COLORADO RIVER LANGUAGES.

In the region through which flows the Colorado, and between that river and the Gila, many different languages are mentioned by the early missionaries but at this time it is difficult to ascertain how far different names are applied to any one nation.

The missionaries themselves frequently did not know how to name the people; often they gave several names to one language, and several languages one name; many of the then existing dialects are known to have since become extinct, and many more have mysteriously disappeared, along with those who spoke them, so that in many instances, a century after their first mention no such language could be found. It seems seldom to have occurred to the missionaries and conquerors that the barbarous tongues of these heathen could ever be of interest or value to Christendom, still less lists of their words; so that vocabularies, almost the only valuable speech-material of the philologist, are exceedingly rare among the writings of the early missionary Fathers. If one half of their profitless homilies on savage salvation had been devoted to the simple gleaning of facts, science would have been the gainer, and the souls of the natives no whit less at peace. Of late, however, vocabularies of the dialects of this region have become numerous, and relationships are at length becoming permanently established.

The languages under consideration, on comparison, may nearly all be comprised in what may be called the Yuma family. The principal dialects which constitute the Yuma family are the Yuma, Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave, and Diegueño, which last is spoken in southern California, and more particularly around the bay of San Diego. Among others mentioned are the Yavipais and Yampais.[VI'-5] Compared with that of their neighbors the language of the Diegueños is soft and harmonious, and as it contains all the sounds of the letters in the English alphabet, the people speaking it readily learn to pronounce the English and Spanish languages correctly.[VI'-6] The following Lord's Prayer is a specimen of the dialect of the Diegueños.

DIEGUEÑO LORD'S PRAYER.

Nagua anall amaí tacaguach naguanetuuxp mamamulpo cayuca amaíbo mamatam meyayam canaao amat amaibo quexuic echasau naguaguí ñaña chonñaquin ñípil meñeque pachís echeyuchapo ñagua quexuíc ñaguaích ñacaguaihpo ñamechamel anipuch uch-guelích-cuíapo. Nacuíuch-pambo-cuchlích-cuíatpo-ñamat. Napuíjá.[VI'-7]

Of the other dialects the short vocabulary on the following page will give an illustration:

CUCHAN.MARICOPA.MOJAVE.DIEGUEÑO.
Manépatcheepácheipahaycóotchet
Womanseenyacksinchayaíxhutchsinyaxseen
Houseeenouwa ahbaawáh
Sunn'yatchn'yatzn'yatz
Moonhullyarhullashhullya
Fireaawoáhoochawa
Waterahá ahhaahá
Maizeterditchterdítzterdicha
Goodahotkahotkabhotkhan
In'yatinyátzn'yatzn'yat
Gon'yeemoom n'yimoom
Sleepaseemáh esoma'om [VI'-8]

Then there are the Yampai and Yavipai, said to approach the Cuchan and Mojave;[VI'-9] the Chevet reported as a distinct tongue;[VI'-10] the Cajuenche said to be another language, and the Jalliquamai, a dialect of the Cajuenche.[VI'-11] The Tamajab is a strange language, described by Don José Cortez as "spoken with violent utterance and lofty arrogance of manner; and in making speeches, the thighs are violently struck with the palms of the hands."[VI'-12]

There are further mentioned the Benemó with the dialects Tecuiche and Teniqueche, and lastly the Covaji and Noche, each a distinct tongue.[VI'-13] The people speaking the Noche probably were the northern and eastern neighbors of the Diegueños, and may have been mentioned by some writers under other names. I have preferred to enumerate them here, because the names frequently occur in the reports of the earlier expeditions to the Yuma nations.