152 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Ishi demonstrating the Mongolian release. (All photographs of Ishi courtesy of Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.) Hunting With Ishi - The Last Yana Indian

SAXTON T. POPE

Theodora Kroeber's brilliant and compas­ non-technical in nature. Pope was a keen sionate Ishi in Two Worlds (1961) refocused observer of Ishi's hunting methods, and he attention on the tragic story of Ishi. the last provides a wealth of ethnographic detail. Yana (Yahi) Indian. Almost forgotten to­ Saxton T. Pope was born in IS75 in Fort day—except among the older generation of Stockton, Texas. He was a nwn of varied California anthropologists—is an account of interests and many unusual accomplislunents. Ishi a)id his hunting techniques which ap­ During his high school years, he built an peared as the first three chapters oj' Saxton T. airplane that would rise and fly, and through­ Pope's Hunting with the Bow and Arrow out his Ufe he maintained close associations (1923a). Long out of print aiul seldom with the world of aviation, including the available because of the demand for used Wright Brothers. He graduated from and copies among archery enthusiasts. Pope's served as an associate clinical professor of book is matched among the classic works on surgery at the University of California Medical American archery only by Maurice Thomp­ School in San Francisco. As a surgeon, he son's The Witchery of Archery (1S7S). helped develop the science of blood transfu­ Thompson's account oJ his hunting experi­ sion and intra-tracheal anesthesia with surgery ences with bow and arrow in the Okefenokee of the heart and lungs. He was the first person Swamp after the Civil War led to a rise of to use a bamboo pole for pole-vaulting, and interest in archer}' in Anwrica in the late he held the world's record for flight shooting nineteenth century. This interest was on the in archery. Pope first met Ishi in 1911. He wane when Pope's book appeared. Pope's learned to speak the Yana language and work, along with its sequel. The Adventurous became a close friend as well as the personal Bowmen (1926). which recounted his safari physician to Ishi. His interest in archery first to Africa to hunt big game with bow and developed under Ishi's guidance in 1912. His arrow, helped stimulate a revival of archery as technical works include Yahi Archery (J918), an American sport which continues to this The Medical History of Ishi (1920). and A day. Although the essay reprinted below is Study of Bows and Arrows (1923b).

THE STORY OF THE LAST YANA INDIAN

HE glory and romance of archery decided the fate of nations. The crossbow and T culminated in England before the dis­ the matchlock had supplanted the longbow covery of America. There, no doubt, the bow when Columbus sailed for the New World. was used to its greatest perfection, and it It was, therefore, a distinct surprise to the 154 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY first explorers of America that the natives such a number of natives that it is said the used the bow and arrow so effectively. In creek was dammed with dead bodies. An fact, the sword and the horse, combined with accurate account of these days may be ob­ the white man's superlative self-assurance, tained from Waterman's paper on the Yana won the contest over the aborigines more Indians (1918). than the primitive blunderbuss of the times. During one of the final raids upon the The bow and arrow was still more deadly than Yana, a little band of Indian women and the gun. children hid in a cave. Here they were With the gradual extermination of the discovered and murdered in cold blood. One American Indian, the westward march of of the white scouting party laconically stated civihzation, and the improvement in firearms, that he used his revolver to blow out their this contest became more and more unequal, brains because the rifie spattered up the cave and the bow disappeared from the land. The too much. last primitive Indian archer was discovered in So it came to pass, that from two or three California in the year 1911. thousand people, the Yana were reduced to When the white pioneers of California less than a dozen who escaped extermination. descended through the northern part of that These were mainly women, old men and State by the Lassen trail, they met with a children. This tribal remnant sought the ref­ tribe of Indians known as the Yana, or Yahi. uge of the impenetrable brush and volcanic That is the name they called themselves. Their rocks of Deer Creek Canyon. Here they lived neighbors called them the Nozi, and the white by stealth and cunning. Like wild creatures, men called them the Deer Creek or Mill Creek they kept from sight until the whites quite Indians. Different from the other tribes of forgot their existence. this territory, the Yana would not submit It became almost a legend that wild without a struggle to the white man's con­ Indians lived in the Mount Lassen district. quest of their lands. From time to time ranchers or sheep herders- The Yana were hunters and warriors. The reported that their flocks had been molested, usual Cahfornia natives were yeUow in color, that signs of Indians had been found or that fat and inclined to be peaceable. The Yana arrowheads were discovered in their sheep. were smaller of stature, lithe, of reddish But little credence was given these rumors bronze complexion, and instead of being until the year 1908, when an electric power diggers of roots, they lived by the salmon company undertook to run a survey hne spear and the bow. Their range extended over across Deer Creek Canyon with the object of an area south of Mount Lassen, east of the constructing a dam. Sacramento River, for a distance of fifty One evening, as a party of hnemen stood miles. on a log at the edge of the deep swift stream From the earliest settlement of the debating the best place to ford, a naked whites, hostilities existed between them. This Indian rose up before them, giving a savage resulted in definitely organized expeditions snarl and brandishing a spear. In an instant against these Indians, and the annual slaughter the survey party disbanded, fell from the log, of hundreds. and crossed the stream in record-breaking The last big round-up of Mill Creek rime. When they stopped to get their breath, Indians occurred in 1872, when their tribe the Indian had disappeared. This was the first was surprised at its seasonal harvest of acorns. appearance of Ishi,' the Yana. Upon this occasion a posse of whites killed Next inorning an exploring expedition set HUNTING WITH ISHI 155 out to verify the excited report of the night from the Deer Creek camp, a lone survivor before. The popular opinion was that no such appeared. Early in the morning, brought to wildman existed, and that the linemen had bay by a barking dog, huddled in the corner been seeing things. One of the group offered of a corral, was an emaciated naked Indian. to bet that no signs of Indians would be So strange was his appearance and so alarmed found. was the butcher's boy who found him, that a As the explorers reached the slide of hasty call for the town constable brought out