ROAD ALONG THE GILA — FIMOS AND MAKICOPAS. 117 



ingly Tougli. The valley of this part of the Gila is the' same in appearance as that of the Colo^ 



more 



covers nearly the whole surface. Little grass grows excepting in spots suhject to overflow. 

 The same freshet which molested ns so much at the initial point here proved a hcncfit, as wo 

 were only able to find grazing where the river had risen over its hanks. 



I liave been told by those who frequently travel along this part of the river, that you may not 

 be fortunate enough once in twenty years to find more than a little bunch-grass, and that only 

 by driving your animals to the plains, four or five miles back from the river. By constant 

 search, we discovered sufficient for our purposes. The growth does not vary much. For the 

 first time, we see the ^^cereus giganteus,'' as it rises fifteen or twenty feet above the head. 



One hundred and forty miles above the junction we pass a place called ^^ Tezotal/' Several 

 miles before reaching it you find limestone rock intermingled with seams of trap. Here the 

 river makes a large bend to the nortli, and the road pursues a direct Course over a Jornada of 

 forty miles w^ithout water, until you reach the Maricopa wells. After leaving these wells you 

 again travel for twenty-nine miles along and occasionally touching the river ; you also pass 

 through several Indian villages of the Pimos and Maricopas. The former are further advanced 

 in the art of agriculture, and are surrounded with more comforts, than any uncivilized Indian 

 tribe I have ever seen. Besides being great warriors, they are good husbandmen and farmers, 

 and work laboriously in the field. The women are very industrious, not only attending to 

 their" household duties^ but they also work superior baskets, cotton blankets, belts, balls, &c. 

 Their huts are very comfortable, being of an oval shape, not very high, built of reeds and mud, 

 and thatched with tule or wheat-straw. They are the owners of fine horses and mules, fat oxen 

 and milch cows, pigs and poultry, and are a wealthy class of Indians. 



The Pimos consider themselves the regular descendants of the Aztecs, and claim ^'Monte- 

 zuma '' to have been of their tribe. One of their legends speaks of his leaving them on horse- 

 back on his prilgrimage to found a new country. As the Aztecs in all human probability never 

 saw any horses until their introduction into Mexico by the Spaniards, this seems to be a fabrica- 

 tion. The Aztecs, too, had a form of religious service, but the Pimos to this day have none. 



As we journeyed along this portion of the valley of the Gila we found lands fenced in, and 

 irrigated by many miles of acequias, and our eyes were gladdened with the sight of rich fields 

 of wheat ripening for the harvest — a view diifering from anything we had seen since leaving 

 the Atlantic States. They grow cotton, sugar, peas, wheat, and corn ; from the last two, 

 parched and ground, they make a meal, which, mixed with water, forms a cooling and palatable 

 drink. From the large emigration passing through they have learned the value of American 

 coin, and you can use it in the purchase of anything. Encamping one day at the village of 

 their principal chief, ^^ Cola Azul,'' a swarm of them soon infested the camp, bringing different 

 articles for sale or barter. In a short time we had laid in a large supply of corn, much needed 

 for our poor worn-out mules. 



A little hillock stands near the village, used as a look-out, from which you have a beautiful 

 view of rich cultivated fields. As I sat upon a rock, admiring the scene before me, an old 

 grey-headed Pimo took great pleasure in pointing out the extent of their domains. 



They were anxious to know if their rights and titles to lands would be respected by our 

 government^ upon learning that their country had become part of the United States. 



From the Gila to Tucson — a military colony of the Mexicans on the extreme frontier — is 

 a second Jornada, seventy miles in extent. Near the middle of it you pass a detached sierrra called 



