stream rises in the mountains near Santa Fé, having its source in a region of almost perpetual snows, and flowing downward toward the outspreading plains, has its volume increased by several small tributaries, until at this point the depth and width of the stream is very considerable, furnishing an inexhaustible supply of water for irrigation and all necessary purposes. The country to the east and south of this place is a low mesa, extending backward to the Staked Plain (Llano Estacado), and southerly as far as the Limpias Mountains. To the north and west the country is open for many miles, and the nearest approach to a settlement is fifty miles distant. The arable land about to be prepared for the reception of grain is all on the east side of the stream (although a considerable number of acres could be planted on the opposite side of the stream should it be deemed necessary), and will compose about 6,000 acres. This is already laid out in a systematic manner, the overseer, Mr. Calloway, directing the progress of the work under the superintendence or orders of the commanding officer. The houses or lodges of the Navajoes are built on the outside of the farms and as convenient as practicable thereto, and the inhabitants are employed daily in removing the roots of trees, repairing and opening acequias, or at anything that may advance the improvements on the reservation. The flocks and herds are tended some distance from the cultivated fields, and graze over a wide range of nutritious gama grass. No flocks belonging to citizens of the Territory are grazed near this reservation at present, nor could they ever have taken advantage of the grass before the establishment of this settlement if disposed to do so, as the Comanches of the plains paid frequent visits to and often encamped near this locality. Game is found in abundance some miles from the river and killed by the Indians. Large herds of wild horses run on the Staked Plain, about fifty miles from this, and several warriors who left the reservation with permission to hunt captured a great many of these animals last summer. The cottonwood, hackberry, and trees of a smaller growth line the banks of the Pecos at this place and at various points along the course of the stream. The ground mesquite, whose thick and ligneous roots enter the ground to the distance of six or eight feet, forms a very pleasant article of fuel, burning with a bright flame, with but little smoke. There is an almost unlimited supply of this species of fuel extending over many miles in each direction from the post. CHARACTER. As these people are now entering on a new mode of life their former habits are gradually changing, and they seem to accommodate themselves cheerfully to their present existence. In all their relations with the authorities and others on this reservation they appear to be cheerful, contented, and obliging, and when employed, as many of them are, on the public works, they labor faithfully and quite intelligently, and have the reputation of good workmen. As their character is now forming it will doubtless take impressions from example, and I doubt not, if these Indians are fairly treated and honestly dealt with in their intercourse with our people, they will emulate their example and become eventually an honest and moral community. They formerly had a great reputation for bravery and reckless daring, and the troops stationed at Fort Defiance several years ago have borne testimony to many acts of kindness exhibited by members of the tribe to soldiers and others who had wandered off their road and lost their way amid the snows on the Navajo Mountains. Should it ever be deemed necessary to enroll one or more companies of this tribe I am convinced they would render great service as guides, spies, vedettes, &c., and could be used advantageously for the protection of our commerce on the plains against the Comanches, Kiowas, and other wild and hostile tribes. As an evidence of their reliability for such duty, I would respectfully state that in the month of August, 1864, I took the field with fifty mounted volunteer cavalry and a small party of Navajoes on foot. During a rapid pursuit which lasted twenty-two days (sometimes day and night) these Indians kept continually ahead of my column as trailers, and bore up cheerfully against the extraordinary fatigues of the march. I afterward dispatched three of them to Fort Sumner by themselves as expresses, and they arrived there safely, although every facility offered for their escape had they been inclined to act treacherously. No troops that I have ever seen could have sustained the hardship and privations borne by these men, and few could have more faithfully discharged the duties required of them. INDUSTRY. They fabricate a strong and durable cloth and elegant blankets of a variety of patterns and brilliant colors, for which purposes the Navajoes value the wool they obtain from their sheep. These fabrics are made in hand looms of simple construction by the women of the tribe. One industrious female can finish a blanket in three weeks, which will wear for ten years, is perfectly waterproof, and will command a price as high as $50 to $200. The garments of the men and women are principally formed from the strong woolen cloth above mentioned, those of the women being often tastefully bordered by a combination of colors representing all the hues of the rainbow. The art of pottery has been known and practiced among them, but at which they have done but little since their arrival upon this reservation, as they have been supplied to a certain extent with cooking utensils by the Government. I understand, however, that the proper kind of earth for this purpose can be found in this vicinity, and doubt not but they will soon turn their attention to that branch of industry. There are several men in the tribe who are skilled to a certain