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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS
IN
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY
Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 155-219, 1 figure in text March 29, 1918
CLANS AND MOIETIES IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
BY
EDWARD WINSLOW GIFFORD
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Vol. 1. 1. Life and Culture of the Hupa, by Pliny Earle Goddard. Pp. 1-88;
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS
IN
AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY
Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 155-219, 1 figure in text March 29, 1918
CLANS AND MOIETIES IN SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
BY
EDWARD WINSLOW GIFFORD
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introductory note 155
Yuman clans 156
Colorado River tribes 156
Diegueno 167
Piman clans 174
Shoshonean clans and moieties 177
Serrano 178
Cahuilla .' 186
Cupeno 192
Luisefio 202
Moieties, clans, and totemism in California 215
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
In December, 1916, and January, 1917, a five weeks' trip was
made to southern California for the purpose of studying the kinship
systems of various Yuman and Shoshonean groups. The preliminary
data concerning social organization presented in the following pages
were secured at that time. The data on Shoshonean social organization
are of particular interest as they make clear that the southern Cali-
fornia Shoshoneans form a connecting link between the totemic group
in the north, consisting of the Miwok, northern Yokuts, and Mono,1
and the totemic group in the south, formed by the Yuman and Piman
tribes.
Acknowledgment is due Dr. A. L. Kroeber for the use of his
unpublished data on Mohave and Papago clans.
i See E. W. Gifford, Dichotomous Social Organization in South Central Cali-
fornia, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., xi, 291-296, 1916.
156 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
YUMAN CLANS
The clans of the Mohave, Yuma, Cocopa, Kohuana, Maricopa, and
Kamia2 possess several features in common : paternal descent, ex-
ogamy, and clan names, of totemic connotation, for females only.
Dr. Kroeber has stated the case for the Mohave as follows :
Certain men, and all their ancestors and descendants in the male line, have
only one name for all their female relatives. Thus, if the female name hereditary
in my family be Maha, my father's sister, my own sisters, my daughters (no
matter how great their number), and my son's daughters, will all be called
Maha. There are about twenty such women's names, or virtual gentes, among
the Mohave. None of these names seems to have any signification. But accord-
ing to the myths of the tribe, certain numbers of men originally had, or were
given, such names as Sun, Moon, Tobacco, Fire, Cloud, Coyote, Deer, Wind, Beaver,
Owl, and others, which correspond exactly to totemic clan names; then these
men were instructed by Mastamho, the chief mythological being, to call all their
daughters and female descendants in the male line by certain names corresponding
to these clan names. Thus the male ancestors of all the women who at present
bear the name Hipa, are believed to have been originally named Coyote. It is
also said that all those with one name formerly lived in one area, and were all
considered related. This, however, is not the case now, nor does it seem to have
been so within recent historic times. It should also be added that many members
of the tribe are not aware of the connection between the present women's names
and the totemic names of the myth.s
The Northern and Southern Diegueno lack totemic clans, although
they possess groups which may be considered as non-totemic, localized
clans, as will be pointed out later. The Diegueno, particularly the
Northern, were long under the control of the Franciscan missionaries,
many being taken to the mission at San Diego. The Colorado River
tribes were not subject to mission influence and doubtless to-day
present a more complete picture of their aboriginal culture than do
the Diegueno.
COLOEADO EIVEB TEIBES
Tables 1 and 2 list the clans of the Mohave, Yuma,4 Cocopa,
Kohuana, Maricopa, and Kamia, first by totemic references, second
2 By this term is meant the so-called Yuma Diegueno, closely related in dialect
to the Southern Diegueno, who are agricultural people dwelling on the Colorado
Eiver just below the southern frontier of California. These people are bordered
on the north by the Yuma, with whom they are reputed to have allied themselves
in war against their southern neighbors, the Cocopa, as well as against the Mari-
copa. The Cocopa call the Kamia, Wasmisxa; the Yuma call them at present
Witcankamiya, probably a translation of English ' ' Yuma Diegueno. ' '
3 Preliminary Sketch of the Mohave Indians, Am. Anthr., n. s., iv, 278, 1902.
* I am indebted to Mr. L. L. Odle, Superintendent of the Yuma Indian Eeser-
vation, for the privilege of inspecting the Agency records in determining the
existing clans upon the reservation. This inspection yielded fourteen, represented
by the following women's names: Havtcats, Alymos, Hipa, Liots, Mave, Meta,
Wahas, Kwicku, Sikuma, SinykwaL, Cikupas, Sikus, Tcia, Waksi.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 157
by women's names. All of the Mohave women's names were obtained
by Dr. A. L. Kroeber5 except the name Kwinifla, which is from Mr.
E. S. Curtis' list.6 This list, though not so lengthy as Dr. Kroeber 's,
agrees with his throughout. The Kohuana7 and Maricopa names are
entirely from Mr. Curtis' work. The Yuma list is a compound of
Mr. J. P. Harrington's and my own, with Mr. Harrington's orthog-
raphy" slightly altered. The Cocopa and Kamia are entirely mine.
Table 2 compares the names for women employed by the clans of
the Mohave, Yuma, Cocopa, Kohuana, Maricopa, and Kamia. Con-
sidering the identity of the institution in . these several tribes, it is
surprising how few of the names are held in common by two or more
of the tribes. The name with the totemic connotation of "dove" or
"pigeon" seems to be widest spread, Yuma, Cocopa, Kohuana, and
Kamia using it. The Cocopa word is Sakuma, which the other three
render as Sikama or Sikuma. The name Hipa, connoting "coyote,"
is used by the Mohave, Yuma, and Maricopa. The stem connoting
"rattlesnake" is shared by Yuma, Kohuana, and Cocopa. The word
Halpot or Halypota is shared by Mohave, Yuma, and Kohuana,
although with varying connotations. Aside from these four instances
no name is common to more than two tribes, and comparatively few
are even shared by two. Table 3 abstracts these instances from table
2 and presents them in more concise form, first listing the names of
women and then the corresponding totemic references. In table 1
a solid line ( ) indicates the occurrence of the totemic reference,
but the absence of the woman's clan name. In table 2 a solid line
indicates the occurrence of the woman's clan name, but the absence
of the totemic reference. In both tables 1 and 2 a dotted line indicates
non-occurrence of the name listed in the left-hand column.
s Unpublished material. A list of fourteen clans has been published by
Captain John G. Bourke in his Cosmogony and Theogony of the Mojave Indians
(Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, n, 180, 181, 1889). The list agrees with Dr. Kroeber 's
throughout, except that the connotations of certain of the terms are different.
In Captain Bourke 's list Maha is assigned to caterpillar, Kata to "mescal" as
well as tobacco, and Masipa to coyote instead of quail. With regard to the name
Masipa, which is no. 12 of his list and which connotes the coyote, Captain Bourke
says: "No. 12 was originally a band of Maricopas that came to live with the
Mojaves but have always remained as a separate clan."
e The North American Indian (Cambridge, Univ. Press, 1908), n, 113. The
orthography of Mr. Curtis ' lists has been slightly modified to correspond with that
employed in this paper.
' Mentioned by Mr. Curtis as "Maricopa from the Cocopa." Dr. Kroeber
considers that these are probably clans of the refugee Kohuana or HalchiSoma.
s A Yuma Account of Origins, Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, xxi, 344, 345, 1908. The
following are listed: Xavtsats, Hipa, tLa0ts, Maave' Ciqupas, Met 'a, Ab'mos,
SinykwaL, fistamadhun, Kwicku, Xalvpot, Xakci.
158
University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
TOTEMIC EEFERENCE
TABLE 1
Clan Name of Woman
Sun
Mohave
Nyo 'iltca
Nyo 'iltca
Hoalya
Mathatcva
Owitc
Yuma
Cocopa
KOHUANA
Maricopa
Liatc
Liatc
Kamia
Fire
Moon
Wind
Cloud
Rain cloud
Liots
Kwiye
Kwas
Sikus
' ' Colorado Eiver ' '
Salt
Sand
Ksila
Hard ground
Waksi
Alymos
SinykwaL
Hipa
Niu
Deer
Nyo 'iltca
Hipa
Masipa
Moha
Siulya
Malyikha
Kwinis
Kwaku
Deer-hide
Coyote
Coyote
Fox
Sikus
Hipa
Kunyih
Hipa
Kunyih
Mountain sheep
Beaver
Kasmus
Wahas
Wood rat
Wild cat
Nimi
' ' Any yellow animal '
Owl
Kwutkil
Kutkilya
Mo0eha
Motfeha
Nyo 'iltca
Masipa
Screech owl
"A bird"
Eagle
SinykwaL
Quail
Buzzard
Liots
Sakuma
Liatc
Pakit
Buzzard
"Dove"
Sikuma
Sakuma
' ' Pigeon ' '
"A bird"
Sikama
Kimitfi
Maha
Boadrunner
Meta
Tcia
Mave
Havtcats
EstamaSur
Nighthawk
Rattlesnake
Uru
Smawi '
Kapsas
Mave
Frog
Halypota
Nyo 'iltca
Humahnana beetle
"An insect"
L
Caterpillar
Maha
Nyikha
Caterpillar (?)
Red ant
Cikupas
Kwicku
Sinikwus
Grasshopper (?)
Tobacco
Kata
VahaSa
Vimaka
Musa
Tilya
Kata
KumaSiya
Kwinitfa
Tobacco
Mesquite bean
Mesquite screw
Alymos
Salal
Namitutc
Kalsmus
"Mescal," yucca
' ' Mescal ' '
Okatilla cactus
Kimi0i
Prickly-pear cactus
Cholla cactus
Hipa
Havtcatc
White corn
Corn
Tcatca
Teatca
Food
Agricultural food
Sedge
Soaked willow bark
Havtcats
Hutpas
Kwicku
Bark
Kutcal
"A bush"
Halpot
1 ' Already done ' '
Halypot
Liots
"Pima"
1918]
Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern Calif c
159
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Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California
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1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 163
Dr. Kroeber gives two examples of names of women changed after
the death of a child : Nyo 'iltca becomes Nyotca, Siulya becomes
Knsuvilya.
The Yuma as well as the Cocopa have a special name for the old
women of each clan. The word for old woman (akoi in Yuma, wakui
in Cocopa) is preposed to the ordinary totemic name for the woman,
to the name of the totem, or to yet another name which is neither that
of the woman nor of the totem. Examples of all three types are to
be found in the ensuing table (4) in numbers 13, 3, and 6, respectively.
In the Yuma Agency records the youngest woman to whom the term
akoi (old woman) was applied was fifty-four years of age. The
majority of women with this term were in the neighborhood of eighty
years. Both Yuma and Cocopa informants said that this term was
applied when gray hair began to appear.
Mr. Harrington mentions two terms for old women. On page 337
of his "A Yuma Account of Origins," is the following: "When the
earth was dry again, Kwikumat created just one person more,
Akoiwitcyan ('Yuma-Old- Woman').9 She belonged to the Xavtsats
nation. ' ' In footnote 2 on page 345, Mr. Harrington writes as follows
concerning the mesquite-bean clan, the women of which are called
Alymos: "An old woman of this nation bears the additional name
Akoiitchamal ('Old- Woman-Something- White'), because the mesquite
beans referred to by Kumastamxo [the name-giver] were ripe and
white. ' ' I have included this name in table 4 as number 4.
TABLE 4
Names of Old Women, Together with Usual Clan Names of Women and
Totemic Eeferences
Name of Woman Name of Old Woman-
Yuma
1. Hipa (coyote = hatelwe) Akoixipa
2. Mave (rattlesnake = avi) Akoimavi'
3. Alymos (deer = akwak) Akoiyikwak
4. Alymos (mesquite bean as a 'is) Akoiitchamal -
5. Havtcats Akoitulil
6. Havtcats (frog = hani) Akoiwitcan
7. Liots ("Pima" = hatba) Akoihetpa
8. Meta (roadrunner = talypo) Akoimeta
9. Cikupas (red ant = tcamaSul, ikwis) Akoisikupas
10. Kwicku Akoikwisaku
11. SinykwaL Akoisinykwai.
12. Wahas (beaver = apen) Akoivahas
13. Sikuma (dove = xuskiva) Akoisikuma
14. Tcia (nighthawk = uru) Akoiuru
15. Waksi Akoiwaksi
s See no. 6, table 4.
164 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Table 4 — {Continued)
Cocopa
16. Sakuma (buzzard = panapalim) Wakuipanapala
17. Sakuma (dove = ilaku) Wakuipanapala
18. Uru (nighthawk = uru) Wakuispi
19. Kasmus (beaver = miskwism a) Wakuimiskwisma
20. Watcuwal ( selatce) Wakutcilatce
21. Nimi (wild cat = sahulz) Wakushulz
22. Sikus (salt = isix) Wakusix
23. Sikus ( ixha) Wakuixha
24. Sikus ( hiizup) Wakuhiizup
25. Sikus (coyote = wihas)10 Wakuwihas
26. Kutcal (bark = witcispax) Wakumitispaxbai
27. Smawi' (rattlesnake = mawi') Wakusmawi
28. Kwas (Colorado River = kauwiLapa) WakuauwiLapa
29. Kapsas (frog = hanya') Wakuitcayil
30. Niu (deer = kwak) Wakuniu'
31. Kwiye (rain cloud = iliwi) Wakuimas
Certain of the names of women in the preceding lists, the Yuma
themselves attribute to other dialects. Sikus is said to be the name
used by a Kamia clan, and it certainly is a common Cocopa name.
The totemic references which I obtained for certain names differ
from those secured by Mr. Harrington. For SinykwaL, he lists deer-
hide. One of my informants mentioned the eagle for this name. For
Alymos, Mr. Harrington obtained the connotation mesquite bean,
while I obtained both deer and mesquite bean. One informant stated
that Estama&um was equivalent to Havtcats. The connotation of
Kwicku was given as "grasshopper or other insect"; Mr. Harrington
gives it as " soaked willow bark. ' ' The name Xakci was not obtained,
but the name Waksi was. Captain George and Henry "Ward, two
Indians who went over the Agency records with me, seemed inclined
to identify Waksi with Xakci. In the records there were no indi-
viduals attributed to Xakci, but many to Waksi.
The ensuing table 5 lists the Mohave, Yuma, and Cocopa totemic
references so far as they have been obtained. A comparison of this
table with table 1, both being arranged in the same order, is all that
is necessary to make clear the fact that totemic references and names
of women have little in common. There is but one instance in which
the two are identical, namely, in the Cocopa nighthawk clan, Uru
being both the totemic reference and the name for a woman of the
clan.
3 0 Mr. Harrington gives xattcpa as the Cocopa word for coyote (Jour. Am.
Folk-Lore, xxi, 345, footnote 1, 1908).
1918]
Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California
165
TABLE 5
Native Names of Objects Eeferred to in Women's Clan Names
Sun
Mohave
anya
a 'auva
haly 'a
matha
ikwe
Yuma
Cocopa
Fire
Moon
Wind
Cloud
Eain cloud
akwi
' ' Colorado River :
i >
akwaka
hukflara
kauwiLapa
kwak
wihas
Deer
Coyote
Fox
akwak
hatelwe '
hat 'elwe '
Mountain sheep
ammo
apena
amalyka
Beaver
Wood rat
apen
miskwisma
Wild cat
nume
Owl
Sokupita
tulauka
amatakunyevi
aspa
ahma
Screech owl
Species of bird
Eagle
Quail
Buzzard
ase
xuskiva
talypo
uru
ave
hani
panapalim
ilaku
Dove
Roadrunner
sakumaha (?)
Nighthawk
Rattlesnake
Frog
Species of beetle
Caterpillar (?)
Red ant
hanye
humahnana
ame
mawi'
hanya'
tcamaSul, ikwis
Tobacco
auva
aya
a'isa
vaSilya
a 'ikumaSi
taSitca
kuhutcatca
Mesquite bean
Mesquite screw
' ' Mescal, ' ' yucca
a 'is
Corn
taSiitc
Food
Bark
witcispax
' ' Pima ' '
hat 'ba
(= Maricopa)
Dr. Kroeber suggests that the clan names of women are perhaps
archaic Yuman words. Certain evidence in the preceding lists would
seem to lend color to this hypothesis, although the evidence might also
be interpreted as indicating a borrowing of names. The Cocopa name
Sakuma, which is applied to women of the buzzard and dove totems,
is found in Mohave in the term sakumaha, a species of bird, possibly
the dove. The Cocopa name Nimi, which is applied to women of the
166
University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
wild cat clan, is the Dieguefio word for wild cat. I repeated a num-
ber of the Yuma clan names of women to a Diegueno informant at
Campo, San Diego County, California, with the idea that if they
were archaic Yuman words they might have continued in every day
use among Yuman peoples other than the Yuma. The Diegueno
informant also spoke Papago and remarked that he thought the Yuma
name Liots was perhaps Papago suut, meaning "to break out with
disease on the pubes." Although there are some cases of folk
etymologies in it, the following list of alleged meanings is presented
for what it is worth.
Probable
Yuma Name
Diegueno Equivalent
Meaning
Hipa
hiba
man
Alymos
limis
pubic hair
Havtcats
havtcats
uterus
Meta
ground
Wahus
wet house
Sikuma
sikuma
carrying lunch
Sikus
sikus
white fish
Tcia
tcia
species of fish
Waksi
waksi
hard ground
The list of sixteen Cocopa clans was given me by Frank Tehana
and Stump Barley, a shaman. The Cocopa data were obtained from
these men at Somerton, Arizona.
Both of my informants belong to the buzzard (panapalim) clan,
yet their personal names do not refer to that bird. Stump Barley's
name is Kwalkumuyesx, which is said to mean something like "old-
woman-mouldy-bread." Frank Tehana 's name is Isbaxkwisain,
meaning "Yuma eagle" (isbax, eagle; kwisain, Yuma). Each of
these men said that he was so named in infancy by his father.
Although Cocopa clans are exogamous, there are no favored clans
in marriage. There is no clan endogamy, for members of a clan
consider themselves to be blood relatives. There are said to be no
clan paints or tattoos and no clan chiefs. The Cocopa chieftain
(kwiswap) was selected by the people, a son succeeding his father
only in case the people considered him to have sufficient ability.
There were no chieftainesses.
The totems of the Cocopa clans are said to have been assigned to
the clans by the god Maskwaiyek in the beginning of the world before
the tribes of mankind had separated. The Cocopa do not believe
in descent from the totem. Totemites do not kill their totem, although
at liberty to kill the totems of other clans.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 167
The fragmentary list of Kamia clan names for women was obtained
from Placidus Aspa, a mixed blood Southern Diegueno living at
present on the Yuma Indian Reservation. Aspa from infancy lived
with the Kamia. The clan names of women with the Kamia as with
the Yuma are being anglicized and adopted as surnames. One of
Aspa's girl cousins possesses the clan name of iLkamyab which she
has anglicized to Helimpa as a surname, also applied to her father.
DIEGUEfrO
Both the Northern and Southern Diegueno possess non-totemic,
exogamous clans with paternal descent. In both dialects the word
for clan is "simiis," usually translated as "tribe." Each clan was
probably localized, or at least regarded as localized by the natives.
