Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/635



Y the Proyecta de Guerra of 1837, the government of Chihuahua, worn out by the repeated atrocities committed on its defenceless ranchos and pueblos, offered a bounty for every Indian scalp: $100 for that of every warrior, and $50 for that of a squaw. This proyecta was soon repealed, but not before its beneficial workings were made manifest in the lessening of the number of los barbaros about the region of the capital city. It was almost from necessity that the project was, in effect, again lately put in operation in the raids against those Indians, though bounty for the scalp of a "buck" was advanced to $250, while the soldiers were cautioned to extend the shield of protection over the less guilty and defenceless women and children.

Having had dealings with savage Indians for over three centuries, the Mexican government has finally evolved a policy that should commend itself to our own. The squaws are, indeed, nearly as irreclaimable as the men, but they endure confinement with stoical indifference, and some of them even take kindly to service in Mexican families. The children are assigned to good masters, and though scattered throughout the State, so as entirely to remove them from tribal influences, they are treated with great humanity. But even after years of captivity, many of these Apache children, although brought up as privileged members of the family, will escape and flee to the mountains, such is their inherent barbarism.

Confined in the jail at Chihuahua, at the time of my visit, were about twenty Apache prisoners, women and children. Nearly all the women were busy with the needle, and one of them, an aged squaw, with head white with the frosts of many winters,