The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of CaliforniaCook, Sherburne Friend
History
The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California
Cook, Sherburne Friend
Indians of North America -- California; Indians of North America -- Statistics
We might use the Yurok family number 7.5, but Goddard's account carries
the implication that perhaps the Wailaki family was somewhat smaller,
suggesting a factor of 7.0 rather than 7.5. Goddard bases his estimates
upon a mean population of 15 to 30 persons per village. This would mean
4.5 persons per house, certainly too low a value for the aboriginal
social family. At four houses per village the family number would be
5.6, still probably somewhat too low. Perhaps a compromise is
advisable, say at 6.0. The average village size could be then put at 25
persons, a figure definitely lower than was assumed for the more
northerly Athapascan tribes but still one which seems to be indicated
by the social organization described by Goddard. The total population
of the Wailaki proper would then be 80 per cent of 482 houses
multiplied by 6.0 or 2,315 persons.
Goddard indicates on page 108 his belief that the villages were not
simultaneously inhabited. However, he adduces no evidence to favor this
view. On the contrary, he mentions in his text four villages which were
stated by informants _not_ to have been inhabited within their memory,
a circumstance which argues strongly that the villages they did claim
were actually active at the time to which they were referring, i.e.,
just before the white invasion. It would appear to the writer that
reducing the house count by 20 per cent and reducing the family number
from 7.5 to 6.0 quite adequately compensates for any errors in the
ennumeration of villages. Indeed the estimate here presented may be too
conservative.
With regard to the Pitch group Goddard (1924) shows that the subtribe
tokya-kiyahan had 15 villages. In fourteen of these he found 66 house
pits, an average of 4.72 per village. At tciancot-kiyahan there were 16
villages, 7 of which had 35 house pits, or an average of 5.0.
Todannan-kiyahan had 6 villages but the area was incompletely examined
and there were probably more. The area of tcocat-kiyahan was not seen
at all but there is certainly no reason why they should not have had at
least 6 villages. At four houses per village the total, surely an
underestimate, would be 172 and at 6.0 persons per house the population
would be 1,032.
For the entire Wailaki the indicated population is then 3,347 (or
rather 3,350), a figure much in excess of previous estimates but
justified by the data presented by Goddard and Merriam.
_Wailaki ... 3,350_
_ATHAPASCAN TOTAL ... 15,450_
THE YUKI
THE COAST YUKI
The Coast Yuki have been the subject of an admirable ethnographic study
by Gifford (1939), who has assembled substantially all the data extant
in modern times pertaining to families and villages. He shows very
clearly that this tribe occupied its villages only in a transitory
manner, that it had summer beach camps and inland winter settlements.
To quote Gifford's words concerning the point (p. 296):
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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