b. The Sonoran Branch
In the valley of the Gila river the Shoshonian and Sonoran branches of the Uto-Aztecan stock were in contact from time immemorial. The Sonoran branch begins on the north with the Pimas, who occupied the middle valley of the Gila, and the land south of it quite to the Rio Yaqui. I continue for it the name of Sonoran given by Buschmann, although it extended far beyond the bounds of that province.
The Pima tribe merits our special attention, because of the remarkable ruins and relics of a dense former population, sedentary and agricultural, in the region inhabited by it when the river basin was first explored. These are the large structures known as the Great Houses or Casas Grandes, and the remains of the numerous towns, extensive irrigating trenches, and ruined enclosures, brought to light by the Hemenway exploring expedition in the Salt river valley. Their walls were built of adobes or sun-dried bricks of large size, the clay probably placed in baskets upon the wall and allowed to dry there. The extent of these remains is surprising, and in the Salt river valley alone, in an area of half a million acres, it is estimated that two hundred thousand people may have found support. Making every allowance, there is no doubt that at some remote epoch the arable land in the valleys of the Gila and its affluents was under close cultivation.
Who these busy planters were has supplied material for much speculation. As usual, the simplest explanation has been the last to be welcomed. In fact, there is no occasion for us to look elsewhere than to the ancestors of these Pimas, who lived in the valley when the whites first traveled it. There is nothing in the ruins and relics which demands a higher culture than the Pimas possessed. There is no sign of a knowledge of metals beyond hammered copper; the structures are such as the Pueblo Indians of the same stock live in now; and the Pimas have a historic tradition which claims these ruins and these old fields as the work of their ancestors, from which they were driven by the repeated attacks of the Apaches and other savage tribes of the north.143 Some of them, a sub-tribe called the Sobaypuris (Sabaguis), and doubtless many others, took refuge in the deep cañons and constructed along their precipitous sides those “cliff houses,” which have been often described. About a hundred years ago the Apaches drove them out of these last resorts and forced them to flee to the main body of the Pimas in the south.144 In conclusion, we may safely attribute most of the ruins in the Gila Basin, as well as most of the cliff houses in the various cañons, to these tribes of the Uto-Aztecan stock. When the early missionaries reached the Pimas they found them in precisely the condition of culture of which we see the remains in the Salt River valley. Their houses were built of large adobes, sometimes roofed with tiles; they were agricultural and industrious; their fields were irrigated by like extensive canals or trenches, and their weapons, utensils and clothing were just such as the Hemenway expedition showed were those of the early accolents of the Gila and the Salado.145
Most of the other tribes of this group were, from the first knowledge we have of them, inclined to sedentary and agricultural lives. The Opatas, on the head-waters of the Rio Yaqui, and the Tarahumaras, in the valleys of the Sierra Madre, are quiet, laborious peoples, who accepted without difficulty the teachings of the early missionaries. They cultivate the ground and build houses of adobes or of wood plastered.
The Tehuecos, Zuaques, Mayos and Yaquis are sub-tribes of the Cahitas, and speak a dialect the most akin of any to the Nahuatl. They are tall, vigorous men, active and laborious, trading in salt and woolen stuffs, cheerful, and much given to music. South of the Tarahumaras and immediately adjoining them, in the State of Chihuahua, are the Tepehuanas on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre, from 25° to 27° latitude north. They are a people of unusual intelligence, of excellent memory, and when first met were living in solid houses of logs or of stone and clay, or as genuine troglodytes in artificial caves, and cultivating abundant crops of maize and cotton, which latter they wove and dyed with much skill.146 The chroniclers speak of them as the most valiant of all the tribes of New Spain, but laborious and devoted to their fields.147
The tribe of the Sonoran group which reached the point furthest to the south was the Coras, who dwelt in the Sierra of Nayarit, in the State of Jalisco. From their location they are sometimes called Nayerits. They were a warlike but agricultural people, about the same level as the Tepehuanas.
The Tubares were a peaceable nation living in the Sierra of Sinaloa. They received the missionaries willingly and seem to have been an industrious tribe, their principal object of commerce being articles of clothing. It is said that they spoke two entirely distinct languages, one a dialect of Nahuatl, the other of unknown affinities.148 The Guazapares and the Varogios are described as living near the Tubares, on the head-waters of the Rio del Fuerte, and speaking the same or a similar dialect.149
In the defiles of the lofty range, which is sometimes called the Sierra de Topia, resided the Acaxees, Xiximes and other wild tribes, speaking related tongues. By some authorities they are alleged to belong to the Sonoran group, but as the material is lacking for comparison, their ethnographic position must be left undetermined.
