from their native land many centuries ago, and sought an asylum by coming northward. They profess to have crossed through Sonora, and finally settled on the Gila, about twenty miles east of the eastern limit of the Great Gila Bend, where that river makes a detour to the north of nearly ninety miles, and, after sweeping round the base of a range of mountains, resumes its original course westward. Here they were visited by the Jesuit missionaries, who taught them how to till the ground, and supplied them with many valuable seeds, and also instructed them in the art of preparing and weaving cotton. A Pimo cotton blanket will last for years, and is really a very handsome and creditable affair. The men never cut their hair, but wear it in massive plaits and folds, which frequently descend to the calves of their legs. The front hair is cut even with the eyebrows. The women wear short hair, and are not permitted to have it more than eight or nine inches in length. They are a robust and well-formed race, and not at all revengeful, but exceedingly superstitious—far more so than any other tribe I ever met. They are hospitable, chatty, and exceedingly proud of the purity of their blood.
Living in the closest amity with them are the Maricopa Indians, who, like the Pimos, claim to be direct descendants from Moctezuma, but differ from them essentially in their language, laws, habits, manners and religious ceremonies. The Maricopa tradition, as given me by Juan Jose, a chief of some importance in former times, and subsequently confirmed by Juan Chivari, the present head chief of the tribe, is to the following effect.
About a hundred years ago the Yumas, Cocopahs and Maricopas composed one tribe, known as the Coco-Maricopa tribe. They occupied the country about the head of the Gulf of California, and for some distance up the
