Chapter X
HOUSEHOLD TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS, AND WEAPONS

Implements for grinding foods were important. Mountain Maidu, in fact all Maidu tribes, ground some acorns on flat bed rock. When the resultant holes which eventually developed in the rock surfaces became deep, they were abandoned as the acorn meal tended to pack into hard lumps at the bottoms thereof. A heavy flat stone grinding slab was most frequently used. However, all Lassen area tribes had portable stone mortar bowls too. The Atsugewi and mountain Maidu did not make these nor did they use them for grinding food. Such portable stone mortars were found, evidently having been fashioned by more ancient tribes. Supernatural powers were ascribed to these mortars, and they were used only by shamans or medicine men. The Maidu thought that stone mortar bowls were made by Coyote at the time of creation and scattered over the world for the use of mankind. Others believed the mortars to have been “first people” originally, who were turned to stones in this form upon the coming of the Indian people at which time other “first people” were transformed into animals.

As has been described under the preparation of acorn mush, local tribes used the flat stone pounding slab under an open bottomed hopper basket, most commonly. The hopper basket of the Atsugewi and mountain Maidu was usually of twined construction and bound often with buckskin about the basal edge. Mountain Maidu sometimes employed their coiling technique in making the acorn pounding basket. It was from this tribe, at the turn of the century, that Atsugewi learned to make their pounding hopper baskets of the stronger coiled construction.

Pestles of stone were long, smoothed, and sometimes flattened on the sides. This resulted from use of these implements also as rubbing or mulling stones for processing small seeds on flat slabs without employment of basket hoppers. The pestles were always without the ornamentation used by certain other California tribes. The pounding end of the food grinding pestles are ever so slightly convex—their grinding surfaces are nearly flat. This is in contrast to pestles used in the deep bowl-shaped portable stone mortars for ceremonial purposes. The grinding ends of these pestles were strongly rounded, nearly hemispherical in shape.

The muller or small seed crusher used on the flat grinding slab without a hopper basket was of oval or rectangular shape, and it too was unornamented.

Small brushes used in miscellaneous food preparation were made of pounded dried soap-plant bulb fibers.

Hot rocks for cooking were usually handled with two sticks. None of our tribes used spoons. Crude obsidian knives with, or more commonly without, bone handles were used for many chores.

Yana used split cobble stones for cutting and scraping operations. Their stone knives sometimes had wrapped buckskin handles.

Bone awls, usually with wrapped handles, were commonly used for sewing buckskin and other hides. Atsugewi are said by some to have had both eyed and open notched needles of bone for sewing skins and tule mats.

The wooden shuttle for net weaving was a stick notched at both ends and was used by all of the local tribes. A squarish wooden net mesh spacer permitted nets to be properly made.

Mountain Maidu used deer antler wedges for splitting wood while Atsugewi used wooden wedges—especially of mountain-mahogany. Wedges were usually driven with simple wooden clubs, though rocks might be employed for the purpose.

Drills for boring holes in shell work and for making pipes and the like were used by Atsugewi only. Such drills were wooden shafts with stone points. These were rotated by rolling the shaft between the palms of the hands. Where the drill was not in use, holes were made in pieces of wood with live coals. Sometimes unfinished clamshell money was received in trade perhaps at a discount. Such pieces were strung tightly onto a cord and the whole string was then rolled between two flat stones thus grinding the shell edges to make the well formed disks characteristic of clam shell money.

Fire making drills were of greater importance. All local tribes employed them. Those of this area were one-piece hand rotated affairs which did not utilize the labor saving drill bow of the midwest. A long buckeye wood stick about half an inch thick was twirled on a notched block of incense-cedar or juniper wood. A bed of dry shredded grass and incense-cedar or other flammable tinder was used to nourish the spark into flame. Both sexes made fire among the Yana and Yahi, but unless the men were away, Atsugewi and mountain Maidu women did not make fire. Buckeye was uncommon or lacking in the areas of the latter tribes, so this material had to be traded from the Yana and Yahi. Buckeye fire making sticks commanded quite a price, a piece two feet long often selling for ten completed arrows. Since fire making required much effort and skill, fire was rarely allowed to go out. A “slow match” consisting of a piece of punky wood in which the fire smouldered was usually carried along.

It was as true in prehistoric America as it is today that weapons were essential to existence. Weapons were necessary not only for warfare—whether aggressive or defensive—but for the securing of game for food since domestication of animals was not practiced.

