377 
TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
“ It seems impossible tliat human beings can exist as these 
miserably destitute Indians do, without degenerating into the 
brutes they are ; and therefore if they were not originally an 
inferior order of the human family, they have become so in 
all that appertains to the distinguishing and ennobling fea¬ 
tures of the race. In stature they are diminutive; in personal 
appearance disgusting in the extreme ; their long untrimmed 
hair, instead of hanging in flowing masses over the shoulders, 
like that of other American Indians, is thickly matted with 
dirt, stands out on the head in hard knots, alive with vermin ; 
which latter are eagerly sought after by them, as an article of 
food. I have seen other Indians engaged in this species of 
foraging, and even some of the women of New Mexico, but 
with much less zest and enjoyment of the appetite. Ablution, 
a custom universal among other Indians, these never practise. 
I might, but will not say more on this matter ; enough has pro¬ 
bably been said to give a pretty good idea of the exceeding 
disgust I felt at seeing and knowing that such wretched ex¬ 
istences attached to our race. Without knowledge, without 
shelter, without raiment, food, water, fit for man, they are 
born and live and die among those terrible deserts, the most 
miserable of men, yet contented with their lot. But every 
mams hand is against them. The New Mexicans capture 
them for slaves; the neighboring Indians do the same; and 
even the bold and usually high-minded old beaver-hunter 
sometimes descends from his legitimate labor among the 
mountain streams, to this mean traffic. The price of these 
slaves in the markets of New 7 Mexico varies with the age and 
other qualities of person. Those from ten to fifteen years old 
sell from $c0 to $100, which is by no means an extravagant 
price, if we take into consideration the herculean task of 
cleansing them fit for market. Their filth in their native 
state can indeed scarcely be conceived by one who has not 
beheld it; and to him it seems that nothing less potent than 
the waters of Peneus can wash it away. 
“ Notwithstanding their horrible deficiency in all the com- 
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