Practically no information is available as to the social and religious life of the Cahuilla, but the information obtained in answer to a few inquiries goes to show their close affiliation with the other Mission tribes rather than with the agricultural Yuman tribes to the east. There is no evidence of any totemic clan system as among the Mohave. The chief or "captain" seems to be such principally through the possession of property. He is always regarded as the richest individual in the community. At ceremonies and gatherings he supplies food for the assemblage. This dependence of social rank on wealth is a typically Californian trait. The Luiseño follow the same practice. The Mohave chieftainship, so far as not influenced by hereditary succession, is dependent on valor.
The mythical origin of the Cahuilla is said to have been in the north, in which account they agree with the Luiseño. The large low-flying meteor, dakush, is distinguished from ordinary shooting stars, ngamngam, and is said to live in San Jacinto mountain, a belief which agrees with those of both Luiseño and Diegueño. The eagle "is the general of the Indians," volunteered a Cahuilla, by which no doubt he meant to express a mythological and ceremonial importance of the bird parallel to that which it has among other tribes of Southern California.
The most important ceremony of the Cahuilla seems to have been the annual tribal mourning gathering, hemnukuwin. This was in addition to singing immediately after a death. Jimsonweed or toloache, kiksawal, which plays so important a part in the initiation ceremonies of the Luiseño, Yokuts, and other tribes, was customarily used for religious purposes. It was not learned definitely that it was expected to be drunk by every boy or young man of the tribe, but such seems to have been the case. It was thought that the objects or events seen in the visions caused by the drink would come true. It was especially believed that the use of the jimson-weed would bring riches, no doubt in connection with the general idea that it conferred power and the attainment
Altogether, as one compares the culture of the Cahuilla with that of other tribes of California, it is seen that the several striking resemblances that they bear to the Mohave and Yuma are due to proximity, or to the similarity of the two natural environments. In so far as these causes are not operative, the Cahuilla partake of the culture common to the tribes of the coast and inland of Southern California, in other words, the Mission Indians. Many resemblances with the Yokuts are also noticeable. These are of course not confined to the Cahuilla, but are common to all the Mission Indians. Such similarities are not restricted to the material side of life, but are conspicuous in the general social and religious organization. On the side of mythology, however, the Yokuts resemble the northern Californians, and the Mission Indians the tribes of the Southwest. 25 The physical type of the Yokuts, or at least their southern tribes, has also been shown to be nearly identical with that of the
May 14, 1907.
66:25 Present series, IV, 167, 1907; Journ. Am. Folk-Lore, XIX, 309, 1906. 67:26 Boas, Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Science, XLIV, 261, 1896.
Footnotes