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Ainu Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. 2009. “Culture Summary: Ainu.” New Haven, Conn.: Human Relations Area Files.

CULTURE SUMMARY: AINU

By Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

ETHNONYMS

Aino, Emishi, Ezo, Hokkaidō Ainu, Kurile Ainu, Sakhalin Ainu

ORIENTATION IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION

The Ainu are a group of people in the Far East whose traditional life was based on a hunting, fishing, and plant-gathering economy; the word ainu means "human." Not only was their hunting-gathering economy vastly different from that of the neighboring Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese, who had been agriculturalists for several millennia, but they spoke a language of their own, and certain physical characteristics were thought to be distinguished them from their neighbors.

Far from being monolithic, Ainu culture has been rich in intracultural variation. This article introduces only some of the major differences and similarities among the three major Ainu groups in East Asia: the Kurile, Sakhalin, and Hokkaidō Ainu. The Hokkaidō Ainu and the Sakhalin Ainu reside on the island of Hokkaidō and the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, respectively. Some use the term "Kurile Ainu" to refer only to the Ainu who occupied the central and northern Kurile Islands, excluding the Ainu on the southern Kuriles, whose way of life was similar to that of the Hokkaidō Ainu. Others use the label "Kurile Ainu" to refer to the Ainu on all the Kurile Islands, which is the practice followed in this article. The island of Sakhalin south of 50° N had always been the homeland of the Sakhalin Ainu, while the territory north of 50° N belonged to the Gilyaks and other peoples.

DEMOGRAPHY

As of 2007, only about 18,000 Ainu live on Hokkaidō, the northernmost island of Japan, but the population was much larger in the past and their homeland included at least southern Sakhalin, the Kurile Islands, northern parts of Honshū (the main island of Japan), and adjacent areas.

HISTORY AND CULTURAL RELATIONS

The Sakhalin Ainu, with an estimated population between 1,200 and 2,400 in the first half of the twentieth century, most likely migrated from Hokkaidō, possibly as early as the first millennium A.D., but definitely by the thirteenth century. They had extensive contacts with native

populations on Sakhalin and along the Amur, including the Gilyaks, Oroks, and Nanais. It is likely that Chinese influence reached the island by the first millennium A.D. and intensified during the thirteenth century when northern Sakhalin submitted to Mongol suzerainty subsequent to the Mongol conquest of China. The period between 1263 and 1320 saw the Mongol colonization and "pacification" of the Gilyaks and the Ainu. The Sakhalin Ainu fought valiantly until 1308, finally submitting to the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty, the Mongolian dynasty that ruled China and to whom the Ainu were forced to pay tribute. The tribute system, together with trade with other peoples along the way, merged with the Japanese-Hokkaidō Ainu trade during the fifteenth century. As a result, Japanese ironware reached the Manchus while Chinese brocade and cotton made their way to Osaka in western Japan. With the weakening of Manchu control over Sakhalin, the tribute system was abandoned at the beginning of the nineteenth century. By then, the Japanese and Russians were racing to take political control of the island and exploit its rich natural resources.

The impact of the Japanese government on the Sakhalin Ainu intensified under the Meiji government established in 1868. Many Japanese were sent to southern Sakhalin to exploit its resources. The Sakhalin Ainu came under Russian control in 1875 when southern Sakhalin came under Russian control, but Japan regained the area in 1905; the territory north of 50° N remained under Russian control throughout history. Between 1912 and 1914, the Japanese government placed the Sakhalin Ainu, except those on the remote northwest coast, on reservations, drastically altering their way of life. With the conclusion of World War II, southern Sakhalin again was reclaimed by the USSR and most of the Ainu were resettled on Hokkaidō.

The history of contact with outsiders is equally important for the Hokkaidō Ainu, whose territory once extended to northeastern Honshū. As the Japanese central government expanded its control toward the northeast, the Ainu were gradually pushed north from their southernmost territory. Trade between the Ainu and the Japanese was established by the mid-fourteenth century. With the increased power of the Matsumae clan, which claimed the southwestern end of Hokkaidō and adjacent areas, the trade became a means for the Japanese to exploit the Ainu during the sixteenth century. Although there were numerous revolts by the Ainu against Japanese oppression, the revolt in the mid-seventeenth century by a famous Ainu political leader, Shakushain, was the most significant. Shakushain rose to the forefront of the Ainu resistance in the mid-1660s, but his forces were crushed when the Matsumae samurai broke the truce, slaying Shakushain and his retinue. This event marked the last large-scale resistance by the Hokkaidō Ainu.

In 1779, the Matsumae territory on Hokkaidō came under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate in order to protect Japanese interests against Russian expansion southward. The administrative hands changed again in 1821 to the Matsumae and then back to the shogunate in 1854. Drastic changes took place shortly after the establishment of the Meiji government in 1868, as the new government abolished residential restrictions for the Ainu and the Japanese, allowing them to live anywhere on Hokkaidō. The Japanese were encouraged to emigrate to Hokkaidō to take advantage of the natural resources. Most significant, the new government issued the Hokkaidō Aboriginal Protection Act. The Ainu on Hokkaidō were forced to attend Japanese schools established by the government and to register in the Japanese census. Beginning in 1883, the Ainu were granted plots of land and encouraged to take up agriculture.

They were removed from their settlements and resettled on land more suited to agriculture, causing drastic changes in Ainu society and culture.

The long history of Ainu contact with outsiders, especially the Japanese, has profoundly altered their way of life based on hunting, fishing, and plant gathering. The Ainu have long been a minority population in Japanese society, suffering prejudice, discrimination, and economic impoverishment. In recent years, the Ainu have made positive efforts to improve their social and political position in Japanese society as well as to establish their own cultural identity.

In addition to ecological factors, the history of contact with outsiders is responsible to a large degree for the major differences in the way of life among these groups of Ainu. For example, because of a lack of contact with metal-using populations, the Kurile Ainu continued to use stone and bone implements and to manufacture pottery long after the Hokkaidō and Sakhalin Ainu had started to use metal goods obtained in trade with their neighbors. The Ainu on the central and northern Kuriles had long been in contact with the Aleuts and Kamchadals. From the end of the eighteenth century, Russians and Japanese, who were hunting sea otters in the area for their furs, exploited the Ainu and transmitted diseases, causing a decline in the population. In 1875 the central and northern Kuriles came under the political control of the Japanese government, which made several attempts to "protect" the Ainu, but the last survivor in this area died in 1941.

SETTLEMENTS

There was considerable variation in the permanency of Ainu settlements. Until the turn of the 20th century, the basic pattern of the Sakhalin Ainu was a seasonal alternation of settlement between a summer settlement on the shore and a winter settlement farther inland. In the winter settlement, they built semisubterranean pit-houses. Ainu settlements were usually located along the shore, with houses in a single line parallel to the shore. The Kurile Ainu migrated even more frequently. In contrast, on Hokkaidō, permanent settlements were located along the rivers, which were rich in fish from mouth to source-an unusual situation for hunter-gatherers.

Most Ainu settlements, regardless of region, were small, usually consisting of fewer than five families. An exception was the Hidaka-Tokachi District on Hokkaidō, which enjoyed the most abundant natural resources and the densest population of all the Ainu lands. Here, especially along the Saru River, a few settlements housed about thirty families, and more than half the settlements in the valley exceeded five families.

ECONOMY SUBSISTENCE

The Ainu were basically a hunting-gathering population but fish from the sea, rivers, and lakes was an important source of food for most Ainu. Ainu men fished and hunted sea and land mammals, while women were responsible for gathering plants and storing food for the cold season. Large animals such as bear, deer (in Hokkaidō), musk deer, and reindeer (in Sakhalin) were usually caught using individual techniques of hunting, although cooperation among individuals sometimes took place, especially among the Hokkaidō Ainu. They used the bow and arrow, the set-trap bow, the spear, and various kinds of traps for hunting land mammals, often

combining different methods. The hunting techniques of the Hokkaidō Ainu were on the whole technologically more developed than those of other Ainu. They used trained dogs for hunting, and, in some areas, even for fishing. In addition, they used aconite and stingray poison for hunting, which ensured that wounded animals would fall to the ground within a short distance. Large fish such as trout and salmon were important foods, obtained by means of detachable spearheads. The Ainu also used nets, various traps, weirs, and the line and fishhook.