This fact perhaps renders pertinent the question whether these social
groups are true clans or only local groups. Exogamy and patrilinear
descent would seem to indicate that they are really clans. All mem-
bers of a group consider themselves related, and often at the present
day the clan name is added to, or takes the place of, the American
surname. An example of the first sort is found in the case of two
informants of different families, but of one clan: Jose Largo Hetmiel
and James McCarty Hetmiel, Hetmiel11 being the elan name. Largo
and McCarty are distant relatives. An example of the second sort
is found in the clan name KwiLp (Northern Diegueno), which has
been adopted as a family name. One of my informants was called
Angel Quilp. The Shoshonean peoples of southern California also
frequently utilize the clan name as a surname. The groups in ques-
tion have been called families by Dr. Waterman, who states that they
possess migration traditions: "The Diegueno have also certain brief
migration traditions, but they are localized in various families and
do not at all correspond to this Mohave-Luiseilo story of a general
migratory stage in the history of human kind."12
The following list of Southern Diegueno clans was obtained from
Hutcukal, an aged women from the western Imperial Valley, and from
James McCarty, whose ancestors lived on the east slope of the Tecate
Divide.
n Miss C. G. Du Bois recorded this as a surname in the form Hitlmiup (Univ.
Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., vm, 124, 1908). Her rendering of the name is
probably more nearly correct than mine, as I suspect that I was given an anglicized
form.
12 Analysis of the Mission Indian Creation Story, Am. Anthr., n.s., xi, 52,
1909.
168 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
1. Kanihitc. Clan of Hutcukal and of her father. This clan lives at the
Gampo Agency, but came originally from the southwestern part of Imperial
Valley. By James McCarty the name of this clan was rendered as Kwinhitc.
2. Haiyipa. Clan of Hutcukal 's mother. Hakwino (region of "Blue Lake"
and of Cameron Lake near Calexico) in southwestern Imperial Valley was the
home of this clan.
3. Hakisput. Another Imperial Valley clan which lived at a place called
Hatcupai, where there was a spring.
4. Hetmiel. A Southern Dieguefio clan now living in the mountains near
Campo Agency. This clan formerly lived at Hakwasik, on the eastern slope of
the Tecate Divide, below Jacumba Valley, but north of the international boundary.
5. Naxwatc. Clan of James McCarty 's wife. The home place of this clan
was Miskwatnuk, which lies to the north of the Campo Agency.
6. Kwitak. Clan of James McCarty 's mother. This clan lived on the site
of Warren's Hotel at Campo.
7. Yatcap. This clan lived at Hakisab, northeast of Campo Agency.
8. KwatL. This clan lived at Hakwaskwak (Bitter Water), Jacumba Valley,
Lower California. The name means ' ' hide of an animal. ' '
9. Tumau. This clan formerly lived near Brawley, Imperial Valley, where
there are several springs.^ It is said to live with the Yuma at the present time.
Tumau is said to mean ' ' grasshopper ' ' and refers to the fact that this clan
ate grasshoppers. This recalls the grasshopper clans of the Yuma (see p. 158)
and of the Cahuilla (see p. 191). In the case of the Cahuilla the name is said
to have been assigned for a similar reason.
10. HiLmawa. This clan lived at Snauyaka (Manzanita), San Diego County.
Dr. Kroeber obtained xesiL as the name of Manzanita (the place) and of a
species of manzanita. It is also the name of a Northern Dieguefio clan (see
p. 173).
11. Saikul. This clan lived at Matkwai (probably Mataguay), northeast of
Manzanita.
12. Miskwis. The home of this clan was not known. An old woman of this
clan lives on the Campo Reservation.
13. Kwamai. This clan lived at Pilyakai, at or near La Posta, San Diego
County. Kwamai is said to mean ' ' wishing to be big or tall. ' '
Each clan in ancient times had a chief (kwaipai) who was selected
by his clansmen. Women were never chosen. The especial business
of the chief was to manage ceremonial affairs. The chief's assistant,
kwaipai walmun ("little chief") was also selected by his clansmen.
The Northern Dieguefio of Mesa Grande, San Diego County, stated
that their clan chiefs were hereditary, which in spite of the above
statements to the contrary, I am inclined to believe was the case with
the Southern Diegueno chieftains. The clan chiefs of all neighboring
Shoshonean groups are hereditary. Of course it must be borne in
mind that the Cocopa also stated that their chiefs were selected. It
is possible that the Cocopa and Southern Diegueno are similar in
this respect.
13 Possibly the Sunset Springs, thirteen miles south by east of Brawley.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 169
Upon marriage a woman did not become a member of her hus-
band's clan. She always remained a member of the clan of her
father. She went to live with her husband's clan, however.
The Southern Diegueno clans and .those of the Colorado River
tribes have two features in common, paternal descent and exogamy.
The former clans seem to be localized, however, while the latter are
not. As already stated, the localized Diegueno clans are non-totemic,
resembling closely the numerous localized Cahuilla clans, which are
non-totemic in themselves, although totemic as sections of a larger
group, the moiety. The Cahuilla totems are the coyote and the wild
cat, approximately half of the clans claiming the former and half
the latter.
Southern Diegueno informants told me that they "claimed" the
wild cat as their "property" and their "god." They believed that
the wild cat ' ' raised ' ' them, and they never killed it. In connection
with the wild cat as a culture hero the Southern Diegueno employ a
color symbolism. They say that in the east there was a red wild cat,
in the west a blue one.14 The eastern wild cat is called nimikumwal
(weak wild cat) and the western wild cat nimikiispil (strong wild
cat). The Imperial Valley people as well as the mountain people
say that the wild cat is their "property."
The wild cats were made by the creator Maiyoha and his brother,
who came from the ocean. The red wild cat went to the east slope
of the mountains which he claimed as his; the blue wild cat went to
the west slope which he claimed. The Imperial Valley people
(Inyak15 or Kwelmixa) are the people of the red wild cat. The
Kamiyaihi (Southern Diegueno of the mountains) are the people of
the blue wild cat. Neither of these shadowy groups are exogamous,
however. People are related to the wild cats as to brothers.
The two wild cats are the ones who first told the months of the
year. The month in which they began counting was IlyakweL (cold
month). Then followed five more : Hexanimsup (snow month), Xatai
(cold month), Hexapsu (rain month), Hatyamatinya (rain month),
and Ixyanidja (growing month).16 This information was gathered
" The association of red with east and blue with west disagrees with Dr.
Waterman's data. According to him, "North is associated with red, east with
white, south with blue or green, these colors not being distinguished by the
Diegueno, and west with black." (The Eeligious Practices of the Diegueno
Indians, present series, vm, 333, 1910.) It is not unlikely that my informant,
James McCarty, made an error.
is Inyak means "east."
is Miss Du Bois records the six months of the Diegueno as follows : Hutlnama-
shap, Hutltai, HutlpsAvi, Hutlkwurx, Hutlmatanai, Hutlanaxa (present series, vm,
165, footnote, 1908).
170 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
during the first half of January, which time was called Xatai.
Although the informant (James McCarty) designated the months as
"snow," "cold," "rain," and "growing," he stated that after the
sixth month the series was repeated.
In a version of the origin myth presented in this paper the wild
cats lead the people to the region of Campo. Following a mythical
image ceremony, the red wild cat asks : ' ' Are we to live and multiply
forever, or are we to die?" Although nothing further in this con-
nection could be obtained from the informant, it seems clear that the
wild cat had a hand in ordering the affairs of men.17
Considering that nearby Shoshonean groups, namely Cahuilla,
Cupeho, and Serrano, have the wild cat and the coyote as totems,
the above data concerning the status of the wild cat among the South-
ern Diegueho take on an added significance. The coyote, however,
is in disrepute. "When asked about him, James McCarty replied:
"Coyote is a strange fellow. He is always lying, and he eats the
dead. No one wishes him for a relative." The fox is not claimed
as "property" as is the wild cat, even though it plays a considerable
part in the Southern Diegueho creation story as obtained from James
McCarty and presented in the following pages.
All was salt water in the beginning. In the water there were tAvo deities,
Maiyoha and his younger brother. Maiyoha had come to the surface of the
water, when his younger brother asked how he had gone up; if he had had his
eyes open. Maiyoha replied, "Yes." The younger brother came up with
his eyes open, but when he reached the surface he could not see. The salt had
blinded him. Maiyoha pulled his younger brother up blind. With the younger
brother was the silver fox (madkauwai) of the desert.
The earth was made by Maiyoha. When the blind younger brother came to
the surface of the water, he felt of the earth, for he had come up to mate with
it. Where the blind one put his hand on the small piece of land which had been
made, there came red ants. He commenced pushing them into the ground. The
more ants he pushed in, the more earth they dug up, constantly increasing the
size of the land until our world was made.
The blind younger god knew now why he was to go underground later. He
sat on the land after it became large. He kept feeling for his silver fox, which
had come up with him in the beginning. He was four days on the ground, sitting
steadily in one place. The two gods sitting by the fire made the two wild cats,
the red wild cat of the east and the blue wild cat of the west.
The brothers disputed over the ownership of the silver fox which had come up
with the younger brother. Maiyoha secretly put the red fox (parxau) behind
his younger brother to deceive him. He asked his younger brother, "Is your
fox still with you?" The blind younger brother felt the fur of the animal
behind him and replied, "No."
17 In a version of the creation myth presented by Dr. Waterman (The Eeligious
Practices of the Dieguefio Indians, present series, vm, 341, 1910) a wild cat
dance is mentioned. The context does not make clear whether it is a Diegueno
dance or not.
1918J Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 171
After three days the silver fox, which was also blind, went into the ground.
It is in the ground now. The younger brother went into the ground too, because
he was angry over the deception practised by his older brother, Maiyoha. He
went right into the earth again. After he went down a hole was left. Maiyoha
tried to cover the hole with dirt scraped with his foot. He held his foot over
the hole, but he had no dirt between his toes. Disease came up through the
openings between his toes. It was made by the injured brother in his anger
over the exchange of foxes. He was angry because his brother had thus taken
advantage of his blindness.
Maiyoha, the one who stayed on earth, felt sad over his younger brother leav-
ing him. He then made a man and a woman from clay. He made a fire and
laid one piece of clay at one side of the fire and another piece at the opposite
side. The man was perfect but the woman popped to pieces. Maiyoha then
pulled a whisker from his ehin and laid it between the legs of the image he
had remodeled for the woman. The images lay beside the fire where he left
them. They were dumb. All people sprang from this pair and because they
knew nothing, Indians today lack knowledge of machinery and other inventions
of civilization.
The god watched the images during the night. Toward morning he thought
he heard them talking. At daybreak he said to himself, "I believe that I have
accomplished a great undertaking. There is no need of my remaining here.
Since I have done so excellently, I may as well go up into the sky. ' '
The people asked the god how they had come into being. He told them that
it was through his will and through the manner in which he had made them.
He watched them as they looked at each other. They came together and slept.
The god Maiyoha, the older brother, went to the sky, where he is now. The
earth from which the two figures were made was Tcaipakomat or Teakumat,is the
first man.
The two people he had created could not see. After remedying this defect the
god Maiyoha went to the sky. As he departed to the sky he said, "I have made
everything: the earth, the sun, the moon, the people." His younger brother
had gone into the ground. The two created beings, the first man and the first
Avoman were the progenitors of mankind. The morning following their first
slumber children were born.
After the people had become very numerous, they prepared for a keruk
(image) ceremony at Wikami.ia After this ceremony the red wild cat asked,
"Are we to live and multiply forever, or are we to die?"
Wild cat led the people from Wikami in a great arc to the north and west
until he reached the seashore, then south along the coast, and finally to the region
of Campo. The red wild cat turned back at Wikelel, east of Imperial Valley.
From that point the people were led by the blue wild cat.
18 Tcakumat is said to mean literally teak, woman, and mat, earth. The
names Tcaipakomat and Tcakumat correspond with the names Tuchaipa and
Yokomatis or Yokomat, given by Miss Du Bois for the creator and his younger
brother. She states that these two names are sometimes given as one: Chaipako-
mat (Jour. Am. Folk-Lore. xxi, 229, 1908; and Congr. Intern. American., xv,
Quebec n, 131, 1906). Tcaipakomat was obtained by Dr. Waterman as the name
of the creator, the older brother (present series, vm, 338, 1910).
19 Identified by my informant with Chimney Peak, near the Colorado River,
Imperial County, California. By a Dieguefio informant of Miss Du Bois' Wikami
is located in Mohave territory (Am. Anthr., n.s., vn, 627, 1905). The Mohave
counterpart of Wikami is called Avikwame and is identified with Dead or New-
berry Mountain in southern Nevada (A. L. Kroeber, Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, xix,
315, 1906).
172 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Wild plum (akai) and chemise brush (epi) were here (at Campo) for the
people to eat and to burn. The people argued over how they should live. They
called on lizard to help them to decide. Lizard asked if they were satisfied.
They replied, "Yes. We will do whatever you say. We will live here and die
here." This is the end of the story about the coming of the people to the
Campo region.
The people at Wikami wished to obtain songs and ceremonies. An immense
snake named Maihiyowita lived in the water at the south end of the world. Sand-
hill crane (mekolk) was sent to invite the snake to Wikami, because he possessed
all songs and ceremonies. Sandhill crane cried all the way to the snake's house
and all the way back, so that the people would know that he was coming and
would enlarge the dance house.
Maihiyowita asked sandhill crane, "Why did you come?" Sandhill crane
replied, ' ' The people sent me after you. They want songs of different kinds. ' '
The snake said he would go and crane told him to arrive at Wikami late in the
afternoon. Sandhill crane returned and told the people that he had delivered
their message and that the snake was coming. The snake was very large, being
about a foot and one-half in diameter. The snake coiled in the house which the
people made for him so that he completely filled it. They kept extending it
until daylight, when they set fire to it. They set fire to the house with the
snake in it, because he would not divulge the songs. The snake burst. The
larger portion of him slid back southward; the smaller portion remained at
Wikami, where it is still visible together wth the tracks of the people. A por-
tion of the snake's knowledge flew over to Campo, where it was secured by the
people. The following are the songs which were thus secured by the Campo
Diegueno: Tcaiyautai, Tomant,2o Tuharl, Hataumaltaiye, Sil,21 Atcawhal,22
Urorp,23 Hurlturli,24 Tipai, and Isa.
The following data refer to the Northern Diegueno. An informant
(Tomaso Curo) at Mesa Grande, San Diego County, gave me the
names of twelve Northern Diegueno clans and of one Southern
Diegueno clan, the KwatL (see p. 168). All of the Mesa Grande clans
lived at Mesa Grande only in the summer and at a place known as
Pamo in the winter. The name Pamo, Tomaso Curo informed me,
means "a hole worn in the rock by water." Dr. Kroeber obtained
from Rocendo Curo, Tomaso 's brother, the following derivation :
paum, to sit; mu, a bush. The elevation of Pamo is about nine
hundred feet; that of Mesa Grande is thirty-three hundred feet.
Pamo village, located in a valley now known by that name, lay down-
stream from Mesa Grande about nine miles and is spoken of as the
real home of the Diegueno now living permanently at Mesa Grande.
20 Eecorded by Miss Du Bois as Tutomunp (present series, vm, 123, 1908).
Probably equivalent to Mohave Tumanpa (according to A. L. Kroeber).
2i Probably Esily (salt).
22 Possibly to be identified with Kachawharr, recorded by Miss Du Bois (Jour.
Am. Folk-Lore, xxi, 229, 1908).
23 Eecorded by Miss Du Bois as Orup (present series, vm, 124, 1908).
24 Probably equivalent to ' ' Horloi, ' ' the name of a Northern Diegueno dance
(T. T. Waterman, present series, vm, 320, 1910).
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 173
Formerly strangers caught poaching in the Mesa Grande region were
killed.
1. Kukuro. This word is said to mean "dark" or "shaded." This is the
clan of Tomaso Curo, whose ancestors lived at San Diego Mission and at Tijuana,
Lower California. He was not certain of the original home of the clan.
2. Letcapa. This name is said to mean ' ' short, ' ' although this is not the
meaning of Spanish La Chapa, which this name appears to be. A family by
the name of La Chapa is attributed to Manzanita, San Diego County, by Dr.
Waterman. 25
3. Matuwir. This name is said to mean "hard like rock." This clan is said
to have been very numerous in former times, occupying the country for eight
miles to the south of Mesa Grande. Miss Du Bois gives this as one of the Indian
names of Cinon Duro, a Diegueno informant, whose full name she gives as "Ho-
ko-yel Mut-a-weer. ' '*•
4. Critcak. This is probably the name of a species of owl. The clan bearing
this name lived at both Parao and Mesa Grande.
5. Kwix,p. This is said to be the name of a shrub. The clan of this name
lived at both Pamo and Mesa Grande.
6. XesiL. This is the name of a small variety of manzanita, which at the
present day furnishes berries for jelly. The clan bearing this name lived at the
village of Tauwi (San Jose) on Warner's Eanch at the foot of the "Mesa Grande
Mountains. ' '
7. U'u. A species of owl. This clan lived at both Pamo and Mesa Grande.
8. Baipa. A clan living at Santa Ysabel.
9. Esun. A clan living at Santa Ysabel.
10. Gwaha.27 A species of wormwood (Artemisia). This is the name of a
Santa Ysabel clan.
11. Tumau. This name is said to mean "grasshopper." This clan was
scattered, living at Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel, and elsewhere. At present
members of it live at Capitan Grande. The informant distinctly stated that this
was not the Tumau clan of the Southern Diegueno (see p. 168).
12. Xipuwatc. A Santa Ysabel clan.
The Northern Diegueno clans are exogamous. The clan of a child
is always that of its father. A woman is said to become a member
of her husband's clan, a custom at variance with the reported South-
ern Diegueno custom. It may be that the informant interpreted
living with the husband's clan as becoming a member of it. However,
as descent is patrilinear with both Southern and Northern Diegueno,
the fact that the wife becomes, or does not become, a member of her
husband's clan in no way affects the result.
Each clan had an hereditary chief known as a kwaipai or kutcut.
The widow of a chief might perform the functions of her deceased
husband. The chief's assistant was called koreau. Some members
25 Analysis of the Mission Indian Creation Story, Am. Anthr., n.s., xi, 52,
footnote, 1909.
26 Religious Ceremonies and Myths of the Mission Indians, Am. Anthr., n.s..
vii, 621, 1905.
27 Dr. Kroeber obtained the words "ily gwaxan" for "woods."
174 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
of a clan were scattered, but when the clan gave a ceremony, the chief
recalled the scattered members to assist. My informants assigned the
scattering to the necessity of making a living and to deaths in the
family. The first cause did not operate in ancient times.
At Pamo, where several of the Northern Diegueno clans lived,
there was a village chief (also called kwaipai) in addition to the
hereditary clan chiefs. The village chief was elected. Each clan
owned an eagle (or more likely a pair of eagles), and the feathers of
an eagle killed ceremonially were used for the making of a feather
skirt.28 Other ceremonies with animal motives occur following
dreams and when animals are killed under peculiar circumstances.
If a man dream's of a rattlesnake he must give a dance afterwards.
A year before my visit at Mesa Grande, a wild cat was killed while
trying to enter a house. The man who killed it had to give a
propitiatory dance.
