Part 8

The remaining portion of the Yokuts-Miwok territory lay in the valley and foothills north of the Merced River. This area (see maps 1 and 5, areas 8-13 inclusive), particularly the delta of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers, was entered relatively early by the Spaniards and by the year 1820 had been almost completely swept of its native population. The names of many whole tribes have been lost and the exact locations of many others are now almost impossible to ascertain. Of village names only those few are known to us which were preserved, often by chance, in the mission records and accounts of expeditions. Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the aboriginal human geography but none has been entirely successful. Kroeber's account, which accompanies his discussion of the Plains Miwok and northern Yokuts in the Handbook of California Indians, is manifestly incomplete. Merriam's paper on the Mewan Stock of California (1907) is helpful, but probably the best work of the modern investigators is that of Schenck (1926). The early nineteenth-century accounts for this region are also less satisfactory than for the central and southern parts of the San Joaquin Valley. Moraga's record is useful only for the Tuolumne River, and the delta is covered only by Abella and Duran. It is true that both Sutter and Gatten give figures for villages south of Sacramento but their information pertains only to the badly depleted natives of the 'forties. Hence their censuses are of little value for assessing the aboriginal condition.

One source not available for other areas is the mission records. The converts from the delta and lower San Joaquin Valley were brought almost exclusively into the San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Clara missions. The baptism books of these missions have been preserved, and two copies have been made. The first, of the San Francisco Mission, was made by A. Pinart in 1878 and is at present in the Bancroft Library in Berkeley. The other records, copied by S. R. Clemence in 1919, include the records of all three missions and are now to be found, in typed form, among the manuscripts in the file of C. H. Merriam. The baptism books set forth the name and village of origin of every native in the mission, as well as the date of baptism. Newly converted gentiles are readily distinguished from infants born in the mission itself, since the origin of the latter is ascribed to the mission and not to a village. In addition to the names of villages, not all of which can be located with certainty, the dates of baptism constitute almost conclusive evidence. If the baptisms from San Francisco and Santa Clara are tabulated by village and date, it is very clear that the villages of local tribes were cleaned out before the year 1805. At this point an entirely new set of names appears, most of which are undoubtedly in the Tulares. Hence, if the name of a village does not correspond to any now known to ethnographers and no baptisms are reported from it prior to 1805, the conclusion is warranted that the village was actually situated in the central valley. The same assumption may be made with somewhat less certainty concerning the San Jose records. This mission was founded in 1797 and its earliest converts were drawn from the Costanoan tribes on the east shore of San Francisco Bay. The reduction of this region may not have been complete by 1805 and Tulare Indians were coming in by that year. Hence there is a chance of overlap. This source of error, however, may be excluded for all practical purposes if no doubtful village which continued to furnish converts after 1810 is included in the list, for the reduction of the Costanoans was certainly complete by that time.

Concerning village size various items of information are available. In the diary of Ramon Abella in 1811 he mentions that the Cholbones had three rancherias with a population of 900, or 300 per rancheria. That of the Coyboses had 180 and that of the Tauquimenes 200 men and 60 houses. The population of the latter tribe, if we apply the ratio found by Zalvidea at the southern end of the valley, should be 650. This ratio, it will be remembered, is based on Zalvidea's statement that he counted as men all males between the ages seven and forty. If, on the other hand, we assume that Abella referred to all males except small children and further that the sex ratio was unity, the adults would have numbered 400 and, if 15 per cent of the village were children, the total would be approximately 470. However, in the northern end of the valley we have much more solid data with which to work than at the extreme south.

The baptism records of the missions of San Jose and Santa Clara to which reference is made above include for each gentile village a breakdown of men, women, and children. These data have been already discussed in connection with the rancherias on Lake Tulare and it has been shown that, if proper correction is made for the sex ratio, men and women each contributed 41.8 per cent of the population and children 16.4 per cent. It is clear that in the north the Franciscans employed their standard system of calling children all persons under the age of ten years (not seven years) and including as males all men above the same age. Zalvidea's system was used only by himself. Consequently, a village with 200 men would have contained 563 persons in all.

For the village of the Tauquimenes with 60 houses the average would have been 9.38 persons per house. That this number is not excessive is demonstrated by the account of the village of Chuppumne contained also in Duran's diary. This rancheria had 35 houses, some of which were 40 to 50 paces in circumference. Since a pace is roughly a yard the diameter of such a house would be 43 feet, amply sufficient to accommodate 9 persons. Chuppumne would thus have had a population of 315. Duran also mentions a rancheria of the Ochejamnes which had 40 houses, or 360 inhabitants.

