Nahachish

The Religion of the Luiseño Indians of Southern California, by Constance Goddard DuBois, [1908], at sacred-texts.com

NAHACHISH. ²⁶⁰

One of the Temecula people was called Nahachish. He was a chief. He used to have in his house the limb of a tree cut into a hook and fastened up to hang food on. Some people broke the hook down. He became so poor that he had nothing to eat, and did not know what to do. He sang a song. ²⁶¹ He sang that he was going to leave that part of the country, but he did not know where to go.

He went to Picha Awanga, Pichanga, ²⁶² between Temecula and Warner's Ranch, and named that place. There were a lot of people there having a fiesta, and there was plenty of food. They passed everything to him, and there was a sort of mush of a light gray color. So he said, "My stomach is picha." So they called the place by that name.

Then he went over the mountain at George Cook's to Palomar mountain. There was no one there. The houses were empty. He stood looking and peering about, and could see no one. So he called the place Chikuli. ²⁶³

Then he went to a place, Poyarak, ²⁶⁴ where some of his family lived. They gave him so much to eat that he got sick and called the place Sukishva, ²⁶⁵ nettle. "My stomach is nettle," burns, he said. He was so poor that he did nothing but go from place to place to get something to eat.

There is a place below here where he washed his hands, and called it Kaiyawahuna. ²⁶⁶ He did this on a flat rock where one

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can still see his footprints, and see where he knelt on the soft rock. There are footprints of deer there too.

He came to La Jolla and called it Huyama; ²⁶⁷ and the place next to that he called Namila. ²⁶⁸ He went in a ravine ²⁶⁹ and called it Sovoyama, ²⁷⁰ because it felt chilly.

He made a sort of whistling noise and called the next place Puma. ²⁷¹

He saw people feasting when his stomach was empty, and called that place Yapichi, ²⁷² where the government Indian schoolhouse at Yapichi now is.

When he came to where Mendelhall lives now, the people were eating. He had a good meal there and called the place Tumka. ²⁷³

In the cañon he drank water and called it Pala, water, and Pame, little water. ²⁷⁴

He went on and came to Rincon. It was muddy there and he called it Yohama. ²⁷⁵

He came to Bear Valley, where he fainted from hunger. He called it Nakwama. ²⁷⁶

He came to the water. He had something with him in a basket, and this he threw out, and it still grows there in the water, a sort of greens, called Mawut.

Then he went below Pala to a place where they ground pinole for him so fine that he could not handle it, and was disappointed. They mixed it with poison to kill him. It made him sick, and he traveled toward home. He died on the way, and turned into a rock which still stands near Temecula, two or three miles south.

They say that a priest once went out and baptized this rock because the people told him it was a man.

Footnotes

151:260 See above under "Ceremonial Songs," record number 409.

151:261 See song record 409.

151:262 Pichaang, now Pichanga; Awa’, locative Awanga, now Aguanga or Aguango.—S. Awa, present series, IV, 147.

151:263 Chakuli.—S.

151:264 Poyarak.—S.

151:265 Shakishva, a place on Palomar mountain; shakishla, stinging nettle.—S.

151:266 Kayawahana.—S.

152:267 Huyamai, a place, not La Jolla.—S.

152:268 Namila, a place near La Jolla.—S.

152:269 A ravine between the Mission house and Leandro's place.

152:270 Sovoyamai, where the La Jolla schoolhouse now stands.—S.

152:271 Pumai, a hill on Potrero rancho.—S.

152:272 Yapichi.—S.

152:273 Tomka, valley on Potrero ranch.—S.

152:274 Pala, water; Pamai, in San Luis Rey cañon above Rincon.—S.

152:275 Yuhwamai, muddy place, near Rincon; yuhwala, mud.—S.

152:276 Possibly Makwimai, a place near Rincon.—S.