296 



CHUMASH CHUMASHAN FAMILY 



[b. a. k. 



Chumash. The Santa Rosa islanders, of 

 the Chumashan family of California. — 

 Bowers in Smithson. Rep., 316, 1877. 

 Tcumac. — Henshaw, Santa Rosa MS. vocab., B. 



A. E., 1884. 



Chumashan Family. A linguistic family 

 on the coast of s. California, known also as 

 Santa Barbara Indians. Like most Cali- 

 fornian aborigines, they appear to have 

 lacked an appellation of general signifi- 

 cance, and the term Chumash, the name 

 of the Santa Rosa islanders, is arbitrarily 

 chosen for convenience to designate the 

 linguistic stock. Seven dialects of this 

 family are known, those of San Luis 

 Obispo, Purisima, Santa Inez, Santa 

 Barbara, and San Buenaventura mis- 

 sions, and of Santa Rosa and Santa 

 Cruz ids. These are fairly similar ex- 

 cei^t the San Luis Obispo, which stands 

 apart. It is probable that there were 

 other dialects. The Chumashan lan- 

 guages show certain morphologic re- 

 semblances to the adjacent Shoshonean 

 and Salinan, especially the latter, but 

 constitute an independent family, as their 

 stock of words is confined to themselves. 

 The territorial limits of the Chumashan 

 Indians are not accurately known. The 

 area shown on Powell's map (7th Rep. 



B. A. E., 1891) includes the entire Santa 

 Maria r. drainage, Santa Inez r., the 

 lower half of the Santa Clara r. drain- 

 age, and Somis cr., the e. boundary line 

 on the coast lying between Pt Dume 

 and Santa Monica. Since the language 

 of San Luis Obispo was Chumashan, this 

 region x. of the Santa Maria and s. of 

 the Salinas drainage must be added (see 

 the linguistic maps accompanying the 

 articles California Indians and Linguistic 

 Families). The northern of the Santa 

 Barbara ids. (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and 

 San Miguel) were inhabited by the Chu- 

 mash, but the 3 southern islands of the 

 group belonged to Shoshonean people. 



The Chumashan Indians, both of the 

 islands and of the coast, were visited by 

 Europeans as early as 1542, when Ca- 

 brillo spent some time in their territory, 

 meeting with an exceedingly friendly re- 

 ception. Vizcayno in 1602 and Portola 

 in 1769 also came in contact with them, 

 and have left accounts of their visits. 

 Five missions were established by the 

 Franciscans among the Chumash; those 

 of San Luis Obispo, San Buenaventura, 

 Santa Barbara, Purisima, and Santa Inez, 

 founded respectively in 1771, 1782, 1786, 

 1787, and 1804, the missionaries meeting 

 with little opposition and no forcible re- 

 sistance. The early friendship for the 

 Spaniards soon changed to a sullen hatred 

 under their rule, for in 1810 it was re- 

 ported by a missionary that nearly all 

 the Indian women at Purisima had for 

 a time persistently practised abortion. 



and in 1824 the Indians at Santa Bar- 

 bara, Santa Inez, and Purisima revolted 

 against the mission authority, which they 

 succeeded in shaking off for a time, 

 though the Spaniards apparently suffered 

 no loss of life at their hands. Even dur- 

 ing mission times the Chumash de- 

 creased greatly in numbers, and in 1884 

 Henshaw found only about 40 individ- 

 uals. This number has been reduced to 

 less than half, the few survivors being 

 largely "Mexicanized," and the race is 

 extinct on the islands. 



In character and habits tlie Chumash 

 differed considerably from the other In- 

 dians of California. All the early voy- 

 agers note their friendliness and hos- 

 pitality, and their greater affluence and 

 abundance of food as compared with 

 their neighbors. They appear to have 

 had a plentiful supply of sea food and to 

 have depended on it rather than on the 

 vegetal products which usually formed 

 the subsistence of California Indians. 

 With the islanders this was no doubt a 

 necessity. Their houses were of grass or 

 tule, dome-shaped, and often 50 ft. or 

 more in diameter, accommodating as 

 many as 50 people. Each was inhabited 

 by several families, and they weregrouped 

 in villages. The Chumash were noted 

 for their canoes, which were not dug out 

 of a single log, but made of planks lashed 

 together and calked. Most were built for 

 only 2 or 3 men, but some carried 10 and 

 even 13 persons. As no canoes were found 

 anywhere else on the coast from C. San 

 Lucas to C. Mendocino, even where suit- 

 able wood is abundant, rafts or tule 

 balsas taking their place, the well-built 

 canoes of the Chumash are evidence of 

 some ethnographic specialization. The 

 same may be said of their carved wooden 

 dishes and of the figures painted on posts, 

 described as erected over graves and at 

 places of worship. On the Santa Barbara 

 ids. stone killer-whale figurines have been 

 found, though almost nowhere else in 

 California are there traces of even at- 

 tempted sculpture. An unusual variety 

 of shell ornaments and of work in 

 shell inlaid by means of asphaltum also 

 characterize the archeologic discoveries 

 made in Chumashan territory. Large 

 stone jars similar to those in use among 

 the neighboring Shoshoneans, and coiled 

 baskets somewhat similar to those of 

 their southern neighbors, were made 

 by the Chumash. Their general culture 

 has been extensively treated by Putnam 

 (Wheeler, Survey Rep., vii, 1879). Of their 

 religion very little is known, and nothing 

 of their mythology. The gentile system 

 was not recognized by them, marriage 

 between individuals of the same village 

 being allowed. On Santa' Catalina id. 

 birds which were called large crows by 



