37 



been among them of being the finest race physically upon the 

 continent. 



The region east of the Colorado, along both the 36th and 35th 

 parallels, is almost nninhabited. Inconsiderable bands of Tonto 

 Apaches wander at some seasons over portions of it, and are occa- 

 sionally encoimtered. Two small tribes were found living in the 

 plateau canons of the Colorado, corresponding in appearance to 

 descriptions given of stragglers that had been met by parties cros- 

 sing the country further south. There are but a few hundreds of 

 them in all, and they are a diminutive wretched race. Their rude 

 huts of boughs and stones are perched, like birds' nests, in crevices 

 on the sides of the cliffs. Fish from the river, a scanty store of corn, 

 wrung from some comparatively^ sunny spot in the dismal ravine, and 

 what little game they can secure, constitute the resources which 

 enable them to keep life in their bodies. Buried in the almost sub- 

 terranean caverii«, where alone they can obtain a permanent supply 

 of water, most of them live and die entirely isolated from the world 

 above. Their lonely and monotonous life seems to have deadened 

 every faculty and emotion. It might have been supposed that the 

 appearance of the first party of whites that had ever penetrated their 

 retreats would liave occasioned some sensation; but though the train 

 of men and animals must have come down amongst them entirely 

 unexpectedly, the novel spectacle excited no more apparent interest 

 in the individuals encountered than in the toads that were hopping 

 about among the rocks at their feet. 



The Moquis Indians, whose residences border upon the country 

 of the Navajoes, were the first large tribe seen after leaving the 

 Colorado. There are seven towns, dignified by the early Spanish 

 explorers with the titles of cities, and ruins of others that are now 

 deserted. The tribe is much smaller than has been sometimes stated. 

 The number of the population has been supposed to be about 7,000, 

 but I should consider one-half of this an extravagant estimate. The 

 towns are situated within a few miles of each other, and on the tops 

 of isolated and precipitous hills. Tliey are enclosed by walls of 

 stone, and tolerably well constructed. The houses are built around 

 an open court, and the only mode of entrance is by ladders that con- 

 duct to a small platform on the top of the exterior wall, upon which 

 the doors and windows of the habitations open. Springs near the 

 summits of the hills furnish a supply of water, and to provide against 

 seasons of drought there are large stone reservoirs, exceedingly 

 well made, placed in the hollows along the faces of the bluffs. Some 

 of the towns are approached by flights of stone steps, and the steep 

 ascent is laid out in neatly arranged terraced gardens ; the masonry 

 of the revetments being kept in excellent order and preservation. 

 Orchards of peach trees, bearing an indifferent quality of fruit, grow 

 on the hill sides. In the broad valley below are fields of cotton, 

 corn, pumpkins and melons, whose cultivation, under great disadvan- 

 tages of soil, climate and agricultural outfit, exhibits a degree of 

 industry that in an Indian is truly remarkable. Both men and women 

 labor in the field. They possess a considerable number of sheep, 



