8G Ex. Doc. No. 41 



Mont 



passage, and thirst and distress overcame, undoubtedly, those who 



attempted it. , . . 



■ In almost an opposite direction north, 50 east, there is a gap in 

 the mountains through which the Salt river flows to mert the txila, 

 makintr with it an acute angle, at a point ten or fifteen miles dis- 

 tant fi^om our camp, bearing northwest. A little north ol east, 

 another gap, twenty or thirty miles distant, shows where the Kio 

 San Francisco flows into the Salt river. From the best informa- 

 tion I can collect, the San Francisco comes in from the noi'Y^/," 

 valley is narrow and much canoned; good grass abounds all tbe 

 way. Le Vonoceur, one of my party, came down that river in IbH 

 with a trapping party of forty-eight men. He states that they were 

 much annoyed the whole way by the Apache Indians, a great many 

 of whom reside on that river. Every night they were fired upon, 

 and an attempt made to stampede their mules. Many traps were 

 stolen, and one of their party, an old man, who had been m tu 

 mountains forty-five years, was killed by the Indians in this expe 



dition. , • u 'r, nf 



Near the junction of the Gila and Salt rivers, there is a chain oi 



low serrated hills coming in from both sides, contracting the yalie) 

 considerably. Around the South Spur the Gila turns, making » 

 course in a more southerly direction. To the east, except wne 

 the spurs already mentioned protrude, the plain extends as ur 

 the eye can reach. A great deal of the land is cultivated, but ne 

 is still a vast portion within the level of the Gila that is yet to v 

 .put under- tillage. The population of the Pimos and ^a^^ The 

 together is estimated variously at from three to ten thousand. 



first is evidently too low. . • r 1 Piuti- 



This peaceful and industrious race are m possession ot ^ ^ *:, 

 ful and fertile basin. Living remote from the civilized world, tn^J 

 are seldom visited by whites, and then only by those m '"st/e^^^ 

 to w^hom they generously furnish horses and food. Aguarctie ^^ 

 (brandy) is known among their chief men only, and the abuse 

 this, and the vices which it entails, are yet unknow-n. . 



They are without other religion than a belief in one great a 



over-ruling spirit. ^ ' g- 



Their peaceful disposition is not the result of incapacity ror ^ t 

 for they are at all times enabled to meet and vanquish the Apac ^^ 

 in battle, and when we passed, they had just returned f^°°^,gj, 

 expedition in the Apache country to revenge some thefts and o ^^ 

 outrages, with eleven scalps and thirteen prisoners. The prison 



are sold as slaves to the Mexicans. _ ■ u f een 



The Maricopas occupy that part of the basin lying betw ^^ 

 cairp 97 and the mouth of the Salt river, and all that has be^ 

 said of the Pimos, is applicable to them. They live in cordi^ 

 amity, and their habits, agriculture, religion, and manufactu^^^^ 

 are the same. In stature, they are tallerj their noses are m 

 aquiline, and they have a much readier manner of speaking 

 acting. I noticed that most of the interpreters of the Pimos ^v ^^ 

 of this tribe, and also the men we met with in the spy g^^ 



