SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 465 



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THE KLAMATH NATION. 



I. — THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 



" The Klamath Indians of South-Western Oregon" is the 

 second title of the recently published work, by Albert Samuel 

 Gatschet, which forms, according to its leading title, Vol. II. 

 of " Contributions to North American Ethnology," one of the 

 several series of works issued by the " United States Geo- 

 graphical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain 

 Region, J. W. Powell in Charge." The term "' volume," how- 

 ever, is in this case to be understood in a special sense. The 

 work really appears in two substantial tomes in quarto, com- 

 prising over seven hundred pages each, and distinguished as 

 Parts I. and II. The too brief " table of contents " informs us 

 that Part I. contains the writer's '• letter of transmittal," and 

 an " ethnographic sketch," with "texts," and "grammar;" 

 while Part II. is entirely occupied by the "Dictionary — 

 Klamath-English, and EnglishKlamath." This curt state- 

 ment gives but a slight idea of the importance of the work 

 as a contribution of the first order to ethnological science. 



The Klamath River rises in the southern interior of Ore- 

 gon, at a distance of about three hundred miles from the 

 Pacific. First traversing an extensive morass, known as 

 Klamath Marsh, it passes through Upper Klamath Lake, a 

 charmingly picturesque sheet, some twenty-five miles long 

 by five or six miles in breadth ; then receiving a tributary 

 from the Lower Klamath Lake, it crosses the State boundary 

 into California, and, after a winding course of two or three 

 hundred miles, falls into the ocean near the north eastern 

 angle of that State. Several tribes of different lineage and 

 languages dwell, or formerly dwelt, along this stream, and 

 have borneindiscriminately from the river's name (the origin 

 and meaning of which are uncertain) the appellation of 

 Klamath Indians But this designation is more usually 

 restricted to the people who possess the upper waters of the 

 river and the great Klamath Lake, and who, as is the case 

 with many other Indian tribes, have no special distinguishing 

 name for themselves except that of "man," — in their lan- 

 guage, Mdklaks. Another name which has been given to 

 them is Lutuami, meaning Lake Indians, which is in no 

 way distinctive. The author has therefore judiciously de- 



cided to retain the usual appellation, "the Klamath Indians," 

 adding the description "of South-western Oregon," to dis- 

 tinguish them from the Californian Klamaths. As these, 

 however, have their proper tribal names of Shasti, Karok, 

 Hupa, and Yurok or Alikwa, it is likely that the designation 

 of Klamath will in time be wholly restricted to the Oregon 

 nation bearing this name. 



The title of " nation " is one which, as the author suggests 

 in his " letter of transmittal " to Major Powell, may properly 

 be conferred upon this remarkable people. Their claim to 

 this title does not reside in their numbers, which at present 

 hardli' reach nine hundred souls, nor in their territory, 

 though this, even in their diminished reservation, covers 

 fifteen hundred square miles. But they have the distinction, 

 like the Basques of south-western Europe, of composing a 

 separate "stock," possessing a language, a mythology, and 

 a social system peculiar to themselves. Such a stock, in- 

 habiting a compact territory, and having (as the Klamaths 

 had till lately) their own government, may justly claim to 

 be considered a nationality. The claim, however, is in 

 America not so notable as it would be deemed in Europe, 

 where distinct linguistic stocks are so few. Mr. Gatschet 

 gives a list of twenty-two of these stocks, radically distinct 

 in grammar and vocabulary, which have been found in 

 Oregon and California alone. If to these we add the stocks 

 of Washington State and of British Columbia, the number 

 of such aboriginal nations found along the Pacific coast of 

 North America will not be less than twenty-eight, nearly 

 equalling the total number of stocks in Asia and Europe com- 

 bined. There is reason lo believe that a careful study of the 

 immensely varied languages, physical and moral traits, my- 

 thologies, and .social systems of these twenty-eight primitive 

 nationalities would greatly modify and in some respects 

 transform the sciences of ethnology and linguistics. There 

 have been many partial and fragmentary attempts at such a 

 study, some of them possessing much value. But that of 

 Mr. Gatschet is undoubtedly the fullest and most minutely 

 accurate that has thus far been made of any single stock. 



The Klamath country is a region of mountains, lakes, 

 and upland plains, stretching eastwardly into the interior 

 from the lofty "Cascade Range," and elevated from four 

 to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. The 

 author was naturally reminded of his native Switzerland by 

 the grandeur of the scenery in the western portion of the 

 reservation, " where the towering ridge of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains and the shining mirrors of the lakes at their feet con- 

 front the visitor, surprised to see in both a reproduction of 

 Alpine landscapes in the extreme west of America." It might 

 be added that in the people themselves we recognize the well- 

 known traits of mountaineers, as we trace them from the 

 Scottish Highlands to Montenegro, and from the Caucasus 

 to the Pamir, — the intense local attachment, the spirit of 

 independence, the desperate bravery in the defence of their 

 homes, the frugality, and the strong conservatism. 



The Klamath people are divided into two septs, the Kla- 

 math Lake tribe, who call themselves Eukshikni ("of the 

 lake ") and the Modocs, who twenty years ago acquired a 

 dismal notoriety by the "tragedy of the Lava Beds," — an 

 event, or series of events, which aroused horror at the time, 

 but in which, according to the judgment of the best-informed 

 historians, including Mr. Gatschet, they were more sinned 

 against than sinning. An eminently fair-minded historical 

 writer, Mr. J. P. Dunn (author of "The Massacres of the 

 Mountains "), in his account of the Modoc outbreak, gives a 

 pithy and graphic description of this sept, in terms which, 



