234 



PERKOSON PESCADO 



[b. a. e. 



mission, from 1885 to 1900; the Indian 

 Advocate, publislied monthly b}' the Bene- 

 dictine Fatliers of Sacred Heart Mission, 

 Okla. , beginning in Jan. 1889; TJie New In- 

 dian, monthly organ of the Indian Train- 

 ing School at Stewart, ]S'ev., beginning in 

 1903; The Indiati Advance, published 

 monthly by the Carson Indian School, 

 Carson, Nev., from Sept. 1899; and two 

 magazines recently established, one The 

 Native American, published by the Indian 

 School at Phtenix, Ariz., the other The 

 Indian Outlook, published monthly by 

 Rev. J. B. Rounds at Darlington, Okla. 



The only periodical in the Greenland 

 Eskimo, entitled Atiiagagdliutit, an 8-page 

 quarto paper, with woodcuts, has been pub- 

 lished irregularlyat Nungme (Godthaab), 

 since Jan. 1861. (w. e. ) 



Perkoson. See Poquosin. 



Pernyu. A Nuwukmiut Eskimo sum- 

 mer village on the w. shore of Elson bay, 

 close to rt Barrow, Alaska. Cf. Fevinak. 

 Pergniak.— officers (1849-53) cited bv Baker, Geog. 

 Diet. Alaska, 494, 1906. Perienak.— Baker, ibid. 

 Perignax, — Ray (1885) quoted bv Baker, ibid. 

 Pernyu.— Murdoch in 9th Rep. B. A. E., 84, 1892. 



Perquiman. An Algonquian tribe or 

 band living in 1700 on the n. side of Albe- 

 marle sd., N. C. — Mooney, Siouan Tribes 

 of the East, 7, 1894. 



Persimmon (an apocopated form of Re- 

 nilpe paslmenaii, 'dried fruit,' i. e. fruit 

 dried artificially; irom paslnieneu, 'he (or 

 she) dries fruit.' Fruit dried spontane- 

 ously would be pastmhi, ' dry fruit.' The 

 word is cognate with Nipissing paxtinlnan, 

 a name in that dialect for a raisin or a 

 dried huckleberry; Cree pashnlnan, a 

 name for any fruit dried artificially. Ac- 

 cording to J. P. Dunn (inf'n, 1907), among 

 the Miami and western Algonquian tribes 

 generally it is ptahkemtn). The fruit of 

 Diospyros virginiana, of the Ebenacete or 

 Ebony family, known also as date-plum, 

 or possum-wood. The tree is found over a 

 large part of the United States from Con- 

 necticut to Florida and from Ohio to 

 Texas. A species {Diospyros texana) is 

 known as Mexican persimmon, black 

 persimmon, chapote, etc. The Creole 

 name, plaquemin, is a corruption of Illi- 

 noisjnakimin (cf. Miami piahkimin) . The 

 early writers on the Virginian country 

 spelled the word in divers ways, as putch- 

 amm (Capt. John Smith, l%'i2) , pessem- 

 min (Strachey, 1610-1613), persimenu 

 (1648), parsimon, posimon, 2)utchimon, pit- 

 chiunon, persimon (Clayton, Flora Virg., 

 43, 156, 1743). This fruit, which resem- 

 bles a yellow plum, but is globular and 

 about an inch in diameter, is exceedingly 

 austere and astringent before maturity, 

 and, as Capi. John Smith (who was the 

 first to notice it, under the name of put- 

 chamin) observes, draws "a man's mouth 

 awry with much torment"; but, in the 

 fall, after bletting, and being softened by 

 the frost, it becomes sweet and fine-fla- 



vored. In the S. the fruit remains adhe- 

 rent to the branches long after the leaves 

 have been shed (a fact to which the name 

 mentioned l)y Smith alludes), and, when 

 it falls to the ground, is eagerly devoured 

 by wild and domestic animals. It was 

 much esteemed by the Virginia Indians, 

 who preserved it by drying it upon mats 

 spread upon frames or barbecues. It is 

 from the berries in the form of prunes 

 that the name, after undergoing many 

 vicissitudes of spelling, has been handed 

 down to us, that probably being the con- 

 dition in which the fruit was locally first 

 seen, by the English settlers, inuseamong 

 the Indians. The name of the fruit in a 

 fresh or growing state {putchamin or pit- 

 chamin) became obsolete at the beginning 

 of the third quarter of the 18th century. 

 The fruit is used in the S. for making a 

 beverage called ' ' persimmon ( or simmon ) 

 beer," which is much liked by country 

 folk, i ' Persimmon wine " is a spirituous 

 liquor obtained by distilling persimmon 

 beer. 



" Huckleberry above the persimmon" 

 is a Southern phrase meaning to excel 

 (Bartlett). "To rake up the persim- 

 mons" is a Southern gambling term for 

 pocketing the stakes, or gathering in the 

 "chips." "The longest pole knocks 

 down the most simmons" is a Southern 

 adage meaning that the strongest party 

 gains the day. "That's persimmons " is 

 a South ernism for "that's fine." The 

 hard flat seeds of the i^ersimmon were 

 used by the Algonquian Indians of Vir- 

 ginia in playing their inaviantuwdkan, or 

 dice game. (a. f. c. w. r. g. ) 



Peruka. The Frog or Toad clan of San 

 Felipe pueblo, N. Mex. 



Pe'riika-hano. — Hodge in Am. Anthrop., ix, 350, 

 1896 (hdno = 'people'). 



Pesawa (Meshdwd, 'elk,' from which 

 comes the word for 'horse.' — W. J.). 

 Given as the Horse gens of the Shawnee. 

 Uecawa. — Wm. Joues, inf'n, 1906. Pe-sa-wa'. — Mor- 

 gan, Anc. Soc, 168, 1877. 



Pescadero (Span, 'fisherman'). A for- 

 mer Yuma rancheria on the n. bank of 

 Gila r. , s. w. Arizona, visited by Anza and 

 Font in 1775. 



El Pescadero. — Anza and Font cited by Bancroft, 

 Ariz, and N. Mex., 392, 1889. 



Pescadero. A former pueblo of the Pima, 

 with 237 inhabitants in 1730. Situated in 

 N. Sonora, Mexico; definite locality un- 

 known. 



San Pablo del Pe'scadero. — Orozco y Berra, Geog., 

 347,1864. S.PabloPescadero.— Rivera (1730) quoted 

 by Bancroft, No. Mex. States, I, 513, 1884. 



Pescado (contr. from Span. Ojo Pescado, 

 'fish spring,' on account of numerous 

 small fish in a spring there; native name 

 Heshotatsinan, or Heshotatsinakwin, 

 'place of the pictographs ' ) . A Zuni 

 summer village about 15 m. e. of Zuili 

 pueblo, N. Mex. The pueblo was built 

 on the foundations of an ancient toM'n, 

 on the walls of which may still be seen 



