YOKUTS ('Indians'), a group of about two dozen small tribes, forming the Mariposan linguistic stock of North American Indians, and occupying an irregular area in central south ern California from Fresno River in the north to near the southern extremity of Tulare Lake in the south, and between the Sierra Nevada in the east and the Coast Range in the west; also a strip, 10 to 20 miles wide, extending southeastward from Tulare Lake along the eastern base of the latter range to Mount Pinos, about lat 34' 45', together with an isolated area, occupied by the Cholovone divi sion, in San Joaquin Valley from the Tuo lumne northward. The tribes in general were segregated by the natural features of their territory. such as river valleys, and each tribe had its hereditary chief. Their village con sisted of a single row of tule-thatched, wedge shaped houses, with a continous rarnada or shelter of brush along the front. In early times, when large game was abundant, hunt ing formed an important pursuit, but with the coming of the whites and the disappear ance of the game they were compelled to re sort almost exclusively to the products of the soil, the streams and lakes, although rabbits and quail were always abundant and were com monly trapped. Seeds of various kinds were
gathered for use as food, as also were grass hoppers, caterpillars, worms and the larva: of insects. Dogs were raised for the same pur pose and esen skunks were not despised; but the coyote and the rattlesnake were alwass iatwoied. Their basketry, excellent in shape, and execution, formed their chief handi work. The Yokuts women were chaste before the settlement of their country by the whites. Marriage was perhaps by purchase, the hus band residing at the house of his wife; infanti cide was practised in cases of deformity and the dead were generally cremated. The Yokuts are now but a remnant of a once com paratively populous group of tribes. Early warfare with the Paiutes, who pressed them closely from the cast, and later and more disastrous contact with white ruffians who found the Indians in their way, practically ex terminated many of the tribes. Their pres ent population is about 500 of Indian habits and life. But numerous members of the race have been absorbed into the life of the nation and are no longer numerated as members of the Yokuts tribes.