INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN:
THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
Chief Severo and his family, c. 1890; Detroit Photographic Company.
Colophon
Text
Pieter Hovens & Jiska Herlaar ©
Editors
Paul L.F. van Dongen & Marlies Jansen
English editor
Enid Perlin
Photography
Ben Grishaaver (museumobjects)
Museum website
www.rmv.nl
The Curator
Pieter Hovens (e-mail: [email protected])
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Table of contents
1.
Indians of the Great Basin
2.
Herman ten Kate
3.
Fieldwork
4.
The Chemehuevis
5.
Chemehuevi art and material culture
6.
The Las Vegas Paiutes
7.
Southern Paiute basketry
8.
The Southern Utes
9.
Southern Ute art and material culture
10.
Indian-white relations
11.
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Appendix
References
1
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
1. Indians of the Great Basin
The Great Basin is a desert region in the American West in which Native American peoples
developed a distinct culture attuned in sophisticated ways to their desert ecosystem, a
culture necessitated by the precarious nature of their environment. The Great Basin culture
area lies between the Rocky Mountains in the east, and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade
Range in the west. It covers the states of Nevada and Utah, western Colorado and western
Wyoming, southern Idaho, and smaller areas of the adjacent states of Oregon, California,
Arizona and New Mexico.
The Great Basin culture area; after D’Azevedo 1986:ix.
The Great Basin culture area is characterized by semi-desert and desert flatlands dissected
by mountain chains. The region has the lowest rainfall and highest evaporation rate in the
United States, and the resulting aridity has characterized the flora and fauna. Vegetation is
sparse, and is dominated by a variety of drought-resistant grasses, sagebrush, cacti and
succulents. Mountains are clad in juniper, piñon, scrub oak, pine, aspen, spruce and fir,
depending on elevation. Typical animals of the Great Basin are a variety of reptiles, notably
snakes and lizards; rodents, including mice, rats and squirrels; and hares and rabbits in
some abundance. Pronghorn antelope, elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer were the largest
mammals to be found there, although in small numbers. Other animal species of the Great
Basin include mountain lions, coyotes and foxes.
2
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Impressions of the Great Basin landscape.
Due to the relative paucity of food resources in the Great Basin, their limited productivity, and
a seasonal harvest cycle, the number of Native Americans inhabiting this region was always
low. The Indians who made it their homeland developed a nomadic lifestyle to exploit
available food resources periodically, living and travelling in small groups, often as single
families. All possible sources of food in the harsh desert environment needed to be exploited
for survival. The men were the hunters, and the women gatherers of plant foods, although
both sexes assisted each other when this was required. Hunters used bows, arrows, spears,
clubs, nets and snares, and the men went after antelope, rodents, hares and rabbits, and
reptiles. Communal hunts were organized to capture antelope and rabbits. Streams and
lakes were sources of fish, turtles and ducks provided they did not dry up. The women were
adept at weaving baskets in a large variety of forms and sizes, used for collecting, preparing,
serving and storing food. With the help of digging sticks they unearthed roots, bulbs and
tubers. Plant foods harvested in a seasonal cycle included roots, bulbs, cactus fruit, agave
stalks, the seeds of mesquite, and a great variety of grasses, and nuts, especially piñons.
Seeds and nuts were parched and ground into flour, from which porridge and cakes were
made, the latter for underground storage, packed in skin bags. Caterpillars, grasshoppers,
cicadas, fly and moth larvae, and ant eggs contributed to the diet.
Groups of families formed a band and exploited the resources in their territory. Often they
assembled in wintertime into a larger settlement, from which they went out on hunting and
gathering expeditions, led by experienced men. Seeds, berries and nuts collected and stored
over the summer and fall, provided necessary nutrition during the cold season, in addition to
the prey caught in the hunt. On these occasions they lived in "wickiups", conical or domeshaped huts covered with brush, mats or bark. In the spring the people dispersed and
traveled in nuclear or extended families, exploiting all available food resources. They built
temporary wind and sun screens to shield themselves against the elements. Caves and rock
shelters also provided protection. Men and women dressed in simple clothing, made from
animal hides and skins, shredded bark and plant fibers. Rabbit-fur blankets provided
protection against the cold. Women wove basketry hats for both sexes.
Religious leadership was provided by shamans who cured the sick in healing rituals, and
tried to influence the outcome of communal hunts by appealing to the spirits. Those
appearing in dreams were regarded as sources of individual personal power. In sweat huts
Indians periodically purified themselves, physically and mentally.
Most of the Indians encountered by the first explorers and settlers in the Great Basin spoke
languages belonging to the Uto-Aztecan family: Paiutes, including Bannocks and
Chemehuevis, Utes, Shoshones and Kawaiisu. The relation of the language of the Washoes
has not yet been satisfactorily established, although a Hokan source is most likely.
3
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Until the arrival of the white man, the culture of the Native Americans of the Great Basin
remained relatively unchanged from the establishment of a general Desert Archaic Culture
about 8.000 years B.C. However, the presence of man might be much older in this region,
and may date back to Paleo-Indian times, as for example1 at Fort Rock Cave in Oregon.
Archeological research focussed on this issue continues .
Fort Rock Cave, Oregon.
4
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
2. Herman ten Kate
Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate was born in 1858 in Amsterdam, but grew up in The Hague.
The Ten Kate family was blessed by the muses, since it counted many painters and literary
men among its members. Ten Kate's father was a popular painter in his time and received royal
patronage. It was his modest fortune which enabled Ten Kate jr. to abandon his early artistic
education at the Art Academy and register as a student of medicine, geography, non-western
languages and Indonesian ethnology at the University of Leiden in 1877. Although this shift
from art to science was remarkable, it was a natural outcome of his personal development. As
he was an avid reader of popular juvenile literature, an interest in Native North American
peoples and cultures had taken hold of the young boy, and the books of James Fennimore
Cooper, Gustave Aimard, Friedrich Gerstäcker and Mayne Reid cluttered his shelves. In 1876
Ten Kate went to Corsica on a painting trip, accompanying Charles van de Velde, a friend of his
father. With stories of his adventures and research in the East Indies and South Africa, Van de
Velde encouraged Ten Kate's smouldering interest in non-western peoples and cultures.
However, back in Holland it took some effort to persuade his father to support his son's
decision on a new career.
The year 1877 also marks the beginning of academic anthropology in the Netherlands, since
the first chair in (Indonesian) anthropology was established at the University of Leiden. It was
occupied by P.J. Veth, whose topical and regional interests ranged far beyond the Dutch colony
in Asia, since he also became an authority on early sources on African cultures. Moreover,
some interest was devoted to Native American cultures in the West Indies, where Holland ruled
over the colonies of Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. Under Veth's guidance Ten Kate was
encouraged to develop his Americanist interest to the full. During his time in Leiden he
published his first article on North American Indians.
Herman ten Kate, 1881.
After two years Ten Kate transferred to Paris, where he studied under Paul Broca and Paul
Topinard at the Ecole d'Anthropologie, specializing in physical anthropology. He developed a
friendship with E-T. Hamy, who shared his Americanist interests. In the autumn of 1880 he
worked at the University of Berlin, where he received guidance from Adolf Bastian and probably
attended a number of the courses in ethnology Bastian was teaching at that time. Over the next
two years he continued his medical, zoological and geographical studies at the academic
institutions of Göttingen and Heidelberg, meanwhile pursuing his doctoral research on
2
Mongoloid crania. In April 1882 he received a Ph.D. in zoology from Heidelberg university.
5
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
It was an explicit interest in non-European peoples, notably Native North American cultures,
which had prompted Ten Kate to enter university. He chose courses which would qualify him
for anthropological research: Indonesian ethnology and geography, Indonesian and Oriental
languages, historical geography, and comparative anatomy. Practical considerations with
regard to future salaried employment obliged him to specialize in the natural sciences and
non-western languages, concentrating on zoology for an early Ph.D., and on medicine, in
which field he received his M.D. in 1895 after further studies at the universities of Halle,
Montpellier, Heidelberg and Freiburg. Herman ten Kate was thus a typical representative of
3
the early phase in the development of anthropology as an academic discipline.