The Guaymas, on the coast of the Gulf of California, south of the Ceris (a Yuma folk), have been ascertained by Mr. Pinart to speak a dialect allied to that of the southern Pimas, and are therefore to be added to this group. Another Pima dialect was the Bacorehui, spoken by the Batucaris and Comoparis on the lower Rio del Fuerte; as it was also that of the Ahomes, a distinctly Pima people.150
The uniform tradition of all the tribes of this stock in Sonora and Sinaloa, so far as they were obtained by the early missionaries, was to the effect that their ancestors had migrated from localities further to the north.151
c. The Nahuatl Branch
Under the term Nahuas, which has the excellent authority of Sahagun in its favor, I shall include all the tribes of the Uto-Aztecan stock who spoke the Nahuatl language, that called by Buschmann the Aztec, and often referred to as the Mexican. These tribes occupied the slope of the Pacific coast from about the Rio del Fuerte in Sinaloa, N. lat. 26°, to the frontiers of Guatemala, except a portion at the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Beyond this line, they had colonies under the name of Pipiles on the coast of Guatemala, and in the interior the Alaguilacs. The Cuitlatecos, or Tecos, “dung-hill people,” was a term of depreciation applied to those in Michoacan and Guerrero. On the borders of the lakes in the valley of Mexico were the three important states Tezcuco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan, who at the time of the conquest were formed into a confederacy of wide sway.
The last mentioned, Tenochtitlan, had its chief town where the city of Mexico now stands, and its inhabitants were the Azteca. East of the valley were the Tlascaltecs, an independent tribe; south of and along the shore of the gulf from Vera Cruz almost to the mouth of the Rio de Grijalva, were Nahuatl tribes under the dominion of the confederacy. An isolated, but distinctly affiliated band, had wandered down to Nicaragua, where under the name Nicaraos they were found on the narrow strip of land between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, which they had conquered from tribes of Chapanec lineage. The most distant of all were the Seguas, who at the time of the conquest resided in the Valle Coaza, on the Rio Telorio, and later moved to Chiriqui Lagoon. After the conquest they were scattered still further by the transportation of colonies of Tlascalans to Saltillo in the north, and to Isalco in San Salvador in the south.
I omit entirely from this group the Toltecs and the Chichimecs. These were never tribal designations, and it is impossible to identify them with any known communities. The Toltecs may have been one of the early and unimportant gentes of the Azteca, but even this is doubtful. The term was properly applied to the inhabitants of the small town of Tula, north of the valley of Mexico. In later story they were referred to as a mythical people of singular gifts and wide domain. Modern and uncritical writers have been misled by these tales, and have represented the Toltecs as a potent nation and ancestors of the Aztecs. There is no foundation for such statements, and they have no historic position.152
The term Chichimeca was applied to many barbarous hordes as a term of contempt, “dogs,” “dog people.”153 It has no ethnic signification, and never had, but was used in much the same way as Cuitlateca, above referred to.154
The government of these states did not differ in principle from that of the northern tribes, though its development had reached a later stage. Descent was generally reckoned in the male line, and the male children of the deceased were regarded as the natural heirs both to his property and his dignities. Where the latter, however, belonged rather to the gens than the individual, a form of election was held, the children of the deceased being given the preference. In this sense, which was the usual limitation in America, many positions were hereditary, including that of the chieftaincy of the tribe or confederation. The Montezuma who was the ruler who received Cortez, was the grandson of Axayacatl, who in turn was the son of the first Montezuma, each of whom exercised the chief power.
The land was held by the gens and allotted to its members for cultivation. Marriage was also an affair regulated by the gentile laws of consanguinity, but the position of woman was not specially inferior, and in the instance of the daughter of the first Montezuma, one seems to have occupied the position of head chief for a time.
