According to Wikipedia:
Miwok (also spelled
Miwuk,
Mi-Wuk, or
Me-Wuk) can refer to any one of four linguistically-related groups of
Native Americans, who lived in what is now
Northern California, who spoke one of the
Miwokan languages in the
Utian family. The word
Miwok means
people in their native language. There are four geographically and culturally diverse ethnic subgroups of Miwok people, each with a different history and culture, as follows:
Generally all Miwok were a
hunting and gathering people who lived in small bands without centralized political authority before contact with European Americans in 1769 and generally
Miwok mythology and narratives were similar to other natives of Northern California. Miwok believed in animal and human spirits, and saw the animal spirits as their ancestors.
Coyote was their ancestor and
creator god.
In 1770, there was an estimated 500 Lake Miwok, 1,500 Coast Miwok, and 9,000 Plains and Sierra Miwok, totaling about 11,000 people, according to historian
Alfred L. Kroeber, although this may be a serious undercount, for example he did not identify the Bay Miwok.
[2] The 1910 Census reported only 670 Miwok total, and the 1930 Census 491, see history of each Miwok group for more information.
[3](Wikipedia contributors, "
Miwok," accessed 2/16/08)
This reference first appears on page 203.
Robinson use this refrence to show that Klem are in the New World near present day San Fransico.