NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

u

NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

AN ACCOUNT OF O^ S EXPLORATION IN

NORTH-WESTERN SONORA SOUTH-WESTERN ARE

CARL LUMHOl fcf.A.

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF SCIP.N •

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY; ASSOCII DK PARIS; AUTHOR OF

WITH NUM'I

INCLUDING TWO C< :^PS

NEV

CHARLES - SONS

NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

AN ACCOUNT OF ONE YEAR'S EXPLORATION IN NORTH-WESTERN SONORA, MEXICO, AND SOUTH-WESTERN ARIZONA

1909-1910

BY

CARL LUMHOLTZ, M.A.

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF SCIENCES OF CHRISTIANIA; GOLD MEDALLIST OF THE NORWEGIAN

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY; ASSOCIE ETRANGER DE LA SOCIETE DE L'ANTHROPOLOGIE

DE PARIS; AUTHOR OF "AMONG CANNIBALS," "UNKNOWN MEXICO," ETC.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS INCLUDING TWO COLOR PLATES AND TWO MAPS

NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

191 2

Copyright, 1911, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published October, 1912

TO

THOSE WHO LOVE NATURE

IN ALL ITS ASPECTS

PREFACE

During the years 1909 and 1910 I was commissioned by some influential friends to look into certain economical possibilities of the arid and little known country along the upper part of the Gulf of California, east of the Colo- rado River. My field embraced most of the District of Altar, in the State of Sonora, Mexico, as well as the southern part of the newly admitted State of Arizona; in other words, the region which by the early Spanish chroniclers was designated as Papagueria, after the native inhabitants, the Papago Indians. Some of this country, being the least accessible part of the Sonora Desert, is singularly little known, though lying, so to speak, at the door of the great empire of Yankee enterprise. My mission gave me an opportunity for geographical and ethnological studies, an account of which is here presented in popular form. For this opportunity I am grateful to my friends.

Among my predecessors in exploration of the Papa- gueria should be mentioned Prof. W. J. McGee, well known from his studies of the Seri Indians, lower down the Gulf. In the nineties he made journeys through parts of this region and he has published interesting ac- counts of the desert and its natives. In November, 1908,

viii PREFACE

Drs. D. T. MacDougal and W. T. Hornaday made a month's trip from Tucson, Arizona, to the Pinacate region, both publishing descriptions which were accompanied by maps by Mr. Godfrey Sykes. These gentlemen, accord- ing to their own reports, had no opportunities for extensive explorations of the Papagueria, which I found of such in- terest that my expedition occupied me over a year. The extreme western part of this region, the sandy country between Pinacate and the Colorado River, so far as my knowledge goes, had not before been investigated. The travels here of the Jesuit fathers during the seventeenth century did not extend much south of the present Mexican boundary. Some of that country probably had not be- fore ever been visited by a white man, and I have there- fore described that part of my journey in greater detail, thinking that an accurate account may prove of value and even of practical interest.

This region, no doubt, recently had a less arid climate, with much greater rainfall than at the present time. It seems impossible to explain otherwise the recent great accumulation of detritus at Sonoita, at the origin of the little river of the same name, or the marked effect of the action of the water on the hard rocks of Tinaja de los Papagos. That country is a desert, on account of the scarcity of rain, but the soil is in places extremely fertile and I doubt not that through human agency large parts of it will some day delight the eye with waving fields of grain and orchards of fruit.

Although most of that arid region will always remain suitable only for cattle and horse raising, still there is

PREFACE ix

more of it than people realize which can be brought under cultivation. I may mention the extensive valley which, south of the Mexican boundary line, runs east and west, passing beyond Sonoita, the great plains north-east and south-east of Pinacate, as well as the middle course in most of the flat valleys; for instance, many of those be- tween the Gila range and the ranges following as far east almost as Silver Bell, extending in the west as far north as the Gila River. The problem of water is bound to be solved at some future time, as soon as the necessity arises. Water may be found at a depth of from fifty to a hundred feet, but at most places one would have to go several hundred feet down. Judging from the extraor- dinary springs I encountered on the shore of the salt deposit, Salina Grande, near the coast, there must be a large sheet of fresh water underneath most of that western coastal desert. This inference seems to be confirmed by the flow of water which was found in digging the well, near Horseshoe in the Quijotoa Range.

The mineral prospects of the region, especially as regards gold, are great. There are numerous large veins south of Sonoita which should be examined and the moun- tains of the western desert explored. Free gold which undoubtedly has been encountered in the malpais in the northern part of Pinacate should also be followed up.

The extraordinary adaptation to arid conditions of plant and animal life, even the domesticated animals of Indians and Mexicans subsisting without difficulty for months without water, cannot help but interest the ob- server. With the exception of the Seri and Pima Indians

x PREFACE

the natives of the desert have so far received little attention from those engaged in the study of primitive races. The Papagoes are the great desert people of America and are remarkably stable in their racial characteristics, still pre- serving traditions and habits of the past which will soon disappear. There are also ancient remains left since the occupancy of that same country by people who had a higher state of development than the present-day Ind- ians. Original documents relating to the history of the region are not always of easy access, and I have not had an opportunity of consulting them.

In spite of excessive heat in the summer the nights are always cool, and the climate is salubrious and even in- vigorating. During three months in the spring I travelled without wearing a hat, which made me feel comfortable and actually cooler. The one drawback to a journey in those regions is, of course, the want of water, and, be- cause of this, caution is necessary, but this need not inter- fere with the enjoyment of the freedom of the wilds. I can understand the expression of an enthusiastic person who for the first time felt the charm of the desert: "I am drunk with out-of-doors!" When I, in the easy sur- roundings of civilized life, read my notes from the field, it sometimes occurs to me that this or that which I went through was well done; but what in civilization appears as hardship, privation, or risk amounts to little when act- ually happening, even if one is, as the Irishman said, "a thousand miles from home and fifty miles from any place."

To the lover of nature in all aspects, this land of "si-

PREFACE xi

lence, solitude, and sunshine" cannot help but present a strong fascination. The wonderful colors of the late afternoon, the glorious sunsets, the peace and calm of night, the thrill that accompanies the early dawn of the morning are sources of constant delight to the traveller. Besides, an expedition of this kind directs one's thoughts into other channels than those of the ordinary humdrum of life. The starlit sky, under which one sleeps with im- punity, invites imagination to take flight into the infinite universe, and one has time to reflect on the beauty of existence and the grandeur of nature, a pleasure which is denied to most dwellers in cities.

During my travels I used an Army Sketching Case, designed and patented by Glenn T. Smith, topographer, United States Geological Survey, and I collected besides a large amount of data of geographical importance. Of the region traversed by me a considerable portion appears on the hitherto published maps as blank space. The International Boundary Commission, which takes in generally from two and a half to three miles on each side of the boundary. West of Meridian in, west of Greenwich, and south of Parallel 33 only one topo- graphical sheet, that of Yuma, has been published by the United States Geological Survey.

In making the map herewith presented, as a base for starting, the Atlas sheets of the International Boundary Commission have been used. In Arizona the word "range" has been employed as a synonym for the Spanish sierra. This is generally in conformity with the usage of the South-west.

xii PREFACE

The following maps and authorities were consulted:

1. Report of the International Boundary Commission,

1891-1896.

2. United States Geological Survey.

3. Gulf of California, original survey by U. S. S.

Narragansett, 1 873-1 875, the Hydrographic Office, United States Navy Department, Wash- ington, District of Columbia.

4. General Land Office Map, Department of the In-

terior, 1909.

5. Pima County, by George J. Roskruge, 1893. While the accompanying map has been made with

all possible care and after taking into account all obtain- able material, it naturally does not claim absolute accu- racy. The task of preparing a map approaching perfec- tion would require as many years as I had months at my disposal.

I desire to express to Mr. A. Briesemeister, of the American Museum of Natural History, who drew the two maps, my appreciation of his painstaking and skilful work. Sr. Y. Bonillas, mining engineer and surveyor in Nogales, kindly assisted in giving the location of cer- tain places, and to his son, Sr. Y. S. Bonillas, of the In- stitute Geologico de Mexico, I owe valuable topograph- ical information in regard to the Pinacate region. I am indebted to Mr. G. Sykes for a tracing of the mouth of the Colorado River, 1907, although I disagree with him in his estimate of the extent of the Santa Clara Slough.

The photographs have with few exceptions been taken by myself. I had with me three cameras, all of the so-

PREFACE xiii

called Kodak type, made by the Eastman Company, Rochester, New York. The largest carried 5x7 films; the other two were Folding Pocket Kodaks, all provided with high-grade lenses. The photograph of the little elf owl, reproduced at page 18, was presented to me by Mr. Herbert Brown, of Tucson, and that of the row of cur- lews, at page 256, by Mr. Warburton Pike, of British Columbia. The photograph of Casa Grande, which appears on the map of the Papagueria, I owe to the courtesy of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The photograph of the Yaqui chiefs, as well as that of the donkeys bringing bat guano, were taken by a Hermosillo photographer. The clowns and Pablo I had taken in Tucson.

Mr. Marius Dahlgren, my able friend of Tucson, kindly contributed the painting of sunset in the desert, reproduced as frontispiece. Miss Gladys Batchelder Greene was good enough to transcribe the two native songs. The two colored illustrations are by Mr. R. Weber, and the drawings of native implements were made by Mr. W. Baake, after objects collected during the expedition.

The comparative vocabulary, published by the Smith- sonian Institution, has been used as a basis for the short vocabularies of Appendix I.

To my good friend, Hon. Franklin MacVeagh, Secre- tary of the United States Treasury, I am indebted for the official courtesy which he, through the State Department, secured on my behalf in Mexico.

I wish to express my grateful acknowledgment to the

xiv PREFACE

Mexican Government for removing all custom duties for my expedition and for continuing in other ways the pleasant relations of former years.

For the identification of the several plants referred to in the book as well as for valuable information on botanical subjects I am under great obligation to Dr. B. L. Robin- son, Curator of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University. Dr. J. A. Allen, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, and Mr. W. Beutenmuller, of the American Museum of Natural His- tory, New York, have identified certain mammals, birds, and insects. Mr. Samuel Henshaw, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, has identified various insects. In regard to mineralogical and geological specimens I have consulted with Dr. C. P. Berkey, of Columbia University; Mr. L. P. Gratacap and Dr. E. O. Hovey, of the American Museum of Natural History, as well as with Prof. Cyrus F. Tolman, of Arizona Uni- versity, who for ten days accompanied me on the expedition near Magdalena, and who has contributed a sketch of the geological formation of the Papagueria, presented as Appendix III. Mr. Nathan Banks, Mr. Barton A. Bean, Dr. J. N. Rose, and Dr. Leonard Stejneger, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, have further contributed toward the identification of certain specimens of natural history.

Carl Lumholtz New York, 1912

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Westward Bound — Civilization in the West — Tucson Past and Present — Visit to San Xavier Del Bac — The Papago Ind- ian Reservation — Ancient Fortifications — Native Ceme- teries— Antiquities — Courtship of the Night Hawks . . I

CHAPTER II

The Papagueria — Its Natural Features — Sierras and Llanos — Small Rainfall— High Temperature— Remarkable Adap- tation of Plant Life — Fauna — The Papago, the Great People of the Desert — First Encounter with the Whites — Present Conditions 1 6

CHAPTER III

An Expedition into Southern Arizona — My Companion — The Range of Baboquivari — Fresnal — Papago Manner of Curing Disease — At the Boundary — An Unusual Relig- ious Commotion — Visit to a Sacred Cave — Indian Oasis . 30

CHAPTER IV

The Giant Cactus or Sahuaro — The Sahuaro Feast at Noria — Dancing and Singing — The Medicine Lodge — Tobacco — Well Received — Dissertations with the Indians — An Adventure — An Ancient Festival — Native Oratory — Ob- jection to Photography — Artistic Gifts of a Native ... 45

CHAPTER V

Comobabi — An Attractive Indian Family — Marianita — A Horned Lizard that Spurts Blood through the Eye — An Aboriginal Way of Recording Events — The Papago Cal- endar— Harvesting Sahuaro — How to Keep Comfortable in Great Heat — A Visit to Chief Alvina 65

xvi CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI

PAGE

Horseshoe in the Quijotoa Range — Indians as Miners — Spend- ing a Night under Difficulties — Delightful Natives — A Woman's Game — Santa Rosa Rancheria — The Great Harvest Feast of Santa Rosa 82

CHAPTER VII

Visit to a Very Sacred Place — The Children's Sacrifice — A Meeting with an Important Personage — Anekam — Prim- itive Natives — I Arrive among the Kohatk People — A Wet Night — Return to Santa Rosa 99

CHAPTER VIII

Scorpions — A Storm in the Desert — How the Sahuaro Wine Is Made — The Sahuaro Feast at Santa Rosa — A Great Rendezvous — Social Amusements of the Papago — Success at Collecting Specimens — Stuck in the Mud — Wonderful Change in the Landscape — A Valuable Vegetable — Part- ing with Pablo Il6

CHAPTER IX

In Magdalena, Mexico — The State of Sonora — The Yaqui Indians — An Attack of Dysentery — Trincheras, the Re- markable Ancient Fortifications — Antiquities of the Pa- pagueria — Altar — Caborca — I Start Westward — Placer Mines — The Choya — Its Terrible Spines — Its Great Util- ity— Cattle Which Are without Water for Months . . 1 34

CHAPTER X

Adventure with a Coyote — Unusual Afterglow — A Meteor — A Great and Fertile Valley — The Custom of Nidri — La Nariz — The Papagoes of Quitovac 1 56

CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTER XI

PAGE

Sonoita, an Oasis of the Desert— Its Pleasant Population- Lessons of the Sonoita River — Antiquities — A Lunar Rainbow — Primitive Gold Mining — Prevalence of Hydro- phobia— Unusual Refraction of Sunlight 174

CHAPTER XII

Areas of Vegetation — Fitting Out an Expedition under Diffi- culties— An Old Medicine-Man Enrolled as a Member— Guadalupe I°7

CHAPTER XIII

The Old Caborca-Yuma Trail— Quitovaquita, the Place of Small Springs — Old Camping Places — Pinacate and Le- gends Connected with It — Discovery of Water — Our First Mountain-Sheep — Visit to a Sacred Cave — Ascent of the Peak— Winter Weather— Crater Elegante— Travel at Night 196

CHAPTER XIV

Changing Camp — Mountain-Sheep — The Useful Greasewood — Palo Fierro, the Friendly Desert Tree — Los Medanos, the Great Sand Dunes— Unusual Tracks— Abandoned Ind- ian Camps — New Sierras — La Tinaja de Los Papagos — Visit to a Crater 21 7

CHAPTER XV

Westward — Looking Back toward Pinacate — Tinajas Altas — Its Dismal Memories — Sunshine and Moonlight of the Early Morning — El Capitan — Laguna Prieta, a Salt Lake — A Long Wait for Water — How Fresh Water Appears among Bulrushes — Approaching the Colorado River — Colonia Lerdo — The Indians at the Lower Part of the Great River 235

xviii CONTENTS

CHAPTER XVI

PAGE

Travelling along the Gulf of California — Delightful Climate — Killing a Porpoise — Fishing — Fresh Water on the Beach — Unattractive Drinking Water — Fine Views — A Great Salt Deposit — Extraordinary Occurrence of Springs — Hard Travel — The Papago Salt Expeditions — Worship of the Sea 254

CHAPTER XVII

A Peaceful Day — Tragedy in the Wilderness — Our Animals Beginning to Give In — A Promising Soda Deposit — Last Camp on the Beach — Among the Sand Dunes — Sierra Blanca — The Mouth of the Sonoita River — El Charco — Pronghorn Antelopes — Meeting with Indians — Return to Sonoita 274

CHAPTER XVIII

New Expedition Westward — Growler Well — A Hardy Old Pa- pago— Disagreeable Experience with a Mexican of My Party — A Valuable New Member — Papago Loyalty — Pronghorn Antelope Again — Mountain-Sheep Inside of a Crater — I Leave My Main Camp — My Two Companions — Risks Taken by the Prospector — Deceptive Atmosphere — Our Guiding Star — Reading Tracks — Solitude — Beauty of the Desert 289

CHAPTER XIX

I Overtake My Men — Again at Tinajas Altas — Progress under Difficulties — Exploring in Los Medanos — Astonishing Dis- play of Flowers — Picturesque Camp on the Dunes — I Lose My Riding Mule — Sierra Del Rosario — Travel at Night— The Wonderful "Root of the Sands" . . . . . 308

CHAPTER XX

Return to Tinajas Altas — Evasive Travellers — An "Oldtimer" — The Cabeza Prieta Mountains — Vague Notions of Prop- erty— The Pools of Cabeza Prieta — A Rainy Day — I Reach My Main Camp — The Advantage of Travel with Donkeys — My Indian Companions — The Sand People . 320

CONTENTS xix

CHAPTER XXI

PAGE

An Indian Hermit — Aboriginal Cooking — Again in Sonoita — Ancient Village Sites Around the Altar River — A Remedy for Snake Bites — I Arrive at Ajo, Arizona — Gila Bend Reservation — An Ancient Fortress — The Maricopa Ind- ians— The Ways of Civilization — The Pima Indians — Casa Grande — Its Builders — Return to Civilization . . 333

CHAPTER XXII

Physical and Mental Characteristics of the Papago — Effects of Contact with White Man — Marital Relations — Woman's High Position — Industries — Divisions of the Tribe — Religion and Myths — Races and Games — Fights with Apaches — Sham Battles — Present Conditions and Pros- pects of the Papago 344

APPENDICES

I — Short Vocabularies from the Languages of the Papago,

Pima, and Cocopa Indians 368

II — Rancherias, Present and Past, of the Papago, with Inter- pretations of Their Native Name 277

III — Geological Sketch of the Papagueria 398

INDEX 401

ILLUSTRATIONS

At Sunset: Santa Catalina Mountains, near Tucson.

