Etnemitane

Etnemitane belongs to the Takelma country of southwestern Oregon, and the available historical account describes the life of that wider people. Their villages gathered around the Rogue River, whose salmon supported a seasonal economy of fishing, hunting and gathering. Men caught fish with nets and spears, while women cleaned and dried the catch for storage. Preparation during spring, summer and early autumn supplied food for winter, making preservation as necessary as the harvest itself. Deer, elk, beaver and bear supplemented fish, and small mammals could be trapped by either men or women. Plant foods supplied nutrients that meat and fish could not provide in sufficient amounts. Acorns from Oregon white oak and California black oak, together with camas bulbs, were especially important; women also gathered seeds, roots and fruit. The Takelma cultivated native tobacco, their only recorded crop, and lived in small bands of related men and their families. The surrounding mountains delayed Euroamerican settlement until the nineteenth century.