Part 3

Obsidian or flint knives, called _bat!_, were sometimes used in addition to or in place of the elk-horn dagger. The blade of such a knife was made by first striking the larger flakes from it with a hammer stone and then chipping its edges with an antler chipping tool. This blade was set into a split oak handle and bound securely with string, but was not pitched. Both of these were thrusting weapons.

Other weapons were sometimes used, even the stone pestle being employed as a weapon.

Bear doctors often operated in pairs, and sometimes in greater numbers. They frequently deployed so as to cover a considerable area in their hunt, and had a method of intercommunication. If a prospective victim was sighted at some distance, the bear doctor stood erect on the top of the nearest ridge, with his back turned directly toward him. This signal brought the other bear doctors into positions to surround the victim. Informants maintain that in the actual attack a bear doctor frequently stood unconcernedly, near the path of his victim, and with his back toward him until he was quite near. He then whirled and attacked suddenly. They stated that this was also the method of attack of a real bear.

It is said that the only way to overcome a bear doctor was to seize his head or shoulders and jerk off his helmet. This completely removed his magic power. The story is told that Kamachi, a very brave and powerful man formerly living at the Yorkville Rancheria, mistook two real bears for bear doctors, attacked them in this manner, and finally succeeded in killing them.

RITES OVER THE SUIT

When the suit was put on for the first time by the bear doctor, the following elaborate ceremony was performed. The assistant took up his position in the center of the practice ground, having on one side of him four hundred counting sticks, each about the size of a lead pencil, nicely arranged in even rows. Directly in front of him was the entire bear doctor’s suit, except the beads and bead belts; that is, the basketry helmet, the bearskin garment, the two water baskets, the dagger of elk antler, and the obsidian knife. These were the articles which were strictly ceremonial, and which must never be handled by women or children for the reason that they were the property of the particular supernatural beings under whose patronage the bear doctor operated and whose powers were invoked for his success, especially by means of a long series of ritualistic songs sung by his assistant during the ceremony of donning the suit, now to be described.

While the assistant sang the ritualistic songs, the bear doctor who was to wear the suit danced up toward it four times each from each of the four cardinal points in the following order: north, west, south, and east. Each time the dancer advanced toward the suit, the singer raised above his head one counter from the one side and as the dancer receded placed it on his opposite side. Thus this portion of the ceremony took sixteen counters. Having thus approached the suit four times the sacred number four, the dancer picked up with his left hand the basketry helmet and danced with it four times around the practice ground, the singer keeping tally with the necessary four sticks. He then danced four times up toward and back from the place on the practice ground where he intended to temporarily place this object, so using another four counters. Thus there were used in all with this one object twenty-four counters.

He did precisely the same with each of the remaining five articles of the suit. Thus one hundred and forty-four counters were transferred from the original group to the singer’s opposite side.

He next took all six of these articles in both hands and performed the same cycle of twenty-four dance movements that was employed in handling each separately, so using one hundred and sixty-eight counters up to this point.

He then repeated this entire cycle of one hundred and sixty-eight dance movements in precisely the same order and manner as just described, but using the right hand instead of the left, thus using three hundred and thirty-six counters up to this point.

He next repeated all the foregoing movements exactly in reverse order in every respect; taking up the articles in reverse order and dancing toward the cardinal points in reverse order and using the hands in reverse order, thus using six hundred and seventy-two counters up to this point.

He finally took the entire suit in both hands and went around the practice ground four times in a clockwise direction and then four times in a contra-clockwise direction, thus using in all six hundred and eighty counters, indicative of that number of separate movements, or rather one hundred and seventy distinct types of movements each repeated four times.

Throughout this entire ceremony the assistant sang ritualistic songs invoking, in the ascending order of their importance, the aid of the particular supernatural beings under whose patronage the bear doctor was supposed to be and with whom he came into direct contact. According to one informant, these were, in order, brush-man, rock-man, shade-man, spring-man, pond-man, mountain-man, and sun-man, though a large number of others are also included.[17] In fact, it seems probable that all the spirits of the Pomo world are supposed to be directly concerned. The following were specifically mentioned by the informants:

_English_ _Eastern Dialect_ _Central Dialect_

Mountain-man danō gak danō baiya Water-man xa gak ka baiya Night-man dūwē gak īwē baiya Valley-man gagō gak kakō baiya Brush-man se gak see baiya Rock-man xabē gak kabē baiya Spring-man gapa gak gapa baiya Shade-man cīyō gak Fire-man xō gak hō baiya Disease-man gak kalal ītal baiya Insanity-man gak dagōl dakōl baiya gūksū gūksū kūksū Whitled-leg widow kama sīlī dūket mīya cakū kattciū Dream-man marū marū Wind-man yai kī ya tcatc Pond-woman danō kawō Blind-man ūī bagō ūī nasai Sun-man da tca Sun-woman da mata Deer-man bice gaūk pce tca

To all these he sang songs and made prayers the substance of which usually was: “You know what I am doing. I am doing as you do and using your ways. You must help me and give me good luck.”

