14 The Delta of the Rio Colorado. 
century, Ofiate descended the river to the mouth, and estimated that 
twenty thousand Indians were living in the eastern part of the delta 
alone, including various tribes, such as the Hatchedumas and Tlalli- 
guamayas ; but these, as well as the Quiquimas and Cutganes of the 
western part of the delta, have long since vanished from the region. 
Even as late as 1826 Hardy saw many thousands of Cucopas around 
the mouth of the Hardy; yet to-day the total population of the delta 
and the adjacent eas & part of the desert does not exceed three 
hundred. The only relics of the vanished hordes consist in hundreds 
of square miles of sandy plains strewn with fragments of coarse red 
FIG, pape DY RIVER AT BASE OF CUCOPA MOUNTAINS, THE CHANNEL IS yooeg WITH 
WILLOWS, CATTAILS, MESQUITE AND TULES BETWEEN THE CAME ND 
THE BASE OF THE SLOPE IS THE ANCIENT INDIAN TRAIL. 
pottery, and a prehistoric trail along the eastern foot of the Cucopa 
Mounains at the southwestern edge of the delta. For many miles 
the waters of the Hardy actually bathe the base of the rocky declivi- 
ties, and along here the highway, as old as the race itself perhaps, is 
crowded into a narrow path. For untold cycles, until within a cen- 
tury, this trail must have been one of the most travelled of the south- 
west, since it led from the interior deserts and mountains to the wild 
rice fields and fishing grounds at the head of the Gulf, and was doubt- 
less an inter-tribal highway of scarcely less importance than that 
along the Gila. 
