230 SKETCH OF THE NA.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 has 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 

 examj.les from other nations, — a fact contributing much to prove that man- 

 kind need only to be j)laced 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 tliat passes through 

 their country. • 



Their anus 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 t-uch solders. 



The Navijos occupy the country between the del Norte and the 

 Sierra Anahuac, siiuated upon the Rio Chauia and Puerco. — from 

 thence extending along the Si rra de los jMimbros, in o the province 

 of Sonora. 



They arc a division of the ancient Mexicans 'hat have nevrr yet fully 

 succumbed to S[)anish domination, and still ;iiainiain against the con- 

 querors of their country an obstinate and uncompromising warlare. 



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

 of tlie-n live in hoase> built ot stone, and cultivate the ground. — raising 

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

 ties of horses, cattle, and sheep — make bu;ter and cheese, and spin and 

 weave 



The blankets manufictured by these I'ulians are su';erior in beauty 

 of color, texture, and durabifty, to the f.d)ri s of their Spanish n igh- 

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

 vious to water, and even serve for its trnspor ration. 



The internal regulation-^ of this tribe are represtmied, by those more 

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

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

 Hure, of the culprit ; dishonesty is held in check by suitable reuulat ons ; 

 it\(lustry is encouraged by general consent, and hospitality by common 

 practice. 



In their warfare with the Spaniards, th?y frequently exhibit a 

 etrange mixture of humanity and ludicrous barbarity. 