The bow and arrow was the only important weapon of California Indians. Local bows were rather short and quite broad in cross-section. We quote Garth’s “Atsugewi Ethnography” on the subject as follows:

“... The best bows were made by the Atsuge, who had a supply of yew wood ... along the western borders of their territory. The Paiute were anxious to trade for Atsuge bows and considered them much superior to their own. In making the bow a piece of yew wood was selected, split, and shaved down with flints and pumice stone to the required form and thickness. After it had been wrapped in green grass and roasted in hot ashes, the bow was bent to required shape (recurved tips with a slight incurve at the middle), which it retained when it cooled off. Sinew, taken from the back of a deer, was softened by chewing and was then glued on the back of the bow in short strips, which were rubbed out as flat as possible with a smooth piece of bone. Salmon skins were boiled to make the glue.

“The designs painted in green and red on the backs of bows are among the few examples of masculine art. The painting was done with a feather tip. The sinew for the bowstring ... was chewed to make it soft and then it was made into a two-ply cord by rolling it with the open hand on the thigh. After salmon glue was rubbed in to make the fibers stick together, the string was stretched by tying a rock to one end and allowing it to hang down from some support. A tassel ... of mole skin might be attached to the end of the bow for decoration....

“... Flint tipped arrows ... were made of cane or rose and had foreshafts of Serviceberry, or they might be entirely of Service wood. Cane arrows ... with a sharp-pointed foreshaft of Serviceberry were commonly used for small animals and birds. Such arrows might be unfeathered ... (an informant) recalled a bird arrow ... with a barbed wooden point. Deer-bone pointed arrows were sometimes used for killing deer and other game. Voegelin reports that these arrows were also sometimes barbed. Flint-tipped arrows were about thirty inches long ... arrows for small game were somewhat shorter than flint-tipped arrows ... the wood was ordinarily dried before it was used. The end of the Serviceberry foreshaft was cut into a dowel which was inserted in the soft pithy center of the main shaft, the juncture being wrapped with sinew. A notch one-fourth of an inch deep was cut in the butt. A laterally notched obsidian arrow point was inserted in the split end of the foreshaft and bound on with cross lashings of sinew. The binding was ordinarily waterproofed with pitch.

“Two small grooved pumice stones were used to smooth arrow shafts. The foreshaft was painted red as an indication that poison had been applied to the point. Other bands or stripes of color toward the nock end of the arrow served as ownership marks ... the stripes might run spirally as on a stick of candy ... all kinds of colors being used for painting arrows. Feathers were split along the midrib and were glued to the shaft, about a finger’s width below the butt, with pitch. Sinew wrapping bound down each end of the feathers, three of which—about four inches long—were used to an arrow. The edge of the feather was burned smooth with a hot coal. Feathers of hawks or similar birds were used on ordinary arrows, but for the finest arrows—those to be used for bear and deer—eagle feathers were employed. An arrow wrench of bone or wood was used for straightening arrows; or they might simply be straightened by using the teeth as a vise. A flat antelope horn might be perforated and used as an arrow wrench.... (John La Mar) had a small triangular stone with a hole in the center ... which, he said was heated in the fire and used for straightening cane arrows.

“Although the flint points themselves were considered poisonous, an arrow poison was often used for larger game as well as in war. The usual method of making poison was to take the liver or pancreas of a deer and allow it to rot; the material was then smeared on the arrow point....”

Rattlesnake poison was also employed; however none of the poisoned arrow concoctions were very effective except to start infection of wounds inflicted by arrow points so treated.

a. Goose Valley, design in red (Apwaruge)

b. Goose Valley, design in red (Apwaruge)

c. Drawn by Dave Brown (Atsuge) with outer lines red, inner lines green

Arrow points found in the park area, in the territory of both Atsugewi and mountain Maidu are most frequently of obsidian, but sometimes are of a dense dull black basalt lava. The term flint is a very loose one, being applied to obsidian, chert, opal, chalcedony, and even to the dense basalt, noted above, in common usage.

Mountain Maidu imported yew wood as this did not commonly grow in their own territory. This tribe, however, also manufactured its own bows. In practically all respects bow and arrow design and execution were identical to that of the Atsugewi. Those of Yana and Yahi were similar too. All tribes of the Lassen area fashioned arrow points with barbs. In addition mountain Maidu flaked points without barbs but with basal stems for attachment were made.