Luís Argüello (MS, 1813) describes an expedition under the command of one Soto, whose party was attacked by Indians in the marshes of the delta. Schenck (1926, p. 129) locates the scene as in T5N, R4E, near Walnut Grove and designates the tribe as the Unsumnes or Cosumnes. Now Argüello states that the expedition crept up on the Indians overnight and attacked at dawn. They were surprised to find that their coming had nevertheless been detected and that the Indians had sent away the women and children. The Spaniards were met by a force of warriors, which Soto placed as his best estimate at 1,000 persons. These were drawn from four rancherias in the vicinity. One may always exercise skepticism with reference to these estimates of enemy forces, particularly in this instance, since the Spaniards were roughly handled and suffered several casualties in addition to being forced to withdraw. On the other hand, the invaders consisted of 13 well armed Spaniards and 100 Indian auxiliaries. Nothing like an equal number of natives could have withstood them. Soto's estimate may be cut in half but at least 500 warriors must be allowed, or 125 for each of the four rancherias. Now the fighting population, even in a great emergency, does not coincide with the total male population. If there were 500 warriors, there must have been fully 300 young boys, invalids, and old men who were not present. Hence we must concede a male population of no less than 800 for the four villages. If the percentage values established previously are used, the mean village size was approximately 475.

To the villages just described may be added the one seen by Moraga on the Stanislaus River in 1806, which had 200 inhabitants.

These twelve villages thus yield an average of 362 inhabitants each. Although throughout the territory many rancherias were doubtless small, it is equally probable that some were very large, approaching the magnitude of Chischa and Bubal in the south. Hence, unless in some particular instance there is clear reason to believe otherwise, 300 cannot be regarded as an excessive estimate for the average village of the delta.

In considering in detail the population of the delta (see map 6, area 13), it is convenient to segregate groups according to tribal distinctions rather than strictly according to geographical points. The reason lies primarily in the fact that the early writers and the mission records were relatively explicit with respect to names of villages and groups but were badly confused with respect to localities. In the densely populated but physiographically homogeneous delta region, with its scores of small streams, sloughs, and islands, explorers found it very difficult to establish clear landmarks by which the inhabitants might be oriented. A state of confusion has arisen of a kind to generate many controversies among ethnographers, controversies which are not pertinent in the present connection and which it is desirable to avoid as far as possible. In order to adopt a more or less uniform system with respect to tribal nomenclature and arrangement it is proposed to follow here the practice of Schenck (1926), who has made an exhaustive study of the area.

_Bolbones (syn. Cholbones, Chilamne, Chulame)._--This large group occupied the sloughs of the lower San Joaquin west of Stockton. Schenck, on his map (1926, p. 133) shows their territory as being bounded by the main stream of the San Joaquin River on the east and by the channel now known as the "Old River" on the west. This delineation of their habitat is supported by the diaries of Abella and Viader. Schenck classifies the subtribes or divisions of the main group as follows:

Cholbones a group Pescadero a village Jusmites or Cosmistas a village plus Fugites or Tugites a village plus Tomchom, under Fugites a village Nototemnes a village

Although these natives are mentioned frequently in the correspondence of the period, the first recorded exploration of their area was that of Fr. José Viader in 1810. This missionary left Mission San Jose on August 15 and went by way of Pittsburg and Antioch to the mouth of the San Joaquin, whence he traveled southeast to Pescadero, "... la rancheria de los Cholvones." Leaving the rancheria he went on up the river. Viader's second expedition was carried out during the month of October of the same year. This time he went directly from San Jose to Pescadero, which he says was 15 leagues northeast to east-northeast of Mission San Jose. The account at this point is not particularly lucid. The entry for October 20 states that at Pescadero the gentiles were having a dance (bayle). That for the following day begins with the statement that at dawn Viader's party attacked "... asaltamos una rancheria de este lado del rio y solo escapo un Christiano ..." Then they attacked another rancheria on the other side of the river and captured 15 Christians and 69 gentiles. From the context it may be inferred that the first rancheria attacked was the one at which the dance was being celebrated on the evening of the 20th, that is to say, Pescadero. If it was, then there was another, quite sizable, village just across the river. If the first village was not Pescadero, then there were two other villages in close proximity to it.

The next visitor was Fr. Ramon Abella, who left San Francisco by boat on October 15, 1811. Passing Sherman Island on the 18th and wandering erratically through the swamps he reached the "tierra de los cholbones" on the next day. On October 20 he reached the village of Pescadero but made no comment on it in his diary. After examining the territory of the Cosmistas and Boyboses 5 to 15 miles to the east, the party turned about 8 to 9 miles (3 leagues) northwest, following the general trend of the river downstream. At this point they found a rancheria of 900 persons "divididas en tres rancherias, alguna distancia una de otras. No vimos que la una: Se presentan como 150 personas ... y nos enseñaron al desembarcadero y las mismas casas que havía duplicado gente ..." Abella's distances are extremely inaccurate but it is apparent that the three villages mentioned were north or northwest of Pescadero.

