The Chemehuvi live in southeastern California. They were once a nomadic tribe, ranging from the Maria Mountains to the south as far as Death Valley in the North.

They built 4 kinds of houses. A house with a framework of willow branches tied together at the top and thatched with brush might be built when traveling if it looked like rain. Another type of house, for longer stays, was made by driving willow saplings into the ground to form a circle, tied together at the top, and thatched with brush. A winter house was made by putting up four cottonwood posts, and then piling brush up the sides and over the top, and then filling the sides with earth. Carobeth Laird, in her book, "The Chemehuvis" says that the front wall of such a house might be 3 feet thick.

Finally, a large flat house was made to contain the goods to be burnt or given away during the Mourning Ceremony, and a ramada or shade house by putting up four notched posts and then a roof and a sloping wall on the west side.

They wove women's aprons from yucca fiber, and made feather capes to be worn by important people. They also made baskets out of willow. They grew corn, beans, pumpkin and melon. In late September or October they sowed they crops on land that was watered by Colorado River overflow, and then went into the desert to hunt and gather pine nuts. They also ate the fruit of yucca, and screwbean mesquite and mescal cactus. They hunted mountain sheep and deer, and caught rabbits. They would return to consume the harvest in April Hunting territories were owned, by owning the song that belonged to that territory, such as the Deer Song or the Mountain Sheep Song.

The Chemehuevi had noble families, or families of High Chiefs, who were allowed to wear turquoise and eat quail-beans (black-eyed peas). Their office was hereditary, like the ownership of the songs. Only the High Chiefs could sing the "Talking Song" which was sung during the Mourning Ceremony. For this ceremony a knotted string was prepared for each group to be called to attend. The string had knots for the number of nights to pass before the ceremony, and messengers to bring the string would untie a knot for each night they spent on the way. When he reached the group, they would gather together their gifts and go to the place where the ceremony was held. An eagle skin with its feathers was placed in the offering house. The Chemehuvi buried their dead, unlike most of their neighbors, who cremated them. They might burn some of the deceased person's possessions, however.

Besides chiefs, the Chemehuvi also recognized shamen, who could heal (and also harm) and whose power was concentrated in their wooden staff, or poro. A shaman got his power from one or more spirit-animal helpers, and he found his helpers through a dream. Shamen owed special songs. A person might take datura to have magical dreams. Another social position in the Chemehuvi society was a Runner. The Runners were young men, and they carried the High Chiefs' messages. They considered themselves to be one family and called each other "brother" or "cousin".

The Chemehuvi's nearest neighbors were the Mohave. They fought with them, but also intermarried. They looked down on the Mohave for eating fish, which Chemehuvi would not eat, while the Mohave criticized the Chemehuvi for eating lizard. Reservation in San Bernadino County is situated on the Colorado River bank. Chemehuvi also live on the Colorado River Reservation in Yuma County. They celebrate National Indian Day, the last Friday in September. There is a campground for visitors. If you have come to this page from the Yuman page, you might want to return there.

The Kawaiisu live in the Tehachapi area, south and east of Bakersfield. The name Kawaiisu is the Yokut name for them. They were foothills dwellers, subsisting mainly on acorns, but as indicated in Maurice L. Zigmond's "Kawaiisu Ethnobotany" they harvested and used many other plants as well. Their bedrock mortars for processing the acorns are shown in a photo of Nettle Springs, Sand Canyon, Tehachapi, in Judy Barras' book "Their Places Shall Know Them No More." They gathered salt from Khoen Dry Lake in the Mohave desert to the east. They hunted antelope by making a 2 to 4 mile diameter circle around and area and walking toward the center until they could see and shoot the antelope. They traded with the Vanyume, the Kitanemuk and the Alliklik to the south. They also got concave based and double-notched based arrowheads from the Tubatulabal. They believed in a mysterious being called the Rock Baby, who can be heard crying sometimes. To hear its cry foretells death. What may be a drawing of this rock baby exists in the Creation Cave in Sand Canyon, and it may sometimes be visited, by arrangement with the local historical society. The tribal council holds a big time celebration in late June.

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