Animal domestication was most highly developed among the Sakhalin Ainu, who engaged in selective breeding to create strong and intelligent male sled dogs and in castration of the dogs to preserve their strength for pulling the sleds, which were an important means of transportation during the harsh winters. The Hokkaidō Ainu alone engaged in small-scale plant domestication prior to the introduction of agriculture by the Japanese government.

KINSHIP KIN GROUPS AND DESCENT

There are some basic features of sociopolitical organization that are shared by most of the Ainu groups, although their finer workings vary from region to region. Among most Ainu groups, the nuclear family is the basic social unit, although some extended families are present. In most Ainu settlements, males related through a common male ancestor comprise the core members who collectively own a hunting ground or a river with good fish runs. Although some scholars emphasize that among the Ainu along the Saru River in Hokkaidō women related through females comprise a corporate group, the exact nature of the group is unclear.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MARRIAGE

Among the Ainu along the Saru River in Hokkaidō, an individual is prohibited from marrying a cousin on his or her mother's side. Among most Ainu groups, a few prominent males in the community practice polygyny.

SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Nowhere among the Ainu does political organization extend beyond the settlement, although occasionally a few extremely small settlements form a larger political unit, or a small settlement belongs politically to an adjacent larger settlement. Ainu political leaders are usually not autocratic; elders in the settlement are also involved in decision making and executing the rules.

Although the formalized ideology prohibits women from participating in the major religious activities that provide the basis of sociopolitical powers for males, there are a number of culturally constituted ways for women to exercise nonformalized power, as discussed in the section on shamanism.

RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Separation of religious dimensions of Ainu life from others distorts the way Ainu view their lives, since religion is the perspective that pervades their life. Thus, even the disposal of discarded items such as food remains and broken objects is guided by the spatial classification of the Ainu universe and its directions, which derive from religious and cosmological principles. What we call economic activities are religious activities to the Ainu, who regard land and sea animals as deities and fish and plants as products of deities.

An important concept in the Ainu belief system is the soul, owned by most beings in the Ainu universe. According to their belief, the soul becomes perceptible when it leaves the owner's body. For example, when one dreams, one's soul frees itself from the sleeping body and travels, even to places where one has never been. Likewise, a deceased person may appear in one's dreams because the soul of the deceased can travel from the world of the dead to that of the living. During a shamanistic performance, the shaman's soul travels to the world of the dead to snatch back the soul of a dead person, thereby reviving the person nearing death.

The soul has the power to punish only when it has been mistreated. Deities ( kamuy), in contrast, possess the power to punish or reward at will. Some scholars believe that among the Ainu nature is equated with the deities. Others claim that only certain members of the universe are deified. The Ainu consider all animal deities to be exactly like humans in appearance and to live just like humans in their own divine country-an important point in Ainu religion. Animal deities disguise themselves when visiting the Ainu world to bring meat and fur as presents to the Ainu, just as Ainu guests always bring gifts. The bear thus is not itself the supreme deity but rather the mountain deity's disguise for bringing the gift of bear meat and hide.

In most regions, the goddess of the hearth (fire) is almost as important as the bear. Referred to as "Grandmother Hearth," she resides in the hearth, which symbolizes the Ainu universe. Other important deities include foxes, owls (the deity of the settlement), seals, and a number of other sea and land animals and birds. The importance of each varies from region to region. In addition, there are the goddess of the sun and moon (in some regions, the sun and moon represent two phases of one deity), the dragon deity in the sky, the deity of the house, the deity of the nusa (the altar with inaw, ritual wood shavings), the deity of the woods, the deity of water, and others.

Evil spirits and demons-called variously oyashi, wen kamuy(evil deity), etc.-constitute another group of beings in the universe who are more powerful than humans. They exercise their destructive power by causing misfortunes such as epidemics. The smallpox deity is an example. Some of them are intrinsic or by definition bona fide demons, whereas others become demons. For example, if a soul is mistreated after the death of its owner, it turns into a demon. The Ainu devote a great deal of attention to evil spirits and demons by observing religious rules and performing exorcism rites. Human combat with demons is a major theme in Ainu epic poems, discussed later.

Characteristically, the deities never deal directly with the demons; rather, they extend aid to the Ainu if the latter behave with respect to them.

RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS

Shamanism is not an exclusively male role. Sakhalin Ainu shamanism differs considerably from Hokkaidō Ainu shamanism. Among the Sakhalin Ainu, with regard to the symbolic structure, the shamanistic ritual represents the process of cooking, a role assigned to women in Ainu society. Cooking in turn symbolizes the process of nurturing and healing. Shamanism is highly valued among the Sakhalin Ainu, and highly regarded members of society of both sexes, including heads of settlements, may become shamans. Although shamans sometimes perform rites for divinations of various sorts and for miracles, most rites are performed to diagnose and cure illnesses. When shamans are possessed by spirits, they enter a trance and the spirit speaks through their mouths, providing the client with necessary information such as the diagnosis and cure of an illness or the location of a missing object.

Among the Hokkaidō Ainu, shamanism is not highly regarded and shamans are usually women, who collectively have lower social status than men. The Hokkaidō Ainu shaman also enters a possession trance, but she does so only if a male elder induces it in her by offering prayers to the deities. Although she too diagnoses illnesses, male elders take over the healing process. Male elders must consult a shaman before they make important decisions for the community. In other words, the politically powerful male cannot even declare a war without consulting the shaman-an intriguing cultural mechanism to balance formalized and nonformalized power.

CEREMONIES

Among the rich and complex Ainu religious beliefs and practices, the bear ceremony is perhaps the most important religious ceremony among both the Sakhalin and Hokkaidō Ainu, for whom the bear represents the supreme deity in disguise. From the Ainu perspective, the bear ceremony is a "funeral ritual" for the bear. Its purpose is to send the soul of the bear back to the mountains through a proper ritual so the soul will be reborn as a bear and revisit the Ainu with gifts of meat and fur.

The process of the bear ceremonial takes at least two years. Among the Sakhalin Ainu another, less elaborate, "after ceremony" follows several months after the major ceremony, thereby further extending the process. A bear cub, captured alive either while still in a den or while walking with its mother upon emerging from the den, is usually raised by the Ainu for about a year and a half. Sometimes women nurse these cubs. Although the time of the ceremony differs according to region, usually it is held at the beginning of the cold season; for the Sakhalin Ainu, it takes place just before they move inland to their winter settlement.

The bear ceremony combines deeply religious elements with the merriment of eating, drinking, singing, and dancing. All participants don their finest clothing and adornments. Prayers are offered to the goddess of the hearth and the deity of the house, but the major focus of the ceremony is on the deity of the mountains, who is believed to have sent the bear as a gift to humans. After the bear is taken out of the "bear house," situated southwest of the house, the bear is killed. The Sakhalin Ainu kill the bear with two pointed arrows, while the Hokkaidō Ainu use blunt arrows before they fatally shoot the bear with pointed arrows, and then strangle the dead or dying bear between two logs. Male elders skin and dress the bear, which is placed in front of the altar hung with treasures. (Ainu treasures consist primarily of goods such as swords and lacquerware obtained in trade with the Japanese. They are considered offerings to the deities and

serve as status symbols for the owner.) After preliminary feasting outside at the altar, the Ainu bring the dissected bear into the house through the sacred window and continue the feast.

Among the Hokkaidō Ainu, the ceremony ends when the head of the bear is placed at the altar on a pole decorated with ritual wood shavings ( inaw). An elder offers a farewell prayer while shooting an arrow toward the eastern sky-an act signifying the safe departure of the deity. The Sakhalin Ainu bring the bear's skull, stuffed with ritual shavings, bones, eyes, and, if a male bear, the penis, to a sacred place in the mountains. They also sacrifice two carefully chosen dogs, whom they consider to be servant-messengers of the bear deities. Although often taken as a cruel act by outsiders, the bear ceremony expresses the Ainu's utmost respect for the deity.

The bear ceremonial is at once religious, political, and economic. The host of the bear ceremony is usually the political leader of the community. It is the only intersettlement event, to which friends and relatives as well as the politically powerful from nearby and distant settlements may come to participate. Offerings of trade items, such as Japanese lacquerware or swords and Chinese brocades, are a display of wealth, which in turn signifies the political power of the leader and his settlement.

The bear ceremony expresses the formalized cosmology in which men are closer to the deities than are women. The officiants of the ceremony must be male elders and the women must leave the scene when the bear is shot and skinned.