volcanic boulders where the apparition of the an armed force to capture him. day before had disappeared, two arrows flew Confronted with guns, pistols, and hand­ past them. They made a run for the top of the cuffs, the poor man was sick with fear. He slide and reached it just in time to see two was taken to the city jail and locked up for Indians vanish in the brush. They left behind safekeeping. There he awaited death. For them an old white-haired squaw, whom they years he had believed that to fall into the had been carrying. She was partially para­ hands of white men meant death. All his lyzed, and her legs were bound in swaths of people had been killed by whites; no other willow bark, seemingly in an effort to result could happen. So he waited in fear and strengthen them. trembling. They brought him food, but he The old squaw was wrinkled with age, her would not eat; water, but he would not drink. hair was cropped short as a sign of mourning, They asked him questions, but he could not and she trembled with fear. The white men speak. With the simplicity of the white man, approached and spoke kindly to her in Span­ they brouglit him other Indians of various ish. But she seemed not to understand their tribes, thinking that surely all "Diggers" were words, and apparently expected only death, the same. But their language was as strange to for in the past to meet a white man was to him as Chinese or Greek. die. They gave her water to drink, and tried to And so they thought him crazy. His hair make her cah back her companions, but was burnt short, his feet had never worn without avail. shoes, he had small bits of wood in his nose Further search disclosed two small brush and ears; he neither ate, drank, nor slept. He huts hidden among the laurel trees. So clever­ was indeed wild or insane. ly concealed were these structures that one By this time the news of the wild Indian could pass within a few yards and not discern got into the city papers, and Professor T. T. them. In one of the huts acorns and dried Waterman, of the Department of Anthro­ salmon had been stored; the other was their pology at the University of California, was habitation. There was a small hearth for sent to investigate the case. He journeyed to indoor cooking; bows, arrows, fishing tackle, Oroville and was brought into the presence of a few aboriginal utensils and a fur robe were this strange Indian. Having knowledge of found. These were confiscated in the white many native dialects. Dr. Waterman tried one man's characteristic manner. They then left after the other on the prisoner. Through good the place and returned to camp. fortune, some of the Yana vocabulary had Next day the party revisited the site, been preserved in the records of the Univer­ hoping to find the rest of the Indians. These, sity. Venturing upon this lost language, Water­ however, had gone forever. man spoke in Yana the word, Siwini, which Nothing more was seen or heard of this means pine wood, tapping at the same time little band until the year 1911, when on the the edge of the cot on which they sat. outskirts of Oroville, some thirty-two miles In wonderment, the Indian's face lighted 156 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY with faint recognition. Waterman repeated the the old people had called him Ishi, which charm, and like a spell the man changed from means "strong and straight one," for he was a cowering, trembhng savage. A furtive smile the youth of their camp. He had learned to came across his face. He said in his language, / make fire with sticks; he knew the lost art of nu ma TaA.7-"Are you an Indian?" Waterman chipping arrowheads from flint and obsidian; assured him that he was. he was the fisherman and the hunter. He A great sense of relief entered the situa­ knew nothing of our modern life. He had no tion. Waterman had discovered one of the lost name for iron, nor cloth, nor horse, nor road. tribes of California; Ishi had discovered a He was as primitive as the aborigines of the friend. pre-Columbian period. In fact, he was a man They clothed him and fed him, and he m the Stone Age. He was absolutely un­ learned that the white man was good. touched by civilization. In him science had a Since no formal charges were lodged rare find. He turned back the pages of history against the Indian, and he seemed to have no countless centuries. And so they studied him, objection. Waterman took him to San Fran­ and he studied them. cisco, and there, attached to the Museum of From him they learned little of his per­ Anthropology, he became a subject of study sonal history and less of that of his family, and lived happily for five years. because an Indian considers it unbecoming to From him it was learned that his people speak much of his own life, and it brings ill were all dead. The old woman seen in the luck to speak of the dead. He could not Deer Creek episode was his mother; the old pronounce the name of his father without man was liis uncle. These died on a long calling him from the land of the spirits, and journey to Mt. Lassen, soon after their dis­ this he could only do for some very important covery. Here he had burned their bodies and reason. But he knew the full history of his gone into mourning. The fact that the white tribe and their destruction. men took their means of procuring food, as His apparent age was about forty years, well as their clothing, contributed, no doubt, yet he undoubtedly was nearer sixty. Because to the death of the older people. of his simple life he was in physical prime, Half starved and hopeless, he had wan­ mentally alert, and strong in body. dered into civilization. His father, once the He was about five feet eight inches tall, chieftain of the Yana tribe, having domain well proportioned, had beautiful hands and over all the country immediately south of Mt. unspoiled feet. His features were less aquiline Lassen, was long since gone, and with him all than those of the Plains Indians, yet strongly his people. Ranchers and stockmen had marked outlines, high cheek bones, large usurped their country, spoiled the fishing, and intelligent eyes, straight black hair, and fine driven off the game. The acorn trees of the teeth made him good to look upon. valleys had been taken from them; nothing As an artisan he was very skillful and remained but evil spirits in the land of his ingenious. Accustomed to primitive tools of forefathers. stone and bone, he soon learned to use most Now, however, he had found kindly peo­ expertly the knife, file, saw, vise, hammer, ax, ple who fed him, clothed him, and taught him and other modem implements. the mysteries of civilization. When asked his Although he marveled at many of our name, he said: "I have none, because there inventions and appreciated matches, he took were no people to name me," meaning that great pride in his ability to make fire with two no tribal ceremony had been performed. But sticks of buckeye. This he could do in less HUNTING WITH ISHI 157 than two minutes by twirling one on the where past chieftains made their villages. He other. took us to deer licks and ainbushes used by About this time I became an instructor in his people long ago. One day in passing the surgery