chapter 10.

See, also, AMERICA, PREHISTORIC, and above: PIMAN FAMILY and KERESAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Pujunan Family.

"The following tribes were placed in this group by Latham: Pujuni, Secumne, Tsamak of Hale, and the Cushna of Schoolcraft. The name adopted for the family is the name of a tribe given by Hale. This was one of the two races into which, upon the information of Captain Sutter as derived by Mr. Dana, all the Sacramento tribes were believed to be divided. 'These races resembled one another in every respect but language.' ... The tribes of this family have been carefully studied by Powers, to whom we are indebted for most all we know of their distribution. They occupied the eastern bank of the Sacramento in California, beginning some 80 or 100 miles from its mouth, and extended northward to within a short distance of Pit River."

_J. W. Powell, Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, pages 99-100._

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Puncas, or Ponkas.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY: and above: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Purumancians.

See CHILE: A. D. 1450-1724.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Quapaws.

See below: SIOUAN FAMILY.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Quelches.

See above: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Querandis, or Pehuelches, or Puelts.

See above: PAMPAS TRIBES.

AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Quiches.--Cakchiquels.

"Of the ancient races of America, those which approached the nearest to a civilized condition spoke related dialects of a tongue, which from its principal members has been called the Maya Quiche linguistic stock. Even to-day, it is estimated that half a million persons use these dialects. They are scattered over Yucatan, Guatemala, and the adjacent territory, and one branch formerly occupied the hot lowlands on the Gulf of Mexico, north of Vera Cruz. The so-called 'metropolitan' dialects are those spoken relatively near the city of Guatemala, and include the Cakchiquel, the Quiche, the Pokonchi and the Tzutuhill. They are quite closely allied, and are mutually intelligible, resembling each other about as much as did in ancient Greece the Attic, Ionic and Doric dialects. ... The civilization of these people was such that they used various mnemonic signs, approaching our alphabet, to record and recall their mythology and history. Fragments, more or less complete, of these traditions have been preserved. The most notable of them is the national legend of the Quiches of Guatemala, the so-called Popol Vuh. It was written at an unknown date in the Quiche dialect, by a native who was familiar with the ancient records."

_D. G. Brinton, Essays of an Americanist, page 104._

ALSO IN, _D. G. Brinton, Annals of the Cakchiquels._

_H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States,