WIYOT

southernmost of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast of North America. They lived along the lower Mad River, Humboldt Bay, and lower Eel River of California and spoke Wiyot, a Macro-Algonquian language. They were culturally and linguistically related to the Yurok (q.v.). Wiyot settlements were located on streams or bays, rather than on the ocean itself. The Wiyot rarely used the ocean for subsistence or for travel, preferring still water. Villages consisted of from 4 to 12 houses, probably averaging 30 people; there were also scattered settlements of one or two houses. In addition there were men's sweathouses, used for sleeping, working, and leisure as well as for regular sweat baths and purifications. The Wiyot were mainly fishers, catching salmon and other fish on the rivers and ocean shore. They also collected mollusks, especially clams, and trapped land mammals. Houses and canoes were made of coast redwood. Wealth was reckoned in dentalium shells, long obsidian knives, woodpecker scalps, white deerskins, and other objects. There were no formal chiefs or individuals vested with significant political authority, but wealthy men were influential as advisers. Disputes, even murder, were settled by the payment of dentalium shells as blood money. Wiyot shamans were mainly women; they acquired their powers on mountaintops at night. Some shamans only diagnosed disease; others cured by sucking out disease objects and blood. Although the Wiyot belonged to the Northwest Coast cultural area, their religion contained elements from the culture of central California, including a creator-god and many animal characters.