RUINS IN NORTHERN SONORA AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. 69 



races strongly suggests that their purpose, hke that of the ones at Rincon, is for agriculture. 

 The terraces of the Trinchera closely resemble those built for agricultural purposes on 

 innumerable hillsides in all parts of Asia and in some of the other continents, and the re- 

 semblance is so close that strong evidence would be required to prove that the purpose in 

 one case was different from that in the other. Two facts tend to confirm this conclusion. 

 In the first place the terraces are almost lacldng on the hot, sunny south side. This does 

 not pertain to the whole south side, but only to the portions which have a steep slope 

 and would consequently be dry. Secondly, the terraces extend as far as the slope con- 

 tinues, and then merge smoothly into unquestionable agricultural land. On the west, 

 north, and east the land is even now capable of cultivation, and could be irrigated if the 

 Mexicans chose to use it rather than to employ the better land actually in use. On the 

 south the hillside ends in a genuine bahada, whose lower portion is of gentle slope and of 

 fairly good soil, although full of boulders and gravel. When walking across this one notices 

 nothing special unless his attention has first been called to it, but when viewed from above, 

 the land is seen to be neatly divided into rectangles, presumably fields, about 40 feet wide and 

 100 or more long in the dnection of the slope. So distinct are these that they can be clearly 

 seen in photographs. Inasmuch as the rectangles can be detected only from an eminence, it 

 is possible that many more exist elsewhere undiscovered. Russell* describes what appear 

 to be similar old fields far to the north, beyond the Gila River. Taking account of all the 

 facts, it seems as if both the terraces and the rectangles were designed for agriculture. If 

 this were so, dry farming must have been practicable then, although now it is out of the 

 question. Here, as at Rincon, the Hohokam may have desired to increase the area of cul- 

 tivation because of growth of population, or they may have desired to cultivate special 

 products, such as grapes. Possibly, also, they may merely have wished to have a certain 

 amount of land immediately under the shelter of their fort, so that at least a small crop 

 might be safe in times of invasion. This last supposition is somewhat doubtful, however, 

 for the neighboring little hills, one of them at least half a mile away, are also terraced, 

 but have no defensive works. 



One further possibility suggests itself: Did the Hohokam women carry water up on 

 the hillsides and irrigate the terraces in times of drought? The estimates of our party 

 as to the amount of land available for cultivation on and around the main hill in the terraces 

 and rectangles varied from 150 to 350 acres. Including also the other hills the total amount 

 can scarcely be less than 200 acres, none of which could possibly be watered by any means 

 except the actual pumping or carrying of water. Of course the Hohokam would have had 

 to carry it, and, judging by other primitive races, the women would have done the work. 

 The fields lie at all elevations up to 400 feet above the plain, and at various distances up 

 to nearly a mile from where canals could be located. It is hardly to be expected that a 

 woman should make a round trip aggregating on an average about half or three-quarters 

 of a mile, carry her olla, or water jar, all that distance, climb at least 100 feet, pour out 

 the water carefully around each hill of beans or stalk of corn, gossip with her neighbors, 

 and get back to the canal or river in less than an hour. Suppose also that each woman 

 worked 10 hours a day, which she could scarcely do in conjunction with her other tasks of 

 gi-inding flour and cooking bread; and finally suppose that in three weeks' time the ground 

 was to receive the equivalent of half an inch of rain, or in other words that each square 

 foot received 1.25 quarts. The ordinary load for a woman is 4 gallons. Therefore 16 

 women would have to work 10 hours a day for .3 weeks to water a single acre. This means 

 that in order to keep the land around the hill watered in a dry season over 3,000 women 

 would have to be at work 10 hours a day. Counting the women who could not work for 

 various reasons, or who were otherwise engaged, it appears that the number of women old 

 enough to work would have had to be toward 5,000, which means a total population of 



* Frank RusseU: The Pima Indians. 26th Ann. Rep. Am. Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1908, pp. 87-88. 