The key village in this complex is Pescadero, a rancheria to which repeated reference is made in the documents of the period and whose identity neither Viader nor Abella could have mistaken. That it belonged to the Bolbones is attested by Viader's expression "... la rancheria de los Cholvones." Viader saw at least one and perhaps two other villages near by belonging to the same tribe. Abella clearly states that he saw three rancherias in addition to Pescadero. One of these may have been the one attacked by Viader, and if so, the entire group included a minimum of four villages. Otherwise, there were at least five. Abella's count of 900 persons for the three villages appears accurate and reasonable. On the other hand, Pescadero was evidently regarded as the most important rancheria of the area and probably was more populous than any other. Hence it must have contained no less than 400 persons. The sum of the four villages would then be 1,300.

Between 1806 and 1811 the mission records show a total of 200 baptisms ascribed to the Cholbones, most of them at San Jose. In addition, there were 81 baptisms from 1821 to 1828 designated Chilamne. At the time of Abella's visit, therefore, the area had been subject to repeated raids for the purpose of securing converts and must have undergone serious social and economic disturbance of the type noted throughout the entire San Joaquin Valley. Merely adding the 200 missionized natives would bring the population estimate for the Bolbones up to 1,500, and the aboriginal value was probably even higher.

The Jusmites, or Cosmistas, are credited by Schenck with "a village plus," meaning certainly one and probably two or more. Viader, on his second expedition, found "los indios Jusmites" about 2-1/2 leagues southeast of and up the river from the second village, which he attacked on October 21. This places them in the locality shown by Schenck on his map (1926, p. 133), i.e., in northwestern T1S, R6E. No further information is given by Viader. The next year Abella found "la rancheria de los Cosmistas" in approximately the same region, but gave no data regarding size. Neither author implies in any way that there was more than one village. At San Jose 86 converts were baptized from "Jossmit," a number which suggests a village of fully 300 inhabitants.

Viader on his first expedition, on August 20, went south-southeast from Pescadero for 3 leagues and reached a village "cuyo capitan se llama Tomchom." He then went 2-1/2 leagues southeast from the Jusmites and reached "los indios Tugites." Both Tomchom and Tugites therefore appear to have been in the same general area. For this reason Schenck has placed the Tugites, as a tribe, directly south of the Jusmites and has called Tomchom a village of the tribe. It is perhaps more likely that there were two villages involved (rather than a tribe and an included village), designated respectively Tomchom and Tugites. This view is substantiated by the baptism data. Of the entire group 268 were baptized, rather equally distributed between San Jose and Santa Clara. Over half the conversions occurred in the year 1811. The San Jose book lists 126 from "Tamcan" and 7 from "Tuguits." The Santa Clara book has 125 from "Los Tugites" and none under any other designation. It may therefore be concluded that two villages, or subtribes, were involved, one of which was taken to San Jose and the other to Santa Clara. A total of 268 converts would imply a population of at least 500 persons at the time of conversion and probably more aboriginally.

The village of Nototemnes is mentioned only by Duran in his diary of 1817. In the night of May 22-23 he passed "la rancheria de los Nototemnes," but did not actually see the village or count its inhabitants. However, the rancheria furnished 97 converts to Mission San Jose. It must therefore have contained at least 200 people. Schenck shows the Nototemnes as covering nearly two townships in the northern delta region and calls them "a village plus." He cites, however, no authority for this view other than Duran, and Duran, as mentioned above, refers only to the rancheria of the Nototemnes. There is no reason, consequently, for assuming more than one village for the tribe or group.

In summary, the Bolbones tribal complex consisted of fully eight medium to large villages. Those belonging to the Bolbones proper, four in number, were estimated to contain 1,500 persons. The Jusmites were allowed 300 persons, the Tugites 500, and the Nototemnes 200. The total is 2,500, and the average village size slightly over 300 persons.

(Bolbones ... 2,500) ____________________

_Leuchas._--Schenck shows this tribe as living east of the San Joaquin River 10 to 15 miles south of Stockton. He implies that the tribe contained two villages, Coyboses and Pitemis (Aupimis), in addition perhaps to other settlements. The mission books mention all three names and show baptisms (figures in parentheses), which may be tabulated as follows.