6
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
3. Fieldwork
Having developed an early interest in North American Indians, Ten Kate planned an exploratory
fieldwork journey to the western United States and northern Mexico. He received scientific
guidance and practical advice from his tutors in Leiden, Paris and Berlin, and material support
from Dutch and French scientific societies. However, most of the costs of his first fieldwork
were borne by his always supportive and generous father.
The primary aim of Ten Kate's first fieldwork in North America was to obtain a first-hand and
representative impression of aboriginal tribal cultures and their current state under white
political and cultural domination. His research among the Iroquois in Upper New York State in
the autumn of 1882 led to a strengthening of an already apparent salvage approach in his first
4
fieldwork. However, Ten Kate also defined other specific objectives of his travels and
researches: the classification of physical types, the collection of ethnographic artifacts, the
determination of intertribal relationships on the basis of physical anthropological, ethnolinguistic
and ethnographic data, and the description and analysis of the influence and consequences of
white domination over Indian societies. To this effect he collected and studied scientific
literature; purchased artifacts; made physical anthropological and ethnographic observations;
held interviews with key Indian and white informants; measured many Indians; collected skulls
and skeletal material, and completed the standard vocabulary lists of the Bureau of American
5
Ethnology.
During his 1882-1883 fieldwork in the American West, Ten Kate was able to acquire over three
hundred ethnographic artifacts for the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. Series 361 was
purchased with a grant from the Holland Academy of Sciences. The acquisition of series 362,
which includes the Great Basin materials, was rendered possible with a grant from the
Department of the Interior, of which the museum was a part at that time. Ten Kate purchased
additional artifacts with private funds, and he acquired additional artifacts in 1887-1888, when
6
he was a member of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition. A catalogue of
the Ten Kate collection, now consisting of approximately four hundred artifacts, is in progress.
Ten Kate in Camp Apache, August 1883. Photo: C. Duhem.
7
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
In 1885 Ten Kate published a voluminous book, written in Dutch, on his 1882-1883 travels and
7
fieldwork, and an English translation has just been published. In addition he published
numerous articles on his research in scientific periodicals in the Netherlands and France. Part
of his Hemenway Expedition diary was only published in 1925 in a collection of his travel
8
narratives, and has recently been translated. These writings, as well as his personal letters,
provide us with a great deal of information about his travels and researches.
After a first visit to the Iroquois of Upper New York State in the fall of 1882, Ten Kate traveled to
the Southwest and conducted fieldwork among the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur near El Paso, the
Tohono O'odham (Papagos) at San Xavier del Bac, and the Yaquis near Guaymas, Sonora.
Accompanied by the British ornithologist Lyman Belding,
he excavated burial sites and
9
documented rock paintings in southern Baja California. After leaving Mexico in April 1883, he
10
spent some time among the Quechans near Yuma. Subsequently he planned to conduct
fieldwork among the Mohaves on the Colorado River, and continue his research among the
Pimas. However, when he heard about a Chemehuevi village on the Colorado River Indian
reservation, he planned to pay at least a visit to that settlement. He also accepted an
unexpected
opportunity for visiting the Las Vegas division of the Southern Paiutes further
11
upstream.
8
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
4. The Chemehuevis
Ten Kate left Yuma by buckboard on April 21, 1883. Crossing the Gila River he almost lost his
luggage when his wagon sank into a mud hole in the middle of the stream. Only with great
difficulty did the six horse-team manage to pull the wagon and its load onto the bank. At Castle
Dome Landing he encountered several Apache Yumas. The journey continued across the
barren Chocolate Mountains and along the Colorado River, and in the early evening of April 24
Ten Kate arrived in Ehrenberg, where he was forced to spend several days waiting for transport
by buckboard to the Mohave and Chemehuevi Agency at Parker. From April 28 to May 6 he
conducted fieldwork among the Yuman-speaking Mohaves, during which time he visited the
Chemehuevi settlement, twelve miles from the agency headquarters.
On May 7 Ten Kate boarded the stern-wheeler "Mohave" and travelled northward by way of
Aubrey's Landing, Chemehuevi Valley and Needles to Fort Mohave, where he continued his
research among the Mohaves for several days. He made the acquaintance of Indian inspector
general C.H. Howard, and agreed to visit the Southern Paiutes further upstream with this official
from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On May 13 they embarked on a steamer, and journeyed
upstream, passing Hardyville and Boulder Rapids, stopping at Cottonwood Island, continuing
past Painted Canyon, and arriving at El Dorado Canyon, a mining camp in southern Nevada, on
the evening of May 15. The next day Howard called together the local Paiutes, providing Ten
Kate with an opportunity for making observations and interviewing several Indians.
The Colorado River at Black Canyon; lithograph by Balduin Möllhausen, 1858.
According to the Indian Agent's annual report, the reservation harboured 811 Mohaves and 215
Chemehuevis, the latter living in the northwestern corner of the reservation on the Californian
side of the Colorado River. During his fieldwork Ten Kate noted linguistic, physical, and
psychological differences between the Mohaves and Chemehuevis. Because the Chemehuevi
language sounded much harsher than the melodious Mohave-Yuman, Ten Kate tried to
determine its linguistic affiliation. On the basis of his ethnolinguistic knowledge he concluded
that the Chemehuevis were a division of the Paiutes. He later found this conclusion supported
by the name by which the Indians called themselves: "Tontewaits", meaning "those of the
south". They formed the most southern division of the Southern Paiutes.
9
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Regional groups of Southern Paiutes; after Kelly and Fowler 1986:369.
The Chemehuevis also differed physically from the Mohaves, being shorter and less robust,
with flatter faces. The shape of their skulls was deemed to be brachycephalous (broadly
shaped) and they resembled the Mohaves in this respect. They had peculiar moustaches, the
middle part of which was shaved off, leaving only the ends near the corners of the mouth. Ten
Kate managed to take the physical measurements of fourteen men, but only after he had made
them believe that this was in order to determine the size of hats the government would provide:
an early example of anthropological ethics in fieldwork.
The Chemehuevi dwellings were similar to those of the Quechans and Mohaves. Their earth
lodges or winter houses were built in shallow excavated pits, which were surrounded by beams
and poles, given a flat roof, and then covered with earth and mud. Shapes varied from round to
oblong and rectangular. They also constructed separate sweat lodges. Their pottery also
resembled that of the Colorado River Yumans. Ten Kate bought a pair of white deerskin boots,
called pagap by the Indians. The acquisition of traditional ethnographic objects was virtually
impossible according to Ten Kate, since most expressions of traditional material culture had
vanished. Only basketry was still being produced, and he admired its quality, as a competent
judge after seeing ethnographic collections in several European and American museums, and
having visited the Tohono O'odham (Papagos) earlier. Ten Kate saw similar baskets among the
Quechans and Mohaves, and assumed that the Chemehuevis traded their craftwork with these
tribes.
Ten Kate paid a visit to Thomas, the chief of the Chemehuevis. However, it seems that the
head man was not much use as an informant because he was actively engaged in a game of
cards in a sweat house, and did not want to be disturbed. His face was painted red, but he wore
a western-style black hat like most of his tribesmen. Few Chemehuevis, however, spoke
English or Spanish. Most used Mohave in their dealings with that tribe, since few Mohaves were
able or willing to master the Southern Paiute language. Interethnic sexual relations with whites
were much more frequent among the Chemehuevis than the Mohaves, resulting in a
considerable number of mixed-blood Indians. Many women left the tribe to live with their white
husbands in mining camps and frontier towns.
