OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 263 



2. Tesuque. It is impossible to form an opinion of the details of the Tesuque 

 system of relationship upon the fragment given in the Table. The relationship of 

 brother is in the twofold form of elder and younger, No-vi-pa-ra, and No-vi-te-u, 

 whilst elder and younger sister are designated by a single term, No-vi-pa-re. The 

 terms for father and mother are No-vi-cen-do, and No-vi-ca ; for son and daughter, 

 No-vi-a, and Novi-a-avrU'-lcive ; and for grandchild, Navrwi-ta-te-e. There is also, 

 which is quite unusual, a term for great-grandchild, Pa-pa-e. It also appears inci- 

 dentally that the children of brothers, of sisters, and of brothers and sisters, are 

 all alike brothers and sisters to each other, r Dr. Steck, who furnished what is 

 given of the system, remarks : " If the persons addressed are younger than the 

 speaker, they are called brother and sister; and of older, and particularly if of 

 advanced age, they are addressed as fathers or mothers. The Indian Jose Maria 

 Vigil, who gives me this information, is quite intelligent, and understands the system 

 of the Spanish in this country, who recognize third and fourth, and even fifth 

 cousins. The Indians only go to the third degree ; after that they address each 

 other as brother and sister, father or mother, according to age. Their system is 

 very limited, and very much like that of the Iroquois. You will notice that there 

 is no difference whether the person addressed is male or female, or whether older 

 or younger." These remarks are too general to indicate the nature of the system, 

 except, perhaps, the implication that it is classificatory in its character. 



The Laguna schedule, although incomplete, tends very strongly to show the pos- 

 session of the common system by the Laguna Village Indians, and inferentially by 

 the remaining nations. The time is not far distant when it will become an easy 

 matter to determine the question with certainty. In the mean time the great 

 question of the genetic connection, or non-connection of the Village Indians with 

 the Ganowanian family, must be left where this imperfect glimpse at their system 

 of relationship, and the other evidence adduced, leaves it, but with a strong proba- 

 bility of an affirmative conclusion. 



II. Village Indians of Central America. 



1. Chontal. The Chontal language is allied to the Maya of Yucatan. It also 

 affiliates with the Choi and Tzental of Chiapa. Whilst the Chontales proper 

 inhabit the region bordering Lake Nicaragua on its east side, the branch of this 

 stock, whose system of relationship is about to be considered, live in Mexico, in 

 the State of Tabasco. Dr. H. Berendt, who transmitted the schedule, remarks : 

 " The Chontal Indians live in the lower parts of that State [Tabasco], extending to 

 the east as far as the river Tulija, and to the west to the Rio Seco, the old (now dry 

 bed of the Orijalba, or Mescalassa, or Tabasco) river." Although great care was 

 taken by Don Augustin Vilaseca, of the city of Tabasco, to procure the Chontal 

 system, a misapprehension, frequently made by others, defeated the attempt. The 

 schedule, after being translated into Spanish, was placed in the hands of Guillermo 

 Garcia, an educated Chontal Indian living upon the Tabasco river. Misconceiving 

 the plan of the schedule, he fell into the error of translating the questions into the 

 Chontal language, which, of course, left them unanswered. The principal terms of 

 relationship are given, but the manner of their use in the collateral lines remains 

 unexplained. And since it is impossible to form any opinion of the system from 