extent in blacksmithing, making bridle bits and other articles of horse equipage in a creditable manner. As soon as one or two forges are established on the reservation the ingenuity of these self-taught sons of Vulcan will have ample room for development. Unlike many of the nomadic tribes on this continent, these Indians cheerfully engage in agricultural pursuits, and seem to take pleasure in the cultivation of the soil. Last year they all labored hard on the reservation, and for a time the crops promised to repay them well for their perseverance; but the visitation of the cutting or army worm damaged most of the corn before it came to maturity. The present year steps have been taken to plant a large quantity of wheat in addition to the usual amount of corn, so that in the event of a failure of the latter crop a sufficient quantity of grain my be raised for their support. Should the corn crop prove successful, as I have every reason to believe it will do, a large surplus can be accumulated, the good results of which will not only be experienced here, but will be felt throughout the Territory. Further steps have been taken to have them well supplied with pumpkin, musk and water melon, and squash seeds, all of the productions of which are peculiarly suited to the Indian taste and to the cultivation of which even the women and children pay great attention. They are also supplied with a species of gourd seed, which when grown attains extraordinary dimensions, and will supply the want of buckets, pitchers, &c. A considerable number of acres will be devoted to the cultivation of beans and peas, which in this region are very productive, and are regarded as one of the prime articles of subsistence. The Cevolletano Navajoes, who are partially civilized, and who formerly lived near the Mexican village of Cevolletta, are at present engaged in the erection of houses built after the Mexican style. They are assisted in their construction by a few mechanics and workmen detailed from the troops of the garrison, and in a short time these Indians can all be enjoying the comforts of village life. While the Navajoes possess the industrial habits, and are engaged in the pursuits enumerated, their more particular attention has in the past been turned to the propagation and raising of STOCK. They have for a long time bestowed great care in the breeding of sheep, and were formerly owners of large flocks of this valuable animal, and the tables herewith show them as still owners of no inconsiderable numbers. Some of their sheep are of a large size and would be prized in an Eastern market for their flesh. The wool is usually coarse in texture, but of a quality best suited to native manufacture. A cross with the Movine would be productive of good results to sheep raisers in the States. The horses belonging to the tribe are of a small but well-formed breed, very hardy, and sometimes possessing great speed and power of endurance. In their forays upon the settlements the marauders were enabled to defy their pursuers owing to the good quality of their horses. They will average twelve hands in height, and require little or no grain, but obtain their support from the nutritious gama grass that abounds in the neighborhood of the reservation. As there is a great proportion of mares among them, a few years will develop a large increase of this species of stock; and it is not going too far to predict that at no distant day our cavalry in this department may be entirely remounted on horses of the Navajo breed. This, when practicable, would greatly diminish the expense now incurred in transporting horses from the States, and their peculiar qualities and adaptation to the climate, locality, &c., would render them far more effective than the horses now in use. MARRIAGE. In this, as in most other things connected with their relations in life, these free sons of nature stand but little upon ceremony in solemnizing the marriage rite. A brave finding his fancy filled with the attractions of a dusky belle signifies his preference, when, both parties agreeing, he seeks the consent of her father, or rather opens negotiations to determine the price set by the parents upon the hand of their daughter. The bargain is usually closed by the payment, on the part of the would-be bridegroom, of a certain number of horses, if he be rich, or a lesser value if he be poor, and the bride proceeds to and takes up her abode in the lodge of her future lord. For some of uncommon attractions and connections in the tribe, as many as twenty horses are demanded. Separation of man and wife is almost unknown with this people, arguing well for their happiness in that relation. They engage mutually in the labors of the household for their support and the accumulation of property. RELATIVE PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION. Transported as these Indians are from their native land a distance of over 400 miles, they will necessarily cherish old recollections for a few years; but under a firm and just government they will soon become reconciled, and even attached, to their present location. Their true interests will naturally bind them to the soil, and as their crops flourish and their flocks and herds increase they will be a self-sustaining colony. It is presumed that over 6,000 acres of land will be planted this present year with wheat, corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, &c., and this, if successful, will afford a large surplus beyond the immediate wants of the tribe. No country in the world is better fitted by nature for the residence of a nation of savage marauders than the region inhabited by the Navajoes previous to their removal to this reservation. Separated from the settled portions of New Mexico by lofty mountains or sterile plains, they planned and executed their forays upon the unprotected inhabitants with a degree of