ETHNOGRH O ,C- DARYLI- FORDE'JD , . . s'r 5 k&' k{,1ie ' 8 .e '; .'.,, ,B 27, pi e 49-0 o' riue i( tet 2 r0 1 tab: rvlflW V A W O '. }t to S > H A J s 5 0 /^> u o / / iSs B ' * } i ; .0 ; e ~~ i * 9 s ; ^ - fK X NJ) .t t8',, ' _ ?,~.4,';i, '' ..r-' ''. ,'i NIVERSITY 'OF!COALtFOR -X, L"X#?<0 NIA PRES - ..:. vr r b..ERKL C 4FRQA f t ' . ,;: ,\f ' dS1031 T;' v ' .,:, ' 'S I, ,-,-, ',, u? ? I , I .. I . . I I .. f I I.. .. ,' ! 'i. t - , .m. I , .-. , . V." : - . . I! I . - 1 , - - . ' A1?T?1?vrMvTn?4? flAUfl IA', l 'Ax, AA, AGW-'t CAM Id _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - d W A A .W1 >: 0 ' ; '-- " .4Ap ,Ps AE -- :-:-; A . P M M - BA :- .; - , A-i-3-B ' ' ;< " -S I , >:, ! ,.- AR--, ..: .; :; : ,vS,r ' ,. 'u,1' ;', O K', , . . E . , *: *U W - PAE zz ,. R AntroPO 91 { - L?hol6~~AA, - t- L'Anthropokgie Americn A*tbiopoldgis ;~~~4 .-u O f oBt C Ax- e-ricai thal $gica1 Society, ub1Iatlit;;@-s. A,5 opp4egA: ishe Ges1l;iatri hkWien, ulteli . >-n. ';t, Agilric2-ain Jomulot; Phyial'.. -, Anhrp1 'o,'y.r','/ *' '.. , '4,'r-imnerian &seum; of Xatutad Hfltery{ - /t F,; -A-- thrdpo1o+ea1 Paper.--i ,'' -,',,,,,'';- ,,'';, ,,, - A Xerx.u iofrs, A~thropIgcl Sel -h. M r u p Zipedit;on a. -; -- tXibut6sV to N.orth Aeran l thinolog. ;--- .-; -r ,-,.-- olu Uniyey, Oeutrib tionsa O'.. - orep: lI; Lor -?z fieird im of NatmPa.Hito'r-;- ?u:b.icatioii, ;nt;r; po- o :; l BerFe; 1 ;:: teiatioM?lon?jess of meraiti, sts (opti s iInt erlzationl or5a of Aeriaz Ll%uitic.^ - ;o, J1 of the Roy~~rp1cli Inttus. ; IVI-X useu of: the Ame:ioa&i fr Eeys Fi* 1IAd4i; ;-- N: ;T Indn Notes./> \ t1V .nia note anW4Xonoaph ZTi.. '.. Peabody-lWuaeiuiuse(of XIatvr Universit) ;- 1 ; - F ' b R ~ 2 ......... . r ;- Publi:e 2llseu (o ti Qi;ty of Milake -Bulein. ; V :-Socikt6 d.*s Aeisuite de Paris,3oirnal.-:---; - . - >-^-Ax=ual lepor ts ; ! ; ; ;C; oibtions W;t Knowledge: - t; l < &- -e:l;neoris Coletiona. ; -- 5 ;Univeu~tysof iIfona, PulicatonsinAeia Arthelgy - loi Pu; iation.A Un-itea State National mus eum- . z0 :0 b encA Xibi 7 ,VW ' 'eu , ; eportpos.io Poedi-ngs Universitya. of m Weron iual. uAobooigy ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE YUMA INDIANS BY C. DARYLL FORDE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCIIAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Volume 28, No. 4, pp. 83-278, plates 49-57, 17 figures in text, 2 imiaps, 1 table Issued December 12, 1931 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND ETHNOGRIAPHY OF THE Y-UMA INDIANS BY C. DARYLL FORDE CONTENTS PAGE Preface ............................................................. 85 Introduction ............................................................. 88 The Lower Colorado region ............................................................. 89 Aboriginal conditions ............................................................. 92 Territory and settlements ............................................................. 98 External relations ............................................................. 104 Linguistic relations ............................................................. 106 Food supply ............................................................. 107 Agriculture ............................................................. 107 Planted grasses ............................................................. 113 Land ownership .............................................................. 114 Gathered seeds and fruits ............................................................. 115 Tobacco ............................................................. 117 Hunting ............................................................. 118 Feasts ............................................................. 118 Fishing ............................................................. 119 Seasons ............................................................. 120 Houses ............................................................. 120 Pottery ............................................................. 123 Basketry ............................................................. 124 Weaving ............................................................. 126 River navigation ............................................................. 127 Songs ............................................................. 127 Musical instruments ............................................................. 130 Gaines .............................................................. 132 Leadership ............................................................. 133 Sibs ............................................................. 142 Genealogy ............................................................. 147 Kinship .............................................................. 148 Personal names .............................................................. 149 Boys' initiation rite ............................................................. 150 Girls' puberty observances ............................................................. 152 Tattooing ............................................................. 155 Marriage ............................................................. 155 Transvestites ............................................................. 157 Birth customs ............................................................. 158 Warfare ............................................................. 160 Captives ............................................................. 168 Weapons ............................................................. 170 Clubs and spears ............................................................. 170 Bow and arrow ............ 170 Shields ............ 173 Training ............ 173 84 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 PAGE The creation ........................ 176 The soul and after life ....................... 179 Prayer ....................... 180 Medicine and magic ....................... 181 Sickness from natural causes ....................... 185 Dream poisoning ....................... 187 Soul loss ....................... 191 Sorcery ....................... 194 Charms ....................... 195 Snake bite cures ....................... 196 Rain makers ....................... 197 The doctor ....................... 198 Theories of disease ....................... 200 Dream vision ....................... 201 Herbal remedies ....................... 204 Sweat baths ....................... 205 Jimsonweed ....................... 205 Cremation rites ....................... 207 Funeral speech ....................... 212 Translation ........................; 213 The keruk or mourning ceremony ....................... 214 The myth of the first keruk ..................................... 214 Keruk ritual ..................................... 221 Keruk songs ..................................... 245 Songs for the making of the ceremonial shield ..................................... 245 Songs of the building of the keruk house ..................................... 249 The mourning ceremonies of neighboring peoples ..................................... 252 Mohave ..................................... 252 Halchidhoma ..................................... 253 Maricopa ..................................... 254 Cocopa ..................................... 254 Diegueio ..................................... 256 Southern Shoshoneans ..................................... 258 Serrafo ..................................... 258 Pass Cahuilla (Palm Springs) ..................................... 259 Comparative analysis ..................................... 262 The feathered staves ..................................... 265 The fringed shields ..................................... 269 Conclusion ..................................... 271 Bibliography ....... 273 Explanation of plates .............. 278 PLATES (Following page 278) 49. The Colorado River 50. Fort Yuma and Pilot Knob 51. Yuma types 52. Olla and storage basket 53. Bark twine weaving 54. Flutes 55. Bow and quiver 56. Funeral ground and shelter 57. Keruk house and attackers 1931] Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indi.ans 85 MAPS 1. Tribal distributions in the Colorado region 2. The Lower Colorado FIGURES IN TEXT PAGE 1. Rawhide sandals ........................................ 93 2. Agricultural tools ........................................ 112 3. Fishing nets and trap ........................................ 119 4. Sand covered house ........................................ 121 5. Aboriginal pottery forms ........................................ 123 6. Gourd rattle ........................................ 131 7. Deerhoof rattle ........................................ 131 8. Lower Colorado war clubs ........................................ 161 9. Cremation pyre ........................................ 210 10. The keruk ground ........................................ 224 11. Image frame ........................................ 230 12. Face paints and tattoo markings on image heads ........................................ 231 13. Female image ........................................ 231 14. Feathered stave ........................................ 233 15. The mimic attack ........................................ 235 16. Ceremonial shield ........................................ 240 17. Keruk house ceremonial ........................................ 241 TABLE Mourning ceremonies in the Lower Colorado region ........................................ 