Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/808

792 COCO-MARICOPAS COD simple instrument and a long-handled spade, they are able to cultivate as much ground as they require. The men generally plant and gather the crops. The food of these people is chiefly bread, made both of the flour of wheat and maize, and vegetables. Little meat is used. But that which elevates these tribes above most other aborigines is their knowledge of the art of spinning and weaving, an art known to the semi-civilized tribes of New Mexico before the arrival of the Spaniards. Cotton of a superior quality is raised by them, which they spin and weave into blankets of various textures and sizes, a heavy cloth used by the women to wrap around their loins, and an article from three to four inches wide, used as a band for the head or a girdle for the waist. The imple- ments used for spinning and weaving are of the most primitive character. Their other manufactures are baskets and pottery. The basket work is remarkably well made of wil- low twigs, of various shapes, and used for different purposes. Their pottery is either red or dark brown, some of it quite fine, though not equal to that made by the ancient tribes, fragments of which cover the adjacent grounds. It consists of vases and cups holding from half a pint to six or eight gallons, jars with small apertures, basins of every size, and oblong vessels used as dippers. The orna- ments on their pottery and their cotton manu- factures closely resemble those on the pottery found among the ancient ruins and sites of an- cient towns throughout New Mexico. They resemble, too, the ornaments of the Pueblo or semi-civilized Indians of the country, which leads to the inference that the Coco-maricopas, the Pimas, and the Pueblo Indians generally, are descendants from the ancient people who have left so many remarkable works in the great basin of the Colorado. The dress of the women is simply a cotton blanket or cloth wrapped around their loins. Sandals of raw hide are worn on the feet. Nothing is worn on the head, nor is the hair ever tied up. In front it is cut off square across the eyebrows ; the rest is suffered to hang loosely over the ears, neck, and half way down the back. It is a universal custom among the women, when they arrive at maturity, to draw two lines with some blue-colored dye from each cor- ner of the mouth to the chin. This is pricked in with a pointed instrument, and re- mains through life. The men generally go naked, except the breech cloth. In cool weather they throw one of their native blan- kets over their shoulders?. Much pains is taken in decorating the head. They wear their hair long, never cutting it except across the eye- brows. When loosed, it reaches to their knees ; but usually it is clubbed up in a large mass on then- backs. This people restrict themselves to a single wife. They believe in the existence of a great spirit and in an exist- ence after death ; that their souls go to the banks of the Colorado, their ancient dwelling place, where they are metamorphosed into va- rious animals and birds ; they believe, too, that the feuds which have existed on earth between them and other tribes will continue after death. The Coco-maricopas lived originally on the Colorado, but were found about 60 miles beyond their present location early in the last century. In 1775 Father Font found them on the river Salinas, 10 or 20 miles from the Pimos. Subsequently they removed for pro- tection to the valley occupied by the Pimos, with whom they live on terms of the greatest harmony, and whose customs they have adopt- ed. Their languages are totally different. The language of the Coco-maricopas has a close af- finity with that of the Yumas of the Colorado, and Comeyas of California. The Maricopas numbered in 1870 only 382 in two villages, and are rapidly disappearing from their con- tact with the whites. COCOON, an oblong ball or case, in which the silkworm involves itself, formed from the very fine filaments from which silk thread is made. The term is also applied to the envelope of other larva? during their pupa state. (See BUTTERFLY, CATERPILLAR, and SILKWORM.) COCOPAS, a tribe of Indians allied in language to the Yumas, living upon the Colorado river of California, between the mouth of the Gila and gulf of California. They number less than 500 souls, and live by cultivating the soil. In the report of Don Jose Cortes to the king of Spain, made in 1799, this tribe is mentioned as then embracing 3,000 souls. COCYTCS, in antiquity, a river in Epirus de- riving its brackish water from the melted snow of Mount Pindus, and emptying, after a course underground, into the Acherusian lake. Also a river of the infernal regions, a tributary of the Styx, emptying with the Pyriphlegethon into the Acheron. COD (morrhua, Cuv.), a genus of soft-rayed fishes belonging to the family of gadidce, char- acterized by an elongated, smooth body, com- pressed toward the tail ; three dorsal fins ; ventral fins pointed ; abdominal line with two fins behind the vent ; the lower jaw with one barbule on the chin. There are eight species Cod (Morrhua Americana). described as occurring in North America. The American cod (M. Americana, Storer) is the common species of the New England coast, rang- ing from New York to the St. Lawrence river.