CALIFORNIA. 



Ui found as tar lo the foallnvard as 2S' N. lat. ; but the 

 irtulheri) fkins are interior in qii.ihty to thofe in the feaa 

 iliat are trcquciited by the Rnirian-. The catlern and 

 loutherii coalls of Old' C.ilifoinia are much riclier in the 

 xirictics of its fliells than the Ne\v, and firrnidi oy iters, 

 wliofc pearls are equal in beauty and fi/.e 10 thofe of Ceylon, 

 or the IVrlian gulf. 



'I'here is, perhaps, no country wIutc the various lan- 

 jniaires of the inhabiunts are fo extrenuly multiplied as in 

 Noah California. The numerous tribes that divide that 

 country live in an infuiated manner, alttiouijjh iituate very 

 near each other, and have eai-h a feparatc lanj^uaj^e. Mon- 

 terrey, and the miffion of San Carlos, which is dependent 

 upon it, comprehend the country of the .Achafthans, and 

 the F.cclemachs. The languages of thcfe people, partly 

 united in the fame miffion, would foon form a third, if the 

 converted Indians difcontinucd their intercourfe with thofe 

 of the Racherias. As the Achaillians have fe\v abftraft 

 ideas, they have vei-y few words to expvefs them ; nor do 

 they appear to difiinguilh by different names ail the fpecies 

 of animals, or of common vegetables. I'hey diltinguidi the 

 plural from the fmgular, and conjugate fome tenfes of 

 verbs; but they have no declenlions, and their fubftantives 

 are much more numerous than their adjeftives. They never 

 life the labials P and B, nor the letter X. The moil com- 

 mon initial confonants are T and K ; but their terminations 

 are vei-y various. They ufe their fingers in counting as far 

 as ten; few of thtm being able to do it by memory, or 

 \vit!"«ut the nfliftance of fome external lign. The country 

 of the Ecclemachs extends above twenty leagues to the 

 caftward of Monterrc)-. Their language is totally different 

 from all thofe of their neighbours, and has even a greater 

 refemblance to the languages of Europe than to thofe of 

 America. The dialeft of this tribe, however, is more co- 

 pious than that of the other nations of California, though it 

 cannot be compared with the languages of civilized nations. 

 Should it be inferred from hence, that the Ecclemachs are 

 foreigners in this part of Anieiica, it mud be at lead ad- 

 mitted, that they have inhabited it for a long time; fincc 

 they differ nciihcr in colour, in comitenance, nor in their 

 general form and external appearance, from the other na- 

 tions of that country. La Peroufe inilituted a comparifon 

 between the Aborigines of California, and thofe of Chili, 

 Iituate at the fame diilance from, the line in the fouthern 

 with that oftthe other-; in the northern hemifphere ; and he 

 ■ ibferves, that the Californians are taller, and themufcles 

 more llrongly marked ; but they are not fo courageous or 

 intelligent. They have low foreheads, bfcek and thick 

 tyc-hrows, black, and hollow eyes, a (hort nofe deprefftd at 

 the root, and their cheek-bones projeding. They have a 

 mouth rather large, thick lips, ilrong and line teeth, and a 

 chin and cars of the common form. They are extremely 

 indolent and incurious, and almotl flupid. In walking 

 they turn in their toes, and even their llep, and by their inlirni 

 and tottering gait indicate their charadterillic pnfillanimity. 

 The women have fome qualities pecuhar to themfelves, and 

 not ohfcrvablc in thofe of Chili. They are taller, and their 

 limbs are more regularly formed ; their figure is generally 

 . better f'efi led, and their countenance Icfs forbiddino-. The 

 hair of he people of both thefe countries is nearly^fimilar ; 

 hut the Californians have it in greater abundance than the 

 natives of Chili. Many of the men, however, are devoid of 

 beard, and the women hdve verv little hair on any part of 

 the body ; but this is faid to be the effca of art, as both 

 the men and women pluck off the hair with bivalved fliells 

 or a cleft ttick. 



Thcfe Americans paint their (Idn by way of ornament. 



