This account of
the Cahuilla, one of the largest surviving
tribes in southern California, represents
the work of Lucile Hooper as University of
California research fellow in anthropology
in 1918.
The Cahuilla occupy three contiguous but
quite different habitats. The Mountain
division inhabits Coahuilla reservation and
certain near-by tracts, some four thousand
feet above the ocean. To the north, in San
Gorgonio Pass, are the Pass Cahuilla, at
about half that elevation. These are now
mostly on Morongo reservation. The Desert
Cahuilla are inland from the two preceding
groups, about Indio and Coachella in Torres,
Martinez, and a number of other small
reservations northwest of the Salton Sea.
The territory of these people is almost
wholly without rainfall, and lies at about
sea level, in part below it. Their habitat
is thus unusually specialized. Owing to late
settlement of the district by Americans,
this group of the Cahuilla has also best
preserved its ancient customs. Miss Hooper s
investigations relate chiefly to the Desert
Cahuilla.
There is a considerable body of published
literature on the Cahuilla and other Indian
tribes of southern California, but no
intensive monograph upon any one tribe nor a
satisfactory comprehensive treatment of the
region. The literature being so scattered,
its citation would have resulted in
innumerable detailed cross-references in
foot notes, which the ethnological
specialist in this field would scarcely
need, and which would not be of much aid to
the novice. The list of the more important
works given at the end of this paper will
probably meet the requirements of most
readers.
The first comparative problem about the
Desert Cahuilla has hitherto been this. They
speak the same language as the Mountain and
Pass divisions, and are rather closely
connected in speech with the other
Shoshonean groups on the west the Luiseņo,
Cupeņo, Juaneņo, Gabrielino, and Serrano. To
the east and northeast is the home of the
alien Yuman tribes of the lower Colorado
River the Coeopa, Yuma, Mohave and others,
all agricultural; and of the Chemehuevi or
Southern Paiute, nomads of the Great Basin.
Do the cultural connections of the Cahuilla
run chiefly westward like their speech
affiliations, or are they as close with the
Yumans and Chemehuevi? Miss Hooper s data,
taken in their entirety, settle this
question.
Source: The
Cahuilla Indians. By Lucile Hooper, 1920,
University Of California Press, Berkeley,
California
Online
Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done,
and readers can and should expect some
errors in the textual output.
