ETHNOLOGY OF THE 

 PACIFIC COAST 



BY T. T. WATERMAN 



Assistant Professor of Anthropology, 

 University of California 



A.ARGE proportion of the people who visit the 

 Pacific Coast pass through the great South- 

 west. It may prove of interest to travelers, 

 therefore, to mention, first, some of the Indian tribes 

 which one encounters in this area. Today there 

 are two quite different modes of life in this region. 

 We see on the one hand sedentary Indians living in 

 terraced villages and carrying on elaborate farming 

 operations. The same region is the abode, also, of 

 restless, roving hunter tribes such as the Navaho 

 and the Apache. 



The Navaho have recently acquired large flocks 

 of sheep without, however, essentially changing 

 their ways. The so-called "pueblo" peoples have 

 changed even less. The agricultural Indians of 

 today are, it is quite certain, the lineal descendants 

 of the people who left the famous ruined structures 

 or cliff dwellings which abound in the canons and 

 cliffs all over the S9uthwest. In physical peculiari- 

 ties, in the arts of life, in architecture and religious 

 observances, the two peoples, one ancient and the 

 other modern, seem to be practically identical. The 

 pueblo or terraced village of today is in architect- 

 ure, arrangement, and even in size, merely a cliff- 

 dwelling located in the open. 



The pueblo peoples have for centuries cultivated 

 a variety of plants, corn, squashes, tobacco, cotton 

 and sunflowers. In many places they have in the 

 past used remarkable systems of irrigation. Remains 

 of engineering works capable of watering two hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand acres are, for example, still 

 to be seen in the valley of the Rio Salado (Salt 

 River), a tributary of the Rio Gila in southwestern 

 Arizona. These ruined irrigation systems are among 

 tne most interesting antiquities in America. It is a 

 picturesque fact that agriculture in the Southwest 

 is found only in desert regions. It is only when the 

 traveler abandons well-watered lands ana enters the 

 country of cactus and horned toads that signs of 

 native agriculture begin to appear. 



Another primitive industry which is still to be 

 observed in the Southwest is the making of pottery. 

 This is a typical feature of Southwestern Indian 

 life. Some of the Southwestern tribes, such as the 



189 



