800 THE YUTA INDL\NS 



occasion, a detachment of horsemen approach 

 the Palacio in Cliihuahna, preceded by then* 

 commanding officer, who bore a fresh scalp 

 upon the tip of his lance, which he waved 

 high in the air in exultation of his exploit ! 

 The next number of our httle newspaper con- 

 tained the official report of the affair. The 

 soldiers were pursuing a band of Apaches, 

 when they discovered a squaw who had lag- 

 ged far behind in her endeavors to bear away 

 her infant babe. They dispatched the mother 

 without commiseration and took her scalp, 

 which was the one so ' gallantly' displayed as 

 already mentioned! The officer concluded 

 his report by adding, that the child had died 

 not long after it was made prisoner. 



The Yiitas (or Eutaws, as they are generally 

 styled by Americans) are one of the most ex- 

 tensive nations of the West, being scattered 

 from tlie north of New Mexico to the borders 

 of Snake river and Rio Colorado, and num- 

 bering at least ten thousand souls. The ha- 

 bits of the tribe are altogether itinerant. A 

 band of about a thousand spend their winters 

 mostly in the mountain valleys northward of 

 Taos, and the summer season generally in 

 the prairie plains to the east, hunting buffalo. 

 The vernacular language of the Yutas is said 

 to be distantly allied to that of the Navajoes, 

 but it has appeared to me much more guttu- 



g a deep sepulchral sound resem- 



ral 



bling ventriloquism. Although these Ind 

 are nominally at peace with the New Mexi- 

 can government, they do not hesitate to lay 