The information from Northern Diegueno informants does not
seem to indicate as definite a localization of the clans as do the South-
ern Diegueno data. It is possible that removal to the missions and
subsequent segregation on reservations has effaced the knowledge of
the original distribution of clans from the minds of the Northern
Diegueno. The more remote Southern Diegueno, less in contact
with the missions, would certainly be more likely to retain such
information.
PIMAN CLANS
It seems necessary to reproduce the evidence concerning totemic
clans among the Pima and Papago for comparison with the Califor-
nian data presented in this paper. The Pima and Papago, like the
Californian tribes under consideration, trace descent through males.
Mr. Frank Russell29 and Mr. E. S. Curtis30 have published brief
accounts of the Pima clan system. These do not agree in certain
respects and are therefore quoted in full. Mr. Curtis has published
also an account of the Papago clan system,31 which is likewise quoted
in full.
The following quotation presents Mr. Russell 's Pima data :
Descent is traced in the male line and there are five groups that may be called
gentes, though they exert no influence upon marriage laws nor do they manifest
28 The eagle ceremony is described by Dr. Waterman (present series, vm,
314, 1910).
29 26th Ann. Eep. Bur. Am. Ethn. for 1904-1905 (1908), 197.
so The North American Indian (Cambridge, University Press, 1908), II, 9.
si Ibid., p. 32.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 175
any evidences of organization so far as ascertained. The names of these groups
have lost all meaning. They are called A'kol, A'pap, A'pukl, Ma'-am, and
Va'-af.
The first three are known as the Vulture or Bed People, the last two as the
Coyote or White People. However, they are spoken of as the Suwuki O'himal
and Sto'am O'himal, or Red Ants and White Ants.Q32 in the Pima creation myth
presented in full in this memoir reference is made to black ants, tcotcik tatany,
and to the termite, hiapitc, but no connection is supposed to exist between them
and the o'himal.
The Red People are said to have been in possession of the country when Elder
Brother brought the White People from the nether world and conquered them
as described on page 226. There were more than two gentes of the White People,
but Coyote laughed too soon at them and the earth closed before the others got
through. The author suspects that this division signifies that the tribe was
formed by the junction of two peoples, the only trace of the original groups -being
the names and the maintenance of the laws of vengeance.
Mr. Curtis says of the Pima :
The Pima have five tribal divisions, known as wii' male CM, which may be
designated phratries, as they are aggregations of gentes with totemic names.
Children belong to the father, whom they call by the phratral name. The five
totemic names, all synonymous with the word ' ' father ' ' and bearing obscure
meanings, are Apap, Apk, Mam, Vah, and Okali. Apap and Apk are associated
with the coyote, and Mam and Vah with the buzzard. The people of the first
four are numerous, but of the 6kali only a few representatives survive. This
division, according to the genesis myth, was broken in its inception, only a few
succeeding in reaching the upper world. Marriage within a phratry seems never
to have been prohibited; marriage was without ceremony, and was often soon
followed by separation.
Of the Papago he says:
There are five gentile groups, though it can hardly be said that any strict
gentile organization now exists. Children belong to the father's group. The
creation myth tells how, when Chii wvitu ma'ke's destroying horde marched up
into this world from the east, the first to come were those who were to call their
fathers Apap; then came those whose fathers were to be Apk, Mam, Vaf and
A'kuli respectively. These names were no doubt totemic in their origin, but
only the first and third can be identified. Apap is associated with the coyote,
Mam with the buzzard. There is no general word for father; to each individual
"father" is simply the name of his gens, if such groups may be so called. A
member of the Apk gens, for instance, calls his father mp' aplei, of the Mam
gens, nyum'am, nyu meaning "my." Collectively the members of the gentes are
called Apapakam, Apkikam, Mamakam, Vafakam, and A'kuli kam.
Of so little importance are the gentes that marriage within them is not pro-
hibited, or even regarded as unusual.
Mr. Curtis' list of five Pima clans agrees with Mr. Russell's. It
is clear from both accounts that there is a perhaps loose grouping of
the clans in two opposed moieties. Mr. Russell identifies one moiety
32 " a The same divisions exist among the Papagos, and Jose' Lewis, who in-
terpreted for Professor McGee, submitted specimens of the ant as examples of the
insects referred to as ' o'himal. ' ' '
176 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
with coyote, white ant, and white; the other with vulture (= buz-
zard), red ant, and red. For the vulture moiety Mr. Russell lists
the A'kol, A'pap, and A'puki groups, for the coyote moiety the
Ma'-am and Va'-af groups. Mr. Curtis on the other hand reverses
this arrangement, placing Ma'-am (Mam) and Va'-af (Vah) in the
vulture moiety, and Apap and Apk in the coyote moiety. "With
regard to the Papago, Mr. Curtis also states that "Apap is associated
with the coyote, Mam with the buzzard," as in Pima society. The
Pima use of three synonymous terms for each moiety is reminiscent
of similar nomenclature of the Miwok moieties.33
A feature of the Piman clans comparable with the Yuman clan
names for women is the special and distinctive term for "father" in
each clan.
The Papago information secured by Dr. Kroeber from Mr. Juan
Dolores, a member of that tribe and author of a paper on "Papago
Verb Stems,"34 agrees in part with that submitted by Mr. Curtis and
also adds some new facts. Mr. Dolores remembered only four clans.
He disagreed with Mr. Curtis by assigning okoIi (Axkuli) instead of
Mam to the buzzard. The following paragraphs present the data
secured by Dr. Kroeber from Mr. Dolores :
The ordinary Papago term for father is ok, my father nyoK. In
using this general, or non-clan, term for father, ' ' it would not be clear
where people belong," Mr. Dolores said. He is of the (red) uhhimaii
clan himself and would normally call his father by this clan's term
nyimaM ; in rare cases he might use the general term nyoK. The
Papago totemic clans together with the terms for father may be briefly
listed as follows :
Buzzard (nyuhwi) people call father okoIi.
Coyote (paN) people call father ahpap.
(Red) uhhimaLi (an insect) people call father maM.
White uhhimaLi (an insect)35 people call father va'aw.
A Papago myth referred to by Mr. Dolores, relates how four
brothers "took" these four "names," or "relationships," or "signs."
33 E. W. Gifford, Miwok Moieties, present series, xn, 140, 1916; C. H. Mer-
riam, Indian Village and Camp Sites in Yosemite Valley, Sierra Club Bull., X,
203, 1917.
34 Present series, X, 241-263, 1913.
35 The uhhimaLi is larger than ant or spider (Itiuch). It lives singly in holes
in ground; has no wings; stings; has hair on back. Some are reddish, some
whitish.
1918] Glfford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 177
The question, "What clan-relationship do you follow?" would be
stated in Papago as follows :
cahtyo 'ot mu wiio-moKahLi
What (interrogative) with-go
In the case of Mr. Dolores the answer would be "uhhimaLi" and
not maM; in other words the name of the group or totem and not
the special word for father.
Descent in these groups ' is entirely paternal. One can marry
within his clan group but not within his family or village. All in a
village are considered related. The clan groups are not locally lim-
ited. All occur in every village, except the white uhhimaLi, which
is now quite rare.
Without further data it is impossible to say whether or not village
exogamy is a recent innovation which has taken the place of clan
exogamy. The absence of clan exogamy would seem to indicate that
the clans as such have disintegrated.
SHOSHONEAN CLANS AND MOIETIES
The Serrano, the Cahuilla, the Cupefio, and the Luisefio of south-
ern California are organized on the basis of exogamous, patrilinear,
and apparently localized, clans. The clans of the Serrano, Cahuilla,
and Cupefio are grouped in two exogamous moieties, which are
totemic, being identified with the wild cat (tukut) and the coyote
(isil in Cahuilla and Cupefio; wahil in Serrano). The Luisefio
clans are not grouped in moieties. The Serrano, Cahuilla, and
Cupefio clans are exogamous as components of the moieties ; that is,
a member of the wild cat moiety marries only a member of a clan of
the coyote moiety. The clans of the Luisefio are exogamous and non-
totemic, though at present quite thoroughly disintegrated. On the
one hand they appear to have disintegrated into families as far as
reckoning descent is concerned and on the other hand to have become
amalgamated into ' ' parties ' ' or religious societies as far as ceremonial
functions are concerned. Membership in the parties or religious
societies extends beyond the range of even mythical kinship reckoned
paternally.
In considering the data presented in the following pages, it must
be remembered that the Luisefio were long in charge of Spanish Fran-
178 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Etlin. [Vol. 14
ciscan missionaries, while some of the Serrano, Cahuilla, and probably
the Cupeiio were never converted in the mission period and others
were under Spanish control for a shorter time than the Luiseno.
SEERAN036
The Serrano are organized on the basis of exogamous totemic
moieties. One moiety is called wahilyam, and has as totems coyote
(wahil), the chief totem for which the moiety is named, buzzard
(widukut), and wolf (wanats). The other moiety is called tukum,
and has as totems wild cat (tukut), the chief totem for which the
moiety is named, crow (gatcawa), and mountain lion (tukutcu). The
names of the first two totems mentioned for each moiety were volun-
teered by the informant. Wolf and mountain lion were added in
response to my query. Wolf is said to be coyote's older brother and
mountain lion wild cat's older brother. Vulture is considered a
relative of coyote's, and crow a relative of wild cat's. The totem is
called niikriig (my great grandparent) or niiiiakau. The use of
the term for great grandparent for totem has parallels in the other
southern California Shoshonean tribes, as have the totems coyote and
wild cat. The creator Pakrokitat is said to have assigned the totems.
People of different moieties, especially relatives, often jokingly called
each other coyotes and wild cats. Coyote people are reputed swift in
their movements, wild cat people slow and lazy in theirs. People
are said to have killed their totems. The toteiiis are believed to have
been originally men, who later became animals, a belief held with
regard to the entire animal kingdom.
Serrano society is also organized on the basis of localized clans,
or possibly local groups, in addition to moieties. These bear a strik-
ing resemblance to the localized Cahuilla groups (see p. 186). Certain
of the names of these supposed clans have previously been secured
by Dr. Kroeber as place names, a fact which makes it conceivable that
these Serrano divisions are merely local groups. On the other hand,
it seems to be more in accord with the facts to regard them as localized
clans. Eight of the fourteen groups listed below were assigned by
informants to one or the other of the two moieties. Each of these
eight groups was exogamous as a member of one of the moieties,
patrilinear in descent, and possessed its hereditary chief (kika) and
ss The data on Serrano social organization were secured entirely at Banning
from the following informants: Benjamin Morongo (about 80 years of age), Rose
Morongo, Elizabeth Martin, and Miguel Sabatco.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 179
hereditary ceremonial assistant (paha). The following list includes
some northern Serrano groups, although it primarily consists of
southern Serrano groups. It is undoubtedly quite fragmentary.
1. Morongo. This clan, which is called Marongam by the Cahuilla, is the one
most numerously represented on the reservation at Banning to-day. The members
of it have adopted Morongo as their surname. This clan belongs to the coyote
moiety. Bear Valley (Hatauva) was the Morongo home. They also claimed
Yucaipa, Akavat (a place back of Beaumont, the name of which is said to mean
"ear"), Mission Creek (Yamisevul), and Durka (Big Morongo), although Durka
was mentioned by one informant as Mohiyanim territory.
2. Mohiyanim. This clan is represented to-day at Banning. It lived with
the Morongo clan in ancient times and seems to have been the favored clan in
marriages. It belongs to the wild cat moiety. This name in the form Mohineyam
has been used by Dr. Kroeber for the northern Serrano living along the Mohave
River (Shoshonean Dialects of California, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn.,
iv, 139, 1907).
3. Mukunpat. This clan is of the wild cat moiety and lived with the Morongo
and Mohiyanim clans. It intermarried with the Morongo clan.
4. Atiaviat. A coyote clan living at Mission Creek (Yamisevul). Atiaviat
is said to mean "something big." Miguel Sabatco belongs to the Atiaviat clan.
The Atiaviat never married the Morongo, but married Mohiyanim and Mukunpat.
The Morongo formerly visited Mission Creek for a certain kind of seed.
5. Kaiyuwat. This clan (?) is said to have lived north of the San Bernardino
Mountains, across from San Manuel Reservation. It plays an important role in
the Morongo clan legend to be related later.
6. Maviatum. This clan(?) inhabited Maviat, the Mohave River region,
north of the San Bernardino Mountains.
7. Amakhavit. A third Serrano clan (?) living north of the San Bernardino
Mountains. From west to east these northern clans ( ?) are Maviatum, Kaiyuwat,
and Amakhavit. Undoubtedly these Amakhavit are the mysterious Amakhau or
Amakhaba of whom Dr. Kroeber makes the following statements (Univ. Calif.
Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., iv, 136, 1907): "The Mohave are still known to the
Tehachapi-Tulare tribes as people living on a distant large river, from whom
visitors occasionally came. The Yokuts informant from whom part of the
Kitanemuk vocabulary was obtained called them Amakhau, the Tiibatulabal in-
formant Amakhaba; the latter regarded their language as similar to Kitanemuk,
from which of course it is utterly distinct. Of the two Yokuts informants at
Tejon, who also called them Amakhaba, one characterized them as <muy bravos';
the other classed their language as distinct, with some words somewhat resembling
Kitanemuk. It is curious that this belief that there is in the Tejon region a
tribe similar or linguistically related to the Mohave, should exist both among the
Mohave themselves, the Yokuts, and the Shoshoneans, without the least apparent
basis." In the light of the Serrano statement to the effect that the Amakhavit
are Serrano, the statements of Dr. Kroeber 's Tiibatulabal and Yokuts informants
with regard to the Kitanemuk (Serrano) affinities of the Amakhaba language take
on a new color.
8. Yuhaviat. Yuhaviat is said to mean "pine men." This clan lives now
at San Manuel Reservation near Patton, San Bernardino County. It is said to
have lived originally in or north of the San Bernardino Mountains, and to have
moved to San Manuel after white people came. The original inhabitants of San
Manuel, according to Benjamin Morongo, were Gabrielino, who called the place
180 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Apwimen. Another Gabrielifio village was located one and one-half miles south-
east of Colton. Its inhabitants were called Watcap. Benjamin also mentioned
the Kinkiup, Indians who lived on an island in the ocean. This is very clearly
Kingki, listed by Dr. Kroeber as "evidently San Clemente Island" (present
series, vni, 38, 1908).
9. Pauwiatum. This is a coyote clan living north of the San Bernardino
Mountains. Some people of this clan are said to live at San Manuel Beservation
to-day.
10. Kupatca. A wild cat clan living in the San Bernardino Mountains.
11. Tamwionots. This name refers to the sun, and was the name of a wild
cat clan living at Mara, Twenty-nine Palms.
12. Timanamuntcoip. A Serrano clan ( ?) living at Bedlands.
13. Tekelkiktum. By Cahuilla informants this was given as the name of a
Serrano wild cat clan. The last member of this clan is said to live at San Manuel
Beservation.
14. Agutas. This group is identified with people of the Tehachapi Mountains
by Benjamin Morongo. One of Dr. Kroeber 's informants applied a variant of
this term (Agutush-yam) to the Kawaiisu (present series, rv, 140, 1907).
Four of the above groups seem to have dwelt together: Morongo,
Atiaviat, Mohiyanim, and Mukunpat, the first two being of the coyote
moiety (wahilyam), the second two of the wild cat moiety (tukum).
The following information concerns the Morongo and Mohiyanim
clans especially. The data presented were obtained from Benjamin
Morongo, a member of the Morongo clan, whose wife was of the
Mukunpat clan. Benjamin has perhaps drawn the picture of his
own clan in overbright colors, although there seems to be no doubt
but what it was the most numerous and most powerful of the group
of clans in the San Bernardino Mountains. Since the following
data concern in large measure two clans of opposite moieties, it is
quite probable that it in similar degree applies to other clans of the
two moieties.
Morongo informants, in addition to Benjamin Morongo, stated that
it was traditional for Morongo men to marry Mohiyanim women, one
informant assigning the origin of this custom to the beginning of
the world, when it was so ordered by the deity Pakrokitat. The cus-
tom has broken down under Caucasian rule. Benjamin Morongo
stated that there were clan names for men and women, a statement
for which I could obtain no verification elsewhere. Benjamin stated
that Morongo men were called Morongo, the women Malena, that
Mohiyanim men were called Nudi, women Yetcaiwa. Rose Morongo,
however, gave Malenikik as a synonym for Morongo. She said that
Malenikik referred to a place of residence of the Morongo clan
(Malena, the place; kik, living there). If it is true that the men
19181 Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 181
and women of each clan had special clan names, we certainly have
an analogy to the Colorado River Yuman custom by which all of
the women of a clan have one name (see p. 156). The personal name
of Mrs. Elizabeth Martin's mother, a Morongo woman, was Helinpa,
a name given her by her paternal grandfather and having no refer-
ence to her clan or moiety.
Each of the clans in question had its chief (kika) who inherited
the position from his father. In rare cases when a male heir was
lacking a woman succeeded. Each clan also had a ceremonial assist-
ant to the chief called paha, whose chief duties were in connection
with ceremonies. Benjamin's father's older brother was a Morongo
chief.
Pakrokitat made the Morongo the ' ' governors of the world. ' ' At
the same time that the Morongo were created, the Mohiyanim seem
to have been brought into existence also. The Morongo address each
other as brothers and sisters, using, as well as the ordinary terms,
the term hamut, which is always applied to one of the opposite sex
(see p. 183 for mythological application of this term). The terms for
older or younger siblings are used where there is disparity in age.
The Mohiyanim have the same usage. The informant said that he
would call any Mohiyanim woman aunt, cousin, or sister. The
Cahuilla address the Morongo as older brothers, according to the
informant.
The reciprocal functions of the two clans seem to have been
unequally divided. The Mohiyanim appear to have had more than
their share of ceremonial duties. At a ceremony the Mohiyanim
cooked for and served the Morongo. They brought "everything, like
Santa Claus. " These functions, according to the informant, were
not reciprocated by the Morongo. On the other hand the Mohiyanim
never took the initiative in making a ceremony ; the Morongo through
their chief did that. It was the business of the Mohiyanim to con-
struct the "tule ceremonial house" and to act as messengers in con-
nection with a ceremony.
In the beginning Pakrokitat made the tule house for the first
ceremony. Each mortal chief since his time has had one. At death
the body was taken to this house in which it was bewailed for one
night. On the following day it was burned. In this connection
the relations of the two clans, and incidentally the moieties, seem to
have been truly reciprocal, the Morongo tending to the Mohiyanim
dead and vice versa.
182 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
It was a function of the Mohiyanim paha to name the children of
both clans, naming them usually after relatives long deceased. As
no personal names were obtained, it is impossible to tell whether or
not each clan had its special set of names. According to the informant
all of the above ceremonial functions were ordained in the beginning
by Pakrokitat, while the people were still in the far northern country
of their origin. At that time it was ordered that the two clans should
intermarry. The two clans hunted together. Coyote is older than
any other animal, for he is the Morongo totem and they were first
created.
The paha or religious chief had charge of all ceremonial parapher-
nalia. It was his business to notify people of the fiestas. He talked
to the guests at a fiesta, and attended to all commissary arrangements.
One Mohiyanim paha, named Melantin Santiago, is left. The cere-
monial singer (tcaka) was of the Morongo clan and inherited his
position from the father or father's brother. He sang the myths
of the creation and of the origin and wanderings of the Morongo.