He sang to and invoked particularly Sun-man because he was an all-seeing deity and knew everything that happened all over the earth, and more particularly because as Sun-man rises with the sun each morning he comes with his bow and arrow drawn and ready to shoot on sight any wrongdoer. Unless, therefore, Sun-man was propitiated and previously informed of the bear doctor’s intentions, he was likely to shoot him just as the sun appeared above the horizon. The substance of his prayer to Sun-man was: “I am going to do as you do. I shall kill people. You must give me good luck.”

When the suit was finally put on there was a certain amount of ceremonial procedure. The beads used as armor were first put on the naked body. The arms and legs were closely wound, each with a single long string of beads. The bear doctor then danced around the practice ground four times in a clockwise direction and then four times in a contra-clockwise direction. He next advanced toward and receded from the suit four times each from the north, west, south, and east. He then made four times a motion as if to pick up the suit, and again four times the motion of putting the suit on, after which he donned it and was completely ready for his journey, being endowed with all the supernatural powers of the bear doctor.

Throughout the entire construction of the suit, and also throughout the ceremony connected with putting it on, he turned his head around toward the left after each separate action, such as lifting up or putting down any article and after each dancing up and back toward the suit, or running around the practice ground.

Each subsequent donning of the suit was quite simple. The bear doctor picked up each article separately and made a motion with it four times toward the part of the body it was to cover, turning his head four times to the left after each of these sets of four motions. He then put on the suit and danced in a contra-clockwise direction four times around the practice area or the interior of his cavern, as the case might be, after which he was fully ready for his journey.

In case of inclement weather the bear doctor dressed in the shelter of the cavern, but if the weather was fair this was always done on the practice ground.

In undressing, on the other hand, the bear doctor performed no ceremony at all, but simply took off his suit and carefully laid it away, hanging up in the cavern the bearskin itself to keep it clean. It was necessary that a bear doctor swim immediately upon removing his suit. Still dressed in his bead armor, he went, therefore, to his swimming place, removing the beads and piling them on the bank. This was done so that if discovered he had immediately at hand a treasure with which to buy secrecy. The penalty paid by an informer who had been thus bribed was certain death at the hands of the bear doctor. Upon emerging from the pool, he returned to his cavern, carefully folded the belts and strings of beads and laid each away separately until the suit was again needed.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BEAR DOCTORS

Informants state that the various bear doctors all over the country knew each other.[18] Two or more of them often met by chance at some spring or other secluded spot in the mountains, and at such times discussed their activities. They might tell each other where they expected to be next month, or what mountain they would use as a hiding place and base of operations next year.

Each bear doctor acted independently and knew no restrictions of any sort so far as his fellows were concerned, nor had he or his relatives any immunity from the attacks of other bear doctors, for one bear doctor might become enraged at another and cause his death or that of some of his relatives.

The only persons who were immune from these attacks were the captain of the village and his immediate family. He knew all the bear doctors and received a share of their spoils in consideration for his friendly protection.

Any bear doctor or person who knew all the secrets of bear doctoring usually took his relatives, or, at any rate, certain of them, to this hiding place and showed them enough of his secrets so that they would lose their fear of bear doctors and not be frightened when they heard of the death of some one through an attack by bears. Such partially initiated persons always mourned the loss of the victim as did the rest of the people, but were not, in reality, afraid of the bear doctors.

PANTHER DOCTORS

While the bear doctor was the most important of magicians, there were also mountain lion or panther doctors, who were also possessed of considerable power. Very little was learned of this class of medicine man save that the head part of their suits was made of the head and neck of an actual panther skin drawn over a basket frame similar to that used by the bear doctor. The remainder of the suit was made of shredded soaproot fiber woven on to a fine net, which was said to simulate quite well the skin of the panther.

The panther doctor wore no bead armor as did the bear doctor, but wore a necklace of small and finely made shell beads around his neck. He always carried a bag filled with valuable beads with which to bribe to silence any one who might discover him. The bear doctor used the beads comprising his armor for this purpose.

