The little water-holes we came to, were filled with animalculæ, and contained many turtles and snakes, and a few frogs and toads. For lizards this country cannot be surpassed; one little beauty with a banded tail runs before us and across our path by dozens. It makes frequent stops, and each time curls its tail on its back, and waves it gently four or five times most gracefully, finally retreating to some hole in the sand, or to a thicket of cactus which abounds.
We have met no Indians of the old Aztec race; fifty Papagos would count all we have seen, and they are fast passing away judging from the dilapidations of the towns, and the numbers of empty houses. The people live on turtles, and what game they can get. I have seen some elk and antelope skins dressed and terrapin shells are everywhere. We have bought two terrapin fresh killed, some roots, and the fruit of a plant like the maguey; we have seen one or two fine horses, small, but well formed, ridden with only a rope around the neck; others had saddles; all the men ride lightly and well.
We came to some of their burial mounds, and saw the kettles and culinary articles of this poor people left for the dead, to aid them on their journey to the happy hunting grounds prepared for them by the Great Spirit. They are happy in their faith, and with no dissenting voices about this method of salvation or that.
At one place just after leaving the second rancho of Papago Indians on September 18th, we crossed what might certainly be called a part of the desert. Strips of red gravel a mile or two long, and two or three hundred yards wide, were frequently crossed, and other strips looking like dried parched-up white clay; the mountains are very irregularly formed, and of a blackish stone, looking in the distance almost purple. I tried to take some sketches, but could not make time.
On September 19th I procured two specimens of the Dipodomys Phillippsii;[25] the red tail and marsh hawks are abundant, and ravens are seen, as well as buzzards from time to time. We find many mounds of the Dipodomys Phillippsii, and prairie dog or some other marmot, but they are so shy that we have not killed one yet. We picked up yesterday horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep, and the Papagos tell us they are found in plenty in the mountains around us.
September 21st. The last village we passed of these Indians was situated on a large prairie of miserably poor soil, sandy and dry, covered with a peculiar small-leaved plant, containing a great deal of astringent, gummy sap; we find this only on the poorest of soils full of gravel and sand, and always hail it with dislike, though its taste, a little of it, is pleasant, being slightly aromatic, and yet in some way reminding one of baked apple. Why it is that these Indians settle in such country, I cannot conceive, for even the lizards, in most places innumerable, are scarce here. The Indians kill them with a light wand, giving them a dexterous tap on the head; they pick up the game (?), slip the head under a belt or string round their waists, and when sufficient are collected a little fire is made, and this delicate repast is enjoyed by them, as an epicure would relish his brace of woodcock.
I am told that a sort of mush is made of grasshoppers which abound all over the country, some of which are very beautiful; the insects are caught and dried, then pounded, and mixed with what meal or "pinole" they have; the "pinole" generally consists of parched wheat or corn, spiced and pounded, or ground dry on the "metale," the stone used by the Mexicans for making the meal used for their tortillas; the dish is considered quite a delicacy by both the Indians and Mexicans; the man who told me this said he had tasted it, found it pleasant, and except for the idea, a pretty good dish.
The horses of the Indians here are very tolerable but they are spoiled by being ridden too young. They use them steadily when two years old, and I saw even colts with the hair of the tail still curly, under boys fourteen or fifteen years of age.
The houses are cones, four or five feet high and eight to fifteen feet across, thatched in the rudest manner; in front of nearly every one however, there is a shade, made by planting four poles, and erecting on these a platform, first of sticks and brush, and finally earth on which some plants and grasses grow. I saw one covered with a gourd vine falling in festoons and strings, and bearing its hard fruit in profusion; the pleasant verdure looked very inviting as we rode by in the broiling sun. Two or three squaws were sitting under it, on the palmetto mats, coarsely made, occupying themselves with their daily avocations, some sewing on thin cotton stuff, some preparing the food. The women were generally large and square-faced, with low foreheads and ugly mouths, but fine eyes; they are generally dark, and very occasionally a fairly good-looking girl is seen. We took an Indian guide here, and offered him first a dollar a day; he took the money and held out his hands for more; two men were with him, one of whom asked what else would we give; he was shown a half-worn shirt; again he asked for more, a white shirt was given him, he looked at the shirts and the money, and pointed to a bright butcher knife; it was given to him. He gave a smile of satisfaction, jumped on his horse, which stood ready beside him, pointed out the road, motioned ahead and galloped off to his own house, some quarter of a mile distant. Two or three of our party followed him, myself among the number, and saw him lay his treasures down before his father and family; he then put on the worn red shirt, and with a low bow to all round him followed our company.
After a long and tedious ride over a gravelly prairie, with many cacti, musquit and wild sage growing on it, we passed between two ironstone mountains, up a valley to a well of sulphur water which was also pretty well impregnated with salt, where all took a drink, and going over the next ridge camped in poor grass and took our animals back to water them at the well. Some of the mules drank five buckets of water, one after the other (the common shaker buckets) and the average amount each animal drank may be put down at three and a half. The want of water is the greatest privation you can give a mule, as the flesh literally seems to dry off them, and without water a mule will rapidly fall off from being a good-looking animal, to a skeleton; but good grass and water, not too salt, will in a week restore them wonderfully.