The present tcaka is Thomas Morongo, Benjamin's nephew.
When a man saw a girl he desired in marriage, he spoke to his
mother. She took up the matter with the chief (kika) of the man's
clan. If the chief favored the match, either he or the man's mother
visited the girl's mother. Upon marriage the chief lectured the
bridegroom, telling him to hunt, secure food, and care for the girl
and her parents. A man gave half of the results of the chase to his
wife 's parents.
Benjamin Morongo stated that the two clans, Morongo and Mohi-
yanim, elected a joint chief also called kika, who was always a
Morongo. This is quite possibly a modern innovation.
The following myths were recounted by Benjamin Morongo. The
first deals with the creation and the origin and wanderings of the
Morongo. The second relates to the electric fire ball called Takwitc,
and the third to the destruction of the village of Wini by a hostile
spirit, together with its subsequent rehabilitation.
Origin Myth. — First came into existence Pakrokitat, our father. From the
left shoulder of Pakrokitat was born Kukitat, Pakrokitat 's younger brother.37
Pakrokitat made first a Morongo man. Pakrokitat told him, "You will have
company soon." From the right side of the man above the thigh Pakrokitat
37 One informant mentioned another Serrano deity, the goddess Namuyat.
Nothing was learned of her attributes. She is undoubtedly to be identified with
' ' Nanamiivyat, six large stones, ' goddesses, ' in or near Little Bear valley ' '
(A. L. Kroeber, Ethnographv of the Cahuilla Indians, present series, vnr, 34,
1908).
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 183
made the first Morongo woman.38 He made woman from a piece of the man's
flesh called atcik. The two were brother and sister. Numerous Morongos were
made (born?).
Kukitat hindered the creative work of Pakrokitat. The two argued and
quarreled continually. Kukitat wanted people to have hands like ducks' feet,
but Pakrokitat objected. Kukitat wanted eyes and bellies in both front and
back of people, but Pakrokitat would not allow such an arrangement. Pakrokitat
said that people should never sicken, should never die. Kukitat asked, "What
will people eat if none dies?" Pakrokitat replied, "We will grow something
to eat." Pakrokitat wished people to live forever or to return to life three
days after death, but Kukitat objected, saying, "No, we will burn them when
they die." Kukitat is the origin of all evil, past and present.
At last Pakrokitat became disgusted with his younger brother Kukitat 's
machinations and objections to all that he planned, and he said to him, "I am
going to leave this world to you. I am going to make another world. Perhaps
you can do better here than I. You stay here." In the new world which
Pakrokitat made, people do not die.
Pakrokitat, when ready to leave, sang, saying that he was going to another
world and that he was leaving this world forever. This world he said would be
a ' ' hell, ' ' while his world would be a blessed place. ' ' When a person dies, ' ' he
said, "his 'heart' (ahun) will go to the other world, while his body remains
behind to rot."
Upon leaving his brother Pakrokitat went first into the ocean, where he created
the island of Paiyait. so Pakrokitat then made from a piece of flesh above his
left thigh bone the three Pananam, beautiful goddesses, who reside in Paiyait.
After visiting Paiyait, Pakrokitat passed with his eagle southeast along the San '
Gorgonio River searching for his new world. After reaching his new world, he
never returned.
The three Pananam (= "water women") are called "hamova. "40 The
soul of the deceased goes first to Paiyait, the home of the three goddesses, be-
cause that is where Pakrokitat went first when seeking another world. The souls
of wicked people are often unable to find the road to Paiyait, and are forced to
remain upon earth. The three goddesses instruct the soul of the deceased as
to the road to Pakrokitat 's world. From Paiyait two trails lead, one to Pakro-
kitat's land, the other to the world of darkness where the souls of the wicked
dwell. The three goddesses read the soul of the deceased and know whether
its acts upon earth have been good or evil. They send it along either trail accord-
ingly. The place of darkness is called Tripyat" and a portion of it, where the
wicked are boiled, is called Patmonat (="hot water"). 42
The Morongo came from the far north. As they moved southward they
followed a pure white eagle, which was the bird of Kukitat. This bird had
thirteen tail feathers, while other eagles have but twelve. Kwiriakaitc (Mount
38 Probably Biblical.
as The informant said this name meant "heart alive; " heart, however, is given
as -hun in the paragraph above.
40 Said to mean "our sisters [who live in the ocean]," although the actual
meaning of "hamova" is probably simply "sisters." The term hamut is used
when speaking of one. Hamut is also the term which may be used by a man
to his sister or a woman to her brother.
4i Cf. Yokuts Tripniu (at the above, or at the supernatural), the name of a
place in Kitanemuk Serrano territory (A. L. Kroeber, present series, iv, 139,
1907).
42 Aboriginal ?
184 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
San Gorgonio) became the home of this wonderful eagle. It was also inhabited
by several white bears which normally dwell in a small lake on the mountain. A
seven-headed snake likewise lives upon it. Kwiriakaite is the property of the
Morongo.
Both Pakrokitat and Kukitat came with the Morongo to their present home.
Then ensued the separation of the brothers, and later the death of Kukitat
together with the disappearance of the white eagle. After the departure of
Pakrokitat, Kukitat dwelt with mankind for thirty years. It was after Pakro-
kitat departed that men were divided into tribes and began to speak different
languages. They tried to shoot each other with arrows, but could not hit one
another. This was all due to Kukitat 's evil schemes.
When the people became tired of Kukitat because of the wars he instigated,
they decided to kill him by witchcraft. They employed the frog (wakat) to
kill him. Kukitat was in the habit of defecating in the ocean. The frog
waited in the waters below and swallowed his excrement. Kukitat realized that
the frog was below him, but could not see it. He knew that something was
wrong, because usually when the excrement sank in the ocean there were three
rumbles. On this occasion there was no noise. Kukitat poked downward with
his javelin (?), the blade of which ran down the frog's back, making the marks
which are now there. The frog had poison in its mouth. Contact of this poison
with the excrement caused Kukitat to become ill.
Kukitat sent crow to fetch a doctor when he fell sick. Crow ate the eyes
of dead people and became black from staying in mud.
When Kukitat lay dying in the early morning he told the people to burn his
body, but not to bury it, for he feared that coyote would eat it. He sent coyote
far north to obtain wood for the funeral pyre. Before coyote's return the body
was placed upon the pyre and almost entirely consumed. Coyote returned and
saw the people assembled about the funeral pyre of Kukitat. Coyote said, ' ' What
are you burning? I want to see my father." The people were standing close
together and he could not squeeze through the line. Badger, however, was bow-
legged and coyote squeezed through between his legs and stole Kukitat 's heart.
Animals were still people at that time.
The body of Kukitat was burned at Hatauva*3 (Bear Valley), a well-watered
region in the San Bernardino Mountains. On the spot where it was burned came
a spring, which is now hidden beneath a reservoir. In his youth the informant
saw the spring and saw the marks on the ground where the people had danced
around the pyre.
After Kukitat 's death people fought as before his death. They fought over
food. The Morongo were annihilated in the fighting, but one man escaping. This
man married a Kaiyuwat woman. The man died, but the woman gave birth to
a boy baby. When the boy grew up he thought and dreamed for three nights
about himself. He asked his mother about the land of his father's people. She
told him that the land of the Morongo was his. The woman's father, seeing him
in such a pensive mood, thought that his grandson was ill. The boy told his
grandfather that he was going to his own country, which made the old man very
sad. The woman took her son toward Morongo land. They arrived at a Mohi-
yanim village and remained there for a while. The chief (kika) of the village
came home from a hunt. His wife told him that strangers were stopping with
43 Perhaps Hatauva is the place called Tova in Luiseno. Dr. Kroeber writes :
' ' Wiyot died at Tova near Maronge, north of the San Jacinto Mountains where
the Serrano (Maringayam) live." (Two Myths of the Mission Indians of Cali-
fornia, Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, xix, 313, 1906.)
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 183
them. The chief asked who the boy's father was and the boy's mother told
him. They went to the "big house" and sang all night. In the morning the
boy married the two daughters of the chief. The boy became the progenitor of
the modern Morongo.
Takwitc. — Takwitc, an evil person, had been annoying a woman. Coyote
had one arrow and attempted to kill Takwitc, whose body was a golden walking
stick. Coyote's arrow broke the gold stick which formed Takwitc 's body.
Takwitc flew away to Mount San Jacinto and became the electric fire ball. He
attacks people at times and throws them into a fire which he kindles. Takwitc
has a house on Mount San Jacinto in which there is reputed to be much gold.
A Cahuilla boy living in Cahuilla Valley was once taken by Takwitc to his
home on the mountain. The people of the boy's village had gone out to gather
acorns, which the region furnishes in abundance. The boy and his baby sister
were left alone at home. Takwitc came and took the boy away. In Takwitc 's
house, the boy saw many captives of various tribes. Each night Takwitc brought
home more captives, often removing their eyes. There were many bones in
Takwitc 's house. He kept the boy for three days and then released him. He
made the boy promise to tell no one of what he had seen for three days. The
three days, however, were really to be three years. The boy's mother questioned
him as to where he had been, but to no avail. When the three years had expired
the boy told his mother and prepared to make a ceremony. He had secured super-
natural power from Takwitc. He could remove his head and arms and replace
them, making himself whole again. This he did in the ceremony in the middle
of the night. After his dance he retired. He was dead in the morning.
Destruction of Wini. — Near the village of Wiiii (near Corona, Kiverside
County) was a rock on a hill. In this rock lived a spirit named Tuit. A little
girl in the village, two or three years old, cried incessantly until her mother in
anger threw her out of the house. The spirit Tuit took the child to his house
that night. Tuit raised the child, whose name was Pahalali.
Gopher (minat) lived with the spirit. When five or six years old the girl
asked gopher what the fire and smoke was which she saw so frequently. It was
really the spirit. Gopher told the girl that the smoke arose from where the
spirit cooked. The water which the spirit gave the girl was urine, the salt was
mucus. ' ' The spirit is not your mother, ' ' gopher said. The girl asked about
her mother three times and gopher answered thrice.
The girl said one day, "I should like to go to my mother." Gopher replied,
' ' You can go, but the spirit may kill jou. I will make two holes for you. You
go under the water toward Temescal." The girl went as directed and arrived
at Wihi. People asked her whence she had come. She replied, ' ' My mother told
me when I was small that a spirit would get me. He did get me and raised me. ' '
Gopher said, "Tell your mother to put you in a bundle and place you in the
'big house.' Have all the people watch you. The spirit will look for you and
try to kill you." The girl repeated to her mother that which the gopher had
said. The woman then put her daughter in a bundle and placed her in the "big
house." The chief prepared for a fiesta. Gopher again instructed, saying,
"Tell your mother to heat a rock very hot. When the spirit asks for you, tell
him to open his mouth to receive you. Then shove the hot rock into his mouth. ' '
After dark the spirit came home and asked for Pahalali. He asked Gopher
about Pahalali. Gopher said, "I saw her playing here but a short while ago."
The spirit then threw into the air a magic basket to determine in which direction
Pahalali had gone. The spirit followed the basket toward the "big house"
in which Pahalali Avas concealed. The spirit arrived at the door and asked for
186 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Pahalali. The girl 's mother said, ' ' Open your mouth for your Pahalali. ' ' She
threw the hot rock into his mouth. The spirit shouted "Haa!" in pain, kicked
in the house, and ate all of the people except one old woman and a dog, who were
covered with a basket.
The surviving old woman cried as she searched for her people, but she could
do nothing. She wandered here and there. While the old woman was away, the
dog became a boy and killed rabbits. The woman returned and asked the dog,
"Who killed the rabbits?" The dog only wagged his tail in response. After
two months, the old woman, who had become quite strong, went a long way. Upon
her return she saw a young man at her dwelling. This young man was really
her dog. As she approached him she became a young girl. She walked up to
him. They married and the village of Wifii was repopulated. The spirit Tuit
was killed by the hot stone at the same time that he destroyed the village and
the people.
The informant saw the ruins of Wifii and asked his mother-in-law about them.
She told him the above story.
CAHUILLA
The Cahuilla were visited in two localities, at Banning in San
Gorgonio Pass at an elevation of twenty-three hundred feet and at
Coach ella in the Colorado Desert, seventy-six feet below sea level.
The Cahuilla in both localities are organized in exogamous moieties
identified with the coyote (isil) and the wild cat (tukut). The coyote
moiety is called istam, the wild cat moiety tuktum. Descent is
paternal. There is no belief in descent from the totem, but the totems
are said to have been men once. This is clearly only an individual
application of the general Californian belief that the present animals
were once men. Such also is their treatment in Cahuilla mythology.
No other animals seem to be associated with coyote and wild cat as
totems. Public sentiment as to exogamy is not very strong. Two of
the Coachella informants, Captain Jim and his son, married women
of their moiety, which is the wild cat.
The Cahuilla moieties are divided into numerous localized, non-
totemic clans with paternal descent. The clan name frequently is
to be translated as "living at 'such a place','' indicating clearly that
at least the natives regard the clans as localized. A clan of the
coyote moiety is supposed to seek its mates only in clans of the wild
cat moiety, and vice versa. Upon marriage a woman goes to live with
her husband. She does not become a member of his clan and moiety,
but remains a member of that into which she was born. At the
present time the members of certain clans are rather scattered, per-
haps due to modern influences. Informants stated, however, that
in ancient times there was more dr less shifting of clan members from
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 187
place to place, due chiefly to deaths, which were followed by the
destruction of the dwelling and removal of the family.
Clans are called "tribes" by the present-day Cahuilla, the native
term being taxelo. Each clan had an hereditary chief called net,
who was of course a member of the clan. He was actually the "head
of the family" in a patriarchal sense, for all members of a clan claim
to trace their descent through males from a common male ancestor.
The principal duties of a clan chief were in connection with cere-
monies. An informant spoke of the clan chief as " (el jefe) potencio"
and "chief of the fiesta." There are no moiety chiefs and no
chieftainesses. A chief, appointed by the whites, apparently as a
go-between, and exercising power over a number of clans, was said
to have been called tcimuluka. Each chief had an hereditary paha,
or ceremonial assistant. Clans of both moieties are said to have
lived in one village, which would seem to indicate that there were
several clan chiefs and ceremonial assistants in each village, a condi-
tion paralleled in the present-day Luiseno villages, in each of which
there are usually two or more party chiefs (see p. 207). Maria Augus-
tine, my informant at Augustine Reservation near Coachella and a
member of the Sewakil clan, stated that at Toro there are two chiefs,
Francisco Torres of the wild cat moiety, and Chapo Levi of the
coyote moiety, both of whom inherited their positions. At first hand
it seemed as though Maria was speaking of true moiety chiefs as
among the Yokuts.44 A bit of questioning revealed the fact that the
chieftains in question are actually the heads of two of the most
numerous clans of to-day. Torres is chief of the Wakwaikiktum
clan, Levi of the Sewakil clan. The decimation of other clans and
the breaking down of exogamy, the informant said, had given each of
these chieftains a wider range of authority than either would have
possessed in ancient times. This case among the Cahuilla is of sig-
nificance in interpreting the so-called "parties" among the Cupeno
and Luiseno.
When a clan loses one of its members, people of various clans and
of both moieties attend the funeral (pemtcutuwet). A destruction
of property takes place two or three days after the funeral. Both
moieties participate. The image ceremony (nukil) which takes place
six or seven months after a death, and may be held for one person,
is likewise participated in by both moieties. In the making of the
44 E. W. Gifford, Diehotomous Social Organization in South Central Califor-
nia, present series, xi, 294, 1916.
188 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and EtJin. [Vol. 14
images reciprocity appears, the opposite moiety always performing
this function for the bereaved moiety. A mourning ceremony of any
sort is always in charge of a clan chief. The people who belong to
the moiety of the deceased, both of his clan and of other clans of his
moiety, gather money and property, which they turn over to the chief
in charge when they prepare for the fiesta.
The following negative data, although of doubtful value, seem
worth recording. Coachella informants in answer to queries stated
that the Cahuilla lacked the toloache ceremony, the eagle ceremony,
the sand painting, and Chungichnish beliefs of the Luiseno and
Diegueno. It was also stated that in ancient times there were no
ceremonies other than funerary and memorial ceremonies and a girl's
ceremony called aulolil in which girls of both moieties were initiated.
There was no special individual whose duty it was to light the funeral
fire. No moiety paints were used.
Each clan possessed special songs about its enemies. Maria
Augustine of the Sewakil clan, used to sing against Captain Jim of
the Kauwisikiktum clan. In such singing ceremonies members of
other clans of the same moiety are said to have helped in the singing
against people of the opposite moiety.
The Cahuilla are said to have a long migration legend, which
consumes two or three nights in the telling. The following fragments
of myths and beliefs have some bearing upon Cahuilla totemism and
seem worth presenting. Two gods, akin in attributes to the Serrano
Pakrokitat and Kukitat and to the Cupeiio Tumaiyowit and Mukat,45
are recognized by the Cahuilla. These are Temaiyowit, who is said to
be the partner of, or is identified with, coyote, and Mukat, the partner
of wild cat. The Milky Way is said to be the birthplace of these
gods. These deities quarreled and Temaiyowit went into the earth.
At the time he did so the earth was flat. It nearly capsized when he
entered it. An eclipse of the moon which occurred during my visit
was regarded as the result of the spirits of the dead trying to eat it.
All of the clans are said to have come from elsewhere in the time
of the god Mukat. This agrees with the Morongo legend (see p. 182)
of the movements of Serrano elans in the time of the god Kukitat, the
Serrano counterpart of Mukat. The Cahuilla speak of Mukat as
a naa, or leader, not as a net, or chief.
The eagle Aswetsei was the mythical leader of the Sewakil clan
of the coyote moiety. In the mountains to the west of Coachella is
a rock where this deity rested. The marks in the rock show the
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Soutliem California 189
position of his chin, elbows, and feet. The marks of his feet have
been damaged by white people. Aswetsei "goes with" coyote, and
may possibly be regarded as an associated totem. Clans of the wild
cat moiety are said to have come from the northwest. The coyote
clans are said to have come from the region of Riverside (also to the
northwest), proceeding first to Sewiat, a (mythical?) locality in the
San Jacinto Mountains. At Sewiat there is a cave with writing
(pictographs?), also a "big rock house." This is beyond the house
of the cannibal spirit Takwitc on San Jacinto Mountain. The people
who lived in ancient times have turned to rock at Sewiat. The gods
died there. When the god Mukat died, people did not know which
way to go. Mukat had appointed no chiefs. Each clan took its
section of land. Each was named after its place of residence. The
two gods originally named people and assigned to each family and
individual his moiety.
Mukat made the sun (tamyat) from his heart. The sun is of
the wild cat (tukut) moiety. It is a man who went to the sky. When
the sun was made, Mukat could not hold it, for it was too bright. It
slipped away and went up into the sky. The moon (menil) is of the
coyote moiety. The moon is a woman and taught people a string
game (cat's cradle?). Temaiyowit made menil, the moon.
Taxotesinigic, a wild cat man, had a sister. The sister was not
yet ready to be named, although the god Mukat gave the names in
the beginning. Taxtemyauwitcem, a coyote man, lived at Sewiat.
Taxotesinigic sent his sister to marry him.
The following list of clans, living chiefly in the desert region
northwest of the Salton Sea, was obtained from three informants.
