Domestication of Animals
Dogs. The only domesticated animal which there is any certainty that the Pimas possessed at the time of the discovery is the dog. The old people say that in their youth the dogs were all alike and resembled coyotes. At present there are many small mongrels, obtained principally from the Mexicans (pl. VI, c). The dogs have shared with their masters the misfortunes of the last few years. Scarcity and want has left them gaunt and weak. They formerly served a useful purpose in giving warning of the presence of enemies about the villages. There are now no enemies and little within to tempt the thief to enter and steal. Dogs are called by the word "toot," "toot," "toot," uttered rapidly in a falsetto voice, the individual at the same time holding out a morsel of food to lure the animal within reach. A dog that has been bitten by a mad dog is saved by having a cross burned on its head.
Horses. The horse may have been seen by the Pimas in the sixteenth century, but it is doubtful if they obtained this animal before the seventeenth. They have been known so long that their origin has become accounted for by myths without a shadow of historic truth in them. The only individual who ventured to dispute the commonly accepted mythical origin assured me that they came from the West. Font, who visited the Gila in 1775, stated that his party was met by 18 mounted Pimas; so that the horse was evidently in use at that time.
There were very few horses among the Pimas until the last quarter of a century. The statements of the old persons agree with the calendar records, which make it evident that there were horses enough for but a small proportion of the warriors who engaged in conflicts with the Apaches. Horses stolen in Mexico were sold to the Papagos, who in turn sold them to the Pimas at much less than their true value. As the number in Pimería increased, the thieves began to operate in both directions, selling Sonoran horses on the Gila and Piman mounts in Sonora. However, this practice has been abandoned, and the tribe has quite as many horses as are needed. They are rather undersized animals, as may be seen from the pinto pony in figure 5. As the fields now yield an insufficient supply of food for their owners, it follows that there is little grain for the horses, which grow poor and thin in winter; indeed, many die of starvation. Their principal food during that season is saltbushes.[1]
The once famous grassy plains that made the Pima villages a haven of rest for cavalry and wagon-train stock are now barren,
- ↑ Professor Thornber says that "the native saltbushes, arranged in the order of their importance, that are eaten by range stock are as follows: Woody species, Atriplex canescens, A. nuttallii, A. polycarpa, A. lentiformis, A. confertifolia. The herbaceous species that are grazed by stock are: Atriplex coronata, A. elegans, A. bracteosa. The true greasewood, Sarcobatus vermicularis, a species closely allied to the saltbushes, is also browsed to a considerable extent.
