The valley of the Colorado River in Arizona, the peninsula of California
and portions of the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, formed the
home of the Yuma stock. They were found in these regions by Coronado as
early as 1540, and own no traditions of having lived anywhere else. The
considerable differences in their dialects within this comparatively
small area indicates that a long period has elapsed since the stock
settled in this locality and split up into hostile fractions.
It has also been called the Katchan or Cuchan stock, and the Apache,
that being the Yuma word for “fighting men”; but we should confine the
term Apaches to the Tinneh (Athapascan) tribe so called, and to avoid
confusion I shall dismiss the terms Apache-Yumas, Apache-Tontos and
Apache-Mohaves, employed by some writers. The Yumas, from whom the stock
derives its name, lived near the mouth of the Colorado River. Above them,
on both banks of the river, were the Mohaves, and further up, principally
on Virgin River, were the Yavapai.
Most of the Yumas are of good stature, the adult males averaging five
feet nine inches high, well built and vigorous. The color varies from
a dark to a light mahogany; the hair is straight and coarse, the eyes
horizontal, the mouth large, and the lips heavy. The skull is generally
brachycephalic, but there are a number of cases of extreme dolichocephaly
(68).[124]
Animal totems with descent in the male line prevailed among the Yumas,
though they seem for a long time not to have regarded these matters
closely. In culture they vary considerably. The Seris or Ceris, who
formerly lived in the hills near Horcasitas, but in 1779 were removed to
the island of Tiburon, are described as thieves and vagrants, lazy and
wretched. They were exceedingly troublesome to the Mexican government,
having revolted over forty times. The boats they use are of a peculiar
construction, consisting of rushes tied together. As weapons up to recent
years they preferred the bow and arrow, and upon the arrow laid some kind
of poison which prevented the wounds from healing. Their dialect, which
is harsh, is related especially to the western branch of the Yuma stem.
They are described as light in color and some of them good-looking, but
filthy in habits.[125]
The Yumas and Maricopas were agricultural, cultivating large fields of
corn and beans, and irrigating their plantations by trenches. It is
highly probable that formerly some of them dwelt in adobe houses of the
pueblo character, and were the authors of some of the numerous ruined
structures seen in southern Arizona. The pottery and basket work turned
out by their women are superior in style and finish. A few years ago
the Mohaves of the west bank lived in holes in the earth covered with
brush, or in small wattled conical huts. For clothing they wore strips of
cottonwood bark, or knotted grass. Tattooing and painting the person in
divers colors were common. The favorite ornament was shells, arranged on
strings, or engraved and suspended to the neck. The chiefs wore elaborate
feather head-dresses.[126]
The Tontos, so-called from their reputation for stupidity, are largely
mixed with Tinné blood, their women having been captured from the
Apaches. Though savage, they are by no means dull, and are considered
uncommonly adept thieves.
Quite to the south, in the mountains of Oaxaca and Guerrero, the
Tequistlatecas, usually known by the meaningless term Chontales, belong
to this stem, judging from the imperfect vocabularies which have been
published.
The peninsula of California was inhabited by several Yuma tribes
differing in dialect but much alike in culture, all being on its lowest
stage. Wholly unacquainted with metals, without agriculture of any kind,
naked, and constructing no sort of permanent shelters, they depended on
fishing, hunting and natural products for subsistence. Their weapons were
the bow and the lance, which they pointed with sharpened stones. Canoes
were unknown, and what little they did in navigation was upon rafts of
reeds and brush.
Marriages among them were by individual preference, and are said not to
have respected the limits of consanguinity; but this is doubtful, as we
are also told that the mother-in-law was treated with peculiar ceremony.
Their rites for the dead indicate a belief in the survival of the
individual. The body was buried and after a certain time the bones were
cleaned, painted red, and preserved in ossuaries.
The population was sparse, probably not more than ten thousand on the
whole peninsula. At the extreme south were the Pericus, who extended to
N. Lat. 24°; beyond these lived the Guaicurus to about Lat. 26°; and in
the northern portion of the peninsula to latitude 33° the Cochimis.[127]
The early writers state that in appearance these bands did not differ
from the Mexicans on the other side of the Gulf. Their skulls, however,
which have been collected principally from the district of the Pericus,
present a peculiar degree of elongation and height (dolichocephalic and
hypsistenocephalic).