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- Nó-zi, Powers in Cont. N.A. Eth., III, 275, 1877 (or No-si;
mention of tribe; gives numerals and states they are different
from any he has found in California).
- Noces, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 160, March, 1877 (or
Nozes; merely mentioned under Meidoo family).
Derivation: Yana means “people” in the Yanan language.
In 1880 Powell collected a short vocabulary from this tribe, which
is chiefly known to the settlers by the name Noje or Nozi. Judged by
this vocabulary the language seemed to be distinct from any other.
More recently, in 1884, Mr. Curtin visited the remnants of the
tribe, consisting of thirty-five individuals, and obtained an
extensive collection of words, the study of which seems to confirm
the impression of the isolated position of the language as regards
other American tongues.
The Nozi seem to have been a small tribe ever since known to
Europeans. They have a tradition to the effect that they came to
California from the far East. Powers states that they differ
markedly in physical traits from all California tribes met by him.
At present the Nozi are reduced to two little groups, one at
Redding, the other in their original country at Round Mountain,
California.
Geographic Distribution
The eastern boundary of the
Yanan territory is formed by a range of mountains a little west
of Lassen Butte and terminating near Pit River; the northern
boundary by a line running from northeast to southwest, passing near
the northern side of Round Mountain, 3 miles from Pit River. The
western boundary from Redding southward is on an average 10 miles to
the east of the Sacramento. North of Redding it averages double that
distance or about 20 miles.
Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico, 1891
Linguistic
Families
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