Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-11-09
THE INDIANS OF THE COLORADO
MOUNTAINS.
Their Habits--An Indian Council
and an Indian Speech.


they do not care for shelter Clearing q
circular space Of ground fifteen or twenty
feet in diameter, they bank around with
brush and sand and wallow in it by day
and cuddle together in heap at night
men, women and children, buckskin,
rags and sand They wear very little
clothing, not needing much in this lovely
climate. Altogether, these Indians are
more nearly in their primitive condition
than any others on the continent with
which | am acquainted. They have
never received anything from the Gov.
ernment; are so poor as not to tempt
the trader, and their country is so nearly
inaccessible that the white man never
visits them. The sunny mountain side
is covered with wild fruits, nuts and ma
tive grains, ON which they subsist. The
Use" the fruit of yucca or Spanish
bayonet plant, is rich and not unlike the
pawpaw of the Valley Of the Ohio; they
eat it raw, and also roast it in the ashes.
They gather the fruit of cactus plant,
which is sweet and luscious, and
eat them as grapes, or from them
express the juice and make the dry
pulp into cakes and save it for winter,
and the wine they drink about their
camp-fres, until the midnight is merry
with their reyelings. They gather the
seeds of many plants, as sun-howers,
golden-rods, and grasses. For this pur-
pose they have large conical baskets that
will hold two or more bushels. The wo-
men carry them on their backs, suspend
edon their foreheads by broad straps,
and with smaller one in the left hand
and fan in the right, they walk among
the weeds and grasses, and sweep the
seeds into the smaller basket which is
emptied now and then into the larger
until it is full of seeds and chaf. Then
they winnow out the chaff and roast the
seeds They roast these curiously. They
put the seeds with quantity of red hot
Goals into a willow tray, and by rapidly
and dexterously shaking and tossing
them, keep the Goals aglow, and the seeds
and tray from burning. As if by magic,
SO skilled are tbeiocr6hes in this work,
they roll the seeds to one side of the tray
as they get done, and the Goals to the
other. Then they grind the seeds. into
fine -four, and make it into cakes and
mush. 1t is a merry sight sometimes to
see the women grinding at the mill. For
mill they use large fiat rock lying
on the ground, and another
smaller cylindrical one in their hands.
They sit down on their heels with
the toes extended back so that the upper
part of the foot and fore part of the leg
is prone on the ground, embracing the
larger rock with their knees; then they
fill their laps with the seeds, making a
hopper to the mill with their dusky
limbs, and grind away, pushing the meal
across the larger rock, where it drops
into tray. have seen group of the
women grinding together keeping time
to a chant, or chatting and gossiping
while the younger lasses would Jest and
chatter and make the pine woods merry
with their laughter.
Mothers carry their babies curiously
in baskets. They make wicker board
by plating willows, and sew a bucksin
cloth to either edge, and this is fuller so
as to form sack closed at the bottom.
AT the top they make a wicker shade
like my grandmother's sunbonnet, and,
wrapping the little one in wildcat robe,
place it in the basket, and this they carry
on their backs strapped over the fore
head, and the little brows midgets are
ever peering over their mothers shoul-
ders. In camp they stand the baskets
against the trunk of tree, or hang it to
limb. | have seen the little mother,
but little too old to have been taken
from the cradlebasket herself the day
before, trudge about her work with mi
a-puts on her back, and hush its crying
at founts quite large enough to hold a
dinner for twins
There is but little game in the country,
yet they get mountain sheep now and
then, or deer, with their arrows, for
they are not yet supplied with guns.
They get many rabbits too, sometimes
with arrows and sometimes with nets.
They plat net of twine made of the
fibres of nettle plants. Often this is
made several hundred yards in length,
and is placed in half circular position
with rings of sage brush. Then they
have circle hunt" and drive great
numbers of rabbets into the snare, where
they are shot with arrows Most of their
bows are made of cedar, but their best
are made of the horns of the mountain
sheep. These are taken, soaked in water
until quite soft, and glued together, and
are quite elastic. During the autumn
grasshoppers are very abundant. When
cold mornings come these insects are
nnmbed, and can be gathered by the
bushel. At such time they dig hole
in the sand, heat stones in fire near by,
put some in the bottom of the hole, put
on a layer of grasshoppers, then a layer
of hot stones, end continue this until
they have bushels put to roast. There
they are left until they cool, when they
are taken out and ground into meal.
Grasshopper Cruel is great treat
Their lore consists of a mass of tradi- |
tions and mythology. 1t is very difficult
TO induce them to tell this to white men,
but Spanish priests have told them, a
long time ago, the stories of the Bible,
and all the Indians in the mountains
know them well, and tell them readily. |
II is not always easy to recognize them,
the Indian mind being a strange recep- !
tacle for such stories, and they are apt
to sprout new limbs. Maybe much of
their added quaintness is due to the way
they we're told by the Fathers. " But, in
a confidential way, when you are alone,
they will tell you their own religion.
believe. that the greatest mark of conf
dence and friendship that an Indian can
give is 20 tell you his religion. After one
has so talked with me | should ever trust
him. A knowledge of the watering places
where the game turks, and Of the trails
and passes, is considered of great impor-
tance, and necessary to the good stand
ing of Chief.
This evening the Shi-owits, for whom
we had sent came in, and after supper
we held long council. A blazing fire
is built, and around it we sit, the Indians
living here-the Shi-owits-Jacob Ham
bin, who is Mormon missionary, and
myself This man Hamblin speaks their
language well, and has q great influence
over all the Indians in the region round
about He is a silent, reserved man, and
when he speaks it is in a slow, quiet way
that inspires great awe. His talk is so
low that they must listen attentively TO
hear, and they sit about him in a death
like silence. When he finishes meas
ured seRteace, the Chief repeats it, and
they lltive a solemn grunt in concert
But first ] I'll my pipe, light II. and take
! few whiifs, then pass II TO Hamblin; he