The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft

seemed to possess great muscular strength; they have very coarse black hair.' Some of the women were more than five feet six inches in height. And speaking of the Californian Indians, in general, 'they are of a middling, or rather of a low stature, and of a dark brown colour, approaching to black … large projecting lips, and broad, flat, negro-like noses; … bear a strong resemblance to the negroes. … None of the men we saw were above five feet high … ill-proportioned … we had never seen a less pleasing specimen of the human race.' Langsdorff's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 194–5, 164, see plate. And speaking generally of the Californian Indians: 'Die Männer sind im Allgemeinen gut gebaut und von starker Körperbildung,' height 'zwischen fünf Fuss vier Zoll und fünf Fuss zehn oder eilf Zoll.' Complexion 'die um ein klein wenig heller als bei den Mulatten, also weit dunkler ist, als bei den übrigen Indianerstämmen.' Osswald, Californien, p. 62. The coast Indians 'are about five feet and a half in height, and rather slender and feeble,' in the interior they 'are taller and more robust.' Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 364. 'Cubische Schädelform, niedrige Stirn, breites Gesicht, mit hervorragendem Jochbogen, breite Lippen und grosser Mund, mehr platte Nase und am Innenwinkel herabgezogene Augen.' Wimmel, Californien, pp. v, 177. 'Les Californiens sont presque noirs; la disposition de leur yeux et l'ensemble de leur visage leur donnent avec les européens une ressemblance assez marquée.' Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 279–80. 'They are small in stature; thin, squalid, dirty, and degraded in appearance. In their habits little better than an ourang-outang, they are certainly the worst type of savage I have ever seen.' Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 249. 'More swarthy in complexion, and of less stature than those east of the Rocky Mountains … more of the Asiatic cast of countenance than the eastern tribe.' Delano's Life on the Plains, p. 304. 'Dépasse rarement la hauteur de cinq pieds deux ou trois pouces; leur membres sont grêles et médiocrement musclés. Ils ont de grosses lévres qui se projettent en avant, le nez large et aplati comme les Ethiopiens; leurs cheveux sont noirs, rude et droits.' Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165. 'Generally of small stature, robust appearance, and not well formed.' Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. 'Schön gewachsen und von schwärtzlich-brauner Farbe.' Mühlenpfordt Mejico, tom. ii., part ii., p. 455. 'Low foreheads and skins as black as Guinea negroes.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 85. 'En naissant les enfants sont presque blancs … mais ils noircissent en grandissant.' 'Depuis le nord du Rio Sacramento jusqu'au cap San Lucas … leurs caractères physique, leurs moeurs et leurs usages sont les mêmes.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 263, 367. 'Skin of such a deep reddish-brown that it seems almost black.' Figuier's Human Race, p. 493; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 528; Forbes' Cal., pp. 180–3; Harper's Monthly, vol. xiii., p. 583. 'A fine set of men, who, though belonging to different nationalities, had very much the same outward appearance; so that when you have seen one you seem to have seen them all.' Pim and Seemann's Dottings, p. 15.

506. On the Sacramento River 'the men universally had some show of a beard, an inch or so in length, but very soft and fine.' Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. 'They had beards and whiskers an inch or two long, very soft and fine.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. On Russian River 'they have quite heavy moustaches and beards on the chin, but not much on the cheeks, and they almost all suffer it to grow.' The Clear Lake Indians 'have also considerable beards, and hair on the person.' At the head of South Fork of Eel River, 'they pluck their beards.' Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., pp. 108–119. At Monterey 'plusieurs ont de la barbe; d'autres, suivant les pères missionaires, n'en ont jamais eu, et c'est un question qui n'est pas même décidée dans le pays.' La Pérouse, Voy., vol. ii., p. 282. 'Les Californiens ont la barbe plus fournie que les Chiliens, et les parties génitales mieux garnies: cependant j'ai remarqué, parmi les hommes, un grand nombre d'individus totalement dépourvus de barbe; les femmes ont aussi peu de poil au pénil et aux aisselles.' Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., vol. iv., p. 53. 'They have the habit common to all American Indians of extracting the beard and the hair of other parts of their body.' Farnham's Life in Cal., p. 364. Beards 'short, thin, and stiff.' Bartlett's Nar., vol. ii., p. 34. 'In general very scanty, although occasionally a full flowing beard is observed.' Forbes' Cal., pp. 181–2. 'Beards thin; many shave them close with mussel-shells.' Langsdorff's Voy., vol. ii., p. 164. 'Ihr Bart ist schwach.' Wimmel, Californien, vol. v. At San Antonio, 'in the olden times, before becoming christians, they pulled out their beards.' Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. Choris in his Voy. Pitt., plates vi., vii., xii., of part iii., draws the Indians with a very slight and scattered beard. 'Pluck out their beard.' Auger, Voy. in Cal., p. 165. 'Wear whiskers.' Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. 'Les Indiens qui habitent dans la direction du cap de Nouvel-An (del Año Nuevo) … ont des moustaches.' Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 335. Mühlenpfordt mentions that at the death of a relation, 'die Männer raufen Haupthaar und Bart sich aus.' Mejico, vol. ii., part ii., p. 456.

