Just Before Sunset

Book excerpt: The history, way of life, beliefs, and customs of the Kwaaymii (the Laguna Band of Mission Indians) as remembered by Tom Lucas, the last Kwaaymii. A revised edition of Cline's 1979 The Kwaaymii: Reflections on a Lost Culture, which describes life for the Kwaaymii, also known as Mountain Kumeyaay (now known as the Laguna Band of Mission Indians). The book describes food gathering and preparation, hunting, social and political customs, tools, houses, and everyday life. Cline also describes the beliefs of the Kwaaymii and the myths and legends which help perpetuate those beliefs. Maps, illustrations and several appendices add to the information about the culture. The book is based almost entirely on the contribution of one informant, Tom Lucas, the "last" of the Kwaaymii. Tom Lucas, born February 20th, 1903 was the last full-blooded Kwaaymii. The Kwaaymii of the Laguna Mountains was a sub-tribe of a larger group of Indians who at one time inhabited the southernmost section of California. The 1860 smallpox outbreak and the 1918 influenza epidemic had taken a heavy toll of the Kwaaymii people, and Tom was the only way they had of continuing the Kwaaymii heritage, so the tribe told him all they could pass on about their people¿s customs and beliefs. Tom Lucas died in 1989.Lora L. Cline interviewed Tom Lucas about the history, way of life, beliefs, and customs of the Kwaaymii in order to write The Kwaaymii: Reflections on a Lost Culture in 1979. That book was revised and expanded and published as Just Before Sunset by J and L Enterprises in 1984; this book, and illustrated it with his daughter SuSaan¿s drawings and Lora¿s illustrations and maps plus historic photos from the Lucas family collection. A long-time resident of California, Cline now lives in Arizona.