The pottery manufactured by the Pimas varies in colour from red to dark brown; the articles made are limited to those which are absolutely necessary for domestic purposes. They consist of ollas,. or vases, of every size, the largest containing about two pailfuls, the smallest half a pint, jars with small apertures resembling bottles, and basins of different sizes and shapes, from a milkpan to a saucer. All are more or less ornamented, and painted with black lines arranged in geometrical figures.
The basket-work is the most meritorious of all their native arts; for although the baskets are made only of willow twigs or of grass, so closely are they plaited that liquids are placed in them as a matter of course, and seldom a drop escapes through the sides. A wicker rim is always fastened at the bottom, by which the larger baskets can be carried on the head like the vases, and the smaller ones can stand securely on the floor. They are of all sizes, and, together with the pottery, form the great articles of exchange between this people and other tribes, the Mexicans being about the best customers of all.
Their only native weapons are bows and arrows; but they readily adopt all modern appliances, either in the shape of firearms or implements of agriculture. The United States Government has, through its agents, supplied to them a considerable quantity of the latter during the last few years, by which means the annual produce of their farms has been greatly increased. As the ground is soft and friable, hoes, spades, and shovels are more in vogue than ploughs; and when any part of the valley shows signs of exhaustion, they give it rest, repair the old acequias which had previously been abandoned, and thus bring a reinvigorated patch of waste land again under cultivation.
Altogether, I may safely say that the present state of this industrions people is very satisfactory. Want is unknown amongst them; they are happy and contented; they are of great assistance to the colonists as well as to the government; for they help to confine the Apaches to their mountain retreats, and they supply the emigrants and troops with large quantities of corn. By the table of population already giveu, it will be seen that the women and children form a very fair proportion of the population; as for the latter, my friend Colton tells me that the whole valley swarms with them, and that these little monkeys are as full of fun as they can be. All this is encouraging, and leads us to hope that this people may escape the general destruction which, in North America especially, has fallen upon the aboriginal tribes with the advance of the Anglo-Saxon race. To attain so desirable a consummation two things are absolutely necessary : --
First, that the government should make their lands by law inalienable.
Second, that the high standard of morality, which has ever been remarkable amongst the Pimas and their neighbours, the Pueblo Indians, should not be broken down by any close intercourse with white men and their fire-water.
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adapted from A. W. Bell
"On the Native Races of New Mexico"
1869 (Journal of the Ethnological Society of London)