COMPARISON WITH YUKI BELIEFS

The ideas that the doctor is actually transformed into a bear, that bear hair grows out through his skin, and that he comes to life after having been killed--ideas found among certain California Indians[19]--have not been discovered among the Pomo.

As might be expected, from the contiguity of the two groups and their numerous cultural identities, the Pomo and Yuki[20] bear doctors are very similar. The Yuki, however, have certain beliefs that the Pomo do not possess.

The Yuki bear doctor began by repeatedly dreaming of bears and was taken out and instructed by actual bears, thus placing the bear in the position of a true guardian spirit, and making the doctor a real shaman. Later he was thought to be instructed and to have his powers developed by older shamans. The Pomo have no such notions.

The Yuki bear doctor was not always an evildoer, but in some measure an accepted benefactor, particularly in curing bear bites and in avenging wrongs to his community. His capacity thus was publicly recognized--a fact that is further evidenced by his performance of sleight-of-hand tricks. The Pomo bear doctor never performed any cure, practiced his magic with the greatest secrecy and only for his own satisfaction and aggrandizement, and had death awaiting him at the hands of his own people if he was unfortunate enough to be discovered.

The Yuki bear doctor carried a basket containing a stone which rumbled in imitation of the bear’s growl as the shaman shook his head. Analogous to this was the Pomo bear doctor’s set of water-filled baskets which swashed like a real bear’s viscera as he ran.

Both carried beads; but the Yuki to secure appropriate burial if killed, the Pomo as an armor and to bribe to secrecy him who might discover him.

The mode of attack and the dismemberment of the victim were quite similar in both tribes.

COMPARISON WITH MIWOK BELIEFS

The Northern Sierra and Plains Miwok called bear doctors _sulik müko_. These shamans donned bearskins, but, like their Yuki colleagues, had bears as spirits and exhibited their powers publicly. Like the Yokuts bear doctors, they were thought able to transform themselves bodily into bears.

The Miwok relate how a man was hunting in the chaparral south of the Stanislaus when a bear appeared and asked what he was doing. The Indian replied that he was seeking an arrow lost in a shot at a red-headed woodpecker. The bear led him into its cave, kept and taught him for four days, and sent him home with several bears as guides. A white man, married to an Indian woman, instigated the building of a dance-house to give the bear doctor an opportunity to show his alleged powers. The latter accepted, came, walked into the fire, pushed aside the flaming brands and made himself a bed in the coals, arose after a time unharmed, swam, and resumed his human form.

The Miwok panther doctor was similarly met and instructed by a panther. He wore no skin and possessed no power of transformation. He did, however, acquire the panther’s ability to hunt, it was thought. In extreme old age he revealed his experiences and then died at once.

It is clear that the Miwok panther doctor is merely a shaman who has that animal as his personal guardian spirit, and that except for his power of transformation and the character of his guardian, the Miwok bear doctor does not essentially differ from an ordinary shaman.

It seems therefore that the institution of the bear doctor has attained its most extreme form among the Pomo.

SUMMARY

1. The origin of bear doctors is assigned by the Pomo to the mythical times before men existed, when birds and mammals possessed human attributes. The first bear doctors arose from a relatively insignificant incident, which led one of the smallest of the birds to develop his magic powers.

2. These powers are believed to be now acquired through the wearing of a special suit which endows its wearer with rapidity of motion and great endurance, but which does not itself actually transport him or perform any act.

3. The powers are received through elaborate ritualistic songs and prayers to certain supernatural beings under whose patronage the doctor operates. These songs are largely sung not by the doctor himself but by an assistant while the doctor performs an elaborate dance with the various parts of the costume preparatory to actually putting them on for the first time.

4. In addition to this constant assistant, the bear doctor must have a female aide, who makes certain parts of his paraphernalia and cooks his special food. He is subject to certain restrictions connected with the menstrual periods of this female aide and his wife, and they, in turn, are subject through him to certain other restrictions.

5. Although all-powerful under ordinary circumstances, a bear doctor apparently loses all his magic power as soon as he is captured.

6. Bear doctors are all known one to another, but form no organized group or society. They are also usually known to the chief, to whom they pay tribute and give guarantee of immunity from attack in return for his connivance and protection.

7. In exceptional cases the bear doctors are harmless, but in the main their object is to kill and plunder, and they carry special weapons for this purpose. They do not practice curative medicine in any form.

8. There are apparently other kinds of magicians similar to bear doctors. One of these, the “panther doctors,” has been specifically mentioned.

