Part 8

In the Mitom region Merriam is very explicit. He mentions Me-to-mah-chut-te, which corresponds to Stewart's Mitom, and says that it was the "name applied by Me-tum-mah to all their villages in Metumki of Little Lake Valley. There were 4 important permanent winter villages containing about 600 people." These 4 villages were, according to Merriam: Cha-bo-cha-kah-chut-te, Po-ka-hil-chut-te, She-o-kah-lau-chut-te, and Tsah-kah-chut-te. The last corresponds to Stewart's Tsaka. Of the first village he says it contained 40 to 50 house pits. This must be excessive for it would mean a population of 560 persons in this village alone. Stewart says that Tsaka had 8 pits, or 112 persons. If we reduce the count for Cha-bo-cha-kah-chut-te to 300 instead of 560, we can still accept Merriam's figure of 600 for the group of four.

We still have to account for Kah-be-shal-chut-te of Barrett and Merriam (Stewart's Kabecal), Tsam-mom-dah-chut-te of Barrett and Merriam (Stewart's Tsamonda). Nabo of Merriam and Stewart (also mentioned by Gibbs). and Talel of Stewart. Talel and Nabo may have been part of the Mitom complex but Tsamonda and Kabecal are too distant. If Tsamonda was small, as Stewart says, we may allow 50 inhabitants. Kabecal must have contained at least 100.

For the entire area, including all three of Merriam's linguistic groups, we get a population of 1,650 inhabitants.

_Sherwood Valley._--In this valley lived the Mato or Mato-poma of Stewart, or the Mah-to-poma of Merriam, whose permanent villages were inland but who ranged a large territory extending to the coast. According to Stewart there were three minor divisions of the group, with three permanent villages, Mato, Kabedile, and Kulakau, each of which had its own chief. On no other evidence would we be justified in ascribing 200 persons to each subgroup. Stewart says (p. 33): "The best guesses of my informants placed the primitive population at about 500 persons, half of them in the main village of Mato." That would give 250 to Mato and 125 each to Kabedile and Kulakau. This estimate appears too low, particularly since the informants were all born in the 1860's, twenty years after the first contact with the white man.

Merriam (in his "Northern Pomo," together with a separate manuscript entitled "Sherwood Valley rancherias") transcribed and checked Barrett's village list. As was his custom he initialed in ink those names which he confirmed by independent investigation, leaving unmarked those for the existence of which he considered he had no certain evidence. For Sherwood Valley he gives 25 names. Of these, 3 were taken from Barrett without confirmation, leaving 22. Seven of the latter are given by Merriam alone, in addition to those appearing on Barrett's list. Merriam mentions Mah-to-chutte and also Ma-chah-tah, each of which he says was a "big rancheria." It is very probable that these were variants of the same name or were parts of the same village. Hence they may be combined as representing Stewart's Mato. Merriam also mentions Kah-ba-de-la-chut-te and Kah-baht-be-dah-chut-te, which appear to be variants for Stewart's Kabedile. Also included are Bo-shahm-koo-che (Bocamkutci), Cha-bo-tse-y-chut-te (Kabotsiu), and Tan-nah-shil-chut-te (Tanacil), all of which are stated by Stewart (p. 35) to have been parts of Kulakau. This reduces Merriam's effective list to 17.

Mato is stated by Merriam to have been a "big rancheria." This is in line with Stewart's impression that the village contained at least 250 persons. This number may therefore be accepted without much hesitation. Kabedile (or Kah-baht-be-da-chut-te) is said by Merriam to have had 30 to 40 house holes. He also mentions the fact that the Mexicans perpetrated a massacre here in 1846, in the course of which 25 were killed and many children stolen for slaves. If we take the lower limit mentioned for houses and reduce one-third, we still get a probable 20 houses, which at 14 persons per house gives a minimum population of 280 persons. Stewart gives Kulakau and the three villages considered to be parts of it equal rank with Mato and Kabedile. Merriam says of Cha-bo-tse-y-chut-te (Kobotsiu) that it was a "big village." Hence we may safely ascribe 250 persons to the town.

