8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



shall see in the proper place, or by one more esteemed, than any other 

 man of those of the rancheria, with the result that in treatment and 

 life all were equal. 



5. This name Chichimeca means sucker or one who nurses, and since 

 the principal and usual food of these was animals which they hunted, 

 the meat of which they ate raw, and since they first sucked the blood 

 of the animal, from this they got the name Chichimeca. Perhaps among 

 themselves they may have had another distinct name which I do not 

 know. These Chichimeca people did not live stationary at a single place, 

 but from time to time moved from one place to another. They were 

 ignorant of medicine for curing their diseases, and they did not bury 

 the dead, but burned them. They did not use many idolatries, or 

 venerate many Gods, and for this reason they did not have sacrifices. 



6. Comparing then these Indians of California with the above 

 mentioned Chichimecas, we find them absolutely similar: For their 

 life was the same, because although they lived in towns and rancherias 

 having a chief, which these [Indians] called Not, he was without 

 police or laws, and to him they held very little obedience, as we shall 

 see. Their dress was the natural one, which is to go about in their 

 bare skins ; their subsistence animals and wild seeds ; their medicines 

 almost none ; and they also burned the dead. And in a word I find 

 them similar in every way; I speak of those whom I have [here] 

 treated and whom I have observed, who are the people of this Mission 

 and its environs. And I think that through all the Province they are 

 the same; I only find a difference in the Canalefios, who in many 

 things differed from these Indians [here], for one perceives in them 

 greater industry, a different bearing, and they buried the dead and 

 did not burn them. 



7. Only the diversity of languages which we find in the Province 

 causes me much difficulty for assuming that the entire Province 

 comes from that Chichimeca race, for each tribe appears to be of a 

 distinct language. For we should suppose that the Chichimeca 

 tribe would speak a single language, although from place to place there 

 would be certain different [terms], such as provincialisms, but in 

 general it would be the same [language] and all would have under- 

 stood each other ; but we find it so different that the Dieguino language 

 and that of this Mission neither in terms nor accents resemble each 

 other, nor can a single word be understood mutually. And I say the 

 same of the Canalefio language and the others of the north. If I am 

 told that certain tribes may have corrupted the primitive language, I 

 say that it may well be, but that there would always be a connection. 



