326 



PUERTO PUJUNAN FAMILY 



[b. a. e. 



Puerto (Span.: 'gateway'). Mentioned 

 by Onate (Doc. Ined., xvi, 114, 1871) in 

 1598 with a number of other Keresan and 

 Tano pueblos of New Mexico, to one of 

 which groups it doubtless belonged. See 

 Tuerto. 



Puerito. — Bandelier in Arch. Inst. Papers, iv, 97, 

 1892 (misprinted from Onate). 



Puguviliak. A Yuit Eskimo village at 

 Southwest cape, St Lawrence id., Bering 

 sea. 



Poogooviliak.— Elliott, Our Arct. Prov., 457, 1886. 

 Poogovellyak.— Ibid. Pugupiliak.— Baker, Geog. 

 Diet. Alaska, 1902 (quoted as erroneous). Pugu- 

 viliak.— Nelson in 18th Rep. B. A. E., map, 1899. 

 Puhksinahmahyiks ('flat bows'). A 

 band of the Siksika, or Blackfeet. 

 Flat Bows. —Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales, 208, 

 1892. Puh-ksi-nah'-mah-yiks.— Ibid. 



Puichon. A former village, presumably 

 Costanoan, connected with Dolores mis- 

 sion, San Francisco, Cal. — Tavlor in Oal. 

 Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. 



Puimem {put 'east', mem 'water': 

 'eastern water,' the local native name for 

 Pit r. ). A Wintun tribe formerly living 

 on Pit r., Shasta co., Cal. 

 Pu'-i-mim.— Powers in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., ill, 230, 

 1877. 



Puimnk {pii-i 'east', moh 'people' : 'east- 

 ern people'). A Wintun tribe formerly 

 occupying lower Elder and Thomes crs., 

 Tehama co., Cal., and a strip of country 

 on the E. side of Sacramento r. They 

 were almost constantly at war with the 

 Noamlaki, a highland tribe, and were 

 finally forced by them to abandon their 

 own country. 



Pooemocs.— Powers in Overland Mo., xii, 531, 

 1874. Pu'-i-mok.— Powers in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., 

 HI, 230, 1877. 



Puisascamin. An unidentified tribe or 

 band formerly in the neighborhood of 

 Hudson bay or the upper lakes, trading 

 with the French.— La Barre (1683) in 

 N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., ix, 798, 1855. 



Puisu (Wintun: 'people living east'). 

 A tribe or subtribe of the Shastan family 

 (Curtin), or of mixed Copehan and Shas- 

 tan (Powers), formerly living at the great 

 bend of Pit r. , in Shasta co. , Cal. Curtin 

 makes them a part of the Ilmawi tribe. 

 According to Powers they were a mixed 

 people resulting from intermarriage be- 

 tween the Wintun and Shastan tribes. 



Madeqsi.— Curtin, Ilmawi vocab., B. A. E., 1889. 

 Pooesoos. — Powers in Overland Mo.,xii, 530, 1874. 

 Pu'-i-su.— Powers in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., in, 230, 

 1877. Pu'-shush.— Ibid. 



Pujetung. A spring settlement of Kin- 

 gua Okomiut Eskimo on an island in 

 Cumberland sd., near the entrance to 

 Nettilling fjord, Baffin land. — Boas in 6th 

 Rep. B. A. E., map, 1888. 



Pujunan Family. A linguistic family 

 named by Powell (7th Rep. B. A. E., 99, 

 1891) from a former Nishinam settlement, 

 properly called Pusune, between American 

 and Sacramento rs., Cal. As the family 

 includes only a single group, known as 

 Maidu (q. v.), a description of the tribal 



group serves also for the family. The 

 Maidu constitute one of the larger stocks 

 ofN. California and occupy the areaE. and 

 w. between Sacramento r. and the e. boun- 

 dary of the state, and n. and s. from the 

 vicinity of Lassen peak to the n. fork of 

 the Cosumnes. Within this area three 

 divisions of the Maidu may be recognized, 

 a Northwestern, a Northeastern, and a 

 Southern, each differing from the others 

 to some degree in language and culture. 



In all probability the S{)aniards, during 

 their occupancy of California, came in 

 contactwith representatives of theMaidu, 

 but little lias been recorded in regard to 

 them. The first appearance of these 

 people in literature dates practically from 

 the time of the U. S. exploring expedi- 

 tion in 1838-1842, when the overland party 

 traversed the entire Sacramento valley, 

 coming in contact with the Maidu and 

 with the other families of the region. 

 The acquisition of California by the U. S. 

 soon after this time, and the great im- 

 petus to immigration given by the dis- 

 covery of gold, put an end to the isolation 

 of the family, and, as the territory occu- 

 pied by the Maidu lay in the heart of 

 the mining district, led to their rapid de- 

 crease. A few were transferred at an 

 early date to reservations nearer the coast, 

 but to-day almost all the survivors are 

 scattered through the sierra and foothills 

 near the sites of their old homes. 



In general culture the Maidu may be 

 regarded as typical of the Indians of cen- 

 tral California. Living in permanent 

 villages they depended mainly on acorns, 

 seeds, and other natural vegetal products 

 for food, although fish and game, particu- 

 larly in the mountains, formed a portion 

 of their diet. Their dwellings were cir- 

 cular, conical-roofed lodges built of poles, 

 bark, brush, and grass, and often covered, 

 particularly in the Sacramento valley 

 region, with a heavy layer of earth. The 

 floor was sunk a foot or more in the 

 ground, and access was by a door at one 

 side, sometimes prolonged into a passage- 

 way, while a smoke hole at the top of the 

 structure gave light and ventilation. 

 Similar but larger structures served as 

 dance or assembly houses. Their arts 

 were few and simple. Where any method 

 of navigation was employed, they made 

 use of rude balsas, or of dugouts, pro- 

 pelled by poles. Bows and arrows were 

 their chief weapons, although spears and 

 slings were also used. In summer they 

 wore little clothing, the men often going 

 entirely naked. The men wore knitted 

 net caps, the women basket caps. Carv- 

 ing and painting were unknown, and the 

 chief means of expressing the esthetic 

 sense was in basketry, in the manufacture 

 of which the Maidu were very skilful, 

 making baskets of several types and orna- 



\ 