10
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Ten Kate was aware of the fact that the federal government had forcefully removed the band
from their fertile Chemehuevi Valley to the arid desert reservation, an "unselfish" act as he
noted cynically, clearly showing where his sympathies lay. A number of Chemehuevi children
visited the agency day school, which was established in 1881. The women teachers told Ten
Kate that the Chemehuevi youngsters were generally more intelligent than their Mohave
counterparts. They had observed the same for boys as compared to girls. Intertribal
personality differences were also noted, the Chemehuevis being headstrong and unforgiving
while the Mohaves were impulsive but lighthearted and humorous, according to the notes
made by the Dutch anthropologist. Among the Chemehuevis Ten Kate purchased several
clay effigies, several baskets, items of dress, a flute and a war club.
11
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
5. Chemehuevi art and material culture
"Mohavezation" of the Chemehuevis explains the similarity in dwellings and pottery of the two
tribes as noted by Ten Kate. The Mohave type of summer house was even found as far north
12
as the Moapa Paiutes. His observation of the similarity in the pottery of the Quechans,
Mohaves and Chemehuevis was as much the result of the Mohave trading their wares with
neighbouring groups, as the Chemehuevis producing their own pottery and being substantially
13
influenced by their neighbours' craftwork. It was the women who made the pottery, a fact not
mentioned by Ten Kate, who probably saw only finished vessels in Indian households. The
Southern Paiutes, including the Chemehuevis, had their own pottery tradition which was less
developed because of their semi-nomadism. Moreover, pottery making declined substantially
soon after the arrival of white settlers and the introduction of western trade goods among most
14
bands.
At the agency school on the Mohave Indian Reservation, Ten Kate acquired four small pottery
busts of people, made by a Chemehuevi girl by the name of Topilla who showed artistic talent.
Pottery effigies by Topilla, Chemehuevi (RMV 362-205, 206, 207, 208).
It is not known whether the pottery classes in which these were made were part of the
conventional art training in the school’s regular curriculum, or whether these classes were
organized because of the strong pottery tradition among the Mohaves, a tradition later adopted
by the Chemehuevis. Topilla’s name was carved in the base of one effigy, something probably
encouraged by her teacher, but possibly suggested by Ten Kate. Small pottery effigies had
15
been made for a long time among the Paiutes, and were used as children's toys.
Ten Kate collected four baskets which he listed as Chemehuevi. The study of Chemehuevi
basketry has been neglected by anthropologists. Single observations on the craft are scattered
12
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
throughout the literature, but do not provide a clear or coherent picture, let alone a complete
16
one. Clara Lee Tanner has provided the best study to date, based on an analysis of the large
Birdie Brown collection at the Colorado River Indian Tribes Museum, as well as many items
from other private collections and museums. One of the pieces collected by Ten Kate in 1883,
and identified by him as Chemehuevi, fits well into the characterization of the Chemehuevi style
of basketry as defined by Tanner.
RMV 362-191
RMV 362-191 is a small jar, round and bulbous in shape. It is coiled clockwise, a peculiar
characteristic of Chemehuevi basketry, as are the three willow rods constituting the foundation
of the coils, which are wrapped with light-coloured willow (Salix). The Chemehuevis
distinguished two species of willow, both of which were probably used for their basketry, and
17
which they called sagah and kanavi . The design, applied in three horizontal bands around the
jar at the top, in the middle and on the bottom, is done in black devil's claw (Proboscidea
altheaefolia). Each band shows a different pattern: triangles at the top; a white zigzag pattern
results from two interlocking bands of black triangles around the middle; and a stepped block
band surrounds the lower part of the jar. The top pattern is separated from the rim coil, and the
18
final coil is finished in black, another characteristic of Chemehuevi basketry.
Chemehuevi basketry trays (RMV 362-118, 119).
13
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Chemehuevi basketry bowl (RMV 362-192).
The other three Chemehuevi baskets collected by Ten Kate also fit the tribal craft as
characterised by Tanner. All are coiled clockwise, using a three-rod foundation: a parching tray
(RMV 362-118), a bowl with a faded pattern on the outside (RMV 362-119) and a large bowl
with several block bands forming a checkered pattern (RMV 362-192). The Chemehuevis
regarded designs on baskets as the personal property of weavers, and did not infringe this
informal rule.
Although some authors have stated that the Chemehuevis only made coiled baskets, others
19
have qualified this statement. (cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16). Ten Kate saw twined conical
burden baskets and winnowing trays still being produced in 1883. He was correct in assuming
that the Chemehuevis traded their fine basketry with other Colorado River tribes.
RMV 5910-44
14
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
The "traditional headcloth" of the Chemehuevis mentioned by Ten Kate was probably the cap
20
made of soft animal skin. The white moccasins were made of deerskin , and Ten Kate
purchased a pair of Chemehuevi boots made from that material (RMV 362-120), as well as a
pair of moccasins (RMV 362-121).
Chemehuevi footwear (RMV 362-120, 121).
A Chemehuevi flute (RMV 362-122), probably made of elderberry wood, is also included in his
21
collection. Finally, a Chemehuevi war club (RMV 362-193) completes the small collection he
22
brought back from the Chemehuevi and Southern Paiute territory. The war club is of the
"potato masher" type, made from hardwood, and consisting of a stick with a cylindrical head. It
23
was the principal weapon of war for the Chemehuevis, and resembled Mohave war clubs.
The head of the Leiden club is painted yellow, with a zigzag pattern painted in red, and red
points in the middle of the triangle.
Chemehuevi flute and war club (RMV 362-122 and 193).
15
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
6. The Las Vegas Paiutes
Ten Kate saw the first members of the Las Vegas Paiute division when his boat stopped at
Cottonwood Island to take on firewood. The fuel was delivered by the few Paiutes who lived on
the island, and by that time they had virtually stripped it of its cottonwood and mesquite trees.
On the Nevada shore rose Mount X. The Indians considered this as the place where their
former paradise was situated. According to tribal oral tradition as told to Ten Kate, when they
killed a good headman, the Great Spirit punished them by expelling the band to the hot river
valley.
After their arrival at Eldorado Canyon, General Howard let it be known that he wanted a
meeting with the local Paiutes. Ten Kate estimated an Indian population of about a hundred
Southern Paiutes on Cottonwood Island and at Eldorado Canyon. The meeting was
unsuccessful since no interpreter was available. The brother of the temporarily absent
headman, although able to speak some English, declined to answer Howard’s questions. He
only declared that the Paiute loved the area, and that they had been born and raised there,
apparently fearing government plans to remove them to a reservation. However, Ten Kate at
last managed to find an informant willing to assist him in filling out the vocabulary list requested
by the Bureau of American Ethnology. It is probable that this person also gave him some
information about the Southern Paiute way of life. Comparing his vocabularies, Ten Kate
concluded that Chemehuevi and Paiute were almost identical. When he undertook fieldwork
among the Southern Utes in Colorado and the Comanches in Indian Territory some time later,
he was convinced that these tribal languages were related to Chemehuevi and Paiute.
Southern Paiute chiefs; photographed by Timothy O’Sullivan, 1871.
The Paiutes called themselves "Nu", meaning "the people". Ten Kate noted their small to
medium stature, lean but muscular build and wiry appearance. He distinguished two physical
types, the first with a flat nose, receding forehead, and prognatism (protruding lower jaw), the
second with a curved nose and high cheekbones, similar to the classic "Red Indian" type of the
Plains. The men also shaved away the middle of their moustaches, leaving only the ends, like
the Chemehuevis.
Ten Kate's Las Vegas Paiute informant(s) told him that they still hunted mountain sheep (Ovis
montana), and that grass seeds and mesquite beans were their main wild food resources.
