The Mystic Mid-Region Part 4

Progressiveness in those lines has been at the expense of the quality of the article produced. While the Indian is weaving a single blanket the modern loom will produce thousands, but never has loom been invented which could produce a blanket equal in quality to the hand-made blanket turned out by some of the Indian tribes who inhabit the arid lands of the West.

Almost all the basket-weaving tribes--and that includes nearly every tribe west of the Rocky Mountains--have legends pointing to the antiquity of the art. The Pomo Indians of Northern California tell that when the progenitors of their tribe were created, the Great Spirit furnished them with food in conical, water-tight baskets which served them as patterns for future work in that line. The Navajos learned the art by patterning after the baby-baskets in which the infant G.o.ds of war were sent to them, and the Havasupais believe that the daughter of the good G.o.d Tochopa taught the art to her daughter, from whom the tribe descended.

The basket plays an important part in the affairs of the desert Indian.

It is his cradle in infancy; it is necessary in his domestic life, baskets being used in which to store his grain, cook his meals, serve his food, and carry his burdens. It figures in religious ceremonies, in marriage festivals, and in funeral rites. It forms a part of the decoration of his home, and serves him as a repository for his precious turquoise, wampum, and other treasures. His water-supply is brought and stored in baskets, the history and traditions of his tribe are woven into basket designs, and of late years, since the curio hunter is abroad in the land, the basket has become a very fertile source of revenue, bringing, in some instances, actual wealth.

Indian baskets may be divided into four general cla.s.ses:

1. Burden baskets, such as are used for the carrying of loads of various kinds. These are generally of coa.r.s.e material and are quite likely to be the work of old men who are incapacitated for other labor, or of young members of the tribe who are learning the art of basket-weaving.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RARE TULARE AND POMO BASKETS From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

2. Domestic baskets, including the granaries, cooking utensils, water-bottles, and other baskets in general use about the house. In this line may be cla.s.sed the baskets in which are cradled the infants.

3. Jewel baskets, which are used for holding articles of value and trinkets prized by the householder, and baskets used solely for ornamental purposes.

4. Ceremonial, embracing such as have sacred significance and historical import, and those used at feasts and festivals and at marriages and funerals.

It may seem strange to speak of using baskets in which to cook food, but this is a common practice with certain tribes. Vegetables are boiled and mush is cooked in baskets, by dropping into the basket with the food stones which have been heated on live coals. Certain foods are also cooked in shallow baskets, which have been lined with clay, by placing live coals beside the food, and then skilfully twirling the basket in such a manner as to keep the food and coals constantly changing places, but at the same time separate from each other. By occasionally blowing into the dish the mess is kept free from ashes and the coals are kept glowing.

The designs which appear in Indian baskets are not merely artistic conceptions of the weavers, but have significance. The sacred baskets are dedicated to certain purposes suggested by the designs woven in them. Thus the cobweb pattern in a Hopi basket signifies that it is to be used in conveying offerings to the "spider woman," as one of the deities or saints in the Hopi calendar is designated. Even the seeming miscalculation in the weaving of patterns is by design, as in the instance of patterns which apparently are calculated to run entirely around the basket but fail to join at the place of meeting. The opening is purposely left that the evil spirits may find a place of exit and pa.s.s out before they have opportunity to work harm to the possessor of the basket.

The colors in the design have their significance. Red means triumph or success; blue signifies defeat; black represents death; white denotes peace and happiness. Colors are also used to designate the points of the compa.s.s. Yellow symbolizes the north because, as the Indians explain, the light of the morning is yellow in the winter season when the sun rises toward the north instead of directly in the east. Blue stands for the west because the blue waters of the Pacific are in that direction. Red is the sign of the south, for that is the region of summer and the red sun. White represents the east, for the sky grows white in the east at the rising of the sun.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A YUMA WOMAN WEAVING COa.r.s.e BASKETS From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

With most tribes red is a sacred color. It is symbolical of blood, which is the life and strength of man, and is therefore the source of his success and achievement.

A variety of material is used in basket-making, and by observing the kind of material used the expert collector is able to determine very closely the authorship of the basket, as well as to read from the designs the purpose for which it was created. Different tribes use different materials, and, naturally, those found nearest at hand.

