To the Pomo Indians of Northern California, death or misfortune are never due to natural causes or to chance, but always to hostility or retaliation. The hostile one may be a supernatural creature or another person whom one has wronged or whom one fears. The supernaturals punish for broken taboos. Most of the important aspects of life are hemmed in with taboos involving such things as birth, death, sexual relations, menstruation, hunting, fishing and the weather. Every Pomo is afraid of being the object of sorcery by his own or his family's enemies. He himself has directly or indirectly participated in magic chants to kill these enemies and therefore he expects them to