Next to nothing was obtained concerning the mountain Cahuilla and
those of the San Gorgon io Pass. The residence of each clan is given
after its name. The ending -kiktum of many of the clan names is
said to mean "living there." It is to be noted that none of these
clan names is to be identified with the names of the present-day
Cahuilla villages listed by Dr. D. P. Barrows46 as follows: Malki,
Sechi, Kavinish, Pal tewat, Pal seta, Temalwahish, Sokut Menyil,
Lawilvan, Sivel, Tova, Wewutnowhu, Pachawal, Coahuilla. The
*5 In the form Murkat this name is applied by the Serrano to the "mountains
south or southwest of Colton, probably the Sierra Santa Ana" (A. L. Kroeber,
Ethnography of the Cahuilla Indians, Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., vin,
34, 1900).
46 The Ethno-Botany of the Coahuilla Indians of Southern California, 32,
University of Chicago Press, 1900.
190 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
clans of each moiety are listed in geographic order from northwest
to southeast.
Wild Cat Moiety
1. Kilyifiakiktum. Mission Creek.
2. Kauwisikiktum. The clan of Captain Jim and his son Will Jim, Coachella
informants. This clan lives also at Palm Springs, from which place the Coachella
branch is said to have been derived several generations ago. Kamvis is said to
be the place name of Palm Springs (compare number 17). Dr. Kroeber gives
Kawishmu (in Serrano language) as "a small hill east of White Water, marking
the boundary between the Wanupiapayum and the desert Cahuilla. "4?
3. Wavitctem. Originally from Indian Well ; later, southeast of Thermal ;
Mecca. The name is said to refer to wavic, mesquite tree.48
4. Wansiiiatamyanahutcum. Tuba (Tova?) on northeast side of valley near
Coachella.
5. Isilsivayauwitcum. South of Coachella.
6. Wankinakiktum. South of Coachella.
7. Nanhaiyum. Two miles south of Coachella at La Mesa. Ekwawinet was
the name of the village.49 The husband of Maria Augustine belonged to this
clan.
8. Telkiktum. Two miles south of Coachella.
9. Aiyelmukut. South of Coachella. Lived with the Nanhaiyum.
10. Panatkakiktum. Thermal; came from west to Thermal. Perhaps this
clan is the same as Panasakiktum (no. 11).
11. Panasakiktum. Six or seven miles southeast Of Coachella. Compare
no. 10.
12. Tuikiktum. Southeast of Thermal.
13. Wakwaikiktum. Maulim, Toro. The mother of Maria Augustine belonged
to this clan, which came from hot springs near Warner 's Kanch, but was not
Cupefio. Compare clan no. 22 of the coyote moiety (p. 191). The name is said
to refer to the water. Wakwi,so the Luiseno name for either "El Toro or Cabe-
zon, " certainly is to be connected with Wakwaikiktum.
14. Tamolanitcim. Toro ; Agua Dulce.
15. Autaatem. Martinez. Lived originally on the west side of the valley
near Coachella.
16. Auwalim. Martinez. The "dog" clan; from awal, dog; a joke name
(compare no. 22, Iswetum, "wolf" clan). The wife of Will Jim belongs to
this clan.
17. Kauwispaumiyawitcem. Mecca. Kauwis is said to be the place name
of Palm Springs (compare no. 2); paumiyawitcem is said to mean "living
among the rocks in the mountains. ' '
18. Walpunidikiktum. Alamo. The mother of Will Jim and wife of Captain
Jim belongs to this clan.
19. Palpuniviktum. Alamo.
20. Tamulakiktum. Back of Alamo.
47 Ethnography of the Cahuilla Indians, present series, vin, 35, 1908.
48 Dr. Kroeber, however, gives menyikic for mesquite ; qwinyal for mesquite
screw (present series, vin, 238. 1909).
4o Dr. Barrows gives Temahvahish as the name of the modern village at La
Mesa (op. cit., p. 32).
so A. L. Kroeber, Shoshonean Dialects of California, present series, rv, 152,
1907.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 191
21. Palkausinakela. Figtree John west of Salton Sea. This is the clan of
a well-known Indian, Figtree John. The name is said to mean "little water
coming from a spring. ' ' Pal piskalet means ' ' water emerging. ' '
22. Iswetum. Cahuilla Reservation. Plural of iswet, wolf. This name is
said to have been given to the people of this clan because of the habit of ' ' eating
meat," and was applied as a nickname (compare no. 16, Auwalim, "dog" clan).
Dr. Kroeber has obtained Luvus (probably Spanish lobos, wolf) as the name of
a "place or tribe south, in vicinity of Cahuilla reservation, "si It seems likely
that it refers to this clan. Both the Iswetum and Auwalim clans are also called
Temanakiktum, "low place they lived," as they are believed to have originated
at a place called Temana.
Coyote Moiety
1. Wanikiktum. Banning. A Serrano informant gave "Pihatcap" as the
name of the original Cahuilla inhabitants of Banning.
2. Wavatum. This is the clan of Jim Pine, and Twenty-nine Palms is given
as its home. Dr. Kroeber places Twenty-nine Palms in Serrano territory52 and
one of my Serrano informants gave it as the home of the Serrano Tamwionots
clan.
3. Amnaavitcum. Northwest of Palm Springs. This name contains the
same stem as amnawat, large.
4. Havinavitcum. Palm Springs.
5. Aatsatsum. Indian Well; Happy Point to Palm Springs. This is the clan
of Ramon Gracia, a Banning informant. The name is said to mean "a good
people." Cf. atcai, good.
6. Wova-ikiktum. Indio.
7. Sewakil. Coachella. This is the clan of Maria Augustine, a Coachella
informant. Sewakil is the name of a place south of Indio.
8. Ikonikiktum. Lived with the Nanhaiyum.
9. Taukatim. Two or three miles southwest of Coachella.
10. Sawalakiktum. Toro. Originally lived with the Nanhaiyum.
11. Masuvitcum. Martinez. The name refers to a sandy place. The Cahuilla
word for sand is fiatcic.
12. Mumlaitim. Martinez.
13. Wiitiim. Martinez. Perhaps the same as Wiyistam (no. 22). Wiitam
is said to mean ' ' grasshopper, ' ' a name applied to this clan because of the
habit of eating grasshoppers.
14. Wansauwum. Martinez. This clan was once flooded out of its home ;
hence the name from wanyic, flood or stream. Perhaps identical with no. 15;
15. Wanisiwauyan. Mecca. Perhaps identical with no. 14.
16. Teviflakiktum. Alamo.
17. Iviatum. Agua Dulce.
18. Kaunakalkiktum. Agua Dulce. This clan lived at a place where a shrub
called kaunakal grew.
19. Sasalmayum. Agua Dulce.
20. Kauwistamilakiktum. Agua Dulce.
21. Hunavatikiktum. In the mountains south or southeast of Banning.
22. Wiyistam. San Ysidro. It seems likely that this is the San Ysidro
in Cupeno territory (see p. 192). Wild cat clan no. 13 (Wakwaikiktum) appears
to have come from the same region.
si Ethnography of the Cahuilla Indians, present series, vm, 35, 1908.
52 Ibid., p. 37.
192 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
CTTPEnO
The information concerning the social organization of the Cupeho,
or Agua Caliente Indians, was secured from Cupeho living on
Morongo Reservation at Banning and from the main body of Cupeho
concentrated at Pala, San Diego County.
The greater part of the Cupeho data was secured from three
informants at Banning. These were Desiderio Laws, Mrs. Tomasa
Annis, and her nephew Jose Miguel. Jose Miguel, a half-breed
Cupeho, was the first of that tribe to take up his residence at Ban-
ning, where he married a Serrano woman of the Mohiyanim clan.
The Cahuilla speak of the Cupeho as Kupahakiktum, meaning "living
at Kupa," which was the name of the chief Cupeho village located
upon Warner's Ranch. A second village of people speaking the same
language was located at San Ysidro. It was called Wilakal.53
The Cupeho are organized like the Cahuilla on the basis of
exogamous moieties with paternal descent. These moieties are identi-
fied with the coyote (isil) and the wild cat (tukut) and are called
istam and tuktum. The following myth fragment refers to the origin
of the moiety totems.
In the beginning all was dark and void. A bag hung in space. In time it
opened out into tAvo halves. From one half came coyote (isil), from the other
came wild cat (tukut). They immediately fell to arguing as to which was the
older. Coyote was the older because he spoke first. People had been created,
but they could not see. They were in mud and darkness. They heard coyote
call first and they knew that he was older. The people were not in the bag with
coyote and wild cat. They arose from the mud and started to sing. Shamans
to-day understand coyote, because people heard him first. The moieties came
from the beginning.5*
Coyote's totemites have the reputation of being quick and active
like coyote himself. Wild cat's totemites on the other hand have the
reputation of being slow and lazy. The coyote totemites jokingly
tell the wild cat people that they are slow and lazy. The two totems
are believed to have been men or gods originally, later they became
animals. Some informants identified coyote with the god Tumaiyowit
and wild cat with the god Mukat. These gods led the people from
a northern home. In dances the men and women of the coyote moiety
dance in two groups on one side. Wild cat men and women do the
same on the other side.
sa Mrs. Julia Johnston, a Pala informant, stated that she was from that
village and that the name of her ' ' tribe ' ' was Totcil.
s* The last sentence was in response to a question how the moieties originated.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 193
The totem is called wala, which means great-great-grandparent or
ancestor. There is no belief in actual descent from the totem.
One Cupeiio informant said, that although it was improper for
people of the same moiety to marry if they were both of the same
tribe, it was not improper for people of the same moiety to marry
if they were of different tribes, as for example Cupeno and Cahuilla.
This is a reversal of the Yokuts custom in which moiety exogamy is
adhered to in intertribal marriages.
In addition to the division into moieties the Cupeno are divided
into seven patrilinear elans, four of the coyote moiety and three of
the wild cat moiety. Moiety exogamy was the only requisite in mar-
riage, however. A man selected his mate from any one of the clans
of the moiety of which he was not a member. The clans are called
"parties" by the natives, possibly evincing a different attitude of
mind, ceremonial rather than genealogical, from that of the Cahuilla
who speak of their clans as "tribes." Each Cupeno clan or party is
called a nout, as is its hereditary chief. The Cupeno clans of the
co37ote moiety are Potamatoligic, Tcanalanalic, Kauval, and Nauwilot.
The wild cat clans are Auliiiawic or Auliat, Sivimoat, and Djutnika.
These seven names represent the maximum number of clans
mentioned. All seven were not mentioned by any one informant.
Certain of the above seven clans are said to be equivalent to certain
others. The statements in this regard may be reduced to the fol-
lowing form :
Kauval = Tcanalanalic = Nauwilot.
Djutnika = Aulifiawic = Sivimoat.
Potamatoligic.
This reduces the number of "parties" to three, for the term
"party" is used by the natives indiscriminately for a clan or for a
group of fused clans. With the fused or combined clans just listed
the native use of the word "party" is not far amiss and will be
employed in this paper. "Clan" can only be used for one of the
original seven theoretically consanguineous groups. At Pala at
present three is the actual number of parties which exercise ceremonial
functions. These parties are Auliiiawic of the wild cat moiety with
which are joined Djutnika and Sivimoat, Nauwilot of the coyote
moiety with which are joined Kauval and Tcanalanalic, and Potama-
toligic of the coyote moiety. The chiefs of these three parties at
Pala are Juan Aulinwic of the Auliiiawic party, Francisco Laws or
194 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Nauwilot of the Nauwilot party, and Cecilio Potamatoligic (= Black-
tooth) of the Potamatoligic party.
The statements of informants as to the uniting of these clans
into parties are quite significant, as they throw light upon the changes
which have probably taken place in Luiseiio society. Djutnika is
said by some informants to be only a family name now, the people
of that name attaching themselves to the Sivimoat, who in turn fol-
low the lead of the Aulinawic in ceremonial matters. Sivimoat has
no chief, since decimated in numbers. Members of the Sivimoat
clan join the Aulinawic, who are of their moiety, in all ceremonies.
When I was at Pala in January, 1917, a ceremony was scheduled by
the Aulinawic clan for a week later. Cinon Sivimoat of the Sivimoat
clan told me that his people would take part with the Aulinawic clan
under the leadership of Juan Aulinwic. Cinon said that he was
now a member of Juan Aulinwic 's party. Years ago, he said, the
Sivimoat clan had its own chief, but since his death and the deci-
mation of the clan, the members had .joined the Aulinawic party.
Sivimoat is a "family" name now as well as a clan name. The
Tcanalanalic have no chief, since they are decimated in numbers. In
ceremonies they join the Nauwilot, who are of their moiety.
The evidence concerning the uniting of the Tcanalanalic, Nauwi-
lot, and Kauval is perplexing in the light of information furnished
by Mrs. Tomasa Annis. Mrs. Annis stated that her father's "fam-
ily" name was Kauval. Her brother is Francisco Nauwilot or Laws,
the chief of the Nauwilot "party." With paternal descent it would
seem that the brother's name ought to be Kauval instead of Nauwilot.
Mrs. Annis said that the three names, Tcanalanalic, Nauwilot, and
Kauval were all names for one and the same party. She said that
the oldest name of the part}' was Kauval, that the next name was
Tcanalanalic, while Nauwilot is only a nickname. On the other
hand, Cecilio Tiperosa, an old man at Pala, said that Nauwilot and
Tcanalanalic were not equivalent. The three names probably stand
for three original clans as indicated above.
An outsider of another tribe who came to live with the Cupeiio
might joint any part}* he liked, though it is quite likely that his moiety
would be the deciding factor as to which party he did join.
It is clear that we have two organizations in Cupeiio society in
addition to the exogamous moieties. First, there is the clan with
paternal descent and with an hereditary chief called a nout. Second,
there is the party, as the natives call it, which has one of the old
1918] Gilford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 195
clans as a nucleus and has drawn to itself the remnants of the clans
which have diminished most in numbers. As has been already pointed
out (see p. 187) some such amalgamation of clans has taken place at
Toro among the Cahuilla. No information regarding a localization
of Cupefio clans was obtained.
Meanings for only two of the Cupefio clan names were forthcom-
ing. Potamatoligic is said to mean "black tooth," and Nauwilot to
mean "body lice." Auliiiawic would seem to have some connection
with blood, the word for which in the related Luiseiio language is
oula. Furthermore, aulinil is the Cupeiio name for the girl's puberty
ceremony.
The following list of names, with the clan to which each individual
belongs, seems worth recording.
Juan Maria belongs to the Sivimoat clan.
Juan Maria's wife, Ramona, belongs to the Tcanalafialic elan.
Cinon Sivimoat belongs to the Sivimoat clan.
Francisco Laws belongs to the Nauwilot clan.
Desiderio Laws, nephew of Francisco, belongs to the Nauwilot clan.
Cecilio Tiperosa belongs to the Aulinawie clan.
Juan Aulifiwic belongs to the Auliiiawic clan, of which he is chief.
Mrs. Julia Johnston belongs to the Auliiiawic clan.
Mrs. Julia Johnston's mother was of the Nauwilot clan.
Mrs. Tomasa Annis, sister of Francisco Laws, belongs to the Kauval clan.
Ambrose and John Ortega are of the Potamatoligic clan.
Each hereditary clan chief (nout) has an hereditary assistant
called kutvovoc. The word kutvovoc evidently refers to kut, fire.
Carrying messages for the chief, supervising the preparation of food,
and receiving guests seem to be the chief duties of the kutvovoc.
Juan Auliilwic, chief of the Auliiiawic clan, has as kutvovoc Cecilio
Tiperosa. Mariano Blacktooth, chief of the Potamatoligic clan, has
as kutvovoc Ambrose Ortega. Francisco Laws, chief of the Nauwi-
lot clan, acts as both nout and kutvovoc, as his kutvovoc died without
a successor and his clan is small and dwindling in number. There
was yet another official, called paha, whose duties were restricted to
initiation ceremonies. He officiated at the toloache ceremony as
assistant to the toloache chief (see p. 196) and assembled the people
when an image or other important memorial ceremony was planned.
When Juan Auliiiwic gives a ceremony he invites the other two
parties, Potamatoligic and Nauwilot. The chief of each of these
parties does the same when he gives a ceremony. The three wild
cat clans, Auliiiawic, Djutnika, and Sivimoat, always act as a unit
196 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
in ceremonial matters. Opposed to these in such matters are two
groups of the coyote moiety, one the Potamatoligic, the other composed
of Kauval, Tcahalanalic, and Nauwilot. The father of one inform-
ant, Mrs. Tomasa Annis, was chief of the Tcahalanalic clan. He
inherited the position from his paternal uncle.
There were no moiety chiefs. There was recently, however, a vil-
lage chief who was elected annually. There was no such chieftain in
ancient times, however.
Each clan had songs about its enemies. The ceremony in which
these were sung is called piniwahat. Dancing formed a part of the
ceremony.
"When a fiesta is to be given by a coyote clan or party, the members
first meet and discuss the matter. At the fiesta, they often cook
for and serve the wild cat guests. On the other hand the food may
be brought by the clansmen to their kutvovoc, and he turns it over
to the kutvovoc of the guest clan, or party, the members of which
prepare it. It is eaten by the guests in the "ceremonial house."
The hosts eat at home.
In order to ascertain the extent of the ceremonial functions of
the clans and parties, informants were questioned with regard to the
various ceremonies common to the Cupeno and their neighbors, the
Luisefio and Dieguefio. Descriptions of these ceremonies among the
Luiseiio have been published by Miss Du Bois55 and among the
Dieguefio by Dr. Waterman.56
The toloache ceremony is called manit paninil (== toloache
drinking). A special chief, also called nout, had charge of this,
independent of the clan chiefs. A man of the Tcahalanalic clan
held this position, which was said to be inherited in the male line
and restricted to that clan. His assistants, who taught the initiates
to dance, were of various clans and of both moieties. The toloache
chief selected the boys for initiation.
There was said to be a special teacher for the whirling dance
(pukavihat). He was a coyote man of the Potamatoligic clan and
taught only Potamatoligic youths except that on one occasion, the
informant recollected, a Tcahalanalic youth was taught.
The girls' ceremony, olunika or aulinil, was a clan affair and not
a tribal affair as was the boys' toloache ceremony. Each clan
ss The Religion of the Luisefio Indians of Southern California, present series,
vm. 69-186, 1908.
56 The Religious Practices of the Dieguefio Indians, present series, vm, 271-
358, 1910.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 197
''roasted" its own girls, inviting other clans to witness and to sing
and dance at the ceremony. In dancing in a ring around the pit
in which the girls were placed, the wild cat people kept together, as
did the coyote people. All, however, formed a continuous ring. It
was stated that the girls' ceremony took place at the time of the
image ceremony.
If a coyote clan or party is to kill an eagle, the wild cat people are
invited to the ceremony. The feathers taken from the bird are used
for dance paraphernalia. A young eagle is often captured and
reared. In winter people will go hungry themselves in order to feed
the eagle.
If a Cupeiio man marries a woman of another tribe, for example
a woman of Saboba, and later a child born of this marriage dies, he
must give an expensive mourning ceremony to which he invites the
Saboba people.
In the matter of mourning ceremonies the clans exercise truly
reciprocal functions. A week after a death a ceremony called
pisatuil is held at the "assembly house." The people sing all night.
