of the times, and the theater of action, and not to the natural disposition of the man.

European nations carrying on war upon this continent have never been able to avoid employing its savage tribes as auxiliaries. To reject them as such, would have been to engage them as additional enemies. Our own government forms no exception to this remark; they have been compelled to employ the native tribes against each other in their own defence when engaged in hostilities The truth is, the Indian follows war, as the and if driven from one side, he is sure to be Still much control over native ferocity may be exercised by stern adherence to humanity and encouragement offered for prisoners, rather than scalps.

with any of them. vulture the carrion; found on the other.

ARTICLE III.

Zuni and Colorado Rivers. REPORT OF CAPTAIN SITGREAVES.

As all information touching the broad region between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast is calculated to interest the American people at the present time, we have selected a few paragraphs from the Report of an Expedition down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers, by Capt. L. Sitgreaves, Corps Topographical Engineers.

The Pueblo of Zuni is situated on the parallel of 35° 04′ 10′′ n. latitude. The longitude is not given by Capt. Sitgreaves; but its location on the map shows it to be but a few minutes east of the 108° of longitude west of Greenwich. The author says:

"The Zuni is a mere rivulet, and not entitled to the name of river; in most parts of our country it would not be dignified with that of creek. The corn-fields of the Zuni Indians extended at intervals for several miles down the stream, their crops and orchards being planted on the edge of the valley, or in the fertile gorges of the mountains. The only cultivation in the immediate vicinity of the pueblo consisted of small vegetable gardens, tended by the women and watered by hand, in which were grown chiefly onions, beans, and chile." In a note, the author says: "Since the establishment of the military post at Canon Bonito, and the consequent pacfication of the Navajos, the amount of cultivation has greatly increased. During the past season the Zuni Indians had some ten thousand acres in corn, and the Moquis a still greater quantity. The orchards produce good peaches."

"The Zuni is a northern tributary of the Little Colorado, and flows in a westerly direction until it falls into the latter, about 58 miles from the Pueblo. From the Pueblo the party followed the general direction of the stream by a well-beaten trail which enabled it to avoid the inconvenience of traveling over ground rendered soft and miry by the recent rains." Very little notice is taken of the Zuni valley by the author.

The following paragraph contains the only description which we have of the country from the Pueblo to the mouth of the river: "Camp No. 3. The valley is here shut in by abrupt walls of gray sandstone, occasionally mixed with basalt, having frequent springs running out from under them; but farther down it expands to several miles in width, other valleys opening into it. The faces of the sandstone rocks, wherever they presented a smooth surface, were covered with Indian hieroglyphics, or pictures, carved or painted upon them."

The 4th camp of the party after leaving the Pueblo of Zuni was located on the Little Colorado. At this point, the author says: "it is an insignificant stream, divided into several small channels, flowing through a narrow valley destitute of timber, but covered with a thick growth of rank unnutritious grass. The hills bounding it on either side are of a gradual slope, with here and there a rocky point, of a conglomerate of gray sandstone and pebbles jutting out into the bottom." The following extracts from Captain Sitgreave's Journal contains nearly all that is interesting in his description of the country.

September 28, Camp No. 5.-Proceeding down the valley, it widens out into a broad plain, which the recent profuse rains had made soft and muddy. To avoid this we turned off from the river, and made our way across the high land, but gained little by the exchange, for the soil was so light and thinly covered with grass that the mules sank to their fetlocks at every step. The ground was strewed with pebbles of agate, jasper, and chalcedony, and masses of what appeared to have been stumps of trees petrified into jasper, beautifully striped with bright shades of red, [the predominating color,] blue, white, and yellow. The rocks were gray sandstone, sometimes of a slaty structure.

Septe ber 30, Camp No. 7.-The river here runs through a deep and rocky canon, which we skirted, and crossed below it to the south bank, finding the ground much broken by ravines, which were only visible when we came directly upon them. The surrounding scenery resembled that of the northwestern prairies, the country being bare of trees and the horizon unbroken, except in one direction, where a high conical peak, that had served us several days as a land mark, varied the uniformity of its outline.

October 1, Camp No. 8. The river, winding to the north, gave us a straight course across the high land, soft and sandy, as

usual, and frequently intersected by deep ravines, until we again encountered it, flowing now between bluff sandy banks fringed with cotton-wood trees, and presenting at length the appearance of a river, but still with little water in its bed. I remarked cropping

out of the side of a bluff a seam of fibrous gypsum three or four inches thick. In the course of the day's march the San Francisco mountains became visible to the west, and to the north several singular volcanic peaks.

* * *

October 2, Camp No. 9.-The river here receives a tributary known among trappers as Chevelon's Fork. In several places veins of fibrous gypsum were seen, looking like the icecrystals that burst open the ground in spring.

October 3, Camp No. 10. Our course was here interrupted by a deep bayou thickly overgrown with rushes, and which, on attempting to turn it, was found to lead to a rocky ravine or canon utterly impassable. We retraced our steps, therefore, and with much difficulty recrossed the river, which, making a bend to the north, winds through a broad plain resembling the bed of a great lagoon from which the water had just subsided, leaving it slimy and intersected with fissures and channels that often impeded our progress. Here and there only a bush of the wild sage dotted its surface, and the surrounding hills appeared equally destitute of vegetation.

October 5, Camp No. 12.-The country on the north side presenting the same appearance of desolation as far as the eye could discern, we again crossed the river, and, passing to higher ground, encamped on a bayou near the edge of the valley. The grass upon the hills was invariably better and more abundant than in the river bottom, but the absence of wood and water in such places, generally obliged us to make our camps near the river.