ARTS

While Ainu world view is expressed through rituals as well as in daily routines like the disposal of fish bones, nowhere is it better articulated than in their highly developed oral tradition, which is comparable to the Greek tradition. For the Ainu, the oral tradition is both a primary source of knowledge about the deities and a guide for conduct. There are at least twenty-seven native genres of oral tradition, each having a label in Ainu, that may be classified into two types: verses (epic or lyric) to be sung or chanted, and narrative prose. While the prose in some genres is in the third person, first-person narration is used in the rest: a protagonist tells his own story through the mouth of the narrator-singer. The mythic and heroic epics are long and complex; some heroic epics have as many as 15,000 verses. While the mythic epics relate the activities of deities, the heroic epics are about the culture hero who, with the aid of the deities, fought demons to save the Ainu and became the founder of the Ainu people. Among the Hokkaidō Ainu, the culture hero descended from the world of the deities in the sky and taught the Ainu their way of life, including fishing and hunting and the rituals and rules governing human society. Some scholars contend that the battles fought by the culture hero are battles that the Ainu once fought against invading peoples.

Ainu carving, weaving, embroidery, and music are of high aesthetic quality. Traditionally, these activities were a part of their daily lives rather than separate activities. While Hokkaidō Ainu relied most extensively on garments made of plant fibers, the Sakhalin Ainu wore garments made of fish skin and animal hides. The Kurile Ainu, who knew basketry but not weaving, used land- and sea-mammal hides and bird feathers for their clothing.

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

The beliefs about the soul (see above) underlie the Ainu emphasis on proper treatment of the dead body of humans and all other soul owners in the universe, resulting in elaborate funeral customs ranging from the bear ceremony, discussed earlier, to the careful treatment of fish bones, which represent the dead body of a fish. Without proper treatment of a dead body, its soul cannot rest in peace in the world of the dead and causes illness among the living to remind the Ainu of their misconduct. Shamans must be consulted to obtain diagnosis and treatment for these illnesses.

Chinookans Beierle, John. 2004. “Culture Summary: Chinookans.” New Haven, Conn.: HRAF. CULTURE SUMMARY: CHINOOKANS OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER

John Beierle

ETHNONYMS

Chinook, Cheenook, Tsinúk, Tchinouks, Tsniūk, Clackamas, Clatsop, Cathlamet (Kathlamet), Lower Chinookans, Multnomah, Shoalwater Chinook, Wahkiakum.

ORIENTATION IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION

This collection focuses on the Chinookan language speakers of the Lower Columbia River including the Chinook proper, the Clackamas, Clatsop, Shoalwater Chinook, Wahkiakum, and the Cathlamet (Kathlamet). The name "Chinookan" derives from Tsinù, their Chehalis name. The Chinookans lived on the Pacific coast of the United States from Willapa Bay in the north to Tillamook Head in the south. Eastward they extended along both banks of the Columbia River in the states of Washington and Oregon from its mouth to just beyond the Willamette River to its falls, and along the Clackamas River. In the mid-nineteenth century, following the smallpox epidemics in 1782-1783, 1830-1833, and 1853, which decimated the tribe, the remaining Chinookans united with other tribes of Oregon and Washington and especially with the Chehalis Indians. We will refer to the Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River as Chinookans throughout this article.

By the late twentieth century, Chinookans had divided into three groups: the Wahkiakum Chinook on the Quinault Reservation, the Shoalwater Bay Chinook who were granted federal recognition in 1979, and the Chinook Indian Tribe that has been granted Washington State recognition (Hillstrom 1998: 280).

DEMOGRAPHY

In 1780 Mooney estimated that the combined Chinookans and Killaxthokl (a group believed to have been living on Willapa Bay at the time) were 800 in number. Lewis and Clark, in 1806, estimated the population on the lower Columbia River at 1,100, a figure that Gibbs considers as too low. Wilkes' total for 1841 was 509. According to Gibbs, following the smallpox epidemic of 1853, there were only 66 Chinookans remaining on the river with 34 on Willapa Bay. In 1855, Swan's estimate of the population was 112, at which time they were thoroughly mixed with the Chehalis, a Salish tribe. Although these figures are only approximate, the rapid rate of depopulation is apparent (Ray, 1938, no. 1). Despite the rapid decline in population as mirrored in the statistics listed above, Chinookans have increased in number. In 1980 the population was about 900 (Ruby and Brown, 1986: 24) and in 1990 the population was 1,700 (Hillstrom, 1998: 276).

LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION

The Chinookan languages are classified as a branch of Penutian phylum of languages. The languages are divided into two branches -- Upper and Lower Chinookan. Of these, Lower Chinookan was subdivided into two minor dialectal variations -- Chinook proper and Clatsops. The Chinookans near the mouth of the Columbia river were Lower Chinookan speakers. There is disagreement about the placement of the Kathlamet. Ray (1938, no. 1) considered them to be Lower Chinookan speakers; whereas Silverstein (1990, no. 9) and Ruby (1976, 5) consider Kathlamets to be Upper Chinookan. Upper Chinookan consisted of numerous speech variations. Although on a cultural basis the Chinookans, Clatsops, Wahkiakkums, and Kathlamets, were ethnically similar, the latter two groups spoke the Kathlamet language, which some consider to be Upper Chinookan.

Ethnologue (14th ed.) reports that in 1996 there remained only 12 speakers of the Kiksht dialect of Lower Chinookan.

HISTORY AND CULTURAL RELATIONS

First mention of the Chinookans of the lower Columbia River was made in 1792 by Robert Gray, and John Boit, captain and mate of the ship Columbia, and later in the same year by the English navigator and explorer George Vancouver. Lewis and Clark first described the Chinookans in 1805, although known to traders for at least 12 years before that date. They described in detail the region, its people, and their material culture; data which were confirmed in large part by the early fur traders, such as Gabriel Franchère, Alexander Ross, Ross Cox, and Alexander Henry during the early period of the Astoria trading post in 1811-1814. Long before large-scale Euro- American immigration to the Columbia and Willamette regions, traders had carried on a lucrative trade with the Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River populations of the area, exchanging European manufactured goods, for furs and dressed hides. The items obtained from the Europeans, served by both their novelty and utility as functional alternatives to those objects of aboriginal manufacture. These European goods were much sought after, and commanded high prices in intertribal trade. Through the acquisition of these goods the down-river groups of Chinookans (those closest to the mouth of the Columbia River and the European trading posts) acquired prestige for themselves and a feeling of independence from the up-river groups, in the sense of trade, by freeing them from dependence on items no longer considered as essential to their culture. So strong was the economic competition between up-river and down-river Chinookan groups at this time that those Chinookans, especially those under Chief Concomly, who were in the closest contact with the Astorian traders, sought in every way to prevent and frustrate direct contact between the Europeans and their up-river and inland rivals (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9). From their close proximity to Astoria and their intimate relations with the early traders, the Chinookans soon became well known and their language formed the basis of a common trade language known as "Chinook jargon" that formed a common means of communication which eventually stretched from California to Alaska.

During the period of 1830-1855, accounts by settlers, missionaries, and explorers reflect the severe depopulation of the region due in large part to epidemics of measles, malaria, and other diseases introduced in large part by contact with Europeans. Survivors of the epidemics adapted

as best they could to the changing conditions, but by the 1850s the Clackamas, Multnomah and other Upper Chinookan speaking groups were encouraged by treaty, to adopt reservation life in exchange for residual fishing rights. By 1900 several of the Clackamas and Multnomah groups were settled on the Grand Ronde Reservation in Oregon and in several of the towns of the lower Willamette Valley and had intermarried extensively with other ethnic groups, as for example, the Kalapuya and Molala.

By the late nineteenth century, Chinookan society as seen by Lewis and Clark no longer existed. By 1900 many of the groups had merged with one another; the Chinookans proper and Shoalwater Chinookans, and probably also the lowermost Cathlamet-speaking tribes had merged with the Willapa Bay Salishans and a number of Clatsop groups had merged with the Tillamook even adopting their language.

The Shoalwater Bay Chinook were granted federal recognition in 1979 (Hillstrom 1998: 280) and the Chinook Indian Tribe was recognized by the State of Washington and they have been working with other Native Americans in Washington to gain federal recognition (Hillstrom 1998: 280).