These statements reflect the opinions of the Pomo. Some of the practices described by them could easily have had a basis in fact. Whether and to what extent they were actually performed remains to be ascertained.

_Transmitted November 28, 1916._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A. L. Kroeber, “Religion of the Indians of California,” present series, IV, 331, 1907.

[2] This is the site of an old Eastern Pomo village and is situated in the foot-hills about two miles northeast of the town of Upper Lake. It is located on the western slope of a hill and overlooks the lake.

[3] Identity unknown, and common Indian name not recorded.

[4] This name in the Northern dialect is _būta baōm_, and in the Central dialect is _bitaka yalō djak_, literally grizzly bear between the legs flew. The Northern people say that the name of the bird previous to the accomplishment of this feat was _mābasōmsō_. In speaking of this bird one Northern informant stated that when the first people were transformed into birds this man was wearing a very large head-dress. This accounts for the fact that the bird now carries a large topknot.

[5] In very early times it is said that a string of four hundred beads was worth an amount about equal to two and one-half dollars. Later, after the introduction of the pump-drill, this value dropped to one dollar. On the basis of modern valuations of such skins, and under the higher rating of beads, this hide would have been worth 12,000 beads.

[6] In giving the account the informant stated that while making their ceremonial attire the two worked entirely at night, as was always done by Indian bear doctors later, and then only upon perfectly dark nights, when the moon was not shining or when it was obscured by clouds. In case the moon suddenly emerged from behind a cloud they immediately ceased their work. This was made necessary by the fact that many hunters were abroad at night.

[7] Another informant told of a marvelous journey said to have been made by his grandmother while the family resided many years ago in Eight-mile Valley. She went during one night to Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Bodega Bay, and Big River, thence returning to her home, covering in those few hours about two hundred miles.

[8] The bringing of beads as a death offering from one village to another, or from one political group of people to another, is called _kal kubek_, while such an offering taken to the home of the family of the deceased by relatives in the same village is called _kal banek_.

[9] This stretcher is called _kaitsak_, and consists of two side poles with short cross-pieces bound to them in such a manner as to resemble a ladder. It was used in early times for carrying the wounded or the dead back to the village. A corpse was bound to it by a binding of grapevine and the two ends of the stretcher rested upon the shoulders of the bearers.

[10] They were making a _bīcē gō_; i.e., setting snares in the brush without making a brush fence. The fence with snares is called _bīcē warī_.

[11] This pond, which is said to furnish the only water on this great mountain, was called _ka kapa_, and is said to be one of a very few ponds apparently without a spring, and called _ka dabō_, which are supposed to have been made in prehistoric times by bears as resting places for themselves. This pond is nowadays almost never visited by any one except hunters who have lost their way.

[12] This loss of magic power and their consequent capture was explained as a supernatural penalty for their attempt to kill more than four victims in any one year.

[13] One informant ascribed the source of Pomo bear doctor knowledge to the Lake Miwok, to the south. This opinion, of course, conflicts with the preceding origin tale.

[14] The bear doctor was known to the Pomo as _gauk būrakal_, “human bear.” _Būrakal_ specifically denotes the grizzly bear. The brown or cinnamon bear is _līma_, but black individuals, which we reckon as of the same species, were called _cīyō būrakal_, “black grizzly bears,” by the Pomo.

[15] It would appear that restriction depended rather upon co-residence than blood kinship. The extent to which the taboo might accordingly affect a bear doctor’s activities will be realized when we reflect that it was customary for several related families to reside in one house, each family having its own door and each two families a separate fire. In the center of the house was the common baking pit.

[16] Usually, however, a person caught in this way was used as a “head rest” and servant, it is said, and received no instruction whatever.

[17] Another informant gave as these chief spirits sun-man, mountain-man, wind-man, night-man, water-man, and valley-man, though not stating that they were considered in this order.

[18] So far as could be ascertained, they formed no organized society, and never met as a body.

[19] Kroeber, _loc. cit._

[20] This comparison is based on manuscript data of Dr. Kroeber concerning the Yuki.

Transcriber's notes:

The following is a list of changes made to the original. The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

to his excuses, he uusally brought home some game or berries. to his excuses, he usually brought home some game or berries.

This conisted of two layers of rods obtained from the snowdrop This consisted of two layers of rods obtained from the snowdrop

from the original group to the singers opposite side. from the original group to the singer’s opposite side.

End of Project Gutenberg's Pomo Bear Doctors, by Samuel Alfred Barrett