THE PIMA INDIANS OF ARIZONA. 410 



with short sickles.) Horses thrash the grain by stamping. The women 

 winnow the grain, when thrashed, by pitching it into the air by basket- 

 fnls, when the wind carries off the chaff; they convert the wheat into 

 flour, grinding it by hand on Uieiv mctafcs, (a hirge flat stone upon which 

 the wheat is i^Uiced, after liaving beeu slightly parched over the fire 

 previously, and whereupon it is ground into coarse flour by rubbing and 

 crushing with another smaller stone.) The principal crop is wheat, of 

 which they sell, when the season is favorable, 1,500,000 pounds per 

 annum. They also raise corn, barley, beans, pumpkins, squashes, 

 melons, onions, and a small supply of very inferior short cotton. 



The diet of the Pimas is very simjfle ; animal food is used only on 

 occasions of ceremony, although they possess large numbers of beef- 

 cattle and chickens. They do not use the cow.'s milk, manufacture 

 neither butter nor cheese, and do not eat the eggs of their hens. Very 

 few will eat pork. But whenever they kill a cow, steer, or calf, they eat 

 every part of it that can possibly be masticated, intestines included. 

 Should an animal die, no matter what the disease, they eat its meat 

 without apparent evil effects upon their health. At times they hunt the 

 rabbit, which is about the only game (quadruped) in their country. 

 Fish, during the months of April and May, are also extensively eaten. 



Wheat, corn, beans, and above all, pumpkins and mesquite-beans are 

 their principal food. The latter grow wild in abundance, and millions 

 of po unds are gathered annually by the women of the tribe. These beans 

 are gathered when nearly- ripe, then dried hard, and when required as 

 food first pounded in a wooden mortar and then boiled until they become 

 soft. The water is then squeezed out, and the pulpy substance remain- 

 ing molded into loaves, which are baked in the hot ashes. The bread 

 thus obtained has a sweetish taste, is very nourishing, but, being' very 

 heavy, can hardly be easily digested. 



The women also collect, in proper season, the fruit of the saican-a, 

 (Columbia cactus,) out of which they manufacture the native whiskey, 

 (called tisiciii.) This, after one fermentation, must be used at once, for 

 otherwise it becomes sour. All Pimas are inordinately fond of this bev- 

 erage, and old and young partake of it until the whole nation are wildly 

 dancing about in a drunken frenzy, until at last they drop to the ground 

 overcome by the stupefying effect of the liquor. 



The women also spin and weave a coarse kind of bhiuket, gather 

 large quautiesof hay annually, which are sold to white men, gather and 

 carry all the fuel needed by their family, make the ki-ho, a peculiarly 

 constructed basket carried on the back of the head and shoulders by 

 means of a broad straw strap fitting across the forehead, manufacture, 

 of willows and reeds, superior baskets, which are made so perfect that 

 they will hold water, and finally excel in the manufacture of a coarse 

 kind of pottery-ware, making jugs, dishes, plates, and all their other 

 household utensils. 



