[59] This is apparently the giant cactus (Cereus giganteus). The height to which it grows varies with the nature of the soil, the average being from twenty to thirty feet.—Ed.
[60] The Apache were long the scourge of New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico. Living by plunder alone, they systematically robbed and killed Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans. They belong to the Athabascan family, and comprise many tribes and sub-tribes. At present they number about six thousand souls, and are located on five different reservations.—Ed.
[61] The Red is here used as one of the rather infrequent names for the Colorado.—Ed.
[62] The Mexican province of Sonora had then nearly the same boundaries as now, save for a northern strip—the Gadsden Purchase—which was transferred to Arizona in 1803. Along its northern frontier stretched a line of five forts, to protect the ranches and villages from Apache raids. The tribe of Indians which behaved so treacherously towards the French companions of Pattie were the Papago (Papawar), who still inhabit this region, being herdsmen in southern Arizona and northern Sonora. See Bandelier, "Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of the Southwestern United States," American Archæological Institute Papers, American Series, iii, pp. 250-252.—Ed.
[63] This river is still called the Black, but more frequently the Salt. It is a considerable fork of the Gila, uniting with it a short distance below Phœnix, Arizona. The left branch of the Salt is the Verde, the principal river of central Arizona. Pattie's geography is correct in describing the source of these two great streams.—Ed.
[64] The habitat of the Hopi Indians (the more commonly-used Moki is an opprobrious nickname), has been the same for two hundred years—a plateau in northeastern Arizona, about fifty miles from the Little Colorado River. They are of Shoshonean stock, but became separated from their kindred and established themselves in six pueblos, forming the Tusayan confederacy. A seventh village was later added, composed of Tañoan Indians from the Rio Grande. These pueblos were visited by Don Pedro de Tobar, a lieutenant of Coronado, in 1540. In 1599 they gave their formal allegiance to Juan de Oñate, who six years later again visited their country. They appear to have taken part in the rebellion of 1680, being reconquered in 1692-94. A delegation visited Santa Fé in 1700, and Garces is known to have travelled to their villages in 1776. With the rise of the Apache the Hopi were necessarily cut off from contact with the New Mexicans, which accounts for their surprise at the appearance of Pattie's comrades. For their present habits and customs, consult Bandelier, "Final Report," op. cit., iii, iv; also Bourke, Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona (New York, 1884).—Ed.
[65] The Indians whom Pattie meets in this region—the Mohave, on the Colorado, at the mouth of the Mohave River; the Yuma, or Cuchans, at the mouth of the Gila; the Cocopa near the mouth of the Colorado; and the Coco-Maricopa, or Maricopa, along the southern bank of the Gila—are the principal members of the Yuman family, the three latter being originally united in a confederacy. They were generally hostile to Americans, and Forts Yuma and Mohave were erected to keep them in subjection. Early travellers frequently commented upon their physical beauty, but contact with the whites rapidly pauperized and debauched them. At present some fifteen hundred Mohave are located at the Colorado River and San Carlos reservations, in Arizona; the Yuma, to the number of about a thousand, are at the Mission Agency of California, and at San Carlos; and about three hundred Maricopa are living on the Pima reservation, in Arizona.—Ed.
[66] This is now known as Bill Williams's Fork. It is composed of two main branches, the Santa Maria and the Big Sandy, and drains west-central Arizona, uniting with the Colorado at the present Aubrey City. The villages just passed were probably those of the Coconino (properly Havasupai), a distinct Indian family, although speaking a Yuman dialect. See Bandelier, op. cit., iv, pp. 381-833.—Ed.
[67] Pattie reaches at this point the fort of Black Cañon, and traverses the southern bank of the cañons of the Colorado for their entire length, a distance which he accurately estimates at three hundred miles. Apparently the beauty and wonder of the great chasm did not appeal to the weary traveller. The cañons of the Colorado were first visited by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, of Coronado's party, in 1540. Again, in 1583, Antonio de Espejo reports his visit thither. It was two centuries before another white traveller is recorded as seeing the Grand Cañon of the Colorado; and Pattie is apparently the first known American to traverse its banks. In 1857 Lieutenant Ives ascended in a steamer as far as Black Cañon, and then proceeded overland to Grand Cañon; twelve years later Major J. W. Powell descended the entire gorge in boats; see Dellenbaugh, Romance of the Colorado River (New York, 1902). The cañons are now much frequented by tourists. See for example, Monroe, "Grand Cañon of the Colorado," in Atlantic Monthly, 1900.—Ed.
[68] For the Shoshoni Indians, see Bradbury's Travels, our volume v, p. 227, note 123. The river up which they trapped for two days was probably the Little Colorado, which comes in from the southeast. Pattie's "north" is a misprint for "south."—Ed.