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
The next seven names on Heintzelman's list are the Car-toos, Ba-tims,
Kab-in-a-toos, Kon-ispilla, Koss-ill-man-u-pomas, Kam-ill-el-pomas, and
So-as. These are all stated to be north of the selected site, Fort
Bragg, with the most remote tribe 35 miles away. In his textual
statement Heintzelman says that he went up the coast as far as Cape
Mendocino, but from his times and distances it appears more likely that
he reached approximately the Mendocino-Humboldt County line before
turning eastward and going inland. This would bring him just about 30
or 40 miles above Fort Bragg.
It has already been pointed out that the first two names of this group.
Car-toos and Ba-tims, refer to the Kato. Dr. Barrett thinks that the
third name, Kab-in-a-toos, may possibly be the Kabenapo of Clear Lake.
He says (personal communication):
We know that the Lake people visited the coast. Perhaps Heintzelman
encountered some of these kabenapo over on a salt-gathering
expedition to some point on the coast north of Fort Bragg.
If Barrett is correct, then this tribe must be excluded from the
present enumeration. The Kon-is-illa cannot be traced, yet the name has
definite similarity to the Coast Yuki name (Pomo form) Kabesillah, as
given by Kroeber in the Handbook (p. 212). Koss-ill-man-u-pomas cannot
be identified, but Barrett says that Kam-ill-el-pomas is the same as
kamalal pomo, a name given by the Pomo to the Coast Yuki (1908, p.
260). The term So-as is thought by Barrett to refer to the village
sosatca in Sherwood Valley.
All these groups are clearly stated by Heintzelman to lie north of Fort
Bragg. Nevertheless, in view of the possibility that Kab-in-a-toos may
represent Clear Lake inhabitants and that the So-as may be a village in
Sherwood Valley, and hence be Pomo, these two divisions may be omitted
from consideration. The remainder may with considerable safety be
ascribed either to the Coast Yuki, the Kato, or perhaps the Sinkyone on
the coast above the Yuki. The total for the five divisions is 1,700
persons.
The next five names on Heintzelman's list are quite definitely Northern
Pomo. Then come, as the last two tribes, the Ki-pomas and the
Yo-sol-pomas. The former were said to inhabit Kinomo Valley, 40 miles
from Fort Bragg, and the latter to live on the coast 50 miles north of
Fort Bragg. According to Barrett, the Ki-pomas are probably the Kai
Pomo of Powers (1908, p. 279, fn.). If so, they lived not in Kinomo
Valley (Round Valley) but in the area between the headwaters of the
South Fork of the Eel River and the Middle Fork of the Eel. Thus they
must have been Athapascan, whether Kato, Sinkyone or Wailaki, it is now
impossible to say. The Yo-sol-pomas are probably the Yu-sal Pomo of
Powers, who were an Athapascan people near Usal, on the coast above
Westport (see Barrett, 1908, p. 260).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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