Southern California Indians make use of tule and certain fine gra.s.ses found in that part of the State. The Pomos, who are exceedingly adept weavers, use a tough slough-gra.s.s, capable of being split, and willow shoots. Havasupais use willows and certain fibrous plants found growing in the strange canon which is their home. The Hopi Indians use yucca and gra.s.ses, while the Indians of Northern California make use of spruce roots and fibrous barks found in that locality. The Panamint Indians of Death Valley use year-old willow shoots, stalks of the aromatic sumac, fibers of the pods of the unicorn plant, and roots of the yucca.

Color is gained by various methods. Sometimes the bright red, green, and scarlet plumage of birds is used. Natural colors are much employed.

The brown designs are mostly made by the use of maiden-hair fern stalks. Black is usually obtained by dyeing the material used with martynia pods; red from yucca roots and certain berries; green from willow bark; pink and various shades of red from the juice of the blackberry, and other colors and shades from various barks and fruits.

Basket-making has recently become a fad with white women, but the dusky woman need not fear the rivalry of her white sister. Civilization has too many claims upon her, and she has too little time and strength to devote to the work to permit of her spending weeks in searching mountain, valley, and plain for the material, and toiling months in the weaving, of a single basket. Even were she to do this, she could not weave into it the traditions of a race, the faith of a religion, the longings of a soul, and the poetry of a people. Until this is possible, the Indian basket will stand without a peer and its maker without a rival.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOJAVE BASKET-MAKER From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

CHAPTER VIII

SHIPS OF THE DESERT

An account of the desert which omitted to make mention of the burro would be woefully incomplete. The burro has been one of the most important factors in desert exploration and development. He is far more sagacious and enduring than the horse or mule. He is to the American desert what the camel is to the deserts of the Eastern hemisphere.

Few persons are aware that camels were once used upon the American deserts, but such are the facts. Ten years after the Pathfinder, General John C. Fremont, crossed the desert and traversed the Golden State, and four years after Marshall had thrilled the world with his discovery of gold in Northern California, Jefferson Davis, Secretary of State under President Pierce, consigned to Mr. L. P. Redwine, of Los Angeles, a lot of camels, to be used in transporting supplies to Government posts located in the arid regions. The camels were delivered to Mr. Redwine, at Los Angeles, in 1853, and one of his first a.s.signments was the transporting of a lot of supplies to the troops stationed at Fort Mojave at the eastern confines of the Great Mojave Desert.

Then, as now, a tribe of Indians dwelt in the vicinity of the fort, but, unlike the present time, they were hostile to whites, and unprotected parties fared but poorly at their hands. Redwine had completed the greater part of his journey to the fort when his caravan wound around the foot of a clump of hills and came unexpectedly upon an encampment of Mojave Indians. It is doubtful which party was the more surprised, the Indians at the sight of the strange cavalcade, or the whites at witnessing the frantic efforts of the redskins to put s.p.a.ce between themselves and the approaching caravan. The sight of the camels was too much for them. It was the most complete rout in the history of the frontier.

A little later, when the caravan reached the fort, there was another surprise. The horses and mules corraled near the fort proved as timid as the Indians, and a general stampede ensued. The corral was broken down, and it took the soldiers several days to gather in the scattered herd. The camels forthwith became objects of hatred to the bluecoats.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ADVANCE AGENT OF PROGRESS From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

As a means of transportation the camels were a success. The heat and drought and sands of the desert were as naught to them, and they throve on hardships that would have proven fatal to horses or mules, but their approach to a military post was a signal for a stampede of the stock, and the camels were marked for destruction. Every now and then, as opportunity offered, the soldiers would shoot down one or more of the camels till their numbers were so reduced that there were not enough for a caravan. Then the remnant of the herd was turned loose in the desert, to live or die as might happen. True to instinct, the liberated animals sought an oasis, and there they began to multiply. Later, however, hunters shot them for sport, and, so far as is now known, they have become extinct.

Redwine, the man who introduced the camels to the deserts of California, closed his earthly career in the desert town of Imperial in July, 1902. Much of Mr. Redwine's life was spent in the deserts of the great West, and this region of mystery, so terrifying to most men, seemed to possess for him a peculiar charm, and when the desert city of Imperial was started he left his comfortable home in Phoenix, Arizona, to take part in the founding of this town.

When the camel project came to an end, the burro came to the front and has since held the foremost place as a means of desert transportation in localities not reached by the railroads.

The burro is a native of Spain, and he came to America at the time of the Spanish conquest. He carried the accoutrements of Cortez through Mexico and into the Montezumian capital. He was with De Soto when he journeyed into the heart of the American continent. De Balboa was indebted to him for the opportunity to discover the greatest of oceans.

