The Paiute tribe had a number of subdivisions or clans loosely held together by the tribal government. There is a difference of opinion about the identity of the tribal chief. William R. Palmer states that the chief was the leader of the strong Com-o-its clan living in the region of Cedar City.[3] There is evidence, however, that the Virgin River Indians (the Parrusits) were dominated by a chief of the band living on the Santa Clara sometimes referred to as the Tonaquintits. Nearly all the historical data of the early settlement of the Virgin River indicate that the Paiutes recognized this leadership and not that of the Com-o-its. Neighboring clans included the Shivwits (Shebits) of the Parashont, the Uinkarets of the Trumbull and the Kaibabits of the Kaibab region, all occupying the “Arizona Strip” north of the Colorado River. The first historical references to these Indians were given by the Spanish Franciscan, Fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante, in October, 1776. On the Pilar River (now Ash Creek), below Toquerville, near its junction with the Virgin River twenty-five miles below Zion Canyon, he tells us that his party found a well-made platform with a large supply of ears of corn and corn husks which had been stored upon it. Nearby on a small flat on the river bank were three small cornfields with very well made irrigation ditches. The stalks of the maize which they had raised that year were still intact. His journal records: From here down the stream and on the mesa and on both sides for a long distance, according to what we learned, these Indians apply themselves to the cultivation of maize and calabashes. In their own language they are called Parrusis. The next day, October 15, after meeting some of these Indians, he wrote: ... they made us understand that they were called Parrusis ... and that they were the ones who planted crops on the banks of the Pilar River and lived down stream a long distance. Still later, on October 19, when he met the Uinkarets Indians north of Mt. Trumbull, Escalante remarked: They told us that they were called Yubincariri; that they did not plant maize; that their foods were those seeds, tuna,[4] pine nuts, which are scarce judging from the few they gave us; and such hares, rabbits and wild sheep as they could get by hunting. They added that on this side of the river [Colorado] only the Parrusis planted maize and calabashes.[5] Habits and Customs The Parrusits, notwithstanding their primitive agriculture, moved about a great deal within their territory, as the exigencies of the season, the food supply, sanitary conditions, or their relations with other Indians demanded. They occasionally went into the high mountains in summer to hunt or fish but returned at intervals to the valleys to tend the crops. In the fall they went nut gathering among the pinyon pines of the foothills. The winters were usually spent in the valleys.