The general condition of the arts in ancient Mexico is familiar to all who have turned their attention to American history. It has indeed received more than its due share of attention from the number and prominence of the Nahuas at the conquest. They were little if at all superior to many of their neighbors in cultural progress. Even in architecture, where they excelled, the Zapotecs, Totonacos and Tarascos were but little behind them. Numerous artificial pyramids and structures of hewn stone remain in the territories of all these to prove their skill as builders. The Mexicans may be said to have reached the age of bronze. Many weapons, utensils and implements, were manufactured of this alloy of copper and tin. Gold, silver, lead and copper, were likewise deftly worked by founding and smelting into objects of ornament or use. Lead was also known, but not utilized. The majority of implements continued to be of stone. They were fortunate in having for this purpose a most excellent material, obsidian, which volcanic product is abundant in Mexico. From it they flaked off arrow points, knives and scrapers, and by polishing worked it into labrets and mirrors. A variety of nephrite or jade was highly esteemed, and some of the most elaborate specimens of Mexican art in stone are in this hard, greenish material. Fragments of colored stones were set in mosaic, either as masks, knife handles or the like, with excellent effect.
With the undoubtedly dense population of many districts, the tillage of the ground was a necessary source of the food supply. The principal crop was as usual maize, but beans, peppers, gourds and fruit were also cultivated. Cotton was largely employed for clothing, being neatly woven and dyed in brilliant colors.
The religious rites were elaborate and prescribed with minuteness. Priests and priestesses were vowed to the cult of certain deities. Their duties consisted in sweeping and decorating the temples, in preparing the sacrifices, and in chanting at certain periods of the day and night. The offerings were usually of quails, rabbits or flowers, but, especially in Tenochtitlan, human sacrifices were not infrequent. The victims were slaves or captives taken in war. At times their flesh was distributed to the votaries, and was consumed as part of the ceremony; but as this was a rite, the Aztecs cannot be said to have been anthropophagous.
The priestly class had charge of the education of the youth of the better class. This was conducted with care and severity. Large buildings were set apart for the purpose, some for boys, others for girls. The boys were taught martial exercises, the history of the nation, the chants and dances of the religious worship, forms of salutation, the art of writing, etc. The girls were instructed in household duties, the preparation of food, the manufacture of garments, and the morals of domestic life.155
The literature which represented this education was large. It was preserved in books written upon parchment, or upon paper manufactured from the fibrous leaves of the maguey. This was furnished in great quantities from different parts of the realm, as much as 24,000 bundles being required by the government annually as tribute. A book consisted of a strip of paper perhaps twenty feet long, folded like a screen into pages about six inches wide, on both sides of which were painted the hieroglyphic characters. These were partly ideographic, partly phonetic; the latter were upon the principle of the rebus, conveying the name or word by the representation of some object, the word for which had a similar sound. I have called this the ikonomatic method of writing, and have explained it in detail in several essays on the subject.156
Their calendar recognized the length of the year as 365 days. The mathematical difficulties in the way of a complete understanding of it have not yet been worked out, and it may have differed in the various tribes. Its elements were a common property of all the Nahua peoples, as well as many of their neighbors; which of them first devised it has not been ascertained.
UTO-AZTECAN LINGUISTIC STOCK
a. Shoshonian Branch
Bannacks, in Montana and southern Idaho.
Cahuillos, in southern California.
Chemehuevis, branch of Pi-utes, on Cottonwood Island.
Comanches, in northern Texas, on both banks of Rio Grande.
Kauvuyas, southern California, near the Pacific.
Kechis, in southern California, branch of Kauvuyas.
Kizh, in southern California, branch of Kauvuyas.
Moquis, in Moqui Pueblo, Arizona.
Netelas, in southern California.
Pa-Vants, south of Great Salt Lake.
Pi-utes, in southern and central Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah.
Shoshonees or Snakes, in New Mexico and Colorado, Idaho and southern Oregon.
Utes or Utahs, in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, etc.
Wihinasht, in Oregon, south of Columbia river.
b. Sonoran Branch
Acaxees, (?) in the Sierra de Topia.
Cahitas, south of Rio Yaqui.
Coras, in the Sierra de Nayarit.
Eudeves, a sub-tribe of Opatas.
Guaymas, on Rio de Guaymas.
Mayos, on R. Mayo, sub-tribe of Cahitas.
Nevomes, see Pimas.
Opatas, head-waters of Rio Yaqui.
Papayos, or Papagos, sub-tribe of Pimas.
Pimas, from Rio Yaqui to Rio Gila.
Sabaguis, sub-tribe of Pimas.
Tarahumaras, in the Sierra of Chihuahua.
Tehuecos, on R. del Fuerte, dialect of Cahita.
Tecoripas, speak dialect of Pima.
Tepehuanas, in Durango.
Tubares, in upper Sinaloa.
Yaquis, on Rio Yaqui.
c. Nahuatlecan Branch
Alaguilacs, on Rio Motagua in Guatemala.
Aztecs, in the valley of Mexico.
