Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/41

36 more than a century ago, similarly numbered the years. A space of three years would be expressed by the term "three pitahayas," "yet they seldom make use of such phrases."

It is said that when Elder Brother was leaving Pimería for the last time he told the people to count the tail feathers of the little bird, Gisap, which are twelve in number, and that they should divide the year into that number of parts. He gave them names for these parts, except for the coldest and the hottest months. The writer is disposed to regard the recognition of the "moons" as of recent origin. Not many have any names for them and these do net agree even in the same village. For example, the list of months given by the chief is quite different from that furnished by Kâʼmâl tkâk, and also contains references to wheat, which is of course modern.

As they have no winters the Pimas naturally do not have a "winter count." As there are two rainy seasons and neither is of any consequence as a general rule, while both are sometimes wanting altogether, they could not be expected to mark the flight of years by the recurrence of the rains. There are but two seasons in the Gila valley, one of torrid heat and one of ideal weather throughout the remainder of the year. The onset of the former coincides with the harvest season and the new year is therefore adapted, albeit unwittingly, to seasonal change. The year mark is invariably a deep notch across the stick.

The records of the early years are memorized and there are few minor notches to aid in recalling them. The year notches are exactly alike, yet on asking a narrator to go back and repeat the story for a certain year the writer found that he never made a mistake. Taking the stick in hand he would rake his thumb nail across the year