16
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) was chewed, producing a state of delirium. Their dwellings
were very simple, consisting only of branches. The only crafts produced at that time were willow
baskets, several of which he purchased. The Southern Paiutes cremated their dead. They were
frequently at war with the Mohaves, taking scalps from their enemies, although the last battle
had taken place more than ten years previously. The Indians considered the mountains along
their stretch of the Colorado River to be the abodes of evil spirits.
Las Vegas Paiute man with hunting weapons; photographed by John Hillers, 1872.
Almost all Southern Paiutes wore "citizen dress" (western dress) and only a few still wore the
traditional headcloth and white deerskin moccasins, the latter being exactly like those of the
Chemehuevis. Paiute women had entered into unions with white men, which resulted in mixedblood offspring. A number of Paiute men were employed at the smelter in Eldorado Canyon,
where silver was extracted from excavated rocks. Other Paiutes earned their living by gathering
firewood and selling it to the smelter and the steamboat captains. Excessive consumption of
alcohol was a serious problem, but the white American traders profited from this trade, a
situation criticized by Ten Kate.
Las Vegas Paiute women; photographed by John Hillers, 1873.
On May 18 Ten Kate departed down river to continue his fieldwork, which would take him to the
Pimas, Apaches, Pueblos, Navajos, Hopis, Zunis, Utes, Cheyennes and Comanches and the
24
deported Southeastern tribes in Indian Territory.
17
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
7. Southern Paiute basketry
Among the Las Vegas Paiutes Ten Kate collected three twined baskets: a small conical
carrying or seed basket, probably meant for a girl (RMV 362-123); a winnowing tray (RMV 36225
124); and a small basket or woman's hat with two decorative bands.
Southern Paiute basketry (RMV 362-124, 125 and 123).
Twining is one of the oldest techniques with which plant fibres are woven into a variety of
shapes, degrees of rigidity, and products, from flexible mats and bags to sturdy baskets and
sandals. The winnowing tray was used to separate chaff and shells from seeds and nuts that
were collected during the harvest season. The loosening of the chaff and opening of the
pinenuts was accomplished by mixing hot charcoal with the seeds and nuts on the trays, and
rhythmically tossing the contents of the tray into the air, continuing for as long as it took to
dispose of the chaff and shells or to open the pinenuts. This required dexterity and
attentiveness from the women, to avoid burning the trays. Depending on specific requirements,
winnowing trays were woven tightly or open, in the latter case also functioning as a sieve.
Conical carrying baskets came in all sizes, from small ones used by little girls imitating and
helping their mothers in gathering a wide variety of edible seeds, to large ones used for carrying
26
all kinds of household goods.
18
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
8. The Southern Utes
After a visit to the Zunis, Ten Kate stayed in Santa Fe until 17 September 1883. He had
planned a visit to the Southern Utes in Colorado, after which he wanted to continue his journey
by way of the small town of Trinidad in Colorado, eastward through Kansas to Indian Territory.
During this trip he had also planned to visit the Jicarilla Apaches who lived near the Utes, but
the federal government had transferred them to a new reservation at Fort Stanton, where the
Mescalero Apaches already lived. Ten Kate took the mail coach to Española on the Rio Grande
River, in order to take the train through the mountains to Ignacio, the Ute Indian Agency. En
route he saw pioneers in large wagons, heavily loaded with their belongings, pulled along by
oxen. In Antonito, Colorado, he came upon a public trial in progress, but instead of watching it
he decided to look for a place in which to have dinner and spend the night. The next day Ten
Kate travelled through the mountains on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway by way of Chama
and Amargo, the former Indian Agency of the Jicarilla Apaches. In Ignacio he took a buckboard
to meet the Indian Agent, Warren Patten, in his office, where he also met an Indian Inspector.
Patten was aptly named “Crosseye” by the Utes. The inspector commanded little respect since
Ten Kate disparagingly remarked that his inspection of conditions on the reservation remained
limited to the office of the Indian Agent.
Ten Kate spent about ten days on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. He enjoyed Ignacio
because of its splendid location on the banks of Rio de Los Pinos, its high elevation with the
invigorating mountain air, and the surrounding tree-clad mountains. He visited the nearby Indian
encampment several times, travelled throughout the reservation on horseback to other camps,
sometimes accompanying the agency physician Dr. White, and was present during an issueday when government rations were being distributed among the Indians, mainly beef and flour
on this occasion. Much of this time he was accompanied by John Taylor, an Afro-American who
had lived among the Utes for two or three years, and who worked for the army and agency as
an interpreter. On all these occasions Ten Kate made notes of his observations and his
conversations with individual Utes, who included Chiefs Ignacio, Severo, Buckskin Charley and
Aguila.
Chief Severo and his family, c. 1890; Detroit Photographic Company.
19
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Ten Kate stayed with the Southern Utes until 27 September and, after a four-day trip into the
Rocky Mountains, he took the train to Indian Territory on 1 October, travelling by way of
27
Cucharas and Trinidad. On the basis of the literature available to him, and his observations
and conversations on the reservation, Ten Kate composed a sketch of the Southern Utes.
The Utes called themselves “Noots” or "Yutas", and were a powerful nomadic tribe living in
Western Colorado, and before 1868 in large parts of Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. A southeastern group of the Utes lived adjacent to the Kiowas in northern Texas on the Cimarron
River. Some of their major tribes are the Uncompagres and Tabewaches, Wimenuches,
Capotes and Muaches. The former two were transferred to the Uintah and Ouray reservations
in north-east Utah in 1880. The Capotes and Muaches who used to live in northern New Mexico
were forced to live in south-western Colorado together with the Wimenuches, and from then on
they were called the Southern Utes, numbering approximately a thousand people on the
reservation at the time of Ten Kate's visit.
The Utes belong to the Numic-speaking family along with the Paiutes, Hopis and the
Comanches. Their language was considered a difficult one for white people to learn, although
Ten Kate’s Afro-American interpreter John Taylor had mastered it, and Ten Kate thought it was
easier than Apache and Navaho to put into writing. After the enemies of the Utes pushed them
into the Rocky Mountains they gradually lost their use of sign language. Ten Kate spoke
Spanish with the Utes, a language most tribesmen could speak reasonably well. Only a few
Utes knew some English words, but he predicted that English would soon replace Spanish,
since the numbers of American settlers surrounding their reservation were increasing at a rapid
rate.
Chief Buckskin Charley, Southern Ute; lithograph by Pieter Haaxman (1885)
after a photograph by Matthew Brady, c. 1880.
Ten Kate encountered great difficulties in measuring the Utes, who appeared to be scared and
recalcitrant. Because of his frequent visits to the camps, assisting the agency physician, he was
able to overcome distrust and resistance to a certain extent, and eventually was able to
measure ten men, whom he remunerated with money and tobacco. Women could not be
20
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
persuaded to submit to somatological measurements. The imposing Chief Ignacio and Chief
Severo also refused Ten Kate’s requests, and the latter chief engaged him in a discussion on
his views on physical types, while the anthropologist tried to enlighten the chief about scientific
theories in the field of comparative ethnic anatomy, albeit with little success.
The anthropologist encountered two main physical types among the Southern Utes, and
countless intermediate types. Ten Kate had never seen the first type before, but he was to
encounter it later among the Kiowas. It was distinctive because of the large proportion of the
face compared to the skull, and because of a slightly heavy, straight or somewhat upturned
nose. A strongly receding forehead and heavy eyebrow ridges were also characteristic. The
torso and arms were very muscular, the neck short, the shoulders broad and square. Although
representatives of this type were above medium height, they appeared compact and massive.
Some Utes were distinctly stout. They had light eyes and a light skin complexion. The second
type was the “Red Indian type” found predominantly on the Plains. Ten Kate encountered those
two types among half of the Ute population; the other half consisted of varying intermediate
types. Some Utes had thick, wavy hair. Based on his observations of physical types, Ten Kate
also assumed that relations had been intimate with Jemez Pueblo and the Jicarilla and Tonto
Apaches. He also thought he detected influences from Jemez on Ute dress, and noted that a
Ute dance was known in the pueblo. Intermarriage with the Jicarillas was common.
