Chapter 14 

 THE ORIGIN OF THE INHABITANTS OF THIS MISSION. 



Since all the knowledge of these Indians about their antiquities is 

 entirely fabulous, the present chapter, which deals with the first popu- 

 lators of this Mission and its environs, will not contain less that is 

 fabulous and ridiculous than the preceding ones. I write it merely in 

 order that we may know from what region they came and by what ])er- 

 sons the}' were chieftained, and also because it is a very strange and 

 curious account. 



The ])lace from which those who populated this Mission and its 

 environs came was a land or place called Scjdf, at which place or 

 rancheria the inhabitants were called Puhuiem, which signifies : people 

 of the land or place Sejat (this place Sejat is distant from this Mission 

 about 7 or or 8 leagues, and it is in the valley which they call Los Nietos 

 Ranch). This city or rancheria of Sejat had many inhabitants. The 

 chief, named Oyaison, which means wise, and his wife, named Sirorum, 

 had 3 daughters, named Coronne. Uuinagram, and Uiuiojam. Chief 

 Oyaison after the death of his wife, seeing the multitude of people at 

 his rancheria and that the seeds which that country produced were 

 not sufficient for supporting that multitude, separated from the rest 

 many families of his rancheria, all those [families] which wished to 

 follow him, and with his oldest daughter, Coronne, they took trail in 

 a southerly direction in search of good sites for settling. 



They came to a place about a quarter of a league before reaching 

 this Mission (I have not been able to determine, because the Indians 

 do not know, how many days or journeys they spent from the land 

 of Sejat to this place), where there is a spring of water. There they 

 halted and made a camp, since it appeared to them to be a place 

 suitable for living. When all of them had already settled at this 

 place, having built their houses and established their town. Chief 

 Oyaison returned to his country of Sejat, leaving with these new 

 settlers as chieftainess his daughter Coronne. The said Coronne was 

 an unmarried girl, but already grown up, and to this place they gave 

 the name of Putuidem, which means navel sticking out, because the 

 said Coronne had a lump at her navel. Note:— The Indians do not know if 

 she had this lump which she had at her navel from the time she was born or if 

 it came out on her while they were staying at this place. It is very likely that 

 the said lump appeared while at this place, for if she had had it since her birth, 

 they would have named her Putuidem and not Coronne. Be the matter as it may, 



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