LINGUISTIC AND TRIBAL AFFINITIES 13 



whose books are more accessible. The account of the Indians is the 

 unique and valuable work, and the Life in California was really 

 written to serve as an introduction to this translation. This part 

 bears the following separate title : Chinigchinich : a Historical Account 

 of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions at the Missionary Establishment 

 of St. Juan Capistrano, Alta California: called the Acagchemem Nation, 

 collected with the greatest care from the most intelligent and best instructed 

 in the matter. By the Reverend Father Friar Geronimo Boscana, of the 

 order of Saint Francisco, Apostolic Missionary of said Mission. Trans- 

 lated from the original Spanish manuscript by one who was many years 

 a resident of Alta California. In his introduction Mr. Robinson says : 



The manuscript ends rather abruptly ; and it is uncertain if the holy 

 father ever intended it for publication. After his death, in 1831, it was found 

 among his effects, with other writings which came into the possession of the 

 syndic of the missions, who kindly presented it to me. 



Father Boscana's account is cast in the naive and pious language 

 of a Franciscan missionary, but he certainly gives us a very reliable 

 account of the Indians of the section in which his labors were cast, and 

 the dances, feasts, and customs as he describes them have been aston- 

 ishingly well preserved to the present day. His display of Indian 

 words is, however, meager. The words he gives us, for the most part, 

 relate to the ceremonies and social order of these Indians, so that they 

 are not especially helpful for our immediate purpose. The great value 

 of Chinigchinich is ethnographical and not philological. 1 



In 1852 a series of valuable papers on the " Indians of Los Angeles 

 County " were published in the Los Angeles Star, by Dr. Hugo Reid, 

 a liberally educated gentleman of Scottish birth, who resided at San 

 Gabriel for twenty years previous to his death in 1853, and whose 

 observations, recorded in the above papers, constitute undoubtedly one 

 of the most authentic accounts of the Indians of southern California. 

 Bartlett, in his Personal Narrative, writing of his visit to Los Angeles 

 in 1853, says : 



After dinner I called at the office of the Los Angeles Star to obtain a file 

 of the paper, which contains a series of articles on the California Indians. 

 .... These gentlemen informed roe that Mr. Reid was better acquainted 

 with the Indians of that portion of the state than any other person. 2 



1 The words in Boscana's narrative were most patiently examined by Buschmann. 



2 Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, 

 Sonora, and Chihuahua, connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, 

 during the years 1850, 51,52, and 53, by JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT, United States Commissioner during 

 that period; two volumes, illustrated, and maps. N. Y.: D. Appleton & Co., 1854. 



