The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1889-05-23
Letter from Alexander.


, train at Yuma, Arizona is the Indians in their
peculiar dress. From 20 to so are generally
! seated in the dirt along the side of the track,
and as you pass they will hold up their wares
for your inspection The articles for sale are
bows, arrows. small Indian dolls and rude
= pottery. Both male and female engage in sell
ing articles of commerce to the travelling pub
lie. Previous to the coming of the white man
among them the Indians had no such thing as a
doll. but being good imitators. they saw that by
manufacturing dolls representing Indians il
dollar could be made, and they have reapcd q
good harvest for their labor. Hundreds of
people have bought these Indian dolls thinking
they We're gods. and the impression has cone
abroad that the Yuma Indian sells the god that
he worships to the relic seeking public. If
you should ask an Indian if the dolls We're the
gods he Wor>hiped, in nine cases out of ten he
would say yes He knows what the white man
wants and is sharp enough to make him pay
for it. The pottery which is sold to-day is not
the same that is used by them. They use one
kind and manufacture for sale another. What
few genuine articles they have are religiousy
guarded in their own homes, and not exposed
for sale at the railroad station. To yet genuine
chronological specimens you must 90 among
them and buy the article you are seeking
wherever and whenever You them using it.
1t has been but a very few years since this
tribe has in any way put on the clothes of
civilized man. Their native dress was a breech
cloth for the males and willow bark skirt for
the females. BY visiting their homes on their
l.
al Indian may be seen dressed in the garb of
his forefathers. The favorite dress of to-day
is a pair Of blue ovcral> and an undershirt
The Squaws take great pride in clothing them
selves in cotton cloth of gaudy coor and print.
No attempt is made to make a dress Of the
favorite material, but She winds it around her
body and fastens il in many places a. posi-
Bile with >afety-pins, which are preferred to
buttons. The person who first introduced these
pins int o this part of the southwest must have
reaped a golden harvest, for no sQuaw seems to
be well dressed unless she has large number
of them fastened to her clothing
They still adhere to the practice of painting
themselves, and every morning they may be
seen seated on the banks of the Colorado wash
Inc and painting themselves for the day. In
making their toilet as much care is taken bv
the Young girls of the tribe as bv Il lady Of
Washington in dressing for the Inauguration
Ball. The paint must be put on lust So great
pains being taken that each line should be
>ymetrcal. No particular style of decorating
themselves with paint seems to be In vogue
each one putting it on In a manner to suit him
or herself The most of the paint they manu-
facture from clay> which are found in the
vicinity of Yuma. The clay from which they
make their pottery is dug in the neighboring
gravel banks, where it is easily obtained.
They have some interesting games which
they play almost every afternoon, one Of
which Is the pole game. This game is PLAYED
by all the tribes of the southwest. 1t is PLAYED
As follows: Two Indians run along, side by
side, each having a long pole of about T. or "A
feet in length; one also has small hoop about
inches in diameter, which he rolls ahead of
him. When the hoop i some ten or twelve
feet ahead Of them each throws his pole at it,
and the pole upon which the hoop fails counts
one, or more, may be stated at the beginning
Of the game. Occasionally the pole will 20
through the hoop; this counts ten or more as
Vi 1
same game the only difference being notches
cut in the hoop which count according to the
number of cuts which happen to fall on the
pole. Each tribe has different name for the
game The Cocopa tribe call it ochesux. !
could hot learn what the Iumas called It, a.
my tarry among them was too short to learn
all wished
bay mic hat II,
have religion, but the very earliest travellers
among the tribes of the southwest. could dis
cover nothing to cause them to think that they
had any idea of God or future existence
What little idea they now have of a future
state was in all probability taught them bv the
early Padres. We know this was the case with
the Indians of New Mexico, and it is but reason
able to suppose that the teachings of one tribe
will, or has, spread TO another
As soon as the whites came among the In
dian tribes all along the southern boundary Of
the United States. their manners and customs
Immediately began to change, and have been
steadily increasing ever since.
! Cremation is practicel by all the tribes I'm
this section of the country, and when it 50 hap
pens that one of them shules off this mortal
coil grand time may be expected. While the
body is burning everybody belonging to the
! tribe is supposed, and often compelled, to con-
tribute something. Great sacrifices are some
times made by the chief mourners Articles
of clothing are thrown Oh to the fire regardless
Of cost Large quantities of grain are destroy
| ed on such occasions, and many times the giver
is impoverished to such a degree that he and
his family nearly die by starvation, and it is
only through the generosity of his friends that
he manages to live until the next harvest.
The storekeepers of Yuma, and all other
places in the southwest, calculate to strip the
Indian of every dollar he has. and so far as |
could learn, they generally succeed IN their pur-
pose. There are many ways resorted to for
accomplishing it and one of them is to charge
him double price for everything he buys and
pay him half price for everything he has to
sell In this way the Indian is kept poor.
The Indians are a greater benefit to the coun-
try than the MeXicans. The Indians will and
do work, but Mexican cannot be induced to
1aln of