VOCABULARIES OF NORTH AMERICAN LANGUAGES. 
101 
YUMA. —Continued. 
XVIII. CUCHAN. 
XIX. Coco-Maricopa. 
XX. Mojave. 
XXI. Diegeno. 
pootivurris-coo-qult’ 1-hue 
n’ya-pee-t&wa 
poo-ee-pia-a 
n’ ya-coquayo-asa-ho 
li’ya-aha-asay 
n’ya—quar-quac-asde 
n’ ya-hut-n’ yay-pilyay 
n’ ya-hut-pour-y’ ayo 
n’ ya-hut-rueton-yat’ 1-ninia 
He was there_ 
T fir ink water_ 
T drink rum 
I have a horse_ 
I had a horse yesterday_ 
I shall have a horse to- 
morrow 
Remarks. 
The Yumas are a nation of aborigines divided into a number of tribes, which dwell on either 
side of the Rio Colorado. 
Cuchans .—According to Whipple, this branch of the Yuma nation numbers about 5,000 per¬ 
sons. They live in villages on both banks of the Rio Colorado, within about twenty miles of 
the Rio Gila. They are a noble race, well-formed, active and intelligent. Their clothing 
consists of the breech-cloth, and they exhibit the usual Indian fondness for paint. They are 
proud of their hair, and take great pains in dressing and trimming it. In front it is cropped 
off level with the eyebrows; but behind it is matted into plaits, and falls upon the back, reach¬ 
ing nearly to the ground. This fashion is followed by all the cognate tribes. Their women, 
besides attending to household duties, cultivate fields of maize and melons; Mr. Whipple 
remarks that he never knew one of them to be ill-treated. The Yumas are sprightly, full of 
life, gaiety, and good humor. 
The Cuclian vocabulary, which was collected by Mr. Whipple in the year 1849, during a 
sojourn of two months with the tribe, is believed to be the only one yet published. It was first 
printed in “Extract from a Journal of an Expedition from San Diego to the Rio Colorado, by 
A. W. Whipple,” and again in the second volume of Schoolcraft’s History, &c., of the Indian 
Tribes. Of the language of the Cuchans, Mr. Whipple says: “It seems wanting in none of 
the sounds we have in English, and they pronounce with great ease any English or Spanish 
word which they hear spoken.” For the system of orthography employed in this vocabulary, 
see introductory remarks. Mr. Whipple says in a note, “ The words marked with an asterisk 
(*) were learned from Pablo (Pablo Coelurn, by birth a Comoyei, but formerly chief of the 
Yumas or Cuchans) ; some of them were found to be of his native tongue, Comoyei, and proba¬ 
bly nearly all are. Those not marked have been tested by a reference to the native Cuchans. 
The phrases given were in daily use among us, and were well understood to convey the meaning 
given.” 
Coco-Maricopas .—This tribe was encountered by Father Kino at the end of the seventeenth 
century, and they are represented to have occupied the country south of the river Gila, near 
150 miles in length from its mouth upwards. Colonel Emory says : “We know the Maricopas 
have moved gradually from the Gulf of California to their present location in juxtaposition with 
the Pimos. Carson found them, so late as the year 1826, at the mouth of the Gila; and Doctor 
