A Botanical and Economic Study. 109 



having its own field of two or three acres. For about 

 four months of the year they were sedentary, dwelling in 

 houses built of poles and bark, covered with sods, while 

 the remainder of the time they wandered over the hunting 

 grounds. The Wichitas, Caddos and Pawnees were tribes of 

 this stock. 



The Pacific Coast tribes were not agriculturists. Their 

 food consisted of fish, roots, berries and game, the spon- 

 taneous products of land and water. 1 "They reject nothing 

 that their teeth can chew or their stomachs are capable of 

 digesting, however tasteless, unclean or disgusting it may 

 be." 2 We have evidence from other writers to the same 

 effect. :i 



The Pueblo tribes have long attracted attention, and they 

 may be divided for convenience into the following groups : 

 Shoshonean (Taiwan, Moqui), Zunian and Keresan. 



It is probable that further research will result in proving 

 the radical relationship of the Tanoan people to the Shosho- 

 nean stock. The Keresan pueblos are probably the oldest. 

 " Die Keres sind nach Pike der hauptsachlichste Bestand der 

 civilisirten eingebornen Volker in Neu Mexico, welche die 

 Ueberbleibsel von so alten Stammen sind." ' According to 

 Frank H. Cushing, the Nahua nations are a younger people 

 in civilization than the Keres, and as they moved south they 

 gradually absorbed the culture of their neighbors. The Zuni, 

 from their own traditions, borrowed their culture from the 

 Keres to the east. They occupy but a single pueblo on the 

 Zuni River in New Mexico. 



The Yuman stock occupied the valley of the Colorado and 

 the peninsula of Lower California. They were split up into 

 numerous tribes. Those on the peninsula were in the lowest 

 stage, without agriculture of any kind, and it is likely that 

 they represent the primitive condition of the Yumas, and 

 have always lived as at present. The principal tribes 



1 Smithsonian Report, 1887, 621. 



2 Rau, Trip Across Peninsula of California, Jesuit Priest, 1773. 

 :! Proc. Amer. Antiq. Soc, New Ser., II, 327. 



4 Buschmann. 