MOUNTAIN MAIDU STONE POINTS

ATSUGEWI KNIFE (?) AND ARROW POINT

SOUTHERN YANA POINTS

The bow was most frequently held in shooting at an angle of about 45 degrees with the arrow on top. Mountain Maidu used that style, too, or else held the bow horizontally with the arrow on top except in case of war when the arrow was held on the underside of the bow. Gifford and Klimak reveal that northern and central Yana held the bow horizontally. Sapir and Spier found that the Yana tribes proper (not Yahi), however held bows vertically in shooting. All tribes considered except Yahi used the primary release of the arrow in shooting. In this method the arrow was held between the index and third fingers, which caught and pulled back the string. The thumb held the other side of the arrow. The Yahi, on the other hand used the Mongolian release; grasping the arrow with the thumb and unbent first joints of the first and second fingers.

“... the arrow was let fly between the index and third finger of the left hand, which held the bow. Many arrow points were uniface and curved slightly to one side.... A hunter, when shooting at a distant object, turned the arrow so that the point curved up; when shooting an object close by, he turned the arrow so that the point curved down. A hunter carried at least one arrow in his left hand with his bow. Extra arrows were carried in a quiver ... (made of) coyote, raccoon, or other skins. Ordinarily the hunter carried his quiver on his back, but if he wanted to be able to reach the arrows easily, he hung it on his ... shoulder so that it fell under his left armpit. Arrows were taken from the quiver with the right hand.”

Inside the quiver, at the bottom, a cushion of dry grass was placed to prevent the stone points from chipping each other.

YAHI STONE POINTS

War clubs were not used. Atsugewi claim to have had a stone axe, sharpened by chipping and lashed with sinew to a split oak or mountain-mahogany handle a foot or so long. It was used for chopping roots and small trees on occasion, but the stone axe was certainly not widely used by California Indians, and even among Atsugewi it may have been unknown until the coming of white man, or knowledge of it may have been gained from Plains Indians after the advent of the horse. The tomahawk, so important to Indians of eastern and midwestern North America, was unknown to California Indians. Trees were normally felled and cut by controlled burning.

Four-foot spears, tipped with large flaked stone points for fighting at close quarters, were used by all local tribes on occasion, but were not numerous. Only the Yana are believed to have thrown the weapon; the more common usage seems to have been by energetically thrusting it.

Knives or daggers as fighting implements were made of chipped obsidian but were quite rare. A short, crude, one edged, stone knife was used widely as a general utility implement, but not in combat nor in killing game. Yana Indians also employed a mussel shell knife for light delicate work around camp. Atsugewi and mountain Maidu sometimes affixed wooden handles to their obsidian knives. These two tribes also fashioned knives of sharpened bone and horn.

Of equipment for warfare, Garth states:

“Defensive armor included rod armor ..., gowns ... of dried elk or bear skins, and skin helmets which came down over the forehead and ears, ‘so a man could just see out of it’. The skin armor extended to the ankles or lower; it was worn over one shoulder so that it protected only the side of the body turned toward the enemy. Rod armor, made of serviceberry withes twined together with buckskin string, was high enough to come up to the neck under the chin and extended two or three inches below the belt. The Plains Indian shield, although found among the Surprise Valley Paiute and other Paiute tribes to the east, was lacking among the Atsugewi,” and all other tribes of the Lassen area.

Chapter XI
BASKETRY AND TEXTILES

The outstanding art of the Indians of California was their basketry. In fact the excellence of California basketry generally is not exceeded elsewhere in North America. Size varies from that of a pea to that of a bushel basket. Both weave and ornamentation were very diversified.

Basketry of the Lassen area, especially that of the Atsugewi and mountain Maidu, was of good quality. Both coiled and twined types of basketry (to be described below) were made by mountain Maidu, but the Atsugewi did not learn the art of coiled basketry from the Maidu until the early 1900’s. Yana and Yahi wove both types but twined baskets were by far the more numerous. This is due to the fact that these tribes were akin to the twining tribes of the north. Close contact with the neighboring Wintun tribes of the Sacramento Valley resulted in the addition of limited amount of coiling technique in their basketry making over the years.

Coiled basketry itself had some technical variations with which we shall not concern ourselves. The coiling technique was characteristic of the central and southern part of the California area. Mountain Maidu used three willow rods in a parallel group which ran as a core in a continuous spiral starting at the center of the basket. This was the warp element. The bundle of three willow ribs was lashed to the preceding basketry by a strand or weft (filler) of the inner bark of redbud. This was accomplished by poking an awl through the preceding row, and separating the stitches. In doing so, the awl was passed under the topmost of the core or warp of three coiling willow ribs. A redbud bark strand was then slipped through the awl hole, thus lashing the three loose willow ribs down by passing the strand around them and through the next awl hole in the preceding row. Recent Atsugewi coiled basketry technique is similar in all details, having been learned from the Maidu.