Baptisms, San Jose Baptisms, Santa Clara __________________ _____________________

Leuchas "Leucha" (26), "Los Leuchas" (81), 1805-1812 1805-1809 (88 per cent in (85 per cent in 1805-1806) 1805)

Pitemis None (60), 1814-1831 (98 per cent in 1814-1816)

Coybos (94), 1808-1826 None (71 per cent in 1811-1812)

To judge by the three separate periods in which the majority of the baptisms occurred there were three groups of people: the Leuchas, who were brought into the fold primarily during 1805 and 1806, the Coybos, principally in 1811-1812, and the Pitemis, converted two or three years later. The Leuchas were taken to both missions, but the Coybos were brought only to San Jose and the Pitemis only to Santa Clara. Abella said that in 1811 the village of Coybos had 180 inhabitants, a figure which has been used in computing the average village size. But the aboriginal population was probably greater. This view is substantiated by the events which preceded Abella's visit. In 1805 Father Cuevas of San Jose Mission went on an unauthorized expedition to the Leuchas--the best account is that by José Argüello (MS, 1805)--in search of converts.[5] He was badly treated and some of his men were wounded by the natives. This and the punitive expeditions which immediately followed no doubt accounted for the wave of conversions in 1805 and 1806. But at the same time the entire aboriginal group unquestionably suffered heavily from battle casualties and economic disturbance so that the population five years later must have been seriously reduced. It is thus justifiable to assume that originally there were three villages and that each was of average size. The population may therefore be set at fully 900 persons.

Some further information is derived from the recollections of José María Amador (MS, 1877). This pioneer, who received his facts second-hand from his father, mentions (pp. 13-15) the campaign of 1805 against the "Loechas," who, he says lived 4 to 5 leagues from Livermore. This would put them west of the San Joaquin River, south of the Bolbones, in T1S, R5E, not on the east bank as shown by Schenck. Amador then goes on to say that after the Cuevas affair the Leuchas "... se habian ya cambiado el rio de San Joaquin a una rancheria que se llamaba de los Pitemis." They were all captured and taken to San Jose. It is thus reasonably clear that the Leuchas originally did live west of the river, and crossed over to the east side as a result of the punitive expeditions of the Spaniards. Furthermore, the village of the Pitemis was already in existence at this time, probably at or near the spot shown by Schenck. Coybos undoubtedly was another village within the same area. This region, therefore, at the time of Abella's visit in 1807 contained the established villages of Pitemis and Coybos plus a residue of unconverted, fugitive Leuchas who had taken refuge in them.

Amador's assertion that the Leuchas were all captured and taken to San Jose is not borne out by the baptism figures, which show only 23 Leuchas enrolled at Mission San Jose in 1805 to 1806. Many more, actually 73, were baptized at Santa Clara in 1805. The total is 96, and scarcely represents the entire personnel of the group. Nevertheless, if we add the casualties of battle, disease, and exposure to those baptized in the missions, and allow for the dispersion of the remainder, the sum will amount to no less than the 300 assumed above for the Leuchas.

As for the Pitemis, Viader, on his first expedition, left Pescadero on August 20, 1810, and traveled south-southeast at some distance from the river. Within 3 leagues he passed "... en frente de una rancheria ... Aupemis." Schenck says (p. 141): "Pitemis is a village of the Leuchas and it seems that Aupimis is to be identified with it." This cannot be true because Viader is highly explicit to the effect that he was west of the river and Amador is equally emphatic in stating that Pitemis was across the San Joaquin from Leuchas, i.e., to the east of it. Since Viader's visit was in 1810, after the Cuevas affair, there must have been three rancherias of the Leuchas and their allies: Aupimis, Pitemis, and Coybos.

Parenthetically, and for the record, the present writer would like to offer the comment that certain modern writers tend to assert the identity of Spanish or Indian names without adequate evidence. Schenck's opinion that Aupimis and Pitemis were the same place could have been based upon no more than a fancied resemblance in the names. Also, on page 141 of his paper he says: "The Leuchas might possibly be identified with Kroeber's Lakisamni (Yokuts) on the Stanislaus river." A brief examination of the mission records, apart from any other evidence, shows conclusively that two separate and distinct tribes were recognized by the contemporary missionaries.

(Leuchas et al. ... 900) ________________________

_Ochejamnes._--This tribe is placed by Schenck on the east bank of the Sacramento River near the mouth of the Cosumnes. Kroeber refers to the village of Ochehak and considers it a "political community." He shows it on his map (1925, p. 446) as lying on the Mokelumne, due north of Stockton. Duran, in his diary, May 21 (MS, 1817), describes how he followed the main stream of the Sacramento, i.e., the left branch, on his way back from his stopping point above Courtland. He reached the rancheria "llamada de Oche jamnes," which, although it contained 40 houses, was deserted. Quite soon thereafter ("a poco rato") he reached "la punta de la isla llamada de los Quenemsias," which has been identified definitely as Grand Island. Clearly, therefore, in 1817 the Ochejamnes had a village on the Sacramento higher up the river than is shown by Schenck.