312 ANNALS NEW YOBK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Lumholtz 3 and ErdliSka 4 in 1898—1902. The former did not visit 

 Azqueltan bnt met several members of the tribe. He speaks of the 

 Language as a branch or dialect of Nahuarl. Ilrdlieka, however, 

 paid Beveral visits to the pueblo and correctly classes the language 

 as a branch of the Tepehuane group. Other recent contributions to 

 the literature on the Tepecano are by Dr. Nicolas Leon 5 and Tho- 

 mas and Swanton. ° 



The Tepecanos were among the natives known to the Spanish 

 by the comprehensive term chichimecos. The question of the identity 

 of these Legendary people has been discussed by Thomas and Swan- 

 ton '' and by Hrdlieka. 4 It is certain that the Tepecanos formerly 

 occupied a more extensive area and probably populated the famous 

 city of Teul. With the now extinct kindred languages immediately 

 to the south, Tepecano probably formed the southernmost language 

 of the Pima group, which distinction it certainly possesses as present. 

 There can likewise be no doubt that they are practically, at least 

 from a linguistic standpoint, an isolated group of Tepehuane. The 

 Latter name is universally applied to them at present, though patri- 

 archs admit to the former name Tepecano. ' A casual inspection of 

 Tepehuane vocabularies and grammar s offers proof of the remark- 

 ably close resemblance between the languages. Moreover, a similar 

 observation proves the statement of early missionaries 9 that the 

 Tepehuane language differs little from the Pima, both upper and 

 lower. In fact, the Tepecano and the Pima of Arizona, the southern- 



Cabx LUMHOLTZ: Unknown Mexico. New York, 1902. (Edicion Espafiola, Nueva York, 

 1'JOI, 



1 Aii> HbduJka: "The Chichimeca and their Ancient Culture, with Notes on the Te- 

 pecanos and the Huin of Lu ( ( 'uein;ul:i. Mexico". American Anthropologist (n. b.), Vol. 5, 

 X". S, 1908. 



6 Nicolas Le6n: Familias Linguisticas dc Mexico. Mexico, 1902. 



• Cyrus Thomas and John R. Swanton: "Indian Langaagea of Mexico and Central 

 Lmerica". Bulletin It, Bur. Am. Eth., Washington, 1911. 



Dunn..' my first visit to Azqueltan the name Tepecano was denied by all informants. 

 < >n m\ aecond trip I was informed quite unexpectedlj bj an old patriarch that the true 

 mime of the tribe was "tepeka - n". 1 most therefore retract certain statements made mi 

 p. 3 t.'i of the Proceedings of the Will Intel national ( longress of Americanists, London, 1912. 



■ '1'he only Tepehuane grammar known in science is thai of Benito Rinaldini: 

 Gramalica, Dtcoionario j Cateoiamo; Mexico, 17-13. Francisco Pimento! give* a digest 

 in hi> Uuadro Deacriptivo y Comparativo de las Lengnas Indigenes de Mexico; Mexico, 

 1862, 1874. A copj of the original, which is of extreme rarity, is in the Ayre Col- 

 lection of the Newberry Library in Chicago. 



'' Obozi o \ l>i kh \ : op. cit., p. 37. 



