S. A. Barrett

“ It is said that a bear doctor always learned from an old person who was or had been one. The training for both men and women was precisely the same and they were on a par in every way. A female bear doctor could not operate during her menstrual period, but a male bear doctor was similarly restricted by the menstrual periods of both his wife and his female assistant or the other female members of his household. He was even prohibited from going near his bear hiding-place during his wife’s menstruation. ”

“ It is clear that the Miwok panther doctor is merely a shaman who has that animal as his personal guardian spirit, and that except for his power of transformation and the character of his guardian, the Miwok bear doctor does not essentially differ from an ordinary shaman.
It seems therefore that the institution of the bear doctor has attained its most extreme form among the Pomo.
SUMMARY
1. The origin of bear doctors is assigned by the Pomo to the mythical times before men existed, when birds and mammals possessed human attributes. ”

“ While the bear doctor was the most important of magicians, there were also mountain lion or panther doctors, who were also possessed of considerable power. Very little was learned of this class of medicine man save that the head part of their suits was made of the head and neck of an actual panther skin drawn over a basket frame similar to that used by the bear doctor. The remainder of the suit was made of shredded soaproot fiber woven on to a fine net, which was said to simulate quite well the skin of the panther. ”

“ A bear doctor might “catch” a man who was out in some lonely spot, particularly a solitary hunter, take him to his hiding place, and teach him his secrets. [16] Particularly was this the case if the bear doctor happened to be a man possessed of few friends, since it was thought necessary for him to will his paraphernalia to some one. Stories are told of specific instances in which persons have been thus made captive and instructed. Thus:
An old she-bear caught a young hunter from a village in the Santa Rosa Valley. ”

“ A special class of shamans found to a greater or less extent among probably all the Central tribes, though they are wanting both in the Northwest and the South, are the so-called bear doctors, shamans who have received power from grizzly bears, often by being taken into the abode of these animals—which appear there in human form,—and who after their return to mankind possess many of the qualities of the grizzly bear, especially his apparent invulnerability to fatal attack. ”

“ The Miwok relate how a man was hunting in the chaparral south of the Stanislaus when a bear appeared and asked what he was doing. The Indian replied that he was seeking an arrow lost in a shot at a red-headed woodpecker. The bear led him into its cave, kept and taught him for four days, and sent him home with several bears as guides. A white man, married to an Indian woman, instigated the building of a dance-house to give the bear doctor an opportunity to show his alleged powers. ”

“ She, herself, had acquired great quantities of property—beads, food, and other commodities—which she stored in her hiding place.
A bear doctor was not permitted to kill more than four people in one year, upon penalty of the loss of his magic power and consequent capture upon his attempt to kill the fifth.
ASSISTANTS
A bear doctor must always be assisted by some one. He usually hired some female relative who could be trusted to secrecy. She wove for him the water baskets which formed part of his costume and cooked for him the special food which he must eat while operating as a bear doctor. ”

“ When the outfit for būrakal-ba-kīdjon was done, the latter emerged from the cavern and ran around its entrance eight times each way, first in a contra-clockwise and then in a clockwise direction. The two then prepared a level, elliptical area, about twenty by fifteen feet, smoothed like a dancing floor, where būrakal-ba-kīdjon might practice and become a proficient bear doctor. ”

“ The panther doctor wore no bead armor as did the bear doctor, but wore a necklace of small and finely made shell beads around his neck. He always carried a bag filled with valuable beads with which to bribe to silence any one who might discover him. The bear doctor used the beads comprising his armor for this purpose.
COMPARISON WITH YUKI BELIEFS
The ideas that the doctor is actually transformed into a bear, that bear hair grows out through his skin, and that he comes to life after having been killed—ideas found among certain California Indians [19] —have not been discovered among the Pomo. ”

