BULL. 30] 



CALOUCHA CALUMET 



191 



Physically, the California Indians, like 

 other tribes of the Pacitic coast, are rather 

 shorter than the majority of those in east- 

 ern North America. In many ca.ses they 

 incline to lie stont. Along the coast, and 

 especially in the s., they are unnsually 

 dark. The most southern tribes approxi- 

 mate those of the Colorado r. in physical 

 type and are tall and short-headed. The 

 native jiopulation of California was broken 

 up into a great number of small groups. 

 These were often somewhat unsettled in 

 habitation, but always within very lim- 

 ited territories, and were never nomadic. 

 The dialects of almost all of these groups 

 were different and belonged to as many 

 as 21 distinct linguistic families, being a 

 fourth of the total number found in all 

 North America, and, as compared with 

 the area of the state, so large that Cali- 

 fornia must probably be regarded as the 

 region of the greatest aboriginal linguistic 

 diversity in the world. Three larger 

 stocks have found their way into Califor- 

 nia: the Athapascan in the n. and the 

 Shoshonean and Yuman in the s. The 

 remainder are all small and ]iurely Cali- 

 fornian. 



This diversity is accompanied by a 

 corresponding stability of population. 

 While there have undoubtedly been shift- 

 ings of tribes within the state, they do 

 not apjiear to have extended very far ter- 

 ritorially. The Indians themselves in no 

 part of the state except the extreme s. 

 have any tradition of migrations and 

 uniformly believe themselves to have 

 originated at the spot where they live. 

 The groups in which they live are very 

 loose, being defined and held together by 

 language and the topography of the coun- 

 try much more than by any political or 

 social organization; distinct tribes, as 

 they occur in many other parts of America, 

 do not really exist. The small village is 

 the most common unit of organization 

 among these people. 



Culturally, the California Indians are 

 probably as simple and rude as any large 

 group of Indians in North America. 

 Their arts (excepting that of basket mak- 

 ing, which they possessed in a high form ) 

 were undeveloped; pottery was practi- 

 cally unknown, and in the greater part 

 of the state the carving or working of 

 wood was carried on only to a limited 

 extent. Houses were often of grass, 

 tule, or brush, or of bark, sometimes 

 covered with earth. Only in the x. w. 

 part of the state were small houses of 

 planks in use. In this region, as well 

 as on the Santa Barbara ids., wooden 

 canoes were also made, but over the 

 greater part of the state a raft of tules 

 was the only means of navigation. Agri- 

 culture was nowhere practised. Deer and 

 small game were hunted, and there was 



considerable fishing; but the bulk of the 

 food was vegetable. The main reliance 

 was placed on numerous varieties of 

 acorns, and next to these, on seeds, espe- 

 cially of grasses and herbs. Roots and 

 lierries were less used. 



Both totemism and a true gentile or- 

 ganization were totally lacking in all parts 

 of the state. The mythology of the Cali- 

 fornians was characterized by unusually 

 well -developed and consistent creation 

 myths, and by the complete lack not only 

 of migration but of ancestor traditions. 

 Their ceremonies were numerous and 

 elaborate as compared with the pre- 

 vailing simplicity of life, but they lacked 

 almost totally the rigid ritualism and ex- 

 tensive symbolism that pervade the cere- 

 monies of most of America. One set 

 of ceremonies was usually connected with 

 a secret religious society; another, often 

 spectacular, was held in remembrance of 

 the dead. 



With constant differences from group 

 to group, these characteristics held with 

 a general underlying uniformity over 

 the greater part of California. In the 

 extreme n. w. portion of the state, 

 however, a somewhat more highly de- 

 veloped and specialized culture existed, 

 which showed in several respects simi- 

 larities to that of the n. Pacific coast, as 

 is indicated by a greater advance in 

 technology, a social organization largely 

 upon a property basis, and a system of 

 mythology that is suggestive of those 

 farther n. The Santa Barliara islanders, 

 now extinct, appear also to have been 

 considerably specialized from the great 

 body of Californian tribes, both in their 

 arts and their mode of life. The Indians 

 of s. California, finally, especially those 

 of the interior, living under geographic 

 conditions very different from those of 

 the main portion of the state, resemble 

 in certain respects of culture the Indians 

 of Arizona and New Mexico. See Mis- 

 sion Indians and the articles on the indi- 

 vidual linguistic families noted on the 

 accompanying map. (a. l. k.) 



Caloucha. A tribe on a river flowing 

 into the Atlantic n. of St Augustine, Fla. 

 (De Isle, map, 1707); possibly an erro- 

 neous location of Calusa, otherwise uni- 

 dentifiable. 



Calumet ( Norman-French form of lit- 

 erary French clialumet, a parallel of 

 ehalumenu for chalemeau, Old French 

 chalernel, Provencal caramel, a tube, 

 pipe, reed, flute, especially a shepherd's 

 pipe; Spanish cararnillo, a flute; English, 

 sJiawm; Low Latin, calumellus, diminu- 

 tive of Latin calatn ks, reed). Either one 

 of 2 highly symbolic shafts of reed or 

 wood al)Out 2 in. broad, 4 in. thick, and 18 

 in. to 4 ft. long, the one representing the 

 male, the other the female shaft, usually 



