56 THE PIMA INDIANS [eth. ann. 26 



In the si)ring of 1877 the Gila Crossing Pinias and the Gila Mari- 

 copa villagers were pitted against each other in a relay race, the first 

 between the two tribes." 



^^^M BlacTiivafer. While a party was gathering mescal just 

 J iyTf ^ before the wheat ripened a mare gave birth to twin 

 fn^ colts. 



1877-78 



> - — (rila Crossing, Salt River. During the winter a man who had 

 ''sr^ gone a long distance to search for his horses perished from 

 the cold, and his body was found in a sitting position under a tree.'' 



(iiJa Crossing. A party of Pimas wont to the Kwahadk' village to 

 drink tizwin, and in the quarrel which ensued the Casa Blancas 

 killed two men of Santan. 



Some time afterwards the Gila Crossing people drank tizwin, and 

 one of their number was killed by a man from Salt River. 



Blackwater. A man of Blackwater who was with a party that 

 went to gather mescal sickenetl from some unknown cause, and 

 died. The corpse was brought back to the village. 



1878-70 



/^ (iila Crossing, Salt River, BlacTcwater. The principal event 

 jCt 'jf the year was the building of the Southern Pacific railroad 

 ^^ niong the southern border of the Gila River reservation. 



Salt River (a), Blackwater (b). A feud that had originated 

 in the cjuarrel at the Kwahadk' village during the preced- 

 ing year reached an acute stage in February, 1879. The 

 majority of the people of Blackwater and the lower villages, 

 which were then known as Santan, conspired to kill the 

 men of a certain faction during a night determined uj)on 

 several days in advance. A guard was set at Blackwater, 

 who was to watch tlieir movements without giving them 

 any hint of his purj)ose. One of those who were prepar- 

 ing for the attack at Blackwater had a brother at Casa Blanca, and 

 he feared that this brother might be included in the list of victims 

 at the lower villages, so he went one night to warn him or to get 

 him to return with him to Blackwater. The next day the brother's 

 conscience began to act, and he finally decided that if these men 

 were Idlled and he ditl not warn them he would be answerable for 

 their death. He therefore sent a runner to Blackwater, who told 

 one of the intended victims of the conspiracy formed against them. 



1 Tc6rlldls, one of the Maricopa runners, afterwards won a six-day race in San Francisco and was a 

 close second in a similar endurance race in New York. 



& The Pimas believe that he froze to death, and if this be true it indicate.*^ an unusually low tempera- 

 ture and that one man at least had very slight power of resistance to cold. The lowest temperature 

 recorded at the Phoenix meteorological station for a period of sixteen years is 11" F. Eept. oi 

 Chief of Weather Bureau, 1900-1901. 1. 



