PEDRO FAGES' COMMENTS FROM THE PORTOLA EXPEDITION ON THE
CHUMASH
The following extracts from a work by Pedro Fages on the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portola are offered here as one of the first direct observations of the Chumash people. These observations are virtually the only accounts of the Chumash before the overwhelming hand of western civilization had come to bear. Nearly all of the information we have about the Chumash was recorded nearly 100 years and several complete generations after the nearly complete destruction of their culture had occurred. We are indeed fortunate that a so experienced and keen observer recorded detailed observations, no matter how limited. We are also fortunate that his observation were tempered by time and a growing appreciation of his subjects. Fages did not dismiss the Chumash as primitive heathens unworthy of consideration.
Fages was second in command, after Portola, of the 1769 and 1770 expeditions to Monterey. He was eventually promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Spanish army and serves as governor of California from 1782-1791. He is generally considered to have been the best of the Spanish governors. Fages, of course, was an untrained observer, and his views are biased by the prevailing sentiments of the time. These excerpts are taken from a translation by Herbert Ingram Priestley, published by the Ballena Press in 1972. Excerpts from his comments on the natural and the political history of the area from Canada de Santa Clara, i.e., the Santa Clara River Valley, to La Carpenteria, what is now in the City of Carpenteria, are as follows:
"The Indians of all these villages are of good disposition and average figure; they are inclined to work, and much more to self-interest. They show with great covetousness a certain inclination to traffic and barter, and it may be said in a way that they are the Chinese of California......They receive the Spaniards well, and make them welcome; but they are very warlike among themselves, living at almost incessant war, village against village....The men go clothed with a large cloak made of skins of cony, i.e., squirrel, hare, fox or sea otter; the garment reaches to the waist, the captain, i.e., chief, only being allowed to wear it reaching to the ankle, without other mark of distinction. The women wear skirts, made and fitted uncouthly of antelope hide (probably deer), either colored or white, which do no extend below the knees. Most of them are decorated with various trinkets chosen from the smaller sea shells and stones of various colors. They wear the hair tightly bound and gathered at the back, forming a short, heavy queue, with a very handsome adornment of shells; they also wear collars and bracelets of snail shells and little sea shells. The few men who desire to cut their beards accomplish it, not without great pain....Those who like to wear the hair short, do so by burning it close to their pates - an uncomfortable and fatiguing operation..."
Besides giving a good description of how the Chumash appeared and dressed, the foregoing excerpt seems to indicate that at least some Chumash men had beards. This assertion is supported by other sources. There is also an indication that they were involved in nearly constant warfare.
“They are idolaters like the rest. Their idols are placed near the village, with some here and there about the fields, to protect, they say, the seeds and crops. Their idols are nothing but sticks, or stone figurines painted with colors and surmounted with plumage. Their ordinary height is three hands, and they place them in the cleanest, most highly embellished place they can find, whither they go frequently to worship them and offer their food, and whatever they have.”
Fages’ reference to crops may reflect the bias of a representative of an agrarian society or it may represent a recognition of some form of proto-agriculture being practiced by the Chumash involving the tending and sowing of native grass seed. ‘Shrines’ appear to have been ubiquitous, and he implies that they involved functions other than astronomical events. Sometime in the mid-1980s a painted stone that was found on top of a hill in the Sunset Hills area of the City of Thousand Oaks was brought to my attention. It may be an example of the type of painted stone described by Fages.
“Although in this district the captains commonly enjoy the privilege of taking two or three wives, and putting them away at will, the ordinary men have only one, and may abandon her only in case of adultery. The Indians of either sex who wish to marry a second time, may do so only with another widow or widower.”
Fages seems to think that these practices made some sense.
“The occupations and ordinary pursuits of these people are limited; some of them follow fishing, others engage in their small carpentry jobs; some make strings of beads, others grind red, white, and blue paint clays, and a certain kind of plumbiferous stones, which serve for the men to paint themselves with when they are celebrating and dancing or when they go to war, and which are used by the women for their usual adornment. They make variously shaped plates from the roots of the oak and the alder trees, and also mortars, crocks, and plates of black stone, all of which they cut out with flint, certainly with great skill and dexterity. They make an infinite number of arrows. The women go about their seed-sowing, bringing the wood for the use of the house, the water, and other provisions. They skillfully weave trays, baskets, and pitchers for various purposes; these are well made with thread of grass roots of various colors.”
Fages describes craft specialization, including fishing, carpentry, and bead making. Fishing, of course, was a coastal pursuit, as was bead making. Both men and women used body decoration in the form of paints of various colors for ceremonies. Wooden plates and bowls were made. The black stone referred to was steatite, which was traded from Santa Catalina Island. Women are referred to as the drawers of water and the gatherers of wood. But they are also referred to as “seed sowers.” This latter reference may again provide a hint of some form of proto-agriculture using grass seeds.
“Finally, that nothing may be omitted in the narrative, I will tell [the customs] which these Indians observe in their dances. The women go to them well painted, and dressed as has been described, carrying in both hands bundles of feathers of various colors. The men go entirely naked, but very much painted. Only two pairs from each sex are chosen to perform the dance, and two musicians, who play their flutes. Nearly all the others who are present increase the noise with their rattles made of cane dried and split, at the same time singing, very displeasingly for us, who are not accustomed to distressing the ear with this kind of composition.”
Here we see that both men and women danced. Women’s modesty was maintained, while men obviously had a different sense of modesty than we now hold. Musical instruments seem to be limited to flutes and rattles (sorry, no drums). Fages’ reaction to the music made on these occasions remind me of my own reaction to some of the music of own times.
The final excerpt from the Fages account describes what he observed in the San Luis Obispo area - the northern-most part of the Chumash territory.
“Their houses, shaped like half-globes, are neatly built; each one is capable of sheltering four or five families which, being kin, are accustomed to living together. The houses have one door on the east, and one on the west, with a skylight in the roof, halfway between. Their beds are built up high on bedsteads, which are here called ‘tapextles,’ of heavy sticks; a reed mat serving as a mattress, and four others as curtains, forming bedrooms. Beneath the bedsteads are the beds of the little Indians, commodiously arranged. The men do not often sleep in their houses at night; but carrying with them their arms, bow and quiver, they are accustomed to congregate in numbers in great subterranean caves, where they pass the night in sheer terror; [if they stayed at home] they might be surprised in their beds by the enemy whilst defenseless on account of the presence of their wives and children. They also congregate thus in order to keep watch, spy upon, set traps for and surprise those who may be taken off their guard, for they are a warlike people, always roaming from village to village at odds with everyone.”
This text describes large communal houses. The skylight, of course, is the smoke hole, even though no hearth is mentioned. The doors facing the east and the west probably had religious significance. However, their practical role was to let in the first light of the new day and the last light of the day. Certainly, in the days before candles, flashlights or nightlights, people were in doors when it got dark and remained inside until it began to be light. The darkness was a world of great danger. It was not wise to be about.
The second part of the text, describes a remarkable world of fear. The fear was apparently not in response to their strange visitors, for the men occupied subterranean caves. The implication was that any intruders with mayhem on their minds, would not disturb the women and children. The strategy of safety in numbers seems to have been assumed. It is possible that Portola and his band stumbled upon a community rapped up in a state of war. With whom, we cannot even guess. Surely, it was a temporary condition rather than a state of affairs that was part of everyday life.
Well, these are Pedro Fages’ observations on the Chumash. Unbeknownst to him, their culture and most of their gene pool would soon perish from this earth.
Mike Kuhn
11-13-04