RISSELL) TRADE 93 



one horse in value. Twt) units wore employed in measurement of 

 {listanees. One of these is an ancient measurement wliich it will be 

 of interest to apply to the Hohokam rums of the region. It is 

 hrmaka krirspa, "one step" — that is, one step with the same foot, 

 equal to al)out 5 feet. Land is divided into plots 100 or 200 "steps" 

 in width, accordinii to the size of the family. Long distances were 

 measured in terms of a day's journey on foot ; thus it is said to be seven 

 days to Zufii. The term " step " is also applied to the English mile, but 

 thev have had as yet little opportunity to acquire a definite knowledge 

 of the meaning of the latter term. 



BARTER 



For a long period prior to 1833 the ilaricopas lived at Gila Bend 

 and came at harvest time to trade with, the Pimas. Soon after that 

 time they settled beside tlie Pimas, liAdng upon such intimate terms 

 with them tliat barter between the tribes was of no more conseciuence 

 than between two Pima viUages." With all other tribes they were per- 

 petuaUy at war, except with their Papago kinsfolk to the southward. 

 These people live in a vast territory of cactus-covered plains, liere and 

 there interrupted by up-thrust barren peaks that, with striking out- 

 lines, form good landmarks and yet oifer little to those that hunger 

 and are athirst. The Papagos are a desert tribe, and yet so well had 

 they mastered their all but hopeless environment that the trade which 

 they carried on with the Pimas was by no means one-sided, as may 

 be seen from the following list of products that were formerly brouglit 

 to the Gila at the time of the June harvest. Of vegetable products 

 there were saguaro seeds, the dried fruit and sirup; tci'aldi, a small 

 hard cactus fruit; agave fruit in flat roasted cakes; agave su'up; rsat, 

 an imidentified plant that grows at Santa Rosa; prickly pear sirup; 

 wild gourd seeds; a small pepper, called tcil'tipin: acorns of Quercus 

 oblongifoha; baskets of agave leaf; sleeping mats; kiahas and iiber 

 to make them; maguey fiber for picket lines. They brought the 

 dried meat of the mountain sheep, deer meat, deer tallow in small 

 ollas, buckskins, dried beef, tallow, cheese, and cords of human hair. 

 Cattle were formerly traded "sight unseen," but the modern "educa- 

 tion" of the Papagos led them to exaggerate the good (lualities of 

 their stock and even to deal in "fictitious values," or cattle that the 

 new Pima owner sought in vain to find, until fuially the Pimas would 

 consider no proposition to trade stock unless the animals were exhib- 

 ited. Of mineral products they brought red and yellow ocliers for 

 face and body paint, and the buff beloved by Pima weavers. They 



o The author of the Rudo Ensayo, who wrote in 1702. stated that "these vcrj- numerous nations 

 [Opas and Maricopas) inhabit both sides for a distance of 36 leagues down tlie river, and at the far end 

 of their territory there is a verj' abundant spring of hot water a short distance from the river to the 

 north." This spring is now known as Ojo Calionte; it is at the southern end of the Bighorn mountains. 

 Guit^ras translation in Kecords of the American CathoUo Historical Society, v, 129. 