{Colored plate) Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

In a Tucson garden 4

Where peace reigns supreme. San Xavier 4

Mission church of San Xavier del Bac 12

A kiln at San Xavier 12

Threshing wheat. San Xavier 12

Sierra de la Basura, Sonora. Seen from the south-west ... 18

An exceptional mountain range of the Papagueria 18

A characteristic mountain range of the Papagueria .... 18

Mocking-bird (Mimus) 22

Elf-owl (Micropsias) 22

Cotton-tail rabbit 22

Young gray fox, at burrow 22

Rattlesnake 22

Peak of Baboquivari, seen from north-west 32

Peak of Baboquivari 42

Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) 42

Entrance to the Sacred Cave, at foot of peak of Baboquivari 42

Barrel cactus 42

Sahuaro, or giant cactus (Cereus giganteus) 48

Single-column sahuaro 48

Sahuaro, dry, showing its wooden structure 48

Papago ethnology 5^

Picture drawn by an untutored Papago 62

Using the ancient hoe 62

Mother with child in cradle. Aktjin 62

xxii ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Palo verde, near a Papago cemetery . 72

The medicine-lodge at Santa Rosa 72

Showing how to swing the bull-roarer 88

Woman's game of double-ball 88

Papago woman, with her children, from Bisani, near Caborca 88

The clown at the great feast of Santa Rosa 92

My camp at Santa Rosa 92

Papago ethnology 96

Shrine of the children's sacrifice, seen from the west .... 104

Shrine of the children's sacrifice, near Santa Rosa 104

East of the shrine of the children's sacrifice 104

Papago ethnology no

Desert willow in bloom, June 120

Papago woman carrying water 120

The dam at Santa Rosa. Made by the Papagoes 120

Pablo, my interpreter. A full-blooded Papago 132

The old way of hauling freight in Mexico, now disappearing . 136

Bringing bat guano to Corral railroad station in the Yaqui

country 136

Yaqui chiefs who in 1909 made peace with the Mexican Gov- ernment 136

Ancient fortifications near Trincheras, District of Altar, Sonora 140

The same side of the mountains, viewed at five miles distance

from the north 140

Antiquities of the Papagueria 142

Antiquities of the Papagueria 144

The church in old Caborca 146

Altar, seen from the west 146

A ranch, west of Altar, showing the indispensable water barrels 146

Cow eating choya 152

Cow showing vestiges of her favorite feeding grounds . . . . 152

ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii

FACING PAGE

Choya {Opuntia mamillatd) , relished as food by the cattle . . 152

Feeding on mezquite leaves 162

Papago women bringing in wood, La Nariz 162

Pictographs near La Nariz 168

Pictographs near Caborca 168

The nose of the rock which gave La Nariz its name .... 168

Ancient pottery vessels of the Papagueria. Excavated by Pa- pago Indians near Fresnal, Arizona. {Colored plate) . . 170

Papago woman, La Nariz 174

The principal spring at Quitovac 174

Agua Dulce, a reappearance of Sonoita River 180

The channel at the beginning of Sonoita River 180

Salt loads, recently discharged. Papago pack-saddles in the

centre 184

Papago woman "dry washing" gold near Quitovac .... 184

Approaching storm. View from Pinacate top, looking south, at

sunset, January 3 200

Pinacate from the east. Commencement of the lava flow. To

the right, my camp 200

Belt of great sand-hills south of Pinacate 200

Guadalupe at the sacred cave of Pinacate 208

The lonely palo fierro 222

Greasewood bushes 222

Hauling palo fierro branches for camp fire at dusk 222

Mountain sheep, female 228

Tracks of beetles (Eleodes) on sand dune 228

Crater elegante 232

The watercourse at Tinaja de Los Papagos 232

Paso de Juana 236

Tinajas Altas 240

Clemente: Papago 240

xxiv ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Filling our barrels and canteens at Tinaja del Tule .... 240

Laguna Prieta, from the east 244

In the sand dunes before arriving at Laguna Prieta .... 244

Indians burning reeds and grass on the Colorado River . . . 248

Approaching Laguna Prieta 248

A stranded porpoise 256

Row of curlews on the beach 256

The delta of the Colorado River showing clumps of bulrushes

{Tulares) 256

Clayey sand cliffs of the gulf 256

A pozo at Salina Grande, seen from the east 262

The same pozo, seen from the west 262

Salina Grande in its northern part, showing many of the pozos

or tulares 262

A pozo at the edge of Salina Grande 264

A pozo at Salina Grande 264

Beautiful effects of wind and sand, north-west of Pozo del

Caballo 272

The Pinacate salt deposit 272

Leaving La Soda 286

Sierra Blanca, southern part, seen from the south 286

Waiting for his chance. At Los Pozitos 286

(Enothera trichocalyx, near Sierra del Rosario 312

(Enothera trichocalyx, near Sierra del Rosario. A fine growth 312

(Enothera trichocalyx, south of Sierra Blanca 312

Clodomiro digging for "roots of the sands" (Camotes) . . . 318

The "roots of the sands" (Ammobroma sonorce) 318

My companions, "Doctor" Pancho (to the left) and Pedro . 318

Sierra del Rosario, northern part 324

ILLUSTRATIONS xxv

FACING PAGE

Cabeza Prieta Range. An interior, looking westward. A dry

arroyo at the bottom 324

Papago: Guadalupe, my companion from Quitovac .... 344

Papago: Miguel, medicine-man from La Nariz 344

Girl. Parents: Chinaman and Yaqui 344

Boy. Parents: Spaniard and Papago 344

Pima granary. Made from twisted arrow bush 350

Hut for the isolation of women 350

Papago: "Rainbow," from La Nariz 350

Designs of Papago baskets 354

Casa Grande, Arizona, before the protecting shed was erected

Printed with map showing Papago Rancherias

MAPS

Map showing Papago Rancherias, Present and Past

Map of South-western Arizona and North-western I In pocket at Sonora, comprising the region formerly called I e °J vo'-ume Papagueria

NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

CHAPTER I

WESTWARD BOUND— CIVILIZATION IN THE WEST— TUCSON PAST AND PRESENT— VISIT TO SAN XAVIER DEL BAC— THE PAPAGO INDIAN RESERVATION— ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS— NATIVE CEMETERIES — ANTIQUITIES — COURTSHIP OF THE NIGHT- HAWKS

In May, 1909, I found myself on a train westward bound for the never-never country. Many a time have I crossed the North American continent and, coming from the East, have noticed the change of natural conditions that takes place west of Chicago. One begins to feel the freedom of the West, the air is very bracing, and the great plains inspire to deeds of energy. The few people in the Pullman car look intent, as if they had some purpose in life. Tourists seldom travel on these trains, but very often consumptives are seen on their way to the land of hope, the arid regions of the South-west around El Paso, Tucson, and other places.

"Pardon me for calling you mister, Judge," said one of my fellow-passengers during our conversation. He was not a good judge himself, I am afraid. Another one to show his good-will gave me the title of colonel, as also did the negro porters.

2 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

"Why do you want to discover any more animals? We have enough already," said to me a wise, elderly man from California, connecting in some way my proposed expedition with the discovery of animals.

We pulled out from El Paso and, in a newspaper I had just bought, I read these rather startling lines:

COWBOYS AND SHEEPMEN FIGHT

Fierce Battle at Atchee, Colo, sheepmen are tied up and cowboys then slaughter 3,000 head

OF SHEEP

Grand Junction, Colo., May 20. — As a result of a battle between the sheepmen and cowboys on a contested ranch near Atchee, Colo., yesterday, 3,000 head of sheep were killed and two sheepmen injured, but not seriously. According to the reports received here the cowboys dashed in upon the herders and tied them to trees and then rode among the sheep, killing them. The slaughter required almost a day. In order to prevent the news from leaking out, it is said, the cowboys first cut the telephone wires and then made their escape into the hills. Several hours later the sheep-herders were discovered and liberated.

A mining man from the West, another of my fellow- passengers, cultivated and intelligent, gave me light on these high-handed proceedings by explaining the feuds between cattlemen and sheepmen as due to the fact that cattle will not graze on ground where sheep have fed. According to my informant, the sheepmen are Mexicans. The cattleowners often hire renegades to do their bloody work. In a battle the previous year, seven men had been killed. The aggressors are masked and escape.

This incident reminded me of a request for the for- bearance of the audience put up on a signboard in a far

FRONTIER LIFE 3

Western town, "Don't shoot us, we are doing our best," and the advertisement of the barber in a mining camp, "Ears washed without extra charge/' Such are the act- ualities of frontier life, but we should not be led to wrong conclusions about that great Western land in the process of making and its virile, hearty population. The other side to the picture is a much more important one, and it often remains obscure to those who do not know the actual conditions.

Arizona, which concerns us here, has good laws and enforces them. Its public-school system is equal to the best of the commonwealths in the eastern part of North America. This State, which includes not only great mines, cattle, sheep, and angora goat ranches, ostrich farms, etc., but a steadily growing agriculture, was con- sidered a useless waste of desert less than fifty years ago.

As for Tucson, where I made my first head-quarters, one is surprised at the business-like, orderly aspect of everything. In Spanish times the presidio, or fort, of Tucson, established in 1776 on its removal from Tubac, resisted many a siege from hostile natives, numbering at times over a thousand. A traveller in 1863 describes it as "the head-quarters of vice, dissipation, and crime. There was neither government, law, nor military pro- tection. The garrison at Tucson confined itself to its legitimate business of getting drunk or doing nothing." To-day on the same site one finds a cosmopolitan, well- laid-out, and clean city of twenty-four thousand inhabi- tants. In 1880 the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived here, bringing it in more direct touch with the rest of the

4 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

world. The people met on the streets or in the stores are invariably civil and they are much more so than under the same conditions in New York, besides being more wide-awake. The citizens are public-spirited, prosper- ous, and progressive, and, best of all, they respect and favor learning, as evidenced by the welcome extended to the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institu- tion, for the study of desert plants, which was given land in the vicinity. Tucson is the seat of the University of Arizona which, from the modest beginning in the year 1 891 of a single building among the greasewood of the mesa, has advanced to an institution of much importance. It has a school of mines and an agricultural experiment station.

The university buildings are charmingly situated in a park of forty acres, where clusters of the native palo verde attracted my attention, displaying in an exuberant manner their yellow spring blossoms, which appear be- fore the leaves. Plants peculiar to the desert region have been planted in the garden, among them a maguey {agave americana), the renowned mescal of Mexico, a member of the amaryllis family to which the common garden narcissus belongs. Members of this family the so-called century plants, have large and beautiful spikes of creamy white flowers which are the supreme effort of their lives and after the production of which they die, though able to propagate themselves by shoots. The one in question was seventeen years old when it pro- duced stalk and flowers. The stalk, more than twenty feet high, grew, according to Prof. J. J. Thornber, in

In a Tucson garden

Where peace reigns supreme. San Xavier

TUCSON 5

six weeks, the maximum growth in one day having been eleven inches. For comparison, it may be mentioned that the Virginia creeper, one of the most rapid-growing plants, has been known to make four inches a day, but it needs deep and rich soil and much water.

Tucson is situated on the Santa Cruz River, a small stream, but important because of its permanency. A fertile valley with alluvial soil surrounds its course, which offered the most direct route for the early Spanish ex- plorers. It disappears in the sand before reaching the Gila River. Tucson is 2,430 feet above sea-level. The name is a corruption of the Papago Tjukson, meaning "at the foot of (son) the black hill (tjuk)." The word tjuk* designates the color black, which also by inference means black hill. Originally Tjukson was a Papago rancheria on the river, at the foot of a small hill near that on which the Desert Laboratory is now situated. The climate is hot in summer, the records of 1909 showing that there were only three days in the year when the sun did not shine; still it is a very healthy region, and con- sumptives prolong life and are even cured by living here. On January 27, 1888, Tucson, according to reports, had four or five inches of snow on the ground.

About nine miles south of Tucson, on the fertile plains along the Santa Cruz River, is the old church of the Mission of San Xavier del Bac. There has been much speculation in regard to the meaning of the word Bac. It is the Spanish rendering of Vak, the Papago name of the locality, and means: "where the river reap-

* There should be a slight s sound before /.

6 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

pears in the sand, a 'sink'." This fine Jesuit edifice does not, according to Mr. Ad. F. Bandelier, date further back than the middle of the eighteenth century, though an attempt at building a church at San Xavier appears to have been made in 1699. It was once a rich mission; the architecture is the usual type of Spanish renaissance, but better preserved than is the case with other missions of the South-west.

The church is at present surrounded by a reservation of the Papago Indians. The ethnologist will find these Indians more worthy of a visit than he would anticipate, because, owing to the half nomadic habits of the tribe, natives of the interior districts are constantly to be found there. From the tower of the old church I had a fine view of the extensive wheat-fields which the Indians at that time — the beginning of June — were harvesting, and which presented a marked contrast to the barren appear- ance of some settlements of poverty-stricken Mexican and Yaqui families that live on low hills beyond the river, just outside of the reservation. Horses were gorging them- selves in the green fields of barley. Some of the Indians have mowing machines that cost fifty dollars each. I was told that the United States Government supplied agri- cultural implements. The ambition of these natives still reaches out for a hay-press, which would cost in Tucson nearly four hundred dollars, and a "bog-rake." "That's all we ask for," the Papago policeman said to me. He had a buggy with two horses, which he lent me. They were lazy and did not take any of the unexpected lib- erties usual with horses raised by Indians. Sewing

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE 7

machines and many of the white man's kitchen utensils are seen in the houses; nevertheless, the people seem very Indian. When spoken to in English they would not answer me, but they would in Spanish, the women always smiling when addressed in that tongue.

Some years had passed since I had been among Ind- ians and I again enjoyed their gentle and sympathetic manner. When I reached there, one woman was toast- ing green garbanzos; she was stirring the large peas in the shallow earthen-wear dish in which corn cakes are baked, and she hospitably offered me a few, presenting them in a beautiful tray with interwoven symbolic fig- ures. Another woman offered me wheat grains which she was toasting on a potsherd. They were simple dishes, these, but how good they tasted because they were well cooked! None of the many civilized man's machine-made productions of a similar kind bear com- parison with the plain cuisine of the nimble housewife of the red man. Although dogs here were somewhat numerous, they did not molest. Indian dogs are seldom fierce, but these did not even bark when we approached the houses; they would look at us unconcernedly and lay their heads down again.

The dwellings here, rectangular in shape, are usu- ally adobe huts or light sheds made of sunflower stalks placed upright, three or four sahuaro ribs, which are tied horizontally, binding these together. The walls are usually plastered both inside and out with mud mixed with straw; the uprights are forked poles of mezquite and the same kind of pole always stands in the middle

8 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

of the house to support the roof. The rafters, too, are of mezquite, the roof consisting besides of a layer of coarse grass called sacaton and another of wheat straw, on top of which is placed mud. The roof is slightly raised in the middle in order that the rain may more easily run off; the floor is earthen. Huts made of up- right ocotillo sticks, but otherwise similar, are also seen. A window is rarely found in the houses. Generally there is attached to the house a shed called in Spanish jacal, a light roof resting on four or six forked upright poles, which furnishes a grateful shade. Here the cook- ing is done, and here the family is usually found sitting. The dwellings in the rest of the Papagueria are of a sim- ilar type, real adobe houses being seldom met with. The dome-shaped grass huts of the natives are also not un- common in the interior districts of southern Arizona.

Pottery making is the greatest industry among these Indians, and wherever I went in the mornings I could hear the soft hammering of the wooden paddle against the clay that had been moulded into shape. A round smooth stone is held by the other hand against the inner wall of the vessel. All the pottery makers are women, and their faces betray much quiet intelligence. The pottery ware of the Papago, though of fairly good quality, cannot be compared with that of the Pueblo Indians, especially in regard to designs. It is useful, though, and finds a ready sale in Tucson.

The Indians who live here number about seven hun- dred, and they seem contented and happy. One cir- cumstance which contributes to their happiness and

THE BLACK HILLS 9

gives great cause for satisfaction to those interested in the welfare of the red man, is the prohibition against selling brandy to the Indians. Through the constant vigilance of specially detailed men the law is enforced, at least on the reservation. I was informed that forty- five convictions for the sale of liquor to the Indians had been secured in the Federal Court at Tucson which had just then closed its session. The penalty is usually two years in the penitentiary, together with a fine, and still there are always people willing and anxious to sell to the Indians an abominable, poisonous liquor called "port-wine" at twenty-five cents a quart bottle.

Near San Xavier are five hills, running more or less in the general direction of east and west, of volcanic for- mation, and dark in color. They are each and all called by the Papago tjuk (black). A further characteriza- tion is given as to which mountain is meant, by "the black hill where the cemetery is," "the black hill on the other side of the river," and so on. I ascended one of these hills, situated three miles west of the mission church, which, like a great many others of the South-west, is sur- mounted by fortifications of ancient people. These con- sist mainly of two rows of stone walls which at short intervals run for about two hundred yards irregularly along the northern side of the summit. The trail from below cuts through them. The walls, four feet high and ten or fifteen feet wide at the base, consist of loose stones thrown together without any attempt at system.

On the top small enclosures, or corrals, of upright, medium-sized stones were noted; here the ancients lived

io NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

perhaps during sieges, each family in its enclosure. I found later that those Papagoes who lived recently in the sand dune country of Sonora had similar, though cruder, arrangements at their camps. In the winter, when much grass is growing on the top of the mountain, the Indians keep their horses there on pasture. The rest of the vege- tation of the hill consists mainly of a bush with almost white leaves, encelia farinosa, appropriately named the white brittle bush by Dr. William T. Hornaday. The leaves have the characteristics indicated by the name and, with their stems, have a very strong aromatic odor. The branches exude a yellow gum which the Papago children use as chewing gum, for they indulged in this unattractive habit long before certain classes of Ameri- cans included it among the pleasures of life. The men also applied it as a varnish over the painted part of an arrow, warming it first. The rounded and symmetrical shape of this bush is in evidence everywhere in the desert region. The Mexicans call it herba del vaso, because the gum is supposed to cure pain in the vaso (the left side below the ribs). It is warmed and smeared on, and is considered more efficacious than a porous plaster.

These bushes grow in desert fashion with such regu- larity of intervals that they appear as if planted, and they covered in a pleasing way the dark sides of the moun- tain, especially toward the south, where also appeared, here and there, the lofty columns of the giant cactus or sahuaro (cereus giganteus). That wonderful creation of the desert, however, does not often inhabit mountains, for the reason that most of their soil has been washed

BURIAL CUSTOMS n

away, but on lesser, mostly volcanic hills like this one, it is seen, though on the south side alone. Dr. D. T. MacDougal informs me that farther south and east in the Sonora Desert, down toward Hermosillo, before reach- ing the plant's extreme limit of habitat, it prefers to grow on the north side.

The hill notable for its cemetery is much smaller and quite low, and rises back of the Indian houses. The Papagoes wrap their dead in a new suit of cotton cloth, and place the corpse on the ground, building up a small artless stone chamber four feet high over it. In other parts of the Papago country the natives make a hole in the ground of sufficient depth to hold the dead in a sit- ting position, erecting over it the usual protection. The roof of the chamber consists of mezquite or palo verde poles, taken from the deceased man's own house which, so to speak, follows him to the grave. On top some stones are heaped. Many such chambers are in time joined together and form singular looking structures, ugly and irregular in shape, being at the widest part from twenty to thirty feet across. After the lapse of some time the roof may fall in, allowing a peep down at the desiccated human remains, near which may have been placed objects such as arrow stretchers, plumes, ornaments, and trinkets. I often later saw pottery ves- sels that had contained food or drink standing near the newly erected chambers. Where there are trees near by, bundles of clothing for the use of the departed in the next life may be seen among the branches. Four thin, upright sticks of ocotillo, which had been placed in a

12 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

small quadrangle, protruded about one and a half feet from the middle of the roof of some of the chambers near San Xavier.

Such agglomerations of mortuary chambers were lo- cated on all sides of the small hill, except toward the east, some low down, some high up. I counted thirty-one. Most of the Indians that die in the neighborhood are no doubt still adding to the number and size of these com- posite burials of the Black Hill Cemetery, though a few make use of the Cemetery of the Baptized, as the Cath- olic cemetery is called. On the llano, at the foot of the fortification hill described above, is another large heap of mortuary chambers, which the Indians call the Level Ground Cemetery. The dead are never mentioned. The sons, and not the daughters, inherit from the de- ceased.

Just north of the Indian village, on the east side of the river, are several insignificant looking earth mounds, where pieces of antiquity consisting of stone implements, pottery vessels, etc., are constantly being found in small numbers. Such ancient village sites are common along the river and adjoining arroyos, and in turning up the soil of the river plain the Indians encounter stone axes, etc.

It may be of interest to note that in excavating a dam, fifty miles west of Tucson, a number of ancient earthen-ware and stone implements were found and, with them, curiously enough, two solid balls of rubber, one weighing eight ounces. These no doubt were made from the now famous rubber substitute of northern Mexico, which is produced from a plant called guayule.

Mission church of San Xavier del Bac

A kiln at San Xavier

Threshing wheat. San Xavier

NIGHTHAWKS IN SPRING TIME 13

By chewing the leaves and stalks the Indians were able to bring out the rubber. Small quantities of this plant are growing near Tucson.

At San Xavier, nighthawks, also called goatsuckers, flew about in great numbers every evening at the sunset hour, often settling on the ground among the greasewood bushes. As is well known, their call when flying much resembles that of the bleating of a goat, but seated on the ground they would emit an entirely different and pleas- anter sound, like that produced by water when being poured out of a bottle, only very much louder. This species was the Texas nighthawk {chordeiles acutipennis texensis).

It was the month of June, their mating time, and they were calling out so eagerly that slight notice was taken of my trying to photograph them with my kodak. On horseback they were easily approached within fifteen feet, but it was at first extremely difficult to discover their presence on the ground, so much does the bird resemble its surroundings. Only by paying attention to the exact spot where they had settled could I discover their whereabouts; after a little while the snow-white band under their throats would help to betray their presence.

I was observing through my field-glass how one of them, singing with much perseverance, swelled out its throat each time the note was emitted, its tail and wings trembling simultaneously, when suddenly another night- hawk appeared behind me, darting swiftly past me to- ward the object of my observation, and emitting at the

i4 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

same time some peculiarly sweet notes. They must have sounded like soft whispers of love, for they were imme- diately answered by similar notes, but briefer and of a more decisive character, and the bird on the ground was carried into the highest ecstasy. For a second or two the whole bird trembled, spreading out its beautiful tail like a fan and calling out; then it took to its wings and the two flew away in the happy, easy zigzags in which these birds seem to revel.