Merriam adds certain comments on the villages. Boo-tah-kah-chut-te had a "big round house." Che-ah-po-y-chut-te was of "fair size but no roundhouse." She-ko-ki-chut-te consisted of "two big rancherias and roundhouse." The other 10 villages are listed merely by locality without additional information. We encounter here a clear instance of the perplexity which pursues us throughout the Pomo area. We must accept either the combined word or Barrett and Merriam that there were numerous subsidiary villages inhabited in Sherwood Valley during aboriginal times or the word of Stewart that there were not. At this point it must be emphasized again that by 1840 the Northern Pomo had been invaded by Spanish-Mexicans from the San Francisco Bay region and their aboriginal social order had been partially disrupted. Furthermore, we know that they had been exposed to serious inroads by disease, such as the great smallpox epidemic of the 1830's. In particular, that of 1837, the so-called "Miramontes epidemic," began at Fort Ross and is known to have seriously involved the Russian River Valley. There is much reason to believe, therefore that the population decline began by 1830, with its accompanying shifting and consolidation of villages. Both Barrett and Merriam did their field work among the Pomo from 1900 to 1910, say as an approximate date 1905. A seventy-year-old informant at that time could thus actually remember the year 1840. But a similar individual in 1935 could remember of his own knowledge only to 1870. He would have to draw on second- and third-hand information imparted by his forefathers. As Stewart (p. 29) says of one of his Sherwood Valley informants his "father's father told JMc of 'old times'." It is hardly to be expected that an old man could very accurately transmit population data secured as a small boy at his grandfather's knee. For these reasons I think Merriam's village names cannot be discarded, unless specific evidence proves that they are errors. They must be accepted as villages which at one time were inhabited. There remains of course the possible contingency that some of these places had been abandoned before the advent of the first white influence or that they were spots inhabited for a short time during the upheaval accompanying the American invasion. Since there is no conceivable way in which we may ascertain the true facts in detail, perhaps some arbitrary correction is desirable. Consequently the following procedure is suggested: estimate the population on the basis of all the Merriam names, then reduce by one-third. Such a method should take care of all instances of temporary villages, camp sites etc.

Applying the above principles, we may assign 150 inhabitants to Boo-tah-kah-chut-te ("big roundhouse"), 50 to Che-ah-po-y-chut-te ("fair-sized but no roundhouse"), and 200 to She-ko-ki-chut-te ("two big rancherias and roundhouse"). Two houses, or say 30 persons, may be allocated to the other 10 sites of Merriam. The total would then be 700, which, reduced by one-third, gives as a final value 470.

For the Mato-pomo as a whole the population figure is 1,250. It is difficult to see how a much lower figure could be set for the area.

For the Northern Pomo collectively there has been derived a population estimate of 5,040. It is of interest to compare this figure with the values cited by Heintzelman.

This officer listed eight names which can be indentified as falling within the group being discussed. They are as follows.

1. _Si-dam._ This is _sedam_ of Barrett (1908, p. 141) and of Stewart (1943, p. 41), located in Potter Valley.

2. _Po-ma Pomes._ This is _pomo_ of Barrett and Stewart, likewise in Potter Valley.

3. _Kal-il-na-pomas._ This group was located between Martoo (Sherwood) and Metumki (Little Lake) valleys and is possibly equivalent to kalal-nokca, a village below Ukiah (Barrett, personal communication). However the habitat specified by Heintzelman does not support Barrett's surmise. The group undoubtedly lived much to the north of Ukiah.

4. _She-bal-na-pomas._ These were in Sherwood Valley and are referred to by Barrett (1908, p. 147, fn.) as the Shi-bal-ni Pomo.

5. _Calli-tal-pomas._ Dr. Barrett is unable to identify the name but the people lived in the same vicinity as the tribes mentioned previously. It is possible that they may have been the _kabelal_ of Stewart (1943. p. 39).

6. _Yo-pomas._ Dr. Barrett thinks (personal communication) that this term may signify _Yo kai pomo_ ("south valley people") who would have lived near Ukiah. But Heintzelman states that they lived between Kinomo (Round) Valley and Martoo (Sherwood) Valley, and hence must have been Northern Pomo.

