History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-ElbaLarned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History
History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-Elba
Larned, J. N. (Josephus Nelson)
History -- Dictionaries
"The principal tribes occupying this region [of Northern
California from Rogue River on the north to the Eel River,
south] are the Klamaths, who live on the head waters of the
river and on the shores of the lake of that name; the Modocs,
on Lower Klamath Lake and along Lost River; the Shastas, to
the south-west of the Lakes; the Pitt River Indians; the
Euroes, on the Klamath River between Weitspek and the coast;
the Cahrocs, on the Klamath River from a short distance above
the junction of the Trinity to the Klamath Mountains; the
Hoopahs [or Hupas, a tribe of the Athapascan Family] in Hoopah
Valley on the Trinity near its junction with the Klamath;
numerous tribes on the coast from Eel River and Humboldt Bay
north, such as the Weeyots, Wallies, Tolewahs, etc., and the
Rogue River Indians, on and about the river of that name. The
Northern Californians are in every way superior to the central
and southern tribes."
_H. Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume
1, ch, 4._
"On the Klamath there live three distinct tribes, called the
Yú-rok, Ká-rok, and Mó-dok, which names are said to mean,
respectively, 'down the river,' 'up the river,' and 'head of
the river.' ... The Karok are probably the finest tribe in
California. ... Hoopa Valley, on the Lower Trinity, is the
home of [the Hú-pá]. Next after the Ká-rok they are the finest
race in all that region, and they even excel them in their
statecraft, and in the singular influence, or perhaps brute
force, which they exercise over the vicinal tribes. They are
the Romans of Northern California in their valor and their
wide-reaching dominions; they are the French in the extended
diffusion of their language." The Modoks, "on the whole ...
are rather a cloddish, indolent, ordinarily good-natured race,
but treacherous at bottom, sullen when angered, notorious for
keeping Punic faith. But their bravery nobody can impeach or
deny; their heroic and long defense of their stronghold
against the appliances of modern civilized warfare, including
that arm so awful to savages--the artillery--was almost the
only feature that lent respectability to their wretched
tragedy of the Lava Beds [1873]."
_S. Powers, Tribes of California (Contributions to N. A.
Ethnology, volume 3), chapter 1, 7, and 27._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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