They settled on the side of a small hill near by. What became of the aggressive female I could not ascertain, but the male continued to sound its gurgling notes, and I approached him repeatedly on my horse as he sat on the shady side of the hill while the sun was setting. The enlargement of the pure white band across the throat made it quite easy to discover him even at a distance of forty or fifty feet, though unfortunately the poor light precluded the possibility of a photograph. I experi- enced the same thrilling joy in following the birds with my camera as I formerly did when I killed them.

Part of the reservation consists of a large and very fine forest of mezquite trees, some of which have grown to considerable size. The Indians help to supply Tuc- son with wood from these trees. In making a trip through the quiet woods, I heard everywhere the call of Gambers quail (lophortyx gambeli), the most common game bird in Arizona; also jack-rabbits and coyotes were seen. The mezquites were at their best in their light green, fresh-looking foliage, and on Sundays these woods, which in less arid regions would not be valued

LACK OF CONSIDERATION 15

very highly, are used as picnic grounds by the hard- working people of Tucson. Lovers of nature find com- fort among the trees although they give little shade, but they are the only woods within a reasonable distance of town.

Formerly some magnificent cotton trees, near the Indian agency of the reservation, used to be the objec- tive point of picnic excursions. There were no less than twenty of these old trees that gave splendid shade dur- ing the fierce heat of the summer. The crowds, as is their careless habit in America, used to leave newspapers, baskets, and peanuts strewn about the ground, and they would throw empty cans into the alfalfa fields beyond the fence. The owner, much annoyed, posted warnings and prohibitions which were apparently taken lightly; for, finally, to prevent this nuisance, he resorted to the incredibly drastic measure of cutting down those superb trees and making firewood of them.

CHAPTER II

THE PAPAGUERIA— ITS NATURAL FEATURES— SIERRAS AND LLANOS —SMALL RAINFALL— HIGH TEMPERATURE— REMARKABLE AD- APTATION OF PLANT LIFE— FAUNA— THE PAPAGO, THE GREAT PEOPLE OF THE DESERT— FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE WHITES— PRESENT CONDITIONS

The Papago Indians of to-day, the principal natives of the desert, live in Arizona to the west and south-west of Tucson, as far as the Growler Mountains in the west, the Gila River in the north, and the range of Baboqui- vari in the east. In the neighboring state of Sonora, Mexico, a number of them are scattered, roughly speak- ing, from the Altar River, in the east, as far as Quitovac and Sonoita in the west, most of them at present living near the boundary line. Until recent times they were found as far as the Colorado River. They occupy much the same land as they did when first discovered in the seventeenth century by the Spaniards. The region was early named Papagueria, or, in its greater extension, Pimeria Alta. It is part of the great arid region called the Sonora Desert.

The main part of the Papagueria slopes down from an elevation of three thousand feet or more, in south- eastern Arizona, slowly, and to the casual observer im- perceptibly, for some two hundred miles toward the Gulf of California ; its northern part gradually descends toward the Gila River. A striking feature in its topography is

16

DESERT RIVERS 17

a number of minor mountain ranges or sierras, varying from seven to thirty miles in length, and running more or less in the same general direction of south-east to north-west. Their usual elevation above the sea may be placed at three or four thousand feet, although some in the north rise as high as nine thousand, and some in the south are as low as a thousand feet. The mountains have undergone a tremendous erosion and at a distance give the erroneous impression of being entirely devoid of plant life. Often the zigzag profile of their crests re- sembles a flash of lightning. There is a good deal of mineral wealth in the region, the western Papagueria being part of a great auriferous belt that stretches south- ward from California and Nevada. Oddly enough, the veins of ore very often follow the same general direction as the sierras, south-east to north-west. The geological formation is granite and recent volcanic.

The intervening valleys, or abras, as the Mexicans call them, are rather flat, and are formed by the detritus, which is naturally higher and coarser along the moun- tain sides than in the more central part, where tillable, often extremely fertile, soil is found. Few of the so-called rivers retain water for more than a few hours after a downpour of rain, and the few that show permanent water in certain limited localities, as, for instance, the Santa Cruz River in Arizona, lose themselves in the desert, or, as the Altar and Sonoita Rivers in Sonora, reach the sea only after a heavy rain.

The prevalence of dry arroyos with gravelly or sandy beds is very marked in these valleys, large or small; they

18 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

are probably evidences of a heavier rainfall than these regions now have. They either join the larger rivers or disappear in sand dunes or playas. Most of the water runs into the Altar and Sonoita Rivers in the south, and some to the Gila River in the north. As so few rivers have a permanent water supply, water has often to be sought elsewhere. In the mountains it is found where natural conditions favor the gathering of rains into kettle holes or sockets, forming what the Mexicans call tinajas (natural tanks). They are nowhere common and some sierras do not contain any. In the south-western part of the Papagueria, toward the Colorado and Gila Rivers, such tinajas are the only water to be found. Some last only a few months before evaporating; others, having a capacity of a few thousand gallons, may last a year or two. In the flat " valleys" between ranges, or, to use an equally common expression, on the llanos, enterprising Americans have in a few places sunk wells in connection with mining or in futile attempts at cattle raising.

At Tucson the annual rainfall of the region ap- proaches twelve inches a year, and at Fort Yuma, on the Colorado River, it is not quite three inches. The heat is great during four months of the summer, a maximum temperature as high as 1250 F. having been recorded at Yuma. In June the surface of the soil during the day was so heated that I could not stand on it comforta- bly unless I wore thick-soled shoes. Professor Tourney found that the highest temperature of the soil at the depth of one inch near Tucson reached 1130 F. Its average temperature for the month of July was 104. 90 F.

Sierra de la Basura, Sonora. Seen from the south-west

In the foreground are choyas (Opuntiafult;ida)

An exceptional mountain range of the Papagueria

A characteristic mountain range of the Papagueria

HOW PLANTS OBTAIN MOISTURE 19

In winter, as might be expected, the nights are cold, the temperature frequently falling below the freezing- point, but it is a healthy climate and in the Sonora part of the Papagueria, Mexicans have been known to live to the age of a hundred years or more.

The plant life of such a country must present much of interest yet to be discovered. Science explains that plants derive their water largely from a very thin layer of moisture which, by capillary attraction, surrounds and closely adheres to every particle of earth and sand in which the plant is growing. Even after the sand has become perfectly dry to' the touch this element of moist- ure is present, though in a very slight degree. Where the soil is compact this moisture, through capillary at- traction, tends to rise to the surface, there to evaporate from the joint action of sun and wind. If, however, the soil at the surface be loosened, the moisture does not rise so high nor so readily. In that way the loose soil acts as a blanket, protecting the deeper soil from evapo- rating. Methods have of late years been adapted which serve to pulverize the surface, intensifying the action of nature, and putting "dry farming" on a more rational basis. The people of California and Kansas know about this, and practice pulverizing.

Contrary to the popular conception of deserts, the one in question has a vegetation, wonderfully adapted to its environment. During the year I spent there I never saw any plant, bush, or tree suffering from want of rain, in spite of the fact that the winter passed without its customary light showers. Nothing appears scorched

20 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

from the sun, for desert plants are slow to dry up as well as slow to grow. Next to the healthy though som- bre color of the vegetation and the scarcity of trees, that which strikes the observer most when first travel- ling in the desert region is the isolation of each bush or plant. It is as if they were growing in a nursery. This arrangement is made necessary because the plants need large spaces from which to gather the scanty desert moisture, sending their roots out horizontally all around, or, if they grow in the bottoms of valleys where water is not too far below the surface, sending the roots over fifty feet down to reach it.

Whatever grows is adapted to resist the fierce heat of the summer and the scarcity of rain. With some plants their structure prevents loss of water, others have a means of storing water, which is the case with the cacti, the juicy pulp of which may save the thirsty traveller's life. The water supply stored in the bisnaga, or barrel cactus (ecbinocactus), is enough to keep it in thriving condition for years. There is no need to die from thirst in the desert where this cactus grows. In the coastal region of the sand dune country it is not met with, but it is fairly common elsewhere. Cutting off the head and crushing the inside tissue to a pulp, one may obtain a liquid which tastes something like soda-water. It makes a fair substitute for water, and a canteen may be filled with it, though it does not keep very long; however, a new supply is usually not difficult to obtain. Horses and donkeys also like it. Life in this way may be sus- tained for many days. I heard of a Mexican woman who,

DESERT VEGETATION 21

having become demented on account of her husband's death, kept herself living by this liquid exclusively for many months until the authorities took charge of her. Also water may be obtained by making holes in a sahu- aro, for instance, by a pistol shot, although it is bitter and unpleasant to the taste in comparison with the juice of the barrel cactus. The flora of this desert, according to Dr. D. T. MacDougal, does not show any structural difference from species of moister regions, although their mode of life is necessarily very different. He points out that seeds of many of them remain wholly inactive dur- ing the summer rains that are accompanied by intense heat, and germinate in the winter, while others are unaf- fected by the rains of winter and the low temperature, and germinate in the summer.

The most common of all the vegetation here is the greasewood (larrea tridentata). It is as characteristic of the region as are the many species of cacti and has a much less limited area than the latter. The greasewood belongs to the plains, which it sometimes covers, and gives them the appearance from a distance of vast ex- panses of yellowish green. It is found even on the coast and in the sand dunes half buried by the sand. People call it useless, but the Indians and Mexicans know better, as we shall see later on. The mezquite, the palo verde, and the ocotillo are all useful trees to the native, while the cacti and certain bushes and plants furnish him with fruits, edible seeds, and vegetable dishes, a few of which are not to be despised by a more fastidious palate.

The fauna of the region includes a great many small

22 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

rodents, and such large ones as the jack-rabbit and the cotton-tail; further, white-tailed deer, mule-deer, mountain-sheep, the pronghorn antelope, the lynx, the mountain-lion, the gray fox, and the badger, as well as, of course, the coyote. Among the birds may be men- tioned turkey vultures, hawks, and falcons, the burrow- ing owl and other owls, among them the diminutive elfowl (micropallas whitneyi), the smallest of its kind in America; further, ravens, four species of quail, pigeons, the roadrunner, the cactus wren, fly-catchers, thrashers, etc. Also aquatic birds, as wild geese, herons, cranes, wild ducks, etc., are seen in certain suitable localities.

It has been found by actual experiment that small rodents of arid regions have been able to live for two or three years on hard seeds without water. The animals of the desert certainly impress one as having made them- selves considerably independent of the water question. Holes or burrows in the ground indicating the presence of rodents or of the badger are often found in great numbers miles away from water, the only water being a lonely tinaja in a distant mountain range, of which it would seem strange that they should have any knowledge. With the roving mountain-sheep it is different, although Mexicans and Indians insist that they drink only when rain falls. Similarly, I have it on the authority of an intelligent and observant American in Sonora that while the white-tailed deer in eastern Sonora do, those in its western part do not drink unless it rains, which is apt to be rarely. He has never seen their tracks at the water- holes there, though he has observed them elsewhere and

	\ '	, \£	l
	m	#	F		■I
					Li*

Elf-owl (Micropallas)

COTTON-TAIL RABBIT

Young gray fox, at burrow

Rattlesnake

ADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENT 23

often not far from water. Another American of many years' residence, who had shot deer south-east of Liber- tad, confirmed this. Certain it is that domesticated ani- mals of arid regions are much more enduring than those of moister regions. Cattle will live well for months with- out any other water than that of the juice of the cacti, which is, besides, their principal means of subsistence. Even horses do not come in to drink of their own free will every day during the winter. In my travels it was the usual thing during the winter time for our animals to go without water every second day; such is the cus- tom of that western desert country and its animals are in surprisingly good condition. On one occasion, in March, our horses and mules, travelling during the day, had no water for seventy-six hours. It was only the horses that suffered and this was more from the quality of the water than from the lack of it. There is one do- mestic animal, however, man's constant companion, the dog, that declines to adapt itself to desert conditions. Besides suffering from thirst, the hot soil makes its feet sore and it does not know on which leg to stand. Even the dogs of the Indians when travelling, especially in the hot season, remain behind panting in what little shade there may be under the bushes, and only continue their journey in the coolness of the evening.

In such an environment live the Papago Indians, the people of the desert. They are a Pima tribe and speak the same language as the Pima Indians with some va- riations of dialect. Their number reaches perhaps four thousand five hundred, of whom not over seven hundred

24 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

live in Mexico. The name Papago is usually interpreted as meaning "bean people." Their tribal name as em- ployed by themselves is Ootam, which means "the people." They call the Pima Indians Akimuri Ootam, "river peo- ple," referring appropriately to their habitat on the Gila River. The Pima call the Papago Toono Ootam, "des- ert people."

The early Spanish missionaries were unable to exer- cise much influence over this tribe. The indefatigable Jesuit, Father Kino, who in the present State of Sonora in 1687 established his first mission, Dolores, travelled much in the Papagueria or Pimeria Alta, as far as the Gila River and crossing the Colorado. He was treated kindly by the Papagoes; but they have, nevertheless, been described by the early chroniclers as wild and dan- gerous. According to Mr. Bandelier, there is no histor- ical record left of their customs and religion beyond that concerning the prevalence of witchcraft, which is still much in evidence. Even up to recent years the Papagoes made short work of medicine-men suspected of witch- craft.

The topographical position of the missions that were established was such that with the forts, or presidios, they formed a barrier against the Apaches, who were the main obstacle to the Christianizing and civilizing efforts of the Spaniard. Some of the missions of the "Province of Sonora" grew to be very rich in cattle and cultivated lands, feeding, as a recent Mexican author says, "a mul- titude of pagans who flocked there and helped in the work of the mission when needed." Sometimes the

PAPAGOES AS OF OLD 25

missions furnished the troops with horses. In the Papa- gueria proper there were well-to-do missions such as Caborca, but the nature of most of that country would indicate that they were generally on a modest scale. There was one in Sonoita and two on the Gila River. In 1 751-3 there was a revolt in Pimeria Alta, and in 1840 the Papagoes again revolted against the government.

With the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and later of the Franciscans in 1828, the missions as well as the forts decayed and vanished. Changing political condi- tions in Mexico also contributed toward their disappear- ance. To-day the former missions interest few and are left to the archaeologist to trace. Such has been the fate also of the missions among the Yaqui, Opata, and Seri Indians.

As for the Papago, the greater part of the tribe never could be induced to live in pueblos, or villages, which was always the policy of the Spanish missionary. In spite of the efforts of the Jesuits and Franciscans, the Papagoes are still living in their rancherias as of old, half nomadic in habit, resorting in the winter to the sierras where water is more plentiful and where their cattle, horses, mules, and donkeys find good grazing ground. In the summer they move to the broad, flat valleys to devote themselves to agriculture which is made possible by the aid of the showers that fall in July and August. They do not usually pursue irrigation beyond the diverting of rain water into ditches. In the summer they raise maize, beans, watermelons, and squashes, and in the winter when infrequent light showers usually may be depended

26 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

upon, peas, barley, and lentils may be planted, all on a small scale, according to Indian habits. Wheat, which is grown in November and harvested in May, is now the most important crop.

By scooping up the earth they make dams in which rain-water is stored for household use as well as for their domestic animals. This is especially the case at the summer rancherias. Of late years they have also taken to the digging of wells, going sometimes as deep as sev- enty feet, but they have been known to find an abun- dance of water at a depth of only eighteen feet. Thus the Papagoes, though sedentary Indians, have distinct habitations for summer and winter. The aboriginal name for the summer rancherias is ooitak, fields, called by the Mexicans temporales. The winter rancherias are called kihim, where there are houses (ki), and these might be called villages. In some cases the summer ran- cherias seem to be considered the more important habi- tations, and medicine lodges are found at both.

As implacable enemies of the Apaches, the Papagoes were of some assistance to the early missionaries in help- ing the presidios to fight their savage foes, and they have several times, says J. F. Velasco, presented the govern- ment with ears and scalps of Apaches they had killed. Their innate enmity to the Apaches later gained them the favor of the Americans, who received their valuable assistance in campaigns against these marauders. They also gained the good-will of the Mexican Government by assisting in the war against the valiant Yaqui Indians.

It has been the good fortune of the Papagoes to live

ADVANTAGE OF AN ARID COUNTRY 27

in a country which the white man as yet has not found it profitable to exploit by cattle raising or, still less, by dry farming. Therefore, they have so far been left alone in their native country, and besides they have even come into possession of a few wells which the Americans dug in their efforts to redeem the land. These natives are thus better situated than most of the tribes of North America.

The Papagoes are above medium height, rather dark in color, and of splendid physique. The women are in- clined to be stout. They are a peaceful but at the same time courageous people and show much intelligence. They are hospitable, as becomes a desert people, and if food is being prepared in the house when a stranger comes, some of it is offered to him, be he Indian, Mexi- can, or American.

In the central part of the Papagueria, especially in the large valley of Santa Rosa and the adjacent Quijotoa and Comobabi ranges, they live happy days without much interference from the whites. Some of the sum- mer rancherias astonished me by their extent of land fenced by wooden piles and poles, but in outlying dis- tricts many are forced to seek work from the whites, by whom they are much valued as laborers in the making of railroads, irrigation ditches, and in mining. The part of the tribe that lives in Sonora is much more disrupted ; they have lost most of their lands and are largely ser- vants of the Mexicans, doing efficient work as vaqueros (cowboys), miners, etc. The Papagoes also know how to "dry wash" gold at the placer mines, many of which

28 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

are found in Sonora, and the discovery of one or two large placer mines has been due to these Indians.

The Papagoes are by no means badly off, as a rule, and they manage to make a good living where, so far, the white man's efforts have failed. Their herds, adapt- ing themselves to the arid conditions, are increasing and making the Indian prosperous and comfortable. Good mules now carry burdens which his wife or he himself formerly had to toil under; cheese is made from the milk of their cows and sold or used for their own consump- tion, and, above all, they have wheat and maize in suffi- cient quantities to last them all the year round. They also have wheat and occasionally some head of cattle to sell, obtaining in return commodities of civilized life. The white man's kitchen utensils are being acquired, and the women have begun to find it more convenient to use flour than to grind the grain on the metate. No native race, though keeping its language, can help chang- ing its ideas under such conditions. In a very few years there will be no more interest attached to the Papago than to the native descendant of the once proud Aztec in the suburbs of the City of Mexico.

Although the Papago in Arizona always insists upon speaking his own language, still he is rapidly losing his aboriginal beliefs, customs, and habits; even basketwork, for which the women of the tribe were noted, is falling into decay. Both in Arizona and Sonora the Indians have completely adopted the white man's garments. Some old man may still be found in the more remote parts wearing his aboriginal apparel, consisting of a

THE PASSING OF THE INDIAN 29

breech cloth around the loins, but this is getting to be an extremely rare sight, and it must be confessed that the ready-made blue overalls of the white laboring man of the West, the colored shirt, a picturesque neckerchief, and gray felt hat with straight brim are quite becoming to the young bucks with their superb, lithe, and supple figures, with somewhat narrow hips. No man wears his hair long any more, but tattooing marks in the face are still seen on men and women of the former generation in the Santa Rosa valley, where ancient customs and beliefs have been preserved longer than anywhere else. In this extensive valley are also found the most important ran- cherias.

I was glad to have visited these Indians while there was still something of the ancient atmosphere left in the more remote parts of the Papagueria. The fact is that these decided changes in the conditions of the Papago have come about comparatively recently, perhaps during the last thirty or forty years. As Mr. Bandelier, the great authority on the history of the South-west, truly says, the ethnography of Arizona has not changed much since the year 1600. The Apaches by their raids altered tri- bal relations, but the change that most concerns us here is due to the settling of the country since its annexation by the United States, and in Sonora to the discovery of gold. Though possibly originating in a less arid region, the Papagoes, in relation to their environment, ought to be a no less interesting study than the country itself.

