Chap. VI. COCOMARICOPAS AND PIMAS. 513 
me back what I had given him, and required the flute 
again. Upon my refusal, he became insolent ; and when I 
told him that I would complain to the chief, he laughed, 
and said that the latter was his uncle. He then supported 
his claim by remarking that, as I could not play upon it, I 
ought not to have it. However, since I have learnt from 
Bartlett's work that the young men of the Cocomaricopas 
serenade the maidens at night on their flutes, I have not 
felt surprised that he regretted exchanging his instrument 
for an article of old clothing. 
These Indians are especially remarkable from their 
hair, and the way in which they dress it: the quantity, 
thickness, and length of it are almost incredible. They 
plait and wind it round their heads in many ways : one of 
the most general, forms a turban, which they smear with 
wet earth, so that when dry it forms a hard crust; the 
scorching heat of the sun in these regions has probably led 
to this custom. I speak here only of the men, as I saw no 
woman in the tribe. 
In this respect their conduct entirely differed from that 
of the Pimas : with them their women came principally 
into our camp, where they conducted themselves with 
perfect ease, but at the same time with entire decorum 
and modesty. The Cocomaricopas, on the contrary, 
seemed to mistrust their women, keeping them quite apart 
from us, and evidently not relishing a proposal made by 
some of our people, to visit their village. 
From hence and lower down the valley we met some 
suspicious and dangerous characters, who, as we afterwards 
learned in California, belonged to an extensive band of rob- 
bers, or were upon the point of forming themselves into 
one. Five North Americans came first to our camp, of 
whom one related that he was the last of a party who were 
2 L 