at the University Medical School, base of a great rock he scratched with his toe which is situated next to the Museum. Ishi and dug up the bones of a bear's paw. Here, in was employed here in a small way as a janitor years past, they had killed and roasted a bear. to teach him modern industry and the value This was the camp of Ya mo lo ku. His of money. He was perfectly happy and a great own camp was called Wowomopono Tetna favorite with everybody. or bear wallow. From his earliest experience with our We swam the streams together, hunted community life he manifested little immunity deer and small game, and at night sat under to disease. He contracted all the epidemic the stars by the camp fire, where in a simple infections with which he was brouglit in way we talked of old heroes, the worlds above contact. He lived a very hygenic existence, us, and his theories of the life to come in the having excellent food and sleeping outdoors, land of plenty, where the bounding deer and but still he was often sick. Because of this I the mighty bear met the hunter with his came in touch with him as his physician in the strong bow and swift arrows. hospital, and soon learned to admire him for I learned to love Ishi as a brother, and he the fine qualities of his nature. Thougli very looked upon me as one of his people. He reserved, he was kindly, honest, cleanly, and called me Ku wi, or Medicine Man; more, trustworthy. More than this, he had a superior perhaps, because I could perform little sleight philosophy of life, and a high moral standard. of hand tricks, than because of my profession. By degrees I learned to speak his dialect, But, in spite of the fact that he was happy and spent many hours in his company. He and surrounded by the most advanced mate­ told us the folk lore of his tribe. More than rial culture, he sickened and died. Unprotected forty myths or animal stories of his have been by hereditary or acquired immunity, he con­ recorded and preserved. They are as interest­ tracted tuberculosis and faded away before ing as the stories of Uncle Remus. The our eyes. Because he had no natural resis­ escapades of wildcat, the lion, the grizzly tance, he received no benefit from such bear, the bluejay, the lizard, and the coyote hygienic measures as serve to arrest the are as full of excitement and comedy as any disease in the Caucasian. We did everything fairy story. possible for him, and nursed him to the He knew the history and use of everything painful bitter end. in the outdoor world. He spoke the language When his malady was discovered, plans of the animals. He tauglit me to make bows were made to take him back to the mountains and arrows, how to shoot them, and how to whence he came and there to have him cared hunt, Indian fashion. He was a wonderful for properly. We hoped that by this return to companion in the woods, and many days and his natural elements he would recover. But nights we journeyed together. from the inception of his disease he failed so After he had been with us three years we rapidly that he was not strong enough to took liim back to his own country. But he did travel. not want to stay. He liked the ways of the Consumed with fever and unable to eat white man, and his own land was full of nourishing food, he seemed doomed from the the spirits of the departed. first. After months of misery he suddenly He showed us old forgotten camp sites developed a tremendous pulmonary hemor- 158 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY rhage. I was with him at the time, directed his construct the most perfect type of bow and medication, and gently stroked his hand as a arrow. small sign of fellowship and sympathy. He did The workmanship of Ishi was by far the not care for marked demonstrations of any best of any Indian in America; compared with sort. thousands of specimens in the museum, his He was a stoic, unafraid, and died in the arrows were the most carefully and beauti­ faith of his people. fully made; his bow was the best. As an Indian should go, so we sent him on It would take too much time to go into his long journey to the land of shadows. By the minute details of his work, and this has all his side we placed his fire sticks, ten pieces of been recorded in anthropologic records (Pope dentaha or Indian money, a small bag of 1918), but the outhnes of his methods are as acorn meal, a bit of dried venison, some follows: tobacco, and his bow and arrows. The bow, Ishi called man-nee. It was a These were cremated with him and the short, flat piece of mountain juniper backed ashes placed in an earthen jar. On it is with sinew. The length was forty-two inches, inscribed "Ishi, the last Yana Indian, 1916." or, as he measured it, from the horizontally And so departed the last wild Indian of extended hand to the opposite hip. It was America. With him the neolithic epoch ter­ broadest at the center of each hmb, approxi­ minates. He closes a chapter in history. He mately two inches, and half an inch thick. looked upon us as sophisticated children- The cross-section of this part was elhptical. At smart, but not wise. We knew many things the center of the bow the handgrip was about and much that is false. He knew nature, which an inch and a quarter wide by three-quarters is always true. His were the qualities of thick, a cross-section being ovoid. At the tips character that last forever. He was essentially it was curved gently backward and measured kind; he had courage and self-restraint, and at the nocks three-quarters by one-half an though all had been taken from him, there inch. The nock itself was square shouldered was no bitterness in his heart. His soul was and terminated in a pin half an inch in that of a child, his mind that of a philosopher. diameter and an inch long. With him there was no word for good-by. The wood was obtained by splitting a He said: "You stay, I go." hmb from a tree and utilizing the outer layers, He has gone and he hunts with his people. including the sap wood. By scraping and We stay, and he has left us the heritage of the rubbing on sandstone, he shaped and finished bow. it. The recurved tips of the bow he made by bending the wood backward over a heated HOW ISHI MADE HIS BOW AND ARROW stone. Held in shape by cords and binding to AND HIS METHODS OF SHOOTING another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a dark, dry place. Here it remained from a Although much has been written in his­ few months to years, according to his needs. tory and fiction concerning the archery of the After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. North American Indian, strange to say, very First he made a glue by boiling salmon skin little has been recorded of the methods of and applying it to the roughened back of the manufacture of their weapons, and less in bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of accurate records of their shooting. deer sinew obtained from the leg tendons. By It is a great privilege to have lived with an chewing these tendons and separating their unspoiled aborigine and seen him step by step fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Care- HUNTING WITH ISHI 159

