12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 44 
from the Gulf of California to the sierras. Their territory connected 
on the north with that of the Lower Pima and on the east with that 
of the Tarahumare. It seems that on the southeast, as early as the 
sixteenth century, they were in contact chiefly with people speaking 
a Nahuatl idiom. 
But three dialects—Yaqui, Mayo, and Tehueco—are usually men- 
tioned. Pimentel (1, 453) says of the group, ‘‘It is divided into three 
dialects, Yaqui, Mayo, and Tehueco.”’ Buelna (x) limits them to the 
same three, and Balbi gives Zuaque, Mayo, and Yaqui. In his classi- 
fied list Orozco y Berra (1:58) names Yaqui, Mayo, Tehueco, and 
Vacoregue, and Brinton (8: 125) names the Tehueco, Zuaque, Mayo, 
and Yaqui as subtribes. Hervas (322) concludes from his study of 
Ribas’s work that the following dialects were recognized: Yaqui (which 
he makes equivalent to Sinaloa), Zuaque, Mayo, Ocoroni, Tehueco, 
Conicari, Chicorata, Cavenata, Ahome, and Guazave. (As to Ocoroni, 
Conicari, Chicorata, and Ahome, see notes below.) Cavenata is 
merely the name of a pueblo given nowhere else as a dialect. 
As there appears to be no difference of opinion in regard to Yaqui, 
Mayo, and Tehueco being dialects of the group, it will be necessary 
to refer only to the early historical evidence regarding localities. 
As it has been suggested by Doctor Kroeber that the term Cahita 
is merely the native word meaning ‘‘nothing,’”’ and is therefore 
inappropriate as an ethnic designation, the name ‘‘ Yaqui group” 
(from that of the best known tribe) has been adopted as more 
appropriate. 
The Indians using the Yaqui dialect are almost universally located 
by our authorities on the Yaqui river; there are, however, some 
exceptions which will be referred to. The first notice of them is 
probably that in the Segunda Relacién Andénima of the journey of 
Nuno de Guzman, between 1530 and 1540.1. It is stated in this - 
(11, 8300-302) that after passing over the Rio de Tamachola, which 
appears to be the Fuerte (as Alegre, 1, 231, implies), and traveling 
30 leagues, they came to a river called Mayo on which lived a tribe 
(‘‘gente’’) of the same ‘‘arte”’ and same language as those of the 
Sinaloa. Having passed on (northward), they came to another 
stream called Yaquimi, well peopled, ‘‘y los pueblos del arte de los de 
Cinaloa y de Mayon.”’ The writer adds on the next page, ‘‘ Desde el 
Rio de Petatlan hasta el de Yaquimi es todo una gente.’ That the 
Petatlan is the same river as that at present named Sinaloa is 
affirmed by Alegre (1, 231). 
As there is some confusion in regard to the use of the names Sinaloa 
(or Cinaloa) and Zuaque as applied to tribes, and also some confusion in 
regard to the location of some of the tribes, it seems advisable first to 
give theevidence relating thereto. Hervas(323), quoting the following, 
1In Colee. Doc. Hist. Mex.; see Icazbalceta in the Bibliography. 
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