LLL [DLT RVR: (GROUP. 729 
by the Indians, is also probable, and the locality where it met its fate should be - 
an object of interest to the investigators of our early history. If destroyed by 
the Otoes and Pawnees, it is probable that the destruction took place not much 
west of Kansas City; if by the Missouris, it was not far from the mouth of 
Grand River, as the old village of the Missouris was but a few miles east of 
where that river empties into the Missouri, and the counties of Howard and. 
Chariton are prolific in Indian remains. At the date of this expedition the 
French were reaching out toward the Spanish possessions in a manner calculated 
to excite the jealousy of the latter nation. Dela Harpe, under the authority of 
Gov. Bienville, had built a fort and formed a settlement on Red River, and, in 
correspondence with the Spanish commandant at Assinais, had laid claim on 
behalf of the French to the province of Texas, basing his claim on the fort built 
by La Salle in 1685. Dumont, another French officer, was exploring the Arkan- 
sas, whose waters extended nearly to Santa Fe, while the French at the Illinois 
post were considering the possibility of a route to the Pacific Ocean by way of 
the Missouri. In attempting to confine the French to the east bank of the Mis- 
sissippi, the Spaniards were but trying to guard a territory which they believed to 
be rightfully their own, and which, in the year 1762, was relinquished to them by 
the French. ; 
\ 
THE MOQUIS. 
m 
In the history of the aboriginal races of this country, little is said regarding 
the Moquis, a branch of the Pueblos, living, where possibly they have lived for a 
thousand years, in a rocky stronghold in a sandy desert of Arizona. This people 
number about two thousand five hundred, and occupy six villages, with houses 
built of stone, cemented with sand and clay. ‘These villages, says Dr. Loew, of 
Wheeler’s surveying expedition, are built on the tops of four sandstone mesas, 
which are separated from each other about eight miles. They occupy the entire 
width of the mesas, and, standing immediately before the houses, one may look 
vertically down a depth of three hundred feet. In many places the sides of the 
mesas are terraced, being used as sheepcorrals. In appearance the Moquis come 
rather nearer to the Caucasian than the rest of his race. These Indians are well 
clad, and the females especially so. Indian corn is the principal food—the sheep 
are raised for their wool rather than for the table. From the wool a good blanket 
ismade. ‘The seed corn is planted about one and a half feet from the surface, at 
which depth sufficient moisture is found to develop and sustain the plant. The _ 
Moquis have neither church or any other place of worship, and the Spanish Jes- 
uits were unable to gain a foothold among them. 
