The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-08-21
THE YUMAS.
characteristics OF the Children of the
Colorado Desert-A Dying Hace.


At the time of the American occupa-
ton of California the Yumas were to
be found scattered over all the desert
bottoms of the Colorado and its tribu-
taries. Nesting in the warm sand of
the river flats, and perched on the
gravelly ridges adjacent, the children
OF the desert then reared their villages,
throughout all the sandy barrens trav-
ersed by the Great Red river and its
feeders. and now located in what is
known as Arizona, Mexico and Cali
fornia. But all that remains of the
Colorado Bedouins are to be found to-
day on the California side of the r.ver
above Fort Yuma and below and about
the mouth of the Gila.
Though sickness rarely visits the Yu-
mas. and epidemic never, though they
never knew the waste of serious and
protracted war, and though, since the
advent of the Americans. they have en-
Dyed a full measure of peace and
plenty, vet the tribe has steadily de-
creased in numbers; and. il the de-
crease is not checked. the native deni-
zens of the desert mus shortly mingle
with its sands to disappear forever.
In 1880, the Yumas are supposed
to have numbered some 6,000 souls.
Fifteen years ago they numbered-by
actual count-somcthing over 5000.
They now number in the neighborhood
of 1000 all told. The cause of this
frightful decimat;on should be ascer-
tanned. In the Judgment of your cor
respondent it can be ascertaincd and
remedied.
Pasqual, a grand old man of his
kind, the present chief of the Yumas.
is supposed to have long since passed
his centennial year, and. though bear
ing all the marks Of great age, he is
still erect and healthy.
Whatever there is of government
among the Yumas assumes the patri-
archal form, but there is so little to
govern, and that little so wanting in
aggressiveness of n kind. good or
i'll, that government is a myth so far
as observation may determine There
is Il gigantic fellow who holds the office
OF constable by appointment of the ter
ritorial alcalde or magistrate, of Yuma,
and who acts among the Indians on
both sides of the river. This fellow,
acting under the guidance and by per-
mission of his chief Paslual, with the
chief himself, are the only limbs of the
law or government noticeable.
Many changes have come over the
land, and many generations have
bloomed and truitcd and passed away
during the ch~ieftaincy of Pasqual. The
old man has outlIved. his nation; and
whatever the totem of chief may have
been when it came to him in the lnfan-
3 ny nf Tho ,rnSnnt nnpt,rV - l., rN,v tL,
merest cypher, having no semblance of
power, dignity orprolit.
All hat remains of Pasqual's dying
tribe may be found, as before stated,
grouped in little environments along
/ the river 10 toms at Fort Yuma. No
group contains above a dozen families,
and many of them contain only three
or four. Save the dog, they possess
no domestic animals, except here and
there a scrawny mustang pony. They
build neither hut, tent nor wigwam;
but live or rather huddle together, in
frail shelters composed of sticks and
dried branches. supplemented by bits
of old stovepipe and battered out coal
oil cans found from time to time among
the refuse of the fort and the neigh
boring settlement. Though some
Z times these shelters are rooted with
dr.ed boughs.they are more often open
and clear to the sky. Thus housed the
children of the desert dwell; and men,
women and babies-romping boys and
growing dogs, sprouting maids and
grand-dads and grannies -nestle to-
gether in the warm sand. sans bed,
sans blankets. sans everything. Yet
they possess and display the main at
tributes of happiness; they are fat,
cheerful, gcod-tempered, and contend
ed.
While the higher marriage relation
would seem to be but feeblv under
stood, the family bond is complete and
tilial affection may be found upon the
desert as tender and as s.rong as else
where. They are a passive people,
the passions burn slowly, and the Grim
jnal instinct is dormant or nil. No
d~iscoverable moral code appears
among the Ynmas. Measured By the
moral barometer, their stock rates low
almost as low as that of the Cauca-
sian savages by whom they have been
debased. Polygamy, however. is in
terdicted and never practiced: which
fact. together with the observance OF
the family tie, would seem to indicate
the fragmentary existence of some def
mite moral principle, planted long an
terror to the coming of the white man.
The Iumas are conservative in mat.
tiers of dress; tonsorial art is also con
serrated. The men have nothing to
shave. and both permit the scalp
covering to grow I'D tlbitum. That OF
1 the women showers down about them
in a hairy circle, broken only where
the hair is usually removed Straight
across the eyes. The men throw thei1
long locks back from the forehead and
streaming in straight black lines down
the back and shoulders, or falling in
long, thin plaits, after the fashion OF
the ancient Egypt ans. Head-gear is
now known, but will never be popular.
The feet are always bare. except in the
case of very old and iniirm squaws.
when a strip of fibrous bark, fastened
through the toes, over the instep and
around the ankles, with softcncd sinew
or green withes. formerly served as san
dals. Now, however, sandals are usu.
ally formed of pieces of cast-away
boot-legs, or saddle-skirts, fastened by
stray bits of bale rope, cordage, string
or STRIPS OF rags Obtained from passing
boats or about the settlement over the
river.
The men are about the average OF
any white race in stature; in fact a
short man is not to be found, Magnifi.
Gently shouldered. broad-chested and.
strong-limbed, with Il springy gait and
a swinging stride, and straight and tall
as a larch, physically considered, the
Yuma is no ordinary man. ~
Like the camel, the Yumas seem to
have sprung from the sands. or to have
been made for the barren waste. They
are great, strong, muscular men, fleet
and dnnceh and canahla of wondarfu]