CHAPTER III

AN EXPEDITION INTO SOUTHERN ARIZONA— MY COMPANION— THE RANGE OF BABOQUIVARI— FRESNAL— PAPAGO MANNER OF CURING DISEASE— AT THE BOUNDARY— AN UNUSUAL RELIG- IOUS COMMOTION— VISIT TO A SACRED CAVE— INDIAN OASIS

On June 20 I started from Tucson bound for a journey of exploration of that part of Arizona which is occupied by the Papago Indians. My sole companion was Jose Xavier Pablo, a full-blooded civilized native of that tribe, twenty-six years old. He had learned car- pentry in Tucson, in which he was as proficient as any white man. He was also a painter and plumber; in fact, he could turn his hand to almost anything of a practical nature. Thus, assisted by two other Indians, he had put up the telephone line between Tucson and the Pres- byterian Mission School, which he had frequented for nine years. He furnished his own wagon and two hardy horses bred in the desert, and before starting he shod his horses himself. Pablo also served as my interpreter. He was intelligent and reliable, besides being of an un- usually even temper; during the two months we travelled together, I do not remember ever to have known him cross or to lose his temper.

In addition to the usual provisions, we had two can- teens of the generous Western size, each capable of hold- ing two and one-half gallons of water, and also one of smaller size. Of course, the water barrel on the side of

3°

BEGINNING MY JOURNEY 31

the wagon was not wanting; also rifle, shot-gun, and rid- ing saddle were taken along, not to mention photographic cameras and the necessary scientific instruments. In the outskirts of Tucson, near an old mill, we filled our barrel and gave our horses a good drink at the clear, smooth- flowing stream of the Santa Cruz River, which was in such a delightful contrast to the arid landscape.

It had been my intention to go down first along the eastern side of the Baboquivari Range as far as La Osa Ranch, but the road turned out to be sandy and heavy, and I was obliged to return and limit my initiatory jour- ney to travelling along its western side. A happy-look- ing Papago family from the suburbs of Tucson passed us on their way to the sahuaros (giant cactus); they were going to spend the Dia de San Juan, midsummer day, in the country picking the much coveted fruit. An Indian on horseback was on his way to the hot city, Tucson, for the same celebration. Everyone to his taste!

Baboquivari is the familiar name given to an exten- sive range south-west of Tucson. From its central part rises a peak of somewhat striking shape which gave ori- gin to its name, Baboquivari being a Spanish corruption of the Papago name Vavkivolik, meaning: "mountain (vav) narrow about the middle (kivolik)"; seen from the south, the almost perpendicular sides of the peak appear slightly drawn in at the base. The peak, rising nearly fifty miles south-west of Tucson as the crow flies, can be seen from a great distance, from the neighborhood of the Jack-rabbit mine and the Ajo Mountains in the west, to Altar, Sonora, in the south. Prof. R. H. Forbes, of the

32 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

University of Arizona, in July, 1898, succeeded in as- cending it, and by an aneroid barometer the height was found to be 7,850 feet above sea-level. The ascent was made from the west side, and, to quote his own words, "the extreme top of the mountain is a gentle oval about a hundred yards across. From this lofty vantage the eye sweeps over about three hundred miles of a terrific and almost untouched wilderness of rocks.'' There is a small pool on top which holds a few gallons of water after rain. In rainy weather, water drips down on the north side five hundred feet below the top, where several small pools were seen.

It is perhaps at the latter place that the pond is found which is called by the Indians Viikan Shootak, "Lasting Water" {shootak, water), and which in the belief of the Indians was left by the sea after the deluge. At the time of the making of sahuaro wine for their great feasts of the summer, people go up there to get some of this water, after having first sung to it, to use in the wine making.

On Friday, June 25, we approached from the west the large rancheria called Fresnal, situated among the foot-hills below the peak of Baboquivari, which looked more magnificent from that point of view than from any other I have seen. The air was very pure and transpar- ent, and I took a photograph of the peak at half-past five in the afternoon. Just as I cast a glance backward, before making a second exposure, I was astonished to see that the region toward the west and south was hazy, and I had scarcely time to make the exposure when the haze and a light wind, moist from the sea, arrived. A

pq

A LARGE RANCHERIA 33

few minutes later the Baboquivari Range, at a distance of ten miles, was enveloped in a light fog. The change was not only seen but felt, the temperature fell, and the moisture of the air was very perceptible. As the wagon was heavy and the road led uphill, it grew late before our arrival, but the moon was half full, so we found our way easily in the now quite chilly evening. The spell of extremely dry air was broken and the season of rain showers approaching.

We made our camp next to a big mezquite tree on a slope among the ranches. The weird singing of a med- icine-man sounded through the greater part of the night. Few are those Papagoes who have lost faith in their own doctors, and even the so-called policemen turn to them for relief if anything ails them.

Fresnal consists in reality of three rancherias, and we found ourselves in the middle one. They are pleasantly situated among the foot-hills and look like villages. The name is derived from some ash trees that grow in the arroyo, the native name having the same meaning. Nat- urally, the rainfall is greater here in the mountains than on the llano and, according to local accounts, the arroyos at times run a whole day. Occasionally the water is six feet deep. The Indians say that the arroyos here carry water to the Sonoita River.

The Indians of Fresnal are well-to-do; three or four of the men are reputed to own as many as two hundred head of cattle and fifty horses each. Wagons and good horses were seen, and there were plenty of chickens about. Men and women, especially the latter, looked in

34 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

good condition; the young men were not particularly accommodating, as their interest seemed to be centred in the corral, where they were breaking in horses, separat- ing cattle, etc. These natives had little to sell me beyond a fine basket used for harvesting sahuaro fruit. This kind of basket, which now is becoming rare, is of large size, water-tight, and is carried on the head. Its decora- tive designs sometimes represent the sahuaro cactus.

I visited Santiago, an old hunter, who, according to reports, used to be able to overtake deer, on the run, in half a day, and then shoot them with bow and arrow. In the hot weather these animals are not inclined to run long, as their feet become sore. Santiago is still very agile and quick in his movements and every day he goes out shooting quail, cotton-tails, jack-rabbits, and pigeons. His bow, which I secured, is made from that beautiful greenish blue bush of the desert called condalia. It is strengthened by an ox-tail hide pulled over it. The bow string is made from the ligaments of the back of the neck of the same animal. Arrows are made from the amole (yucca) flower stalk, the point being of cat-claw, tied by deer sinew.

He was also willing to be photographed. He had been to Tucson and there had gone through the experi- ence of the camera, so he had no objection but would expect some gratuity. I took three or four snapshots with my kodak, and he asked fifty cents, which I gave him, but he demanded fifty cents for each exposure, in which I could hardly humor him. The Papagoes all have a great disinclination to being photographed, and

A MEDICAL PRACTITIONER 35

look upon it as being worth a good deal of money to the one who submits to the operation. His bow and four arrows, the result of much labor, he sold for $1.25. I gave him some tobacco, candy, and raisins, and we sep- arated great friends.

In the afternoon I arrived at a house outside of which an old medicine-man, Castillo, was singing to soothe a patient, a middle-aged, powerful looking man who was lying on his back in front of him. His singing was ac- companied by the rasping of two sticks; one end of the notched one he held by his left hand, while the other end rested against an inverted basket, and he drew the rasping stick each time up toward him and then down, the opposite movement to the one which we should use to produce the same result. Near the basket on the ground an effigy of a horned lizard had been placed; it was made of wood and daubed with ochre, its head turned toward the patient.

Some Indians came up smiling as if they wished it to be understood that they did not believe in the per- formance, for they knew that white men laugh at this. One of them obligingly brought me a basket for sale as well as three small ancient objects, a flint arrow-point, a spinning whorl, and a small perforated stone disk, all threaded on a string. In the meantime the medicine- man, whom I watched from my horse, was finishing his treatment by placing the effigy repeatedly on the patient's leg, breathing and blowing at the same time. The man had a pain in his leg which had been caused by a horned lizard, for, according to Papago beliefs, all animals have

36 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

the faculty of making people ill except the deer and the pronghorn antelope. To relieve the illness the doctor had sung a song to the animal, asking it to take the pain away. He then walked into his house; somebody must have told him that I was a makai (doctor, medicine- man), for a few minutes later, to my surprise, he brought out his medicine basket, easily recognized by its long shape, and came up to me. We sat down on the ground ; he took off the cover and began to unpack the contents of his tray.

Many people gathered around us and the sick man half rose from his mat in order to turn around to see who the stranger was. There were many remedies of a sim- ilar character to the one just described. Images of cer- tain animals, accompanied by appropriate ceremonies and exhortations, are thought to relieve ailments. Like the native doctor himself, an animal is thought to be able to cause illness as well as to cure. The turtle causes stiffness, the butterfly produces vomiting, and the badger gives backache. The deer makes persons cough, and their voices weak, and may give consumption; but a deer-tail, placed on a stick and manipulated in the proper way by the medicine-man, will cure that illness, for, as Castillo added by way of explanation, "it is not often you see the deer thin." A piece of clay taken from a gopher's burrow is used against excessive menstrua- tion or stomach pain. The sun is apt to give fever, and a patient suffering thus is relieved at sunrise; during the incantations of the doctor a small wooden image of the sun rests on the ground, while the patient faces the east.

THE MAGIC OF A PLUME 37

The old man seemed glad to explain everything. He was also willing to sell me some of his treasures. One of them was a medicine-man's plume consisting of four eagle plumes tied together so that they diverged two by two. When used, these are held by the quill ends as a handle and moved in the air forward and backward as if dusting an object. When the young girls come of age they are "dusted" in this way from all evil. The imple- ment was new and well made, and I wanted to buy it. "The plume is very valuable," he answered; "with us it is at least worth as much as a horse or a cow." He would, however, make it easy for me by letting me have it for $2.50. I presented him with a pouch of tobacco and a handful of candy, the cause of much interest to his little grandchildren who had been clinging to the good- natured old man all the time that he was explaining. He also promised to show me the so-called Montezuma's Cave, in the peak of Baboquivari, some day.

In a light wagon which Pablo borrowed we started on an excursion south, to be possibly extended beyond the border to Pozo Verde. The day was moist and warm. We passed several extensive summer rancherias or temporales as they are usually called. The rude fences of mezquite looked substantial and the Indian ranches gave an impression of prosperity. At two places there were dams also fenced in, but they were empty; they had been made by scooping up the rich soil with scrapers and horse-power. The water in such ponds lasts only three or four months and is not for irrigating purposes, but solely for the use of men and beasts. The

38 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

Papagoes do not bathe in them; during the rains they get their baths in the arroyos, men and women bathing separately. There was not a soul to be seen anywhere, as the Indians were still at this time, the end of June, in or near the mountains with their cattle and horses.

From a lately established summer rancheria, called San Miguel, southward, the country assumes a different aspect, forming beautiful grassy plains or downs. The mezquites, far apart and small, take the place of grease- woods and the cacti have almost disappeared. There was an abundance of very dry grass of a whitish yellow hue. As the air was laden with moisture, it was to be expected that the coloring of sky and mountains would be fine toward sunset. The western sky beamed with the translucent color of light yellow or orange, while the mountains, which during the glaring light of the day had shown no color beyond a dull gray, appeared deep blue. Much more intense than the air-blue and complementary to that of the setting sun, the color extended to all the mountains around the great bajio (basin), while at its western edge a long narrow strip of light green, due to an unusual growth of mezquites, added to the variety. To most people it is not apparent that there is much col- oring in any landscape except that caused by inherent qualities, as by vari-colored leaves of trees; if they would lie down on the ground and view the scenery horizon- tally, they would probably have their eyes opened from this unusual vantage point.

There is a well fifteen feet deep at a lonely Indian ranch just on the border, but as the place was found to

UGLY EFFECTS OF CIVILIZATION 39

be temporarily deserted, and there would be no one to look after our wagon, we had to abandon our intended trip to Pozo Verde, the largest Papago rancheria at the present time in Sonora. Its name, Green Spring, has the same significance in the Papago language, and the locality is important in the native mythology. Baboqui- vari rises about a thousand feet above the llano near the boundary line, losing itself in Mexico in low ranges and mountains.

On our return we made a detour into a rancheria called Sepanovak ("Smell of the Coyote "), which was sit- uated in a narrow valley of the Baboquivari Range. It had been settled of late years and was small and unat- tractive. Discarded clothing was lying about, and the in- habitants looked like poor white people, although they owned lots of live stock. Judging from the fine looking fat horses and cattle down on the plains, a different opin- ion would have been formed of the owners; it was some- thing like the disappointment one feels when a smart turnout of horses with driver and footman discloses or- dinary-looking people inside the carriage. Natural and harmonious conditions are the only ones that count in life.

One interesting family, that of Ramon Cachora, lived a little further up the valley from here, he, his two sons and his son-in-law having been leaders in a religious movement of a white man's stamp. They were so-called educated Indians, and a daughter of his had been to Carlisle. It was an anomalous case, for, strange to say, they had become converts to the revivalism of the

4o NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

prophet Dowie, who a few years ago made such a stir in various parts of the United States. One of his agents, a lady in Phoenix, had been instrumental in bringing this about.

To understand this conversion, it must be remem- bered that all Indians are of a religious disposition. In their aboriginal state, while never giving up their own beliefs, the Indians have little objection to any foreign creed; the more religion the better for them. They are quite sincere about it. When these Papagoes heard of the strange teaching of the modern Elijah, it appealed to them. The world was coming to an end and they were going to get ready; people sold what little they owned and settled in the Comobabi Mountains awaiting the arrival of the new Messiah. There were from forty to fifty souls all told, men, women, and children. Ramon Cachora, who was well off, sold his two hundred head of cattle; he became the leader and they sustained them- selves mainly with the proceeds of this sale. There was no white man with them. They had everything in com- mon and their rules were strict; brandy and tobacco were forbidden. Sometimes they had services lasting the entire day. For three years they waited for the Messiah to come; then hunger broke up the sect.

A herd of horses and a number of cows, many with calves, that had come in to drink the night before, walked off again in the morning to pasture in the plains some six or eight miles away. I asked a man how long a time it would be before they returned and he answered: "A few will come next day, most of them the day after to-

AN ANCIENT FORTIFICATION 41

morrow in the afternoon, and some will not return until the third day." It was the hottest time of the year— the end of June.

Three miles from here, just about where the llano begins, there rises a small hill, four hundred feet high, called La Ventana. On the west side it has been forti- fied by the ancient people with half a dozen or more stone walls of the usual description. The walls are per- haps more massive than is the case at most places. The fortifications had a remarkably fresh look about them, as if they had been in recent use. On top, where blocks had been broken off to form walls and parapets, the un- derlying rock still looked as untouched by the hand of time as if the work had been done within two years. Circular or square enclosures of the usual type are seen on a natural terrace near the top. A fairly well con- structed track leads up to the summit where a rattle- snake was resting in a cool cavity. A ground-squirrel was noticed, and on the hill-side two camping places of the gray fox were observed, each under a small bush, the ground having been worn quite smooth.

The vast plain is impressive from the top; the ranges, enveloped in a blue haze, appeared small, Comobabi and Quijotoa in the north-west being the nearest. To the right of the Comobabi Range, in one place only, toward north north-west, the view was unobstructed as far as the eye could see. In the south-west the small hills near Sonoita were visible. The many arroyos on the west side of the Baboquivari Range are worthy of note; they are short, quite deep, and impossible for wagons to cross

42 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

until they widen out into the plains. For this reason the road, such as it is, from Fresnal southward makes a detour west.

At the well of Fresnal our horses, having been with- out water for twenty-two hours, each drank nine buck- etfuls. The bucket was not large, but contained more than a gallon. A visit was made to the so-called Monte- zuma's Cave, once sacred to the Papago as the principal habitation with which tradition credits Sihu, also called Iitoi, the most important mythical personage of the Papago mythology, being their elder brother as well as creator of the world. The cave is called Elder Brother's House (in Papago, Sihuki; ki, house). It is situated at six miles' distance from Fresnal. We climbed nearly one thousand feet, and on the south side of a hill, below the peak, our guide, the medicine-man, pointed out the entrance to the sacred place, half hidden among bushes.

It was closed with a wall of loose stones and was so small that a man could only squeeze through with diffi- culty. The cave was found to be spacious and well formed. At one corner was deposited several hundred arrows, upright in a bunch, with nothing but the wooden part remaining. No flint points were visible. There is another cave on the east side of the Baboquivari Range, discovered lately by Mr. Jefferson Milton, where a con- siderable number of obsidian-tipped arrows were secured, one of which is reproduced at page 96.

Though a few showers had fallen lately, still no grass had yet made its appearance and travel began to be dif- ficult. The Indians had very little to sell in the way of

Peak of Baboquivari

Ocotillo ( Fouquieria splendens)

Entrance to the sacred cave, at foot of peak of Baboquivari

Barrel cactus

GRATEFUL RAIN 43

straw, barley, or wheat, the usual feed for animals. If our horses had not been hardy creatures of the desert, we should not have been able to move about much at that time of the year. I decided to return to Menager's store, at present called Indian Oasis, where we might succeed in securing forage.

A Papago was an efficient clerk in the store. Near by was a small village of civilized Indians; the women, who had been to school near Tucson, after a while responded in English, very softly spoken. A phonograph, which was the only one I saw in the Papagueria, was produced and operated for my entertainment. Many Indians came into the store from the neighboring country. As they were not in the habit of carrying provisions, they were hungry and looked it. I treated them to a generous breakfast and my reward was the information which they volunteered concerning one of their festivals, con- nected with the gathering of the fruit of the sahuaro, the giant cactus. It was to take place the next day at a rancheria called Noria, situated in the Comobabi Moun- tains at no great distance, and I decided to go there.

Opportunely for my journey, in the evening of July 4 unusually heavy rain fell during forty-five minutes, the storm making short work of my tent which I decided to leave behind here on account of its being so large and inconvenient. Nearly an inch of rain must have fallen, bringing about in this brief space of time a remarkable change in the appearance of the landscape. The dry creek ran with water and the playa below was changed into a shallow lake, the frogs filling the air with their loud,

44 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

welcome voices. Next day in the afternoon we pulled out, though the ground, soaked with water, made travel heavy. Our wagon was stuck for half an hour, but after that we made our way fairly well, for the night's rain was found to have extended only a couple of miles westward. We arrived at our destination at dusk.

CHAPTER IV

THE GIANT CACTUS OR SAHUARO— THE SAHUARO FEAST AT NORIA —DANCING AND SINGING— THE MEDICINE LODGE— TOBACCO- WELL RECEIVED— DISSERTATIONS WITH THE INDIANS— AN ADVENTURE— AN ANCIENT FESTIVAL— NATIVE ORATORY— OB- JECTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY— ARTISTIC GIFTS OF A NATIVE

The giant cactus (Cereus giganteus), or sahuaro, which is the direct and indirect cause of such festivals as the one we were to witness, is by far the most noteworthy representative of plant life in the desert, being, in fact, one of the most remarkable plants on the globe. It reaches a height of forty to fifty feet, sometimes even more. At times the sahuaro appears as a single trunk, like a column, but more often branches of nearly the same thickness protrude from it, stretching upward arms lifted as in appeal. The evergreen trunk and branches have deep longitudinal furrows or flutes, armed with spines and wonderfully adapted for retaining moisture. Acting in a manner similar to that of the bellows of an accordion, these close together during drought and open again to receive moisture.

It avoids the great belt of sand dunes that stretches along the upper part of the Gulf of California, from Port Lobos westward, and ceases to appear south of the Gila Range and Sierra Blanca. Often a single column, the only one on a whole mountain, appears on top, re- sembling a sentinel on guard. At other times such a

45

46 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

single column has found the means of existence on some terrace on the mountain side, reminding an imaginative traveller of the ruins of a temple in Greece. Along the mountains east and south of Sonoita, Sonora, this cactus attains its most luxuriant growth. Here as well as near other ranges impressive forests of these gigantic, singular structures of the plant dominion appear, calling to mind creations from the carboniferous period.

In May the tips of the trunks and branches produce a multitude of superb cream-white flowers. Toward the end of June the famous sahuaro fruit appears, the size and shape of a large hen's egg. A spiny skin which is easily removed protects the juicy, crimson, and fleshy sub- stance in which numerous black seeds are imbedded. Although possessing not quite as much flavor as the related and more famous pitahaya fruit of Mexico, the sahuaro is a palatable relish in the excessively hot and dry climate, containing also, like the pitahaya, consider- able nourishment.

