New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-07-22
J. II 3 - 2 I
THE YUl(AS.
Uharacterissies Of the Children Of the
Colorado DeseFt-A Dying Race.

Characterlsties OF the Children Of tho
Colorado DeseFt-A Dying Race.
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 fats, 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 river
above Fort Yuma and below and about
the mouth of the ella.
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-
joyed full measure of peace and
plenty, yet the tribe has steadily de-
creased in numbers; and, if the de-
crease is not checked. the native deni-
zenS of the desert must shortly mingle
with its sands to disappear forever.
In 1849-50, the Yumas are supposed
to have numbered some 5000 souls
Fifteen years ago they numbered-by
actual count-something over 5000
They now number in the neighborhood
of ], 800 all told. The cause of this
frightful defamation should be ascer-
tanned. In the judgment of your cor
respondent it can be ascertained and
remedied.
Pasqual, 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-
archaI form, but there is so little to
govern, and that little so wanting in
aggressiveness of any kind, good OF
i'll, that government is myth SO fa1
as observation may determine. There
is a 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 Pasqual, 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 fruited and passed away
during the chieftaincy of Pasqual. The
old man has outlived his nation; anG
whatever the totem of chief may have
been when it came to him in the lnfan
cy Of the present century, it is now the
merest CIPHER, having no semblance o.
power, dignity or profit.
All that remains of Pasquals dying
tribe may be found, as before stated
grouped in little environments along
the river bottoms at Fort Yuma. NJ
group contains above dozen families
and many of them contain only three
or four. Save the dog, they posses!
no domestic animals, except here anc
there scrawny mustang pony. They
build neither hut, tent nor wigwam
but live or rather huddle together, il
frail shelters composed of sticks anc
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
times these shelters are rooted with
dried boughs, they are more often oper
and clear to the sky. Thus housed thu
children of the desert dwell; and men
women and babies-romping boys ant
growing dogs, sprouting maids ant
grand-dads and grannies nestle to
gether in the warm sand, sans bed
sans blankets. sans everything. Ye
they possess and display the main at
tributes of happiness; they are fat
cheerful, good-tempered, and contend
ed.
While the higher marriage relation
would seem to be but feebly under
stood, the family bond is complete and
tilial affection may be found upon the
desert as tender and as strong as else.
where. They are a passive people,
the passions burn slowly, and the Grim.
inal instinct is dormant or nil. No
discoverable moral code appears
among the Yumas. 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 Yumas are conservative in mat
tiers of dress; tonsorial art is also con-
servated. The men have nothing to
shave, and both sexes permit the scalp
covering to grow ad H6ltasm. That OF
the women showers down about them
in hairy circle, broken only where
the hair is usually removed straight
across the eyes. The men throw their
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 Egyptians. Head-gear is