THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 



265 



it dried. On the deserts of southern Arizona one has to go a long way 

 for food and fuel. It is a common thing, says Dr. Palmer, to see a Mo- 

 have woman coming in with this great basket stacked full of mesquite- 

 bean pods, to be broken up and ground into meal when they are dry. 

 The head-band is made of coarse rags, made into a pad at the center for 

 the forehead. 



Contiguous to the Mohaves, and belonging to the same Yuman stock, 

 are the Pi mas. (By some writers the Pimas are relegated to a separate 

 stock.) Their arts are similar to those of the Mohaves. In the example 

 of carrying-basket figured four rude sticks form the uprights. The 

 netting is formed by a continuous coil of yucca-fiber thread caught into 

 the coil beneath it. When this material is pressed flat it has the ap- 

 pearance given by the drawing (Fig. S). The head-band and the staff 

 (which also serves to support the carrying-basket when the porter is 

 resting) complete the outfit. The form of stitch here seen looks like 

 the boundary between the 

 hard coil of the California 

 and interior basketry on the 

 one side, and the more elab- 

 orate net- work of Mexico and 

 Central America. From the 

 same region Dr. Palmer has 

 collected three specimens of 

 a still more elaborate device 

 for carrying. It consists of 

 a frame- work of four sticks, 

 two of which project down- 

 ward for legs. These sticks 

 are attached to a hoop, which 

 holds them in place above, 

 but they extend some dis- 

 tance above the hoop, like 

 standards on a wagon, to 

 hold a top load of all sorts 

 of light material. There is a 

 pad of cane fabric attached 

 to the portion of the appara- 

 tus next to the back, and a 

 broad head-band also, which 

 can be used on occasion (Fig. 

 9). The net-work of these 

 baskets is very delicately 



wrought. In reality the coarse yucca thread is coiled, as in the last ex- 

 ample, but all sorts of straight or zigzag bands are produced by making 

 a whole turn in the thread before passing downward through the next 

 stitch of the underlying coil. This work is done with a needle and 

 thread, as one may see the carrying nets and bags made in Central 



Fig. 9. 

 Carrying outfit. 



(Cat. No. 76033, U. S. N. M. Pima Indians, California. Collected by 

 Edward Palmer. 