Among the Utes there were no children of mixed blood, since there were virtually no sexual
relations between Utes and whites. Mixed offspring were killed after birth, a fate that also befell
the children of Afro-American John Taylor, and Chief Ignacio told Ten Kate that the children
with the buffalo hair were killed immediately after they were born. Sexual relations between Ute
men and women were liberal according to Ten Kate, and there were marriages between Utes
and other Native Americans. Chief Ouray’s mother was a Jicarilla Apache.
Chief Ouray and his wife Chipita, 1880. Photograph by
Mathew Brady, Washington D.C.
21
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Southern Utes, Ignacio, Colorado, c. 1890; photographed by Rose and Hopkins.
The Southern Utes appeared to be generally healthy, although many people suffered from
goitre, possibly from a lack of iodine. Others showed signs of an advanced stage of syphilis.
Acute rheumatism seemed to be the dominant illness, probably because of great fluctuations in
temperatures, high humidity and life outdoors.
Ute men were responsible for providing their family with meat and hides, and Ten Kate
repeatedly saw men leaving to hunt deer, often staying away for several days, sometimes
even weeks. They had virtually discarded bows and arrows, and instead used Sharp,
Winchester and Ballard rifles. Prairie dogs (Cynomys) were part of their diet, and they hunted
fowl, grouse (Canaces) being a favourite prey. Fishing was also common, and the mountain
streams were rich in trout. Women were engaged in household duties: storing food,
preparing meals, making clothing, applying beadwork, and looking after the youngest
children. In pre-reservation times the women also gathered edible plants, including the
cambium layer of pine trees, which contained sugar. During leisure time Ute men and
women engaged in playing cards. The men also danced, accompanied by a drum. Target
shooting with Sharp rifles was a favourite pastime, as were horse races, accompanied by
serious betting with Navajo blankets, mountain-lion skins and weapons. Navajo Indians were
among the spectators, and stood out against the Utes because of their greater height. The
mood during these races was quiet and modest, a far cry from the boisterous atmosphere
among white men at horse races.
The Southern Utes did not farm, and refused to begin farming, despite persistent
encouragement from the government. However, Ten Kate noted that they had little choice
since the deer population decreased rapidly through over-hunting. Nevertheless, the
mountain region did not permit farming on a large scale. Government rations were a shortterm solution, and buying food at the traders’ stores required cash, something which the Utes
had difficulty obtaining, except when they sold horses; they owned approximately 2200 of
these animals, all of good quality. They also owned a hundred cows and a thousand sheep
that had been given to them by the government under the treaty provisions. These animals
were herded on horseback by both men and women.
22
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Southern Utes crossing the Los Pinos River, Colorado, c. 1890; photographed by H.S. Poley.
Ten Kate found the issue or ration day quite spectacular. The cattle provided by the
government was driven together in a pen, and shot one by one by an agency employee and
a Ute Indian. Each Indian family then dashed towards the animal assigned to it, and began
butchering it, the women skinning the carcasses with agility and speed. While the ground
was soaking with blood, on which the dogs tried to feast, the Indians cut up the animals,
meanwhile eating parts of the innards while they were still warm. Only the livers were
discarded.
The Utes were fierce and courageous warriors, but they also had a reputation for chivalry. Their
enemies were many, especially neighbouring tribes such as the Comanches, Cheyennes,
Arapahos, and Kiowas with whom they competed in hunting buffalo on the Plains. Chief Aguila
revelled in his stories about raids he had undertaken, and attributed his robust torso to the
brains from a slain Cheyenne enemy he had eaten. In more recent times the Utes’ principal
enemy was the white man, and settlers continued to encroach onto their lands.
Ten Kate’s efforts to obtain information on the social organization of the Southern Utes proved
fruitless, due to the evasive and conflicting information given by informants, and the complete
lack of knowledge and disinterest on the part of the Indian Agent and his staff.
Through his visits to Indian camps, and the assistance he gave to the sick and wounded, Ten
Kate had gained some trust among the Utes, at least among the chiefs. They tactfully inquired
what he thought of Warren "Crosseye" Patten, the Indian Agent, and the Indian Inspector from
Washington. The agent commanded little respect, and during Ten Kate’s stay was physically
attacked by Ojo Blanco, a prominent warrior who was inebriated at the time of the incident. Ute
Indian policemen who witnessed the event were at first reluctant to act, but armed intervention
by the agency’s cook brought them into action.
Agency personnel and white settlers were wary of Indian resentment of the invasion of their
homeland. They warned Ten Kate not to search for Indian skeletal remains, as this might cause
violent opposition, or even worse. The anthropologist shared their fears but had to perform his
scientific duty. He was very circumspect, but also unsuccessful, since the Utes buried their
dead under rocks and branches, a perfect camouflage. When agency staff saw a fire signal on
one of the mountain tops one evening, they came running to Ten Kate and blamed him for
causing an Indian uprising. However, nothing happened.
23
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
To Ten Kate the Utes appeared "carefree and cheerful", though not as "childlike and benign" as
the Mohaves and Yumas. He attributed this difference in character to the Utes' more difficult
living environment with its harsh winters, time-consuming and exhausting hunting as part of
daily life, and the fact that being surrounded by enemies made life rather perilous at times.
24
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
9. Southern Ute art and material culture
Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate made many observations on their material culture. Ute
men wore skin leggings and moccasins, the former beautifully decorated with beadwork, and
with broad flapping panels along the seams. The moccasins were decorated with blue and
white beads. In addition the Southern Utes dressed in western-style shirts and waistcoats, worn
hanging loose. Some men wore small medicine bags as amulets, pinned to their clothes not far
from their armpits (near the heart?). Some wore western-style hats. The women dressed in
long robes, extending to mid-calf. Occasionally these were still made from leather, but
increasingly from cotton and linen. Underneath the women wore plain leather leggings and
undecorated moccasins.
The men wore their hair parted in the middle or on the side in two long braids. The ends of the
braids were wrapped with otter fur or red ribbons. The hair parting was often painted red or
yellow. The women wore their hair loose on their back, shoulders and chest, usually parted in
the middle and shorter than the men wore theirs. Most Ute men, especially the young
generation, painted their entire faces with red and yellow pigment. They also plucked their
eyebrows and eyelashes. The pigments were kept in a long flat skin bag decorated with glass
beads.
Their jewellery consisted of breastplates, necklaces made from beads and seashell (plastrons),
finger rings, earrings and bracelets made of sterling silver or "Berlin silver", a low-grade zincsilver alloy. The beads and ground shells were sold at the trader’s store. The seashells were
white, and reminded Ten Kate of the shells used on wampum belts he had seen. The valuable
seashells were collected and fashioned for this purpose in the eastern United States and sent
to trader's stores all across the American West.
The Navajos made silver jewellery for the Utes using the American silver dollars the Utes gave
them. For their horses the Southern Utes also had harnesses and saddles decorated with
silverwork, provided by Navajo silversmiths. The saddles, made of wood and covered with
rawhide, were used only by women. The saddles had a large knob at the front and back
decorated with long fringes of soft white leather.
Most Utes still lived in tipis. These were no longer made from buffalo hide, because the Indians
were no longer allowed to hunt buffalo. The conical tents were now made from white or yellow
canvas received from the US government. Utes still painted their kani (tipis) with war and
hunting scenes, and signs that could only be interpreted by insiders. Smoke rose from the open
tops into the mountain air. In the tipis Ten Kate saw Navajo and American blankets, animal
hides, items of dress, weapons, household goods, and food all stored around the perimeter,
while a fire burned in the centre. He mentions the use of brightly painted "parflèches"
(rectangular rawhide containers) for storing dried meat and parflèche cylinders for storing small
and ceremonial items. He also saw baskets and basketry water jars, which reminded him of
Apache basketry. Babies and small children were carried around in cradle boards made of a
wooden backboard, covered with leather. The headboard was wide to protect the child’s head,
and gave the cradle a bulky appearance. Outside each tipi stood a tripod on which the owner
usually kept his best clothes and equipment, to avoid soiling and damage.