7. _Maa-to-ma-pomas._ With regard to these people Dr. Barrett writes me as follows: "Possibly refers to Little Lake or Willits Valley people _mtomkai_, or _bitomkai_ (1908, p. 128, fn.), or to _mitoma_, on a knoll in the town of Willits (ibid., p. 145)." The latter hypothesis appears the more probable (Stewart, 1943, p. 36 ff., discusses this subtribe at length). Heintzelman adds the information that the Maa-to-ma-pomas are divided into seven tribes, of which the _Sho-he-shas_ are the most numerous. Barrett (1908, p. 146, fn.) thinks that the latter people are the Chow-e-chak of M'Kee. Heintzelman further says that the territory covered extends from Metumki (Little Lake) Valley to the coast.

8. _So-as._ Barrett considers (personal communication) that this name refers to the village of _sosa-tca_, in Sherwood Valley (cf. 1908, p. 147).

Irrespective of conflicts in terminology it appears that Heintzelman fairly well covered the area usually assigned to the Northern Pomo under the eight designations just listed. His total population value is 5,350, slightly greater than but very close to the estimate derived from ethnographic data (i.e., 5,040). This close correspondence will be seen as specially significant when we come to examine his report on the Central and Southern Pomo.

_Northern Pomo ... 5,040_

CENTRAL POMO

_Ukiah._--In the Ukiah area are included four of Stewart's subtribes: the Yokaia of Ukiah Valley, the Ciego of Largo, the Cokoa of Hopland, and the Yobakeya of Echo. There are all consolidated by Merriam in his manuscript entitled "Tribe List of Yo-ki-ah Pomo" and will be considered together.

Stewart is very positive that these four tribes all lived in one central village. He says regarding the Yokaia: "Although several villages are given by Barrett for this area, there is no doubt that during the winter months the population was concentrated in one main village" (p. 43). Regarding the Cokoa: "Politically, as well as geographically, the Cokoa resembled the Yokaia. Both had a single central village of importance where the population was concentrated" (p. 43). Merriam credits Barrett with 37 village names, to which he adds none himself. Of the 37 he confirms only 13. Since the other 24 of Barrett are doubtful, they may be excluded. Of Merriam's 13 Stewart says specifically that three were camps not permanent villages. Two, Kah-chi-o (Katcayo) and Shah-na-na-oo (Caneneu) were proved by Stewart to have existed only subsequent to the white invasion. One may belong to the Booneville tribe and another is a tribal, not a village, name. Four, Kah-ka-eu (Cokadjal). Ko-lo-ko (Koloko), Lema (Ciego), and Shanel (Canel) were the main villages, as stated by Stewart. There remain unaccounted for only Bok-shah (Barrett's Bokca), regarding which Merriam says it had a sweathouse and was "practically permanent," and Katch-a-wah-low. Merriam's conclusions thus coincide to a remarkable degree with those of Stewart and justify the assumption that, where the two investigators clearly differ, considerable weight should be given to Merriam's account.

The largest of the four main villages was Canel, or Shanel. Comment has already been made upon the fact that both Stephen Powers' and Stewart's informants, proceding from entirely different premises, reached the conclusion that the town had a primitive population of 1,500. This figure therefore, however incredible, must be accepted. It is noteworthy in passing that if we apply the family number of 14 to the 104 houses shown by Powers on his map of the town, the population is computed at 1,456, almost identical with the other estimates.

For the Yokaia, originally settled at Cokadjal, Stewart says: "The population ... has been variously estimated at from 500-1,000 persons...." Since such estimates are likely to be somewhat low, and in view of the size of Canel, we may take the upper limit, 1,000 inhabitants.

The status of Lema (Ciego) is dubious. Stewart says the people had no chief and the tribe was composed of "soldiers." The town was very well known at the time of white occupation, however, and must have held at least 150 persons.

The Yobakeya at Koloko were also warlike and Stewart calls them a "small group." But he also says that one of his informants told him there were about 60 survivors of the tribe in his youth (approximately 1865). This fact argues an aboriginal membership of at least 300 persons.

For the Yo-ki-ah linguistic subdivision of the Northern Pomo as presented by Merriam the collective population is thus estimated at 2,950.

_Point Arena._--The Point Arena area is a large territory comprising 300 square miles along the coast. Stewart designates its occupants the Bokaya and includes three subtribes centering in the villages of Kauca, Pdahau, and Lacupda. Merriam separates two groups, the Bo-yah, which included Kauca and Pdahau, and the Kan-no-ah, or the Lacupda people ("Tribe List of Bo-yah" and "Tribe List of Kan-no-ah").

