92 THE PIMA INDIANS (eth. anx. 26 



gravel and are mounted on a handle. Gourds are never used as 

 forms over wliich to mokl pottery. 



At least five varieties of beans are now cultivated. The first 

 known, the tatcoa pavfi, " wliite bean," is said to have been brought in 

 some forgotten time from the valley of the great "Red river,'' the 

 Colorado. Considerable quantities are raised and the tlirashing is 

 done by horses driven in a circle on the same hard floor that is prepared 

 for the wheat thrashing. 



Not with the withering drought alone has the Gileno planter to con- 

 tend, but also with the mjTiads of crows that are extravagantly fond 

 of a corn tliet, and with the numerous s([uirrels and gophers that 

 thrive apace where protected in a measure from the coyotes, wliich are 

 themselves a menace to the fields. From the birds and pretlatory 

 animals the fields are guarrled during the day by the boys, who amuse 

 themselves meanwliile by a dozen games that develop skill in run- 

 ning, and shooting with the bows and arrows which scarcely leave their 

 hands during their waking hours. Scarecrows, "men artificial," are 

 used, but a lluttermg rag was never as effective as a feathered shaft 

 hurtlmg from a well-drawn bow. Night marauders were in oklen 

 times kept at a distance by the rings of the terrible cholla cactus, 

 Opuntia bigelovii Engelm., that were laid up around the indivitlual 

 plants. Plate xii illustrates this cactus as it grows on the liills about 

 Sacaton. It is recognized as the most efl^octually armed of the many 

 cacti and is the symbol in Pima lore of impenetrability. 



Trade 



standards of value 



For purposes of trade or in gambling tlie following values were 

 recognized: A gourd was equivalent to a basket; a metate, a small 

 shell necklace, or the combination of a basket and a blanket and a 

 strand of blue glass l)eads was equivalent to a horse; a string of blue 

 glass beads 4 j^ards long was equivalent to a bag of paint; and a basket 

 fidl of beans or corn to a cooking pot. 



MEASURES 



The principal linear measurement was the humak^ os, "one stick," 

 equal to the distance from the center of the breast to the finger tips. 

 The ^vTiter is Lnclmed to regard tlus as a primitive Pima measurement, 

 notwithstanding its resemblance to the yard of the invading race. 

 This corresponds with the Aztec cenyollotli, the Cakchiquel ru vach qux, 

 and the Ma3'a betan." It was the ba.sis of a sort of decimal s^-stem, as 

 follows: Ten "sticks" madeone "cut" of calico, equivalent to a "load" 

 of wheat, or about 150 pounds. Ten cuts or loads were equivalent to 



o D. G. Brinton, The Lineal Measures of the Semi-civiUzcd Nations of Mexico and Central America. 