SETTLEMENTS

Chinookan villages and clusters of villages were located along the Pacific seacoast and the banks of the Columbia River to a point above the Willamette River. These areas provided not only an abundance of fish, game, and sources of eatable shoots, roots, and berries, but also easy access to water as a source of transportation. Villages varied in size from single dwellings to as many as 50 (at the height of the fishing season). Villages were of two basic types, the more permanent winter village consisting of oblong, gabled-roof, upright-cedar-plank houses, and the temporary summer village, used at fishing, hunting, and root-gathering camps, which consisted of cattail- mat-sided structures, sometimes with cedar bark roofs, laid over a light framework. The houses of the permanent village were quite large in size, ranging from single-family structures of about 12 by 20 feet, to extended family patrifocal dwellings of from 40 by 100 feet. Some of these extended family households would lodge anywhere from three to fifteen nuclear families, each with their own individual fireplaces. Early writers, such as Vancouver and Lewis and Clark, noted that the ends of the house were painted or sometimes carved in relief, in the form of a human-like figure with open mouth, or legs, straddling the doorway, and holding up the roof. Later writers, however, fail to mention this and the practice had apparently fallen out of use. Interiors of the structures were excavated to a depth of three to four feet, accessible from the door by a ladder. Spaces between each mid-line support were excavated an additional foot in an eight foot square. This was framed for the nuclear family fireplaces, with smoke holes being removable planks in the roof. Beds, elevated three to four feet off the floor, were located along two or three sides of the dwelling. These were used not only for sleeping but also for storage of household goods (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

ECONOMY SUBSISTENCE

Hunting, fishing, and gathering were the primary subsistence activities of the Chinookan people.

Although the Pacific Ocean formed the entire western boundary of the Chinookan area, little or no ocean fishing was done the preference being for the more productive and more accessible fishing grounds offered by Wallapa Bay and the Columbia River.

The great seasonal runs of salmon (five species), sturgeon, steelhead trout, eulachon, and herring generally took place in late spring or summer. Fishing areas, with many sites, were traditionally controlled by a given group who would move to these locations during the peak fishing season. This group had the right of use but not of ownership of the site. Fishing techniques involved the use of various types of nets, spears, and detachable gaff hooks on long lines. First salmon ceremonies, lasting several days, were observed for the first of the Chinook salmon caught, and similar rites were held for the first sturgeon. Shellfish, such as clams, were an important food source in the Wallapa Bay region. Clams were also dried and traded to various groups along the Columbia River.

Beached whales, as well as seals, sea lions, and porpoises, which were speared, provided meat, blubber, and oil. These products were utilized not only for home consumption but also as important commodities in trade.

Elk, deer, bear, and other large game animals were hunted for food; raccoons, squirrels, beavers, rabbits, otters, and other small animals provided both food and skins out of which robes were made. These animals were traditionally taken by the use of deadfalls, pit traps, snares, spears, bows and arrows, and muskets. In addition to the various berries, spring shoots and roots that were gathered and eaten, by the Chinookans, the WAPATO tuber was an important vegetable staple in the diet and an item of trade. Also gathered were camas, edible thistle, lupine, bracken fern, horsetail, cattail roots, wild celery, and wild crabapple.

In the late twentieth century fishing in the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean was still a major subsistence activity. Some Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River traveled to Alaska to fish or work in the canning industry. In 1989 the tribe opened a bingo establishment on Long Beach Peninsula, Washington (Hillstrom, 1998: 280), which, according to Beckham (1996: 110), has been thriving.

INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Household items included a variety of carved, woven, and shaped utensils. Carved objects of wood included boxes with watertight inverted covers, troughs and canoe-shaped trenchers, extensively carved and painted spirit-power figurines and reliefs on the framework of houses, and elegant bowls and serving pieces. Little use was made of stone except as net weights and heat radiators for boiling and steaming in the process of shaping wood. Other manufactured items were baskets of several varieties used in the transportation of food, for trade, or for the storage of pounded salmon. Sewn cattail mats were used for floor coverings, as rainwear, for wrapping bodies for burial, and as temporary shelters. Many of these mats were elaborately decorated with bear grass designs (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

TRADE

Commerce formed a significant part of Chinookan life. Trade routes, north and south along the coast, along the Columbia River, and from the interior all centered at the mouth of the Columbia as the center of trade in the region. Trade goods from a variety of sources in the area tended to concentrate here and were dispersed by the Chinookans who became the middlemen in all transactions. The selection of this point as the center of early European fur trading activities reflected the commercial importance of the site in native life.

The standard medium of evaluation and exchange in trade relations was the dentalium shell (Dentalium pretiosum Nuttall), called HIGUA by the Chinookans, which was obtained from Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca region. These shells were used in great quantity in the daily routine of trade and also furnished the bulk of the supply used in the southern Plateau and western Oregon. The shells varied in size from one-fourth of an inch to three inches and were valued according to how many were required to make a fathom (six feet) when strung together.

Items circulating in trade within the region included dried shellfish, dried meat and fish, furs, blubber, canoes, dried berries, WAPATO and camas (from the up-river groups), dressed elk, deer and otter skins, slaves, and of course, the ever present dentalia shells.

The effects of the European traders on Chinookan society has been noted above in the section entitled "History and Cultural Relations".

DIVISION OF LABOR

The division of labor tended to follow the usual gender lines, but there was an unusually broad sharing of tasks between men and women. Women were the gatherers, basket makers, fabricators of various household items from natural products (e.g., rushes, cattails, bear grass, etc.), food preparers, and servers of the food. They also assisted in the fishing activities of the community, and shared responsibility for the management of the canoes while they were under way. Men gathered firewood, made the fires, manufactured all wooden utensils, constructed canoes, and built houses. Men also assisted in the cleaning and preparing fish, which were served at almost every meal. For feasts and when special guests were present, the food was prepared, cooked, and served exclusively by men. Lesser household activities were shared equally by both genders (Ray, 1975, no. 6).

LAND TENURE

All hunting, fishing, and gathering areas in Chinookan territory were exploited in common by all the local groups. As previously noted, however, certain groups would control the use of, but not own rights to specific, very productive fishing sites. In general, it is the rights of use rather than the actual ownership of land that forms one of the basic tenets of the Chinookan property system. Property ownership was conceived of only in terms of personal goods and chattel (e.g., slaves).

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MARRIAGE

Following puberty a boy's parents began to gather sufficient property so that his marriage could be arranged. In this they were aided by relatives for the amount of goods transferred was directly related to the family's social position in the community. These goods, often consisting of slaves, canoes, blankets, robes, and dentalia, were tentatively offered to the head of the prospective bride's house. If the gifts were accepted the groom's family was then invited to the bride's village for a feast and elaborate mutual presentation. When the visitors departed the bride and groom accompanied them. The next formal relations between the parents of the bride and groom occurred a year later. At this time the bride's family visited the groom's bringing with them large quantities of food that they had been accumulating all year long. Presents were interchanged between the families followed by feasting and dancing which lasted for the next two or three days. A similar presentation of goods to the groom's family took place after the birth of the first child, which preferably took place in the bride's village. Since residence was uniformly patrilocal, shortly after the birth, the mother and child returned to the husband's home, accompanied by large quantities of food, and subsequent feasting. For the established men in the community, those frequently referred to as "chiefs", subsequent wives were obtained by payment to the bride's father or other responsible relative. The number of wives that a man had was an important symbol of rank in the society. Both levirate and sororate marriages were strictly observed by the Chinookans. Infant betrothals sometimes occurred with the simple expedient of the exchange of a few presents to bind the bargain. Divorce was optional only to the husband, and was not accompanied by the return of presents.

DOMESTIC UNIT

The basic domestic unit among the Chinookans was the extended family, dwelling together in a large three-generation house. This family consisted of a man's wife or wives, sons or blood relations, and their dependents and slaves. The head of this household was the highest man by class and rank, who was still in his prime, and who was also the owner of the house.

INHERITANCE

There is little information in the literature on the inheritance patterns of the Chinookans. Apparently, on the day following the death and burial of an individual, the personal property or articles intimately associated with the deceased are given away to friends and relatives. Guardian spirit paraphernalia were taken into the deep woods and left there by young men of the tribe. Other goods of the deceased, such as bed and blankets were burned. The house of the deceased was generally abandoned, at least for a time. Sometimes the house was torn down and reconstructed in a different location. On rare occasions the house was burned down, but this usually marked the death of a person of high rank.