One of Stewart's informants, a woman born about 1880, said that the aggregate population was 380. This appears much too low. Merriam lists 29 villages, of which many are taken from Barrett without confirmation. On the other hand Stewart says (p. 48) regarding Pdahau: "there is no doubt that other villages were occupied contemporaneously with it, although it was impossible to get the exact status of all the sites mentioned by Barrett." Hence the acceptance of some of Barrett's and Merriam's villages must be considered.

Merriam's list includes Stewart's three main villages. It also includes Itcetce and Kodalau, which Stewart says were settled after the American occupation. Merriam also gives the following, some of which are on Barrett's list:

1. Kah-bim-mo ("permanent village")

2. Kah-sha-lem ("permanent village, large town. Inhabitants moved many years ago to Cha-cha. Used as slaves by man named Shoemaker.")

3. Kah-sil-shah-ko ("acorn camp and winter rancheria")

4. Kah-ya-a-lin ("acorn camp and winter rancheria")

5. Kup-pish-ko ("permanent village")

6. Shah-dah ("permanent village")

7. We-chahl (of the Kan-no-ah, "very large permanent village")

The remaining 17 village names are credited to Barrett without comment or confirmation.

Suppose we accept the values put on Pdahau, Kauca, and Lacupda by Stewart's informant, i.e., respectively 200, 100, and 80. Then we should allow 150 each for Merriam's "large" villages, nos. 2 and 7 above. The other five were apparently small and may be conceded 30 persons each. Of the final 17 sites it will be fair to admit the probably simultaneous existence of two-thirds of them, or let us say 12, at the rate of 30 persons per village. The total for the area then becomes 1,190 inhabitants. Using Stewart's figure of 300 square miles for the area the density would thus be 3.97 persons per square mile or less than Gifford found for the Coast Yuki. Such an estimate seems extremely conservative.

_Booneville and Yorkville._--In this area are found the Pdateya of Booneville, which Stewart puts among the Northern Pomo, and the Danokeya of Yorkville. The corresponding names used by Merriam are the Lah-ta and the Ta-bo-ta. Very little is known of either group. Stewart mentions the village of Lemkolil near Booneville and Late and Maboton in the Yorkville region. Merriam gives Barrett's list (in his manuscript entitled "Ta-bo-ta and Lah-ta") without comment. For the Ta-bo-ta there are 10 villages and for the Lah-ta 9. Since we have absolutely no other leads we may assign the three main villages 100 inhabitants each, and deduct one-third from the remainder to allow for Barrett's nonpermanent sites. There would then be 10 presumptive villages with 30 persons each, or 300 for all of them. The total population for the two groups together would then be 600.

_Stewart's Point._--The tribe at Stewart's Point is known as the Kacia (Stewart) or the Kah-chi-a (Merriam, manuscript entitled "Tribe List of Kah-chi-a pomo"). Also included are Stewart's Yotiya of the Southern Pomo, a group for which I find no account in Merriam's notes.

Stewart has made a particularly exhaustive study of this group and states that the population range extended from 800 to 1,200 persons. Merriam gives 82 names of villages. Stewart makes it quite clear that aboriginally the Kacia had no permanent settlements on the coast itself. All their villages were at least four or five miles inland, except Mitini and Powicana. We must delete therefore all the coastal villages of Barrett and Merriam except the two mentioned. This immediately removes 27 names, leaving 55. Of these, 16 are mentioned by Stewart as "villages which were occupied more or less permanently" (p. 50). Five of them had assembly houses. Of the remaining 39 sites, 30 are confirmed by Merriam from Barrett's list or are given by him in addition to Barrett. If we consider that the larger, known population of the villages such as Mitini balances errors in Merriam's list and the mean number of persons per village was 30, then the total for the group is 46 times 30, or 1,380. To this should be added, according to Stewart, 100 for the Yotiya, making 1,480 in all. This is somewhat, but not excessively, greater than Stewart's estimate.

For the Central Pomo as a whole we may turn once more to the record left by Heintzelman. For the area here being considered he lists five tribes.

1. _Uk-a-is._ These are stated to be located "above the canyon of the Russian River," and are obviously the villages grouped around Ukiah. A discussion of the Yokaia is given by Stewart (1943, pp. 43-45).

2. _Sinals._ This term clearly refers to the village of Shanel, already mentioned with respect to population.