The violent storms of the desert make no impression on the giant cactus. However, one wonders that it can exist at all, since the fruit and the plant itself prove in many ways such an attraction to animals. As soon as the sweet fruits ripen they are attacked by birds, while those that fall to the ground are eaten by hungry and thirsty animals, which prevent the seeds from germinat- ing. The woodpeckers make large cavities in the juicy pulp of the trunk, the plant protecting itself by growing a hard tissue all around the cavity, in which various kinds of owls, falcons, and fly-catchers make their nests;

THE USEFUL SAHUARO 47

here also bees deposit their honey and bats make their homes. Sometimes rabbits attack the stem to get at the juicy pulp.

To the Indians the sahuaro is invaluable, and by tacit understanding they consider it a crime to cut one down. The grateful fruit comes at a time when most needed, and the Indians leave their habitations to camp among the sahuaro as long as the season lasts. Not only does the fruit then furnish them with their principal means of subsistence, but the greater part is boiled down to a sirup for future consumption in the winter, serving also as material for an intoxicating drink, which is used at the sahuaro festival. The seeds, too, are eaten after having first been ground on the metate, and they taste better than would be expected ; the Indians also feed their fowls with them and many sackfuls are brought back to the houses after the sahuaro harvest. The wooden skele- tons or ribs of the sahuaro furnish the Papago with light, strong, and elastic building stuff, and from the same ma- terial he makes the long stick which is needed to bring the fruit down from its lofty elevation, coloring the pole red with the juice of the fruit. Also chicken coops, chairs, traps, and similar articles of the household are manufact- ured from sahuaro ribs. Even the wooden tissue bags produced by the woodpeckers are made to serve as water bottles or drinking vessels.

So important a part does this cactus play in the life of the Papago that their year begins with the sahuaro harvest. The season lasts from the middle of June till the middle of July. Every rancheria is supposed to make

48 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

a feast for the occasion, which will insure rain and good crops. An essential part of the festival is the drinking of wine, produced by mixing the sahuaro sirup in a cer- tain proportion with water and allowing this to ferment. The name of this greatest festival of the year is navaita, derived from navait, their word for the wine.

Elder Brother, so their tradition runs, created the sahuaro by placing beads of his perspiration in the ground. He walked in ceremonial circuits around it for four days, and the plant began to give fruit. He also made a jar in which he put the juice of the fruit which he mixed with water. "Let us see if we can not make rain with this to refresh the thirsty soil," he said to the jar. And its contents became wine, and it began to rain, as he thought it would. Therefore, to this day, the Papago make sahuaro wine and celebrate a great feast in accordance with Elder Brother's commandments. The wine was given by him in order that they might get drunk, and then rain would follow.

On our arrival at the rancheria of Noria we learned that the wine making had been started that morning. The festival was to begin in the evening, the singing and dancing lasting as usual for two nights, by the end of which time the wine would be ready for consumption. An hour after dark, as we were preparing our supper, a loud Indian voice from the other side of the arroyo on which we were camped sounded forth in the dark, still night, inviting people to gather for the festival. Stand- ing in front of the medicine lodge, facing the east, the herald announced over and over again: "Darkness has

Sahuaro, or giant cactus {Ccrcus giganteus)

Single-column sahuaro

Sahuaro, dry, showing its wooden structure

BEGINNING THE FESTIVAL 49

already covered us a good while, it is now time to begin to sing and dance, and everybody bring tobacco."

We had three Indian guests at our meal, and after- ward we all went over to the dancing place, or, as the Indians call it, the singing place (njuikot; njui, sing), a level piece of ground always found in front of the medi- cine lodge. In the dim light a long string of eagle plumes hanging across the space between two upright poles from east to west could be discerned. Near the western pole a solitary fire was burning; two medicine-men were sit- ting there with their backs turned toward it and facing the east. Behind the fire, in the west, was the lodge, and in front of this stood a jacal, the light shed invari- ably seen near the dwelling or lodge. They sat there immovable in mystic contemplation of rock crystals and queer objects which were spread before them on the ground, and by the aid of which rain is procured ; among them, my informant said, was a small stone, translucent and bright, which few have seen. If rain is not near, the stone is very warm and has to be cooled and purified, an operation which the medicine men were about to under- take.

My attention was next attracted to a long basket of enormous proportions placed between east and west on the ground at the foot of the western pole, near the doc- tors. It was of the same oblong shape as the ordinary medicine basket of so many tribes, and serves as a recep- tacle for the sacred paraphernalia of the lodge. Here the string of eagle feathers hanging near by is kept dur- ing the year. It is provided with a cover of the same

5o NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

material, considered by the Indians as its blanket, which, when the basket is in use, is placed on the ground for it to "sit" on.

Around these holy men and the fire and the long string of plumes that stretched across, danced men and women, holding each other by the hand and moving around in a circle. They marched in time, with firm steps, placing left foot behind right, and proceeding in this way against the sun's apparent movement. They all sang in unison and in time with their steps, the leader swinging a rattle, and he and those nearest to him exerting their lungs to their fullest capacity. There were always two or three walking ahead of him, as everybody was eager to be near the leader in order to catch the tune. In this advance guard there was also a female leader, a soprano. What a wealth of songs there is among these Indians! During the two nights new songs were presented all the time, not only new texts but even new, though somewhat similar, melodies. People were sitting or lying around the circle of dancers, stepping into it whenever their fancy moved them.

When four songs had been sung, taking about an hour, a short pause was made, and the performers would sit down, many of them smoking. After a few minutes, only the leader would rise, and, standing in front of the jacal with his face toward the east, he would sing one verse of the song they were going to take up next, this time in a low voice, just to refresh their memories. Then he would step forward, dancing again and bursting forth into loud singing, immediately joined by the multitude in

SAHUARO WINE-MAKING 51

their enthusiastic efforts to make an impression on the gods.

The next morning, when I went to inspect the place in daylight, I found the leader and other functionaries sleeping peacefully on the ground under the jacal in front of the lodge, tired from their exertions of the night. I was permitted to enter the lodge, where large earthen- ware jars were standing full to overflowing with the pre- cious sahuaro fluid. A slight cavity had been dug in the ground for each jar, serving as a receptacle and covered with branches of greasewood upon which the jar rested neatly. The reason for this arrangement, according to the Indians, was to keep the fluid warm and because they had always done it in this way. Heavy spume was rising from most of the jars, showing that fermentation was taking place. A fire was kept up in the lodge in order that the temperature of the air should be even and favorable for fermentation. The solemn function of mixing the sahuaro sirup with water takes place in the morning hours under the jacal outside.

The lodge was a circular, dome-shaped grass hut, the ancient form of Papago habitation, examples of which are still frequently seen in the central part of the Papa- gueria. The lodge, however, is larger than the dwelling- house, hence its name Kuki, "Big House. " (Ku, big, large.) This was rather a small one, twelve feet in di- ameter and six feet high, and scrupulously clean inside. The framework of these primitive houses consists of mez- quite posts; from two to four forked uprights in the mid- dle support the dome-shaped roof, which is made of sa-

52 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

huaro ribs, surmounted with greasewood twigs and some large coarse grass called sacate Colorado. The grass is kept in place by hoops of ocotillo inside and outside, placed at intervals of eight or ten inches. The top of the house is covered with earth.

The entrance is small, usually only two and one-half feet high and two feet wide, and is provided with a grass door which, when not in active use, leans up against the wall outside. To get in or out one is obliged to crawl on hands and knees. The fire is made in the centre, and there is no other escape for the smoke than the door, there being no window; as the people inside generally sit on the ground, the smoke does not trouble them; besides, as the house is warm, a large fire is not needed. In the summer these dwellings are delightfully cool, affording also excellent protection against the violent, though short- lasting, rain-storms of the desert.

Usually a light stockade of ocotillo and other kinds of poles runs around the lodge to prevent the cattle from eating the grass of which it is made. In this house the youth are instructed in the traditions and beliefs of the tribe, and here is discussed everything of more or less importance, meetings being held every evening of the year. The man who is in charge of the lodge and its sa- cred objects is elected for life. He lives near by and is called Keeper of the Smoke, which means tobacco smoke. The name for tobacco is viv; when used for certain sa- cred purposes it is called coyote tobacco {pan vivuka). The young plants are covered with greasewood branches, but the Papagoes nowadays rarely grow the weed and

SIMPLE MINDS 53

usually commercial brands have to be resorted to. It is smoked in corn husks. The leaves of viopoli, a bush in the foot-hills, are also sometimes smoked.

In the afternoon the leading men began to wake from their slumber and, as there were many features of the feast I desired to have explained to me, I induced them to have a conference. Outside of the house of the Keeper of the Smoke there was some convenient shade and, stretched on a mat with the rest, I had a couple of hours of very interesting conversation. Many years amongst the Indians gave me some knowledge of the fundamental traits of their religious ideas, which evi- dently very much surprised those present. They had such fine faces, full of determination and sincerity! Ragged and poor though these people were, I could not help admiring the expression of their countenances, es- pecially those of the principal men, flushed with enthu- siasm attendant on the festival. They gave me clear and unequivocal answers. When I had finished all my questions one medicine-man said: "I suppose he is one of those white men who want us to give up all our an- cient beliefs and customs." Assured on this point, they said they were glad to have me remain at the rancheria as long as I wished. They also informed me of a cal- endar record preserved by a man who lived in the Babo- quivari Range. Of this I made a note as the object for an excursion.

"Might I see what was inside the long basket on the dancing places ?" I asked. This they could not very well do. Few of the Indians themselves had seen it, they

54 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

said, and they were not in a position to show me; per- haps the makai (medicine-men), who were coming to- night to tell when the rain would arrive, would show me. But to see those things was a risky affair, connected with possibilities of harm to the beholder. As we were re- turning to camp Pablo said to me: " Probably those Indians never before spoke like that to a white man."

The rest of the day was spent in a house to house canvass and many baskets were bought. In the even- ing Pablo and I again walked over to see the dancing which had commenced anew at dusk. He soon joined the dancers and evidently the "old Adam" reasserted itself within him, for he danced with fervor the whole night.

As one sees everything better by taking part oneself in the proceedings, I, too, broke into the circle, grabbing those next to me by the hand. The orthodox way is to intertwine the fingers as one may see sailors do when they are ashore, or peasant girls of Norway when going to a dance in their finery. My white dress made me a conspicuous object in the dark night, and my dancing and singing evoked merriment among those sitting around. There was no difficulty in getting into the right tune, and my partners on either side, as well as the rest of those actively engaged, were too serious about their work to be distracted.

Just about the time that I entered into the perform- ance, the medicine-men who were sitting with their legs crossed in front of the fire began to show activity. One of them suddenly bent forward and put his mouth near

HOW TO MAKE IT RAIN 55

the sacred translucent stone that was lying before him; then he began to breathe forcibly and to blow over it, emitting at the same time a peculiar sound, which made it difficult for me to refrain from laughing. The stone, which had become warm through the long drought, was now being cooled and cleaned that it might attract rain. For fully ten minutes he remained thus at work ; then both medicine men stood up and, holding eagle plumes in their hands, began to run around inside our circle, all the time thrusting the plumes upward toward the sky to draw rain-clouds. It is curious to reflect that Indians as intelligent as the Papago should so absolutely believe in the power of the medicine-men to make rain. In regard to man's relations to nature, the Indians have, since the discovery of America, learned nothing and forgotten noth- ing, and it will take many centuries to change their mode of thinking.

After an hour's dancing I went alone to my camp where my sleeping cot was awaiting me. It is a folding one and, when put up, stands high above the ground, which is convenient both in case of moisture of the ground and as a precaution against noxious creatures, such as scorpions, etc. The moon was shining, the night was warm, and I went to sleep under the open sky, as my custom is in this climate, rejoicing at the feeling of secu- rity one has while among Indians who have not been too much with whites. I must have been sleeping quite a while when I was awakened by the violent barking of my dog. On opening my eyes I beheld the disagreeable sight of a tall, half-nude Indian standing beside me in

56 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

the moonlight. " Companero" he said, ejaculating a few more words in unintelligible Spanish, at the same time thrusting forward a big open bottle with bright red con- tents, the smell of which at once made me aware of the situation. He was offering me sahuaro wine as a proof of his esteem. But he might have chosen a more reason- able hour for his hospitality, so I bluntly answered : "No; I will have nothing until I get up." He disappeared among the bushes as quietly as he had come; in fact, he did not give me time to ascertain what had become of him, and it seemed like an unpleasant dream. However, being desirous of getting some rest before the ceremonies that were sure to take place at sunrise, I fell asleep again after a while.

The wine did not mature as early as expected, and in the morning one of the principal men told the people to gather when the sun would be half-way between noon and sunset, when the culmination of the feast would take place. One of the Indians confided to me that the people thought I was all right; I danced with the proper step. Gradually crowds began to assemble, many of the young men on horseback; slender of figure but above medium height, they were of prepossessing appearance, sitting erect and following well the movements of the horse. Everybody was in his best attire, all adopted from the whites, and everybody, both men and women, looked clean. But there was no hurry about anything. After a few hours passed in this way, the Keeper of the Smoke, who was the general manager of all the proceedings, was seen to spread out blankets and mats on the dancing

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A NATIVE BANQUET 57

place, at each of the four corners of the world, to use the Indian expression. The principal men seated them- selves on the mats toward north and south; the two medicine-men sat down on the eastern mat, and the Keeper of the Smoke on the western.

The multitude surged forward and took their seats, on the ground, I among them, all forming an imposing square that symbolized the four corners of the world, each of the four mats in that way remaining in the mid- dle of a line of the square. Hardly had we seated our- selves before the vessels containing the wine were brought inside of the square from the lodge by four young men, each one carrying a vessel. This wine should have been carried in those large, beautiful, water-tight baskets of native workmanship, but, alas, there was only one of those, an indication of the declining days of the tribe. The remainder of the receptacles were replaced by three inappropriate looking buckets bought in the white man's store, more practical, to be sure, but infinitely more ugly than those superb baskets decorated with artistic designs. The young men went straight across the dancing place to the two medicine men in the east, who immediately set to work to bless the contents, driving out any evil spirit that the vessels might contain. This they accom- plished by making slow strokes with the palms of the hands around the vessels from in front back toward themselves. They also sacrificed a little of the contents to the gods, dipping their hands into the liquor and throwing some of it about. It was done in a desultory fashion, showing, as one man explained to me, that they

58 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

did not know their business well. The tribe, as I have al- ready said, is daily losing its ancient beliefs and customs.

The distribution now began. The young men went in pairs, stopping before every one in his turn; each of the two would dip a gourd into the wine and hand it over. The recipient would, before drinking, lift it up toward the young man, saying: "Navatsh!" (friend!); if he were a relative, he would address him by the name of the relationship. It was evident from the beaming smile on the faces of those who drank that the wine awoke much satisfaction. My turn also came and I must con- fess that in this dry and hot climate, the beverage, when well made, and coming cool from the jars, does not taste at all bad, though I soon grew tired of it.

Four times in this manner had the young men made the rounds of the square, offering the wine quickly and with much precision, when two old men appeared on the scene. They advanced from the lodge, holding each other by the hand, fingers intertwined, and, beginning at the east, went in turn to each of the different mats where the principal men were sitting. The mat is called vdaki, which connects us with the mythical long ago when the hunter put up a small round house of that name near water, in which he stayed during the heat of the day. At each corner of the world is a vaaki or hunter's lodge. At each such "house" a long speech was made by one of the two old men, whose name was "Mocking Bird Talk." Addressing the most important man on the mat by his degree of relationship, or as a friend, as the case might be, he tells him to look for a white, shining house

PERSUASIVE POWERS 59

in the east, from where black clouds come. "The black clouds have many inclinations in different directions and we can, by our singing, turn them toward us and influ- ence the winds to make this poor earth moist" he says. Then he asks for a song, and in response the group sit- ting on that mat sings about rain. After having in the same way solicited songs from the rest of the groups, seated at the cardinal points, and received immediate and enthusiastic answers by invariably well-executed songs, the old men return to the lodge.

They immediately, however, come back for a similar round of visits, the speaker this time asking for an ex- pression of friendship for himself. Every one answers "friend!" or gives him his degree of relationship. Next, the groups on the four mats sing in turn and, after that, wine is again offered around four times.

The pair of old men reappear and the speaker again admonishes those on the mats to look for the shinin? house in the east, where the black clouds are. A won- derful cloud reaches up to heaven and in it lives the mocking-bird. He comes out, jumps around, puts his head back and talks. "Through your strength," he says, addressing the mocking-bird as if present, "come all the clouds that are, all the winds that are, all the lightning, all the thunder. From all the mountains spring up other clouds joining the rest. It matters not how wide the earth is, the clouds touch all the sides. It matters not how many sierras there are, the clouds cover them all. It matters not how many arroyos there are side by side, the clouds cut across them; nor does it

60 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

matter how many small arroyos there are, the clouds cover them all. When the rain comes down, the flood carries along the sand and the loose trunks and the sticks and fallen branches, piling it all up. The clouds and the winds get up and stop in the west, whence the rain spreads over this poor earth. When shall we see this again ? " The speech was briefly answered at each mat, and from either side the friendship which they all felt for each other was emphasized. The singing was quite enjoyable and there was a pleasing atmosphere of antiquity about the proceedings. Finally, the chief arose to make a speech in which he warned every one to be- have properly while partaking of the wine which had been brewed in the houses.

The official part of the festival now being over, people repaired to the houses, where the sahuaro wine flowed through the evening and night. Friends from the neigh- boring country added to the merriment. Both men and women become intoxicated on such occasions, and, for- merly, quarrels of long standing were settled at the feast according to the laws of the vendetta. Murder used to be of frequent occurrence, but, to prevent the possibility of quarrels ending in a fatal way, the chiefs of our time are wise enough to gather up beforehand all the knives, pistols, and rifles, returning them to the owners after the conclusion of the festival.

It should be noted that in March, about the time of the equinox, a ceremony, accompanied by singing, is performed to insure a good sahuaro harvest. Seeds of the fruit are ground and put in a basket into which also

UNUSUAL VIEW OF PHOTOGRAPHY 61

four sticks, taken from the dried plant, are placed, one at each cardinal point. Sitting around the basket, people spend a night singing, while the medicine-man makes prognostications for the coming harvest. The seeds are eaten by those present, and the four sticks are given to four persons who later, when the season comes around, leave them at the foot of a sahuaro.

As soon as the Indians were rested enough after the celebrations that ended the festival, I had an interview with Chief Alvina, whom I found to be conscientious about the information he imparted, and in a charmingly sincere way not afraid of telling anything. His father, who had died two years before, had been chief before him. The Papagoes declined to tell anything about their beliefs and ancient customs, he said, but he could see no harm in letting strangers know about them. Unfortu- nately for me, his knowledge of those matters was not commensurate with his liberality. Furthermore, he al- ways told his people that there was no harm in being photographed. Their fear he could not comprehend. He had himself been photographed many times, and he never inquired as to what they were going to do with his photograph.

It was a very exceptional stand he had taken; as a rule, the Papagoes have the greatest objection to the camera. They are not afraid of it, but are intensely annoyed at the photographer's efforts, because, in their opinion, part of themselves will be taken away and will always remain behind after death, causing much dis- turbance to the departed, who in that way will be, so

62 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

to speak, only three-quarters complete in the other life. Usually the people ran away from my kodak, and it was extremely difficult to photograph them unawares, as they are very keen and in a way scent the impending danger. A young, good-looking man, of whom I asked permission to take a quick photograph, surprised me by answering in the affirmative. He entered his house to get ready for the fray, saying to his wife, "I am going to have my picture taken. I am a man and I am not afraid of seeing myself after death."

