502 EUROPEAN ADVENTURERS. Book III. 
waist, to serve as a kind of petticoat, are woven very 
artistically. They are tasty, and the figures woven into 
them are of the old Mexican style. The blue colour 
of the figures is said to be their own indigo dyeing, and 
the red colour is produced by threads of such red stuff as 
they meet with in trade, and which they unravel. It 
would be erroneous, however, to imagine that these arts 
have been promoted by their conversion to Christianity j 
on the contrary, they are found in greater perfection among 
the pagan Pimas. 
Near this spot rises a conical hill, consisting of an 
eruption of Hypersthen-rock. Several similar hills rise 
in the plain, and some steep hills, which border this 
plain on the west like towers or walls, appear to have the 
same petrographic character. The brown rocks, with the 
Saguarro columns, give a peculiarly sober and severe aspect 
to the landscape. 
During our stay at San Xavier, Mr. Cubillas, one of 
the prominent politicians of .the State of Sonora, and a 
man of great wealth, arrived, accompanied by a numerous 
retinue. He was on his way to inspect his extensive 
estates, which, being situated in a perfect wilderness, 
had hitherto been valueless; he had now the prospect 
of their becoming of great value, in consequence of the 
transfer of the territory to the United States. I was sur- 
prised at observing that the retinue of this gentleman 
consisted of men of various nations — a German, an Hun- 
garian, a Dane, two Irishmen, and a North- American, — 
all, doubtless, adventurers by profession, who had met by 
accident in these remote parts. The Dane had succes- 
sively settled in China, in East India, and in Peru ; the rest 
had come from the United States. 
Not far below San Xavier, upon a height in the valley, 
