YUKI

four groups of North American Indians who lived in the Coast Ranges and along the coast of northwestern California, U.S. They spoke distinctive languages unaffiliated with any other known language. The four Yuki groups were the Yuki proper, who lived along the upper reaches of the Eel River and its tributaries; the Huchnom, who dwelt in the Redwood Valley to the west; the Coast Yuki, who were distributed farther westward along the redwood coast; and the Wappo, who occupied an enclave among the Pomo, some 40 miles (65 km) southward in the Russian River valley. Only the linguistic identification links the Wappo with other Yuki; culturally they were like the Pomo. The other Yuki groups were organized into communities composed of several scattered settlements or villages occupying a natural area. Each settlement had its own chief, but there was also a head chief for the community as a whole. There were also a war leader, a dance director, and a shaman, or medicine man. Warfare was apparently frequent between certain communities, between the different Yuki groups, and with other Californian Indians. (The Coast Yuki were generally an exception, usually maintaining friendly relations with their neighbours.) Trade was prevalent among all groups, inland people trading such items as furs with coastal groups, who returned a variety of seafood and shells. Clamshell beads were used as currency. For food, the Yuki fished, mostly for salmon, gathered acorns, and hunted such animals as bear and deer, though the Coast Yuki relied more on seafood. Interior groups dwelt in domed, earth-covered houses; Coast Yuki had conical houses of bark. All groups had large dance houses and sweat houses. Religious belief centred generally on two contrasting deities, a creator, whose actions were essentially well intended, and another deity, sometimes associated with thunder, who might help but might also blunder or do evil. Usually the creator was the supreme god of the two, but among the Coast Yuki he had disappeared, and only Thunder remained. All Yuki had a great array of ceremonies, rituals, and initiations. Compare Pomo.