Among the Utes Ten Kate observed the use of the "calumet", the Indian pipe. According to
his informants the Utes used to make their pipe bowls from a soft stone found near the
Cimarron River in New Mexico. However, this practice was discontinued, since it was much
easier to obtain pipe bowls through trade with the Comanches, who in turn received them
through intertribal trade from their original source, the catlinite pipestone quarries of the
25
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Sioux in southwestern Minnesota. The pipes were valued possessions. When Ten Kate tried
to buy a pipe, pipe bag and beaded tobacco pouch from a Ute man, the owner wanted a
horse in exchange, a price the anthropologist could not afford, much to his regret.
Chief Peah and family on Southern Ute Reservation; photographed by William Henry Jackson, 1874.
Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate collected a wheat loaf and five artifacts: a purse, an awl
case, a paint bag, a parflèche, and a tubular rawhide case. All were decorated with either
beadwork or paint, and the specimens exemplify the strong Plains influence on the material
culture of the Southern Utes. The Utes closest to the Spanish settlements in the northern Rio
Grande Valley had begun to acquire horses before the mid-seventeenth century, and used
these initially as beasts of burden. After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 the number of Ute horses
increased as the result of trade. In the course of the next century the most easterly of the Ute
groups became equestrian nomads, living in tipis, hunting buffalo on the Plains, raiding for
horses, and racing horses as a favourite pastime. However, after 1830 they were pushed back
to the west by High Plains tribes, but in their way of life they continued the Plains pattern of
equestrian nomadism as far as possible. Increasingly they hunted elk and deer, kept up a
28
reputation as fierce warriors, and retained the Plains type of material culture.
The awl case (RMV 362-20) Ten Kate collected in 1883 at the Southern Ute Indian Agency was
unfortunately stolen in 1964 during an exhibition on the Plains Indians at the Leiden museum. It
was beaded in white, yellow, blue, green and red, and a snake design ran down both sides,
outlined once in red, once in black beads, oppositional colours in Ute colour symbolism. Red is
associated with protection, represented in animal life by the weasel, while black stands for the
29
negative power of the rattlesnake, and symbolizes the underworld. The Southern Ute “purse”
(RMV 362-19) Ten Kate acquired is much too small and tight to hold coins or ration tickets, and
the small bag, made of thick hide was probably used to hold bone needles. Ten Kate’s original
handwritten label has survived and reads PanáKoroKonoï, which makes its identification as an
awl case more probable. The front panel is covered in white beads, and the small rectangular
designs are executed in black and red, always in opposition towards each other, and in yellow,
blue and pink.
26
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Southern Ute purse (RMV 362-19).
Southern Ute paint bag (RMV 362-21).
RMV 362-21 is a large paint bag, which still holds some yellow ochre. The background is
beaded in white, and the rectangular and triangular designs are in red and blue. Tassels of tiny
brass chains decorate the top and bottom. Ten Kate labels the parflèche as “leather travel bag”
(RMV 362-202). It measures 95 by 40 centimetres, and is painted with geometric designs in
green, red and black. Ten Kate applied the same label to the painted tubular case, noting the
30
cylindrical shape. It is 38 centimeters long (RMV 362-203).
27
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Southern Paiute parflèche (RMV 362-202).
Southern Paiute parflèche (RMV 362-203).
Ten Kate was an avid collector, and this is reflected by a number of specimens in his 1882-83
collection. These included hair samples taken from Pueblo Indians, a typical source of data for
contemporary physical anthropologists engaged in the classification of physical types. Also
represented were raw materials used by Indians for the manufacture and decoration of
garments: sinew, porcupine quills, pigments, and raw turquoise. Among the specimens brought
back from the Great Basin was a loaf of wheaten bread, which the Utes had baked. When
searching the Leiden collection, a shallow rectangular box was located, less than half an inch in
height, with the correct label: RMV 362-204.
28
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Ute bread (RMV 362-204)
In it were the sorry remains of what had once been satisfying nourishment, which time had
transformed into a jumble of dehydrated flakes and crumbs. After more than a century of
preservation it is currently scheduled for de-accession.
29
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
10. Indian-white relations
Ten Kate repeatedly criticized the federal government’s forced removal of Indians from their
tribal territories to reservations. The Chemehuevis were a case in point. The Mohave
reservation was extended in 1874 to accommodate this group, which had been living relatively
undisturbed in Chemehuevi Valley. However, groups of Chemehuevis were either voluntarily or
forcibly removed from their homelands and relocated on the Colorado River Indian reservation.
The removals took until 1907, when the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation was established
31
in eastern San Bernardino County, California, on the Colorado River. In 1873 a reservation
was established at Moapa, Nevada, for the Southern Paiutes, but soon after this the federal
32
government forcibly reduced it to one-third its size.
Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate became aware of continual white encroachment onto Ute
lands, creating tensions and outbursts of violence at times. He learned about the invasion of
prospectors and miners, and the treaties and agreements with the American government the
Utes had been forced to sign, giving up their lands for increasingly smaller reservations. In 1879
the White River Utes had confronted the army at Milk Creek, and Indian Agent Nathan Meeker
had been killed. At Fort Lewis, on the border of the Southern Ute reservation, soldiers were
garrisoned in case of hostilities. The attack in 1883 on Indian Agent Warren Patten at Ignacio
by Ojo Blanco, a member of the 1880 Southern Ute delegation to Washington, could be partly
explained by inter-ethnic tensions resulting from the occupation of Ute territory in Colorado, and
33
the abuse of Native resources.
At Ignacio Ten Kate witnessed a day on which food rations were distributed, as guaranteed by
the treaties and agreements the Southern Utes had signed with the government. Ten Kate
noted that the Southern lands were not fit for agricultural purposes, but only for ranching, and
predicted the failure of the government program to turn the Southern Utes into farmers. They
had a magnificent herd of 2200 horses, and from the government they had received a thousand
sheep and a hundred head of cattle, which they herded across the reservation.
Ten Kate regarded the administration of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation as a prime
example of Federal mismanagement of Indian affairs. The Indian Agent was not professionally
qualified for his responsible position, he knew little about the Ute's culture and language, and he
was scarcely interested in his charges’ welfare. He only knew the immediate vicinity of his
agency from first-hand experience, and never visited outlying areas, seldom encountering the
Wimenuches, who lived on the western margins of the reservation and who later received their
own Ute Mountain Reservation. The treatment of chiefs was an example of manipulative
government policy. Although Chief Ouray had designated Buckskin Charley as Southern Ute
leader on his deathbed, the American government recognized Ignacio instead, provided him
and his family with extra rations, and appointed him as chief of the tribal police. Both Indian
leaders tried to steer their people into an uncharted future in which they had given up their
former tribal independence, but were guaranteed their place in American society under the
34
protection of the law and the army.
30
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Chief Buckskin Charley, Southern Ute; photographed in Washington, D.C. in 1880.
31
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
11. Conclusion
Ten Kate was a Dutch representative of a long line of European scientists who contributed to
the early development of anthropology as an academic discipline, and North American Indian
35
studies as a regional specialization. While men like Bandelier, Mooney, Boas and Lowie
worked in the United States throughout their careers, others remained in Europe and taught at
universities, were curators of museum collections, or undertook Indian studies as a sideline to
their main career in another field. European museums harbour numerous collections of
archaeological and ethnographic artifacts and ethnohistoric photographs from Native North
America, including the Great Basin area. Some institutions preserve unpublished diaries, field
notes and correspondence. These materials will increasingly be made accessible in the near
future, as a new generation of European academics has become interested in Native North
American studies, and has become actively engaged in fieldwork, as well as studying the
history of their specialist fields.
