i82 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



"taken." A possible defect of topheaviness was off- 

 set by bare feet which corrected any impression of 

 overdress. The steed, appropriate for a desert chief- 

 tain, was a minute donkey, whose dramatically 

 pointed ears betokened a deep sense of responsibility. 



Next an aged document was perilously unfolded 

 and spread before me. In clerkly hand and formal 

 phrase it set forth that Cabezon, the last great chief 

 of the Cahuillas, did thereby name and appoint 

 Juanito (= Johnny, or Little John) Razon to be 

 capitan of the Agua Dulce Tuba village, and to 

 exercise authority in the name, place, and stead of 

 said Chief Cabezon; and called upon his people to 

 render respect and obedience to said Johnny in all 

 said Johnny's lawful commands: etc., etc.: "given 

 under my hand this so-and-so," and signed with a 

 cross in presence of a witness. Then came some 

 ragged maps, apparently rough drafts of surveyors. 

 These, he held, made him owner of all the territory 

 shown, running from the last low ridge of the Santa 

 Rosas (the ridge was named Hiawat on the map, 

 evidently an Indian word, though John could not 

 translate it into Spanish) as far as Conejo Prieto or 

 Black Rabbit Peak. No wonder he eyed me closely 

 while these valuable papers were in my grasp. 



Before I left I bought of him a mecate or rope of 

 plaited horse-hair, of his own making. The price to 

 others would have been four dollars, he said, but 

 on grounds of friendship I should have it for half 

 the sum. This statement warned me that the article 

 was not worth the price he asked me for it, but I 

 was glad to carry away this souvenir of the dusky 



