DEPREDATIONS OF APACHE INDIANS.—MARICOPAS INDIANS, 11 
stretched in the dust, sunning himself, rose up leisurely and untied a bundle which I had sup- 
posed to be a bow and arrow. This little package, with four stakes in the ground, was the 
loom, He stretched his cloth and commenced the process of weaving. 
We travelled fifteen and a half miles aud encamped on the dividing ground between the 
Pimos and Maricopas. For the whole distance we passed through cultivated grounds, over à 
luxuriantly rich soil. The plain appeared to extend in every direction fifteen or twenty miles, 
except in one place about five miles before reaching camp, where a low chain of hills comes in 
from the southeast, and terminates some miles from the river. The bed of the Gila, opposite 
the village, is said to be dry, the whole water being drawn off by the acequias of the Pimos for 
irrigation; but the ditches are larger than is necessary for this purpose, and the water which is 
not used returns to the bed of the river with little apparent diminution in its volume. 
Looking from our camp north, 30? west, you see a great plain, with mountains rising in the 
distance on each side. This prospect had induced some travellers to venture from here in a 
direct line to Monterey, in California, but there is neither grass nor water on that 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 meet the Gila, making with it an acute angle at a point ten or 
fifteen miles distant from our camp, bearing northwest. A little north of east, another gap, 
twenty or thirty miles distant, shows where the Rio San Francisco flows into the Salt river. 
From the best information I can collect, the San Francisco comes in from the north; its valley 
is narrow and much cafioned; good grass abounds all the way. Le Vonoceur, one of my party, 
came down that river in 1844 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 of their traps were stolen, and one of their party, an old man, who had been in the 
mountains forty-five years, was killed by the Indians in this expedition. 
Near the junction of the Gila and Salt rivers there is a chain of low serrated hills coming in 
from both sides, contracting the valley considerably. Around the south spur the Gila turns, 
making its course in a more southerly direction. To the east, except where the spurs already 
mentioned protrude, the plain extends as far as the eye can reach. A great deal of the land is 
cultivated, but there is still a vast portion within the level of the Gila that is yet to be put 
under tillage. The population of the Pimos and Maricopas together is estimated variously at 
from three to ten thousand. The first is evidently too low. i 
This peaceful and industrious race are in possession of a beautiful and fertile basin. Living 
remote from the civilized world, they are seldom visited by whites, and then only by those in 
distress, to whom they generously furnish horses and food. Aguardiente (brandy) is known 
among their chief men only, and the abuse of this, and the vices which it entails, are yet 
unknown. i HU 
They are without other religion than a belief in one great and overruling spirit. 
Their peaceful disposition is not the result of incapacity for war, for they are at all times 
enabled to meet and vanquish the Apaches in battle, and when we passed they had just returned 
from an expedition in the Apache country to revenge some thefts and other outrages, with 
eleven scalps and thirteen prisoners. The prisoners are sold as slaves to the Mexicans. 
The Maricopas occupy that part of the basin lying between camp 97 and the mouth of the 
Salt river, and all that has been said of the Pimos is applicable to them. They live in cordial 
amity, and their habits, agriculture, religion, and manufactures, are the same. In stature 
they are taller; their noses are more aquiline, and they have a much readier manner of speaking 
and acting. I noticed that most of the interpreters of the Pimos were of this tribe, and also 
the men we met with in the spy-guard. Though fewer in number, they appear to be superior 
in intelligence and personal appearance. : 
Don José Messio is their e and, like the governor of the Pimos, holds his office by 
