GABRIELINO (TONGVA)

objects, settling disputes, and collecting taxes.

CLOTHING Like most Indians, Tongva men and children did not wear much clothing during mild weather. The men might have worn an animal skin around the hips. The women wore skirts made of thin strips of bark, tule grasses, or leather. During colder seasons, women and men wore capes made of animal hides or fur. Usually, the Tongva went The South Coast Region of California is barefoot. However, if they lived in the known for its sandy beaches, scrub mountains, they wore sandals made from brush, , grassy valleys, yucca plant fibers. Lastly, in order to woodlands, and forests. The Gabrielinos appear more beautiful, they sported lived in this area in present-day Los tattoos of blue-black lines on their Angeles and Orange Counties, south of foreheads and chins. The women the Chumash territory. They also oftentimes wore flowers in their hair. occupied the southern channel islands including Santa Catalina. The Fernandeño HOUSES people lived north of the Gabrielinos, but The Tongva built dome-shaped houses. historians include them under the Some measured 59 feet in diameter and Gabrielino Tribe. sheltered three to four families. The frames were made from willow tree branches planted into the ground in a Historians named the people of this circle. The tops of these poles were then region after the San Gabriel Mission. bent toward the center creating a domed Nowadays, some Gabrielinos prefer to ceiling. Tule rushes and other stiff grasses call themselves the Tongva, or “earth.” were layered and tied to the frame. The homes had at least one door and THE LEADER sometimes a window. Normally, each small village had its own leader. However, when several small The Tongva sweathouse was also a villages were grouped near a big one, one dome-shaped structure, and it was powerful chief became the leader. The covered with tule reeds and packed dirt. chief was in charge of keeping religious Men went inside to sweat away illnesses and to talk. needed for fishing on the ocean and for conducting trade. FOOD Typical of life by the ocean, seafood like TRADE kelp, shark, shellfish, and clams was The Tongva of Santa Catalina Island abundant. The Tongva caught fish in nets managed a steatite (or soapstone) or on lines with hooks of bone or shell. quarry, an open pit in which chunks of Seals and sea lions were hunted using the relatively soft rock could be removed. spears or harpoons. On land, the Tongva The rock was brought across the channel also hunted with boomerangs, or for finishing. This commodity was very makanas, and bows and arrows. This valuable. The steatite was needed to work provided squirrel, rabbit, and deer carve bowls, beads, fishhooks, shovels, meat. Women gathered acorns, cattails, and smoking pipes. The Tongva did not and chia plants to be ground up and use pottery, preferring the steatite bowls made into cakes. Acorns were pounded which did not crack in the fire or their in stone or wooden mortars (or metates) baskets.The Tongva traded steatite with then boiled in a water-proof basket or in other tribes in the region. The Tongva a stone bowl. Other foods included also traded seeds, fish, furs, and animal seeds, nuts, fruits and berries, and skins. Sometimes they used money made honey. from discs of clam shells.

RELIGION JOBS The Tongva believed in a religion named There were many jobs to be done in a after their creator: Chingichnish. Artists Tongva village. One was designed sand portraits representing the with a variety of tule rushes and other universe in front of alters dedicated to grasses. Baskets were used for many the creator. Both women and men could purposes such as serving food and be shamans, and they were the religious storing supplies. Some were even used as leaders and healers of the tribe. It was cooking pots. By layering a basket with believed that they had special powers to , a sticky tar found on the beach, heal the sick and to change their shape the weaver could make watertight from human to animal. containers for holding liquids.

Building was another specialized job. The craftsman tied wooden planks together and layered them with tar to prevent leaks. This occupation was very important, because reliable boats were Written by Theresa L. Miller for The History Project Dominguez Hills