Shaping a new bow. fully overlapping the ends of the numerous the dry sinew, sized the surface with more fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. glue and rubbed everything smooth with At the nocks he surrounded the wood com­ sandstone. Then he bound the handgrip for a pletely and added a circular binding about the space of four inches with a narrow buckskin bow. thong. In his native state he seems never to During the process of drying he bound the have greased his bow nor protected it from sinew tightly to the bow with long, thin strips moisture, except by his bow case, which was of willow bark. After several days he removed made of the skin from a cougar's tail. But this bandage and smoothed off the edges of while with us he used shellac to protect the 160 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Finishing a new bow. glue and wood. Other savages use buck fat or When braced properly the bowstring was bear grease. about five inches from the belly of the bow. The bowstring he made of the finer And when not in use and unstrung the upper tendons from the deer's shank. These he loop was slipped entirely off the nock, but chewed until soft, then twisted them tightly held from falling away from the bow by a into a cord having a permanent loop at one second small loop of buckskin. end and a buckskin strand at the other. While Drawn to the full length of an arrow, wet the string was tied between two twigs and which was about twenty-six inches, exclusive rubbed smooth with spittle. Its diameter was of the foreshaft, his bow bent in a perfect arc one-eighth of an inch, its length about forty- slightly flattened at the handle. Its pull was eight inches. When dry the loop was apphed about forty-five pounds, and it could shoot an to the upper nock of Ids bow while he bent arrow about two hundred yards. the bow over his knee and wound the This is not the most powerful type of opposite end of the string about the lower weapon known to Indians, and even Ishi did nock. The buckskin thong terminating this make stronger bows when he pleased; but this portion of the string made it easier to tie in seemed to be the ideal weight for hunting, several half hitches. and it certainly was adequate in his hands. HUNTING WITH ISHI 161

According to English standards, it was great toe on the opposite side, or he bent the very short; but for hunting in the brush and wood backward on the base of the thumb. shooting from crouched postures, it seems Squinting down its axis he lined up the better fitted for the work than a longer uneven contours one after the other and laid weapon. the shaft aside until a series of five was According to Ishi, a bow left strung or completed. He made up arrows in lots of five standing in an upright position, gets tired and or ten, according to the requirements, his sweats. When not in use it should be lying fingers being the measure. down; no one should step over it; no child The sticks thus straightened he ran back should handle it, and no woman should touch and forth between two grooved pieces of it. This brings bad luck and makes it shoot sandstone or revolved them on his thigh while crooked. To expunge such an influence it is holding the stones in his hand, until they were necessary to wash the bow in sand and water. smooth and reduced to a diameter of about In his judgment, a good bow made a five-sixteenths of an inch. Next they were cut musical note when strung and the string is into lengths of approximately twenty-six tapped with the arrow. This was man's first inches. The larger end was now bound with a harp, the great grandfather of the pianoforte. buckskin thong and drilled out for the depth By placing one end of his bow at the of an inch and a half to receive the end corner of his open mouth and tapping the of the foreshaft. He drilled this hole by string with an arrow, the Yana could make fixing a long, sharp bone in the ground sweet music. It sounded like an Aeohan harp. between his great toes and revolved the up­ To this accompaniment Ishi sang a folk-song right shaft between his palms on this fixed telHng of a great warrior whose bow was so point, the buckskin binding keeping the wood strong that, dipping his arrow first in fire, from sphtting. then in the ocean, he shot at the sun. As swift The foreshaft was made of heavier wood, as the wind, his arrow flew straight in the frequently mountain mahogany. It was the round open door of the sun and put out its same diameter as the arrow, only tapering a hght. Darkness fell upon the earth and men trifle toward the front end, and usually was shivered with cold. To prevent themselves about six inches long. This was carefully from freezing they grew feathers, and thus shaped into a spindle at the larger end and set our brothers, the birds, were born. in the recently drilled hole of the shaft, using Ishi called an arrow sa wa. glue or resin for this purpose. The joint was In making arrows the first thing is to get bound with chewed sinew, set in glue. the shafts. Ishi used many woods, but he The length of an arrow, over all, was preferred witch hazel. The long, straight stems estimated by Ishi in this manner. He placed of this shrub he cut in lengths of thirty-two one end on the top of his breast-bone and inches, having a diameter of three-eighths of held the other end out in his extended left an inch at the base when peeled of bark. hand. Where it touched the tip of his fore­ He bound a number of these together and finger it was cut as the proper length. This put them away in a shady place to dry. After was about thirty-two inches. a week or more, preferably several months, he The rear end of his arrow was now selected the best shafts and straightened notched to receive the bowstring. He filed it them. This he accomplished by holding the with a bit of obsidian, or later on, with three concave surface near a small heap of hot hacksaw blades bound together until he made embers and when warm he either pressed his a groove one-eighth of an inch wide by 162 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Estimating length of wood for arrow. three-eighths deep. The opposite end of the rings of green and black starting two inches shaft was notched in a similar way to receive from the rear end and running four inches up the head. The dkection of this latter cut was the shaft. Or he made small circular dots and such that when the arrow was on the bow the snaky lines mnning down the shaft for a edge of the arrowhead was perpendicular, for siinilar distance. When with us he used dry the fancied reason that in this position the colors mixed with shellac, which he preferred arrow when shot enters between the ribs of an to oil paints because they dried quicker. The animal more readily. He did not seem to painted area, intended for the feathers, is recognize that an arrow rotates. called the shaftment and not only helps in At this stage he painted his shafts. The finding lost arrows, but identifies the owner. pigments used in the wilds were red cin­ This entire portion he usually smeared with nabar, black pigment from the eye of trout, thin glue or sizing. a green vegetable dye from wild onions, and A number of shafts having been similarly a blue obtained, he said, from