I kept the honest chief till late in the afternoon, when he was obliged to go to his sahuaro camp, near the south end of the Quijotoa Range. He offered to return the following day, but I thought it better to look him up later on. There was present at the interview a man who had acted as a singing shaman at the feast, Juanito by name. He owned a few head of cattle and some horses, and had been much with whites, hauling wood or doing similar work, but in spite of this he spoke no English and only a few Spanish words. It was he who in the excitement of the feast had waked me up in the middle of the night. Some twelve years ago Juanito had seen a Mexican make a drawing, and last year it had occurred to him to try his hand at this accomplishment, which had made a strong impression on him. Considering that this was his first and only effort with the pencil, the prod- uct was by no means discreditable. His brother posed for him on horseback for half an hour, in order that Juanito might get a clear conception of the subject he was going to draw. Strange to say, he did not draw

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Picture drawn by an untutored Papago

Using the ancient hoe

Mother with child in cradle. Aktjin

AN UNTUTORED ARTIST 63

him then, but during the following three days he worked at the drawing from memory in his spare time, being mostly occupied in his field and with his cattle. After long deliberation, he finally consented to part with the picture which is shown on plate. The horse is painted with red ochre and the necktie is blue, the color having been bought in an American store. The artist was about fifty years old.

Following a fairly good wagon road eastward through the Comobabi Mountains, I first halted at a rancheria called " Badger's Well," where I found all the old people absent in the sahuaro fields. The younger generation, inclined toward the white man's ways, offered little of interest. They spent much of their time in laughter and animated talk at the well, where they watered their cattle and horses. I noticed a quail creeping stealthily to drink from the overflow of the water, a few yards from the well. Its thirst was quickly satisfied, when it retired to safety among the bushes.

A man sold me a spur made from the cleft of a mez- quite bush. It has a very sharp point, which is most efficient, though cruel. Only one foot is thus provided. A negro came along, a rather strange appearance in this part of the country; he told of a silver mine four miles east of there that he and half a dozen of his race owned. It had been found by one of them who had been a prospector for eight years.

There were many ants in my camp, so I was glad to pack up in the morning. A visit was first made to the burial place, which was of the usual unattractive de-

64 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

scription, in this case almost hidden under huge piles of palo verde branches. A tiny enclosure of upright oco- tillo stems was pointed out to me as the modern ceme- tery, due to the teaching of the missionary. Bundles of clothing to be used by the deceased had been placed among the branches of trees near both cemeteries.

CHAPTER V

COMOBABI— AN ATTRACTIVE INDIAN FAMILY— MARIANITA— A HORNED LIZARD THAT SPURTS BLOOD THROUGH THE EYE— AN ABORIGINAL WAY OF RECORDING EVENTS— THE PAPAGO CALENDAR— HARVESTING SAHUARO— HOW TO KEEP COMFORT- ABLE IN GREAT HEAT— A VISIT TO CHIEF ALVINA

Our next halting place was made at the rancheria of Comobabi, comprising a somewhat extensive area on a beautiful slope at the foot of the mountains. Most of the houses here, too, were temporarily abandoned on account of the sahuaro harvest. Early in the afternoon we drove up to a house which impressed us as being the most hospitable looking; the family were just seating themselves on the ground outside, to eat tortillas and beans, the husband standing near by with his horse saddled. They received us as if we had always known them, although Pablo had not met them before. We were invited to share their food, and, as soon as they were made to understand that I wanted to buy all sorts of Indian things, they cheerfully produced whatever they had. I purchased two bags full of certain eatable seeds, which I had much desired to procure, also a meal basket made by the thirteen-year-old daughter, who had the sweet-sounding name of Marianita, although neither Spanish nor English was among the family accomplish- ments.

65

66 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

The lady of the house had in active use two of those peculiar burden baskets called kibo, in which the women carry on their backs loads of wood, gourds, or pottery, as the case may be. It consists of an attractive looking net-work of mescal fibre, which has been produced from the leaves after they have been first boiled. The net is attached to a hoop which is fastened between four long poles of sahuaro ribs and is supported by a woven band of strips of zotol leaves that passes over the forehead. This contrivance is getting to be rare in the Papago coun- try, with the introduction of mules and horses, and the woman who owns one is with difficulty induced to sell it. She spends considerable time in its manufacture, and in an old-fashioned family like the present it is of very great usefulness in every-day life. The black twine was from her children's hair, which she cut once a year until they were about twelve years old. I expressed an ardent de- sire to buy one that was standing outside of the house against the wall, and, after having thought the matter over for a couple of hours, she decided to sell the most used one for five dollars, though she hated to do so; for an additional fifty cents she would mend the net-work and put in a new plaited band for the back and the head. The offer was promptly accepted.

Pablo and I made a tour of the houses of the ran- cheria, some of them being three-quarters of a mile away. In two of them we found only old deaf women at home, the rest of the families being at the harvest of the savory cactus fruit. On our return, toward sunset, our Indian friend and little Marianita were busily engaged in wash-

THE REAL INDIAN 67

ing a large sleeping mat, plaited from zotol leaves in the usual manner, which I had also bought. Another, a smaller daughter, sat near by, while on the roof the third child, a boy of eight summers, was romping in a short shirt, throwing stones and looking picturesque against the blue sky and the mountains of Baboquivari. One's photographic propensities are sorely tried under such tempting circumstances. As we approached, the boy descended. Pablo, at my bidding, engaged the family in conversation and I tried to avoid observation while taking snapshots, for, if seen, that would have put a speedy end to the friendship so happily begun.

This was an attractive family that carried one's thoughts back to the Indian of long ago. The mother seemed the incarnation of sterling qualities, well mean- ing, intelligent, and active. She had quite an eye to business, but she asked fair prices. She looked about fifty, the picture of health, and had borne thirteen chil- dren, nine of whom were alive; many of these were full-grown and the youngest was six years old. Her husband, who was as friendly as his wife, or even more so, had a peculiar name, Piukvaotam, "He cannot be eaten" (because bitter to the taste). This probably ex- presses some characteristic of antipathy which I failed to discover, the Indians being extremely critical in their application of names.

It was the 10th of July; for several days the maxi- mum temperature had remained at about ioo° F. A moist wind, somewhat cooler, had been blowing too gently for real comfort, but that day about sunset the

68 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

air currents changed and became dry. In the evening the temperature felt just right, about 850 F., and the air, at an elevation of four thousand feet, had the superb quality of the desert.

I had selected my camp a couple of hundred yards from the house, on a sandy, level ground among small mezquite trees and choyas. The sandy surface was as clean as if man had never walked over it; the Indians on their way to and from the distant well at the foot of the mountains all followed the same track, and there were no waste paper and tin cans strewn about to im- pair the full enjoyment of nature, as would have been the case near civilized man's abodes.

The attractive camp, the nice family we had met, the addition to my collections, the peace and quiet of the place made me feel happy as I stretched myself on my cot under the starlit sky, which seemed so blue and cool and near. A soft breeze from the west fanned me to sleep, while a mocking-bird kept on singing its most delightful notes in the dark night. Ye dwellers in cities know not what it is to feel your freedom!

Next morning, shortly after sunrise, I strolled over to the house to see what my Indian friends were doing. The mother was busy at work repairing the burden bas- ket she had sold me. She was just finishing a new band for the back, which is plaited in the same manner as the sleeping mat and from the same material. Some Indi- ans rode up offering for sale a most interesting wooden object that resembled a broadsword, and which may be termed a hoe, made of the heavy iron-wood and accord-

AN ANCIENT HOE 69

ingly very strong. This implement, which is called kiik, the same word as that for plough, had, according to my informants, been found in a mound in Santa Rosa valley. It is extremely rare, though I later succeeded in securing, mainly in the rancherias of Santa Rosa and Anekam, ten specimens more which were kept in the houses of the Indians. It is not quite appropriate to call this imple- ment a hoe, as it was employed solely for the purpose of weeding. Although I did not see it in active use, people in that section of the country know it very well. Prob- ably it is occasionally still resorted to. The showers, which in that hot climate make plants grow very fast, bring forth in luxuriance weeds that, unless twice re- moved, would choke the crops. For the more recent innovation of wheat agriculture during the winter, one weeding is sufficient.

When in use the wooden hoe is held by both hands in a more or less horizontal position, the left hand around the handle, the right on the blade, while the bearer crawls on his knees and cuts in between the weeds, loos- ening the roots and turning them up. I found a simpler form of the same implement, smaller in size and consist- ing of a flat, oblong piece of wood with edge sharpened in a similar way, which was said to have been for the use of women.

On returning with milk which he had bought from the friendly family, Pablo told me that Marianita, the young girl, had gone to the well for water, a mile away, and that I might have a chance to take a snapshot of her when she returned. After a while she appeared at a

;o NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

distance with a big tin bucket on her head, but how much more beautiful my small Rebecca would have looked carrying an earthen- ware jar of native workmanship. There are lots of pottery vessels still manufactured by the Papagoes, but the white man's implements are rec- ognized to be more practical. I suppose the change is unavoidable, but the bucket was distinctly disappoint- ing to my photographic sense. Before she approached my vantage point, an Indian met her who evidently asked for a drink, for he lifted the heavy bucket down, drank, and put it on her head again. When I gave her some candy after the short and unexpected ordeal, she looked frightened. She stepped along quickly, showing some- what that she felt the weight that she had been carrying for fifteen minutes. This was six o'clock in the morn- ing and, on rising, she had first helped her mother milk the cows.

Half an hour afterward she again passed my camp; this time she was bound for the sahuaro fields along the base of the mountains. The girl of thirteen years walked fast, carrying over one shoulder the long stick with which the fruit is brought down. Two hours later she returned with a small bucket full of the juicy fruit, on which a newly arrived guest and the rest of the family gorged themselves, while she sat near by resting. She did not look tired, however, and I saw her later helping her mother make wheat biscuits, baking them in an oven adopted from the Mexicans.

It was a great pleasure to be with these natural people. I sang to them my newly acquired Papago song, "The

REMARKABLE HABIT OF A LIZARD 71

Frog Doctor," one that is used at the sahuaro festival, and ingratiated myself in their favor. The mother, al- ways busy in doing something about the house, was en- gagingly free and easy in her manner. I ventured to ask if I might not photograph her; she looked disturbed, but after a while consented if I would promise not to show her picture in Tucson. She had the burden basket on her head, appropriately enough for a woman of energy and activity, but her whole being had suddenly changed, and it was impossible to make her walk and look natural. Her face was flushed, she looked embarrassed, and made a poor picture.

In spite of presents to the children, they all stead- fastly declined to be photographed. However, sitting down to catalogue my lately acquired ethnological ob- jects in the shade of a jacal, I found opportunities for snapshots while pretending to write. When Pablo took the horses and my dog to the well, I hugely enjoyed a rub down from my wash basin, as well as a change of clothing, and soon we were off again on the road.

At this rancheria I had a curious experience in the morning with a horned lizard (phrynosoma), rather dark in color, which my terrier pursued for eight or ten yards, when it flattened itself out and refused to run any more. The dog was watching for it to move and I stepped up. When put on its back it would immediately turn over; stooping down, I tried in vain to tease it to run again, but it remained immobile. I was just about to rise and leave when, to my great surprise, a spray of what appeared to be blood was dashed on my right hand, which was

72 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

from eight to ten inches, not less than eight, distant from the animal. I did not notice whence the fluid came, but I observed that its left eye was bloody; in other ways it seemed normal, and had evidently not been maltreated by the dog, which feared its spines. On my return to civili- zation I find that the singular habit of ejecting blood from the eyes, peculiar to this animal, is known to the ranchmen of the region of its habitat, both Mexican and American, and that it also has been brought to the atten- tion of men of science. It has been suggested that the habit is practised only during the time of the shedding of the skin.

The night spent at the next rancheria in the Babo- quivari Range was disturbed by the constant, melancholy, low howling of a dog mourning the absence of the family. He was a very old dog, a black and white cur, with an honest-looking face. Usually Indian dogs have little reason for loving their masters, who show them small consideration. After having visited a new Indian settle- ment called San Pedro, in the Roskruge Range, where there is excellent water in a well twenty-six feet deep, we continued our trip for six miles northward along the western foot-hills. There are extensive sahuaro forests in this undulating country, which were unusually pict- uresque in the afternoon sun. We came across one or two camps of Indians who were gathering the much- relished fruit.

At dusk we met two young men on horseback return- ing from a shooting expedition, who presented us with half a deer tenderloin and some ribs. My aim was to

V,

• •■ V ■ 'f

Palo verde, near a Papago cemetery

Among its branches bundles of clothing for the departed

£&mm

The medicine-lodge at Santa Rosa

AN OLD MAN'S NOTES 73

reach the camp of the man who possessed the calendar record of which the Indians had told me. It grew pitch dark before our day's journey was over, a large blazing fire, which enlightened us as to the position of the camp, guiding us from some distance. Our arrival naturally caused surprise, but was easily explained, and the man promised to show his calendar stick the next morning.

This calendar, which, as far as I know, is the only one existing in the tribe, is an attempt at keeping a record of events by various marks on a wooden stick. Made from pine board, it is seventy-nine inches in length and one and one-quarter inches broad at the middle, narrowing toward the ends, and about an inch thick at the centre, which is the thickest.

The old man, when fifteen years of age, had taken it into his head to begin a record of the events of his life, giving to each year a space of about an inch on the stick, separating one year from another by a transverse notch. He thus made one notch for each year that passed, and their number had now reached sixty-seven. The events of the year are depicted by crosses, dots, lines in various positions, as zigzags, angles, parallels, etc., and, as they have significance and meaning only to him, are less interesting from the point of view of the markings than from the events recorded. More than one kind of mark is rarely applied for each year. As the record of happenings that appeared to him important, accompanied by his own explanations, may be of inter- est, I shall give here the principal ones:

74 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

In 1849: Unusual snowfall, killing men and beasts.

In 1850: Successful attacks by the Apaches on the Maricopa at Red Rock, as well as on the Papago near Magdalena, Sonora.

In 1851: Severe disease, called "black vomit," appeared. Its symp- toms were painful fits and cramps. Dark-colored blood would flow from the mouth. When the sufferer vomited, it was a sign of relief. Many Indians died, including some medicine-men. (This may have been yellow fever.)

In 1852 and 1853: Papagoes repelled attacks by the Apaches in Arizona.

In 1854: Papagoes fought with the Apaches at Santa Ana, Sonora.

In 1855 and 1856: Death of relatives.

In 1857: American soldiers were killed by Mexicans at Caborca. (This alludes to the defeat of the filibusters under Captain Crabbe.)

In 1858: Birth of a girl relative. She afterward became makai (medi- cine-man.)

In 1859: The Papagoes in the winter went to dance with the Pimas, below Sacaton, in order to secure wheat. (It was also the custom for the Pima to help at the feasts of the Papago, the reward being in either case grain or domestic animals.)

In i860: Prominent chief died.

In 1861: Papagoes in Mexico engaged the Apaches and were victori- ous. The booty, consisting of shields, bows, and arrows, was sold to the Mexicans for mescal brandy and maize.

In 1862: A fight with the Apaches in Mexico.

In 1863: His first marriage took place.

In 1864: His first child was born.

In 1865: Apaches captured one Papago, who later escaped.

In 1871: Apaches made peace with the whites at Arivaipa.

In 1874: Apaches attacked San Xavier.

In 1875: Ball games with foot-racing at Caborca, Sonora. He won in betting, one horse, saddle, and bridle. ,

In 1876: Disease, accompanied by the loss of hair. Many died. (Per- haps this was typhoid fever.)

In 1880: The railroad arrived at Tucson.

A RECORD OF EVENTS 75

In 1881: A relative became crazy, killed his wife with a knife, and then himself.

In 1882: First fiesta in Mexican fashion took place at a rancheria which formerly existed where at present the Indian Oasis is. (This means that the Indians of Arizona began to adopt the social gathering in use among the Mexicans, without imparting any religious importance to the festival. A fiesta among Mexicans always includes dancing, which, in our time, has been adopted by the Papagoes of Sonora, but generally not in Arizona. On the occasion related, the people danced one by one in a circle.)

In 1885: A visit to a Pima feast. Many singers went, and many others, all well dressed.

In 1887: An earthquake in the "flowers disappear" moon.

In 1889: The Pima took part in a dance in order to secure cattle. This was in the "dry grass" moon.

In 1890: A feast at San Xavier in the "dry grass moon."

In 1891: San Xavier Indians came to dance at Kvitatk (near the "Pump-house" near Horseshoe).

In 1893: A foot-race at Kvitatk in "inner bone" moon (winter). The racers starting in the middle of the day, ran as far as Santa Rosa, returning at dark (about 8 p.m.).

In 1897: Foot-races at Aktjin.

In 1898: Two nephews put in prison in Yuma for smuggling mescal brandy.

In 1899: Two relatives imprisoned in Tucson for stealing cattle.

In 1901 : He was isolated at Tucson on account of small-pox in the family.

In 1902: A foot-race at Tjeavolitak.

In 1903: A foot-race at Kvitatk.

In 1904: The purification of girls in the winter.

In 1907: His friends put in jail for fighting at a sahuaro feast at Kvitatk.

In 1908: Many Papagoes that were attending the fiesta of San Fran- cisco in Magdalena, Sonora, were imprisoned for resisting the Mexican authorities when being pressed into military service to fight the Yaqui. A chief from San Xavier went down to Magdalena and helped them to get out.

76 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

During recent years he has been blind, but a friend and his wife have assisted him in placing marks accord- ing to his directions. The event of this ensuing year would be the visit of "Carlos" to his sahuaro camp, he said. I append here the Papago calendar which divides the year into thirteen "moons," or mars at in the native language.

THE PAPAGO CALENDAR

1. Tonjapik Marsat, Hot Moon (tonj, hot).

2. Tjokiapik Marsat, Rainy Moon.

3. Shopol Usapik Marsat, Short Planting Moon.

4. Varsa Kakitak Marsat, Dry Grass Moon (kakitak, dry).

5. Vihamik Marsat, Touches Mildly Moon. (The cold touches

mildly.)

6. Jomali Suipitik Marsat, Low Cold Moon (jomali, low).

7. Uta Vaokat Marsat, Inner Bone Moon. (The middle of the

winter.) It is also called Ku Suipitik, Big Cold.

8. Ovalik Marsat, In Heat Moon. (When the animals are in heat.)

9. Kihotak Marsat (untranslatable). Meaning: When the ani-

mals have lost their fat.

10. Komaki Marsat, Gray Moon (komak, gray). (When the trees

are without leaves.)

11. Tjuutaki Marsat, Green Moon (stjuutak, light blue or light

green).

12. Oam Marsat, Yellow Moon (usually suvdni, yellow). (Yellow

flowers on trees, bushes, and plants, such as the palo verde, the greasewood, century plants and cacti.)

13. Hikokiapik Marsat, Flowers Disappear Moon. (Plants begin

to make fruit.)

The old man was amply rewarded for his interview and consented to be photographed, though his wife, with the usual Papago ignorance of money value, prevented

A SAHUARO CAMP 77

me from finishing the operation by telling him to ask eight additional dollars for his consent.

Their camp consisted simply of a roof of branches resting on four poles, sufficient to provide some shade during the day. Early in the morning all the female members of the household could be seen proceeding on their fruit-gathering expedition, each armed with a large basket and the usual pole, about twenty feet long and made from two pieces of sahuaro rib. At the top of the pole, as well as lower down, there is a kind of hook made by tying crosswise in these two places a small piece of greasewood by the aid of which the spiny fruit is broken off. Two or three hours later they returned, each carrying on her head her share of a heavy har- vest. The skin with its spines had been removed in the field, so the inside of the huge water-tight basket presented an appetizing mass of crimson fruit pulp, as well as a great amount of similarly colored juice, which would keep for a few hours only. Most of the contents of the baskets was immediately emptied into large jars, to be boiled for about two hours, when the mass is strained in order to separate the numerous small black seeds. The juice is boiled for hours longer until it be- comes sirup (si toli), which is kept for future use in small earthen-ware jars, each neatly sealed with a piece of broken pottery and sticky mud. Being pleasant to the taste and much superior to molasses, I found this sirup excellent as part of my provisions. I also relished the fresh juice of the fruit when brought in cool in the morning.