Twined basketry consisted of willow ribs radiating from a common center. These twigs were the warp. The weft of filling and binding stitches were split pine root strands. Dixon states that mountain Maidu sometimes dyed pine root black by burying it in mud mixed with charcoal. Pine root was tightly woven in to make the bottom of the basket which was normally undecorated. More and more willow ribs were added as the basket became larger. The willow ribs were curved up when willow rib additions were decreased. As the sides began to be built up on these twined baskets, each pine root stitch, both inside and outside, was covered with a whitish strand of bear-grass or squaw-grass. The tops of baskets were often left unfinished after the unused willow warps were clipped off. The basket did not unravel in use. However, the best baskets were finished by adding a marginal strengthening ring of choke cherry or willow which was bound to the basket body firmly and neatly, usually by wrapping with strands of redbud bark. During weaving willow withes were fastened inside of the basket to help it retain its shape, but these were removed upon completion of the basket.

Some utility baskets were undecorated, being made merely of pine root and willow, or, if coiled, of redbud and willow. However, most baskets bore some designs. They were all named and were inspired by the objects of nature about these outdoor peoples, and not the product of their imaginations. Nevertheless, the designs are quite stylized, often to the extent that recognition of the inspiration is difficult or impossible.

In the case of twined baskets the designs were made by substituting outer redbud bark for squaw-grass to produce a dull red instead of the white overlaid stitches of the rest of the basket. As a result of the double twining technique the designs were seen equally well on the inside and the outside of each basket. Black designs were of overlaid maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) stems. However, mountain Maidu also used common bracken fern (Pteris aquilinum) for black designs. Indians to the north of the Atsugewi used roots and stems of certain sedges treated with charcoal and mud or with ashes and water to produce basketry materials of black and of warm henna-brown coloration respectively. These were used on occasion by Atsugewi. The bear-grass, redbud, and maidenhair fern decorative materials were most commonly used by all tribes of this area. Atsugewi are the only local Indians to have used feathers to adorn their baskets. They used the shiny iridescent blue-green feathers from the necks of male mallard ducks. This was not common, however, and by no means used as often nor developed to the fine art and diversity of the famous Pomo feathered basketry of the Clear Lake region of the California Coast Range. Atsugewi are also believed to have occasionally adorned some basketry work with shell beads and porcupine quills, but this must have been quite rare or more examples would have survived to the present day.

Outer bark of redbud almost always decorated coiled baskets.

Concerning Maidu basketry Dixon states that the vast majority of the articles are of the coiled type, twining technique being used only for burden baskets and hopper or grinding baskets. For the radial ribs of the former they used shoots of hazel (Corylus rostrata var. californica) when available. He points out too, the frequent use of the feather, quail-tip, and arrow-point designs not only among the mountain Maidu, but among all Maidu. A characteristic of this group of Indians also, in contrast to other local tribes, is the tendency to confine one design to a basket rather than combining designs. Maidu employed a wide variety of designs. Many of them represent animals and plants. A considerable number of Maidu patterns exhibit a more or less obscure realism which becomes apparent only after one is informed as to what the design means. The Maidu show a tendency also toward arrangement of design elements in spiral or zigzag lines.

Dixon noted that “mussel’s tongue” (the fresh water mussel) is one of the unique and peculiar basketry designs used by the Atsugewi. Representation of intestines and deer excrement are also worthy of special mention for this tribe. Other common Atsugewi designs in basketry decoration are lizard, deer rib, owl’s claw, and flying geese, as well as arrow-point. Two or more different designs are often combined on a single basket. Among Atsugewi and Achomawi there seems to be no restriction of certain patterns to baskets intended for special uses. Like mountain Maidu, zigzag and spiral arrangements are preferred, horizontal bands being rare. Curiously an Atsugewi design is often given different meaning by different individual Indians. This is in contrast to the uniformity of interpretation of a given design by all the Maidu individuals, normally.