the root of prepared, the Indian was ready to feather a plant. These were mixed with the sap them. A feather he called pu nee. In fledging or resin of trees and apphed with a httle arrows Ishi used eagle, buzzard, hawk or stick or hairs from a fox's tail drawn through flicker feathers. Owl feathers Indians seem to a quill. avoid, thinking they bring bad luck. By His usual design was a series of alternating preference he took them from the wings, but HUNTING WITH ISHI 163 did not hesitate to use tail feathers if reduced and arrowshaft, slowly rotating it all the to it. With us he used turkey pinions. while, at last smoothing the binding with his Grasping one between the heel of his two thumb nail. palms he carefully separated the bristles at the The rear ends having been lashed in tip of the feather with his fingers and pulled position, the arrow was set aside to dry while them apart, sphtting the quill its entire length. the rest were prepared. This is called stripping a feather. Taking the Five or ten having reached this stage and wider half he fu-mly held one end on a rock the binding being dry and secure, he took one with his great toe, and the other end between again between his left arm and chest, and with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. his right hand drew all the feathers straight With a piece of obsidian, or later on a knife and taut, down the shaft. Here he held them blade, he scraped away the pith until the rib with the fingers of his left hand. Having was thin and flat. marked a similar place on each arrow where Having prepared a sufficient number in the sinew was to go, he cut the bristles off the this way he gathered them in groups of three, rib. At this point he started binding with all from similar wings, tied them with a bit of another piece of wet sinew. After a few turns string and dropped them in a vessel of water. he drew the feathers taut again and cut them, When thoroughly wet and hmp they were leaving about a half inch of rib. This he bound ready for use. down completely to the arrow-shaft and While he chewed up a strand of sinew finished all by smoothing the wet lapping eight or ten inches long, he picked up a group with his thumb nail. of feathers, stripped off the water, removed The space between the rib and the wood one, and after testing its strength, folded the he sometimes smeared with more glue to last two inches of bristles down on the rib, cause the feather to adhere to the shaft, but and the rest he ruffled backward, thus leaving this was not the usual custom with him. a free space for later binding. He prepared all After all was dry and firm, Ishi took the three hke this. arrow and beat it gently across his palm so Picking up an arrow shaft he clamped it that the feathers spread out nicely. between his left arm and chest, holding the As a rule the length of his feathers was rear end above the shaftment in his left hand. four inches, though on ceremonial arrows Twirling it slowly in this position, he apphed they often were as long as eight inches. one end of the sinew near the nock, fixing it After drying, the feathers were cut with a by overlapping. The first movements were sharp piece of obsidian, using a straight stick accomplished while holding one extremity of as a guide and laying the arrow on a flat piece the sinew in his teeth; later, having apphed of wood. When with us he trimmed them with the feathers to the stick, he shifted the scissors, making a straight cut from the full sinew to the grasp of the right thumb and width of the feather in back, to the height of forefinger. a quarter of an inch at the forward extremity. One by one he laid the feathers in On his arrows he left the natural curve of the position, binding down the last two inches of feather at the nock, and while the rear stem and the wet barbs together. The first binding started an inch or more from the butt feather he applied on a line perpendicular to of the arrow, the feather drooped over the the plane of the nock; the two others were nock. This gave a pretty effect and seemed to equidistant from this. For the space of an add to the steering qualities of the missile. inch he lapped the sinew about the feathers Two kinds of points were used on Ishi's 164 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Breaking obsidian for points. arrows. One was the simple blunt end of the owned an ax, and thus was famous for his shaft bound with sinew used for killing small possessions as well as his skill as a maker of game and practice shots. The other was his bows. From a distant mountain crest one day hunting head, made of flint or obsidian. He Ishi pointed out to me the camp of this preferred the latter. Indian who was long since dead. If ever Ishi Obsidian was used as money among the wished to refer to a hero of the bow, or natives of California. A boulder of this volcan­ having been beaten in a shot, he always told ic glass was packed from some mountainous us what Chu no wa yahi could have done. districts and pieces were cracked off and To make arrowheads properly one should exchanged for dried fish, venison, or weapons. smear his face with mud and sit out in the hot It was a medium of barter. Although all men sun in a quiet secluded spot. The mud is a were more or less expert in flaking arrow­ precaution against harm from the flying chips heads and knives, the better grades of bows, of glass, possibly also a good luck ritual. If by arrows, and arrow points were made by the chance a bit of glass should fly in the eye, older, more expert specialists of the tribe. Ishi's method of surgical relief was to hold his Ishi often referred to one old Indian, lower lid wide open with one finger while he named Chu no wa yahi, who lived at the base slapped himself violently on the head with the of a great cliff with his crazy wife. This man other hand. I am inclined to ascribe the HUNTING WITH ISHI 165 process of removal more to the hydraulic deer horn. Grasping the horn firmly while the effect of the tears thus started than to the longer extremity lay beneath his forearm, he mechanical jar of the treatment. pressed the point of the horn against the edge He began this work by taking one chunk of the obsidian. Without jar or blow, a flake of obsidian and throwing it against another; of glass flew off, as large as a fish scale. several small pieces were thus shattered off. Repeating this process at various spots on the One of these, approximately three inches intended head, turning it from side to side, long, two inches wide and half an inch thick, first reducing one face, then the other, he was selected as suitable for an arrowhead, or soon had a symmetrical point. In half an hour haka. Protecting the palm of his left hand by he could make the most graceful and perfect­ a piece of thick buckskin, Ishi placed a piece ly proportioned arrowhead imaginable. The of obsidian flat upon it, holding it firmly with little notches fasliioned to hold the sinew his fingers folded over it. binding below the barbs he shaped with a In his right hand he held a short stick on smaller piece of bone, while the arrowhead the end of which was lashed a sharp piece of was held on the ball of his thumb.