SOCIALIZATION

Shortly after birth the newborn infant was placed in a cradle. Two types of cradles were used. The first of these was a flat board cradle with a hinged and padded board, which was held firmly against the child's head by thongs to produce head flattening. The second type was a dugout cradle, usually made of cedar, with two basketry pads filled with thin cedar bark to produce the flattening. The children of freemen were all subject to extensive head flattening, a practice

forbidden to slaves, because it represented a distinctive mark of status in the society. A child was kept in a cradle until it was able to walk. Nursing continued for two or three years, and sometimes longer. At about one year of age, the child was given a name, in a ceremony arranged by the grandparents. On the day the ceremony was to be held guests arrived early in the day at the parent's house, and a period of singing and dancing preceded the actual naming. At last a person was selected to name the infant who held it high in the air and shouted out its name, which was always an ancestral one. The paternal grandmother conferred the name in the case of a male child, the maternal grandmother in the case of a female. The individual who held the child aloft then announced who it was that bestowed the name, and to which ancestor it had originally belonged. That ancestor was then eulogized and good wishes for the child's future were expressed. The ceremony then concluded with additional singing and dancing, the distribution of presents, and a feast. At about the age of six or seven the parents sometimes changed the name of the child, but no ceremony was associated with this name change. Later in life an individual might wish to change names based on an unusual experience, a serious illness, or the acquisition of shamanistic power. In addition to ancestral names, the Chinookans commonly possessed guardian spirits or ceremonial names.

As with many other hunting, fishing, and gathering societies it can be reasonably assumed that parents instructed their children in those gender skills deemed most appropriate for their roles as adults in the society.

At puberty and the first menses a girl was secluded for a five-month period and had to observe numerous taboos. This period of seclusion was marked by two ceremonies, one at the beginning of the five-month period that included singing, dancing, and feasting, and another at the end of this period that included the same basic elements but was somewhat more elaborate. There was no formal recognition of the puberty period in boys.

SOCIOP0LITICAL ORGANIZATION SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The basis of Chinookan social organization was centered around class structure and rank, as for example between the ascribed status of free men and slaves, between the upper class and commoners or lower class, and between those of prestigious rank, such as chiefs, and those individuals of lower rank in the society. In general, high status, class, and rank were associated with wealth, which was exhibited, consumed, or bestowed according to the social situation. This linkage, through wealth, provided the means of enterprising commoners to elevate themselves to the fringes of the upper class. Since chiefly families and slaves formed a hereditary maximal dichotomy in the society, it was commoners, who, as individuals, elevated or lowered their status through personal achievements or reverses (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9). In addition to factors of wealth and birth, another variable in distinctions of rank was that directed against neighboring groups. For example, upland and inland people were considered of lower rank than those on the coast, the differential largely depending on distance from the Chinookans proper.

Slaves constituted the lowermost segment of Chinookan society. They were treated as articles of property, or chattels, which were bought and sold, thrown into makeshift graves or the water when dead, and sometimes killed at the burial of their owner. Lacking any rights, slaves were

nevertheless generally well treated in the household of their owners. To them fell the heaviest work in the community, with the division of labor being the usual one according to gender. Because of their lowly status it was the worst loss of face in Chinookan society to be made fun of by slaves, or to be publicly called "slave". Slaves did not have their heads flattened at birth, thus symbolizing their inherited status as aliens. Most slaves were obtained by sale or trade with neighboring groups, although some were taken as the result of slave raids on other people. One of the special privileges of chiefs and other members of the upper class was the seizure of orphaned children to be sold into slavery to other groups.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Each village had its own chief with succession to office passing from father to eldest son. In cases of polygynous marriage in which a chief had sons by different wives of different social standings, it was the son of the highest-ranking wife who succeeded to the chieftainship. Usually a chief's authority extended only to his own village, but in cases of particularly able, well-liked, or even greatly feared chiefs their sphere of influence could extend over a much greater region. This was true in the case of chief Concomly of the village of QWATSA'MTS near the mouth of the Columbia River who extended his influence through trade control and military strength as far north as Willapa Harbor. Distinct duties of the chief included the judging and peaceful settlement of quarrels within the community, supervision of economic movements, and the supervision of all activities associated with war, except the actual military maneuvers themselves, although he indirectly controlled them through his appointment of a war chief. In addition to the above the chief also had the power to appropriate the property of others without respect to the wishes of the owner. In theory this type of property appropriation was a general privilege of the upper classes, but in actual practices, it was only the chief who dared to do it. Sub-chiefs or dual chieftainship were unknown among the Chinookans, but apparently a council did exist. This council was highly informal and relatively unimportant. A spokesman who was selected for his ability at oratory served each chief. This individual not only added strength of presentation to the words of the chief, but also served as intermediary between classes, since the Chinookans believed that a chief should not speak directly to the lower class.

SOCIAL CONTROL

There is little information in the literature on social control among the Chinookans, but what little there is seems to indicate that chiefs seemed to exert some degree of control over their fellow villagers to keep conflict at a minimum. Just how much control, however, is a moot question (Ray, 1938, no. 1).

CONFLICT

In intra-village hostilities the chief functioned to keep peace in the village and as a judge in the arbitration of disputes. Generally the formal institution of the payment of blood money settled serious torts. Wrongs of a lesser nature were handled by the payment of fines to the injured person, as assessed by the chief.

Warfare for the settlement of disputes between individuals of different villages resulted only when more peaceful modes of solution were exhausted, or in the event of persistent friction over an unresolved point. In general, warfare among the Chinookans was relatively infrequent and usually quite bloodless, but highly formalized. Battles were preceded by a "dance of incitement" in which warriors in full war regalia and shamans danced and sang. The shamans predicted the outcome of the battle and interpreted the visions of the dancers. Before joining battle with members of the hostile village all attempts were made to bring about reconciliation, often through the use of a neutral mediator. If peaceful relations were still not achieved, then the actual fighting began. The battle was terminated when a few individuals on either or both sides had been killed. Eventually peace was restored through the exchange of presents. If at this point the feud was still not settled, then a woman was married to a man of th e other side and peace was restored.

RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Traditional religious life among the Chinookans centered primarily on the quest for guardian spirits sought through fasting and prayer during adolescence. There was no class or gender restrictions for those seeking guardian spirits, boys, girls, slaves, the upper class, and commoners were all encouraged to acquire supernatural helpers through the vision quest. For boys and girls the period of vision seeking began around ten years of age, ending abruptly for girls at their first menses, and for boys after marriage, which generally occurred shortly after puberty. Children were sent on vision quests at any time of the year to traditional locations favored for spirit seeking -- hills, mountains tops, swampy areas, etc. Many animals, birds, inanimate objects such as rocks and bodies of water, and various other natural phenomena such as whirlwinds, thunder, and clouds all served as guardian spirits. If any of these spirits "adopted" the vision seeker they endowed that individual with latent powers and talents which did not come to full fruition until that person attained "maturity" many years later. At that time the spirit returned to the individual and became an active tutelary. Shamanistic power was acquired in the same manner as any other power. When a vision quest resulted in a successful contact with a guardian spirit it was not known whether the powers received could be used for shamanistic purposes or not. One individual might receive cougar power and become a great hunter while another with the same spirit might become a great shaman. In addition to the powers received from the guardian spirit, this tutelary would often convey a song and dance to the visionary that was to be used at the time of initiation into the winter dance, and later at subsequent dances.

RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS

Shamans were both male and female and functioned primarily as curers of the sick, although some were better at this in the treatment of certain diseases than others depending on the characteristics of their tutelaries. On occasion shamans were called on for the purposes of sorcery, predicting future events, and even to find lost objects. As noted above shamanistic powers received through the vision quest did not immediately lead to practice. It was necessary for the aspiring shaman to undergo a long period of apprenticeship lasting up to five years under the tutelage of a more experienced mentor. At first the novice was only allowed to assist in the treatment of a patient, until finally, with more experience, he or she was permitted to treat a

patient alone, but always with the teacher present. When the novice shaman was judged experienced enough to practice alone, and without supervision, an initiation ceremony was held at the next winter dance. At this time the person or persons who had been cured by the new shaman gave testimony as to his or her's abilities. The initiate then danced, sang spirit songs, and joined the ranks of the other shamans. In some cases similar ceremonies were held at the beginning and one at the end of the training period.