32
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the assistance rendered in various ways during the research for this digital
publication, by the following persons and institutions: Meg McDonald, formerly of the Journal of California
and Great Basin Anthropology; David Wilcox, Dorothy House and Barbara Thurber of the Museum of
Northern Arizona (Flagstaff); Duane Anderson and Laura Holt of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
(Santa Fe); members of the American Embassy in The Hague, especially Tilly de Groot; and Steven
Engelsman, Willem Fermont, Sijbrand de Rooy, Conn Barrett, Dorus Kop Jansen, Paul van Dongen and
Marlies Jansen of the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden, Netherlands). The research for the Ten
Kate project was partly funded by the Netherlands Research Council (NWO, The Hague), the
Department of Health, Welfare, and Sports (VWS, The Hague) and the National Museum of Ethnology
(RMV, Leiden). Additional contributions were received from Mrs. Ilse Boon (The Hague) and United
Airlines (Amsterdam Office). Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
33
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Appendix
The Southern Utes live in south-western Colorado on two reservations: Southern Ute and Ute
Mountain. A number of Ute women still actively engage in beadwork, producing items for their
own use at festive social and ceremonial occasions, or for sale to other Indians and white
visitors.
Trading posts and arts and crafts shops in Durango and Cortez offer beaded cradles, dress
items, and jewelry. At Ignacio the Southern Ute Indian Cultural Center has museum displays on
Ute culture and history, and also has arts and crafts for sale. Near Towaoc on the Ute Mountain
Reservation, the tribe operates a pottery-producing facility where Indian women paint machinemoulded pottery with designs adapted from their own and Anasazi-Pueblo traditions. Tours to
prehistoric Anasazi sites are organized through the Ute Tribal Park. Nearby is Mesa Verde
National Park, protecting one of the largest and most spectacular concentrations of prehistoric
Indian towns in North America, and the main attraction for tourists in the Four Corners area
where the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico border each other. The nearby
Anasazi Heritage Center of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Dolores offers extensive
interpretive exhibits, for all age groups, on the region's prehistory. Both the Southern Utes and
Ute Mountain Utes operate a casino, with guest rooms available at the Sky Ute Lodge in
Ignacio. In Montrose, the Ute Indian Museum has major exhibits on the Utes of Colorado.
Chemehuevis live on the Colorado River and Fort Mohave Indian Reservations on the Colorado
River in Arizona. Basketry from the Birdie Brown Collection is on display at the Colorado River
Indian Tribes Museum near Parker, Arizona. Visitors are attracted to this desert region by the
recreational opportunities afforded by the Colorado River, which are partially developed by the
tribes. Hoover Dam is a major attraction in the Southern Paiute region, as is the Grand Canyon
to the east of the area. The Nevada State Historical Society Museum in Reno has exhibits on
the Native peoples of the state, including the Southern Paiutes, as does the Nevada State
Museum in Las Vegas, and the Lost City Museum in Overton, Nevada. Las Vegas Paiutes live
on the Moapa River Reservation near Moapa, and in a small community in Clark County near
Las Vegas, where most are employed in the various branches of the casino and entertainment
business.
34
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
References
Baldwin, Gordon C.
The Pottery of the Southern Paiute. In: American Antiquity 16:50-56; 1950.
Bates, Craig D. – An Artistic Style Uniquely Their Own: Basketry, Parflèches and Beaded
Clothing of the Ute People. In: W. Roth, ed. – Ute Indian Arts and Culture: From Prehistory to
the New Millennium:143-178. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Colorado Springs, 2000.
Callaway, D.G., Janetski, J.C. and Stewart, O.C. – Ute. In: W.L. D'Azevedo, ed. – Great Basin,
Handbook of North American Indians 11:336-367; Smithsonian Institution; Washington, 1986.
Clemmer, R.O. and Stewart, O.C. – Treaties, Reservations, and Claims. In: W.L. D'Azevedo,
ed. – Great Basin. Handbook of North American Indians 11:525-557. Smithsonian Institution;
Washington, 1986.
D'Azevedo, Warren L., ed. – Great Basin. Handbook of North American Indians: 11.
Smithsonian Institution; Washington, D.C., 1986.
Delaney, Robert W. – The Ute Mountain Utes. University of New Mexico Press; Albuquerque,
1989.
Euler, Robert C. - Southern Paiute Ethnohistory. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 78;
Salt Lake City, 1966.
Fowler, C.S., and Dawson, L.E. – Ethnographic Basketry. In: W.L. D'Azevedo, ed. – Great
Basin; Handbook of North American Indians 11:705-737. Smithsonian Institution; Washington,
1986.
Fowler, Don D. - History of Research. In: W. d'Azevedo ed. - Basin; Handbook of North
American Indians 11:15-30. Smithsonian Institution; Washington D.C., 1986.
Fowler, D. and Fowler, C., eds. – Anthropology of the Numa. Smithsonian Contributions to
Anthropology 14; Washington, 1971.
Fowler, Don D. and Matley, John F. - Material Culture of the Numa: the John Wesley Powell
Collection, 1867-1880. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 26; Washington, 1979.
Fulkerson, Mary Lee and Curtis, Kathleen – Weavers of Tradition and Beauty: Basketmakers of
the Great Basin. University of Nevada Press; Reno, 1995.
Goss, James A. – Traditional Cosmology, Ecology and Language of the Ute Indians. In: W.
Wroth, ed. – Ute Indian Arts and Culture: 27-52. Taylor Museum; Colorado Springs, 2000.
Hallowell, A. Irving - The History of Anthropology as an Anthropological Problem. In: Journal of
the History of the Behavioral Sciences 1:24-38; 1965.
Harrington, John P. – The Origin of the Names Paiute and Ute. AA 13/1:173-174; 1911.
Hoffman, W.J. – Pah-Ute Cremation. In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
14:297-298; 1874.
Hovens, Pieter – The Past, Present and Future of North American Indian Studies in Europe. In:
35
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
P. Hovens, ed. – North American Indian Studies: European Contributions to Science, Society
and Art: 9-15. Alano Verlag/Edition Herodot; Aachen/Göttingen, 1984a.
Hovens, Pieter - Between Survival and Assimilation: the Visit of the Dutch Anthropologist
Herman F.C. ten Kate (1858-1931) to the Iroquois of New York State in 1882. In: P. Hovens,
ed. - North American Indian studies: European Contributions to Science, Society and Art:36-42.
Alano Verlag/Edition Herodot; Aachen/Göttingen, 1984b.
Hovens, Pieter - The Yuma Indians: a Comment. In: Journal of California and Great Basin
Anthropology 7/2:270-271; 1985.
Hovens, Pieter - Herman F.C. ten Kate jr. (1858-1931) en de Antropologie der NoordAmerikaanse Indianen (Herman F.C. ten Kate and the Anthropology of the North American
Indians). Ph.D.-thesis, University of Nymegen; Krips Repro; Meppel, 1989.
Hovens, Pieter - The Origins of Anthropology in Baja California: the Fieldwork and Excavations
of Herman F.C. ten Kate in 1883. In: Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 27/4:15-22;
1991.
Hovens, Pieter - Ten Kate's Hemenway Expedition Diary, 1887-1888. In: Journal of the
Southwest 37/4:635-700; 1995.
Hovens, Pieter, Orr, William, and Hieb, Louis, eds. – Ten kate’s travels and researches in
Native North America, 1882-1883 , 1882-1883. (English translation of ten Kate 1885).
University of New Mexico Press; Albuquerque, 2004.
Jefferson, J., Delaney, R.W. and Thompson, G.C. - The Southern Utes: a Tribal History.
Southern Ute Tribe; Ignacio, 1972.
