138 



OPASSOM OPATA 



[B. i.. E. 



Opassom. See Opos^smm. 



Opata (Pima: o-op 'enemy', o-otam 'peo- 

 ple'). A division of the Piman family, 

 formerly inhabiting the country between 

 the w. boundary of Chihuahua and the 

 Rio San Miguel in Sonora, Mexico, and 

 extending from the main fork of the Rio 

 Yaqui, about lat. 28° 30\ to 31 °, just below 



OPATA MAN. (am. MuS. NAT. HiST. , 



the s. boundary of Arizona, most of them 

 being settled about the headwaters of 

 Yaqui and Sonora rs. They call them- 

 selves Joyl-ra-ua, 'village people.' 



Physically the Opata may be consid- 

 ered good specimens of the Indian race. 

 They are not large in stature, but are 

 well-proportioned; their complexion is 

 not so dark as that of the Yaqui; their 

 features are regular and agreealjle. 



Prior to the advent of the Spanish mis- 

 sionaries, to whose efforts they readily 

 yielded, the habits and customs of the 

 Opata were generally akin to those of the 

 Pima and Papago n. and w. They are 

 described as of a submissive disposition, 

 with much regard for honesty and moral- 

 ity, and have always been friendly to the 

 Mexican Government in all the revolu- 

 tions and civil dissensions, except in 1820, 

 when a portion of them rebelled in conse- 

 quence of the injustice of a government 

 officer. After several engagements in 

 which the natives displayed great bra very , 

 they were compelled to submit, owing to 

 the exhaustion of their ammunition and 

 the great superiority in number of the 

 opposing Mexican forces. The humanity 

 and justice shown their prisoners in this 

 rebellion have been the subject of praise. 



The Opata houses were formerly con- 

 structed of mats and reeds, with founda- 

 tions of stone, and were more durable 

 than those of most of their neighbors. 

 Caves were also inhabited to some ex- 



tent by both the Opata proper and the 

 Jova, even in historic times. Owing to 

 the ruggedness of the country they in- 

 habited, the tribe was divided into j^etty 

 isolated communities, among which dis- 

 sension frequently arose, sometimes end- 

 ing in actual hostility. Thus, the inhabit- 

 ants of Sinoquipe and Banamichi, in the 

 Sonora valley, were once confederated 

 against those of Huepac and Aconchi, 

 immediately s. This led to the construc- 

 tion outside the villages of defensive 

 works of volcanic rock, where an entire 

 settlement or several allied settlements 

 could resort in event of intertribal irrup- 

 tion. Besides this hostility, the tribe 

 was constantly harassed in former times 

 by the Jano, Jocome, and Suma — warlike 

 tribes believed to have been subsequently 

 absorbed l)y the Apache. While, as a 

 result of such invasions, a number of 

 Opata villages near the Sonora-Chihua- 

 hua frontier were abandoned by their in- 

 habitants, the inroads of these bands 

 made no such lasting impression as those 

 in later years by the Apache projier. 

 When unmolested, the Opata cultivated 

 small garden patches in the canyons, 

 which were nourished by water from 

 the mesas, the drift therefrom being ar- 

 rested by rows of stones. Hrdlicka (Am. 

 Anthrop., vi, 74, 1904) says there remain 

 no apparent traces of tribal organization 

 among them. Tliey have lost their lan- 

 guage, as well as their old religious beliefs 

 and traditions, dress like the Spanish 

 Mexicans, and are not distinguishable in 



OPATA GIRLS. (am. Mus. Nat. Hist.) 



appearance from the laboring classes of 

 Mexico. Their chief occupation is agri- 

 culture, their crops consisting principally 

 of maize, beans, melons, and chile. Some 

 of the men are employed as laborers. 

 The Jesuit census of 1730 (Bancroft, No. 

 Mex. States, i, 513-14, 1883) gives the 

 population, including the Eudeve and 



