528 



SHASTAN FAMILY 



[b. a. e. 



matwa, Katiru, and Kikatsik, with whom 

 there was littlediversityinlaiiguage, occu- 

 pied Klamath r. from Klamatli Hot 

 Springs to Happy Camp, the n. half of 

 Shasta valley, the whole of Scott valley, 

 and the upper part of the s. part of Salmon 

 r. During the lant hundred years, at least, 

 they inhabited also the valley of Stewart 

 r. in Oregon from its source to the junction 

 of Rogue r. The three subsidiary groups, 

 consisting of the Konomihu, New River 

 Indians, and Okwanuchu, occupied the 

 forks of the Salmon, the head of New r., 

 and McCloud and upper Sacramento rs. 

 and Squaw cr. These subsidiary groups 

 are now practically extinct. For the dis- 

 tribution of the component divisions see 

 under their respective names. The culture 

 and customs of the Shasta seem to have 



AN AGED SHASTA 



been much the same throughout this area, 

 but linguistically they were divided into 

 four groups speaking divergent dialects. 

 Little record has been preserved of their 

 characteristics, and with their decrease in 

 numbers and proximity to civilization, 

 they have lost practically all their native 

 customs. They were a sedentary people, 

 living in small villages, composed of rec- 

 tangular, semisubterranean plank houses, 

 similar to those in use l)y the Indians on 

 the coast immediately to the w. Their 

 food was largely vegetal, made up of 

 acorns, seeds, and roots; but fish, particu- 

 larly salmon, was an important factor in 

 the food supply. The salmon were caught 

 by net, weir, trap, and spear, and were 

 dried and preserved for winter food. 

 Their arts were few. Dugout canoes of 



rather broad, clumsy type, similar to those 

 used nearer the naouth of the Klamath, 

 were in use. The bow was the chief 

 weapon. Carving was practically limited 

 to rude spoons of wood and bone, paint- 

 ing was little used, and basketry was not 

 developed to any great extent, being con- 

 fined chiefly to basket caps for the women 

 and small food baskets of simple form and 

 ornament. There was no clan organiza- 

 tion, and the village seems to have been 

 the unit, as elsewhere in California. 

 Their religious beliefs and ceremonials 

 seem to have been only in small part 

 similar to the tribes to the e. and w. of 

 them, but their mythology is not as rich 

 as that of the Maidu, Wintun, or other 

 of the northern California linguistic 

 groups. The first contact of the Shasta 

 with the whites was with fur traders, who 

 early in the 19th century trapped in their 

 territory. With the opening of the trade 

 route from Oregon to California by way 

 of Sacramento valley in the middle of the 

 19th century, the Shasta came more into 

 contact with civilization, and the devel- 

 opmentof gold miningin the go's hastened 

 the process of their extinction, for they 

 soon succumbed to the unfavorable en- 

 vironmentof the mining camp. There are 

 fewer than a score now living, some on 

 the Grande Ronde res. in Oregon, the 

 others scattered about their former terri- 

 tory. The names Idakariuke, Ikaruck, 

 and Kosetah have been mentioned, 

 largely through misunderstanding, as 

 those of Shasta divisions and villages. 

 Consult Dixon, (1) in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., XVII, pt. 5, 1907; (2) in Am. Anthr., 

 x, no. 2, 1908. (r. b. d.) 



Chester Valley Indians. — Spaulding in H. R. Rep. 

 <S30, 27th Cong., 2d sess., 59, 1842 (probably iden- 

 tical; Chester = Shasta). Chestes.— Allen, Ten 

 Years in Oregon', 128, 1850. Ekpimi.— Curtin, II- 

 niawi vocab., B, A. E., 1889 (Ilmawi name), 

 Mashukhara,— A. L. Kroeber, infn, 1903 (Karok 

 name). Rogue river, — Dart (1851) in Schoolcraft, 

 Ind. Tribes, in, 632, 1853 (Shasta, or). Sai'-wash.— 

 Powers in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., 111,243,1877. Saste,— 

 Hale in U. S. Expl. Exped., vi, 218, 1846. Shasta,— 

 Dart (1851) in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, iii, 632, 

 1853 (or Rogue River). Shasteecas. — Powers in 

 Overland Mo., xii, 530, 1874. Shastika,— Powers 

 in Cont, N. A. Ethnol., iii, 243, 1877. Shasty,— 

 Farnham, Travels, 93, 1843. Tishravarahi, — A. L, 

 Kroeber, infn, 1903 (Karok name for the Shasta 

 language). Wai-ri'-ka, — Powers in Cont. N. A. 

 Ethnol., Ill, 243, 1877. Wiilx,— Sapir in Am, 

 Anthr,, ix, 252, 1907 ('enemies': Takelmaname). 

 Shastan Family (adapted from Shasta, 

 q. v., the name of one of its divisions). A 

 linguistic stock comprising two principal 

 groups, the Sastean and the Palaihnihan 

 of Powell, which until recently (Dixon 

 in Am. Anthr., vii, 213, 1905, and in In- 

 ternat. Cong. Amer., 1906, Quebec, 1907) 

 were regarded as distinct families. The 

 area occupied by the Shasta division was 

 the Klamath valley in n. California and 

 s. Oregon, extending, in the northern part, 

 up the valleys of Jenny and Cottonwood 

 crs. and over the entire valley of Stewart 

 r. to its mouth ; from here they controlled 