507. At Fort Ross 'Die Männer gehen ganz nackt, die Frauen hingegen bedecken nur den mittleren Theil des Körpers von vorne und von hinten mit den Fellen wilder Ziegen; das Haar binden die Männer auf dem Schopfe, die Frauen am Nacken in Büschel zusammen; bisweilen lassen sie es frei herunter wallen; die Männer heften die Büschel mit ziemlich künstlich, aus einer rothen Palme geschnitzten Hölzchen fest.' Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 82. At Clear Lake 'the women generally wear a small round, bowl-shaped basket on their heads; and this is frequently interwoven with the red feathers of the woodpecker, and edged with the plume tufts of the blue quail.' Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. See also p. 68, plate xiv., for plate of ornaments. At Kelsey River, dress 'consists of a deer-skin robe thrown over the shoulders.' Id., p. 122. In the Sacramento Valley 'they were perfectly naked.' Kelly's Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. 'Both sexes have the ears pierced with large holes, through which they pass a piece of wood as thick as a man's finger, decorated with paintings or glass beads.' Pfeiffer's Second Journ., p. 307. 'The men go entirely naked; but the women, with intuitive modesty, wear a small, narrow, grass apron, which extends from the waist to the knees, leaving their bodies and limbs partially exposed.' Delano's Life on the Plains, pp. 305, 307. 'They wear fillets around their heads of leaves.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. 'The dress of the women is a cincture, composed of narrow slips of fibrous bark, or of strings of 'Californian flax,' or sometimes of rushes.' Men naked. Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. At Bodega they 'most liberally presented us with plumes of feathers, rosaries of bone, garments of feathers, as also garlands of the same materials, which they wore round their head.' Maurelle's Jour., p. 47. 'The women wore skins of animals about their shoulders and waists;' hair 'clubbed behind.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. Around San Francisco Bay: 'in summer many go entirely naked. The women, however, wear a deer-skin, or some other covering about their loins; but skin dresses are not common.' To their ears the women 'attach long wooden cylinders, variously carved, which serve the double purpose of ear-rings and needle-cases.' Beechey's Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. 'All go naked.' Chamisso, in Kotzebue's Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. 'The men either go naked or wear a simple breech-cloth. The women wear a cloth or strips of leather around their loins.' Bartlett's Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 33. Three hundred years ago we are told that the men in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay 'for the most part goe naked; the women take a kinde of bulrushes, and kembing it after the manner of hemp, make themselues thereof a loose garment, which being knitte about their middles, hanges downe about their hippes, and so affordes to them a couering of that which nature teaches should be hidden; about their shoulders they weare also the skin of a deere, with the haire vpon it.' The king had upon his shoulders 'a coate of the skins of conies, reaching to his wast; his guard also had each coats of the same shape, but of other skin. … After these in their order, did follow the naked sort of common people, whose haire being long, was gathered into a bunch behind, in which stucke plumes of feathers; but in the forepart onely single feathers like hornes, every one pleasing himselfe in his owne device.' Drake's World Encomp., pp. 121, 126. 'Asi como Adamitas