CEREMONIES

The major religious ceremony of the Chinookans was the guardian spirit or winter dance, shared in common with the people all along the entire length of the Columbia River. The dance season ran from September until the following spring. Each dance lasted only five days, but many were held in various parts of the territory, thus requiring the dancers to move from one area to another. Individuals possessing guardian spirit power individually sponsored these dances. Although shamanistic or power performances formed part of the dance program, they apparently were relatively unimportant in contrast to the dance performances using "power sticks", or "power boards", objects infused with supernatural power that were used not only for ceremonial purposes but also for ritual searches for lost articles and drowned persons. It was also during this winter dance period that myths were narrated, spirit-power songs, dances, and magical feats were demonstrated, and public recognition ceremonials were held for new shamans. Appropriate feasts and distribution of goods accompanied all of these events. This dance marked the winter season as a sacred period of spiritual preparation and renewal for the return of spring's economic pursuits (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

Apparently secret societies existed among the Chinookans, especially those living farthest down- river on the Columbia and on Willapa Bay. Members consisted of upper-class people who possessed a "secret society guardian spirit", underwent a long period of indoctrination by one of the established members that lasted several years, and finally the initiation ceremony itself in which the novices demonstrated their spirit powers through various dramatic performances including such feats of magic, as fire walking, instantaneous self-curing, etc.

In association with the secret societies were ceremonies held for purposes other than initiation. An example of one of these was a ceremony of reconciliation to end enmity between two members of the society. Before a gathering of members the two quarreling individuals would pit their "spirit powers" against one another until one admitted defeat and recognized the "superiority" of the other person. This supposedly ended the friction between the two members.

ARTS

Artistic decorations among the Chinookans were simple and mostly geometric in design, consisting primarily of triangles and rectangles, with occasional stylized animal figures. These designs appeared principally on vessels used for feasts that were elaborately carved, painted, and inlaid along the edges with shells. Similar geometric patterns also appeared on wooden or bone mat creasers, and were woven into baskets by using contrasting natural colors of basketry material. Burial canoes and boxes were also richly decorated with the designs noted above.

Tattoo designs consisted of parallel lines of dots arranged either around the limbs or linearly. Tattooing was done with charcoal and water and pricked into the skin with needles.

Facial painting was used for war, religious ceremonials, relief from illness, or simply as decoration. It seems very likely that the body was also painted, but less extensively than the face. On the face solid colors were mostly used and varied with bands across the cheeks and around the chin. When the face painting was used for therapeutic purposes, generally red, black, and white were employed in special designs designated by the guardian spirits.

MEDICINE

The Chinookans believed that illness was caused by the intrusion of a foreign object into the body, either inadvertently or by sorcery, by soul loss, or by natural causes (not subject to shamanistic treatment. If the shaman diagnosed the cause of the illness as being an intrusive object, treatment involved rubbing, aspersion, drawing the object out with the hands, or by sucking. Any of the first three methods were used when the diagnosis indicated that the illness was not caused by sorcery. Sucking was the only adequate treatment if witchcraft were involved. The treatment for soul loss might involve one or more shamans working together in a more elaborate curing ceremony in which they placed themselves in trance-like states, followed the trail of the lost soul, and attempted to recapture it before it entered the land of the dead. The soul hunting ritual lasted most of the night. The recaptured soul could not be returned to the patient before dawn, and if captured earlier was retained by the shaman until the proper time.

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

At the death of a freeman in Chinookan society, the body was washed, dressed in blankets or furs, and placed in a prominent position on the bed platform where, for the upper class, it lay in state for a period of five days (less time for commoners). During this period the corpse was visited by friends and relatives and funeral arrangements made. Formal wailing occurred intermittently each day during this period from dawn to sunset. Close relatives, but not the immediate family, cut their hair as a sign of grief. The chief mourners changed their names at this time accompanied by public announcement to that effect. It was now forbidden to use the name of the deceased and all words phonetically similar to his or her name were dropped. References to the corpse were made by the use of synonyms for a long period of time until the name was eventually bestowed on a descendent.

On the fifth day, early in the morning, the body was prepared for burial by wrapping it in cattail mats and binding it in extended position to the pole with which it was to be carried to the burial ground. Interment for all but the slaves was invariably in a richly decorated canoe or carved burial box placed on a platform or staging some six feet above the ground. Sometimes a slave was killed at the gravesite and buried in a shallow grave beneath the owner or master.

Formal mourning continued for a year after the death including brief periods of wailing during the day, certain taboos related to foods and bathing, and the wearing of the poorest clothes available by the mourners. A public ritual in which the wife of the deceased notified all interested parties that her dead husband was forgotten and that she was now available as a wife

marked the termination of mourning for the widow. After a year or two the remains of an upper class person were reburied in a new canoe. Wailing accompanied the reburial observances followed by feasting, singing, and dancing.

Andamans Pandya, Vishvajit. 1995. “Culture Summary: Andamans.” New Haven, Conn.: HRAF.

CULTURE SUMMARY: ANDAMANS

Vishvajit Pandya

ETHNONYMS

Mincopie

ORIENTATION IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION

The Andamanese are the indigenous tribes of Negrito hunters and gatherers of the Andaman Islands. In 1908, the term Andamanese referred to thirteen distinct tribal groups each distinguished by a different dialect and geographical location. Today only four tribes remain and are referred to collectively as "Andamanese". The four extant tribes are the Ongees (Onges) of Little Andaman Island, the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island, the Jarwas (Jarawas) of the Middle Andamans, and the Great Andamanese of Strait Island.

The Andaman Islands, which comprise an archipelago consisting of 348 islands, are located in the Bay of Bengal between 10 degrees 30 minutes and 13 degrees 30 minutes N and 92 degrees 20 minutes and 93 minutes E. The total land area is 8,293 square kilometers of which about 7,464 square kilometers is covered with tropical rain forests. The northern and central islands are hilly while the southern islands are surrounded by offshore corral reefs and are criss-crossed with tidal creeks. The southwestern and northwestern monsoons create a rainy season which lasts approximately nine to ten months each year; annual precipitation is 2,750 to 4,550 millimeters. The only dry season on the islands begins in February and ends in March.

DEMOGRAPHY

In 1800, the total tribal population on the islands was estimated at approximately 3,575. In 1901, the estimate dropped to 1,895, and in 1983, the total tribal population was 269. Of the 1983 estimate only the count of 9 Great Andamanese and 98 Ongees was accurate. The Jarwas and the Sentinelese are isolated by topography and by each tribe's hostility toward outsiders. Since 1789, the population of non-tribal peoples on the islands has steadily increased. The total number of outsiders on the islands was 157,552 in 1983 compared to the 269 tribals. The intrusion of outsiders and diseases introduced by them such as measles, ophthalmia, and venereal disease, have contributed directly to the overall decline in tribal population and its disproportionate male/female ratio. The islands' expanding timber industry and the settlement of increasing numbers of non-tribals, primarily from mainland India, also have reduced the total area available for use by the tribals.

LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION

Areal linguistic connection of Andamanese with South and Southeast Asian language areas has not been systematically established. Andamanese as a language family is composed of two main groups: Proto-Little Andamanese which includes Ongee, Jarwa, and Sentinelese: and Proto-Great Andamanese. Proto-Great Andamanese is further subdivided into three groups: Bea and Baie of South Andamans: Puchikwar, Kede, Juwoi, Koi, and Jko of Middle Andamans; and Bo, Chari, Jeru, and Kora of North Andamanese. Early ethnographic accounts suggest that each of the tribal groups on the islands spoke mutually unintelligible languages. However, linguistic records, compiled by the island's administrators and more recent research, suggest a great degree of overlap in terms used by each group.

HISTORY AND CULTURAL RELATIONS

The Andamanese are believed to share a cultural affinity with some of the Orang Aslis of insular Southeast Asia. It has been argued that the Andamanese arrived from the Malay and Burmese coasts by land in late quaternary times or, at a later time, by sea. There is also speculation that the Andamanese came from Sumatra via the Nicobar Islands. However, the precise origins of the Andamanese remain scholarly speculations which have not been thoroughly investigated and researched. The early recorded history of the islands began in earnest with the British in 1788. Rapid changes in tradewinds in the area, monsoons, and coral reefs surrounding the islands caused many shipwrecks; those few who survived a shipwreck were killed by the Andamanese. In an effort to establish a safe harbor for their ships, the British made many unsuccessful attempts to pacify the islanders.

