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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 dis- 
~ tamt 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 informa- 
tion [can eoncce: the San Francisco comes in from the north; its 
valley is narrow and much cafoned; 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 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 expe- 
dition. = 3 ee ae 
_ Near the junction of the Gila and Salt rivers, there isa cham of 
- 
low serrated hills coming in from both sides, contracting the valley 
contdentbly. round 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 eiPean 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. 
This peaceful and industrious race are in possession of a beauti- 
ful 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. 
_. They are without other religion than, a belief in one. great and 
aperer ruling spirit. antes 
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 cheer 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 ha tem 
said of the Pimos, is applicable to them. They live in cordia 
amity, and their habits, agriculture, religion, and manufactures, 
-* are the same. In stature, they are taller; their noses are ee 
_aquiline, and they have a much readier manner of speaking ap 
act I noticed that most of the interpreters of the Pimos were | 
om = il >, and “also the we met with im the spy guard. 
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