Flaking a point with deer hom. 166 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Flint, plate glass, old bottle glass, onyx- bow on its right side where it lay between the all could be worked with equal facility. extended fingers of his left hand. He gently Beautiful heads were fashioned from blue slid the arrow forward until the nock slipped bottles and beer bottles. over the string at its center. Here he set it The general size of these points was two properly in place and put his right thumb inches for length, seven-eighths for width, and under the string, hooked upward ready to one-eighth for thickness. Larger heads were pull. At the same time he flexed his forefinger used for war and smaller ones for shooting against the side of the arrow, and the second bears. finger was placed on the thumb nail to Such a head, of course, was easily broken strengthen the pull. if the archer missed his shot. This made him Thus he accomplished what is known as very careful about the whole affair of shooting. the Mongolian release. When ready for use, these heads were set Only a few nations ever used this type of on the end of the shaft with heated resin arrow release, and the Yana seem to have and bound in place with sinew which en­ been the only American natives to do so (see circled the end of the arrow and crossed diag­ Morse 1885). onally through the barb notches with many To draw his bow he extended his left arm. recurrences. At the same time he pulled his right hand Such a point has better cutting qualities in toward him. The bow arm was almost in front animal tissue than has steel. The latter is, of of him, while his right hand drew to the top course, more durable. After entering civihza­ of his breast bone. With both eyes open he tion, Ishi preferred to use iron or steel blades sighted along his shaft and estimated the of the same general shape, or having a short elevation according to the distance to be shot. tang for insertion in the arrowhead. He released firmly and without change of Ishi carried anywhere from five to sixty position until the arrow hit. He preferred to arrows in a quiver made of otter skin which shoot kneeling or squatting, for this was most hung suspended by a loop of buckskin over favorable for getting game. his left shoulder. His shooting distances were from ten His method of bracing or stringing the yards up to fifty. Past this range he did not bow was as follows: Grasping it with his right think one should shoot, but sought rather to hand at its center, with the belly toward him, approach his game more closely. and the lower end on his right thigh, he held In his native state he practiced shooting at the upper end with his left hand while the little oak balls, or bundles of grass bound to loop of the string rested between his finger represent rabbits, or little hoops of wihow and thumb. By pressing downward at the rolled along the ground. Like all other arch­ handle and pulling upward with the left hand ers, if Ishi missed a shot he always had a good he so sprung the bow that the loop of the excuse. There was too much wind, or the cord could be slipped over the upper nock. arrow was crooked, or the bow had lost its In nocking his arrow, the bow was held cast, or, as a last resource, the coyote doctor diagonally across the body, its upper end bewitched him, which is the same thing we pointing to the left. It was held lightly in the mean when we say it is just bad luck. While palm of the left hand so that it rested loosely with us he shot at the regulation straw target, in the notch of the thumb while the fingers and he is the first and only Indian of whose partially surrounded the handle. Taking an shooting any accurate records have been arrow from his quiver, he laid it across the made. HUNTING WITH ISHI 167

Shooting from characteristic squatting position.

Many exaggerated reports exist concern­ Ishi never thought very much of our long ing the accuracy of the shooting of American bows. He always said, "Too much man-nee." Indians; but here we have one who shot ever And he always insisted that arrows should since childhood, who lived by hunting, and be painted red and green. But when we must have been as good, if not better, than began beating him at targets, he took ah his the average. shafts home and scraped the paint off them, He taught us to shoot Indian style at first, putting back rings of blue and yeUow, doubt­ but later we learned the old English methods less to change his luck. In spite of our and found them superior to the Indian. At the apparent superiority at some forms of shoot­ end of three months'practice. Dr. J. V. Cooke ing, he never changed his methods to meet and I could shoot as well as Ishi at targets, but competition. We, of course, did not want he could surpass us at game shooting. him to. 168 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

Small objects the size of a quail the Indian My own best practice American Round is could hit with regularity up to twenty yards. as follows: And I have seen him kill ground squirrels at forty yards; yet at the same distances he May 22, 1917. At 60 yards 29 hits 157 score might miss a four-foot target. He explained 50 yards 29 hits 185 score this by saying that the target was too large 40 yards 30 hits 196 score and the bright colored rings diverted the 538 score attention. He was right. Total 88 hits There is a regular system of shooting in Anything over 500 is considered good archery competition. In America there is what shooting. is known as the American Round, which It will be seen from this that the Indian consists of shooting thirty arrows at each of was not a good target shot, but in field the following distances: sixty, fifty, and forty shooting and getting game, probably he could yards. The bull's-eye on the target is a trifle excel the white man. over nine inches and is surrounded by four ISHI'S METHODS OF HUNTING rings of half this diameter. Their value is 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, successively counting from the center Hunting with Ishi was pure joy. Bow in outward. The target itself is constructed of hand, he seemed to be transformed into a straw, bound in the form of a mat four feet in being light as air and as silent as falling snow. diameter, covered with a canvas facing. From the very first we went on little expedi­ Counting the hits and scores on the tions into the country where, without appear­ various distances, a good archer will make the ing to instruct, he was my teacher in the old, following record. Here is Arthur Young's best old art of the chase. I followed him into a score: new system of getting game. We shot rabbits, quail, and squirrels with the bow. His meth­ March 25, 1917. ods here were not so well defined as in the At 60 yards 30 hits 190 score 11 golds approach to larger game, but I was struck 50 yards 30 hits 198 score 9 golds 40 yards 30 hits 238 score 17 golds from the first by his noiseless step, his slow movements, his use of cover. These little Total 90 hits 626 score 37 golds animals are flushed by sound and sight, not This is one of the best scores made by scent. Another prominent feature of Ishi's American archers. work in the field was his indefatigable persis­ Ishi's best record is as follows: tence. He never gave up when he knew a rabbit was in a clump of brush. Time meant October 23, 1914. nothing to him; he simply stayed until he got At 60 yards 10 hits 32 score his game. He would watch a squirrel hole for 50 yards 20 hits 92 score 2 golds an hour if necessary, but he always got the 40 yards 19 hits 99 score 2 golds squirrel. 223 score 4 golds Total 49 hits He made great use of the game call. We all His next best score was; this: know of duck and turkey calls, but when he told me that he lured rabbits, tree squirrels, At 60 yards 13 hits 51 score wildcats, coyote, and bear to him, I thought 50 yards 17 hits 59 score he was romancing. Going along the trail, he 40 yards 22 hits 95 score would stop and say, ''Ineja teway-bjum- Total 52 luts 205 score metchi bi w/" or "This is good rabbit HUNTING WITH ISHI 169