260 PREFACE The Yuma at the present time occupy a reservation on the west bank of the Colorado at the confluence of the Gila, immediately north of the International Boundary. This land includes the greater part of the territory occupied by them in the period of Spanish exploration, so that they have suffered little direct disturbance. This territory was, however, allotted before the development of the Imperial valley irrigation scheme, which has since transformed the eastern part of the reservation. While the extensive fertilizing floods, remarked by the Spanish explorers, have been reduced by the construction of La.guna dam and riverine dykes, the passage of a main distribution canal across reservation territory and the construction of branch and distributary canals which have equipped it for modern irrigation, have greatly enhanced the economic value of their land. With the establishment of ginneries on the reservation, cotton growing has been developed on the irrigable land, but the Indians have 86 University of California Publications in Ain. Arch. and Ethn,. [Vol. 28 taken little advantage of these developments and have frequently leased their allotments to white operators, relying themselves on casual employment. Participation in irrigation agriculture and the close proximity of the town of Yuma across the river have given the Yuma a measure of prosperity and sense of self-respect and importance which is all too rare among reservation Indians. This unusual degree of assimila- tion has, however, resulted in a rapid disappearance of native crafts, so that, although the sense of tribal solidarity is remarkably strong, American culture has penetrated deeply into their material life. Pottery, basketry, and native weaving are virtually extinct. The aboriginal cultivation has necessarily been supplanted and the social organization of former times has largely disappeared. The ceremonial and religious life of the people has, nevertheless, suffered little disturbance and is at present practically unaffected by the thin veneer of methodism and catholicism which compete for their adherence in the missions at Fort Yuma. The Yuma reservation was visited in Deeember-January, 1928-29 and again in September and December, 1929. In connection with the work I wish to thank Mr. E. W. Gifford, who accompanied me in 1928 to study the neighboring Kamya; Dr. A. L. Kroeber, for much advice based especially on his knowledge of the culturally related Mohave; and Dr. H. E. Bolton, who has kindly given me access to his manuscripts and commentaries of the Anza expeditions which traversed the Yuma territory in the latter part of the eighteenth century. For financial assistance I am indebted to the University of Cali- fornia, the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, the Southwest Society of New York, and the Commonwealth Fund of New York. The simpler phonetic system of the American Anthropological Association' has, in general, been followed in the transliteration of native speech. The following summary and notes may be of service a as in father a as in but e as in fate e as in met ias in pique i as in pin o as in note o as in not i as in rule u as in put a as in idea (obscure) Sapir, 2-7. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indian-s The short a as in hat was not heard. The open e is not as wide as in the English equivalent give above. The long ui is relatively un- rounded as compared with the English in rule. a is very common; it frequently appears to have an e quality but when slowly enunciated approaches a. The stops (p,b; t,d; k,g; and q,g) tend to be intermediate through- out; when spoken slowly they are probably sonant at the occlusion, but surd during the expulsion of breath. They have usually been written with the surd symbols. Palatalized k (ky) is frequent. Nasals are bilabial and dental, m is frequently sustained (mi). The palatal in as in ring was rarely heard except in songs. Palatalized nasals, especially ny as in the English, new, are frequent. Spirants are: v sonant bilabial as in Spanish 8 sonant interdental as in though c prepalatal as in shine s surd sibilant as in sing x surd palatal as in German ich An affricative dS was frequently heard. r is sonant and trilled. Both the surd and sonant laterals,, 1 as in light and L as in Llewellyn, occur. Aspiration when weak is indicated by ', when strong by h. glottal stop accent (placed after the vowel) a- indicates greater length of sound a: indicates exceptional length of sound I am greatly indebted to the following informants for their services during the course of my field work My general interpreter, Mr. Patrick Miguel, actively cooperated with the work throughout. Born2 Age in 1929 Manuel Thomas .------------------------------- 1842 89 years Joe Homer .------------------------------- 1869 60 " Stephen Kelly .. ............. .. 1870 59 Patrick Miguel . .1877 52 " Lincoln Johnson .-- 1879 50 " Mrs. Hipa Norton .........------. 1863 66 " Mrs. Xavtca'ts Roosevelt ...................... 1870 59 " 2 Aceording to the Agency Records. These dates may in some instances be approximations. Wherever one informant is more particularly responsible for an account his name is given. 1931] 87 88 University of Ca.lifornia Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 Since the material culture was known to have followed the Mohave pattern and is at the present time decayed and adulterated by white influence, my attention has been devoted primarily to social, cere- monial, and religious practice. I have, however, endeavored to give a balanced, if incomplete, picture of the culture as it was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. INTRODUCTION When first encountered the Yuma were one of a large group of peoples occupying the bottom lands of the lower Colorado from the Needles, California, to the gulf of California. The aboriginal popula- tion of this region was, exclusive of the higher cultures of Middle America, probably as dense as any in the New World. This concen- tration of people depended, however, on no great elaboration of material civilization but rather on fortunate environmental circum- stances, which a crude agriculture and moderate industry in the col- lection of wild fruits were able to exploit with relatively little effort. The life of the Lower Colorado tribes, despite their desert environ- ment, was less arduous than that of the Basin gatherers or the hunters of the Plains, while their economic security was probably as great as among the Pueblo peoples. Relatively undisturbed in Spanish and Mexican times the Yuma maintained their aboriginal culture almost unchanged until the fifties of the last century, when the establishment of the caravan trail to Southern California terminated their freedom. By the eighties they had been gathered on a reservation, had adopted white men's clothing, and had begun to work as laborers in the neighboring town established on the Arizona border. Although the greater part of their religion and non-material culture has been preserved up to the present time, American control and changed economic circumstances have extin- guished their tribal organization, obliterated the old settlements, and above all, ended the constant warfare which they practiced. The Yuma call themselves kwvatca'n, a true tribal name distinct from the term for man (ipai) or people (pi'pa). The native etymol- ogy derives it from an incident in the creation myth. The Yuma took a special trail down from the top of avlkwame'. This was xam kwMtca'n ("another going down"), so they took the name kwatca'n. Forde: Ethnography of thIe Yuma Indians . The origin of the term Yuma is doubtful. The stat.ements that it was derived from terms for "'son of the chief " or "'sons of the river, "3 were always improbable4 and have been disproved by inquiries. Ten Kate5 was informed by the Pima that their native name for the Yuma was Yum. This was confirmed by A. LX. Pinart, a resident among the Papago, in a letter to Gatschet6 in which he stated that the Pima would call both a Yuma and a Comoye'i (Kamya and (?) Dieguenio) man i'-um o'-otam; the Papago, according to his information, call both the Yuma and the Maricopa "Yum" while an "Apache-Mohave" (Yavapai) whom he questioned also used the term "Yuma" and did not know the term "kutcha'n." IHeintzelman, 1854, apparently used the word "Yum" in reference to the Kamya alone ("New River Indians"), calling the Yuma "Kuchan. "7 Without some investiga- tion of the occurrence and associations of the term "Yum" among the Pima, Papago, and other tribes, the question cannot, however, be considered settled. The Spaniards were already using the term Yuma in the eighteenth century and it still remains possible t.hat they intro- duced it among the Pima and others where it supplanted earlier usage. THE LOWER COLORADO REGION The Colorado, emerging from its narrower gorges about sixty miles south of the great bend which forms the Arizona-Nevada boundary, flows in its lower course through a longitudinal oasis created by the annually flooding river and is flanked on either side by barren ranges whose festoons segment the valley into a series of broad flood plains, some twenty-five miles in width, connected by narrow canyons. A few miles below the final constriction at Yuma, where the river has cut a narrow gorge across a low conglomerate spur, the muddy waters forsake a single channel and splay out over the great alluvial fan of the delta which extends sixty miles south from Yuma to.the present gulf head8 (map 2). 3 Whipple inl Schooleraft, 2, 115. 6 Gatschet, 97-98, 1886. 4 Cf. Gatschet, 381, 1877. 7 Heintzelman, 36. 5 Ten Ka,te, 356. 8 The ancient gulf extended into and included the present Imperial Valley now separated by a geologically recent uplift, which has converted the valley into an enclosed basin into which the Colorado has flooded to produce the Salton Sea. The most recent incursion of the river oceurred in 1905-7, since whein channels a-long the western side of the delta ha,ve been mainta,in ed (cf. Cory, H. T., Imperial Va.lley and the Salton Sink, and Kniff en, P., Colora,do Delta., MS). 1931] 89 90 University of California Publications in An. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 In both its valley and delta courses the river flows over a deep alluvium and is nowhere at bed rock. Bluffs, some fifty to a hundred feet in height and varying in distance from a few hundred yards to several miles from the thalweg, border the valley and mark the limit of the flood plain.9 The Colorado is fed from a catchment area of somewhat more than a quarter million square miles, but much of this is semi-arid and the lower affluents contribute little to the flow. Apart from occasional floods on the Gila in February and March, the river does not rise appreciably until May or reach a maximum before the end of June. The waters of western Colorado are then pouring into the main stream to produce a flood of about 80,000 second feet as compared with the low water average of about 13,000 second feet. The flood rises slowly and irregularly, sometimes in a succession of peaks with falls between, from the end of April onward. The maximum flow and total run-off vary considerably from year to year, rising occasionally to between 150,000 and 200,000 second feet for a da.y or so but failing, in some seasons, to produce an appreciable flood.10 The siltload of the Colo- rado is extraordinarily heavy, the ratio being far higher than that of the Mississippi or the Nile"1 and an annual burden of over a million tons is spread over the river and delta flats. Under aboriginal conditions the greater part of the river plain and upper delta was normally flooded every year. Since precipitation is almost negligible under the conditions of intense summer heat and low humidity,12 the flooded land presented the strongest contrast with the sandy and stony deserts above the bluffs which limited the flood waters, and today, despite the transformation of modern irrigation, the contrast between "mesa" and "valley" is outstanding (map 2). On the mesas creosote bushes, cacti, and occasional desert willows and ironwood trees are scattered sparsely over the waste of sand, gravel, and boulders, but the vegetation of the lowlands is luxuriant and often approaches jungle. Dense groves of cottonwood (Populus mac- dougalii), willow (Prosopis velutinea), mesquite (P. pubescens), and 9 Cf. Lee, W. T., 66ff. 10 Data, obta,inable from the Yuma Gauge station, U. S. Reclamation Service; cf. also U.S.G.S. Water Supply Papers 395 and 556 quoted by Kniff en, MS. 11 See Collingwood, 0. B., 7; and Reichel and Leitr, quoted by Kniff en, MS. 12 Average annual precipitation at Yuma is 3.42 inches, but varies considerably from year t.o year, e.g., 1904, 1.43 inches; 1905, 11.41 inches; mean Jan. temp. 54.4? F; mean July temp. 91.00 ]P (76.6-105.4 mean min. and max.); mean annua.l relative humidity at noon 27 per cent. See Annual Meteorologieal Summary, Yuma, Ariz., and Sec. 13, Summary Climatic Data; U. S. Weather Bureau, 1921. Forde: Ethnography of the Yunma Indiuns sycamore cover the uncleared land. Impenetrable thickets of arrow- weed (Pluchea sericea.) confronted the early travelers and compelled the use of guides in journeying from villa.ge to village. The cotton- woods flank the main river channel above the level of permanent swamp and form dense continuous belts, sometimes several hundred yards in width, which can be seen from the Fort Yuma hill extending far into the distance along the Gila and Colora.do. The black willows cluster below the cottonwoods at the water's edge (pl. 49b). They grow also in thick clumps out in the plains in natura.l depressions where flood waters accumulate. The sloughs and mud banks of the broad meandering channels are thickly overgrown by rushes, tule, and canes (Phragmites), which demand permanent surface water. Below Pilot Knob the longitudinal belt.s of rushes, willow, and cottonwood tongue up the westward flowing distributaries of the Colorado, Alamo, New River, and Paredones, and extend down the ancient main channel toward the gulf.13 Arrowweed thickets, six to eight feet high and so dense that trails must be hacked through with knives, formerly occupied the greater part of the plain which was inundated for only a few weeks of the year. Mesquite, intolerant of marsh conditions and able to draw water from considerable depths, grew most abun- dantly along the margins of the plain beneath the mesa bluffs14 on land that was rarely well flooded but whose water table was still high. The game of this territory, although probably fairly abundant under aboriginal conditions, was limited in species and relatively unimportant in the native economy. Deer and antelope were some- times to be found in the mesquite groves near the mesa and less frequently among the cottonwood close to the river. Wildcats, coy- otes, and raccoons abounded and preyed on the numerous rabbits. Beavers and muskrats were found in the river but trapped neither for food nor pelt. The water birds, of which the most conspicuous were apparently the American and the Snowy Egret (Casmerodius egretta and Egretta candidissima candidissima), were valued for their plumage and shot while at rest with blunt arrows. The climate of the Lower Colorado in the neighborhood of the Gila confluence is of the hot desert type. In winter the diurnal range is noticeably great; while a few nights of frost are expected in late December and January, the days are pleasantly warm. But severe conditions occasionally develop. Anza's first expedition arrived in winter to suffer unexpected hardships from the cold, and snow fell 13 MacDougal, 10. 14 Cf. Trippel, 573. 1931] 91 92 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 in surprising amount. The absolute minimum temperature obtained in modern records from Yuma is 22? F. Temperature rises rapidly in spring accompanied by valuable but erratic cyclonic rains and by the end of May the tropic summer has developed. Apart from occasional thunderstorms which produce a temporary but unpleasant damp heat, the days are hot but dry, since no longer, as in the past, is the air moistened by the evaporating flood. The glare of the sand and the saltiness of the slight breezes are trying to the stranger, who obtains little relief at night until a few hours before dawn. But the slight chill of night is dispelled within an hour of sunrise and the temperature rises rapidly again to a mean maximum of 105? F, which may on occasion mount to 1200 F in the shade. ABORIGINAL CONDITIONS The Yuma formerly lived in a series of scattered settlements near their patches of arable land and mesquite bushes. The men went naked.15 The women wore a two-piece skirt of bark. Rabbitskin blankets were made and worn in cold weather, but true weaving of the Pima type, which they employed to make bark-cloth blankets and breech-clouts. may have been introduced at a relatively recent date, since woven garments are not mentioned by the Spaniards who visited them in the eighteenth century. The woman's skirt consisted of two aprons of shredded willow-bark strips hung from a girdle of bark twine. The upper part of the rear girdle was frequently bunched up to form a large bustle, which was commented on but not accurately described by the early travelers. Although they were still being worn in the latter half of the nineteenth century, specimens are today unobtainable. Leather sandals are believed by the Yuma to have been aboriginal (fig. 1). They were made of deerskin and, more recently, of horse- hide. A flat strip of hide was cut to the shape of the foot. Two tags were left on either side at the position of the arch, or were threaded through slits in the sole. Through holes in the side tags and between the big and fourth, and third and second toe a single thong was threaded which bound the sandal to the foot. Similar sandals were known to the Dieguefio and Pima.16 Sandals of yucca or other fiber 15 By the nineteenth century a breechelout ha.d been adopted. This was a long band of buckskin or woven bark cloth drawn up between the legs and over a girdle of bark twine. 16 Spier, 1, 344, and Russell, 122 and fig. 48. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians were unknown. The hide sandals themselves may be relatively recent since they are not mentioned by the early travelers. Both the dog (axa't tsoktsok) and the horse (axa't musi'n) are believed by the Yuma to have been aboriginal. The first horses actu- ally seen by them were probably those of Oiiate's expedition at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but they did not begin to possess any until the end of the eighteenth. Horses were highly esteemed as show animals, were ridden, but more frequently eaten. They were Fig. 1. Rawhide sandals. apparently little used in warfare and the Piman use of the horse in fighting is frequently mentioned as unsportsmanlike. Horse racing became a very popular sport in the nineteenth century. There is no mention of the dog in the early Spanish records. The etymologies of the words for horse and dog were not obtained; axat probably defines the animal as domestic, tsoktsok and musi'n were said to be untranslatable. The Yuma resemble the other Indians of the lower Colorado in their large stature. The Lower Colorado physical types as seen among the Yuma, Mohave, and Cocopa are immediately distinguishable from 1931] 93 94 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 those of centra.l California or the Pueblo area. The Yuma appear, in general, to be less tall and more heavily built than the Mohave, but two relatively distinct types appear among them: a tall, spare type with narrow face, long limbs, and a stature well over six feet; and another, also tall but at the same time massively built with a. heavy, square face, ma,ssive shoulders, thick waist, and broad hips (pl. 51). The pigmentation of the Yuma is noticeably darker than that of the Pueblo peoples. There has unfortunately been little detailed study of the somatological types.17 The general appearance and chara.cter of the Yuma under aborig- inal conditions are vividly portrayed by the Jesuit father Font in the diary of his second journiey to California in 1775-76.1' The Yuma.s dwell on the bottom lands of the Colorado River and on both of its banks. Its waters although always more or less turbid, are fresh and good, and are not salty like those of the Gila. River, for this stream, on account of the Rio de la, Assumpci6n, has such muddy waters, making the Colorado River some- wha.t impure a.fter the Gila joins it. The bottom lands extend on one side of the river and the other for about two leagues, and in some places more. In them there are many cottonwoods, and also mesquites and other scrubby trees; and the, cot- tonwoods, although