78 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

I had taken my notes in a temperature of 1070 F. in the shade of the jacal; at dawn that day the temperature had been 740 F. and I actually awoke from feeling cold. During the previous five days the maximum temperature had been above ioo° F., and the heat still continued as high for three days more. No clouds had appeared for several evenings and the rains were delayed. It cer- tainly felt warm as we travelled along on our return journey to San Pedro. No shade, as that word is under- stood in other climes, is found anywhere; the palo verde is seldom very serviceable for this purpose, and the best tree for shade is the mezquite, but on such days as these the fierce rays of the sun easily penetrate its somewhat scanty foliage, even the ground underneath the tree be- coming heated. It was difficult to make the air circu- late under our wagon cover, and we found ourselves in a heat as great as that of a Turkish bath. Still it is good policy to make the most of every favoring circumstance, so we always stopped for lunch near some mezquite tree, built a fire by which we made coffee, and had some canned goods and puffed wheat with evaporated milk to eat. The coffee especially, when made well, was very acceptable. After that we continued our journey greatly refreshed and actually cooler. My dog, however, did not know what to do with himself, refusing steadfastly to eat during the day; his favorite place was in the wagon, under the seat, on top of a box.

On July 15 the oppressive heat was lessened toward evening by a violent storm from the south-east, which darkened the atmosphere first with dust, then an hour

A LARGE SUMMER RANCHERIA 79

later with welcome black clouds which poured down considerable rain. The storm passed from Indian Oasis over Tucson, where, as I later learned, it damaged the roof of the new hotel. Some more rain the following evening and night made the outlook bright for continued travel. We were soon on the road again westward bound for Chief Alvina's sahuaro camp. After the somewhat vague indication as to its location being near the southern part of the Quijotoa Range, we had been left to our own instincts of orientation to find it.

On arriving at the so-called "Pump-house," near the Quijotoa Range, I made a detour of thirteen miles south- ward to the great summer rancheria Kuoitak (Big Field), in order to make sure that the recent showers had not already induced the chief to leave his sahuaro harvest for agricultural pursuits. It was surprising to find such a large cultivated area in the wilderness. It was over two miles long, from east to west, and a half mile wide, consisting, of course, of many small adjoining farms, all fenced in by loosely made mezquite fences. The late showers had certainly been effectual in bringing about changes. Pools of water enlivened the landscape here and there, and even some grass had begun to appear, scarcely forty-eight hours after the rain. Birds were singing in a lively manner, and there was spring in the air, but evidently the Indians did not consider the rain of sufficient quantity to justify them in beginning their ploughing. In July or August, as soon as they are as- sured of the soil being well soaked, they immediately repair to their summer rancherias. So far, only one

80 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

family had arrived, so we continued our journey toward the southern end of the Quijotoa Range.

In the evening mosquitoes and other insects gathered around the lantern and small brown beetles crawled in- side of my trousers or through my hair, reminding me of tropical climates. Next morning, before starting, I had a refreshing bath in a small water-hole, while a butcher- bird (Janius) in a near-by bush sang with all his might, apparently enjoying the changed conditions as much as myself. This bird was often seen in the desert, often far from water. Although the thermometer registered as high as 920 F. in the warmest part of the day, still the atmosphere, refreshed by the storms, felt remarkably cool, and the weather was cloudy.

The southern part of the somewhat extensive Qui- jotoa Range, separated from the rest, is called by the Papago, Kihotoak (kiho, burden basket; toak, moun- tain), said to be derived from its shape. The Spanish name of the whole range is a corruption of this native name. I was glad to find Chief Alvina in his camp, which was in close proximity to great forests of sahuaro on the slopes along the eastern base of the mountains. He brought me as a welcome some pitahaya fruit which tasted remarkably well. All the rest of the fruit gatherers had already left, for the sahuaro season was over, though there were still to be found pitahayas, the other savory cactus fruit of the region. There was no pasture; our horses fed on rolled oats, besides relishing the leaves of the palo fierro (iron-wood) tree.

The chief was perfectly willing to be interviewed for

DRENCHED IN THE DESERT 81

hours. He thought the number of the Papagoes was decreasing. Few old men were seen any more. The food which is gradually supplanting their native dishes is injurious to the health of the Papago. Children were no longer obedient. The young men nowadays are seized with restlessness and want to leave for other parts of the country; nobody takes care of them, and they die early, he complained. We took a walk together, and he pointed out to me the ripe nuts of the jojoba, a bush of common occurrence in that country. They are eaten by the Indians and have rather a pleasant flavor. As they contain a great deal of oil, they might compete with pea- nuts in the oil industry of the world, were it not for the slow growth of the bush. Mr. M. G. Levy, mine-owner and store-keeper in Ajo, thinks that they will prove of importance as cattle food and that they should be culti- vated. Among the frontier population the oil has great reputation as a hair restorer.

On two afternoons we had quite heavy showers, and I felt some regret at having disposed of my large, though inconvenient tent at Indian Oasis, taking with me only the fly. Pablo and I were drenched and so were our blankets. It would have been difficult to make a fire but for the presence of the small resinous bush called tovoso, which burned lustily in spite of being dripping wet. We tore the bushes up entire and kept up a bon- fire by which we dried ourselves and cooked our food. I began to wonder whether this could truthfully be called a desert.

CHAPTER VI

HORSESHOE IN THE QUIJOTOA RANGE— INDIANS AS MINERS —SPENDING A NIGHT UNDER DIFFICULTIES— DELIGHTFUL NATIVES— A WOMAN'S GAME— SANTA ROSA RANCHERIA— THE GREAT HARVEST FEAST OF SANTA ROSA

After an affectionate leave-taking from good Chief Alvina, we departed northward for Horseshoe, eating, as we travelled along, delicious pitahayas with which we had provided ourselves. Eight miles before arriving at our destination we passed on the llano the pump-house that had once been placed over a deep well, which, ac- cording to trustworthy information, is five hundred and twenty feet deep. It has an abundance of water from an undercurrent and was once the pulse of a short-lived, though intense, mining activity. If the information that reached me is correct, the discovery of a bonanza silver mine of very rich ore started a boom here nearly twenty years ago. Several thousand people gathered, the usual fabulous prices were paid for corner lots, and telegraph and telephone lines were established with Tucson. To- day the silence of death reigns here; the roads have been obliterated, the houses have disappeared, as also have the telegraph poles, and there is no sign of any former activity. I should have felt inclined to consider the whole thing a fable but for the unattractive remains of the

pump-house, which the Indians have annexed, building a

82

PAPAGO PLACER MINING 83

few houses near it and naming their rancheria from the tall chimney. Five miles north is a rancheria called Sikulhimat ("where the water goes around. " Slkul, round). Here, according to the Indians, the drainage of rain water flows toward the Gila River; south of that place it flows toward Mexico.

Horseshoe is the name of a once noted placer mine, the surface of which has been worked out. There are gold mines of a similar nature around the southern end of the Quijotoa Range. Judge Day has a store at Horse- shoe and buys gold from the Indians, who still, during the winter, keep up the "dry-washing'' process here, using for the purpose the machines that are common to the neighboring district of Altar, in Sonora. The Indians are even able to make the machines themselves. Judge Day is a man of intelligence and much common-sense, and, having lived here since 1893, was able to give re- liable information about matters pertaining to the region. According to him the padres from San Xavier Mission, two hundred years ago, found the placer mines of Qui- jotoa. He showed me some nice nuggets of small sizes which he had lately bought. Five years ago the Ind- ians found free gold in a piece of quartz which was worth one thousand six hundred dollars. After that eighty Papago and a few Yaqui Indians worked here for half a year, taking out in value between ten thousand and twelve thousand dollars, Judge Day buying most of the gold. The . relations between the miners — all Indians — were cordial. When any of them had found a rich spot, he would tell it to the others, and next morn-

84 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

ing the crowd would begin to work as near him as pos- sible. No ill feeling or rights ensued; they would each earn from four to five dollars a day. The miners when coming home would always wash after changing their clothes. Considering the trouble of getting water at the only well, their cleanliness may be considered an example even to whites. The women are particularly cleanly, and wash their own clothes frequently as well as those of their husbands.

Judge Day and his family, who have been living here among the Indians for so long a time, gave very good reports of their neighbors. He had spent twenty- two years among Indians, and considered the Papago the safest. "As a rule, they are honest," he said, "though there are scalawags among them, but these are discred- ited by their own race. The women will steal trifles, picking up a rope or the like, but the men will sel- dom do that. The store often gives an Indian twenty dollars on credit, and he will apologize if he does not pay in ninety days. These Indians, like the Mexicans, are pleased to be in debt, because they consider it an honor to be trusted. If the average native says he will pay his debt, he will do so."

Like all Indians, the Papagoes are kind to their children, the father no less than the mother. An Ind- ian couple were purchasing some articles in the store while I was present; their strong and fat infant was crying continuously in its mother's arms, she trying vainly to stop its wails. Finally, I saw her, with a few words, hand the babe to her husband, a boyish, good-

THE BENEFIT OF EXERCISE 85

looking man and apparently younger than herself. He took the howling nuisance gently and walked resolutely off into the hot sun. I wondered what was going to happen. He went straight to the well, gave the fretful youngster a bath, and returned in a few minutes with his purpose accomplished.

It may be of interest to note the manner in which the daughter of the American family at Horseshoe, who when twelve or thirteen years old was in poor health, grew to be strong and well. Being brought up with the Indians, whose language she speaks, she taught herself the accomplishment of every Indian girl, to carry a water- jar on her head. This made her healthy, and now she weighs one hundred and fifty pounds.

To the north of here, only about six miles, travel- ling by the track, is an important rancheria, Tjiuvak ("Where Something Decayed"), lying among low hills in the Quijotoa Range, where a road passes from east to west. I was desirous of seeing the best-known basket-maker who lives here, but she, like the rest, had just left for the summer ranch. The place looked much like a village, but was temporarily abandoned on account of the season, so we continued our journey northward by an excellent road that had been furnished mainly by nature. It was a slightly downhill drive, the coun- try now almost imperceptibly sloping toward the Gila River.

We arrived late at a summer rancheria with the some- what disconcerting native name, "Dead Old Man's Well." Here we expected to find the people of the win-

86 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

ter habitations we had just left behind. The night was pitch-dark with overhanging nimbus clouds, and thunder, more or less distant, was heard all around us. The air felt sultry and quite a strong wind had begun to blow, as if warning us of an advancing storm. Big fires were burning outside of the houses, which looked hospitable enough. But this was a night which one would not exactly like to pass out-of-doors, so I asked Pablo to hurry in and see if he could not secure a house in which we might have sleeping quarters. As good luck would have it, a friend of ours whose acquaintance we had made at the feast of Noria was here. He had come from the Comobabi Mountains to cultivate the fields with the rest, and he helped us to obtain lodgings for the night. A small storehouse was placed at our disposal, and as we drove up in the wagon some girls were busily carrying things out in order to give us more space inside.

It was a tiny shed, built of upright mezquite poles calked and plastered inside and outside with mud. The roof, which was made of sahuaro ribs and greasewood branches, with a cover of earth on top, was water-proof, all care having been taken to make it secure against the rain, for here the provisions of the family, their house- hold goods, clothes, and other earthly possessions were stored. Air had access only through the door-opening, which was exactly one and a half feet wide. Owing to an all-day's summer sun the storehouse was extremely hot, and as I entered my lodging the temperature was so oppressive that it was almost stifling; still, as the wind was blowing with increased force and lightning at more

A NIGHT IN A STOREHOUSE 87

frequent intervals lit up the darkness outside, the little house offered protection for the night, and gave a feeling of comfort such as our savage ancestors must have felt when resorting to a cave just in time to escape a drench- ing. Big jars, gourds, sacks containing maize, wheat, sahuaro seeds, and other edible wild seeds were lying about in the corners. There was not much space left, but by adjusting things our baggage was safely stored and we had our frugal supper while the rain poured down.

Pablo went to arrange for his bedding with the Ind- ians, while I managed to place my cot backward from the door-opening, filling up all the space left. Near my head, in a box in a corner, a hen with small chickens was sitting. She had a curious way of poking her beak against the box two or three times a minute, almost with the regularity of clock-work. It was as if the habit of using her beak to help feed her large family had grown on her to such an extent that she continued doing it automatically through the night. To listen to this be- came a nuisance, but I was too tired to allow it to inter- fere with my sleep. After a while I awoke from the intolerable heat, bathed in perspiration. I undid my bed to push it through the narrow opening, and leaving the hen to continue her pecking, put my cot outside where the rain had ceased. The air felt cool and fresh now, and at dawn even a feeling of chilliness interrupted my slumber, but I continued to sleep until after sunrise in spite of the cackling of fowls, the barking of dogs, and the Indians moving and talking all around me.

It was Sunday morning, July 25, and I awoke well

88 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

rested, though at an inconceivably late hour for that country, for the sun had been nearly half an hour above the horizon. The men had gone to plough the fields, but lots of women and girls and a few young men had gathered waiting for me to get up. They had brought many ob- jects, which they understood I wanted to buy. As soon as I opened my eyes two kinds of the medicine-man's rasping outfits, women's games, a splendid bull-roarer (see page 95), and other tempting things were presented for my approval.

The attitude of the natives was an unlooked-for de- light. With the exception of the men who were unavoid- ably absent, the remainder of the four or five families that made up the rancheria seated themselves around me, showing much interest in my presence and eager to sell what they had brought. I distributed candy to every one, and much enthusiasm was evinced, the utmost good-will prevailing. Two elderly sisters, talkative and impulsive, were very intelligent in giving explanations of the articles offered for sale. One of them sat down on the ground and showed me how the medicine-man's rasp- ing-sticks were used, at the same time rendering the ap- propriate song. The other one, seizing a pair of wooden tweezers, which are used in pulling off certain edible cactus fruit, proceeded in a most graphic manner to de- monstrate how the spines are rubbed off by the same implement, whereupon the fruit is placed in a basket and taken home to be cooked. Her quiet pantomime, full of humor, made matters clear beyond doubt unto the small- est detail, without her uttering a single word. She would

DOUBLE BALL GAME WITH STICK 89

have done credit to any stage. It was a busy morn- ing, and when the crowd saw us getting ready to eat our belated breakfast, they considerately said, "Let us retire that they may eat." Pablo and I seated ourselves near the fire, and it was a small matter that the rice had been burned during the activities of the morning.

After a while, we had them all back again. The implements used in a woman's game were offered for sale. They comprised a small object, consisting of two short, thick sticks from the cat-claw tree, linked together in the middle by a twisted leather string. This 6la, as they call it, has to be thrown with a thin pole, slightly curved at the point, and the movement must be made by applying the point between the two connecting sticks and then casting it upward. The game consists in throwing the object so as to reach a certain goal, the opposing party trying to prevent it. At my request, the woman with the imitative gift induced four young girls to show me how the game was played, and they immedi- ately prepared for the fray. The colored bandannas were disengaged from around the head and tied around the hips. The uncovering disclosed beautiful black hair, well-groomed a la mexicaine, parted in the middle, and hanging in two generous braids down the back. The next minute they all spat in their hands and smoothed their hair, then the game started. The girls played two against two. The 61a was first thrown up in the air, the players standing ready opposite each other. The tactics of the opponents was to run with their backs turned against the others and strike the disputed ob-

90 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

ject with their poles. Each game was played with much agility and lasted only a few minutes, the participants keenly enjoying the sport. Formerly as many as twenty- women on each side took part in this game.

I ventured to take snapshots and, strange to relate, it was not resented. A boy showed me how to swing a bull-roarer, and we all had a good time. Though the wearing apparel of these people and most of their uten- sils came from the white man's store, still, neither Eng- lish nor Spanish was spoken, only Papago. They be- haved something like natives who have not been much in contact with whites, and these "poor heathen" were the nicest Papagoes I met on my whole expedition. The entertaining crowd would sometimes retire as one man, then after a while they would return again; they were curious without being troublesome. One of the humor- ous sisters told me that in the rancheria of Santa Rosa, which was my next goal, there was much to be seen that would interest me, if I made friends with the prin- cipal men. She also had a house there, she said, which was at our disposal, and she gave us directions as to how to find it, for Santa Rosa was a big place.

It is, in fact, the largest summer rancheria in the Papago tribe, and people from several clusters of win- ter habitations gather here to the number of about five hundred. The houses are scattered over an area of nearly two miles square. Its native name is Kuatshi (Big Peak). I entered this old-fashioned rancheria with much expectancy of gaining further knowledge of the beliefs and customs of these people. Water from the

ARRIVAL AT SANTA ROSA 91

recently fallen rain was standing in pools here and there in the rough road. Inside of the rude mezquite fences a surprisingly large amount of weeds was flourishing, and beautifully green. In the midst of this mass of verd- ure the Indians were busy ploughing and sowing, the weeding being done later. Here and there a rain-storm might be seen at a distance, in the north, east, and south, but the atmosphere as a whole was clear, and everything looked beautiful in the late afternoon sun.

After some parleying and searching and travelling, we found our Juan, a tall, strong-looking Indian with a benign expression of countenance. Near this man's house was to be our promised lodgement. He pointed out to us a large, dome-shaped straw house, of old style, about a hundred yards away. Crawling in through the door-opening, which was not quite two feet high, I found the inside very spacious. Provisions were stored here, and a large granary basket gave me joy at the prospect of its possible acquisition. The room was clean and cool. Nevertheless, being unusually dependent upon fresh air, I feared this would be a very inconvenient abode for me, so I crawled out again and addressed myself to an old man who was occupied outside in digging up and destroying the passages of some pernicious red ants. On our arrival I had noticed him clearing away rubbish in front of an attractive little house near by made of upright poles so that the air had access everywhere. I proposed that he should rent me the little dwelling.

He readily consented, asking me to state a price, and I suggested fifty cents a day, which was promptly ac-

92 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

cepted. He immediately commenced to move his things out so as to give space enough for my cot. The tiny house had a good roof of greasewood branches covered with earth. A few yards in front of the door-opening, toward the west, was the usual arrangement of a jacal that provided a grateful shade. The Indians had ar- rived here only the day before, and the old man had decorated the door-posts with fresh greasewood branches, which gave the modest habitation a festive and cheerful appearance. I felt comfortable in my new quarters, and prepared to stay here for several weeks.

Among the friends I gradually made was one whose civilized name was Simon, who became of great service in helping me to get specimens and information from the Indians. He made a good beginning himself by selling me his clown's outfit, more or less complete, an unex- pected discovery in these days when advancing civiliza- tion is destroying all the sacred emblems, customs, and beliefs of the natives. These were implements used at the great harvest feast, vikita, which is given every four years at Santa Rosa. The name is derived from the word viiki, by which is designated the finest and small- est plumes of the vulture. Manifold preparations are made for the event, which comes off in the "inner bone" moon, about November or December, after the harvest- ing of corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons. The par- ticipants dress up and practise their parts in a large, open, square enclosure of brushwood fences, where afterward many ceremonial objects which were carried about during the festivities are left. I was told that

!

Front Back

The clown at the great feast of Santa Rosa

My camp at Santa Rosa

THE CLOWN 93

sahuaro wine is not used during or after this great fes- tival. At Quitovac, in Sonora, an annual harvest feast, called by the same name, is given in August; this is accompanied by the drinking of sahuaro wine.

As the name indicates, the clowns are the funny men of the occasion, and their apparel and weapons are in ac- cordance with their functions. Their bows are crooked mezquite roots with strings attached. Their ridiculous- looking arrows, four for each, are made from sahuaro ribs, with turkey feathers as the plumed part; like the hunter, the clown has two kinds, but his are out of pro- portion, three being thin and one very stout. His brace- let may be a piece of unborn deerskin wrapped around the wrist. The most striking part of the costume is the mask, which is made of canvas, like a hood that is drawn over the head; formerly perhaps basket work took the place, at least in parts, of the canvas. Small holes for the eyes have been pierced in it and the top is adorned with a large bunch of plumes from the turkey, hawk, and a black sea-bird. "Horns" made of turkey plumes are attached to the sides, soft down from a hawk being tied to the top. The decorations on the facial part of the mask symbolize clouds. Under the clown's belt is tucked a wooden machete, and large strings of sea-shells run over the shoulders across the chest and back. He wears a huge tobacco-pouch and carries a sahuaro pole on which small greasewood sticks, tied at right angles, do duty as hooks.

