No. JSTEWARD1941-001
Fish Springs Northern Paiute wooden toy bullroarer
United States · Fish Springs, Owens Valley, Inyo County, California · North America · Great Basin
Play / practical
Source term: Bull-roarer
In the Owens Valley the bullroarer was a child's toy: a flat wooden slat swung on a thong from a short handle stick, whirled for the noise it made. Not horn — the mountain-sheep-horn blade belonged to Death Valley, over the range — and not weather. Steward found the Great Basin divided on this instrument, the southern half using it as a plaything, the northern half swinging it to make the wind blow. Fish Springs lies on the southern side of that line, and denied the wind outright.
Particulars
- Object
- A whirrer of wood, not the mountain-sheep-horn form.
- Function
- A toy; the wind-making use was denied here.
Source
Julian H. Steward, 'Culture Element Distributions: XIII, Nevada Shoshoni,' Anthropological Records 4:2 (1941), p. 307, element 1870; informant notes p. 214