Cuitlatecos, south and west of Michoacan.
Mexicans, see Aztecs.
Meztitlatecas, in the Sierra of Meztitlan.
Nicaraos, in Nicaragua between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific.
Niquirans, see Nicaraos.
Pipiles, on Pacific coast in Soconusco and Guatemala.
Seguas, near Chiriqui Lagoon.
Tecos, see Cuitlatecos.
Tezcucans, in valley of Mexico.
Tlascalans, in Tlascala, east of valley of Mexico.
Tlascaltecans, in San Salvador.
2. THE OTOMIS
According to Aztec tradition, the Otomis were the earliest owners of the soil of Central Mexico. Their language was at the conquest one of the most widely distributed of any in this portion of the continent. Its central regions were the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato; from the upper portion of the valley of Mexico it extended north to the Rio Verde, on the west it adjoined the Tarascans of Michoacan, and on the east the Huastecs of Panuco.
The Otomis are below the average stature, of dark color, the skull markedly dolichocephalic,157 the nose short and flattened, the eyes slightly oblique. Following the lead of some of the old writers, modern authors have usually represented the Otomis as rude savages, far inferior to the Nahuas. Doubtless the latter often so represented them, but this does not correspond with what we learn of them from other sources. Although subjected by the Nahuas, they do not seem to have been excessively ignorant. Agriculture was not neglected, and from their cotton the women wove clothing for both sexes. Ornaments of gold, copper and hard stones were in use; their religion was conducted with ceremony;158 and they were famous for their songs and musical ability.159 The members of the nation to-day are laborious, good tempered, and endowed with a remarkable aptitude for imitation, especially in sculpture. Some of the women are quite handsome.160
Their language has attracted a certain amount of attention, partly from its supposed similarity to the Chinese, partly because it is alleged to differ from most American tongues in showing no incorporation. Both of these statements have been proved erroneous.161 It is a tongue largely monosyllabic, of extremely difficult enunciation, worn down by attrition almost to an isolating form, but not devoid of the usual traits of the languages of the continent. There are several dialects, the relations of which have been the subject of fruitful investigations.162
OTOMI LINGUISTIC STOCK
Jonaz, in Prov. of Queretaro.
Matlaltzincos, in Valley of Mexico and Mechoacan.
Mazauhas, southwest of Valley of Mexico.
Mecos, see Jonaz.
Otomis, throughout Central Mexico.
Pames, in Queretaro and Guanajuato.
Pirindas, see Matlaltzincos.
3. THE TARASCOS
The Tarascans, so called from Taras, the name of a tribal god,163 had the reputation of being the tallest and handsomest people of Mexico.
They were the inhabitants of the present State of Michoacan, west of the valley of Mexico. According to their oldest traditions, or perhaps those of their neighbors, they had migrated from the north in company with, or about the same time as the Aztecs. For some three hundred years before the conquest they had been a sedentary, semi-civilized people, maintaining their independence, and progressing steadily in culture.164 When first encountered by the Spaniards they were quite equal and in some respects ahead of the Nahuas. The principal buildings of their cities, the chief of which was their capital Tzintzuntan, were of cut stone well laid in mortar. A number of remains of such have been reported by various travelers, many of them being conical mounds of dressed stones, locally called yacates, which probably are sepulchral monuments.165
In their costume the Tarascos differed considerably from their neighbors. The feather garments which they manufactured surpassed all others in durability and beauty. Cotton was, however, the usual material. Gold and copper are found in the mountains of the district, and both these metals were worked with skill. Nowhere else do we find such complete defensive armor; it consisted of helmet, body pieces, and greaves for the legs and arms, all of wood covered neatly with copper or gold plates, so well done that the pieces looked as if they were of solid metal.166
A form of picture-writing was in use in Michoacan, but no specimen of it has been preserved. The calendar was nearly the same as that in Mexico, and the government apparently more absolute in form. Many but confused details have been preserved about their religion and rites. There was a mysterious supreme divinity, Tucapacha, though Curicaneri, who is said to have represented the sun, was the deity chiefly worshipped. Large idols of stone and many of smaller size of terra cotta may still be exhumed by the energetic archæologist. Cremation was in vogue for the disposition of the dead, and human sacrifices, both at funerals and in the celebration of religious rites, were usual.
The Tarascan language is harmonious and vocalic, and its grammar is thoroughly American in character, the verb being extraordinarily developed, the substantive incorporated in the expression of action, and the modifications of this conveyed by numerous infixes and suffixes.