BULL. 30] 



SINALOA SINICU 



575 



goux.— Lapham, Inds. Wis., 4, 1870. Sinako.— 

 Brinton, Lenape Leg., 206, 1885. Singos.— Charle- 

 voix (1744), NewFr., V, 143, 1871. Sinojos.— Chau- 

 vignerie (1736) quoted by Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 

 III, 554, 1853. Towecenegos.— York (1700) in N. Y. 

 Doc. Col. Hist., IV, 749, 1854. 



Sinaloa (said to be contracted from sina, 

 a species of pitahaya; lobala, 'a round 

 object': hence 'round pitahaya'). A 

 division of the Cahita group of tlie Piman 

 family, inhabiting principally n. Sinaloa 

 and s. E. Sonora, Mexico, on the western 

 slopes of the sierras, about the headwaters 

 of Rio del Fuerte. There is considerable 

 confusion among early writers respecting 

 the application of the name. Hervas 

 (Cat. Leng., i, 322, 1800) identifies the 

 Cinoloa people with the Yaqui, although 

 Ribas (Hist. Trium., 142, 1645) had con- 

 sidered them a distinct tril)e living on 

 the headwaters of Rio del Fuerte. The 

 name hasalso been applied synonymously 

 with Cahita. The Sinaloa were described 

 in 1645 as being able to nmster 1,000 war- 

 riors. Their idiom was closely related to, 

 if not identical with, that of theTehueco. 

 They were probably absorbed by stronger 

 allied tribes. (f. w. h.) 



Cinaloas, — Ribas, Hist. Trium., 142, 1645. Sinaloa. — 

 Orozeo y Berra. Geog., .58, 1864. Sinoloa. — Casta- 

 neda (1.596) in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 515, 1896 (refer- 

 ring to their .settlement). 



Sinapa. A Calusa village on the s. w. 

 coast of Florida, about 1570. — Fontaneda 

 Memoir {ca. 1575), Smith trans., 19, 

 1854. 



Sinar. A Kinugumiut Eskimo village 

 near Pt Clarence, Alaska. 

 Sinarmete. — Jackson, Reindeer in Alaska, map, 

 145, 1896. 



Sinarghutlitun {Si'-na-rxHt-Ji'-iun, 'cata- 

 ract village'). A band or village of the 

 Chastacosta on the n. side of Rogue r., 

 Oreg. — Dorsey in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, 

 III, 234, 1890. 



Sindas-kun {SVndas kun, 'village on a 

 point always smelling' ). A Haida town 

 in the Ninstints country belonging to the 

 Kaidju-kegawai. — Swanton, Cont. Haida, 

 277, 1905. 



Sindatahls {SVndAt'ais, 'gambling 

 place'). A Haida town of a branch of 

 the Kuna-lanas family called Djus-hade, 

 formerly near Tsoo-skahli, an inner ex- 

 pansion of Masset inlet. Queen Charlotte 

 ids., Brit. Col. — Swanton, Cont. Haida, 

 281, 1905. 



Sinegainsee {Sine-gain^ -see, 'creeping 

 thing', i. e. 'snake'). A clan of the 

 Hurons. — Morgan, Anc. Soc, 153, 1877. 



Sinew. The popular term for the ten- 

 donous animal fiber used by the Indians 

 chiefly as thread for sewing purposes. 

 The fiber thus used is not, as commonly 

 supposed, the tendon from the legs, but 

 the large tendon, about 2 feet in length, 

 lying along each side of the backbone of 

 the buffalo, cow, deer, or other animal, 



just back of the neck joint. The ten- 

 dons were stripped out and dried, and 

 when thread was needed were hammered 

 to soften them and then shredded with 

 an awl or a piece of flint. Sometimes the 

 tendon was stripped of long fibers as 

 needed, and often the tendons were 

 shredded fine and twisted in the same 

 way as agave fiber. The Eskimo had a 

 twister like that used by the Pima, and 

 commonly plaited the fibers into fine 

 sennit; but most other tribes simply 

 twisted it Avith the hands or on the thigh. 

 Practically all the sewing of skins for cos- 

 tume, bags, pouches, tents, boats, etc., 

 was done with sinew, as was embroidery 

 with beads and quills. For binding to- 

 gether parts of woodwork sinew was 

 even more valuable than rawhide. One 

 of the more remarkable of its many uses 

 was as a spring in an Alaskan Eskimo 

 fox trap of Siberian origin. The elasticity 

 of sinew was known to many tribes, who 

 applied this material to the backs of bows, 

 either as a series of cords lashed on and 

 twisted by means of ivory keys (Eskimo), 

 or by fastening a layer of shredded sinew 

 to the back of the bow with glue, a method 

 employed by the Pacific Coast tribes and 

 some others. The enormously strong 

 sinew bowstring enabled the Indians to 

 employ powerful bows. The Klamath 

 recurving bow, for instance, will snap 

 any cord of vegetal material as if it were 

 pack thread. 



Another important use of sinew was in 

 feathering and pointing arrows. Some 

 tribes set arrowheads in such a way that 

 the sinew binding would soften in the 

 wound so that the head would remain 

 when the shaft was withdrawn. By 

 moistening the end of the sinew in bind- 

 ing the feather to the shaft, and in simi- 

 lar light work, it was made to hold fast 

 without the use of glue. Fishing lines and 

 cords for harpoons, etc., were frequently 

 of sinew; the rope over which hides were 

 worked in tanning was ordinarily made 

 of this material, ana arrowpoinfs were 

 once made entirely of buffalo sinew by 

 the Hidatsa. At present the pair from a 

 single cow is commonly rated among the 

 Plains tribes at 50 cents. (w. h. ) 



Singa. {SVilga, 'winter [village]'). A 

 Haida town, of the Kas-lanas family, 

 situated on the n. side of Tasoo harbor, 

 w. coast of Moresby id.. Queen Charlotte 

 ids., Brit. Col. — Swanton, Cont. Haida, 

 280, 1905. 



Sinicon. A former Chumashan village 

 near Santa Barbara, Cal. — Taylor in Cal. 

 Farmer, Apr. 24, 1863. 



Sinicu. A tribe or subtribe represented 

 at San Antonio de Valero mission, Tex- 

 as, between 1728 and 1739. It may be 

 identical with the Secmoc6 tribe (q. v.), 



