THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
9
Each band or village has practically two homes, one in the valley and
one in the hills. The Indians occupy their valley home as long as water
is available for domestic use (including stock watering) but as soon as
this becomes exhausted, which occurs every year, they are compelled to
retreat to their mountain home, where wells have been dug by hand,
frequently several hundred feet deep. The necessity of shifting in
search of water from the valley to their mountain village has given to
these people the name of “ Nomadic Papago,” but this is a misnomer,
as wherever an assured water supply for domestic use in the valleys can
be obtained, there one finds a permanent abode.
The genius of necessity” has developed a tribe of industrious, in
dependent, law-abiding, self-respecting people. In the past they have
received practically no aid from the government—in fact they have
never asked for any, for in no sense are they beggars, yet they are
grateful for kindness shown and are quick to perceive and adopt im
proved methods. The two chief things needed by the Papagos are to
be protected, and to be let alone. Seven thousand people are extracting
a living from an area which, owing to its aridity, would not support
any other race. But the Papago needs protection from the more ag
gressive whites, and especially from the Mexicans who come across the
border, and needs it greatly. Already Mexican cattlemen and a few
white men are beginning to cast longing eyes on this, to them unap
propriated domain of the United States.
The Papago Indians have occupied this inhospitable country from
time immemorial, have wrested a living from a barren soil, and every
right of justice and equity demands that the Indians be protected in
the continued use and occupancy of their ancestral home. If thus pro
tected, they are capable of working out their own destiny. Past ex
perience has shown that they are industrially able to take care of
themselves, lo o much supervision and injudicious interference may
result in irreparable harm. \ ou cannot teach the Papagos anything
about farming or irrigation in their own country, if their peculiar sys
tem of collecting storm waters can be called “ irrigation.’ Rather
should we go to them to be taught, and truly can we learn from these
primitive people many valuable lessons in thrift and, aye, even man
hood, for the Papago is a manly fellow, every inch of him, and they
are all six footers.
A little well-directed instruction, a little kindly guidance, and above
all friendly and firm protection in the possession of their native soil
will make intensely happy a tribe of people who, through past efforts
and self-sacrificing industry, deserve every good thing that can be
bestowed upon them.