3. _Bo-kas._ These were located "in the vicinity of Fort Ross" and included no doubt the Bokeya of Point Arena as well as the survivors around Fort Ross.

4. _Ta-bi-tas._ These were "in Anderson's Valley" and refer to the inhabitants of the village Tabate (Kroeber and Stewart) or to the group called the Pdateya by Stewart.

5. _Bo-i-os._ These were located "south of Booldam River on the coast," in other words south of Big River near the boundary between the Northern and Central Pomo.

Since the region of Ukiah, Hopland, Booneville, Point Arena, and Fort Ross was well explored and even extensively settled by 1855, it is entirely probable that Heintzelman recorded all the existing natives of the area. Regardless of terminology the five names above leave no important fraction of the territory unaccounted for. Heintzelman's total for the population is 2,100, a figure which should be compared with the value of 6,220 obtained through the use of village lists, together with house and family number.

For the Athapascan and Yukian peoples, as well as for the Northern Pomo, a marked correspondence could be observed between the two sets of data, even though entire identity could not be achieved. For the Central Pomo, on the other hand, there is a striking disparity: the Heintzelman estimate reaches only one-third the value obtained from ethnographic sources. Since Heintzelman could reach his maximum accuracy among the relatively well known Central Pomo, as opposed to the remoter northern groups, we cannot ascribe his low count to ignorance or carelessness on his part. The most reasonable explanation is that the Central Pomo had already by 1855 suffered a reduction in population of from one-half to two-thirds of the aboriginal level. Such an hypothesis is entirely consistent with all we know of Mexican and American settlement in Sonoma and southern Mendocino counties and, furthermore, tends to lend support to the much higher figures reported by Heintzelman for the more northerly tribes.

_Central Pomo ... 6,220_

SOUTHWESTERN POMO

This group, consisting principally of the Kacia of Stewart's Point, has already been discussed under the Central Pomo.

SOUTHERN POMO

In this area lived five large groups, named variously by different students, centering around Dry Creek, Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, and Sebastopol. The Pomo residue, mentioned by Barrett, and others who survived in Alexander Valley are here omitted since they may be more appropriately considered as contributing to the predominantly Wappo population. Likewise, the village of Wilok, east of Santa Rosa, is probably considered more satisfactorily in conjunction with the neighboring Wappo.

Modern ethnographic data are of little value for estimating the population of the Southern Pomo, however carefully it may have been secured. The Spanish and Mexican missionaries, accompanied by the military, entered the area certainly before 1820 and by the year 1835 the Southern Pomo had been relocated in the missions, conscripted for labor, or carried off by disease. Shortly after 1840 the Americans began to appear and as a result the original village pattern was completely disrupted. Hence it is relatively useless to compute population from the sites which in recent years have been remembered by Indian or white informants. Merriam, following Barrett, lists about 80 village names but in very few instances endorses Barrett's findings by subscribing his initials. To attempt any detailed analysis of these sites would serve no useful purpose whatever.

It is clear from the opinions expressed by Kroeber and Stewart that the Southern Pomo exhibited the same general type of social organization as the Central Pomo, namely, a splitting into subtribes with each of the latter inhabiting a single, large main village. Several of these have been reasonably well identified, some by modern ethnographers and some by the early missionaries and civil contemporaries. There are 15, the existence of which is sufficiently well assured. They are as follows:

1. Amalako Dry Creek Stewart 2. Amako Cloverdale Stewart, Merriam 3. Makahmo Cloverdale Stewart, Merriam, Kroeber 4. Amatio Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam 5. Kale Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam 6. Mukakotcalg Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam 7. Wotokkaton Healdsburg Merriam, Kroeber 8. Tsoliikawai Healdsburg Stewart, Merriam 9. Batiklechawi Sebastopol Merriam, Kroeber 10. Masikawani Sebastopol Stewart, Merriam 11. Hukabetawi Santa Rosa Merriam, Kroeber 12. Kabetsiuwa Santa Rosa Stewart, Merriam 13. Gualomi Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam 14. Chichiyomi Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam 15. Levantoyome Santa Rosa Mission records, Merriam

If each of these fifteen villages had a population of only 300 Indians, a low value considering the huge congregations in the Ukiah-Hopland region, the total for the Southern Pomo could be set at 4,500.