Weapons
The bow among the Yokuts took two forms, the self bow and the
sinew-backed bow, both made of mountain cedar. Arrows were both with and
without foreshafts, and were plain tipped or equipped with stone points
according to uses. Arrow straighteners are bun shaped blocks of soft
stone, bearing transverse grooves. (Kroeber 1925,1530-1.) Owens Valley
Paiute bows were very similar, being self or plain and made of juniper
(Juniperas occidentalis ?) or birch (Betula fotanalis
Sarg.) Arrows were almost always of cane equipped with a hardwood
foreshaft and a variety of points according to the use. (See Steward,
1933; 259-263 for description and fig. 3 and plate 3 for illustrations.
For illustration of a Paiute chipping an arrow point, see Steward, plate
5-f.) The arrow straightener was like that of the Yokuts (Steward, 1925,
plate 4, f, g). The quiver was a sack of tanned buckskin for hunting, of
gray fox fur for war. (Steward, 1933:263.)
Spears were used by both people for fish. Slings were used
incidentally, probably chiefly as toys.
Houses
Apparently several types of houses were built by the hill Yokuts
adjoining Sequoia Park. One was the conical shaped, sewed winter house.
These were placed in rows. Another was a larger, ridged house with two
fireplaces and a door at each end. A third was a conical, bark house.
Smaller structures covered with brush or bark were built when travelling
or when in the hills in summer. These are somewhat described in Kroeber,
1925:522, and Gayton, 1930-a:366-6. Gayton also gives village
arrangement. The Owens Valley Paiute used several types of houses. When
in the mountains the house was somewhat tent-shaped, had a ridge pole,
and was covered with boughs. The regular winter house was
semi-subterranean, conical, and covered with thatch of grass or mats of
tules and sometimes with a layer of earth. These people as well as the
Yokuts used summer sun shades consisting of four poles with a roof of
boughs. In Owens Valley, a dome shaped hut of willows was also used in
summer. (Steward, 1933:263-5 and plate 3.)
The houses of the Northfork Mono probably typify those of the tribes
near Sequoia Park. These are described by Gifford, 1932, pp. 20-21 and
excellently illustrated in plates 2 and 3.
The sweat house on both sides of the Sierra was semi-subterranean,
earth covered, and served merely for sweating and as a men's dormitory.
(For descriptions, illustrations and details, see Kroeber, 1925:522-23;
Steward, 1933, 265-6, fig. 4 and plate 4; Gifford, 1932:20.)
Clothing
Yokuts men wrapped a deer skin around their loins or went naked.
Girls after puberty wore a two piece skirt of willow bark. Both sexes
wore rabbit skin blankets for protection against cold and rain and as
bed coverings. Moccasins of deer or elk skin of simple patterns were
worn when there was need. Rude sandals of bear fur have been reported.
Women wore their hair long; for men it was variable. Women pierced their
nose septums for bone ornaments. Face tattooing (see illustrations,
Kroeber 1925; figs 45-46) was practised more by women than by men.
(Kroeber, 1925: 519-520.)
Owens Valley Paiute men wore buckskin shirts and pants (possibly the
latter are not aboriginal) or simply buckskin breach clouts, or girded
themselves with an untrimmed buckskin. Women wore nothing above the
waist, but buckskin dresses below. Both wore moccasins when travelling,
and rabbit skin blankets as a cape for protection against the weather.
Women allowed their hair to hang loosely from a part in the middle which
was sometimes painted red. Men's coiffure varied. Tattooing was not
practised, but the face was painted in a variety of ways. (Steward,
1933:274-5, fig. 8 for face paint.)
For sewing and basket making the Yokuts used bone awls (See illus.
Kroeber, 1925:806.) Owens Valley Paiutes used cactus thorns.
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