very tall, are usually very slender because they grow so close together. Of these and of the willows there are many that are dry, for they die because the Indians strip the bark off and use it to make the little skirts of the women, as I said. The river appears to have only a small amount of fish, and this is bony. Each year the river spreads out for a long distance through the bottom lands in the season of the floods, which come from the melting of the snow in summer in the mountains to the north and far in the interior. For this reason it does not rise suddenly but gradually. Indeed it rises and falls nearly all the year, for it begins to rise in Mareh and April and from that, time each day it gets larger until June, when it begins to go down, and then every day it gets smaller until the end of the year. The lands which it waters are generally good, and since the water spreads over them so gently it does not injure them. On the contrary, from this irrigation they are greatly fertilized and have moisture for the crops which the Indians plant in them whc,n the water recedes, and for the abundant harvests which they get. In a, word, this Colorado River appears to me very much like the Yaqui, both in its floods and in other circumstances, as well as in the nature of the Indians who inhabit it, although in everything this river excels the other, especially in the cottonwood groves, which the Yaqui River lacks. The climate in winter is very cold, and in the mornings there are ice and. very heavy frosts, this weather la-sting three or four months, from November to Febru- ary inclusive.19 The rest of the yea.r the climate is very hot, with excessive heat in the height of the summer, when it usually rains a little, as it also does in the winter. The crops ra.ised by the Indians are wheat, maize, which they call Apache ma.ize and which matures in a very short time, orimuni beans, tepari beans, canta- loupes, watermelons, and very large calabashes of which they make dried strips, 17 Cf. Hrdlidka. 18 Bolton, 4:98-109. 19 An abnormally cold wintcr, see pp. 91, 92. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indi9ns which in Sinaloa they ca.ll bichicore, and seeds of grasses. With these things they have plenty to eat. They likewise gather a great quantity of tornillo and pechita [screw and mesquite beans], although this is more for variety than for necessity. These Yumas, and likewise the Cajuenches and the rest, are well formed, tall, robust, not very ugly, and have good bodies. Genera.lly they are nearly eight spans high and even more, and many are nine and some even above nine, according to our measurements. The women are not so tall, but they also are quitc corpulent and of very good stature. Their customs, according to what I was able to learn, a-re the following: In religion they recognize no special idola.trous cult, a.lthough it appears that there are some wizards, or humbugs, and doctors among tlhem, who exereise their offices by yelling, blowing, and gestures. They say that there is a god, and that they know this because the Pimas have told them so; and that these Pima.s and the Pfapagos, with whom they maintain peace and have some commerce, bave told them that above, in the hea.vens, there are good people, and that under the ground there are dogs, and other animals that are very fierce. They say they do not know anything else because they are ignorant, and for this rea.son they will gladly learn what wo may teach them, in order that they may be intelligent. And since the ba.sis of a well-ordered monarchy, government, or republic is religion, even though it may be false, and since none is found among these Indians, they consequently live very disorderly and beastlike, without any civiliza.tion and with such slight discipline as I ha.ve previously said, each one governing himself according to his whim, like a vagabond people. Their wars and campaigns usually last for only a few days, and they reduce themselves to this: Many of theni assemble with the captain or some one who commands themn; they go to a village of their enemies; they give the yell or war- crv, in order that their opponents may flee or become terrified if taken by surprise. They usually kill some woman, or someone who ha.s been careless, and try to cap- ture a few children in order to take them out to sell in the lands of the Spaniards. These captives are called Nixoras by us in Sonora, no matter where they come from, and this commerce in Nixoras, so unjust, is the reason why they have been so bloody in their wars. Their arms are a. bow, taller than themselves, badly tem- pered, and a few arrows, of which genera.lly they carry only two or thrce, as I saw, and these somewhat long, bad, and weak. Very few carry quivers, if indeed they carry any at a.ll, for I did not see a. single one. Their houses are huts of rather long poles, covered with earth on the roofs and on the sides, and somewhat excavated in the ground like a rabbit burrow; and in each one twenty or thirty or more live like hogs. These houses are not close together in the form of towns, but are scattered about the bottom lands, forming rancherias of three or four, or more, or less. The clothing of the men is nothing, although . . . we saw some Indians wear- ing blankets of cotton, and black ones of wool which come! from. El Moqui, which they have been able to acquire through the Cocomaricopas and Jalchedunes. These they wore around their bodies from the middle up, leaving the rest of the body uncovered . . . But as a rule they go about tota.lly naked. . . . In the matter of incontinence they are so shameless and excessive that I do not believe that in all the world there is another tribe that is worse. The women, it might a.lmost be said, are common, and the hospitality which they show their guests is to provide them with a companion. And although among the old people there seems to be a sort of natura.l matrimony, recognizing as legitimate some one of the many women they have or had in their youth, yet among the young men I believe there is no such thing as matrimony, because they live with 1931] 95 96 University of California Publications in Am. Areh. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 anyone they desire and lea.ve them whenever they plea-sc or at least polygamy is very common among them. All the females, even though they may be small, and even infants a.t the breast, wear little skirts ma.de from the inner bark of the willow and the cottonwood. This tney soften a little, tear it into str-ips, enlace or interwea.ve tlhem, and make a sort of apron of them which they tie a-round the wa.ist with a. hair rope, one piece in front and the other behind, the one behind being somewhat longer than the one in front and reaching clear to the knees. Since they are ma(le of so many strips or narrow ribbons the thickness of a finger, and hang loose, with the shaking whieh they are given on walking they make quite a noise. Among the women I saw some mnen dressed like women, with whom they go abouit regularly, never join- ing the men. The commander called them americados, perhaps beca.use the Yumas call effeminate men maricas. I asked who these men were, an(l they replied that they were not nmen like the rest, and for this reason they went around covered this way. From this I inferred they must be hermaphrodites, but from what I learned later I understoo(l that they were sodomites, dedieated to nefariious practices. . .. Likewise, some women, although not many, aire accustomed to cover the back with a kind of cape or capotillo whieh they made from the skins of rabbits or of beaver, eutting the skin into strips and weaving it with threads of bark; but generally they go aroun(d with all the body uneovere(l except for what the skirts conceal. On cold nights, and especia.lly in the winter, they make a fire and crouclh round it, lying down liuddle(l together and even buried in the sandI like hogs. In the daytime they are accustomed to go around with a, burning brand or tiz6n in the hand, bringing it close to the part of the3 body where they feel the coldlest, now behind, now in front, now at the breast, now at the shoulders, and now at the stomachi. These are their blankets, and when the fire goes out they throw the brand away, and seek another one that is burning. The meni are much given to painting themselves red with hematite, an(d black with shiny black lead-colored earth, whereby they make themselves look like some- thing infernal, especia.lly at night. They use also white and other colors, and they daub not only the face but all the body a.s well, rubbing it in with marrow fat or other substances, in such a way tha.t even though they jump into the river and bathe themselves frequently, as they are accustomed to do, they cannot remove the paint ea.sily. And those who have nothing else, stain themselves with charcoal from the top down with various stripes and figures, making themselves look like the Devil; and this is their gala dress. The women use only red paint, whieh is very commnon among them, for I saw only one large girl who, in addition to the red hematite, had sonie white round spots in two rows up and down the face. The men have their ears pierced with three or four large holes (time women not so many), and in them they hang strings of wood or chlomete and other rags. Like- wise they wear around the neck good-sized strings of the dried heads of animals that look like tumble bugs, which are found here. They are very fond of cuentas or glass beads, for whiclh they barter their few blankets, andl witlh which soine members of the expedition provided themselves. They likewise traded their grain and other things which they brought, so that yester(lay about five hundred water- meloiis and great quantities of calabashes, maize, beans, etc., were sold at the cainp, and today more than twice as much. Besides this, nearly a.ll the men have the middle cartilage of the nose pierced (I did not, notice this among the women), from which the richest men, such as Captain Palma, hang a little blue-green stone, others a little white stone, half round, like ivory or bone, such as Captain Pa.blo wore. Others wear beads or other frivolry in the nose, and although I saw several with nothing, on the other hand I saw some who were contented to wear a little stick thrust through the cartilage. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians The coiffure of the men is unique. Most of them wear the hair banged in front at the eyes, but some have it cut at the neck, others wearing it quite long. They are accustomed to make their coiffure or dress their hair by daubing it with white mud and other paints, in order that it may be stiff. They usually do this on the banks of the water and with great care. They raise the front hair up and fix it like a crown, or like horns, and the rest they make very slick with the paints and mud, and they are accustomed also to decorate it with figures in other colors. The women do not make use of all this, their ordinary coiffure being to press the hair together and fix it with mud as in Europe the women use flour paste. Their usual custom is to wear the front hair cut off even with the eyebrows, wearing the rest somewhat long, hanging down the shoulders and back. They are very fond of smoking, and are very lazy, and if this were, not so they would reap much larger harvests; but they are content with what is sufficient to provide themselves with plenty to eat, which, since the soil is so fertile from the watering by the river, they obtain with little trouble. This consists solely in the following: before the river rises they clear a piece of land which they wish to plant, leaving the rubbish there. The river rises and carries off the rubbish, and as soon as the water goes down and recedes, with a stick they make holes in the earth, plant their seeds, and do nothing else to it. They are, likewise very thievish, a quality common to all Indians. Their language is not so harsh as that of the Pimas, and to me it appeared to be less difficult to pronounce; for there is a pause like an interrogation at the end of each clause or thing which is said. As a result of our persuasion the Yuma tribe at present is at peace with all of its neighbors, except the Indians at the mouth of the river, who are still hostile because of a war which Palma made on them a short time ago, in which he killed about twenty of their people. But this breach has now been composed by Father Garc6s during his journey there, as he says in his diary. In virtue of this peace some Ja.lchedunes came down to the junction of the rivers, bringing their Moqui blankets and other things to barter with the people of the expedition. They did not find us there, but Father Thomas, who remained there, received them well and gave them presents. Finally, these people as a rule a-re gentle, gay, and happy. Like simpletons who have never seen anything, they marveled as if everything they saw wa.s a wonder to them, and with their impertinent curiosity they made themselves troublesome and tiresome, and even nuisances, for they wearied us by coming to the tents and examining everything. They like to hear the mules bray, and especially some burros which came in the expedition, for before the other expedition they had never seen any of these animals. Since the burros sing and bray longer and harder than the mules, when they heard them they imitated' them in their way with great noise and hullabaloo. The men's style of hair dressing referred to by Font is still maintained by the majority. The uncut hair is divided into a large number of small tresses each of which is plastered with mud and mesquite gum and coiled into long pencil-like rolls. These hang freely down the back or are coiled over and around the head. A more recent fashion has developed since the introduction of colored kerchiefs. The coils are bunched together and brought up from the nape of the neck over the crown. The head is then covered with a tightly bound kerchief so that the ridge of hair below the cloth forms a crest which protrudes above the forehead (pl. 57b). 1931] 97 98 University of California Puhblcations in Am. Aroh. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 TERRITORY AND SETTLEMENTS The distribution and movements of the various tribes on the Lower Colorado, according to the early sources, have been analyzed by Kroeber.20 The diaries of the Anza expeditions to California2' extend our knowledge on one or two points. The Yuma occupy at the present time approximately the same territory, at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers, as that in which they were found by the Spanish explorers of the eighteenth century. They cannot, however, be recog- nized in accounts of earlier date. Alarcon, who traveled up the river by boat perhaps as far as Parker in 1540,22 has left a very vivid account of the culture of the region but only the Quiquima (Quicoma) and Koxwan or Coana (koxhwa'n), who have since disappeared, are certainly identifiable in his account. In 1604 the Oinate expedition23 encountered the Ocaras (Ozares or Oseres) at the Gila-Colorado con- fluence, which later became the center of the Yuma territory. The Ocaras were found immediately north of the Coguana (or Cohana, koxhwa'n).24 They are described as a "people of a different language, from whom I learned that a continuous settlement extended all along the River Nombre de Jesus [i.e., R. Gila]. . . . they made mantas of cotton, some of which I saw, which are stitched like those of the prov- inces of New Mexico. " A people of somewhat similar name, the Opas, were described in the diaries of the Anza expeditions of 1774 and 1775. They lived among and appear to have formed part of the MIaricopa (Cocomaricopa), who were found some distance up the Gila. Since there has always been a tendency for defeated peoples to move east- ward from the Colorado and since the bitter enmity of the Yuma and Maricopa probably originated at some period when they were in close 20 Kroeber, 1. 21 Bolton 4. 22Hakluyt's Vovages, 3:425-439. Ala.rcon claims to have traveled 85 leagues up the river and describes a gorge section at the upper limit of his journey which corresponds well with the condition of the river immediately above Parker. 23 Ofiate's expedition is known in two complementary Relations, of which the more direct source is the recently discovered diary of a member of the expedition, Father Escobar. A later account apparently based primarily on Escobar, written by Father Zarate-Salmeron, includes further data obtained presumably from other members of the expedition. This account, however, omits several important points and explanations found in Escobar. (See Bolton, H. E., 3, and for Zarate- Salmeron, idem, 1:268-280). 24 Bolton suggests that the Coguana are the Yuma (3, 15, note), but this name corresponds more closely to the historically known koxhwan, later the southern neighbors of the Yuma and already mentioned by Alarcon, vide supra. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians proximity, there is some support for the view that the Opas and Ocaras are to be equated.25 Kroeber, stressing Escobar's statement that the Ocaras were linguistically distinct from the other Lower Colorado peoples, which the. Maricopa certainly were not, and their possible relation to the Tepeguanes, suggests that they were most probably a non-Yuman people, "Pima or Papago, or at least some Piman division, who then lived farther down the Gila than subse- quently. "26 There is in the Anza diaries no suggestion that the s.peech of the Opas was distinct from that of the Maricopa among whom they were found in the 1770 's. That the Ocaras were not in any case a typical river tribe is indicated by their cotton mantas and long braided hair covered with cloth and deerskin according to Zarate,27 or tied with maguey fiber as described in Escobar's Relation.28 Oniate's failure to encounter the Yuma may be simply explained by the assumption that they were at that time living exclusively on the west bank where they have always been most numerous. Ofiate did not cross the Colorado and it is expressly stated that the east bank people did not cross the river "because those on the other side were enemies although of the same nation."29 By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the presence of a people identified as the "Yumas" at the Gila-Colorado confluence was commonly known in Pimeria. These Yuma were already re- garded as traditional enemies of the Pima and of the Maricopa, a Yuman-speaking group who had found asylum near them on the middle Gila. Kino had already visited the Yuma at the beginning of the century.30 lie gives the impression that in his time (1683-1711) the greater number lived east of the main river and were settled along the lower Gila, extending down to the Colorado junction. But he also records that others lived on the west side of the ma.in river to which he did not cross. Indeed, some three hundred swam over to greet him on the occasion of his visit. The lone visit of Garces in 1771 and the records of the two expedi- tions to California under the leadership of Anza in 1774 and 1775 afford more detailed informa.tion. The Yuma figure prominently in the diaries of these journeys, for cooperation was needed in fording the Colorado and missions were founded in their territory at Puerto de la Concepcion, and at the s.outhern village near Pilot Knob. The 25 Bandelier, 110, wished to identify the Ocaras with the Maricopa. 26 Kroeber 1, 483. 27 Bolton, 1, 273. 29 Zarate-Salmeron, in Bolton, 1, 277. 28 Bolton, 3, 33. 30 Bolton, 2, 249, 251. 