Yana tribes frequently substituted another material for willow ribs. The identity of this warp is not certain. Reliable students believe it to be hazelnut twigs, but to my knowledge that plant is scarce indeed even in the foothill territory. Yana and Yahi had some other peculiarities in their basketry. Designs were sometimes wrought in a negative way, that is by merely leaving off overlay so that the design was thereby defined in exposed pine root weft. Sapir and Spier found that these tribes also used alder bark for dying basketry decoration materials a red-brown. A reddish color was produced on peeled shield fern stems by passing them through the mouth while chewing dogwood bark. They dyed pine roots, too, on occasion with a red soil or with the powdery filling of spores from the inside of a fungus obtained from certain coniferous trees. These variations of basketry decoration do not seem to have been used by the Atsugewi and mountain Maidu.

The basketry described above was all close-woven. In fact, so closely were the twined baskets made that they held water with little or no leakage even without linings of pitch or any other substance. There was no pottery of any kind in central or northern California.

The art of basketry included also a third type—loose or open weaving, sometimes of tules. The latter were also used extensively for making mats for a variety of purposes. Open weaving at other times was done with willow withes, split juniper twigs, or of another material tentatively identified as hazel. Fish traps, carrying baskets, some storage baskets, and bags were not infrequently of this type of construction.

All basketry materials had to be well soaked in water, as they were brittle when dry. After weaving and upon drying these materials set in place, making the basketry firm, strong, and resistant to unraveling.

Collection of basketry materials was more arduous and required greater know-how than might be suspected. Willow withes were only taken from the particularly strong and supple shoots from Hinds or valley willow (Salix hindsiana) which grows along stream banks up to 3000 foot elevations and also from the similar sandbar, river, or grey willow (Salix fluviatilis variety argyrophylla) which also lines streams, often growing in sandbars. These species are recognized by their long very narrow silvery leaves and a grey bark, furrowed when mature. Willow twigs were collected when the leaves were off of the stems in the spring and in the fall. At other times the twigs were more brittle. Spring picked willow withes “slipped” their bark easily, but those collected in the fall had to be scraped to remove the bark. The willow ribs were further dressed by scraping to uniform size.

Pine roots of either ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) or digger pine (Pinus sabiniana) were usually used. However not all trees had roots of suitable strength and flexibility, so that it was necessary to “shop around” for good roots. This involved digging holes to reach the roots and then testing these by tugging on small strands until suitable roots were located. Roots three or four inches in diameter were then cut off with a small obsidian axe, if the individual were so fortunate as to possess this rarity, or by using a sort of bone pick, or, more commonly, by slowly burning through the green root with a small fire. Root lengths of about four feet were gathered, taken home, and there roasted in hot ashes. This made the pine roots very soft. They were then split into quarters with digging sticks or stone choppers and finally were pulled apart into thin strips using hands and teeth. The resulting half inch wide strips were tied into bundles for storage. In use, these strips were well soaked in water. Pine root strands of proper width were easily split off by hand. The finer and smaller the basketry to be done, naturally, the narrower was the material split for making it.

The chief overlay material—already mentioned—was what we call bear-grass or squaw-grass. In truth this is not grass, but the leaf of a lily, the well known bear-grass of Mount Rainier National Park, scientifically known as Xerophylum tenax. This grows only in limited areas in this region, hence Atsugewi had to make long trips on foot to obtain it. In recent years, at least, bear-grass was to be found only in the territory of the Shasta and of the mountain Maidu: a few miles west of Mount Shasta and near Greenville in Plumas County. Bear-grass could be collected only during about two weeks in mid-July. Earlier it was too tender; later it was too brittle “like hay”. Only new central leaves of each plant were plucked. The heavy mid-rib had to be removed from each leaf with an awl before use.

Maidenhair fern frond stems were picked in August.

Redbud twigs collected in the spring would “slip” the red outer bark easily in a thin layer. This was used for overlay pattern making on twined baskets. The white inner bark, or, more properly, sapwood was then stripped off for binding material and as the white lashing weft for coiled baskets. In the case of fall-collected redbud twigs the red outer bark adhered to the sapwood. This was used as the lashing strand or weft where red designs were desired on coiled baskets.

Apwaruge, the eastern division of the Atsugewi, often made baskets of tules. These were more flexible, softer baskets than those made by the westerners, the Atsuge, and so there was considerable exchange of baskets between the two divisions of the Atsugewi.

Atsugewi occasionally made openwork baskets from split juniper too, especially for low scoop-shaped, round, or oval baskets for fishing, root cleaning, et cetera, but as indicated earlier, willow ribs were used for this purpose also.