The padres who planted the chain of missions through Mexico, and who three hundred and fifty years ago reared the walls of the mission of San Xavier del Bac, in Arizona, had the a.s.sistance of the burro. The Franciscan fathers, who more than a century ago dotted the coast of California with another chain of missions, depended upon the burro for aid, and he did not disappoint them. And so for more than three centuries he has been in the procession of progress and has marched at its head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHIPS OF THE DESERT From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

The fortunes of the Spaniard have fluctuated, but the burro has known no rise nor fall in his prospects. He came as a beast of burden, and as such he has remained. It is all one with him--Spain or America. If he has a little to eat, a few hours for slumber, and is not too heavily burdened, he will patiently and contentedly perform his work and offer no complaint.

He clambers up the mountain trail where the horse could find no footing, carrying upon his back twice his own weight, and he picks his way along the brow of the mountain or the edge of mighty precipices as unconcernedly as though he were treading the pavement of a boulevard or the soft turf of green meadows. If his owner places too heavy a load upon him he makes no complaint. Not he! He simply lies down till the burden is made lighter. There is no arguing the question with him. He is indifferent alike to blows and pleadings. Not an inch will he stir till matters are adjusted. He knows his capacity, and his load must conform to it.

Few mines have been discovered in the mountainous or desert regions of the West without the a.s.sistance of the burro. The steel tracks of the locomotive which wind in and out of the canons and pa.s.ses and over the mountains were led thither by the burro. The explorer has thrown the burden of his efforts upon him, and the prospector deems him indispensable. He is the veritable "ship" of the western desert, and many a man owes his life to his burro. He will live longer without water and scent it farther than any known animal save the camel.

As an example of the keen scent of the burro for water may be related the experience of two prospectors named Peterson and Kelley, who a few years ago attempted to cross the Great Mojave Desert on foot. They had with them, to carry their supplies, a burro. In pa.s.sing from oasis to oasis they lost their way and the supply of water became exhausted. To be lost in the desert is a terrible thing, and the anxiety, coupled with the torturing thirst and the intense heat, drove Peterson insane.

He left his companion and fled shrieking across the plain. Kelley picketed the burro and went after Peterson to bring him back, but he was unable to overtake him. He returned to the trail to find that his burro had broken his tether and was moving across the desert at a leisurely pace. He followed, but the animal was so far in the lead, and he was so exhausted from his efforts to overtake Peterson, that he could not come up to him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BEARING THE REDMAN'S BURDEN From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

Night came upon him, and it soon became so dark that he could not distinguish the burro and he had to follow him by the footprints in the sand. When it became too dark to distinguish them he still staggered on in sheer desperation.

By and by his heart gave a great throb. Before him, outlined against the sky and seemingly suspended in the air, was a form which he knew to be either his burro or an apparition. He hurried forward and lo!

standing upon a sharp rise of ground and facing him was his lost burro, who seemed to be awaiting him for a purpose, for when he came up to him the animal turned and led the way down the incline to a spring of living water.

Kelley gave a shout of joy and plunged bodily into the spring. After he had soaked his parched skin and moistened his lips and throat, he crawled out and went to his burro, which was browsing upon the green herbs growing about the place. Throwing his arms about the neck of the animal he gave the creature a hearty hug and a kiss. If this mark of affection surprised or touched the burro he made no sign. He merely nipped another mouthful of the herbage and continued chewing.

When Kelley had taken a fresh supply of water he retraced his steps to the point where the burro had broken away. It was fully ten miles.

There is no doubt but the animal had scented the water all that distance, and his eagerness to get to it had led him to strain at his fastenings till he broke loose. Poor Peterson did not survive. Kelley found his dead body the next morning four or five miles from the point where he had left the trail.

The burro draws no color line. He affiliates as readily with the Mexican and the Indian as he does with the whites. The desert tribes have little success with horses, and even the rugged bronchos cannot endure the heat and thirst incident to life in that region, but the burro is as much at home and seemingly as contented there as are his brethren who live and labor in the alfalfa meadows of the fertile belt.

The burro is never vicious. Unlike his cousin, the mule, he knows no guile. As a playmate for children he has no rival. He humors them, bears with them, and lets them work their own sweet wills with him. He requires little care, asks little to eat, and seems simply to crave existence.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TAKING ON THE CARGO From photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]

Let the artist in search of a model for contentment go to the burro.

There he will find contentment personified.

He does not sigh and moan that he, alas, Is but a mongrel, neither horse nor a.s.s.

Content that being neither, he may do His work and live as nature meant him to.