First the people of the opposite moiety sing for half of the night.
Then the people of the dead person's clan or party sing for the second
half of the night.
A month or two after a death, the ceremony called sushomnil is
held. In this ceremony property is burned and distributed by the
clan of the deceased, his near relatives giving the most. The people
of the opposite moiety seize what they wish when the fellow clansmen
of the deceased throw pieces into the air as offerings. The kutvovoc
of the bereaved clan passes the property to be given away to the
kutvovoc of a clan of the opposite moiety, who divides it among
his clansmen. The kutvovoc of the bereaved clan builds the fire to
burn the offerings. The people dance contra-clockwise around the
fire, especially while the offerings are burning. If a person of an-
other tribe, Cahuilla or Luiseiio, steps into the line to dance, presents
are given him. About the fire both wild cat and coyote people dance.
The most important memorial ceremony is the image ceremony or
naiiawil. It takes place every few years, and often it is held for
four or five dead, or for all who have died sinee the preceding
naiiawil. Before the ceremony is announced, each clan discusses the
matter with its bereaved families. If a family is not quite ready,
the ceremony is postponed. The naiiawil is given by only one moiety
at a time, namely the moiety of the deceased. The clan or clans of
198 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
that moiety furnish money and property for the ceremony. The
opposite moiety is invited.
The relatives of the deceased make the heads of the images which
represent the dead. They also gather the material for the images.
This consists of bundles of Epicampes grass called masbat. If there
are four dead four bundles of grass are supplied. These bundles,
together with the heads of the images, framework, and clothing, are
given to the people of the opposite moiety to be put together. The
chief of a clan or party always has a supply of masbat at his house.
Each family also has some on hand.
The ceremony occupies three days and three nights. Men sing
at night, women during the day. If the coyote moiety is bereaved,
the wild cat men sing during the first half of each night, the coyote
men during the second half. A similar order is observed in the sing-
ing of the women during the day.
On the first and second nights the materials for the images are
collected in a pile. On the last morning of the ceremony the people
of the opposite moiety make the images, each kutvovoc assigning
the work to his clansmen. They and their relatives help him to make
the images. Relatives of the dead person, whose image he makes,
pay him while he is putting the image together. If the deceased has
numerous relatives, he receives considerable money; if few, he re-
ceives but little. The images are put together in a very short time.
They are completed before nine o'clock in the morning. The people
of the opposite moiety carry them, while the bereaved moiety scatters
money, food, clothes, and baskets. These are collected by the oppo-
site moiety. The images are thrown on a fire which is lighted by
a kutvovoc of the officiating moiety. The burning takes place out of
doors in a circular pit. The kutvovoc who lights the fire is paid for
that service by the bereaved moiety. The ceremony ends with seven
or eight songs sung by the combined women of both moieties. The
material given by the bereaved moiety is divided by the kutvovoc of
the recipient moiety at the end of the ceremony.
By the Cupeno the electric fire ball is called Tur, a name quite
different from that used by the other Shoshonean groups of southern
California, among whom this apparition is usually known as Takwite
or Takwic. The Cupeno like the other groups consider Tur to be a
spirit, who dwells in a large rock high up on Mount San Jacinto.
People who approach his house must do so quietly. The Indians
report that white people who believe that there is gold under the rock
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 199
have made several attempts to obtain it. Each time Tur has appeared
and driven the treasure seekers away.
Two brief Cupeno myths were obtained. One tells of the two
deities Tumaiyowit and Mukat. The other recites the annihilation
and regeneration of the Cupeno and is quite parallel to the Morongo
clan legend (see p. 182) of the Serrano.
Tumaiyowit and Mukat. — The gods Tumaiyowit and Mukat created the world
and all that is in it. They quarreled and argued as to their respective ages.
They disagreed on many things. Tumaiyowit wished people to die. Mukat did
not. Tumaiyowit went down to another world under this world, taking his be-
longings with him. People die because Tumaiyowit died.
Mukat, who remained on earth, finally fell under the ill-will of mankind,
because he caused quarrelling and fighting. Each evening he put the people
to sleep by blowing tobacco smoke from his pipe. When they were fast asleep,
he arose stealthily, stepped over them, and went to the ocean to defecate. Each
time he heard his excrement strike the ocean floor and he knew that all was well.
Three times he would hear the sound. Then he returned. When the people
aAvoke they found him in his place. They tried every possible means to discover
when and where the god attended to his natural functions, but to no avail.
Finally a very slim lizard hid on the god's cane. The god did not see it.
The lizard discovered where the god went and what he did and reported to the
people. Then they set the frog to bewitch the god. The frog hid in the ocean,
and, as the god defecated, swallowed his excrement. The god, not hearing the
usual sound, knew that something was wrong. He poked downward with his
cane, which rubbed along the back of the frog making the marks which we see
there to-day. The god Mukat became ill and died. When ill he told the people,
" If I die to-day or to-morrow, burn me. Do not let coyote come near me, for
he will do an evil deed."
Upon the death of the god his body was burned. The people sent coyote to
fetch wood for the funeral pyre, for they feared that he might eat the body of
the god. Coyote departed. He was away nearly a day. As soon as he left,
they started to burn the body. The fire drill and hearth with which the pyre was
ignited, were two men. The body of the god was burning when coyote reached
the end of the world. He saw the smoke and hurried back. When he arrived at
home all of the body had burned except the heart, which the people kept turning
to make it burn. When coyote arrived the people were standing close together
about the pyre. He said, "Brothers and sisters, let me see this. He is my
god. ' ' They only stood the closer together, but coyote jumped over them and
seized the heart. He ran north, where he ate it. Where the blood dripped there
.is gold. The people pursued in vain. Coyote looked back as he ran with the
heart in his mouth. That is why a coyote, when running away always looks
back to this day.
The people who stood around the pyre became trees, some tall, others short.
It was over the short people that coyote had jumped. The people pursued coyote
northward. Across the mountains in that direction the trees stretch to-day. They
are the people who pursued coyote. Some have been knocked down, just as coyote
knocked down the people.
The Annihilation and Regeneration of the Cupeno. — The people came from
the north under the leadership of Tumaiyowit and Mukat. Different groups
200 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
settled here and there. The Kauval settled at Saboba.5 * The Cupefio first
settled three miles southwest of Kupa. They brought with them a green, hair-
like water plant as their (hot) water supply. Wherever they placed this they
had boiling water. From their first place of settlement they saw that the sun
always shone at Kupa, so they moved over there. At their first settlement the
sun went down early and it was cold.
The Cupefio were once completely annihilated by enemies. Only the Diegueiio
wife of one man and his infant son escaped the massacre, which was carried out
by seven or eight surrounding tribes. The attackers surprised the Cupefio,
clubbed them to death, and burned their houses. They called to this Diegueiio
woman to come out of her burning house. She did so carrying her babe in her
arms. She said it was a girl baby and both she and it were spared. It was
really a boy.
The baby boy who thus escaped the massacre was of the coyote moiety
Hoboyak was his name; it means "capable of doing anything. "58 He grew
amazingly. His mother took him to San Felipe. He hunted and killed rabbits,
but others took them from him. His mother asked, ' ' Cannot you kill something,
mice or something?" He told his mother that others took his game from him.
She informed him that the San Felipe people were not his kin. She said, ' ' Kupa
is your home, but your kin have all been killed. Over there is your water, your
hot water, your rabbit,^ your eagle."
When his mother said this, the boy replied, "I am going to see my eagle, my
water, my rabbit, and my home. ' ' He fell to thinking about it and people saw
that there was something wrong with him. They asked his mother what the
trouble was. The woman told her son of relatives at Saboba, men of his moiety,eo
the coyote moiety. She pounded all sorts of seeds for food.61 One night she
and her son stole away.
From Saboba the people saw the mother and boy approaching when they were
as far away as Hemet. [Hemet is four miles from Saboba.] They said, "There
come a man and his wife. Who can they be?" An old man, who had been
indoors until now, stepped out and asked who came. He looked and at one glance
knew that the others were wrong. ' ' They are a mother and her son, ' ' he said.
He recognized them while they were still as far away as Hemet. The woman
told the Saboba people of the fate of the people of Kupa.
Hoboyak killed more rabbits than any one else. He employed two kinds of
throwing sticks in hunting rabbits. One was straight and is called wakat; it
was an ordinary stick broken from a bush. The other was the eurved throwing
stick called nilyat. The mother and son remained at Saboba for a while. The
young man was restless. He wished to go to his own country. Again the mother
pounded seeds, and again they stole away at night. They went along the moun-
tains toward Cahuilla Reservation to Wiatava. They remained there a while.
One day while the mother pounded seeds Hoboyak slipped away. She had always
kept him in sight before. He ran far and found a bear's tracks. He returned
and told his mother.
' ' Mother, you cannot guess what I saw. ' ' She named everything except the
bear. The young man answered, "No," to each. She could think of no other
57 Represented there by Jesus Jauro and relatives.
58 It is said to be also a term for shaman ; pul is the usual term for shaman.
59 A mythical white and red spotted rabbit about three feet high which dwells
upon Rabbit Peak. When the rabbit appears, the mountain shakes and trembles
and there is a rumbling noise.
so The Kauval. See above, also footnote 57.
si Pulverized wild seed is called poiyic, and is mixed with water when eaten.
1918] Gifford: Clam and Moieties in Southern California 201
animal. Then she said, "There is nothing else." The young man said, "The
tracks were like those of a man." The mother said, "That is a bear."
Hoboyak said, ' ' That is the one. Mother, I am going to kill that bear. ' ' She
objected, saying that the bear was dangerous and killed many people. Hoboyak
made a bow and arrows and slipped away again. He tracked the bear and found
it. They fought. The bear jumped repeatedly at the youth, but he always
stepped aside. At last as the bear went by him, he drove an arrow into its heart.
He skinned the bear and took home the hide.
He carried the hide under his arm and showed it to his mother. He said,
' ' I will show you something else. ' ' He told his mother to sit on the bear hide
behind him. It became a bear and carried them. He stopped the bear and it
became a hide again.
' ' Mother, I am not afraid to attack anyone. "With you and my bear, we
can kill many people. We shall now go straight home. ' ' Then they went towards
Kupa. The mother retarded progress as much as possible. When close to
Kupa, Hoboyak stole away for a hot water bath.
The mother objected to approaching any closer to Kupa. Hoboyak remon-
strated, "Mother, I want my place. I have seen my eagle (aswut), my rabbit
(suic)." They camped twice in unsatisfactory places. Then they came to a
tongue of land, two miles west of Kupa, from which they could see a long way
on both sides. From there Hoboyak went daily to a place about half a mile
from Warner's Eanch, where women gathered seed. Women saw him daily and
reported to their families, who would not believe them, because they knew that
no one lived at Kupa. At last a man came to see if the reports of the women
were true. He saw the young man pass. Each day, however, Hoboyak had a
different appearance, thus making the spectators think that many people lived
at Kupa.
All of the surrounding peoples planned to kill the Cupenos whom they imagined
to live again at Kupa. As the people watched, Hoboyak appeared in different
forms always from the same hut. They approached closer under cover. From
his hill (the tongue of land which was about fifty feet high) Hoboyak saw them.
He approached them, carrying his bear skin and asking them to wait. When
close enough, he slung the bear skin at them. It became a real bear and attacked
them. Hoboyak shot them. His mother clubbed the wounded. All but one of
the attackers were killed. He told the survivor to go and tell his people that
the score had been settled. Hoboyak killed his last man by striking his head
against an oak tree. The tree and place to-day are called Tubasalpokbo, meaning
' ' where one man 's head was pounded. ' '
Hoboyak and his mother now moved to Kupa. He married two Luiseno
sisters from Eincon (?). From this marriage came the Cupeno of to-day.62
LUISES063
The Luiseno have neither moieties nor totems. They possess,
however, localized patrilinear clans or families on the one hand, and
parties or religious societies on the other.
62 In answer to my question the informant said that the wild cat moiety came
later to Kupa, after Hoboyak established himself. It was there before the
massacre and destruction, however.
63 Data were secured at Rincon, at Pichanga Avhere the Temecula people are
now located, and at Saboba near San Jacinto.
202 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
First, as to the families or clans, of which a list of eighty-one was
obtained.64 One informant, Gregorio Ornish, whose father was an
Omic and mother a Sovenic, said that he might marrj- any women so
long as she belonged to neither of these groups. Such being the case
it seems quite clear that, if these groups are clans, they are rather
small, or else that the sentiment against the marriage of individuals
related in anj- degree is exceedingly strong. Among the Serrano we
have noted that the Morongo and Mohiyanim clans always inter-
married, which of course means that they were of considerable size.
In fact, they must have been of sufficient numerical strength to allow
of continuous intermarriage without arousing the sentiment against
incestuous marriage. With the Luiseno each group may have been
of such small size that continuous intermarriage between any two
involved incest from the native's point of view. The Luiseno groups
certainly bear a resemblance to the numerous Cahuilla clans. Since
they are double in number, they perhaps represent the Cahuilla
fabric of clan organization much more finely spun. As with the
Cahuilla each group is dignified by a name. The names resemble
the Miwok personal names65 inasmuch as they are chiefly verbs or
derivatives of verbs. They lack the totemic connotations of the
Miwok names, however.66 Judging from the tendency of other
Shoshonean groups and of the Yuman groups in southern California
to name groups of kindred or quasi-kindred as clans, it seems clear
that this Luiseno naming of families or clans is a manifestation of
the same tendency, perhaps carried to a greater degree of refinement
and possibly stimulated by European contact. Whether we should
call the Luiseno groups "clans" or "families" is a question which
can be definitely settled only with ample genealogical data.
Certain families or clans possess hereditary chieftains at the pres-
ent time. Certain others are said to have had such chieftains in
former days, but now lack them because of decimated numbers.
There is no evidence to show that each of the eighty-one groups had
a chieftain, however. It was stated that in former times those groups
which had chiefs were "parties" in themselves, which undoubtedly
C4 By one informant the word ' ' tribes ' ' was used for these groups, although
the native term applied— tnnlam— actually means ' ' names. ' ' By another inform-
ant the term ' ' families ' ' was applied, although the native term use — kamalum —
actually means ' ' children. ' ' For ' ' tribes ' ' the second informant gave ketcam
(cf. ketcamkawic, southerner, applied to th*> Diegueno), which he said applied
only to linguistic groups like the Cahuilla, Gupefio, and Diegueno.
es E. W. Gifford, Miwok Moieties, present series, xii, 146, 1916.
G6 Some of the Luiseno have Spanish names which are translations of their
Indian family names.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 203
means that they were true clans and not families and performed all
of the functions of the present-day party among the Luiseno.67
The family or clan names follow, arranged by locality.68 The late
P. S. Sparkman's manuscript dictionary of the Luiseno language has
been consulted in verifying and ascertaining the meaning and deriva-
tion of the names.
Kincon
1. Omic. Said to mean blood; cf. aula, blood, and aumawie, bloody.
2. Kalak. Cf. kalek, soon, presently, quickly, in a short time, speedily, with-
out delay.
3. Miteax. Rammed, as into a hole. The Spanish name of this family is
Tapador (one who stops, shuts up).
4. Nesikat. Scraping off a little, as taking a little off of the top of a pile
of earth. Nesi, to graze, to touch lightly in passing; -kat, recent imperfect or
habitual agent.
5. Covenic. Mean, ugly, cranky. Cf. cowoic, someone to be afraid of.
6. Tcevic. Breaking by pulling.
7. Kewewic. Fox. Mentioned by a Saboba informant as the name of a
Rincon family.
La Jolla
1. Cuvic. Rustling noise made by disturbing dry leaves. Cuvic, making a
rustling noise.
2. Agit. Said to mean a hole in the ground, like a gopher's. The mother of
Vidal Mojadu was of this family.
3. Amagu. Said to mean branch of a tree.
4. Wasax. Stretched.
5. Ayuvo. Wet. Sebak was given as another name for this group.
6. Paliwac. A ground fungus known as ' ' puff ball. ' '
7. Awayu.
8. Tovak. Said to mean sediment from dirty water.
9. Tcintcinlic. Said to mean to pound with a pestle.
10. Wivic. Said to mean cutting around the edge of something, as of a piece
of cloth.
Patjma
1. Maxlafia. Maxwal, fan palm ; -na, locative.
2. Kenic. Ground squirrel.
3. Coktcum. Said to mean to scratch flesh a bit with nails. Cf. coki, to
pinch or scratch. Another informant gave the meaning as "mean people."
4. Pauval.
5. Ayal. Cf. ayalic, knowledge.
6. Teat. White owl.
67 Felix Calac mentioned the Miteax ' ' family ' ' as originally having been a
"party" and as having had a chief. They came from Puerta Cruz. Now there
are only Manuel Miteax and his father left at Rincon and a few others at Pala.
Manuel and his father belong to no party at present.
fls J. A. Marino, a half-breed (Spanish-Cupeno) at Rincon said that his
mother's father (a Cupeno') was named Nuka. Whether it was a personal name
or group name could not be ascertained.
204 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
Pauma Rancho
1. Ciwax. Wake up.
2. Povofia. Said to mean feeling a slight pain after a severe one, as when
pain of cut finger eases.
Cuca
1. Ackat. Bather. Family of Jose Albaiias, who belongs to Anoyum party.
2. Mokwakwis. Said to mean to walk around a post ; to make a round hole.
Perhaps in part from moni, to travel.
3. Pantovak.
4. Camnim. Perhaps from camki, to gather grass.
0. Wasaiyik. Said to mean to pull on something.
6. Noiyikas. Said to mean making shade in hot weather.
Pala
1. Luvakwis. Said to mean to wilt; to become dry. Cf. laviki, to wither.
2. Tcori. Said to mean rolling a round object on the ground. Possibly really
tcari, to tear; or tcorii, to cut much wood.
3. Wakpic. Broom (for sweeping).
4. Sokisla. Said to mean living forever. The name resembles the word
cakiela (the common nettle).
PlCHANGA
1. Tcauwi. To chase or scare up game. This is really a Rincon family with
a branch at Pichanga.
2. Hakyuk. Said to mean hungry. Cf. hakwli, to be hungry.
3. Tcukul. Perhaps from tcuki, to fill tight.
4. Efila. Salt.
5. Wilix.
6. Pahanim. Budding. Compare pahankic, a kind of cane grass.
7. Oyot. Thief, robber.
8. Kowak.
9. Atatci. Bark of tree.
10. Tosamal. A small plant with yellow flowers, Baeria gracilis.
11. Kocak. Said to mean sweet. Compare kocahat, sweet.
12. Wavic. People piling food for fiesta; literally, the bringing or taking
away.
13. Cahama. Said to mean "in the white willows." Compare cahamawic,
abounding with white willow; cahat, white willow.
14. Makara.
15. Canat. Asphaltum.
16. Bahovic.
17. Totmani. Rolling stone. Tota, stone; mani, to roll something heavy.
An aged woman of this family named Stefana said that Totmani had been trans-
mitted as the family name from before the time of her great grandfather.
San Luis Rey
1. Tuvotwic or Tovotmuc. Said to mean something which has been ground
to dust or flour. Towut, fine dust.
