i 8 
The Colorado River 
morning, when, soon after starting, a number of huts were dis¬ 
covered near the river bank. The occupants rushed forth in 
great excitement at the sudden appearance of these singular¬ 
looking people in their equally singular boats, and no wonder! 
Years and the ages had slipped away and never yet had any 
people but their own kind appeared on their horizon. Oppos¬ 
ition was the natural impulse, and they signed for the Spaniards 
to go back, threatening attack. The effect of this on Alargon 
was a command to anchor the boats out of reach in the middle 
of the river, though the rapidly 
augmenting numbers of the 
people on the shore soon in¬ 
spired the others of the expedi¬ 
tion with a desire to beat a retreat 
towards the ships. Alargon, 
however, was not of this mind. 
The natives were, of course, 
armed only with the bow-and- 
arrow and similar primitive 
weapons, while the Spaniards, 
though few in number, pos¬ 
sessed the advantage of firearms, 
of which the natives had no 
comprehension whatever. The 
interpreter, being a native from 
down the coast, understood not 
a word of this language, but the 
presence among the strangers 
of one of their own kind some¬ 
what pacified the natives, and Alargon did all he could by 
signs to express his peaceful intentions, throwing his arms to 
the bottom of the boat and putting his foot on them, at the 
same time ordering the boats to be placed nearer shore. After 
much manoeuvring they finally brought about some trifling in¬ 
tercourse and then proceeded up the river, the natives follow¬ 
ing along the shore. Repeatedly they signalled for the 
Spaniards to land, but Alargon, fearful of treachery, declined, 
and spent the night in the middle of the stream. Nor was the 
Native Ladies of the Lower Colorado. 
