462 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



blankets from the Navajoes, who manufacture a superior article of Indian blankets, 

 that the trade lias become quite indispensable; and so vigorously is it prosecuted that 

 soarcelv one-half of the Py-eed children are permitted to grow up in the band; and, a 

 large majority of those being males, this and other causes are tending to depopulate 

 fcheir bands very rapidly. 



These Py-eeds indulge in a rude species of agriculture, which they probably 

 derived from the Spanish Jesuits, and perpetuate only as a matter of necessity, and 

 that in the most primitive form. Their productions are corn, beans, and squashes. 

 They have no farming-implements, and of course what they thus produce costs them 

 twice the amount of labor that would be necessary with proper facilities. 



The Py-eeds are perhaps the most timid and dejected of all the tribes west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, being regarded by the Utahs as their slaves. They not unfre- 

 quently take their children from them by force. I have learned from the Utahs, 

 however, that they much prefer obtaining them peaceably if they possibly can; but 

 when pacific measures fail, some of their men prefer to take them by force than to be 



This is the band of Indians who the Mormons say committed the massacre at the 

 Mountain Meadows in the month of September, 1857; but any one at all acquainted 

 with them must perceive at once how utterly absurd and impossible it is for such a 

 report to be true, for 1 feel safe in asserting that ten men well armed could defend 

 themselves against the largest force that this hand could muster. 



Their religious ceremonies are quite simple and primitive, being nearly the same 

 among them all. They recognize but one God, or Great Spirit, whom they call by 

 different names among different tribes; but their conceptions of the attributes of the 

 Deity are generally limited and erroneous. Smoking seems to be one of their religious 

 ceremonies, and is generally indulged in with great solemnity, especially in their 

 national councils. 



They are very superstitious, and frequently attribute natural events to super- 

 natural causes, as the changes and eclipses of the moon. Some of them have an idea 

 that anything asked for on the first sight of the new moon will be granted by the 

 Great Spirit. 



The sun appears to be with the most of them the embodiment or representation 

 of the Great Spirit, and supplications are frequently made to the rising sun as to a 

 rational being. But in all these ceremonies, their conceptions seem to fall infinitely 

 below a rational comprehension of the object of their adoration, and often developing 

 an inconsistency not easily reconciled with an enlightened idea of true religious 

 devotion. 



Their family-relations are patriarchal, and the practice of polygamy is indulged. 

 The marriage-ceremony, being very simple, is often celebrated privately. 



In their funeral-ceremonies, the deepest grief is manifested sometimes by inflicting 

 punishment upon themselves. They will, on the death of a principal person, kill their 

 horses, burn their lodges and clothing, and not unfrequently sacrifice their prisoners, 

 cut their hair very short, and refrain from* food, in some instances going without eating 

 or drinking for several days. 



