Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/103

98 with a steel blade that was straight on one side and rounded on the other.

Plow. Of comparatively modern introduction, the wooden plow is of but passing interest in our present researches. It is a survival of European culture that effectively influenced the Pimas for but one generation, or from 1850 to 1880, when the influx of Americans created a demand for wheat which the Pimas were able to supply in part as they could not have done without this implement. By the end of that period they received steel plows. The wooden plow was made of mesquite or ironwood with a cottonwood tongue that extended to the ox yoke. The rear end of the tongue was beveled underneath to an edge which engaged with a transverse notch in the handle. The bottom dragged at a considerable angle, so that the point alone came in contact with the soil. The cutting face was usually supplied with an iron or steel covering resembling the single-shovel cultivator of the Americans. The bottom and single handle were of one piece, the latter being a branch that set at a convenient angle, about 70 degrees, with the trunk of the tree from which the bottom of the plow was cut (fig. 11). The tongue was held in place by a mesquite pin passing through the bottom and a slot in the butt of the tongue and tightened by two wedges which were adjusted by means of a mesquite mallet carried for the purpose.