216 THE COCO-MARICOPA AND 
to-day, who were to set off in the morning on an expe- 
dition against their enemies, the Apaches, north of the 
Salinas. They were gayly dressed, as is the universal . 
custom of the Itidians on such occasions, and mounted 
on good-looking horses. The chiefs who wereé to lead: 
the band begged hard of me to lend them a few rifles 
with the necessary ammunition; which I had to refuse. 
As an additional inducement, which they thought I 
could not refuse, they offered to bring me a live 
Apache boy, and a girl too, if I wished; but having 
no desire for such, additions to our-party, I was com 
pelled to decline the generous proposal. | : 
July 1st. Our Indian friends composing the war 
party were up at daylight preparing for a start. They 
seemed to be supplied with small loaves of bread and 
dried meat, of which they made their morning’s meal. 
They then decorated themselves with all the finery 
they could muster. Most of them had shirts of white . 
cotton or red flannel, which they had obtained of us 
and which they seemed to regard as the beau-ideal of 
a dress, without the addition of any other garment. 
Such as had their own ‘cotton blankets, placed them 
around their bodies in folds, and over this wound their 
lariats as tight as possible; for the double purpose, I 
suppose, of bracing their bodies, and of protecting 
their vital parts from arrows. Those who possesse 
neither shirts nor blankets, remained as nature made 
them, with the addition of a little paint. On their 
head dresses, they had all bestowed more attention 
than on their bodies. Some had them plastered with 
clay, so as to resemble huge turbans. Others h 
decorated the great club of hair which hung dow” 
