BULL. .j(»J 



YUMAM YUMAN FAMILY 



1011 



nologic, 370, 1S77 (Apache name for Yuma and 

 Tulkepaia). Kutchan.— ten Kate, Reizen in N. A., 

 Ill, 18S5. Kutzan. — Ibid. Kwitoan". — Harring- 

 ton in Jonr. Am. Folk-lore, x.xi, 324, 1908 (own 

 name). Octguanes. — Farnham, Travels, 105, 1844. 

 Q,ichun. — Curtis, Am. Ind.. ll, llt>, 1908 ('people': 

 Yuma name). Tumayas.— Bollaert in Jour. Eth- 

 nol. Soc. Loud., II, 276, 1850 (misprint). Umahs. — 

 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, I, 519, 1851. TJmeas. — 

 Pattie, I'ers. Narr, 137, 1833. TJmene.— Ibid.. 91. 

 Yahmayo.— Hardy, Trav.in.Mex., 372, 1829 (= 'son 

 of the captain,' evidently the origin of " Yuma"). 

 Yamas. — Ibid., 438 (mis|)rini; "so named for the 

 e.xtraordinarv length of their hair"). Yavepe- 

 Kutchan.— ten Kate, Keizen in N. A., 198, 1885. 

 Yoem. — Ibid., IHO (Pima name). Yum. — Curtis, 

 Am. Ind., ll,110, 1908 (Pima name). Yuma. — Kino 

 (1690) in Doe. Hi.st. iMex., 4th s., i, 230, 1856. 

 Yumayas.— Duflot de Mofra.s, Expl., i, 355, 1844. 

 Yump.— Curtis, Am. Ind., ll, 112, 1908 (Papago 

 name). Yumsa.— Taylor in Cal. Farmer, June 13, 

 1862. Yurmarjars. — Simpscm in Rep. Sec. War, 57, 

 1850. Yutcama. — Sedelmair (1750) quoted bv Ban- 

 croft, No. Mex. States, i, 541, 1884. 



Yumam. A former Maidu village on the 

 site of Oroville, Butte co., Cal. — Dixon 

 in Bull. Am. Mas. Nat. Hist., xvii, map, 

 1905. 



Yuman Family. An important linguistic 

 family wlio.se tribes before being gathered 

 on reservations occupied an extensive ter- 

 ritory in the extreme s. w. portion of the 

 United States and n. Lower California, in- 

 cluding much of the valley of Colorado r., 

 the lower valley of the Gila, and all of ex- 

 treme s. California. The family was for- 

 merly supposed to include also the Seri. 

 of w. Sonora and Tiburon id. in the Gulf 

 of California, but these have been deter- 

 mined to belong to a distinct stock (the 

 Serian) bearing no linguistic relation to 

 any of the tribes within the United States, 

 while the tribes that occupied the s. half of 

 Lower California, so far as can be judged 

 from the meager linguistic evidence, 

 belong to another family yet unnamed. 

 These latter were distinguishable from 

 the Yuman tribes as being probably the 

 lowest in culture of any Indians of North 

 America, for their inhospitable environ- 

 ment, which made them wanderers, was 

 unfavorable t(j the foundation of govern- 

 ment, even of the rude and unstable kind 

 elsewhere found. The names of a large 

 number of rancherias or villages have 

 been preserved, and as many of these 

 antedated mission rule, they indicate 

 that their occupants had at least entered 

 upon a rude social life and lived under 

 some sort of recognized authority, though 

 less definite and binding than among 

 most other tribes. There are also the 

 names of not a few of the divisions 

 usually termed tribes, but the limits of 

 country claimed by these and their inter- 

 relations are almost unknown. Father 

 Baegert, who is perhaps the best authority 

 on the Lower California Indians, gave 

 five distinct languages, which represented 

 as many divisions or groups of trilies. 

 These were, from the north southward: 

 Cochimi, Laimon (usually considered a 

 branch of Cochimi), Waicuri, Uchiti 



(usually considered a branch of Waicuri), 

 and Pericu. Of these, however, only the 

 Cochimi can be definitely regarded as 

 Y'uman. Later authorities usually recog- 

 nize but three linguistic divisions for 

 Lower California, viz, Pericu, Waicuri 

 (a distinct stock), and Cochimi, the last 

 occupying the peninsula n. of aVjout lat. 

 26°. This is a very unsatisfactory group- 

 ing, as it is improbable that a single lan- 

 guage, the Cochimi, extended over 6 de- 

 grees of latitude; but it is the best that 

 can be made in our present lack of knowl- 

 edge, and the linguistic groups may be 

 accepted as divisional names under which 

 to group the numerous rancherias in 

 which these now extinct triljes lived. 



Passing from the s. to the n. end of the 

 peninsula a marked change for the bet- 

 ter was o))served. The social groups ap- 

 pear to have been better defined; the 

 tribes made fine basketry and pottery, 

 and in many other ways were further 

 advanced. They lived in conmiunal huts, 

 very well constructed of cotton wood and 

 well thatched. No better example of the 

 power of environment to better man's 

 condition can be found than that shown 

 as the lower Colorado is reached. Here 

 are tribes of the same family, remarkable 

 not only for their tine physical develop- 

 ment, but living in settled villages with 

 well-defined tribal lines, practising a rude 

 but effective agriculture, and well ad- 

 vanced in many primitive Indian arts. 

 The usual Indian staples were raised ex- 

 cept tobacco, these tribes preferring a wild 

 tobacco of their region to the cultivated. 

 None of the Colorado r. tribes borrowed 

 the art of irrigation from the Pueblo peo- 

 ples, consequently their crops often suf- 

 fered from drought. All of them de- 

 pended more or less on the chase — the 

 river tribes less, those of the interior 

 more. Mezquite beans, pifion nuts, tor- 

 nillas, and various seeds and roots were 

 important articles of food. None of them 

 were boatmen; in crossing rivers and 

 transporting their goods they employed 

 rude rafts, or balsas, made of bundles of 

 reeds or twigs. Apparently all the river 

 tribes cremated their dead, and with 

 them all articles of personal property. 

 The climate favored nudity, the men 

 wearing only the breechcloth, and not 

 always that, while women were content 

 with a short petticoat made of strips of 

 bark. 



Regarding the character of the tribes 

 of the Rio Colorado in the 18th century. 

 Fray Francisco Garces (Diary, 1775-76, 

 435, 1900) says: "The Indian men of 

 its banks are well-formed, and the Indian 

 women fat and healthy; the adornment 

 of the men, as far as the Jamajabs [Mo- 

 have], is total nudity; that of the women 

 is reduced to certain short and scanty 