2. Atuulu. Said to mean a plant growing abundantly. Cf. atoula, the trunk
of a tree, rootstock, or bulb of a plant.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 205
3. Halixlina or Haliislina. The first is said to mean walking pigeon-toed, the
second standing stooped or hump-backed with arms slightly flexed. Mr. Spark-
man gives pepeahat for pigeon-toed. Possibly from halahali, to be loose.
4. Ketekt. Said to mean trousers pulled up, or short. Compare ketektish,
short.
5. Sinle.
6. Towic. Ghost.
7. Karik. From kari 'i, to eruct.
8. Pevesanahoiket. Said to mean a tall water plant (tule) swaying in the
wind. Pevesac, tule. A man named Pevesanahoiket or Havilakwa was chief
at San Luis Key.
9. Keruskat.
10. Totomal. Small stone.
11. Saume. Said to mean sound made by a sea shell at the ear.
12. Lavik. Wilting. Laviki, to wither.
13. Nonis. Said to mean talking low when sick. SToni, to make a low mur-
muring sound.
14. Nosis.
15. Panowa. Possibly equivalent to panavut, the name of a plant which
grows near the coast.
16. YaAvahaisan.
17. Kauwiit.
18. Tovita. Tovit, species of small rabbit.
19. Kelita. Perhaps from keli, to stir.
20. Mapulis. Said to mean sitting in hunched position with hands in front
of face. Mat, hand.
Saboba
1. Litcic. Slipping.
2. Pokhat.
3. Amurax. Curled, as the leaves of a plant from the heat.
4. Tukwut. Mountain lion. Spanish name is Leon. The Indian name of
the father's father of Pauline Leon was Wowis, said to mean a trail. This
man 's brother 's sen had the same name. It seems impossible to distinguish
whether it is a family name or merely a transmitted individual name.
5. Apapas. Said to mean round like an olla. A Cahuilla family. The
name is said to be of Spanish origin. It may be the Spanish form of pavahat,
having the shape of a sphere.
6. Jauro. A Cupefio family of the Kauval party.
7. Tcipmal. A species of owl ; perhaps the pygmy owl, recorded by Mr.
Sparkman as tukyapal. Spanish name is Lechuza. The family is at present
represented by Antonio Lechuza. It is also said that Antonio and his father's
sister, an old woman named Soledad, are of the Gaupsi (a small shrub with berries
liked by the birds). It seems possible that Gaupsi is really the original Indian
family name and that Tcipmal is simply a translation of the Spanish Lechuza.
On the other hand Gaupsi may be the name of one of the three Saboba parties
(described below) for which no names were obtained.
8. Yuloteuwat. Morning Star. Spanish name is Lucero. Mr. Sparkman
gives Elutcax as the Luiseno name of Venus, the morning star.
No Location
1. Anaa. Said to mean burnt.
206 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
A Luiseiio party69 consists of a clan or family, with an hereditary
chief, to which other numerically weak and chieftainless groups have
attached themselves. It is of the same character as the party among
the neighboring Cupeiio. The purpose of the party is ceremonial,
hence it might well be called a religious society. Membership in a
clan is of course a matter of birth, but membership in a party is a
matter of choice on the part of each individual. The choice seems
to be wider among the Luiseiio than among the Cupeiio, where we
have seen that moiety limits the number of groups with which an
alliance may be made. The party, that is, the nucleus clan with
its accretions, is called noot or nota,70 which is also the term for
"chief." How far the party is the result of decimation due to
European contact and to what extent its development may be corre-
lated with the Chungichnish ritual are questions which must be left
in abeyance.
The chieftainship is hereditary, passing as a rule from father to
son, the old chief selecting his successor from among his sons. A
party at Saboba, however, has a chieftainess, who inherited her office.
Her husband acts for her in most matters. At Rincon there is also
a chieftainess, who has succeeded her husband during the minority
of her son. In case a chief dies suddenly without indicating his
successor, one of his relatives is selected. The business of the parties
(nonotum) seems to be entirely ceremonial, "making fiestas" as the
natives express it.
Anyone who wishes can join a part}'. Blood relationship to the
family or clan in which the chieftainship is vested is not necessary.
Furthermore a person may quit one party and join another. If a
member thought that his party did not carry out properly the cere-
monies for one of his deceased relatives, he might become angry and
resign. A person belongs to only one party at a time. When a
member dies, his party makes a ceremony and burns his clothes. A
woman becomes a member of a party with her husband. Usually a
man belongs to the party of his father, but he may quit it and join
another if he wishes. "Women may join, but children may not. A
so Both Miss Du Bois and Mr. Sparkman mention ' ' clans " or " parties. ' ' At
one time they say that membership is a matter of birth, at another that it is a
matter of choice (C. G. Du Bois, The Religion of the Luiseiio Indians of South-
ern California, and P. S. Sparkman, The Culture of the Luiseiio Indians, present
series, vm, 1908).
70 The plural of nota is nonotum. In speaking of one member of the Anoyum
party, anoiiahue would be used. Anoyum means the members collectively. Noot
anonahuc Avould be "chief of the Anoyum."
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 207
person must be adult to join. There is no initiation. A prospective
member consults with the chief of the party he wishes to join.
When the chief of a party decides to give a ceremony, for example
the clothes-burning ceremony, he calls his people together. On the
first night they alone are present ; later, people from many places
come.
At Rincon there are four parties which originally lived at Cuca,
at San Luis Rey but one, at Pauma three, at Pichanga two, at Saboba
three. The parties at Rincon formerly numbered seven. The present
parties there are listed below.
1. Anoyum is the name of one party of which an old man named Jose Polonio
Ornish is chief. All of the Omic belong to this party. The Tovik and Suvic also
belong to the Anoyum party. They once formed separate parties, but their
chieftains are dead, so they have attached themselves to the Omic. Anoyum
(ano, coyote; -yum, plural, probably here with the force of "people of"), which
refers to the coyote, is a name given this party because of greediness at ' ' pescado
(fish) fiestas." The proper name for the Anoyum party is Keiitcum, "ground
squirrels. ' '
2. Ivanawic is the name of a second party at Rincon. Its nucleus is found
in the Calac family or clan, all of whom belong to this party, Jose Calac being
the chief. Ivanawic (iva, to be set apart; -[fia]wic, partitive)/! which means
' ' sitting apart or separate, ' ' is said to be only a nickname for this party, applied
because of such a habit at fiestas. Naxyum is the proper name. The ancestor
(piwi) of the Calacs, from whom this name was derived, was called Naxnaxkwis,
a name derived from naxat, walking stick. From him sprang all of the Calacs.
Other families besides the Calacs belong to this party. Jose Calac, the chief, is
the cousin (father's brother's son) of Felix Calac, an informant.
3. Exvaiyum or Temekwiyum. Both names of this party refer to Temecula
and may be translated ' ' Temecula Party. ' ' Exvaiyum is from exval, sand, and
-yum, plural, probably here with the force of ' ' people of. ' ' Temekwiyum is
from Temeku, Temecula, and -yum, probably with the meaning ' ' people of. ' '
Felix Sesikat is chief of this club, although his mother, Carmen Seskiat, has
acted as regent during his minority.
4. Senyam or Seveyum. The first name refers to senat, gravel, a name said
to have been applied because the nucleus clan of this party came from a gravelly
place. Bruno Sovenic is chief of this party. One informant said that Senyam
was the name of a San Luis Rey party, but elsewhere it was stated that there
was but one party at San Luis Rev, the Kaitcam.
5. Navyam (navut, prickly-pear cactus; -yam, plural, probably with the force
of "people of") or Ciwaxum was the name of a fifth party, now extinct, of
which the Ciwax family held the chieftainship.
At San Luis Rey there is said to have been only one party, which
was called Kaitcam, from Kaiyitc,72 said to be the place name of
Tt The Luiseno dictionary, compiled by Mr. Sparkman and to be published in
this series, was used in checking the meanings of the terms obtained.
72 Recorded as Kheish, Gheech, and Ghesh by Dr. Kroeber (present series, iv,
147, 19*07). Kaitcam is probably a form of Khecham, a name sometimes applied
to the Luiseno (ibid., p. 145, 1907).
208 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
San Luis Rey. All of the families of that place were under the
leadership of an hereditary chief who belonged to the Pevesahahoiket
family or clan. The chief himself was called Havilakwa as well as
Pevesahahoiket. Since smaller villages had three and four parties,
it seems unlikely that the grouping of twenty clans or families under
one chief at San Luis Rev was a strictly aboriginal proceeding.
Undoubtedly it was the result of Spanish contact.
At Pauma there are three parties: (1) Maxlahum (maxwal, fan
palm; -um, plural, probably with the force of "people of"), of which
Luis Maxlaha is chief; (2) Soktcum, of which Rejinaldo is chief;
(3) Pauvalum, of which Encarnacion Pauval is chief tainess.
At Pichanga there are at present two parties, although long ago
there were more. One is called Seyihoic and a man named Loqui
is its chief. The other is called Kiyuhahoic (cf. kic or kitca, house)
and its chief is Francisco Rodriguez, a mixed blood. Francisco trans-
lated the name of his party as "my home and my property," a name
quite out of keeping with the names of the Rincon parties. A little
investigation showed that Francisco's party is an upstart affair,
founded within a year by him. The name adopted is that of a party
once existing at Temecula, but all the members of which are dead.
It was not ascertained whether Francisco's ancestors in the male line
were chiefs. A Pichanga informant once belonged to the Seyihoic
party, but withdrew many years ago and has not joined another.
Loqui, the chief of this party, is said to have inherited his position
from his mother, which perhaps means that his father died while he
was young and that she acted in the father's stead until Loqui was
old enough to take charge. When a chief purposes to have a cere-
mony he first assembles his people and discusses the matter with them.
He sends his messenger, tcaiya, to gather the people. The tcaiya is
selected by the chief and the position is not inherited.
Certain ceremonies are said to be the property of a single party
only. At Rincon the tanic dance (a man's dance with feathers on the
head) belongs to the Ivahawic party; the morahash dance to the
Anoyum party. A Pichanga informant said that a man of that place
might marry either a local woman or a woman from a distance. There
was no interdict against marrying a woman of one's own party, so
long as she was not a relative.
At Pichanga, Pala, Pauma, and Rincon people speak of the bear
(hunwut) as piwi, great grandparent, a term used by other groups
for the totems coyote and wild cat. At first I thought that I had
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 209
another case of totemism, but as the custom is common to all of the
Luiseno and not to special clans or parties, it became clear that I
had not. The instances given below by the natives make clear that
this term as used for bear is a term of respect and is parallel to the
Miwok practice of addressing a spirit as grandfather. The explana-
tion of Kincon informants is this : When people formerly went into
the mountains for acorns they often saw bear tracks. They would
say ' ' That is my great grandparent. ' ' They thought the bears could
understand them, and hearing them speak so respectfully, would take
no offense and do them no injury. At Pichanga an informant stated
that the bear (hunwut) was once chief at that place. It was stated
that the use of the term piwi for the bear had nothing to do with the
taking of toloache nor with the Chungichnish religion, although the
bear is one of the avengers of that deity. Again it has no connection
with the power of certain shamans to become bears. The killing of a
bear, which was done with arrows, was the motive of an all-night cere-
mony conducted by the chief of a party. Eagles, which were also
killed only ceremonially, are not spoken of as piwi. A fragment of
a Temecula story is to the effect that long ago a bear seized and killed
a woman. The people went to the bear's den calling "Nupiwi,
nupiwi, ' ' and drove the bear away.73
Among the Luiseno and Cuperio there seems to be a well-developed
belief in bear shamans. They are not a thing of the past as in central
California, but exist and operate to-day. Their power is obtained
by dreaming, independent of the visions induced by toloache. Cupeno
informants remembered a man at Kupa who had the faculty of trans-
forming himself into a bear, which he did at fiestas for the purpose
of frightening people and amusing himself. They also told me of
a Cahuilla bear shaman from San Ygnacio, a man of about forty-
five, now residing at Banning. His name is Juan de la Cruz Norte
and he is a member of the coyote moiety. Juan is reported to have
assumed the shape of a bear on two occasions. The incidents rather
point to hynotism as the explanation of Juan's alleged power. Many
white people have tried to induce Juan to change himself into a bear.
He always asks too high a price, fifty to one hundred dollars, claiming
that he must demand a big sum, as the risk is great. If he fails to
make the transformation he dies at once.
Juan is clubfooted and of heavy build. It would not take a
very vivid imagination to see the likeness of a bear in him. Indian
73 Dolores Kesbien, a Luiseno (?) woman at San Manuel Reservation near
Patton, spoke of the bear as piwi, using in addition to hunwut the term takahaitcu.
210 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol.14
school girls have often joked about his clubfeet and bear-like appear-
ance. A couple of years ago Juan appeared as a bear to two girls
at Pala, who were among the number who formerly amused themselves
at his expense. On this occasion there was a fiesta in progress, to
which most of the Pala people had gone. The two young women
remained at home. Juan came by on horseback and saw the two
girls sitting in a house with the door open. He had been drinking
and was probably in bad humor. At any rate he decided to have
revenge for the previous injuries to his feelings. He rode up to the
house, dismounted and stood in the doorway. He reminded the girls
that they had twitted him about his feet and his bear-like appearance
and that now he was really going to become a bear. The girls were
very much frightened. He started to sing, raising and lowering his
arms at the same time. His arms were flexed as be raised and lowered
them from the shoulders. The terrified girls saw the hair appear
on his body and saw the claws grow on his hands. His horse, which
he held by the reins, snorted in terror, jerked on the reins, and finally
pulled Juan out of the doorway, thus breaking the spell.
On another occasion, it is related, Juan and his brother quarreled
while drunk. The brother said that he did not believe Juan could
become a bear as he claimed. Juan accepted the challenge and the
brother barely escaped from the house. Neighbors were summoned,
but upon their arrival Juan had resumed his natural form.
Among the Luiseilo, bear shamans are not unusual. The power
of a bear shaman is not inherited by his children. The uncle of
Canuta, a Saboba informant, was a bear shaman, pula,74 of wide
repute. He obtained the power at about middle age, but not by
taking toloache. He did considerable damage and frightened many
people while in that form. In response to inquiries as to the manner
in which the power was obtained, informants always said that the
shamans "came by it naturally," or received it "from above." The
term for supernatural power was given as cowoic, which also means
"someone to be afraid of." The great grandfather of Vidal Mojadu,
a man now living at Saboba, was a shaman who could transform him-
self into a bear. He possessed this faculty from birth. When he
made the transformation he merely sang a little and assumed his
animal form. Many people witnessed the transformations. He did
no damage while in bear form; he exhibited his power for the enjoy-
ment of people. Vidal Mojadu 's Indian name is Sepak, as was his
great grandfather's.
74 The generic name for shaman.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 211
A Temecula bear shaman was once attacked by bears in the
Santa Rosa Mountains. He turned into a bear, fought, and killed
his attackers. He became a man again. This shaman was in the
habit of killing cattle while in the form of a bear. He was killed and
flayed by cowboys on one occasion. When they left he arose as a
man from the bear carcass and returned home.
The following data seem of doubtful value yet are presented for
what they are worth. They were secured at the village of Saboba,
near the American town of San Jacinto, within Luiseno territory. Its
original inhabitants seem to have been Luiseno, although the Cupeno
story of annihilation mentions certain Cupeiio of the Kauval clan
who settled there. This, however, may have been within a' century.
At present there are Cupeno and Cahuilla mixed with the original
Luiseno, many individuals having the blood of two or more of these
groups in their veins. The various elements of Cahuilla, Cupeno,
and Luiseno society are present at Saboba and apparently in an only
partially assimilated state. Information at Saboba was obtained
chiefly from an old woman named Canuta, whose Indian name was
Salat, body louse. I know nothing of Canuta 's parents ; but I do know
that her daughter, Cinciona, married Tomas Jauro, a Cupeno, who
was the father of my interpreter, Mrs. Philomena Cleveland. Fran-
eisca Lala and Antonio Lechuza were two other informants inter-
viewed at Saboba. Neither Francisca nor Antonio knew anything
about moieties or totems. Canuta, however, did, and according to
her Francisca and Antonio belong respectively to the coyote and
wild cat moieties. Since the Luiseno at Pichanga and Rincon know
nothing about moieties or totems, it seems probable that the infor-
mation about such matters at Saboba really refers to the Cahuilla
and Cupeno portion of the population and not to the Luiseno.
Canuta 's totem was the wild cat. Her father's was likewise the
wild cat, while her mother's was the coyote. Canuta 's husband
Leponcio was a Cahuilla of the coyote totem. The names of the
moieties as given by Canuta were tuktum (wild cat moiety) and
anom (coyote moiety). Anom is merely a Luiseno translation of
Cahuilla and Cupeno istam. A person could not marry another of
his moiety, because they were regarded as relatives. The moieties
hunted together ; there were not separate hunting grounds. Totemites
killed their totem without prayer or ceremony. There were no other
animals associated with coyote and wild cat as co-totems. There is
a slight bit of evidence, however, that the totem was at times kept in
212 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
captivity and not killed. Francisca Lala and her father (now de-
ceased), both alleged by Canuta to be of the coyote moiety, were
in the habit of keeping coyotes as pets. Francisca had one recently,
but it escaped from captivity. I could learn nothing of the under-
lying motive in keeping the coyote in captivity.
In funeral and mourning ceremonies there seem to be no reciprocal
functions on the part of the moieties, all for example, singing over
the dead. In the administering of toloache the moiety of the officiat-
ing shaman (pula) or chief makes no difference. The initiates are
of both moieties. In the girl's ceremony the initiates are likewise
mixed as to moiety. No new name is given at initiation. Canuta 's
daughter Cinciona was given her Indian name of Yewawinim seven
months after birth. The name was given by Du Alberto, paha of
the party to which Canuta and her husband belonged. Du Alberto
was said to be of the wild cat moiety. I suspect that Canuta assigned
moieties to certain individuals who were purely Luiseno in blood
and who really belong to none. Of course, it is possible that the
institution is spreading to the Saboba Luiseno,
In response to a request for myths concerning the totems, Canuta
related the following story :
Wild cat had three wives, the stars known as Hulatcum, a part of the con-
stellation Tcehaiyum.75 Coyote killed wild cat, flayed him, donned his skin,
and then roasted and fed his carcass to wild cat 's wives. They ate their husband,
not knowing they were eating him. They searched for wild cat. Coyote, who
had disguised himself in their husband 's skin, went with them and married them.
Coyote and the three women went to certain springs to bathe. Coyote told his
wives to enter the water first. They did so. Then coyote threw off the wild
cat skin and entered the water. His wives did not know that he had removed the
skin. Coyote said, ' ' I have reached the women. ' ' The women got out of the
water and flew up to the sky. They threw into the air the root (kwinum) of a
plant so that they might travel on it to the sky. They are in the sky now as
the three stars of Hulatcum. Coyote is in the sky chasing them."
There are three parties (nonotum) at Saboba, each with its heredi-
tary chief. I could obtain no names for these parties, although they
doubtless have names. In becoming a member of these parties moiety
plays no part. People of both moieties belong to the same party.
As elsewhere in Luiseno territory women become members of the
parties by birth and by marriage. Both the position of chief (nota)
of a party and the position of ceremonial assistant (paha) were passed
75 Mr. Sparkman gives Hulatcum as the name for the three stars of Orion
and Tcehaiyum for the Pleiades. Evidently one informant has confused Orion
with the Pleiades.