“ On the other hand, since the nefariousness of the alleged practices would cause them to be carefully concealed, there are now some Pomo skeptics who maintain that bear doctors never existed.
Both men and women of middle or old age could become bear doctors, the same name [14] being applied to both. In fact, it is said that women sometimes made very successful bear doctors; even a woman so old and feeble that she could hardly walk would acquire great powers of endurance and swiftness through this magic. ”

“ Each bear doctor acted independently and knew no restrictions of any sort so far as his fellows were concerned, nor had he or his relatives any immunity from the attacks of other bear doctors, for one bear doctor might become enraged at another and cause his death or that of some of his relatives. ”

“ All these beads served as a protection against arrows in case the bear doctor was attacked by hunters.
A type of body armor, made of wooden rods and used in open warfare, is said to have been sometimes used by bear doctors. This consisted of two layers of rods obtained from the snowdrop bush (bakol) , each rod being about the size of a lead pencil. These were bound together with string, one layer of rods being placed vertically and the other horizontally, in such a manner as to make a very close and effective armor. ”

“ One informant ascribed the source of Pomo bear doctor knowledge to the Lake Miwok, to the south. This opinion, of course, conflicts with the preceding origin tale.
[14] The bear doctor was known to the Pomo as gauk būrakal, “human bear.” Būrakal specifically denotes the grizzly bear. The brown or cinnamon bear is līma, but black individuals, which we reckon as of the same species, were called cīyō būrakal, “black grizzly bears,” by the Pomo. ”

“ It would appear that restriction depended rather upon co-residence than blood kinship. The extent to which the taboo might accordingly affect a bear doctor’s activities will be realized when we reflect that it was customary for several related families to reside in one house, each family having its own door and each two families a separate fire. ”

“ Bluejay then said: “We must make up a collection of beads and give it to the dead man’s relatives, so that they will not consider us unmindful of their sorrow and perhaps kill some one among us.” The bear doctors agreed to this and commended the captain for his good counsel.
Accordingly, the next morning Bluejay addressed his people, saying: “Make a fire in the dance-house. Do not feel badly. Wake up early. That is what we must expect. We must all die like the deer. ”

“ Unless otherwise stated, the Pomo terms are in the Eastern dialect.
In the days before Indians were upon the earth, and when the birds and mammals were human, there was a large village at danō xa. [2] These people were [Pg 446] great hunters, pursuing their game with bows and arrows and spears. But chiefly they set snares in every direction about the village.
They had caught many kinds of game, but finally found a large grizzly bear in one of the snares. ”

“ The bringing of beads as a death offering from one village to another, or from one political group of people to another, is called kal kubek, while such an offering taken to the home of the family of the deceased by relatives in the same village is called kal banek.
[9] This stretcher is called kaitsak, and consists of two side poles with short cross-pieces bound to them in such a manner as to resemble a ladder. It was used in early times for carrying the wounded or the dead back to the village. ”

“ Finally, on the fifth day, he again put on his ceremonial dress and went over to a creek, called taaiaka, situated a considerable distance northeast of his hiding place. Here he found a bear standing erect and eating manzanita berries. The bear attempted to escape, but būrakal-ba-kīdjon gave chase and by virtue of his supernatural power was able to tire and outdistance the bear, overtaking him at length and killing him with an elk-horn dagger, which was part of his outfit. ”

“ On the basis of modern valuations of such skins, and under the higher rating of beads, this hide would have been worth 12,000 beads.
[6] In giving the account the informant stated that while making their ceremonial attire the two worked entirely at night, as was always done by Indian bear doctors later, and then only upon perfectly dark nights, when the moon was not shining or when it was obscured by clouds. In case the moon suddenly emerged from behind a cloud they immediately ceased their work. This was made necessary by the fact that many hunters were abroad at night. ”

“ In fact, he could move anywhere with as much ease as though he were on a level, open valley. [7] On this journey he hunted for soft, sweet manzanita berries, finally returning to the practice ground after covering a great distance, perhaps a hundred miles, in this half day. ”