CHAPTER XVII. 
THE POMO, CONTINUED. 
I have already intimated my belief that the word ‘ Pomo” is allied to 
the Wintiin pum, meaning “earth”. William Potter, one of the pioneers 
of Potter Valley, and a man well acquainted with the Pomo language, 
informed me that there was a word, poam, in it signifying the same thing, 
from which pomo is derived. I questioned the Indians concerning the exist- 
ence of such a word, and none of them had ever heard it. They were 
young Indians however, and it is possible that this word is an archaism, 
and beyond the range of their knowledge. At any rate, it was given by 
Mr. Potter as the basis of a tribal name, Poam Pomo, which is equivalent 
in extent to Ballo Kai Pomo. And there is a great deal of probability in 
this theory, because they believe, as did the Greeks respecting the fabled 
autochthones, that their ancestors, the coyote-men, were created directly 
from the soil, from the knoll of red earth mentioned in a previous chapter. 
THE POAM POMO. 
I shall therefore assume this name as equivalent to Ballo Kai Pomo, 
which we have seen denotes “Oat Valley People”. Some readers may 
raise an objection to this name on another score. Many Californians hold 
that wild oats are not a native crop, but an acclimated product, having 
spread from early scatterings left by the Spaniards; but the Indians of this 
valley declare they have been growing in California so long that they know 
nothing of their origin. Indeed the mere fact that the valley bears the name 
of this cereal indicates for the latter an existence therein coeyal with the 
Indian oceupation. 
In regard to government the Pomo are perhaps a little less ochlocratic 
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