

602 ' Ex.Doc. No. 4L 



niins, proves that, by irrigation^ it might .sustain a numerous people; 

 but its resources "will not be called into play by our people until 

 thousands of acres of unoccupied land has been taken up else^ 

 whercj unless this should get a value as a highway between the two 

 oceans — a thing no doubt perfectly favorable, if a man of capital and 

 energy should undertake to open a route between Galveston and 

 China. The long hair of the men of the Pimos and Coco Marico- 

 pas is remarkable, reaching to their waists; they put it up in twist, ^ 

 and coil it over their heads at times, at others it hangs down the 

 back; it is cut straight across the forehead in men and women, and 

 protects their eyes from the sun. The men and women both have 

 long hair, but the men the longest; they som-etimes put it up as a 

 turban, with mud; it grows very thick. 



JVovember 13. — Laid -in camp until 12, preparatory to taking the 

 journey of 40 miles without water. .The second chief of the Co- 

 co Maricopas visited the general, the first being lame; he said we 

 had seen his people, that they did not steal; they were probably 

 better than some the general had seen; all his people had sold us 

 provisions, it was good to do so, as people should exchange when . 

 they had articles to trade; but if we had come here hungry and 

 poor, it would have been his pleasure to give us all we jvanted 

 without compensation. Afterwards the first chief came in, and of- 

 fered like expressions of friendship and peace. For want of an 

 interpreter, an old woman with a fine countenance was taken; she 

 had ha.f a watermellon in her arms, and was naked, except a cloth 

 from her waist to her knees — a state of nudity which would seem 

 inconsistent with modesty, but here she proved that modesty is in- 

 dependent of refined taste, for she took upon herself the office of 

 interpreter, and performed it reluctantly, but with a very becoming 

 modesty of manner. After making the chief a small present, we 

 prepared to start, bringing our animals up and watering them at a 

 well which we had du^, some of them drinking three pails full of 

 water, as if in anticipation of a long reach without it; we started 

 at 12 to cross the Tcsotal, or forty miles w^ithout water or grass. 

 Our route lay^o the south of the mountains, below the Pimos, on 

 the south side of the river Gila; for the first two miles we had a 

 grass plain of salt grass, the ground in places crusted with salt , 

 • and occasional pools of water. As we rose the slope of the higher 

 ground we found the gravel of a disintegrated granite, but no 

 .granite in siter, which was our footing for many miles, bushes and 

 pitahaya growing upon it, but no grass. After progressing four or 

 five miles, the eye turned back, took in at a glance the vast plain, 

 the mountains on the San Francisco, the Salt river, and the moun- 

 tains towards Tucson, limiting, except in a few g:ips,the southeast, 

 "where it was bounded by the horizon. This plain had once been 

 the home of a mighty people, whose existence is ^er a fable to 

 the present dwellers on the soil. We continued our march west, 

 and^ laid by at dark, and tied our animals fast to the stink-wood 

 .bushes, for there was no grass: here we rested until 3 o'clock in 



th 



e morning 



