III. THE INDIANS 



TO SAY that the Indians make a main point 

 in the interest of life in our village somids 

 patronizing, as though the whites were the 

 natural residents and the Indians merely an inci- 

 dental feature. Of course the reverse is the fact: 

 we are the new-comers: whether "interesting" is the 

 term they would apply to us, or some other, is open 

 to speculation. However, the point is that they are 

 an integral part of the charm of life in Our Araby. 

 Their ways of life and points of view differ from 

 ours enough to give them the attraction of novelty, 

 while their independence and good nature render 

 them congenial as friends and neighbors. 



This small band of Indians, a part of the widely- 

 scattered Cahuilla tribe, have lived from time 

 immemorial about the hot spring which gives the 

 Indian village, or rancheria, the Spanish name of 

 Agua Caliente, by which the Reservation is still 

 officially known. (There are other places of this 

 name in California, one being the village, formerly 

 a rancheria of this same tribe, now generally called 

 Warner's Springs, in San Diego County.) They 

 have long been Christianized, and are numbered 

 among the so-called Mission Indians of California, 

 being cared for, in religious matters, by the Roman 

 Catholic priest stationed at Banning, while admin- 

 istratively they are under the charge of a Govern- 