1931] 99 100 University of Ca.lifornia Publications in Am. Arch. and Etkn. [Vol. 28 Concepcion mission was built on the hill forming the northwest side of the narrows through which the Colorado passes at Yuma. The same site was later occupied by the garrison post, Fort Yuma, and the modern Indian Agency. In 1775, Garces and Eixarch remained behind on the Colorado, while the rest of the expedition pushed on into California.31 At this time Yuma settlements were no longer found up the Gila valley32 and apart from an occasional war party they rarely passed east of the Gila range. The extent of the Yuma lands was variously estimated. Anza describes their territory as extending fifteen leagues south and one and a half leagues north of the junction, presumably on both sides of the river. He makes. it clear that their lands were, at that time, separated from those of the Coco- maricopa (Maricopa) by fifteen leagues of deserted country.33 In his diary, however, Anza reports that the southern limit of Yuma territory lay at Laguna de los Coxas, i.e., seven leagues from Con- cepcion.34 Font, writing at the same time (1775), describes the ter- ritory as about twenty leagues long with its center at Puerta de la Concepcion (the present Fort Yuma).35 Between the Kohuana and the Yuma there was another group called Cojats, whom Font regarded as a branch of the Yuma.36 Their territory began, according to Anza, at Laguna de los Coxas, seven leagues from Concepcion. They were more numerous than the Yuma proper and had superior lands.37 The Kohuana (Cajuenches) lived below them, south of Santa Olalla38 (map 2). Only two large settlements were visited by the expeditions. The first, clustered about the house of the chief (coxot) Palma, was a mile or so east of la Concepcion but on the west bank of the river.39 Anza in his diary of the first expedition (1774) describes this settlement 31 The early visit of Gareks is summarily recorded in Arricivita's Life of Garces, chap. 17, translated in Coues. Unfortunately both Garces and his biog- raphers are completely muddled as to his route, believing that he did not reach the Colorado when, in fact, he actually traveled almost to the Gulf. (Cf. Bolton, 5, 323 ff.). Ga.rees was, however, an inferior ethnographer and the competent diaries of other members of the Anza expeditions of 1774 and 1775 are of far greater importance. They are collected in one series, recentlv translated and edited by Dr. Bolton, who was kind enough to permit me to use his page proofs as the work went through the press. See Bolton, 4. 32 Apart from a recently deserted Yuma, camp encountered at Laguna Salobre on the route down the Gila.-Font's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:66-67. 33 Letter to the Viceiroy, Bolton, 4, 5:397 ff. 34Anza's Diary of the Second Expedition, in Bolton, 4, 3:18. 33 Font's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:100. 36 Font's Complete: Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:90. 37Anza's Diary of the Second Expedition, in Bolton, 4, 3:18. 38Font's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:90. 39 Font, in Bolton, 4, 4:89. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians as s.ituated on an island in the river at the junction of the Gila and Colorado. He reached the Colorado in February when the water was low and was informed that these habitations would be abandoned when the river rose.40 Diaz records a general shift of population during the season of maximum flood. During the floods of April and May the Yuma move away from the banks of the river in order to escape inundation, camping in the nearby uplands until the river returns to its channel.4' Alarcon had also been informed of a similar practice among the lower Colorado peoples. I asked him whether the people who (dwelt on the river's edge dwelt there always or else sometime went to dwell in some other place; he answered me that in the sunmmer season they abode there, and sowed there; and a,fter they had gathered they went their way and dwelt in other houses which they had at the foot of the mountain far from the river. And he showed me by signs that the houses were of wood compassed with ea,rth without and I understood that they ma,de a round house wherein the men and women lived altogether.42 The season of migra.tion does not agree in these two accounts but they indica.te the instability of occupation of any particular site. The site of Palma's village continued to be one of the main Yuma settlements until recent times, and it is remembered as such a.t present. There is a considerable group of houses at this place, although it has now lost significance as. a distinct settlement. It lies about two miles northea.st of Fort Yuma and is known as axakweSexor, water-reed place (axa, water; kwe8exor, an unidentified plant described as "like the willow but brittle"). The people living there were known as akyet kuma"ts (sunflower eaters). Miguel informed me that axakwe8exor is particularly remembered as the place where Mexican soldiers are said to have camped buit the incident could not be traced. The second large village encountered by the Anza expeditions lay immediately south of Pilot Knob (Cerro de San Pablo) north of the confluence of the Alamo stream with the Colorado This settlement, whose population was estimated by Diaz in 177443 at more than eight hundred, was said to be larger than that of Palma.44 It was ruled by a chief whom the Spaniards had named Pablo, who was definitely sub- ordinate to Palma. That a village maintained itself until recent time in this vicinity is indicated by the statements of my own informants that a large number of the Yuma lived until recently along the river near Pilot Knob, a few miles south of Algodones across the present 40 Anza's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:38. 41 Dia.z's Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:265. 42 Alarcon, in Hakluyt, 3, 425 ff. 43 Diaz, Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:268. 44 Anza 's ComnpleteI Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:51. 19,31-1 101 102 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 International Boundary. This place was called xuksi'l (sandstone) because a large mass of sandy rock stood out near-by. The people were called kave'ltca8um (south dwellers). Another settlement of considerable size is remembered at a site about two miles s.outh of the present. La.guna Dam on the California side. This was known as kwerav ava'io (pneumonia living), appar- ently an unhealthy spot; its inhabitants were metvalcabum (north dwellers). The term altcaSum, according to my informants, meant "pushed out to a. distance." There wa.s also another permanent settlement, whose name was forgotten, a little east of the present site of Picacho at the foot of the Chocolate mountains. It will be noticed that. all these settlements are found near project- ing spurs of the mesas which approach closely to the river and were in consequence subject to a minimum of disturbance during the flood season (map 2). Fages,45 who covered the greater part of the Yuma territory in 1781-82, in a punitive expedition after the destruction of the missions, indicated that Yuma villages at that time also extended some ten miles up the Gila above the confluence; and Steve said that in recent times people regularly went out to Wellton to get the rock slabs for metates, since only there was suitable stone to be obtained. Cortez,46 in a manuscript report of 1799, sta.tes that the Yuma numbered about three thousand, occupied the right. (west) bank of the river, and extended s.outh as far as 33?. The Yuma were found in approximately the same territory when the early American expedit.ions entered the country. The establish- ment of a military garrison on the former site of the short-lived Spanish mission at la Concepcion, henceforth known as Fort Yuma, resulted in fairly detailed reports on the native population. Heintzel- man, captain in charge of the garrison, reported in 1853 that the Yuma, or Cuchan Indians, extended along the Colorado from sixty miles above the Gila to forty or fifty miles below, that there were several "bands" of them but. that the greater number lived, at that time, below the Mexican boundary. He commented on the fact that they never left the river.47 Ives, who navigated the Colorado from the gulf to the Mohave country in 1857-58, attempts to delimit the tribal 45 Fages, in Priestley, 9. 46 Report of Don Jose Cortez on the Indian Tribes of the Northern Provincies of New Spain, 1799, translated by Buckin.gham Smith in Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, 124. 47 Heintzelman, 36. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians territories as he found them. The Yuma were concentrated in the country ten to fifteen miles to the north and to the south of Fort Yuma,48 but Yuma villages were found at intervals all the way up the valley to Half Way mountain, about 135 miles above the Gila con- fluence, and it was at this point that his guides left the boat to visit Yuma friends. But the upper end of the "Great Colorado Valley" (Ehrenberg to Parker) was occupied exclusively by Chemehuevi. At Bill Williams fork two Mohave messengers, who had come downstream from their territory, awaited him.49 These accounts do not necessarily exaggerate the extent of the territory then occupied by the Yuma, for a shift of population had occurred in the preceding years. The remnants of two tribes occupy- ing the valley around and north of the present town of Ehrenberg moved east to join the Maricopa. In Ofiate's time (1604), as we have seen, both the Kohuana and the Halchidhoma were south of the Yuma. Before Garces arrived among them (1776) the IHalchidhoma had already moved north. The Kohuana, according to Mohave tradition,50 joined them in the territory north of the Gila confluence at the end of the eighteenth century. After being harried for many years by Yuma and Mohave raiding parties they moved off eastward, the Hal- chidhoma going first, before the arrival of the American explorers. This evacuation of the wide valley south of Bill Williams fork was apparently followed by a considerable northward extension of Yuma settlements. One of these northern villages was called avi'kwotapai. It was some distance south of Parker on the Californian side. Steven Kelly's father lived there. Both the Spanish and early American explorers agree in estimating the Yuma population at about three thousand. Anza judges them to number thirty-five hundred.51 Whipple52 quotes an estimate made by a M. Leroux "early in the 19th century," which attributes five hun- dred warriors and a total of three thousand population to the Yuma. Heintzelman53 stated in 1853 that there were less than four hundred warriors (i.e., adult males) in the vicinity of Fort Yuma. The present population according to the Agency rolls (June, 1929) is: Male Female Total 447 399 846 Adults (over 20 years) 278 247 525 48 Ives, 42. 