{"id":"ESSENE1942-001","label":"Kato telbut, the poisoner's pointer","people_or_site":"Kato (Cahto) of Laytonville","country_current":"United States","historic_region":"California, Mendocino County, Cahto and Long valleys (Laytonville)","macroregion":"North America / California","local_name":"telbut","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A wooden bullroarer (telbut) of black oak or madroña, kept under the foot drum; in poisoning it was dipped and pointed, not whirled.","function_summary":"Dipped in poison and pointed at distant enemies to shoot sickness into them; only men worked it and women and children might not see it.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"essene1942_round_valley_ced","source_type":"culture_element_distribution","source_url":"https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar008-002.pdf","page_or_plate":"pp. 1–2, 24, 43, 62, 69","map_confidence":"medium_high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Laytonville rancheria, birthplace and home of Essene's Kato informants (pp. 1–2), in Cahto territory near Laytonville; no poisoner's or victim's site is given.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Kato, a telbut, the wooden bullroarer that roared in the boys' winter school, could also be aimed like a weapon. A poisoner dipped it in poison and pointed it at an enemy far away, to shoot sickness into him across the distance; a flint knife, a split-stick rattle or a coyote's leg bone and sinew served the same end. Poisoners were bound up with rattlesnakes: ground rattlesnake went into their poisons, and any man caught killing rattlesnakes was suspected of the craft. The telbut, cut from black oak or madroña, was kept under the foot drum in the dance house, and women and children were not to see it. The Kato said their poisoning owed much to the Pomo, whose poisoners they and their neighbours hired.","pull_quote":"Pointed at distant enemies to \"poison\" them.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Essene, \"Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley\" (1942), p. 24, element 977 (Kato).","term_gloss":"telbut: the Kato (Cahto) word for the bullroarer, made of black oak or madroña.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["snake","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":true,"sources":[{"citation":"Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, pp. 1–2, 24, 43, 62, 69","url":"https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar008-002.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, pp. 1–2, 24, 43, 62, 69","source_display":"Frank Essene, 'Culture Element Distributions: XXI—Round Valley', Anthropological Records 8(1) (1942): 1–97, pp. 1–2, 24, 43, 62, 69","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A wooden bullroarer (telbut) of black oak or madroña, kept under the foot drum; in poisoning it was dipped and pointed, not whirled.","function_display":"Dipped in poison and pointed at distant enemies to shoot sickness into them; only men worked it and women and children might not see it.","confidence_display":"medium to high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"kato laytonville","display_name":"Kato telbut, the poisoner's pointer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/pd_plates/dorseyvoth1902_mishongnovi_plateCI.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/pd_plates/dorseyvoth1902_mishongnovi_plateCI_thumb.jpg","alt":"Photograph inside the Antelope kiva at Mishongnovi, with priests standing behind seated participants.","credit":"Dorsey and Voth, The Mishongnovi Ceremonies of the Snake and Antelope Fraternities (1902), pl. CI","license":"Public domain","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/mishongnovicerem33dors","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A Kalehtaka whirling a bullroarer inside the Antelope kiva at Mishongnovi","pool_id":"auto-pd_plates--dorseyvoth1902_mishongnovi_plateCI","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"essene1942-001-kato-cahto-of-laytonville"}