masonry, is usually to be found; a little lower
down is a second one, with a pipe leading
to it from the former. This lower reservoir
is for the animals, the upper one for the
people, and for household use. On each
side of the tanks, the sloping sides of the
mesa are formed into terraces neatly paved
with masonry, and surrounded by a raised
edge, so as to retain the water brought to
them through pipes from the reservoirs.
Peach-trees grow upon the terraces, and
most of their crops are raised in this way by
carefully husbanding the rainfall and using
it for irrigation. Many flocks are owned
by them, and most of the sheep are black.

Mr. Leroux, who was the first American
to visit them (1850), estimated the united
population of the seven villages at six
thousand seven hundred, the largest
containing two thousand four hundred. Since
then, however, small-pox has committed
terrible ravages among them, and they have
also suffered for several seasons from great
deficiency of rainfall; so much so that they
have been strongly advised to migrate to
some more hospitable region. Within the
last six years, however, the rains have been
pretty abundant, and by latest reports from
that out-of-the-way region, they seem to be
in a very nourishing condition; Mr. Ward,
however, after a careful inspection of the
different communities, places the present
population at only two thousand five
hundred souls.

The next group of semi-civilised Indians—
the Pimas of the Rio Gila—differ from
those I have already named, in that they
inhabit huts instead of houses. In all other
respects they are very similar.

After the Rio Gila has emerged from the
succession of deep gorges through which it
crosses the Pina-leno Cordilleras, it waters
a rich and fertile valley forty or fifty miles
long, between the mountains and the Gila
desert. About twenty miles of this valley
is occupied by these people. They devote
themselves entirely to agriculture and to
the arts of peace, but they are brave in war,
and maintain a complete military organisation,
for protection against the incursions of
their wild neighbours the Apaches. I have
often heard it said by western men, that
there are only two spots in New Mexico
and Arizona in which you can be certain of
absolute safety; the one is in the pueblo of
Zuñi, the other amongst the Pimas on the
Rio Gila. Both these peaceful tribes have
been most useful allies of the United States'
troops in their expeditions against the
Navajos and Apaches; it has indeed, been only
through the assistance of the Pima warriors
that any success has ever been gained
against the latter sons of plunder.

The valley varies in width from two to
four miles, and grouped up and down the
stream, usually on ground a little above
the level of the low-lying bottom-lands, are
seen the cone-shaped huts which compose
the villages. These huts are easily built,
as they only consist of a framework of
willow poles stuck in the ground, and
arched over to meet in the centre; these
are interlaced with others at right angles,
and then covered with wheat-straw neatly
pinned down all round the sides, which may
or may not be daubed over with mud, and
is nicely thatched at the top.

Were we to judge only from their dwellings,
we should place these people very low
down in the list of Indian tribes; but when
we examine the means which they adopt
for raising their crops; when we see with
what labour and skill they have divided off
their lands into little patches of about two
hundred feet square, and have dug many
miles of irrigating canals, each set radiating
from the main arteries, or " acequia madre,"
to supply every patch; then when we look
at the pottery, the beautiful baskets woven
so closely of willow chips and grass that
they are quite impervious to water; the
stores of farm produce carefully packed
away in well-made storehouses; when we see
specimens of native weaving, and perhaps
more than all, when we look at the soft
intelligent faces of these Indians, we recognise
directly the same people to all intents and
purposes as we met in the Rio Grande valley.

The most complete list of the population
I have been able to discover is that of Mr.
G. Bailey, Indian agent for the Pimas and
Maricopas, dated 1858. It is as follows:

PIMAS

MARICOPAS.