In 1859, the British established Port Blair, a penal settlement on Middle Andamans; the location was chosen because it was fortified by its isolation and by Andamanese hostility. Over a period of time the Great Andamanese, who occupied the forests surrounding Port Blair, were pacified and even cooperated with British authorities in tracking down escaped convicts. Today the islands form a part of the Union Territory of India. The British colonial administration established "Andaman Homes" for the tribals in an effort to foster a cordial relationship through exposure to European civilization. By 1875, Andamanese culture came under scientific scrutiny as it was realized that this was a group of people who were dangerously close to extinction. From 1879, under the direction of British scholarship, Andamanese culture was documented, cataloged, exhibited and written about especially with regard to linguistics and physical anthropology. Since Indian independence in 1947, many different plans for the social welfare and economic development of the islands and the tribal population have been implemented. Today the remaining four tribal groups are under the government controlled institution called Andaman Adim Jan Jati Vikas Samiti. Government planners, administrators and social workers face a dilemma in determining what kinds of changes in the traditional worldview of the remaining tribal groups, especially the Ongees, should be effected. The Jarwas and the Sentinelese have remained largely outside the framework of structured and prolonged welfare activities. The Great Andamanese, who have had the longest period of contact with outsiders of the four groups, are the most dependent on outsiders and their goods; they also are the smallest group, with practically no memory of their own language and traditions.

SETTLEMENTS

Andamanese settlement patterns are based on seasonal changes. During the relatively dry season (from October to February) simple thatched lean-to huts are set up in a circular formation close to the coastal area by four families or more. All huts face the central campground created by the surrounding huts. Usually the separate huts for the unmarried men and newly married couples do not form a part of the huts surrounding the campground. During the months of May to September, the Andamanese move from the coast to the forest where pigs are hunted and honey, fruit and tubers are collected. Violent rainstorms, which occur from May to September, make it impossible for the Andamanese to hunt turtles, dugongs or fish from their canoes. The move from the coast to the forest is marked by a change in settlement pattern: in the forest, camps are set up as they are at the coast; however, only four or five families stay in one camp. As the wet season ends, each family moves to its clan's traditional hut which is curcular and houses from fifteen to twenty sleeping platforms. A clan's hut is stationary and is maintained throughout the year by the men of the clan. With the exception of a clan's hut, all housing is temporary. A clan's hut, usually 5 to 7 meters in diameter, has a woven thatched roof and side walls. Permanently installed sleeping platforms for each nuclear family are arranged circularly within each hut. Housing, in the forest and at the coast, is usually dismantled before leaving a campsite. At each new campsite, selected because of its proximity to fresh water and firewood, a new sleeping platform, about 70 centimeters above the ground, is constructed for each hut. Each family retains its sleeping mats and log head rests and moves them to each new campsite. The government of India has constructed wooden houses situated on 2 meter stilts for the Great Andamanese and the Ongees. Some families use these, but among the Ongees they are not very popular and the structures are used primarily for storage.

ECONOMY SUBSISTENCE

Hunting and gathering, predicated on a seasonal translocationry pattern, characterize Andamanese culture. The Jarwas and Sentinelese are still completely dependent on hunting and gathering activities. Among the Ongees, however, plantation cultivation of coconuts was introduced in 1958. Although the Ongees gather the coconuts they do not want to be involved with nor do they participate in any form of agricultural activity. The Ongees are paid for gathering coconuts by the welfare agency with food rations and industrial products from mainland India. Consequently, their consumption of forest products alone is being increasingly substituted by imported products. Among the Great Andamanese hunting is only an occasional activity. They are paid a monthly allowance by the government and also receive wages for taking care of the citrus fruit plantations. Fishing in the sea is usually done with bows and arrows while standing in knee deep water, especially during low tide, and is a year-round activity. Occasionally lines and hooks are used to fish in the sea. Hand-held nets are used to fish and for gathering crabs and shellfish from the island's inland creeks. Fish is an important part of Andamanese culture; in the different dialects the term for "food" is the same as that for "fish". Traditionally the northern groups caught sea turtles in large nets, but this is not done by the southern groups. Ongees paddle out to sea in their dugout outrigger canoes to hunt sea turtles and dugongs with harpoons. During the wet season the Andamanese hunt pigs in the forest with bows and detachable arrow heads. Dogs, introduced to the island in 1850 and the only domesticated

animal among the Andamanese, are sometimes used to track down the pigs. Throughout the year there is a strong dependence on gathering different items, such as turtle eggs, honey, yams, larvae, jackfruit and wild citrus fruits and wild berries.

INDUSTRIAL ARTS

Traditionally the Andamanese were dependent on the forest and the sea for all resources and raw materials. Raw material, such as plastic and nylon cords, has now been incorporated into Andamanese material culture: plastic containers are used for storage, nylon cords are used as string to make nets. These items are usually discarded by passing ships and fishing boats and are then washed up onto the islands. The Indian government distributes as gifts to the Ongees, Jarwas and Sentinelese metal pots and pans, and as a consequence metal cookware has nearly replaced the traditional hand-molded clay cooking pots that were sun-dried and partially fire- baked. The Ongees continue to make clay pots but use them primarily for ceremonial occasions. Ongees grind metal scraps, found on the shore or received from the government, on stones and rocks to fashion their cutting blades and arrowheads. Prior to the introduction of metal in 1870 by the British, the Ongees made adzes and arrowheads from shells, bones or hard wood. Although iron is highly valued by the Ongees, they do not use iron nails to join objects. Ongees still join objects by carving or tying rattan rope, cane strips or strands of nylon cord. Smoking pipes, outrigger canoes, and cylindrical containers for holding honey are among the many items carved by the Ongees.

TRADE

Traditionally trade within a group was conducted between the bands identified as pig hunters (forest dwellers) and turtle hunters (coastal dwellers). The pig hunter band traded clay paint, clay for making pots, honey, wood for bows and arrows, trunks of small trees for canoes, and betel- nuts in exchange for metal gathered from the shore, shells for ornaments, ropes and strings made from plant fibers and nylon, and edible lime gathered by the turtle hunters. The bands would take turns serving as host for these organized events of exchange. Historically the Andamanese gathered honey, shells and ambergris to trade with outsiders in return for clothes, metal implements or even cosmetics. Under the colonial administration trade with outsiders was the means of entry for opium and liquor into the Northern Andamanese community. According to the Ongees in the days before coconut plantations and the help of the welfare agencies, they and their ancestors would travel by canoe northward to Port Blair to exchange with other Andamanese for the sugar and tobacco received from the British Administration.

DIVISION OF LABOR

Only men hunt pig, dugong and turtle. Both men and women perform all other activities of day- to-day life, including child care, cooking, and the gathering of food resources and raw materials.

LAND TENURE

Among the Andamanese certain territories were identified as belonging to a specific band. In the Northern and the Middle Andamans it was frequently necessary to pass through another's

territory. The trespassers were obliged to behave as guests in another's territory and, in return, the owners of a given territory were obliged to behave as cordial hosts. Thus a feeling of mutual interdependence and a value for hunting and gathering in each other's part of the island created a process of production and consumption which was to be shared. Among the Ongees of Little Andamans, where no other tribal group resides, the island is divided into four major parts and identified with two pairs of mythical birds each of which is associated with land or water. The four divisions of land represent the four Ongee clans. Each section of the island is further subdivided into sections of land associated with a lineage. These land divisions, known as MEGEYABARROTAS are identified with a person's matrilineage and, depending on whether the territory is in the forest or on the coast, with either the turtle hunters (EAHAMBELAKWE) or the pig hunters (EHANSAKWE). Ongees prefer to hunt and gather in their own MEGEYABARROTA but there are no restrictions on hunting in someone else's MEGEYABARROTA. If one does hunt in another's MEGEYABARROTA he is obliged to offer and share first with the owners any resource taken. A person's identity with a MEGEYABARROTA plays a crucial role in Ongee rituals and ceremonies, e.g. consummation of a marriage must occur in the wife's MEGEYABARROTA a dead person's bones must be kept in the BERALE (circular hut) of a descendant's MEGEYABARROTA.

