Arizona republican., 1922-03-26

! the orange grows wild there are GU
riously few to be had. One ole
woman had a pot over a tiny fire
Inlians build fires almost anywher,
and did their cooking in the mos
casual manner-from which a savorl
steam rose. Pigs roamed about, fight
ing with the dogs for bits OF foo(
cast away by the purchasers. and nov
and then responding by shrill squeali
to well-aimed stones. No proprietor
dared take his eyes from his property
or his hand from a weapon. The
Mexican pig is daring and ruthles:
looter.
Clothing Problem Easily Solved
One thinks Of these Indians as be.
! ing desperately poor, and in a money
| sense they are. Yet they seem tC
| have all the necessities of life. They
have but to scratch the soil with
| their wooden plows. the old Egyp-
tians used exactly the same plow, al
though Eome of those of Mexico
are briefly pointed with a bit of iron
to raise what little they need for
food. Chickens. pigs and dogs seem
to hustle for their food, although
once or twice we saw an aged crone
sitting at her doorstep feeding the
I
piciously like the family cooking pot
Their clothes are scanty and mex
pensive and never quite expire. AS
the frontiers of a garment go what
remains is united to the remnant
of some former covering. They can
buy their sandals IL they wish. or
make them If they prefer. The SOM
brero is the one thing the male In
dian does not make for himself. That
and a gun, or the ever present knife
shaped like and exaggerated edition
of the one that made Colonel Bowie
famous.
The proof, however, that they are
not in actual want is shown by the
condition of their little ones. In all
the days ride we saw but one child
that seemed suffering from malnu-
triton. 1t sat in the dust by the
roadside, a poor, dirty, suffering lit
tie one. its vast stomach open to the
air, its thin arms and pitifully wea-
zened legs telling the story of its
troubles to who might care to look.
All the other youngsters were fat,
happy, careless and about one third
of them were in various degrees of
nakedness from complete TO a jaunty
one-piece effect that ruffled out from
the neck almost to the waist and left
nothing but a hiatus below. When we
came in sight they stopped running
and shrieking. of course Children
always do that when a circus comes
to town. But as we approached
village we could always hear their
howls of laughter. 1t is regrettable
that l am forced to add that after
darkness came on the small rascals
of two or three villages took adyan-
~ Af 70 Ell
flivver with excellent aim. The same
thing has been known to happen in
Ohio towns.
When tie moonless night came, so
that we could barely see ahead of us
the faint line of the road, barely
lighter than the sand which hemmed
it on either hand, we ran for half an
hour or more through an utterly de-
serted landscape. Then, far ahead,
we began to see little glimmer of
light. At last we came to a great
gate, set half open but directly
across the road and from the shelter
Of one of the massive posts rose the
flame of a silver of pitch pine, tend
ed by a painless little Indian. 1t
must have been fat as bacon grease,
that pine for the flame rose straight
on the stirless air as that of church
candle, and with no more smoke. He
brought us water for the thirsty mo-
tor and watched entranced while the
Indian driver tinkered with the ma
chinery.
A Touch of Domesticity
On the other side of the road was
a cottage. It's walls were but lat
ticework of light poles, through the
interstices of which we could see
plainly, even at our distance Of one
hundred feet or more. On the cook
ing platform a little fire burned
brightly, the smoke filtering through
the straw Of the thatch in the alb
sence of chimney for the evening