Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/90

] and it is not until the mesquite leaves appear in April that the horses can browse upon food sufficiently nourishing to put them in good condition. As the mesquite beans ripen, in June and July, live stock fattens rapidly. A few owners gather and store the beans for stock feed. Very few are able to buy hay or rolled barley.

Cattle. Sala Hina declared that her father and his brother, two Kwahadkʽs, brought the first cattle to the Pimas about 1820. The Spanish missionaries throughout Papagueria brought live stock to their stations for at least two centuries before the date given, so that the Pimas were at least aware of the value of cattle for a long time. The custom of killing and eating the cattle at the death of their owners contributed materially toward preventing increase in Pima herds. Oxen were very scarce for half a century after their introduction, and the old men and women speak sadly of the weary waiting for their turn to use the single ox that dragged the wooden plow for perhaps a whole village. Oxen are now no longer used; with their head yokes and the wooden plows they are of the past,