KINSHIP KIN GROUPS AND DESCENT

The present small size of the population and the limited information available on the Northern and Middle Andamans makes it difficult to create a comprehensive picture of Andamanese kinship. Earlier ethnographic accounts present the basic tribal divisions as "sept", but Radcliffe- Brown's observations lead us to believe that groups came together to insure friendly relations. On the basis of Ongee ethnographic material and early descriptions of the Andamanese, it is beyond a doubt that the Andamanese have bilateral descent groups.

KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY

The kinship system is cognatic and terminology, on the whole, specifies classificatory relations. Prefixes are affixed to classificatory terms of reference which also emphasize senior and junior age differential.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY MARRIAGE

Marriage is arranged by the elders within the prescribed group, that is, between turtle hunters and pig hunters. A man's patrilineal relatives take gifts and demand a daughter from a man's matrilineal group. Among the Ongees, population decline often makes it impossible for a young man to marry his classificatory cross-cousin, and consequently he sometimes must marry a much older woman who is his mother's classificatory cross-cousin. Monogamy is a strict rule. An older man or woman who has lost a spouse receives priority for marriage. Levirate marriage is acceptable. Marriage is a highly valued status. Both Man and Radcliffe-Brown imply that residence is ambilocal, but some of Radcliffe-Brown's remarks indicate a tendency towards virilocal residence. Among the Ongees a newly married couple stays with the wife's matrilineal

relatives at least until a child is born. After a child is born the couple may move to live with the husband's siblings and their families. Divorce is rare and is considered immoral after the birth of a child.

DOMESTIC UNIT

The nuclear family is the major group around which all activities revolve. The nuclear family includes a married couple's own children as well as any adopted children.

INHERITANCE

Men and women inherit rights and obligations primarily from their matrilineal lineage. Tools and canoes may be inherited from the father's side.

SOCIALIZATION

Customarily children are given in adoption. The responsibility of early socialization of the child rests with the child's matrilineal relatives. Once a young boy is ready for initiation his training and education become the responsibility of his father and his paternal relatives. After a girl's first menstruation she is even more closely aligned with her matrilineal relatives. Children of both sexes are taught about the forest while they accompany their elders on various hunting and gathering activities. Through play and the making of toy canoes, bows and arrows, shelters and small nets, children are introduced to the basic requisite skills.

SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Traditionally speakers of a dialect resided as an independent and autonomous group in a specific part of the islands. Each local group was further divided up, especially in the Northern and the Middle Andamans, into twenty to fifty people who, depending on the season, lived either at the coast or in the forest. Marriage alliances and adoptions between coastal and forest dwellers controlled conflict which was supplemented by the dictates of the elders.

CONFLICT

Occasionally neighboring groups would have a conflict of interests; however, hostility never escalated beyond the level of avoidance. When problems between groups would arise, women, through informal channels of negotiation, were instrumental in the resolution of tension. Resolution was usually marked by a feast in which the groups in conflict would participate. Between neighboring groups with different identities which were marked by different spoken dialects, the peace-making ceremony consisted of a sequence of shared feasts held over a period of time. The colonial administrators of the islands acknowledged the position of influence held by some of the elders and thus titles, such as Raja were introduced and functionary chiefs created. The position of Raja was always held by an elder who could speak the administration's language of Hindustani.

SOCIAL CONTROL

The Andamanese value system is the basic means for maintaining social control. Direct confrontation is avoided and "going away" - that is, leaving the source and scene of conflict for a short time - is encouraged. Usually resentment is expressed by breaking or destroying some piece of property at the campsite and then leaving for the forest to stay for a few days. While the offended person is gone, other campmates fix up the destroyed property and wait for that person, who returns without recriminations.

RELIGION AND EXPRESSIVE CULTURE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

The basic belief system of the Andamanese may be characterized as animistic. All living things are believed to be endowed with power which affects human beings. The universe is a multilayered structure, a configuration of various places through which spirits and the smell and the breath of humans, animals and plants moves. Restriction of movement is regarded as a major threat to the order of nature, since each place within space is associated with a distinct type of spirit which permits or restricts the movements of all living things.

Formless, boneless, and smell-absorbing spirits live in different parts of the forest and the sea and may be divided into two main categories: those associated with natural phenomena and those of the dead. Natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, thunder, rainbows, waterspouts in the sea and storms, mark the arrival at and departure from the islands of the spirits associated with the winds coming from different directions. The second significant category of spirits, those of the dead, may be further subdivided into benevolent and malevolent spirits. When a person dies his body undergoes a sequence of burial rites; a secondary burial rite transforms a dead person's spirit into a benevolent spirit who helps the living. Persons who die and do not receive the appropriate burial rites become a class of malevolent spirits who cause harm. The Andamanese, and specifically the Ongees, share an identity and space with the spirits; that is, spirits are formed from dead Andamanese and both spirits and the living compete in hunting and gathering the same resources on the islands.

RELIGIOUS PRACTITIONERS

The only distinguishable practitioner is the spirit communicator who communicates with ancestral spirits while dreaming or being in a state of unconsciousness. Frequent contact with spirits endows the OKOJUMU or OKOPAID with supernatural powers. Among the Ongees such a specialist is called TORALE and he or she is consulted by the community to locate resources, cure the sick, and plan the group's routine and ceremonial activities. Ongees believe that anyone can become a TORALE, but only an apprenticeship under an experienced TORALE provides one with the skill to navigate to and from the spirit world.

CEREMONIES

Major ceremonies are held for the initiation of young men and women and at the time of death. There is a continuity between these ceremonies: initiation completes the child, who is closer in

identity to the spirits prior to initiation, and makes him a full human being; the funerary ceremonies transform the human being into a full spirit. Singing, dancing and feasts form an integral part of these occasions and other rites of passage. These ceremonies entail certain food restrictions and prescriptions for the participating individual and his or her family. Ceremonial singing and dancing frequently accompany changes in residence, from the forest to sea or sea to forest, and the change of seasons. The launching of a new canoe is also marked by ceremonies.

ARTS

The primary art form practiced by the Andamanese is clay-painting of the body and the face. Each lineage has its own distinct design which is painted on the faces of men and women. The paint is made of red, white or yellow clay mixed with water and/or pig-fat. Intricate geometrical patterns are applied to the body and the face with fingers or wooden comb-like instruments. Body painting accompanies almost all ceremonies; face painting is an everyday affair. Usually the woman paints each member of her family. Men and women make and wear ornaments made of shells and different plant materials to wear at organized singing sessions. The singing sessions are of the call and response style, and any individual may lead the songs. The elders will also sing traditional songs to which new lines are never added. The subject matter for traditional songs is historical and mythological events. Ongees regard traditional songs as a form of "weeping and crying" and the songs are sung in a formalized "crying" style. Storytelling, with dramatic enactments and highly stylized discourse, is another form of expression which brings campmates, especially the children, together. Among the Ongees some individuals are acknowledged to be better storytellers than others and are frequently called upon to perform. With the exception of the Great Andamanese who use sounding boards to accompany their singing and dancing, no musical instruments are used among the Andamanese. The dance steps are all a traditional body of choreographed movements which are performed on specific ceremonial occasions. Rhythm for dancing is usually accomplished by hand clapping and the slapping of the foot against the body and ground. Men and women always dance separately.

MEDICINE

The Andamanese believe that the body gets sick when it becomes either too hot or too cold. Extremes in body temperature result in the release (hot) or solidification (cold) of body fluids and smell. The spirit communicator diagnoses the illness and usually attributes it to spirits. Depending upon the diagnosis, an illness is cured through the application of clay paints, mixed with other substances, in conjunction with the body either being tied with a cord around the affected part or being cut to make it bleed. Massage is also used to cure. As a preventative medicine, the Andamanese wear amulets made out of the bones of dead relatives which ward off any malevolent spirit who may cause sickness.

DEATH AND AFTERLIFE

When a person dies his "body internal" is believed to escape into either the forest or the sea. Thus a dead coastal dweller becomes a spirit of the sea (JURUA) and a dead forest dweller becomes a spirit in the forest (LAU). Those who die in accidents or those whose dead body did not receive the appropriate ceremonial burial become malevolent spirits who cause sickness and

death among human beings. Through secondary burial the bones of the dead person are recovered and made into amulets and body ornaments which attract the spirits of benevolent ancestors who will help and keep safe his living human relatives. The Ongees believe that the spirits of dead ancestors are attracted to the islands and, through a series of events, are transformed into the fetuses in human mothers. Thus the spirits of the ancestors become the children of the Ongees.