They alfo pierce their ears, and wear in th«fm tnnkefs of 

 various kinds and fafliions. Their fl<:in is tawny, and their 

 nails of a lighter colour' than thofe of the inhabitants of 

 Chili. At Chill and California the appearance of the beard 

 and the change of the voice announce the age of puberty iu 

 males about their ijth rear. The girls attain to puberty 

 about the age of eleven or twelve. Thcfe nations have 

 nearly the" fame palTions, the .fame fports, and rhefame mode 

 of living; and they are equally violent in the exprefiion of 

 joy and asiger, which the flightelt occafion is fufficient to 

 excite. Their food is commonly g.-^me or iilh ; and their 

 times cf eating are fometimcb determined by their appetite : 

 b'.'t in general each family afTembles at the clofe of the day 

 to their common repaft. The CalifoTnfans make no ufe of 

 vegetables, except a few pine-ni'ts, and other fummer 

 fruits, which, however, conftilute no efTential part of their 

 food. Idlentfs makes them abfleniious, but an abundance 

 tempt.s, and they become voracious gluttons. Thefe nations 

 -are divided into hordes; each of which commonly forms a little 

 hamlet ; and their habitations are Imts or cabins of dif- 

 ferent fhapes, ar.ti conltrufted of different materials. Poly- 

 gamy is allowed among them, and their marriages lall nn 

 longer than is agreeable to both parties. To the exclufive 

 poflcfnon of their women they attach little importance, 

 often endeavouring to ma!^e a market of their favours, 

 which they fell for a piece of old iron, or a few glafs beads. 

 Each fan-lily feems to pcflels a government peculiar to it- 

 felf ; and has its chief, i*3 huts, its canoes, its implements 

 for the chace and for filhing, and, indeed, all the various 

 means of defence or fiibfillence. Some chiefs feem to have 

 the command of fevc'.'al families. Thefe chiefs excel the 

 other inhabitants in llature, ilrength, and courage : they 

 are generally covered with large fears, as tokens of their 

 valour, and dilfinguilhed by a kind of extraordinary decora- 

 tion in their head-drefs and habiliments. The drefs of the 

 women confifts of a leathern {hift, defceiiding to the middle 

 of the leg, and a mantle of flcins, which covers them from 

 the (houldera to the knees. The men wear a limilar mantle, 

 and have a (liirt of leather, and buficins of feal's (kin ; but 

 their feet ere commonly naked. A.^ great changes of tem- 

 pei-ilture are experienced in California at different feafons of 

 the year, the inhabitants are fubject to difeafes peculiar to 

 the country. Sore throats, catarrhs, pleurilies, and peri- 

 pneumonies, are the ordinary difeafes of the winter feafon ; 

 for which they recur to decoftions made of plants, and ap- 

 plied to the parts affeftcd. Ephemeral and intermittent 

 fever.'!, and dylpepfia, are chiefly prevalent in fpring and au- 

 tumn ; and as remedies they excite vomiting by forcing the 

 finger down the throat, and procure copious fweats by a 

 kind of ftove baths. The difeafes mod general in fummer 

 are fevers of various kinds, putrid, petechi.d, infiammatorv, 

 and bilious, together with the dyfentery. To one or other 

 of thefe the patient generally falls a vittim, unlefs the ef- 

 forts of nature are fuflicient to produce a falutary evacua- 

 tion, by ftool, urine, or perfpiration. Befides thefe difeafes, 

 the inhabitants of California are liable to nervous fever, 

 rheumatilm, prurient eruptions, ophthalmia, fvphili.s, and 

 cpileply. Syphilis feems never to have been introduced 

 among the natives of California till after their communica- 

 tion with the Europeans, who fettled in that part of the 

 continent. The means of cure in which they moft confide 

 are the fand-bath, which they call " tamafcul," and a de- 

 coction of fudorific plants taken alternately. The women, 

 though liable to fimilar maladies with thofe of the men, 

 fuffer little inconvenience during the time of geilation, and 

 are almoft always delivered with cafe. As foon as the in- 

 fant is born, the midwives tie the umb.Qical cord, plunge the 



child 



