Chap. VI. THE YUMA INDIANS. 527 
during the night as far as the junction of the two streams, 
where we encamped on the southern bank. The fort, 
Camp Yuma, was opposite to us. 
Soon after day-break the next morning we saw numbers 
of the Yuma Indians coming to visit us on horseback and 
on foot, over the hills, and swimming through the river. 
Men, women and children, a sprightly and sociable race ; 
the girls pretty and full of roguery, with long, loose hair, 
clothed with a single petticoat, consisting only of cords and 
tassels, and strips of soft dyed bark, but arranged with the 
coquetry of a corps de ballet. And indeed I could only 
compare it to a scene in a ballet, as these nymphs wandered 
about among our rough and bearded men. 
But these Indians, with all their sprightliness and 
sociability, can still not be trusted. They are excitable, 
passionate, and very jealous of their independence: they 
have already, several times, murdered the whites who have 
settled in this neighbourhood, when their numbers were 
small. The passionate temper of these people displayed 
itself, upon our asking some of the girls who frequented 
our camp, to collect the mezquite-beans for us, for a certain 
amount of payment, as we wished to take some waggon- 
loads of them with us on our journey through the Colorado 
desert. They brought us some, but demanded quite a 
disproportionate payment ; then appealed to our gallantry, 
and not finding their wishes gratified they became violently 
angry, and some of them threw what they had collected into 
the river. In conduct these girls were less exemplary than 
those of the Indian tribes we had met on the Gila ; but 
whether this arose from any original difference in cha- 
racter, or was to be attributed to the vicinity of the fort 
and its garrison, I cannot say. A town, Colorado City, 
is rising opposite to the fort, some houses being built and 
