90 THE PIMA INDIANS [eth. anx. 26 



PRODUCTS 



Possessed of the foremost Anierican cereal, maize, at least one 

 variety of legume, and the cotton plant, as well as species of Cucur- 

 bitacete and other plants, the agriculture of the Pimas was well 

 beyond the initial stages before the arrival of the whites." 



Cereals 



The Pimas distinguished half a dozen varieties of maize, to which 

 they have now added the large corn brought by the Americans. The 

 first crop is planted in April and the second in July, the first being 

 gathered in June and July and the second in October. When gath- 

 ering corn the women lay aside the best ears for seed; they are stuck 

 in pairs on sticks and carried in the hand. Wlieat is now the prin- 

 cipal crop, and when a wet season insures sufficient water several 

 million pounds are raised. It is sowed in December and reaped 

 with hand sickles in June. Of the .several varieties "Sonora" and 

 "Australian" are favorites. One called skaofkutco was raised before 

 Ka'mal tkak's father was born. Wheat is ground for the Pimas at 

 the Government mill at Sacaton (pi. i), but a great deal of it is yet 

 parched and ground on the metates to be made into pinole. 



There have been at least half a dozen trading stores on th(> (iila 

 River reservation for a number of years whose principal traile has 

 been in wheat. The traders have naturally encouragetl the growmg 

 of this cereal as much as possible and assisted in the introduction of 

 suitable varieties. They have also profited in a legitimate way from 

 the contracts awarded by the Government ui times of famine for the 

 support of the natives. 



" In the year 1858, the first year of the Overland Mail Line, the surplus crop of wheat was IWWXX) 

 pounds, whieh was purchased by the company: also a large quantity of hcans called taprris. and a 

 vast quantity of piuni)k.ns, squashes, and melons. In ls.v.(Mr St John was sent among them as a special 

 agent with a supply of seeds and some agricultural implements. That year they sold 250,000 pounds of 

 wheat and a large supply of melons, pumpkins, and beans. In IStiO they sold 400.000 pounds of wheat — 

 all the Mail Company would purchase. They had more, and furnished the Government and private 

 teamsters all that was necessary for transportation from Fort Yuma to Tucson. Beyond this they 

 had no market, except for about 40,000 pounds of wheat which Mr White purchased for the supply of Fort 

 Breckenridge. In 1861 they sold to Mr White :J00,000 pounds of wheat, 50,000 pounds of com, 20.000 

 pounds of beans, and a large amount of dried and fresh piunpkins, which was all intended for the sup- 

 port of the California Coliman. The greater part of this crop was destroyed or given back to the Indi- 

 ans by the Texans under the guerrilla. Hunter, who arrived at the Pimo ^■iIIages that year, robbed 

 Mr White of his property, and took him prisoner in their flight to the Rio Grande. The Timos sold, 

 during the same year, tlOO chickens and a large amoimt of other stuff, showing a gradual increase of 

 production under the encouragement of an increased demand. In 1862 they sold to the Government 

 over a million pounds of wheat, included in which was a portion of the previous year's crop, returned 

 to them by the Texans. They furnished pinole, chickens, green peas, green com, pumpkins, and melons 

 for the entire California Column, subsistingnearly a thousand men for many months." (J. R. Browne, 

 Adventures in the -\paehe Country, 110.) Browne's statements about the Pimas, though not 

 grossly inaccurate, are not generally reliable, but as he was intimately acquainted with .\,M, White, 

 with whom he traveled from California, it is probable that the above estimates are as nearly correct 

 as circumstances pennitted. 



