180 SKETCH OF THE Ni^VIJOS. 



They entertain great dread of the whites, whose power to do them harm 

 they have learned on several occasions by bitter experience. These pain- 

 ful lessons have generally been inculcated as follows : impelled by hunger, 

 these miserable creatures have sometimes attempted to kill the animals of 

 trapping parties ; and the trappers, in order to prevent a repetition of such 

 occurrences, have been accustomed to shoot down their rude assailants 

 without mercy. 



Since the practice of this summary mode of chastisement lias ob- 

 tained, those able to run will flee with the utmost consternation on the 

 approach of a party of whites, — leaving the feeble and infirm in the rear, 

 who employ their most piteous supplications and moving entreaties for 

 mercy. 



Thes eindians possess a capacity for improvement, whenever circumstan- 

 ces favor them. I have seen several, both of men and women, taken from 

 among them while young, who, under proper instruction, had made rapid 

 progress, and even disclosed a superiority of intellect, compared with like 

 examples from other nations, — a fact contributing much to prove that man- 

 kind need only to be placed in like conditions by birth and education to 

 stand upon the same common level. 



Most of them are represented as inoffensive in their habits and charac- 

 ter, — never going to war, and rarely molesting any one that passes through 

 their country. 



Their arms are clubs, with small bows and arrows made of reeds — 

 affording but a poor show of resistance to rifles, and a dozen moun- 

 taineers are rendered equal to a full army of such solders. 



The Navijos occupy the country between the del Norte and the 

 Sierra Anahuac, situated upon the Rio Chama and Puerco, — from 

 thence extending along the Sierra de los Mimbros, into the province 

 of Sonora. 



They are a division of the ancient Mexicans that have never yet fully 

 succumbed to Spanish domination, and still maintain against the con- 

 querors of their country an obstinate and uncompromising warfare. 



Like their ancestors, they possess a civilization of their own. Most 

 of them live in houses built of stone, and cultivate the ground, — raising 

 vegetables and grain for a subsistence. They also grow large quanti- 

 ties of horses, cattle, and sheep — make butter and cheese, and spin and 

 weave. 



The blankets manufictured by these Indians are superior in beauty 

 of color, texture, and durability, to the fabrics of their Spanish neigh- 

 bors. I have frequently seen them so closely woven as to be imper- 

 vious to water, and even serve for its transportation. 



The internal regulations of this tribe are represented, by those more 

 intimately acquainted with them, as in strict accordance with the wel- 

 fare of the whole community. Lewdness is punished by a public expo- 

 sure of the culprit ; dishonesty is held in check by suitable regulations ; 

 industry is encouraged by general consent, and hospitahty by common 

 practice. 



In their warfare with the Spaniards, they frequently exhibit a 

 strange mixture of humanity and ludicrous barbarity. 