51 Anza 's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:54. 49 Ives, 53-59. 52 Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, 16. 50 Cf. Kroeber, 1, 478-81. 53 Heintzelman, 36. 1931] 103 104 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 EXTERNAL RELATIONS The activities of war, barter, and festival brought the Yuma into contact with many of the numerous peoples who lived in the hinter- land of the Lower Colorado (map 1). The travels of the Yuma, apart from war expeditions, were confined largely to the journeys up and down the Colorado valley. The impression gained from both the early diaries and the reminiscences of living Indians is one of constant but restricted movement. Kroeber says of the Mohave, however, that: Tribes hundreds of miles away were attacked and raided. Visits carried parties of Mohave as far as the Chumash and Yokuts. Sheer curiosity was their main motive; for the Mohave were little interested in tra,de. They liked to see lands; timidity did not discourage them; and they were as eager to know the manners of other peoples as they were ca-reful to hold aloof from them.54 The accounts of early travelers introduce us to a large number of tribally distinct peoples living in close proximity along the Lower Colorado and Gila rivers. The majority of these can be traced through the successive accounts55 but since the Yuma themselves are not identi- fiable as a tribal unit before the time of Kino at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the history of their external contacts is confined to the relatively short space of two hundred years. Throughout this period their relations with neighboring tribes have been comparatively stable. Certain traditional alliances and enmities have been main- tained. An unbroken alliance linked them to the Mohave and an equally tenacious traditional enmity ranged these two tribes against the Cocopa to the south and the Maricopa who lived around the confluence of the Salt and Gila. The Maricopa appear to have been originally a river tribe and are, of all the Yumans, linguistically closest to the Yuma, but there is no trace of them in Alarcon's account and the later travelers found them already established on the Gila. Their mourning ceremony fails to show the elaboration of the river tribes and unlike the Halchidhoma and the Kohuana, more recent immigrants to the Gila, they have no legend or belief of having lived on the Colorado.56 There can be little doubt, therefore, that their exodus occurred before the sixteenth cen- tury. The Yuma have now but vague memories of the Halchidhoma 54 Kroeber, 2:727. 55 Kroeber, 1:482 ff. 56 Information from Dr. L. Spier. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians and Kohuana and only the latter are thought of as enemies.57 The Kamya are regarded as a small, inoffensive group to be treated in friendly fashion. They are said to have lived about sixty miles west of Fort Yuma on the distributaries of the northwestern delta. The Dieguefio or foreign Kamya (Kamya' axwe') are their kinsmen, but living far away in the mountains and of no importance as fighters, they were visited only occasionally by small parties at the time of important ceremonies. The extent of aboriginal contact with the Dieguefio is difficult to estimate. The two peoples are coupled closely together in myths but most of the traceable connections are recent and the evidence of Anza's expeditions, which is, however, not applicable to the nineteenth cen- tury, suggests that hostile Kohuana territory intervened between them. The Yuma knew and occasionally encountered the Cahuilla and Chemehuevi but paid them little attention. Of the more eastern Shoshoneans, Luisefio, Serrano, and others there was no recollection. The Yuma claim that they were friendly toward their eastern neighbors, the Yavapai and the Papago. Garces reported that the Yavapai were old friends who visited them each winter to eat corn and beans.58 They appeared in January during the winter spent by Eixarch at Concepcion. They were dressed in deerskins and were poorer but cleaner than the Yuma.59 Diaz also states that the Papago were welcome "through their skill in disorderly dances." The centuries-old hostility against the Maricopa and their allies in recent times, the Pima, was responsible for the most extensive of their expeditions; otherwise the Yuma rarely left the vicinity of the main river. Wider communication, in a limited degree, existed in aboriginal times. Alarcon, as early as 1540, found one people that knew of the negro who had come to Cevola (i.e., Zuiii) with Friar Marco. He was also informed that Cevola was forty days away up the river, a place of "hie houses of stone three or four lofts and windows on each side, that the houses were compassed about with a wall conteining the height of a man and a half." On another occasion he was informed that the journey involved ten days' travel across the desert. Anza was informed in 1774 that the journey from the Yuma country to the HIopi took twelve days. iHe says that "the blankets of black 57 Garces (1771) described the Jalchedunes as friends of the Yuma (Coues, 1, 208), but Eixarch (1775) found them to be enemies (Bolton, 4, 3:312). 58 Coues, 1, 208-9. 59Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:343. 1931] 105 106 University of Califormia Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 and blue wool that come from the province of El Moqui are seen in abundance among the Yumas who acquire them through the Siopa."60 F'ont, however, in his diary of the second expedition states that the Yuma had no blankets when seen the year before but were now get- ting cotton blankets made by the Opas (Maricopas) and a few black woolen ones from Moqui (Hopi).61 The Mohave and the Havasupai appear to have been the intermediaries in this sporadic traffic with the western Pueblos. Within the river territory, however, the Yuma and the other tribes traveled freely and over long distances. Bands of "Yumas" and "Cocomaricopas" journeyed down to the gulf to meet Kino and his party.62 War parties wouLld travel for days with very little food, covering over a hundred miles to fight a battle; and in modern times Trippel63 claimed that the messengers and trailers were expert runners who could cover sixty to seventy-five miles a day when necessary. LINGUISTIC RELATIONS The linguistic relations of the various Yuman tribes have not yet been closely studied. More receint data, however, considerably modify the general schenme outlined by Harrington. The following tentative grouping is suggested by Kroeber: Tentative Linguistic Classification of Yuman Tribes 1. Cochimi-Laymon-little known, but seems most differentiated from all others. 2. Cocopa, Halyikwamai, Kohuana-very similar to each other. 3. Kamia-Dieguefio, Kiliwa. 4. Akwa'ala (Paipai) -seems most generalized. 5. Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai-fairly close to 4. 6. Halchidhoma, Maricopa, Yuma. 7. Mohave-similar to both 5 and 6. 60 Anza's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:50. 61 Font 's Complete Diary, i.n Bolton, 4, 4:73. 62 Kino, in Bolton, 2, 205-10. 63 Trippel, 572. Forde: Ethnography of the Yumna Indians FOOD SIUPPLY Although warlike in their practices and aspirations, the Yuma and other peoples of the Lower Colorado differed from the Indians of the Plains in their indifference to the chase.64 This attitude is under- standable in environmental and cultural terms. Since their country was largely arid, game, both large and small, was exceedingly scarce. A few deer might stray through the cottonwood groves along the river, rabbits burrowed in the sandy banks, but beyond these and the water birds of the Colorado, there was little to reward the hunter. Buckskin was largely an imported product obtained from the north- east, valued highly but little used. Rabbit-skin blankets were rare and a sign of considerable wealth.65 The feeble bow, the light and often unpointed arrow, the absence of the curved throwing stick, and of communal hunting practices are all associated with this deficiency in the culture, a lack which was emphasized and strengthened by the unusual natural abundance of vegetable food to be had for the gather- ing, and also by cultivation of the annually flooded bottoms of the Colorado river. AGRICULTURE The Lower Colorado country is practically rainless. Before the building of the modern Imperial Valley irrigation system, vegetation was confined, with the exception of occasional cacti, mesquite, and ironwood trees to the river bottoms. The flooded sloughs, annually enriched with a layer of fine mud, frequently remain moist throughout the hot season. The construction works for the irrigation of the Imperial valley and of a section in southwestern Arizona have modified the flood con- ditions of the Colorado below Laguna Dam, twelve miles above Fort Yuma. The aboriginal conditions, however, are known to us from early reports. The inundation was in those times very extensive. Anza reports that the waters spread over a distance of half a league on either side of the main stream.66 The extent of water was so great that Garces failed to recognize the Gila-Colorado confluence when he reached it in August, 1771, and traveled on for several days toward 64 Cf. Dia.z 's Dairy, in Bolton, 4, 2:265. 65 Anza, Diary of the Journey from Tubac to San Gablriel, in Bolton, 4, 2:157. 66 Anza 's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 2:550. 