His bare arms, as well as his arrows, are decorated each with a spiral line made with chalk and encircling

94 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

lengthwise, while his legs are daubed in spots, the color being afterward allowed to wear off. At the feast, the numerous clowns perform pranks everywhere; they visit the houses, offer food, and shoot at men disguised as deer. During the dancing they keep in the middle of the dancing place. They neither sing nor talk, though they may do so if requested. If a clown breathes on a sick man, the latter gets well. The mask when not used is kept in the house of the owner, usually in a covered earthen-ware jar. The dignity of the office, which does not imply the necessity of being a medicine-man, is con- fined to certain families, the father deciding which of his sons is to be the next clown.

On the wall in my lodging-room there was hanging a different kind of mask, neatly made from a gourd, and painted. It is worn by a singer at the same great feast. I also secured this, and during the time spent at Santa Rosa valley I was fortunate enough to make quite a col- lection of such interesting objects. There are three sec- tions of colors on the singers' masks symbolizing clouds of similar hues. The upper part is painted with red ochre; then comes a black band which is produced by a mixture of sap from the mezquite and oxide of iron; the white band is made with chalk. The zigzags of the red section symbolize clouds, the dots are grains of corn. The designs on the white section denote clouds and light- ning. The singers (viinim) have the same kind of rat- tles as the clowns, consisting of a number of the small bags spun by an insect (attacus orizaba), with a pebble inside of each, and attached to a band around the ankle.

THE SINGER 95

The band should be cut from the skin of a black dog, which is killed for the purpose in the practising enclosure.

The singer has the upper body nude, his trousers being turned up as high as possible and his feet bare. He wears no head-dress, but attempts to appear neatly attired, tying around the loins a colored bandanna or perhaps a shawl borrowed from his wife. Around the waist, the neck, and the upper part of the arm bright- colored strips of cloth are tied. His body is smeared with red ochre on which are spots of white, symbolizing grains of corn.

An important part of the singer's outfit is the bull- roarer, consisting of two flat pieces made of sahuaro rib, the smaller one being held by the hand when in use. The connecting string should be twine of native cotton, which still may be found in use. They are decorated with symbolic designs, such as those stand- ing for lightning, clouds, turtles, grains of corn, express- ing their desire for rain. The buzzing sound produced should be deep, in imitation of the thunder, which brings rain; if the sound is shrill, lightning only will follow.

The bull-roarer is swung for the purpose of calling people together and as a sign that the meeting is over, both at the preliminary exercises in the practising en- closure as well as at the feast itself. These buzzing im- plements not only open and conclude the proceedings, but they are used on the way from the practising house to the feast early in the morning, also when the cloud

96 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

symbols are carried about, and on similar occasions.

When not in use, the implement is tucked under the belt

at the back. After the festival it is put away not to be

used until the next feast takes place.

The singers are made up of the following four groups: i. The people of Santa Rosa rancheria. Sikulhimat,

Aloitak, and Kvitatk join with them.

2. The people of Kvivo rancheria. The San Xavier inhabitants join with these.

3. The people of Anekam rancheria.

4. The people of Aktjin rancheria.

These four groups have different masks and at the head-quarters of each is a practising enclosure.

This great harvest festival lasts from morning till sun- set. Ten days before the principal men begin the prep- arations, fasting at the same time and drinking water but once a day. Sometimes as many as fifty rancherias take part. Much noise is made in the evening before the feast is begun. Each group of rancherias sings dif- ferent songs, in its turn, and every fourth year new songs are produced. At the Quitovac meeting the same songs are used year after year. The singers also dance with ceremonial objects in their hands, their songs being suited to the emblem carried.

Mr. Brownell, store-keeper and mine-owner at Brown- ell, in the Quijotoa Range, was present at the last festival given, which was in December, 1908. Though unable to give me any descriptive detail, he assured me that it was an unusual performance in its magnitude and bar- barous display of costume, paint, and ceremonials. A

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THE PRACTISING ENCLOSURE 97

few other Americans had been present, but nobody was allowed to make any notes. Permission to take photo- graphs would not be considered without a payment of six hundred dollars. It is doubtful whether a similar festival will ever take place again, for there are only one, or possibly two, old men left who know how to direct the complicated ceremonies. Formerly, the com- plaint was made to me, the young men used to be taught by the two old men, but at present nobody goes to them. If another festival does take place, it would be highly desirable for an ethnologist to be present. I visited the practising enclosure, which is from forty to fifty feet square. A great accumulation of ceremonial things was left here from preceding feasts, conspicuous among which were some large, triangular frames to which wads of cotton were attached, symbolizing clouds. Bright blue, wooden swallows, fastened to the tops of sticks, also at- tracted my attention. They are carried by certain per- formers. The enclosure is called a vaaki, as is also the medicine lodge and the house of the leader of the salt expeditions.

I was successful enough to procure two more clown masks, the owners of both being medicine-men. One of them, who was too old to be a clown any longer, should have handed it over to his son or nephew, but he pre- ferred American dollars. I was further completing my collection with sets of the various articles that comprise the outfit, when my nefarious activities reached the ears of the principal men, who at once put a stop to any more purchases. "What are we coming to," cried the chief,

98 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

"selling these things? Are we not going to have any more feasts ? " There was some talk of having me re- turn what I had bought, but the storm of indignation gradually subsided.

CHAPTER VII

VISIT TO A VERY SACRED PLACE— THE CHILDREN'S SACRIFICE —A MEETING WITH AN IMPORTANT PERSONAGE— ANEKAM— PRIMITIVE NATIVES— I ARRIVE AMONG THE KOHATK PEOPLE —A WET NIGHT— RETURN TO SANTA ROSA

All the while I had not forgotten what my talkative woman friend at the last stopping place had told me. "Get an old man to show you the children's cemetery," she said, "and you will see many things." As soon as I considered my acquaintance with Simon to be sufficiently well established, I asked him if he would not take me to the place where the children had been buried. "It would be well to get the chief's permission for that," he answered after some hesitation. Accordingly Pablo and I mounted our horses and, accompanied by Simon, also on horseback, started off with the prospect of an interesting afternoon's experience before us. The place was not far away, perhaps three miles off, but it was al- ready five o'clock and, as we first had to secure the per- mission, we hurried along.

Simon is very quick in his movements and, there being no time to waste, we confidently followed in his wake. We arrived at the camp of one of the principal men, a leader of the annual salt expedition to the gulf, with whom on the previous day I had had a long inter- view. He was one of those old-fashioned, simple-minded,

99

ioo NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

though intelligent, barbarians who give the serious in- quirer clear, absolutely straightforward information, and I had no objection to hearing from his mouth some more about the ancient traditions of the Papago. He told us of a spring that once had threatened to flood not only the great valley of the Santa Rosa, but the whole Papago country. Four children, two boys and two girls, had to be put into the fountain in order to stop the water from flooding. The sacrifice had availed and ever after- ward this had been a most sacred locality, of which the Papagoes took great care. He asked us what we wanted to do there. Being assured of our harmless intentions, and Simon being a great friend of his, he had no objec- tions to our proposed visit, and I paid him two dollars for the permission.

Our next call would be, I expected, on the chief. Simon, on his quick-gaited steed, rode ahead of us, and soon disappeared from view in the winding arroyo, which we entered. This arroyo led among the scattered ranches of Santa Rosa up to the base of the mountain range, where lay the object of our trip. On an easy grade we travelled quickly over the sand and gravel that the rains of pre- vious years had washed down from the mountains so as to fill the arroyo bed. On both sides grew thickets of desert willows, arrowbushes, and a peculiar light green bush with long, needle-like leaves, from which the Indians make prayer-sticks. We followed this beautiful arroyo for a couple of miles, and I was congratulating myself on getting away unobserved by the multitude. Pablo and I spurred our horses along and we gradually

A SERIOUS ALTERCATION 101

gained on our swift guide, who suddenly left our safe arroyo, now narrowing as we approached the base of the mountains. We passed a couple of hundred yards above the last houses of the rancheria and were making fast for our goal, when a man on a brown horse appeared, com- ing toward us at a furious gait, followed by a white colt. Just as we reached the main road he caught up with us. Although he preserved a calm demeanor, his eyes, when he halted us, betrayed excitement. It was the old fa- miliar case of Indians knowing in a mysterious way well- nigh everything that is going on, as if they had telephones and telegraphs.

"Where are you bound?" he asked. Simon looked scared when answering the question.

"That place," the new-comer retorted, "belongs to many people, and one man alone cannot give the per- mission to visit it. I am the chief of this rancheria. Why did you not come to me ? "

Simon evidently had committed a serious breach of etiquette by letting the matter rest with his friend, the director of the salt expeditions. He tried to explain his action as being due to the absence of the chief in the fields. For a man with so much initiative and such un- usual frankness, it seemed amazing that he should have made such a blunder. Judging from the way he re- peated over and over again his one line of defence, his case was a weak one. The chief evidently was right, and finally, turning his horse toward the rancheria and start- ing back, he said he did not want us to go to that place.

This was more than I could endure, so I, with Pablo,

102 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

rode after him, and began negotiations in my own way. He soon became more tractable. "The place is sacred," he said, "and not everybody who comes along can see it." The Indians had gone to much trouble to keep up its proper appointments. He was going to bring this matter before the Big House, the lodge, that very even- ing, and the people would decide in the case. The pros- pect of vague and possibly endless delay was not exactly to my taste, so I proposed another way out of the diffi- culty, that of paying to him and to the other big man of the tribe, the Keeper of the Smoke, the same sum that I had already paid the first principal man.

Gratified at seeing the negotiations happily concluded, I presented him with tobacco and candy, which he smil- ingly put into his trousers pockets. He said we could go to the cemetery that afternoon and next morning return to look it over more carefully. To my suggestion that it was too late in the day to continue the trip, he answered that the place was close by. He admonished us only to be careful not to disturb anything, and thus we separated all in a pleasant mood. The cemetery was nearer than I had expected; after having followed the road for ten minutes, Simon told us that we had arrived. The coun- try was now level and covered with greasewood bushes all around. We found ourselves at the beginning of a broad pass, through which the road from Santa Rosa leads westward to a mountain.

We tied our horses and walked aside from the road some twenty yards, when my eyes caught sight of a cir- cular enclosure made from upright split ocotillo (fou-

AN INTERESTING SHRINE 103

quieria splendens) poles, from which the bark had been recently stripped. To the north and to the south was piled up at either side in a semicircle a very large heap of discarded poles, in orderly array, several thousands of them. I had expected to find a shrine of a more or less common type, so this was an agreeable surprise and worth some trouble.

I stepped up to the sanctuary, which was about the height of a man and nineteen feet in diameter, with open gateways toward the four corners of the world. The row of ocotillo poles was placed two or three thick. In- side, in the middle, was a mound neatly made of slabs, six feet in diameter and two feet high; on top of it rested a large sea shell, seven inches long, of a light rose color, with its opening toward the east. Two thin upright sticks of ocotillo had been placed at each cardinal point of the mound. The shrine stands on ground that is a few feet higher than the surrounding plain. This slight elevation, which provides ample space for the enclosure, is evidently natural, though its central part is slightly concave. This may have been due to the action of a spring. It looks as if the earth in some way had been removed, forming a slight basin. From this depression, toward the east and the west, are outlets as if water had been running. The western outlet is quite short, but the eastern is over one hundred feet long, and widens out so as to present broad, level ground. Here it is where the water finally stopped, the Indian explained, and here may be observed eight good-sized single stones or heaps of stones. Near each are placed two upright ocotillo

104 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

sticks, one toward the east and one toward the west. The four eastern stones or stone heaps have only one each, placed toward the east.

Everything about the place was scrupulously clean and orderly; not a trace of anything to be seen on the sandy ground anywhere. The mound of slabs that kept the water down in the bowels of the earth, and prevented the country from being flooded, was well arranged. Though mainly a prayer for rain to the sea, in a way this was a monument to the four children who had been sacrificed, and though devoted to a mythical event, its extreme sim- plicity, relieved against a background of the simple mind of the natives, was impressive, as the sun, at the end of July, in close proximity to the western hills, poured its strong, beautiful light over the scene.

Fearing a refusal, I did not ask Simon's permission to photograph, but, putting up my tripod, calmly brought my camera into action. Hardly had I begun operations when Pablo shouted: "People are coming! I see dust rising in the west." Although photography had not been included among the sacrilegious acts mentioned by the chief, still it required little sagacity to be convinced that, with the Papago abhorrence of the noble art, to be caught photographing such a place would amount to a crime. I had made a few exposures and now hurriedly put my camera and tripod together. Simon evidently felt very uneasy and, with his feet, began to cover with sand the marks that the tripod had left, making similar holes here and there with the sharp end of a pole, at the same time throwing sticks of wood about, to mislead his

Shrixe of the children's sacrifice, seen from the west

The large heaps are discarded ocotillo sticks

Shrixe of the children's sacrifice, near Santa Rosa

East of the shrine of the childrex's sacrifice

Here the outflow of water is supposed to have stopped

THE CHILDREN'S CEMETERY 105

canny countrymen. Then we started back at a quick pace to our camp.

The name of this sacred place is Aalhihiani (ali, child; bibian, cemetery). The enclosure's name is ki, house. It is renewed at irregular intervals and, accord- ing to my informant, sometimes every year. The pres- ent one had been made during the preceding winter. Those who make the enclosure have to come on foot to do the work. After the work is done there is a feast in the lodge, the whole night being spent in singing to the ac- companiment of rasping sticks. The four children come down from the cemetery and take part, but only the med- icine-men see them. In the morning the latter tell the people what they saw and what the children told them about rain and crops.

The faces of the children when about to be sacrificed were painted yellow with transverse black stripes, while the body was painted on the front, yellow, and on the back, black. A hole was dug in which the children were made to stand up, while the medicine-men sang. The flow of water which was stopped came from the sea, threatening to flood the whole world. The Papagoes worship the sea. In the subdivision of the tribe called Hohola, tradition has it that a man once went down into a cavity in the ground and the sea kept him there for four years. His relatives, considering him dead, burned his house and ate his cattle. He turned up one day, asked them to make a house for him away from the rancheria, and, after having taken eight baths, one every four days, he began to live again as before.

106 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

Next morning I had an appointment with the Keeper of the Smoke. Some days before he had promised to make for me a shield of the same kind as the Papagoes until quite recently were in the habit of making when going on the war-path against the Apaches. As this is a solemn act, which entails much fasting and praying on the part of the maker, and also as it would mean, accord- ing to Indian notions, certain risks and observances on my part, we had agreed on a meeting at which I should be enlightened as to my duties and dangers in the matter.

Accompanied by Pablo I arrived at the medicine lodge at the appointed hour, which was "a little after the sun is over the horizon. " We found the keeper sit- ting under the jacal in front of the lodge and facing the east. He was a stern, almost fanatical-looking Indian who conscientiously observes all the rules and regulations his religion imposes on him. There was no English or Spanish about this man. "I do not do things from hear- say," he began. "Every evening I make a fire east of the jacal (in the winter it would be inside the lodge) and tell the people what I know to be the truth. In this house I tell the people what to do, and this is the place where any undertaking should begin."

He spoke for nearly an hour. The shield he would make alone, and the proper precautions would be taken, but he wanted to be assured that I would not trifle with it, and that I should help in its making by fasting. " People have sold you clown's masks and singer's masks," he continued; "that is very wrong, and should never have been done. The merit of the feast passes away with

OTHER SACRED LOCALITIES 107

those things. They ought to be returned, but I am not going to ask you to do that, because the things have been paid for, so it would not be right to have the bargains changed. But I want to tell you one thing which you probably do not know. Those objects are apt to make you ill, and when that happens, do not blame the Ind- ians!"

When the time came for me to answer, I reassured him on the several points that caused him anxiety. The things I had acquired were going to be well cared for. I expressed my pleasure at the elucidation his talk had given me, and told him that I should like much to have another meeting with him by and by. He believed in me, he answered, and would meet me here again later on, but at present he was too busy making ready for the sahuaro feast which was soon to come off. He was glad to see me among his people, he added.

Next day, availing myself of the permission already obtained, we again visited the "cemetery" as well as other sacred spots in the neighborhood. I was shown the place where the elder men, sitting in a circle, make the small, bright blue prayer-sticks for the great harvest festival. One end is pointed, and to the other is tied a turkey feather; about two hundred and fifty of these are distributed at the feast in the interest of health, and some are buried later, to keep the fields moist.

The shrine of the buried jar is situated at the cross- ing of two tracks, one leading to the "children's ceme- tery," which is west of it. It is customary for those who visit the latter place also to call here and deposit some

io8 NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

offering. The jar is buried in the ground and a small mound made above it, the central part of which is cov- ered by a flat stone. Ocotillo sticks, stripped of bark, are placed upright, two toward the east and two toward the west, and empty cartridges, bits of glass, small sea- shells, as well as pebbles, had been deposited here. The little shrine is just outside of the rancheria, toward the end of the slope that runs down gently from the moun- tains near by. The rain-water, in times gone by, had formed furrows and small arroyos everywhere, making the country look wavy. The earth around the roots of the ever-present greasewood bushes resists the short- lived torrents, and they presented the same appearance of growing high above the ground on top of mounds which usually is due to the action of the wind. At one place where the ground was level a vast number of light yellow flowers were growing, forming a carpet-like cov- ering among the greasewood. Quantities of broken pot- tery were lying about to the north-east of the small shrine and here, according to tradition, was the former site of the rancheria.

In spite of my satisfactory meeting with the Keeper of the Smoke, he seemed to have efficiently blocked my purchase of any more important objects, so I decided to make a tour of the several rancherias to the north, where the sway of my uncompromising and despotic friend did not reach; perhaps on my return conditions might change. The next rancheria to the north is Anekam, hardly three miles away, but it is a community distinct from the preceding one and even more primitive. In

UNSOPHISTICATED INDIANS 109

ordinary weather the inhabitants of one place can hear the singing of those at the other on festive occasions. The days were warm now, hardly any day registering less than ioo° F. in the shade, often more. But climatic conditions matter less than the attitude of the people one meets, and here there was an unexpected charm of simplicity and unobtrusive inquisitiveness which re- minded me of former happy occasions in my life among natives. A sahuaro feast had been concluded the day before. People from the surrounding country were still lingering and my arrival furnished an excuse for an addi- tional delay. Crowds of people, fifty or more, kept around me wherever I went.

The Papagoes in the Santa Rosa valley are less spoiled by contact with civilization than in any other part of their country. From my note-book at this time I take the following remarks: "I have never yet met with a cross Papago; they are always amiable. In my quest for specimens they smilingly admit me to their store-rooms to inspect their fine granary baskets and other kinds of baskets and utensils, and allow me to look around inside and outside of the houses as much as I like. On the other hand, they have no tact; they seat themselves unconcernedly in a folding easy chair of mine, or go to the box in which I keep my collections and take out all the things to look at. They are always on hand at meal-times; they dive with delight into the box of crackers set before them, and are very fond of coffee. "

They were rather a crude type, but pleasant to deal with, and were continually bringing things for me to buy.

no NEW TRAILS IN MEXICO

At Anekam most of the middle-aged women and some of the men had their faces tattooed. These facial markings are dark blue in color and not elaborate. Common to both sexes is a thick line under the eyes, passing the outer angle of the eye and continuing parallel to the mouth until it nearly reaches the hair. This is almost becoming, reminding one of the way actors darken the eyelids. Men have besides markings on the fore- head, and women, on the chin, have waving parallel lines descending from each corner of the mouth. Tattoo- ing has been discontinued; the marks used to be ap- plied with thorns from the sahuaro, taken from the top of the plant, and the charcoal of greasewood. Its pur- pose is somewhat doubtful. For men the reasons given were to draw blood from the eye; for women, to avoid getting wrinkles early. Generally women were the oper- ators. After having been tattooed, salt was not eaten for a month.

A curious case of a woman nursing her two children of different ages came under my observation here. When seated, she had the younger lying on the ground in its primitive cradle with the large detachable shade, while the larger one, a boy of four or five years, was playing about. He would frequently run up to his mother and demand his rights which were never refused. Standing up with a large straw hat on his head he enjoyed the mother's milk usually reserved for