October 7, Camp No. 13.-Many precipitous canons were passed, enclosing within their walls of yellow sandstone clumps of cotton-wood trees. Ridges of lava and black dust, the detritus of the lava, covering the ground in many places, indicated our approach to a volcanic region. Near our camp, on the bank of the river, were the ruins of several stone houses, which the guide, Mr. Leroux, said resembled those of the Moqui Indians.

October 8, Camp No. 14.-About a mile below the last camp the river falls over a succession of horizontal ledges of sandstone, forming a beautiful cascade of one hundred and twenty feet in vertical height, and continues on its course through a canon of that depth, the general level of the banks remaining the same.

Having been informed by my guide and other experienced trappers that the canon extends down the river to its junction with the Colorado, and the great canon through which the latter flows, I regarded the attempt to follow the river to its mouth as too hazardous, considering the condition of the animals and the state of

supplies, and therefore, by the advice of the guide, turned off towards the mountains, with the purpose of striking the Colorado below the great canon, and then exploring it upward as far as might be found practicable. Leaving the river then, we passed along the base of high table lands, the lava-sand lying several inches deep upon the ground, filling up the hollows, and forming ridges across the plain; and, ascending the plateau, found it also covered with the lava detritus, and all the prominent points occupied by the ruins of stone houses of considerable size, and in some instances of three stories in height. They are evidently the remains of a large town, as they occurred at intervals for an extent of eight or nine miles, and the ground was thickly strewed with fragments of pottery in all directions. The fact that no vestige of water could be discovered in the vicinity, sufficiently accounts for their present depopulation. The encroachment of the lava-sand blown down from the adjacent mountains may have gradually filled up the springs and water-courses; it is certain, at any rate, that the heaviest rains would now be rapidly absorbed by it, and after a day or two leave no trace of water upon the surface.

The houses resemble in all respects (except that adobes do not appear to have been used in their construction) those of the existing pueblos of New Mexico; and the pottery, of a great variety of fabric and pattern, is similar to that now in use among them.

October 9, Camp No. 15.-Pursuing our way still farther into the mountains, the ruins became of rarer occurrence, or else were concealed by the cedars with which the hills were covered.*** [The mules being sent off in search of water, the party remained at this camp the second night.]

October 11, Camp No. 16.-As we ascended the mountain the cedar gave place to the nut-bearing pine; and this, when near the summit, to a pine of larger growth with long leaves. Herds of anelope were seen in all directions, but they kept to the open country, and were shy and difficult to approach.

October 12, Camp No. 17.-The ascent of the mountain was continued, with the greatest anxiety as to the result of the day's journey; for the mules had drunk but once in more than four days, and the country showed no indications of water in any direction. There was much beauty in some of the glades and mountain glens we passed. The ground was covered with fresh grass and well timbered with tall pines, mingled, after attaining a certain altitude, with aspens of a brilliant yellow."

After crossing this mountain, a spring was found at its foot, where the party halted a day or two to refresh their mules. On the 15th of October, the party proceded across plains of gentle slope. A few small post-oaks were found mingled with the pines; and in a glade was found some white clover; flowers and birds were more numerous than on the northern slope of the mountain.

The party encamped upon the dry bed of a lagoon, a mile in extent, having some small pools of water hidden among the tall grass. They remained here several days on account of the illness of one of the men. The author says of this region: "The daily variation of the temperature was remarkable, the average range in twentyfour hours being about 55° Fahrenheit, or from 10° to 65°."

After several days travel through a region of extreme sterility, and suffering much for the want of water, on the 30th of October, the party reached a small stream, of which the author says: "This rivulet, which I have called the Yampai, has its source in three small springs; it is repeatedly lost in the ground within a distance of half a mile, after which it disappears entirely. A few willow and cotton-wood trees grow upon its banks, and green grass was here seen for the first time since leaving the San Francisco mountains. Here, too, we enjoyed the luxury of a bath and clean clothes-a luxury not fully appreciable by those who have not gone a week without water to wash even their faces and hands."

The party proceeded down the valley of the Yampai for about twelve miles, but finding that it led them out of their course, they diverged from it into a wide barren plain, where they encamped without water, grass, or wood. In front of them lay a bold range of mountains which having crossed by a rugged and difficult pass, they found themselves in the valley of the great Colorado, surrounded by numerous Indians. The point where the party reached the Colorado, is below the great canon in Latitude 350 8.55" north and Longitude 114° 35' west, 414 miles by the route travelled from the pueblo of Zuni, and 243 miles above the mouth of the Gila. At this point," the author says, "the river was 260 yards wide, with six feet of water in the deepest part; the banks bluff and sandy, about twelve feet high, and the current rapid; but a dense growth of willows and weeds prevented me from measuring its velocity with any degree of accuracy. The presence of water seemed to afford the only relief from our former privations; for the soil, an almost impalpable sand, bore nothing but dry weeds and bushes, and the whole scene presented the most perfect picture of desolation I have ever beheld, as if some sirocco had passed over the land, withering and scorching everything to crispness."*** "The whole country traversed from the San Francisco mountains was barren and devoid of interest. It consists of a succession of mountain ranges and desert plains, the latter having an average height of about 5,000 feet above the level of the ocean. The larger growth, almost exclusively of cedar, was confined to the mountains; and the scanty vegetation of the plains, parched by a long drought, furnished few specimens for the botanist."

Notwithstanding the desolate aspect of the country, the valley of the Colorado seems to be inhabited by Indians-the Mohaveswho to some extent cultivate the soil. Describing the first day's travel down the Colorado, the author says: "A well-worn trail