PAPAGUERIA 347 



the leading branch of the Piman stock or linguistic family. Ac- 

 cording to several authorities, the Piman is related to the Na- 

 huatlan of Mexico, the great and highly advanced stock of the 

 Montezumas. Besides the Papago, the Piman group includes 

 the Pima tribe of southwestern Arizona, the Opata of the border, 

 and four or five tribes altogether in Mexico. The Opata have 

 been assimilated by the Mexicans, and the Pima Indians are 

 largely gathered on reservations; the Papago remain distinct, 

 and while a small number are domiciled on the reservation at 

 San Xavier (near Tucson) the' greater part of the tribe retain 

 their independence and essential autonomy. 



The Papago population within the limits of the United States 

 in 1890 was 5,163, according to the census of that year. These 

 figures were based largely on estimates. The population esti- 

 mate for the entire tribe made during the explorations by the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology in 1894 and 1895 was 4,000, of 

 whom ten to forty per cent, according to the season, are in Mexico. 



Papagueria is perhaps the most arid region on the continent. 

 The surface slopes southwestward from the imposing Sierra 

 Maclre with its subordinate ranges, and is relieved by many lesser 

 ranges generally trending parallel with the main chain. As the 

 vapor-laden air drifts from the Pacific and the gulf over the sun- 

 parched land it is heated to dryness ; but about midsummer and 

 again about midwinter the air is chilled again as it drifts over 

 main or minor crests, and fierce storms occur in the mountains 

 and occasionally sweep into the plains. The annual precipita- 

 tion along the margin of the Sierra is recorded as 15 inches, and 

 in the higher portions it probably reaches 20 inches ; but it 

 quickly diminishes westward to 10 inches, to 5 inches, then to a 

 trifling or immeasurable amount representing the product of local 

 storms, perhaps separated by intervals of years, the average rain- 

 fall throughout Papagueria probably falling short of 5 inches. 

 Thus the greater part of the district is practically a desert, 

 although, as in most other American deserts, vegetal and animal 

 life maintains a feeble existence. The high Sierra is scantily 

 clothed with pines, and at lower levels gnarled, scrubby, and 

 thorny oaks and chaparral thickets occur sparingly. In the val- 



by the tribe in their dealings with their neighbors, and so came into use among the 

 Spanisli priests and settlers ; and in time the Mexican users of the term lost the soft 

 final and then emphasized the terminal vowel and, when they came to write it, strength- 

 ened the vowel sound still further by introducing the semi-silent but sub-guttural g of 

 the Andalusian. This orthography has been adopted by Americans and the pronuneia. 

 tion modified to fit, though the local Mexican pronunciation is hardly distinguishable 

 from that of the Indians themselves. 



