# The Pima Indians/Technology/Domestication of Animals

The Food Supply - Domestication of Animals - Agriculture - Trade - Artifacts
TECHNOLOGY
Domestication of Animals
Dogs. The only domesticated animal which there is any certainty that the Pimas possessed at the time of the discovery is the dog. The old people say that in their youth the dogs were all alike and resembled coyotes. At present there are many small mongrels, obtained principally from the Mexicans (pl. VI, c). The dogs have shared with their masters the misfortunes of the last few years. Scarcity and want has left them gaunt and weak. They formerly served a useful purpose in giving warning of the presence of enemies about the villages. There are now no enemies and little within to tempt the thief to enter and steal. Dogs are called by the word "toot," "toot," "toot," uttered rapidly in a falsetto voice, the individual at the same time holding out a morsel of food to lure the animal within reach. A dog that has been bitten by a mad dog is saved by having a cross burned on its head.
Horses. The horse may have been seen by the Pimas in the sixteenth century, but it is doubtful if they obtained this animal before the seventeenth. They have been known so long that their origin has become accounted for by myths without a shadow of historic truth in them. The only individual who ventured to dispute the commonly accepted mythical origin assured me that they came from the West. Font, who visited the Gila in 1775, stated that his party was met by 18 mounted Pimas; so that the horse was evidently in use at that time.
There were very few horses among the Pimas until the last quarter of a century. The statements of the old persons agree with the calendar records, which make it evident that there were horses enough for but a small proportion of the warriors who engaged in conflicts with the Apaches. Horses stolen in Mexico were sold to the Papagos, who in turn sold them to the Pimas at much less than their true value. As the number in Pimería increased, the thieves began to operate in both directions, selling Sonoran horses on the Gila and Piman mounts in Sonora. However, this practice has been abandoned, and the tribe has quite as many horses as are needed. They are rather undersized animals, as may be seen from the pinto pony in figure 5. As the fields now yield an insufficient supply of food for their owners, it follows that there is little grain for the horses, which grow poor and thin in winter; indeed, many die of starvation. Their principal food during that season is saltbushes.
​The once famous grassy plains that made the Pima villages a haven of rest for cavalry and wagon-train stock are now barren, ​and it is not until the mesquite leaves appear in April that the horses can browse upon food sufficiently nourishing to put them in good condition. As the mesquite beans ripen, in June and July, live stock fattens rapidly. A few owners gather and store the beans for stock feed. Very few are able to buy hay or rolled barley.
Cattle. Sala Hina declared that her father and his brother, two Kwahadkʽs, brought the first cattle to the Pimas about 1820. The Spanish missionaries throughout Papagueria brought live stock to their stations for at least two centuries before the date given, so that the Pimas were at least aware of the value of cattle for a long time. The custom of killing and eating the cattle at the death of their owners contributed materially toward preventing increase in Pima herds. Oxen were very scarce for half a century after their introduction, and the old men and women speak sadly of the weary waiting for their turn to use the single ox that dragged the wooden plow for perhaps a whole village. Oxen are now no longer used; with their head yokes and the wooden plows they are of the past, ​and of that period of the Pimas' past that it is best for them to forget.
Cattle are driven and "roped" with the lariat, but no conventional mode of calling them is in vogue. Like the horses, they are branded and run at large. Their range is almost unlimited in some directions, but the entire absence of water away from the river prevents them from straying. With horses, cattle formed a great attraction to the Apaches during the last century until peace was declared in 1879, and the Pimas suffered frequent losses, for some of which, it must be added, the marauders paid dearly. To guard against the thieves it was customary to corral all stock within the village at night. When it strayed away across the mesas during the day it was sought by tracking or by waiting at the water holes, and while so engaged the men had many encounters with the enemy, who were ever on the lookout for such an opportunity to attack.
Mules. A few mules are raised, but, like the horses, they are small and of little value.
Donkeys. While the burro has been used for some time, it is not a popular animal among the Pimas. It is too slow for traveling across the wide, waterless plains of Pimería and is not adapted for farm work.
Poultry. Until the recent introduction of large American breeds a small breed of poultry had been kept for several years. This had been obtained from the Mexicans, from whom also the manner of calling "pul," "pul," "pul" was derived. With the new breeds came the American custom of calling "peep," "peep."
Eagles and red-tailed hawks were kept for their feathers. All the inhabitants of a village assisted in catching lizards and in furnishing other suitable food for the village bird. The feathers were regularly plucked for the paraphernalia of the medicine-men.
Sonora doves were and are yet confined in log-cabin cages built up of arrowwood rods.
* ↑ In 1846 Emory found that "they have but few cattle, which are used in tillage, and apparently all steers, procured from the Mexicans. Their horses and mules are not plenty, and those they possessed were priced extravagantly high." Notes, 84.
* ↑ "A few chickens and dogs were seen." Emory, Notes, 85.