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Show The relationships between the various bands were friendly and informal. Intermarriage was regular, and the bands often joined together for brief periods of socializing. There is little evidence of struggle between the bands until after white control. One explanation for the relative ease of relationships between the bands is that the area of residency was so vast that there was little cause for conflict over resources. Further, they were relatives; intermarriage was so common that in a real way they were "a people." Probably most important of all these factors, however, was their "world view," or mind set. They simply did not tend to think about strife unless it had a specific purpose. They were a people with little of what could be called a "war ethic," per se. One recent scholar indicates that the present six bands of Utes were probably eight bands 150 years ago. There may have been 2 even more than that, however. Jorgensen's list includes for circa 1830: Pahvant, T,umpanuwac (now Uintah), Yamparka (White River), Wiminuc (now Ute Mountain), Taviwae (now Uncompahgre), Kapota (Capote) and Muwac (Muache). For approximate locations in 1830, see map, page k. This land inhabited by the Utes was for a long time known only 3 in myth and legend (see Appendix A). 9 *" Joseph Gilbert Jorgensen, "The Ethnohistory and Acculturation of the Northern Ute," (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Indiana, 1965), p. 18. 3s. Lyman Tyler, "The Spaniard and the Ute," Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXII (October, 195*0, pp. 3^-3^5. A concise description of the shadowy knowledge of the Ute lands is covered in this short article. |