Native American Tribe series.
Yuman Family
An important linguistic family, these tribes occupied an extensive territory in the extreme southwest portion of the United States and lower California, including much of the valley of Colorado River and the lower valley of the Gila River.
Their social groups were well defined, they lived in communal huts, very well constructed of cottonwood and well thatched, practiced agriculture, and made fine basketry and pottery. Interestingly, they did not borrow the art of irrigation from the Pueblo peoples, resulting in their crops often suffering from drought. They were also not boatmen, instead, crossing rivers and transporting their goods on rude rafts, made of bundles of reeds or twigs. they cremated their dead, and with them all articles of personal property. The climate favored nudity, the men wearing only the breechcloth, and not always that, while women generally wore with a short petticoat made of strips of bark.
In the 18th century, Fray Francisco Garcés decribed them: "The Indian men of its banks are well-formed, and the Indian women fat and healthy; the adornment of the men, as far as the Jamajabs [Mohave], is total nudity; that of the women is reduced to certain short and scanty petticoats of the bark of trees; they bathe at all seasons, and arrange the hair, which they always wear long, in diverse figures, utilizing for this purpose a kind of gum or sticky stud.
Always are they painted, some with black, others with red, and many with all colors. All those of the banks of the river are very generous and lovers of their country, in which they do not hunt game because they abound in all provisions."
Important tribes of the northern Yuman area were the Cocopa, Diegueño, Havasupai, Maricopa, Mohave, Tonto, Walapai, Yavapai, and Yuma. They were said to have differed considerably, both physically and otherwise, the river tribes being somewhat superior to the others. The population of the Yuman tribes within the United States numbered about 3,700 in 1909.
Mondo's NAT #658 - Yuman Family
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