76 Compare a somewhat similar tale by Miss Du Bois, present series, vni, 16-4,
1908.
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 213
from father to son or brother. At times a woman was the only heir.
Among the duties of the chief as ceremonial leader is the naming of
the children born to members of his party. The paha notifies people
of coming ceremonies and generally assists the chief. He acts as
amokat (= hunter) or "chief of the rabbit hunt." Ceremonies which
were carried out by each party were the girl's ceremony, the image
ceremony, and the "war dance" (pulas or tanic) about the fire.
Dances were not the property of individual parties. In the image
ceremony the female relatives of the deceased make the images. A
child belongs to the party of its parents. There is no exogamy in
connection with the parties, a man marrying a woman either in or
out of his party as he likes, so long as she is of a different moiety.
There were not separate hunting grounds for the parties.
Ceremonies were held at or near the house of each chief. Each
chief administered the toloache to the boys of his party. Moiety
had nothing to do with the administering of this drug. The entire
boys' ceremony, including the giving of toloache, the instruction at
the sand painting, and the ceremony called wanawut,77 was in the
hands of the party chief. The morahash or whirling dance took
place at the time of the ceremony of anut, placing red ants on the
bodies of the initiates. This follows the giving of toloache. The
morahash dancers may be of any party. There seems to be no
proprietorship of dances as among the western Luiseiio. The cere-
monial killing of an eagle was another party ceremony in charge of
a party chief.
A village chief who was elected, was chosen for his ability regard-
less of his moiety. He ruled over the entire population and held
office as long as satisfactory. I suspect that this office is of modern
origin at Saboba, as it seems to be elsewhere in southern California.
Formerly a man named Victoriano was chief (noot) of the entire
village. He was selected by the people. At present there is no
village chief, but there are three party chiefs; Jesus Jauro, Teofilo
Ba, and Soledad (Lucero) Mojadu, the wife of Augustine Mojadu.
Soledad's Indian family name is Yulotcuwat, said to be a translation
of Lucero, the Spanish name for Venus, the morning star. Teofilo
is of the coyote moiety. These individuals all inherited their
positions.
The following information concerns previous officials of the three
Saboba parties. One party, already mentioned in connection with
" Ibid., p. 85, 1908.
214 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
the naming of the daughter of an informant (Canuta), had as chief-
tain a man named Cristobal Lakuiya, of the coyote moiety ; and as
paha Du Alberto, who had succeeded his father Matias (Indian name
Tukut, wild cat), who in turn had succeeded his father. Du Alberto
and his predecessors were of the wild cat moiety. Cristobal Lakuiya
was the younger brother of Canuta 's father. Jesus Jauro is now
chief of this party. Tomas Apapas, a Cahuilla, is the ceremonial
assistant (paha) for Jesus Jauro. He succeeded his uncle Seferino
to this position, and Seferino in his turn had succeeded his father.
It was stated that Seferino and his father (a Cahuilla) were of the
"wolf (icwut) clan," which perhaps is really the Cahuilla Iswetum
clan (see p. 191). Seferino 's mother was a Saboba woman of the wild
cat moiety named Urbana (Indian name Samuyat).
A second party has as its leader the chief tainess Soledad (Lucero)
Mojadu. Her ceremonial assistant or paha is Antonio Lechuza (In-
dian name Tcipmal). Antonio succeeded his father Teodorcio, who
succeeded his father Gitinyano. Gitinyano, whose Indian name was
also Tcipmal, inherited his position from his paternal grandfather of
like name. The Tcipmal are said by Canuta to be of the tukut
moiety, although the present representative Antonio claims to know
nothing about the moieties. The father's sister of the present
Tcipmal, a stout old woman named Soledad, is said to belong to the
Gaupsi also (see p. 205).
The third party at Saboba is that of which Teofilo Ba is nota
(chief) and of which Manuel Manamish was paha. Manuel is so old
that he has given up the position of paha or ceremonial assistant. A
man named Gervasio Romero (Indian name Hiilvul, a sage brush,
Artemisia calif ornica, from which a drink is said to be brewed) fills
his place, apparently, however, not by inheritance. Gervasio is of
the coyote moiety.
Very few data were secured concerning individual Indian names.
Mrs. Isabella Majel, a Saboba woman of Luiseilo-Mexican parentage,
was called Tcalaka by her grandparents when small. Tcalaka means
"horned toad." It is not certain whether the following Saboba
names are of individuals or families: (a) Akhel, a grass, probably the
individual name of Tomas Jauro. (b) Wahat, a tree similar to a
poplar (alamo), probably the individual name of mother of Mrs. Sole-
dad (Lucero) Mojadu, a Luisefio woman of Saboba. (c) Hiilvul,
a species of sage brush, probably the individual name of a man called
Gervasio.
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1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 215
MOIETIES, CLANS, AND TOTEMISM IN CALIFORNIA
A glance at the accompanying map shows that groups organized
on the basis of totemic moieties with patrilinear descent occupy a
large part of south central and southern California. The Colorado
River tribes lack moieties, but they appear again among the Pima of
western Arizona. In California, in approximate order from north
to south, the groups with moieties are Miwok, Mono, central Yokuts,
and Salinan in south central California, and southern Serrano,
Cahuilla, and Cupeiio in southern California. It is quite possible
that the northern and southern moiety groups were actually connected
geographically through the Buena Vista group of Yokuts and the
Kitanemuk (the northwestern Serrano). The former are extinct and
the latter remain to be investigated. The absence of moieties among
the Colorado River tribes is but one of the several negative character-
istics of their peculiar culture, which is marked by the non-possession
of certain cultural elements common to their eastern and western
neighbors.
Three varieties of the moiety organization are distinguishable in
California. First, there is the moiety and clan type of southern
California, as among the Cahuilla, in which a number of non-totemic
clans are grouped in totemic moieties. Second, there is the undi-
vided totemic moiety of the Miwok and Yokuts. The third type is
represented by the Mono. Superficially it resembles the southern
California type with moiety and clan, but fundamentally it is differ-
ent. Each Mono moiety comprises two subdivisions. Neither the
subdivisions nor moieties are exogamous. As pointed out in a pre-
vious notice,78 the Mono moiety organization is undoubtedly borrowed
from the neighboring Yokuts and Miwok, for the Mono east of the
Sierra Nevada lack it. The subdivisions of the Mono moieties prob-
ably represent a local development. It does not seem likely that they
have an origin in common with the clans of the Serrano, Cahuilla,
and Cupeho of southern California, since an extensive area without
clans separates them. It seems justifiable to regard the minor Mono
groups as subdivisions of moieties rather than as clans grouped in
moieties.
7» Diehotomous Social Organizations in South Central California, present
series, xi, 296, 1916.
216 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
The wedge composed of Shoshonean (Tubatulabal and Kawaiisu)
and Yokuts peoples (Yaudanchi, Paleuyami, and Yauelmani), which
on the map has all the appearance of driving asunder the northern
and southern moiety groups, is without trace of the institution. This
is especially startling in the case of the Yokuts groups since their
congeners of the San Joaquin Valley and of the Sierra Nevada foot-
hills to the north possess the institution. The anomaly is explainable
only on the basis of cultural diffusion. The Yokuts groups in ques-
tion were in close touch with the Tubatulabal and Kawaiisu, two
groups which lack the moiety organization as undoubtedly do their
neighbors to the east. Correlative evidence in support of this ex-
planation is found in the kinship systems and other cultural traits
of the three Yokuts groups in question. The kinship systems resemble
those of the neighboring Tiibatulabal and Kawaiisu and differ from
those of the central Yokuts groups with moiety organization. The
Yokuts tribes among which the moiety organization is known are
Chukchansi, Gashowu, and Tachi. Native report from the Tachi also
credits with moieties the Chunut, Nutunutu, Telamni, Wechikhit, and
WowoL
The attempt to determine the present center of gravity of the
moiety organization will not be essayed at this point. It seems best
first to consider the distribution of clan organization and then to take
up the matter of the diffusion of the two institutions, since it is
impossible to discuss one without alluding to the other. In the
following paragraphs the Mono are excluded.
Like the moieties, the clans, which are limited to southern Cali-
fornia, are patrilinear in descent. The groups organized on the
basis of clans are the Yuman Diegueno, the Colorado River Yuman
tribes (chief among which are the Mohave, Yuma, and Cocopa), and
the Shoshonean Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupefio, and Luiseno. Nothing
is known about the Juaneno, Gabrielino, and Chumash, but since they
were in contact with groups which possess either clans or moieties,
or both, it seems fair to assume that they were similarly organized.
In the following discussion of clans it seems well to bring in the Pima.
We may separate the peoples with clans into four groups based
upon the possession or non-possession by the clans of the following
characters: (1) The clan totem; (2) localization; (3) the grouping
of clans in moieties. The accompanying table makes clear the four
groups. The first group is formed by the Pima and probably the
Papago, from whom the data are insufficient. It is characterized by
1918]
Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California
217
totemic, non-localized elans combined in moieties. The second group
is composed of the Mohave, Yuma, and Cocopa and is characterized
by totemic, non-localized clans not combined in moieites. The third
group comprises the Dieguefio and Luiseno with localized, non-totemic
clans, not combined in moieties. The fourth group embraces the.
Cupefio, Cahuilla, and Serrano and is characterized by localized,
non-totemic clans grouped in moieties.
Tribe Clan totem Localization Grouped in moieties
Pima Yes No Yes
Mohave Yes No No
Yuma Yes No No
Cocopa Yes No No
Dieguefio No Yes No
Luiseno No Yes No
Cupefio No Yes Yes
Cahuilla No Yes Yes
Serrano No Yes Yes
Considering the distribution in California of both moiety and clan
we find an area in which both institutions occur bordered on one side
by an area in which only the moiety is found, and on the other side
by an area in which only the clan is found. (See following diagram;
also map.)
Clans
Miwok
Yokuts
Salinan
Serrano
Cahuilla
Cupefio
Luisefio
Dieguefio
Mohave
Yuma
Cocopa
Moieties
This type of distribution permits of two interpretations First,
we might assume that the complex of moiety and clan was funda-
mental and that it centered in southern California, perhaps with the
Gabrielino, from whom certain cultural features, such as the toloache
cult of California, seem to have radiated. From this center the
complex perhaps spread north, south, and east, losing the clans in
the north and the moieties in the south and east. Second, we might
assume that the moiety and the clan are separate institutions which
218 University of California Publications in Am. Arch, and Ethn. [Vol. 14
have originated in their respective independent areas. From these
two centers the institutions have perhaps been diffused, giving to the
intermediate tribes both institutions. Personally, I am inclined to
consider the latter hypothesis as more nearly fitting the known facts.
From the data at hand, the moiety complex as found among the Tachi
Yokuts seems to be the most highly developed, and there is no question
but what we must look beyond the boundaries of California for the
focus of clan organization.
The affinity and ultimate origin of the patrilinear clans and
moieties of California must, in my opinion, be traced to the Southwest
in spite of the barrier of matrilinear descent in that region. Geo-
graphically, there is actual contiguity of the two areas ; while, on the
other hand, if we seek an origin for the patrilinear clans and moieties
of California in the related institutions of certain Northwest, Plains,
and Woodland tribes, we are confronted by enormous intermediate
areas in which neither patrilinear nor matrilinear clans occur. That
the difference in descent is not a bar to considering the Southwest and
the southern half of California as a single area in this matter is fur-
ther emphasized by the occurrence, side by side, of patrilinear and
matrilinear institutions in the Northwest, Plains, and Woodland
areas, clearly paralleling the situation in the Southwest-California
area.79 Furthermore southern California is indebted to the Southwest
for several important cultural traits. It seems entirely reasonable to
regard clans and moieties as simply another addition to the list. I
do not mean to assume, however, that the clans of the Colorado River
tribes or the moieties of the Miwok are transplanted institutions, but
simply that their ultimate origin is to be sought in the Southwest.
Their present day features are unquestionably developments in situ,
which doubtless stand for a long period of independent evolution
since the appearance of the original institution. Of course, it is
entirely possible that the moiety is a wholly independent and local
development of the San Joaquin Valley of south central California,
for the fact must not be lost sight of, that the moiety may embrace
half of an entire linguistic stock numbering many thousands, while
the clan embraces a comparatively small, and theoretical^ con-
sanguineous, group.
™ Swanton, John E., The Social and the Emotional Element in Totemism,
Anthropos, ix, 296, 1914. "It is a striking fact that the tribes presenting
mother-right and father-right always occur in contiguous, not in detached, areas.
We do not find mother-right in one section and father-right in another section
with non-totemic tribes between. They are always in conjunction and in most
cases both are represented in each area."
1918] Gifford: Clans and Moieties in Southern California 219
The problem of totemism seems less complex than that of social
organization, for totemism recks not of maternal or paternal descent,
nor of clans nor moieties. In ultimate origin it seems evident that we
must associate the totemism of California with that of the Southwest.
In fact, when mapped, the Californian totemic area appears simply
as the northwesternmost extension of a great totemic area centering
in the Southwest. Furthermore, the volatile concept of totemism has
a wider vogue in California than such Southwestern cultural features
as pottery, the curved throwing stick, and the sand painting.
The division of nature into moieties and the assumption by each
human moiety of one half of nature for its totems is an extreme
development of the totemic idea found in California only among the
Miwok.80 Such an attitude toward nature seems to be but the natural
and logical result of two factors operating in the native mind: (1)
the grouping of mankind in moieties; (2) the belief that animals were
once men or that animals preceded men upon earth. With these two
ideas as a starting point it takes but a feeble system of philosophy
to produce an arrangement of all animate and inanimate things in
moieties. We find weak attempts at such groupings among the
Yokuts, Mono, Cahuilla, and Serrano. It is only among the Miwok
that the scheme has been carried to a consistent and logical conclusion.
Totemism, as expressed in names of individuals, requires a few
words of comment. The personal names of the Miwok with their
totemic connotations have already been shown to be similar to those
of the Hopi.81 We find a practice allied to that of the Miwok and
Hopi among the Yuman tribes ©f the Colorado River and among the
Pima and Papago. Each clan among the Yuman tribes possesses an
archaic and perhaps esoteric word or name of totemic connotation,
which is applied to all of the women of the clan.82 Among the Pima
and Papago a somewhat similar practice prevails : the word in each
case is applied by all of the members of a clan to their fathers. The
totemism manifested in names among these three widely separated
groups, Miwok, Hopi, and Yuman-Piman, strengthens the hypothesis
of a common origin for the totemism of California and the Southwest.
»° E. W. Gifford, Miwok Moieties, present series, xn, 142, 1916.
si Ibid., p. 147.
*2 For lists of such names see pp. 158-165.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS - (CONTINUED)
VoL 7. 1. The Emeryville Shellmound, by Max Uhle. Pp. 1-106, plates 1-12, with
38 text figures. June, 1907 _ 1.25
2. Eecent Investigations bearing upon the Question of the Occurrence of
Neocene Man in the Auriferous Gravels of California, by William
J. Sinclair, Pp. 107-130, plates 13-14. February, 1908 ..._ _ .36
8. Porno Indian Basketry, by S. A. Barrett. Pp. 133-306, plates 15-30,
231 text figures. December, 1908 _ -... 1.76
4. Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region, by N. O. Nelson.
Pp. 309-S56, plates 32-34. December, 1909 .50
6. The Ellis Landing Shellmound, by N. C. Nelson. Pp. 357-426, plates
36-50. April, 1910 .79
Index, pp. 427-443.
VoL 8. 1. A Mission Record of the California Indians, from a Manuscript in the
Bancroft Library, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 1-27. May, 1908 ..._ .25
2. The Ethnography of the Cahuilla Indians, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 29-
68, plates 1-15. July, 1908 .78
5. The Religion of the Luisefio and Dieguefio Indians of Southern Cali-
fornia, by Constance Goddard Dubois. Pp. 69-186, plates 16-19.
June, 1908 - 1.25
4. The Culture of the Luisefio Indians, by Philip Stedman Sparkman.
Pp. 187-234, plate 20. August, 1908 _ .50
5. Notes on Shoshonean Dialects of Southern California, by A. L. Kroe-
ber. Pp. 235-269. September, 1909 .85
6. The Religious Practices of the Dieguefio Indians, by T. T. Waterman.
Pp. 271-358, plates 21-28. March, 1910 80
Index, pp. 359-369.
VoL 9. 1. Tana Texts, by Edward Sapir, together with Yana Myths collected by
Roland B. Dixon. Pp. 1-235. February, 1910 2.50
2. The Chuma8h and Costanoan Languages, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 237-
271. November, 1910.. 85
3. The Languages of the Coast of California North of San Francisco, by
A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 273-435, and map. April, 1911 _ 1.50
Index, pp. 437-439.
VoL 10. 1. Phonetic Constituents of the Native Languages of California, by A
L. Kroeber. Pp. 1-12. May, 1911 10
2. The Phonetic Elements of the Northern Paiute Language, by T. T.
Waterman. Pp. 13-44, plates 1-5. November, 1911 45
5. Phonetic Elements of the Mohave Language, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp.
45-96, plates 6-20. November, 1911 65
4. The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians, by J. Alden Mason. Pp. 97-
240, plates 21-37. December. 1912 1.75
5. Papago Verb Stems, by Juan Dolores. Pp. 241-263. August, 1913 25
6. Notes on the Chilula Indians of Northwestern California, by Pliny
Earl Goddard. Pp. 265-288, plates 38-41. April, 1914 30
7. Chilula Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard. Pp. 289-379. November,
1914 _ 1.00
Index, pp. 381-385.
VoL 11. 1. Elements of the Kato Language, by Pliny Earle Goddard. Pp. 1-176,
plates 1-45. October, 1912 2.00
2. Phonetic Elements of the Dieguefio Language, by A, L. Kroeber and
J. P. Harrington. Pp. 177-188. April, 1914 10
8. Sarsi Texts, by Pliny Earle Goddard. Pp. 189-277. February, 1915.... 1.00
4. Serian, Tequistlatecan, and Hokan, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 279-290.
February, 1915 10
6. Dichotomous Social Organization in South Central California, by Ed-
ward Winslow Gifford. Pp. 291-296. February, 1916 05
6. The Delineation of the Day-Signs in the Aztec Manuscripts, by T. T.
Waterman. Pp. 297-398. March, 1916 1-C0
7. The Mutsun Dialect of Costanoan Based on the Vocabulary of De la
Cuesta, by J. AMen Mason. Pp. 399-472. March, 1916 70
Index, pp. 473-479.
VoL 12. 1. Composition of California Shellmounds, by Edward Winslow Gifford.
Pp. 1-29. February, 1916 3°
2. California Place Names of Indian Origin, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp.
31-69. June, 1916 *°
3. Arapaho Dialects, by A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 71-138. June, 1916 70
4. Miwok Moieties, by Edward Winslow Gifford. Pp. 139-194. June,
1916 -So"
6. On Plotting the Inflections of the Voice, by Cornelius B. Bradley. Pp.
195-218, plates 1-5. October. 1916 28
6. Tttbatulabal and Kawaiisu Kinship Terms, by Edward Winslow Gif-
ford. Pp. 219-248. February, 1917 — - 60
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