94 THE PIMA INDIANS |f.th. anx. 2(> 



made religious pilgrimages to the salt lakes below the Mexican bound- 

 ary to obtain the sacred salt. Tliey lived on pinole during the 

 journey and walked wath their eyes fixed upon the trail, looking 

 neither to the right nor to the left. 



As they approached the shore of the lagoon in wliich the Great 

 Spirit resided they ran at topmost speed and circled four times around 

 the salt deposits before those who understood the proper ritual began 

 to collect the salt. Even on the homeward journey there was magic 

 power in the salt, and if a horse died the whole load was thrown away. 

 As the salt gatherers approached the home village they were given a 

 noisy welcome but were compelled to remain outside for four days, 

 and for a long time thereafter they must abstain from certain acts 

 that need not be detailed here. For four days those who remained 

 at home sang for those who journeyed, and then all might eat the salt 

 and were free to bring it to the Pimas." The latter sometimes made 

 journeys to the lake for salt, being two days on the way to Quijotoa 

 and two days on the trail beyond. 



In exchange for the objects of barter brought to them the Pimas 

 gave wheat, which was also given the Papagos for aid in harvesting 

 it; corn; beans; mesc[uite beans; mesquite meal, roasted in mud-lined 

 pits; cotton blankets and cotton fiber, with the seed; dried squash, 

 pumpkin, and melon; rings of willow splints and of devil's claw for 

 baskets; besides articles of lesser consequence. 



In recent years there has been some trade carried on in colored 

 earths and salt with the once hostile Yumas and Mohaves. 



From the seventeenth century the Pimas sent well-armed bands 

 through the Apache cordon to trade at the Spanish and Mexican set- 

 tlements of Sonora. The latter also sent trading parties from Tucson 

 and other towns to barter with the Gileiios. Lastly, American 

 traders appeared about 1850, and for mauA* years there have been 

 half a dozen stores on the reservation. These are under bond to limit 

 their profit to a maximum of 25 per cent, though it is supposed that 

 this rule was never enforced until the present year. Some Pimas 

 sometimes try to turn the tables on the traders by offering damp wheat 

 that of course overweighs. More frequentl^y they put a ([uantity of 

 sand in the middle of tiie wheat sacks, which are furnished by the 

 trader and not ordinarily emptied when the wheat is brought in. 

 Rarely, the best wheat is put on top and an inferior c[uality lies 

 concealed beneath. 



» "These Papagos regularly visit a salt lake which lies near the coast and just across the line of 

 Sonora, from which they pack large quantities of salt, and find a ready market at Tubac and Tucson. 

 Mr. Lathrop, superintendent of the Sonora Mining Company, told me that he had bought some twenty 

 thousand pounds annually from them." (John Walker in S. Ex. Doc. 2, 720, .3(ith Cong., 1st sess., 

 1800.) It would seem from this rather extensive traffic that the Papagos did not allow their religious 

 scruples to interfere seriously with trade. 



