156 THE YUKI. 
THE CHU-MAI’-A. 
In the Pomo language chu-mai’-a signifies “stranger”, hence “enemy”. 
Some writer has finely remarked that it is a good commentary on our civili- 
zation that, in frontier parlance, “stranger” is synonymous with “friend”; 
but in the Indian tongues it seems to be generally tantamount to “‘enemy”. 
The Chu-mai’-a are simply Yuki; the more southerly bands of them, in 
Eden Valley and on the Middle Eel, south of Round Valley, are sometimes 
called the Spanish Yuki, because their range was southward and this brought 
them in contact with the Spaniards from whom they acquired some words 
and customs. 
They and the Yuki were ever on the war-path against the peaceful and 
inoffensive Pomo, and the brunt of their irruptions generally fell on the 
Potter Valley Pomo, because the mountains here interposed slighter obstacles 
to their passage. At the head of Potter Valley the watershed is very low and 
the pass is easy, so easy that it could readily be traversed by heavy masses 
of civilized troops. On the summit, a rod or two from a never-failing spring, 
there is to this day a conspicuous cairn, which was heaped up by the Indians 
to mark the boundary ; and if a member of either tribe in war-time was 
caught beyond it he suffered death. When the Chumaia wished to chal- 
lenge the Pomo to battle, they took three little sticks, cut notches around 
their ends and in the middle, tied them in a fagot, and deposited the same 
on this cairn. If the Pomo took up the gauntlet, they tied a string around the 
middle notches and returned the fagot to its place. Then the heralds of 
both tribes met together in the neutral territory of the Tatu, a little tribe 
living at the foot of the pass, and arranged the time and place of the battle, 
which took place accordingly. William Potter, the first settler in Potter 
Valley, says they fought with conspicuous bravery, employing bows and 
arrows and spears at long range, and spears or casual clubs when they came 
to a square stand-up fight in the open field. They frequently surged upon 
each other in heavy, irregular masses. 
The following almost incredible occurrence was related to me by a 
responsible citizen of Potter Valley, and corroborated by another, both of 
whose names could be given if necessary : 