107 1931] 108 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn.. [Vol. 28 the Gulf imagining himself to be still on the Gila.67 Font68 records that the river began to rise in April and May, reaching a maximum in June, from which it sank slowly until the end of the year; but Eixarch, who spent the winter at la Concepcion in 1775-76, was able to supply further details. He noted that the Gila began to rise before the main river at the end of January in 1776 ;69 the Colorado did not begin to increase in volume until the middle of February (15th).7? By the 20th of April the river was already flooding "many lakes which it usually fills every year,"'7' but in a few days (23rd) the level fell again, to his great surprise, whereupon he was informed by the Yuma chief, Palma, that the river "is in the habit of doing this and then much water comes. 7 172 The river rose again at the beginning of May when the Yuma began to clear the land and gather in the harvest of their winter- grown wheat.73 In the previous year the flood had been weak and there was a shortage of cultivated crops which was remedied by the more assiduous gathering of wild fruits.74 Heintzelman also notes the uncertainty of the flood and its effect on agriculture: The summer of 1851 there was no overflow here [at Fort Yuma. which was, in normal years, converted into an island by the filling of a. wide slough to the west of the bluff] but a partial one below. The last year [1852] our military opera- tions prevented them from planting below, between us and the Cocopa.s and above within fifty miles. This eaused great suffering the past winter; for months our camp was filled with men, women, and children begging for something to eat.75 The naturally irrigated soil is very productive. The Spaniards were strongly impressed by the success of the crude agricultural methods they found, and speculated enthusiastically as to the yields which could be obtained by "modern methods." Eixarch tells us that "the land is so good that only with the bathing given it by the river during the time of its flood it conserves enough moisture so that it pro- duces wheat and also maize, beans, watermelons, calabashes, etc. ..76 The Spaniards, with the idea of colonization always at the back of their minds, were careful to note the most fertile lands in the neighbor- hood of la Concepcion. They record that while the planting was good 67 A point on which Coues, his biographer, was also led astray. Cf. Bolton, 5, 323-325. 68 Font, in Bolton, 4, 4:100. 73 Eixarch, int Bolton, 4, 3:376-77. 69 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:347. 74 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:375-76. 70 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:357. 75 Heintzelman, 37. 71 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:372. 76 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:321. 72 Eixarch, in Bolton, 4, 3:374. Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians1 immediately to the north of the narrows on the west bank, it was even better further south at Pablo's village; while the very best land in the district lay south of the Yuma among the Cajuenches. The aboriginal agriculture depended almost entirely on this natural irrigation. Planting was begun when the mud of the sloughs began to cake at the surface. This, according to Manuel, coincided with the dawn rising of Big Star, xamacevetai (?Formalhaut), which rose early in spring and was watched throughout the earlier part of the year in order that the approach of the flood could be gauged. The same star was used as an index of the normal harvest period, September-October, for at that time it appears setting in the west just after sunset. Hipa Norton said that planting cannot begin until after the inun- dation has dropped sufficiently to free the plots from stagnant water. In normal years the land was in fit condition for planting when the Pleiades first appeared in the east in the morning (late June). All plants should be in the ground before Orion (amo, mountain sheep) first appeared at dawn,77 for plants sown later would not get enough water from the ground. From the stars it is easy to tell if the river is late, but if it is late we must wait for it. Sometimes a second overflow ruins the planting. If so the work must be done all over again, but the crops will be poor and scanty. Some years we couldn't plant until the very end of July. Then there would be less food. A little corn and some melons were also planted in February in damp places. These depended largely on the slight and unreliable spring showers and waterings from wells. The Yuma claim that the spring planting is aboriginal, while Eixarch in 1776 observed that two harvests of maize were obtained, commenting: "It is true that the seed is from what they call Apache maize, which matures very rapidly."78 The main spring crop is yellow corn which will ripen in two months. No beans can be grown at this time.79 The main planting in June-July included corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and grasses. Font specifies the following cultivated plants as observed in 1775: maize (short season variety), orimuni beans (i.e., cow-pea), tepary beans, cantaloupes, watermelons, very large cala- bashes "which were dried in strips. 80 In addition to wheat, which 77 The record is ambiguous as to dawn or dusk observations for these two stars. The former must be meant since only so would their observa.tion coincide with June-July planting. 78 Anza's Diarv of Second Expedition, in Bolton, 4, 2:267. 79 But Eixarch records that the Yuma were beginning to plant beans, cala- bashes, and maize on April 21st. Bolton, 4, 3:372. 80 Font 's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:100. 109 1931] 110 University of California Publications in Am. Aroh. and Ethn. [Vol. 28 was already well established as a winter crop,8' Anza mentions barley as a crop in cultivation among the Yuma at this time.82 It should be noted that Alarcon, in the sixteenth century, claimed that beans and wheat were unknown to the Lower Colorado peoples, while wheat is no longer mentioned among the crops grown by the Yuma in Heint- zelman's report which describes their agricultural practices in some detail. Heintzelman describes conditions in the 1850's: Their agriculture is simple. With an old axe (if they are so fortunate as to possess one) knives and fire, a spot likely to overflow is cleared. After the waters subside, small holes are dug at proper intervals a few inches deep with a sharpened stick, having first removed the surface for an inch or two as it is apt to cake. The ground is tasted, and if salt, the place is rejected, if not. the seeds are then planted. No further care is required but to remove the weeds which grow most luxuriantly wherever the water has been.83 The Yuma have neither legendary accounts nor ritualizations of the introduction of maize or wheat and, unlike the Pueblo peoples who depend on inadequate and uncertain rainfall and flush floods, were not preoccupied with their agriculture but a.ccepted it as an essential but unremarkable element in their life.s3a Apart from the magic of the rainmalkers, used mainly to produce storms to baffle their enemies, there appears to have been no ceremonial or magical practices associ- ated with the assurance of their crops. The river itself, all important for their existence, figures only in a minor way in myth as the sweat or bIood of Kumastamxo, or again as, magically spouting up from the depths when the Creator plunged a stick into the earth. It is. not personified and has no associated spirits. Five varieties of corn (taSi'ts) are recognized: Yellow-ta8i'ts akwe's White-taVlts hama'l Red-taSV'ts axwa't Blue-taSI'ts havalo' Speckled-ta8I'ts iruwa' All are apparently varieties of flour maize, Zea amylacea. No speci- men corresponding to the "small Apache corn" described by Eixarch was obtainable. This was probably similar to the Mohave corn, a small 81 Font's Complete Diary, in Bolton, 4, 4:100; Eixarch, Diary of Seconid Expe- dition, in Bolton, 4, 3:321, 372 ff. 82 Anza's Dairy from Tubac to San Gabriel, in Bolton, 4, 2:177. 83 Heintzelman, 36-37. 83a There is however a ritual use of corn in the keruk ceremony (see p. 228). 1Forde: Ethnography of the Yuma Indians variety of Zea awtylacea with ears only 12 cm. long, ripening in two months, and still grown among the Havasupai.84 Four varieties of bean were regularly grown :85 axma, vata'x, and noku-large and small "black-eyed bean" or cow pea, Vigna sinensis. amaSotar- 'blind bean," another variety of cow pea. mare'k xama'l-white tepary bean, Phaseolus acutifolius. mare'k akwe's-a yellow tepary bean. Beans were planted only on well drained ground. Three or four seeds were dropped into each hole, which was a pace from the next. Beans were sometimes planted between the rows of corn. The cow pea has undoubtedly been introduced in post-Columbian times since it is not an indigenous American plant. The tepary bean is found, both wild and cultivated, over a large territory in the south- western United States and Mexico.86 Melons (tsume'to), Citrullus vulgaris, were grown in two varieties: akwe's-yellow muskmelon. nya-dark green watermelons. Pumpkins (axma'ta), Cucurbita pepo, are differentiated as axmata han, a yellow pumpkin measuring about a foot across, and axmata'a, a larger pink-skinned variety. Gourds, Cueumis, were planted for the manufacture of rattles. Watermelons formed the first planting. The seeds were sown in the still damp soil immediately after the flood waters had run off. They were planted two paces apart, four or five seeds being dropped into a hole six inches deep. They ripened before the beans or the main corn crop and, as in the Pueblo area, offered a welcome green diet in the last days of waiting before the new harvest. A considerable proportion of the watermelons was also stored for winter use. By enclosure in a dry earth pit they could be preserved in good condition until the following spring. A large pit, three or four feet deep and often more than six feet across, wa-s excavated at a spot usually near the dwelling where the soil was dry, sandy, but firm. The pit was lined with dried bean foliage, or less efficiently with small arrowweed stalks. The melons were packed close, covered with the same material and finally earthed over, making a low mound. Eixarch records the 84 Cf. Spier, 3, 103. 85 Identification by Dr. Ilendry, Dept. of Agriculture, Univ. of Californi