XII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



succotash and hominy have come into general use, the far 

 superior pinole, tainale, and pemmican are only locall}^ used 

 by whites, and many other desirable dishes are entirely 

 neglected. When the Bureau was instituted it was a common 

 impression that the aborigines were mere huntsiuen and fisher- 

 men whose habits were in the highest degree vicious and 

 improvident; but as the human activities were defined and the 

 aboriginal industries were adopted it became more and more 

 evident that many of the tribes were essentially agricultural, 

 and that all subsisted in much larger degree than is commonly 

 supposed on the })roduce of the soil. As researches progressed 

 the importance of various aboriginal food sources neglected 

 by the Anglo-Saxon was realized, and at the same time it 

 became clear tliat our people might learn much from the red 

 man concerning the simpler agricultural methods and the ways 

 of bringing plants and animals under ciiltivation or domestica- 

 tion. The success of the native in utilizing natural resources 

 is well illustrated in the arid region comprising that portion of 

 tlie country still unsettled. The traveler over an important 

 railway from a few miles west of El Paso to a few miles east 

 of San Bernardino traverses a zone supporting a Caucasian 

 population of some 20,000, with perliaps lialf as many Indians; 

 the same zone abounds in ruins of aboriginal dwellings, tem- 

 ples, acequias, and reservoirs, attesting a population fully ten 

 times greater during the agricultural period antedating the 

 long-continued and disastrous Apache wars. It is highly 

 significant that our least populated arid districts in the South- 

 west are those yielding most abundant evidences of numerous 

 population during preliistoric times. A specific example may 

 be found in Arivaca valley, Ai-izona, with a present po})ulation 

 of less than 100, where one of seven preliistoric villages within 

 the valley comprises ruins of more than 120 dwellings, with 

 temple, corral, stadium, and plazas, evidently representing a 

 population of fully 600 for the village and 3,000 to 5,000 

 for the valley. Although tlie depopulation began in the 

 prehistoric age, through wars still in progress at the time 

 of discovery, the historic period has witnessed a part of the 

 change; for it can not be doubted that Cabe^a de Vaca, 