After the arrow release. ground." Then crouching behind a suitable forward, stopped and listened, hopped again, bush as a bhnd, he would place the fingers of listened, and ultimately came within ten or fif­ liis right hand against his lips and, going teen yards while Ishi dragged out his squeak in through the act of kissing, he produced a a most pathetic manner. Then he would shoot. plaintive squeak similar to that given by a To test his ability one afternoon while rabbit caught by a hawk or in mortal distress. hunting deer, I asked the Yana to try his cah This he repeated with heartrending appeals un­ in twelve separate locations. From these til suddenly one or two or sometimes three rab­ twelve calls we had five jackrabbits and one bits appeared in the opening. They came from wildcat approach us. The cat came out of the distances of a hundred yards or more, hopped forest, cautiously stepped nearer and sat upon 170 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY a log in a bright open space not more than command to her httle ones to fly; and the "lie fifty yards away while I shot three arrows at low" cluck; then at last the "all's well" cliirp. him, one after the other; the last clipped him Deer he could call in the fawn season by between the ears. placing a folded leaf between his lips and This call being a cry of distress, rabbits sucking vigorously. This made a bleat such as and squirrels come with the idea of protecting a lamb gives, or a boy makes blowing on a their young. They run around in a circle, blade of grass between his thumbs. stamp their feet, and make great demonstra­ He also enticed deer by means of a stuffed tions of anger, probably as much to attract buck's head which he wore as a cap, and the attention of the supposed predatory beast bobbing up and down behind bushes excited and decoy him away, as anything else. their curiosity untd they approached within The cat, the coyote, and the bear come bow-shot. Ordinarily in hunting deer, the for no such humane motive; they are thinking Indian used what is termed the still hunt, but of food, of joining the feast. with him it was more than that. First of all he I learned the call myself, not perfectly, studied the country for its formation of hills, but well enough to bring squirrels down from ridges, valleys, canyons, brush and timber. He the topmost branches of tall pines, to have observed the direction of the prevailing winds, foxes and lynx approach me, and to get the position of the sun at daybreak and rabbits. evening. He noted the water holes, game Not only could Ishi call the animals, but trails, "buck look-outs," deer beds, the nature he understood their language. Often when we of the feeding grounds, the stage of the moon, have been hunting he has stopped and said, the presence of salt hcks, and many other "The squirrel is scolding a fox." At first I said features of importance. If possible, he located to him, "I don't beheve you." Then he would the hiding-place of the old bucks in daytime, say, "Wait! Look!" Hiding behind a tree or all of which every careful hunter does. Next, rock or bush, in a few minutes we would see a he observed the habits of game, and the fox trot across the open forest. presence or absence of predatory beasts that It seemed that for a hawk or cat or man, kill deer. the squirrel has a different call, such that Ishi Having decided these and other questions, could say without seeing, what molested his he prepared for the hunt. He would eat no httle brother. fish the day before the hunt, and smoke no Often have we stopped and rested be­ tobacco, for these odors are detected a great cause, so he said, a bluejay called far and way off. He rose early, bathed in the creek, wide, "Here comes a man!" There was no use rubbed himself with the aromatic leaves of going farther, the animals all knew of our yerba buena, washed out his mouth, drank presence. Only a white hunter would advance water, but ate no food. Dressed in a loin under these circumstances. cloth, but without shirt, leggings or mocca­ Ishi could smell deer, cougar, and foxes sins, he set out, bow and quiver at his side. He like an animal, and often discovered them said that clothing made too much noise in the first this way. He could imitate the call of brush, and naturally one is more cautious in quail to such an extent that he spoke a his movements when reminded by his sensi­ half-dozen sentences to them. He knew the tive hide that he is touching a sharp twig. crow of the cock on sentinel duty when he From the very edge of camp, until he signals to others; he knew the cry of warning, returned, he was on the alert for game, and and the run-to-shelter cry of the hen; her the one obvious element of his mental atti- HUNTING WITH ISHI

f^*'- .•5^^

Demonstrating arrow penetration with a buck. tude was that he suspected game everywhere. he were cutting across country or intended to He saw a hundred objects that looked Uke flush game. deer, to every live animal in reality. He took it At sunrise and sunset he tried always to for granted that ten deer see you where you get between the sun and his game. He drifted see one—so see it first! On the trail, it was a between the trees like a shadow, expectant crime to speak. His warning note was a soft, and nerved for immediate action. low whistle or a hiss. As he walked, he placed Some Indians, covering their heads with every footfall with precise care; the most tall grass, can creep up on deer in the open, stealthy step I ever saw; he was used to it; and rising suddenly to a kneeling posture lived by it. For every step he looked twice. shoot at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. But When going over a rise of ground he either Ishi never tried this before me. Having located stooped, crawled or let just his eyes go over his quarry, he either shot, at suitable ranges, the top, then stopped and gazed a long time or made a detour to wait the passing of the for the slightest moving twig or spot of color. game or to approach it from a more favorable Of course, he always hunted up wind, unless direction. He never used dogs in hunting. 172 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY

When a number of people hunted to­ small hole in the skin over the abdomen and gether, Ishi would hide behind a blind at the blow into this, stripping the integument free side of a deer trail and let the others run the from the body and inflating it like a football, deer past. In his country we saw old piles of except at the legs. rock covered with lichen and moss that were In skinning the tail of an animal, he used a less than twenty yards from well-marked deer split stick to strip it down, and did it so trails. For numberless years Indians had used dextrously that it was a revelation of how these as bhnds to secure camp meat. easy this otherwise difficult process may be In the same necessity, the Indian would when one knows how. He tanned his skins in he in wait near licks or springs to get his food; the way customary with most savages: clean but he never kihed wantonly. skinning, brain emulsion, and plenty of el­ Althougli Ishi took me on many deer bow grease. hunts and we had several shots at deer, owing His people killed bear with the bow and to the distance or the fall of the ground or arrow. Ishi made a distinction between grizzly obstructing trees, we registered nothing better bear, which he called tet na, and black bear, than encouraging misses. He was undoubtedly which he called bo he. The former had long hampered by the presence of a novice, and claws, could not chmb trees, and feared unduly hastened by the white man's lack of nothing. He was to be let alone. The other time. His early death prevented our ultimate was "all same pig." The black bear, when achievement in this matter, so it was only found, was surrounded by a dozen or more after he had gone to the Happy Hunting Indians who built fires, and discharging their Grounds that I, profiting by his teachings, arrows at his open mouth, attempted to kill killed my first deer with the bow. him. If he charged, a burning brand was That he had shot many deer, even since snatched from the fire and thrust in his face boyhood, there was no doubt. To prove that while the others shot him from the side. Thus he could shoot through one with his arrows, I they wore him down and at last vanquished had him discharge several at a buck kiUed by him. our packer. Shooting at forty yards, one In his youth, Ishi killed a cinnamon bear arrow went through the chest wall, half its single handed. Finding it asleep on a ledge of length; another struck the spine and fractured rock, he sneaked close to it and gave a loud it, both being mortal wounds. whistle. The bear rose up on its hind legs and It was the custom of his tribe to hunt Ishi shot him through the chest. With a roar until noon, when by that time they usually the bear fell off the ledge and the Indian had several deer, obtained, as a rule, by the jumped after him. With a short-handled obsid­ ambush method. Having pre-arranged the mat­ ian spear he thrust him througli the heart. The ter, the women appeared on the scene, cut up skin of this bear now hangs in the Museum of the meat, cooked part of it, principally the Anthropology in mute testimony of the cour­ hver and heart, and they had a feast on the age and daring of Ishi. Had this young man spot. The rest was taken to camp and made been given a name, perhaps they would have into jerky. called him Yellow Bear. In skinning animals, the Indian used an While he shot many birds, I never saw Ishi obsidian knife held in his hand by a piece of try wing shooting except at eagles or hawks. buckskin. I found this cut better than the For these he would use an arrow on which he average hunting knife sold to sportsmen. had smeared mud to make it dark in color. A Often in skinning rabbits he would make a light shaft is readily discerned by these birds, HUNTING WITH ISHI 173 and I have often seen them dodge an arrow. was most exacting. Neatness about his tackle, But the darker one is almost invisible head on. care of his equipment, deliberation and form The feathers of the arrows were close cropped in his shooting were typical of him; in fact, he to make them swift and noiseless. loved his bow as he did no other of his The sound of a bowstring is that of a possessions. It was his constant companion in sharp twang accompanied by a muffled crack. life and he took it with him on his last long To avoid this and make a silent shot, the journey. Indian bound his bow at the nocks with NOTE weasel fur; this effectually damped the vibra­ tion of the string, while the passage of the I. Ishi is pronounced "E-she." arrow across the bow, which gives the slight crack, is abolished by a heavy padding of REFERENCES buckskin at this point. Ishi never wore an arm guard or glove or Kroeber, Theodora finger stahs to protect himself as other archers 1961 Ishi in Two Worlds. Berkeley: University do. He seemed not to need them. When he of California Press. released the arrow, the bow rotated in his Morse, E. S. hand so that the string faced in the opposite 1885 Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow direction from which it started. His thumb Release. Bulletin of the Essex Institute 17: alone drew the string, and this was so tough­ 145-198. ened that it needed no leather covering. Pope, Saxton T. In a httle bag he carried extra arrowheads 1918 Yahi Archery. University of California and sinews, so that in a pinch he could mend Publications in American Arciiaeology and his arrows. Ethnology 13(3). When not actually in use, he promptly 1920 The Medical History of Ishi. University of unstrung his bow, and gently straightened it California Publications in American Ar­ by hand. In cold weather he heated it over a chaeology and Ethnology 13(5). fire before bracing it. The slightest moisture 1923a Hunting with the Bow and Arrow. San would deter him from shooting, unless abso­ Francisco: James H. Barry Co. (Reprinted lutely necessary—he was so jealous of his 1925 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York). tackle. If his bowstring stretched in the heat or dampness, as sinew is hable to do, he 1923b A Study of Bows and Arrows. University shortened it by twisting one end prior to of California Publications in American Ar­ chaeology and Ethnology 13(9). bracing it. Before shooting he invariably looked over 1926 Tiie Adventurous Bowmen: Field Notes on each arrow, straightened it in his hands or by African Archery. New York and London: his teeth, rearranged its feathers, and saw that G. P. Putnam's Sons. the point was properly adjusted. In fact, he Thompson, Maurice gave mfinite attention to detail. With him, 1878 The Witchery of Archery: a Complete every shot must count. Besides arrows in his Manual of Archery. New York; C. Scrib- quiver, he carried several ready for use under ner's Sons. his right arm, wliich he kept close to his side Waterman, T. T. while drawing the bow. 1918 The Yana Indians. University of Cahfornia In all things pertaining to the handicraft Publications in American Archaeology and of archery and the technique of shooting, he Ethnology 13(2).