THE NAVAJOS. 



119 



nation, on tlie south by the Apaches, on the west by 

 the Moqui and Zuni Pueblos, and on the east by the 



often 



Although 



inhabitants of the Eio Grande valley, 

 placed under the head of Apaches, they are in every respect 

 a different and a finer race. They are bold and defiant, with 

 Ml lustrous eyes, and a sharp, intelligent exj^ression of 

 countenance ; they had fixed abodes in their country, around 



they raised crops almost rivalling those of the Pimas 



on the Gila : they carried one art — 



the weaving of blankets 



to a state of perfection which, in closeness of texture and 

 aiTangoment of colour, is scarcely excelled even by the 

 laboured and costly seraphes of Mexico and South America. 

 I tried at Santa Fe to purchase some, but the prices were so 

 enormous, averaging from seventy to one hundi-ed dollars for 

 choice specimens, that I. refrained. 



Por love of plundei' and rapine these Indians have no equals. 

 Their number, twenty years ago, was probably about twelve 

 thousand, and while they left their wives and old men to plant, 

 reap, attend to the stock, and make blankets, the braves spent 

 their lives in traversing the whole country, carrj'ing off the stock 

 of the helpless Mexican farmers, and keeping the entii-e agri- 

 cultui'al and mining population in a constant state of alarm. 

 To give a slight idea of the depredations of these hordes, I 

 ^^^J state that between August 1st, 1846, and October 1st, 

 iSoO, there were stolen by them, according to the Eeports of 

 the Pnited States Marshals, no less than 12,887 mules, 7,050 

 Wses, 31,581 homed cattle, and 453,293 head of sheep. 

 The official reports from Kew Mexico appeared to contain 



the 



nothing but 



catalogues of depredations committed by 



^"avajos, or of similar deeds done by the Apaches ; and not 

 only was the valley of the Eio Grande swept over and over 

 again of its stock, but the Indian pueblo of Zuili, and many 



n2 



