Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/71

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Gila Crossing. It was during this year that the President came to Phoenix.

Gila Crossing, Salt River. During the spring the man employed to carry the mail between Phoenix and Scottsdale became insane and shot a white man and a Pima youth whom he met on the road near the latter place.

Gila Crossing. In September, 1901, the day school was started at Masâʼkimûlt, the Gila Maricopa village.



The Pimas subsist upon a mixed diet in which vegetable food predominates. In the past it would seem probable that the proportion of meat was greater than at present, though they have long been tillers of the soil. Certain articles of their diet appear to be markedly flesh producing, and this tendency is at least not diminished by the habits of life resulting from the semitropical climate of the Gila valley. They are noticeably heavier than individuals belonging to the tribes on the Colorado plateau to the north and northeast, and many old persona exhibit a degree of obesity that is in striking contrast with the "tall and sinewy" Indian conventionalized in popular thought. (Fig. 2.)

About every fifth year in primitive times the Gila river failed in midwinter, the flow diminishing day by day until at length the last drop of water that could not gain shelter beneath the sands was licked up by the ever-thirsty sun. The fish gathered in the few pools that were maintained by the underflow, the ducks and other water birds took flight, but the deer and antelope could the more readily be stalked because of their resorting to known watering places. Without water in the river and canals there could be no crops, and necessity drove the people to seek far afield for the native plants that in some degree produce fruits or seeds even in dry seasons. The fruit of the saguaro and the seed or bean of the mesquite were the most abundant and accessible resources. When even these failed the Pimas were driven to make long journeys into the Apache country—