Kate, H.F.C. ten – Observations sur les Indiens du Nouveau-Mexique et du Colorado. In:
Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie 6:801-807; 1883b.
Kate, H.F.C. ten – Indiens de la Sonora et de l'Arizona. In: Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie
6:634-637; 1883c.
Kate, Herman ten – Sur la Synonymie Ethnique et la Toponymie chez les Indiensde l'Amérique
du Nord. In: Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Weteneschappen,
Afdeeling Letterekunde 1:353-363; 1884.
Kate, H.F.C. ten - Reizen en Onderzoekingen in Noord Amerika (Travels and Researches in
North America). E.J. Brill; Leiden, 1885 (see also: Hovens, Orr and Hieb, in press, for an
English translation).
Kate, H.F.C. ten – Somatological Observations on Indians of the Southwest. In: Journal of
American Ethnology and Archaeology 3:119-144; 1892.
Kate, H.F.C. ten – Mélanges Anthropologiques: Indiens de l'Amérique du Nord. In:
L'Anthropologie 28:129-155,369-401; 1917.
Kate, H.F.C. ten – Over Land en Zee: Schetsen en Stemmingen van een Wereldreiziger
[Across Land and Sea: Sketches and Sentiments of a Globetrotter]. W.J. Thieme; Zutphen,
1925 (see: Hovens 1995, for an English translation of the North American materials).
36
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Kelly, Isabel T. - Southern Paiute Bands. In: American Anthropologist 36/4:548-560; 1934.
Kelly, Isabel T. – Southern Paiute Ethnography. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 69;
Salt lake City, 1964.
Kelly, Isabel T. and Fowler, Catherine S. - Southern Paiute. In: W. d'Azevedo ed. - Basin;
Handbook of North American Indians 11:368-397. Smithsonian Institution; Washington D.C.,
1986.
Kroeber, A.L. – Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin
78; Washington, 1925.
Laird, Carobeth - The Chemehuevis. Malki Museum Press; Banning, 1976.
Lowie, Robert H. - Notes on Shoshonean Ethnography. In: Anthropological Papers of the
American Museum of Natural History 20:185-324; New York, 1924.
McGreevy, Susan Brown and Whiteford, Andrew Hunter – Translating Tradition: Basketry Arts
of the San Juan Paiutes. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian; Santa Fe, 198?.
Manners, R.A. - Southern Paiute and Chemehuevi: an Ethnohistorical Report. In: D.A. Horr, ed.
- American Indian Ethnohistory: California and Basin-Plateau Indians; Paiute Indians 1. Garland
Press; New York, 1974.
Mason, Otis T. - Aboriginal American Basketry: Studies in a Textile Art without Machinery. US
National Museum, Report for 1902:171-545; Washington, 1904.
Miller, Ronald D. – The Chemehuevi Indians of Southern California. Malki Museum Press;
Banning, 1967.
Miller, Wick R. - Numic languages. In: W. d'Azevedo, ed. - Basin; Handbook of North American
Indians 11:98-106. Smithsonian Institution; Washington, D.C., 1986.
Moser, Chris L. - Indian Baskets of Central/Southern California. Riverside Museum Press;
Riverside, 1986/1993
Press, Margaret L. – Chemehuevi: a Grammar and Lexicon. University of California
Publications in Linguistics 92; Berkeley, 1980.
Robinson, Bert E. - The Basketweavers of Arizona. University of New Mexico Press;
Albuquerque, 1954.
Rogers, Malcolm J. – Yuman Pottery Making. San Diego Museum of Man, Museum Papers 2;
San Diego, 1936.
Sapir, Edward - The Collected Works of Edward Sapir, Vol. 10 (W. Bright, ed.). Mouton de
Gruyter; Berlin and New York, 1992.
Shimkin, Demitri B. – Introduction of the Horse. In: W.L. D'Azevedo, ed. – Great Basin.
Handbook of North American Indians 11:517-524. Smithsonian Institution; Washington, 1986.
Simmons, Virginia McConnell – The Ute Indians of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. University
Press of Colorado; Boulder, 2000.
37
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
Smith, Anne M. – Ethnography of the Northern Utes. Museum of New Mexico Publications in
Anthropology 17; Santa Fe, 1974.
Smith, G.A. and Simpson, R.D. - Basketmakers of San Bernardino County. San Bernardino
County Museum; Bloomington, 1964.
Steward, Julian H. – Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute. University of California
Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 33:233-350; 1933.
Steward, Julian H. - Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin 120; Washington, 1938.
Stewart, Kenneth M. - Chemehuevi Culture Changes. In: Plateau 40/1:14-21; 1967.
Stewart, Kenneth M. - A Brief History of the Chemehuevi Indians. In: The Kiva 34/1:9-27; 1968.
Tanner, Clara Lee - Indian Baskets of the Southwest. University of Arizona Press; Tucson,
1983.
Thompson, Gregory C. – Southern Ute Lands, 1849-1899: the Creation of a Reservation.
Occasional Papers of the Center of Southwest Studies 1; Fort Lewis College; Durango, 1972.
Tooker, Elisabeth - A Note on Undergraduate Courses in Anthropology in the Latter Part of the
Nineteenth Century. In: Man in the Northeast 39/1:45-51; 1990.
Whiteford, Andrew Hunter – Southwestern Indian Baskets: Their History and Their Makers.
School of American Research Press; Santa Fe, 1988.
Wroth, W. – Ute Civilization in Prehistory and the Spanish Colonial Period. In: W. Wroth, ed. –
Ute Indian Arts and Culture: 53-72. Taylor Museum; Colorado Springs, 2000.
Young, Richard K. – The Ute Indians of Colorado in the Twentieth Century. University of
Oklahoma Press; Norman, 1997.
38
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
NOTES
1
D'Azevedo 1986:113-160;173-194.
2
Hovens 1989:15-44.
3
Hovens 1989:16-21,192,198-200,205; cf. Hallowell 1965; Tooker 1990.
4
Hovens 1948b.
5
Hovens 1989:45-74.
6
Series 674 and 2012; Hovens 1989:131-154; 1995.
7
Hovens et al. 2004.
8
Hovens 1995.
9
Hovens 1991.
10
Hovens 1985.
11
Ten Kate 1885: 114-143.
12
Cf. Lowie 1924:219; Drucker 1937:2,263; Stewart 1967:16,20.
13
Cf. Rogers 1936:38; Baldwin 1950:52.
14
Lowie 1924:225-226; Rogers 1936:38; Baldwin 1950; Stewart 1967:16.
15
Fowler and Matley 1979:84,180-181.
16
1983:216-225
17
Laird 1973:106.
18
Cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16,29-32; Robinson 1954:142-147.
19
Cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16.
20
Cf. Lowie 1924:217-8.
21
Cf. Steward 1933:277.
22
Cf. Euler 1966:114-116).
23
Stewart 1967:19.
24
Hovens 1989; Hovens et al 2004.
25
RMV 362-125; cf. Fowler and Matley 1979:11,16-22.
26
Cf. Steward 1933:272-273; Fowler and Dawson 1986:725; McGreevy and Whiteford 1986; Fulkerson and
Curtis 1995:ix,32-34,38-39.
27
Ten Kate 1885:307-336.
28
Ten Kate 1885:307-336.
29
Goss 2000:47-49.
39
INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE
PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR ©
Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology
30
Cf. Fowler and Matley 1979:79-80,173; Wroth 2000: 118-119.
31
Cf. Stewart 1968:24-25.
32
Clemmer and Stewart 1986:538.
33
Cf. Jefferson et al., 1972:29-40; Thompson 1972:19-30; Delaney 1989:29-57; Young 1997:15-38;
Simmons 2000:182-190, 210-215.
34
Jefferson et al. 1972: 54; Simmons 2000:193,210.
35
Cf. Hovens 1984a.
40