The pottery of the Pueblo Indians is very attractive, and their religious festivals and peculiar dances draw many visitors. These Indians no longer fear attacks from the savage Apache or Navajo, but they have become so used to their rock fortresses that it is not likely they will soon. leave them. The Navajos now live in peace and raise large herds of sheep and goats; while the more savage Apaches have been gathered upon reservations, never more to go upon the war-path. Most of the Apaches still live in their rude brush habitations.
FIG. 80.—NAVAJO WOMAN WEAVING A BLANKET
While the Pueblo Indians make attractive pottery, the Navajos are noted for their blankets. The wool, which is taken from their herds, is dyed different colors, and woven upon their simple looms into the most beautiful and costly blankets.
We usually think of the native inhabitants of America as leading a wild and rude life, moving from place to place in search of food, and constantly engaged in warfare with one another. The Pueblo Indians alone are different. Possibly if the white man had never come to America these Indians might in time have become highly civilized. But it is more than likely that in their struggle with Nature in this wild and rugged country, where they were constantly subjected to attacks from their more savage neighbors, they would have sunk lower instead of rising, and would finally have disappeared.
The Apaches were dreaded alike by the agricultural Indians and the early Spanish. Issuing from their mountain fastnesses the Apaches would raid the unprotected villages and missions, and then retreat as quickly as they came. For many years after the American occupation prospectors had to be constantly on their guard, and many are the tragedies that have marked this remote corner of our country.
[THE LIFE OF THE DESERT]
During the blinding glare of summer the deserts of southwestern Arizona and the adjoining portions of California are forbidding in the extreme. Day after day the pitiless sun pours its heat upon the vast stretches of barren mountain and plain, until the rocks are baked brown and it seems as if every particle of life must have left the seared and motionless plants.
Month after month passes without rain. Now and then light clouds float into sight, and occasionally rain can be seen falling from them, but they are so high that the drops all disappear in the dry and thirsty air long before they can reach the ground. Cloud-bursts may take place about the peaks of some of the higher mountains, but they have very little effect upon the life out on the plains.
Animals and plants brought to this region from a moister climate must drink continually to make up for the rapid evaporation of moisture from their bodies; a day without water may result in death. And yet the living things that have homes in the desert can resist the dry air for many months without a renewal of their moisture. There are areas where the average rainfall is less than three inches, and sometimes two years may pass without a drop of rain. It will certainly be worth our while to find out something about these desert plants and the way in which Nature enables them to get along with so little water.