin shrunken over one end.

The shamans of all tribes used cocoon rattles. These were made of large cocoons from which the moth pupae had been removed through a small hole. Pebbles or seeds were then inserted and usually five or six cocoons—among Atsugewi as many as thirty—were tied onto the end of a wooden handle and dried. Cocoon rattles were considered dangerous and were usually kept hidden out of doors, being used by shamans only when doctoring.

A single split stick clapper was employed generally for all types of singing and dancing, not being reserved for any special type of person or ceremony.

Deer-hoof rattles were made from the small hard “dew-claws” from the backs of deer legs. About twenty dew-claws were tied loosely with thongs to a strip of buckskin which was then wrapped about a stick with a plain handle. The deer-hoof rattle was operated by vigorously jerking it lengthwise, in and out. It was used exclusively in the important puberty rites when girls attained womanhood.

Atsugewi and Yana employed hunting bows as musical instruments by holding one end in the mouth and plucking the string with fingers. Mountain Maidu did so too, but like the others only for their own amusement.

Bone, cane, and elder whistles were blown at dances. Flutes, the most tuneful of Indians’ instruments, were not played at ceremonies or at dances, curiously enough, but just for self amusement, or in the case of mountain Maidu also for courting pretty girls. Flute melodies were supposed to tell stories, but words were not sung to help the interpretation. Yana made a six-hole flute; other tribes of the Lassen area used a four hole model. In all cases they were open, reedless instruments blown at an angle across one end. The flute was most frequently made of elder wood—mountain Maidu burned the holes into it with live coals.

Except for basketry designs art as such is virtually non-existent. A few simple designs were painted onto hunting bows, and some nose and ear pendants might be considered jewelry art forms, but of the lowest development. The application of face and body paints and tattooing were also simple examples of Indian art.

There appear to be no cliff or cave paintings in the vicinity of Lassen Peak, but they are abundant in Lava Beds National Monument about 75 miles to the north. A different matter is that of petroglyphs which, in California, usually have been made by striking or pecking smooth rock surfaces with small hard stones. Some of these are to be found in the Atsugewi and central Yana territories at lower elevation. However, these symbolic markings were not executed by the local tribes. Atsugewi believe them to have been made by mythological characters. It appears that the petroglyphs must have been made by the predecessors of the Hat Creek and Nozi Indians, for these people claim no knowledge of even the meaning of the rock writings. Shortly before going to press the first petroglyph known to come from the Lassen vicinity was found in the territory of the Southern Yana. The site is one where numerous obsidian chips and arrowpoints have been found on a gently south sloping, open forested portion of Lassen Volcanic National Park headquarters area at an elevation of almost 5000 feet and situated slightly west of the village of Mineral and just north of the north edge of Battle Creek Meadow.

This find on a 10 inch boulder appears to be of ancient origin. The surface has weathered considerably yet not so much that the character of the carving has been altered. It is apparent that the quarter inch deep grooves have been made by rubbing rather than by pecking with hard rocks. This is all the more interesting since the boulder bearing the carving is of a tough hard and site lava. It is indeed unfortunate that the significance of this Battle Creek Meadows petroglyph is unknown. The authorities venture the opinion that the stone may have been used in puberty ceremonies. If so, whether by the Southern Yana or their predecessors we do not know either.