skill, caution, and cunning rarely exampled even among savage tribes, often murdering whole families and sweeping off flocks and herds, and generally succeeding in reaching their fastnesses in the cañons and mountains, where they could defy their pursuers. In Cañon de Chelle and its vicinity, and in the valleys of Tunicha and Chusca, and on the Pueblo Colorado, the Navajoes have formerly cultivated fields of grain, insufficient, however, for their pressing wants, as their repeated forays have demonstrated; but from Moqui, Oraibi, and the adjacent Pueblo villages to the Little Colorado, and even on its banks, no cultivation can be attempted with the least prospect of success. The region is bleak and dismal, full of deep and yawning cañons, and utterly impassable in the rainy season, at which period the banks of the Little Colorado below the falls are subject to inundation. Were these Indians permitted to settle at any of these places they would be a continual burden to the Government, and would doubtless embrace the first opportunity to return to the protection of their mountain strongholds, again to commence a series of murderous and destructive forays on the Territory. One of the principal chiefs, Delgadito, has assured me that such would be the certain result of their removal to the region above named. This man is reliable, intelligent, and can write his signature legibly. On the present reservation (Bosque Redondo) they have an unlimited supply of arable land to cultivate, plenty of water at all times for irrigation, and a prospect of being successful cultivators. The open country, extending for hundreds of miles to the south and east and for a long distance to the north and west, affords them excellent pasture for their flocks and herds, and isolates them completely from the settled portion of the Territory, while in the event of an attempt on the part of any to escape or to return to their native country, the open country would effectually enable the troops at Fort Sumner to frustrate their object. Should the improvements indicated by the department com. mander on the reservation keep pace with the expectations of many, the condition of the tribe will be shortly superior to that of the old Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. The willingness displayed by these people to carry out all the improvements set on foot for their welfare, their aptitude for the performance of manual labor, and the great advantages as to soil and climate they possess in their present location, encourages the hope that their condition will rapidly improve, and that they will at no distant day take rank among the civilized portion of the Indian race upon this continent. Names of the principal chiefs: Herra Grande, Gauado Blanco, Barboncito, Delgadito Grande, Delgadito Chiquito, Barbon, El Chino, El Iujador, El Largo, Gauado Mucho. All of which is respectfully submitted. Maj. Gen. J. POPE, Milwaukee: FRANCIS MCCABE, Captain, First New Mexico Cavalry. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF IOWA, as GENERAL: From your letter of the 12th in regard to my seizing cars and railroads I judge you are under the impression I have been disposed to meddle in what is not my business. Such, I can assure you, has not been my intention. I beg leave to make a few statements of facts to justify my conduct. Large amounts of oats were being purchased here and west, shipped by the Sioux City Railroad to this point, crossed over the river by teams, and shipped at Dunleith, opposite here, to Cairo. Colonel Myers, quartermaster at Saint Louis, communicated here and requested that Lieutenant Williams, acting quartermaster, would give his attention to it and see that this grain was hurried on, it was needed immediately. This Lieutenant W[illiams] did by seeing that the grain was rapidly crossed over the river, and by visiting the depot and agent of the road to urge him to hurry up the supplies. Still Colonel Myers complained repeatedly that the grain was not coming forward. This he did by telegraph, and sent one of his agents here with a letter requesting we would give him every assistance. Matters went on in this way for two or three weeks. The railroad, full of promises, but doing little, until all the warehouses here and on the other side were crowded with grain and large piles of it out doors, the agents here complaining they had not cars enough or locomotives enough. Mr. Forsyth, the general superintendent of freight in Chicago, telegraphed to Lieutenant Williams that they wanted locomotives and they could soon clear out the grain. This is the reason why I communicated with Col. Fred. Myers, chief quartermaster. A few days ago I was informed that in spite of all the promises made, and the report that they had no cars or locomotives, large trains were going out every day loaded with hogs and other private freight. I therefore sent orders over to stop running any more private freight till the surplus grain on hand was cleared out. The consequence is that to-morrow would have seen all the grain on hand shipped and the road in condition to ship Government freight and private freight as wanted. You were mistaken in the idea that I seized the road, or attempted to control the road. I merely gave them an order to ship Government freight first, as it was wanted. Had they refused to obey the order I would have reported the matter officially. I knew that the road, being in a State not in my district, did not properly come under my care; but being on the spot and knowing the facts, I thought I would be justified in giving the order I did. I have informed Col. William Myers, quartermaster, that you disapprove of my interference in the matter, and I have also informed the road that my order stopping the shipment of private freight until further orders is revoked. With much respect, your obedient servant, 34 R R-VOL XLVIII, PT I ALF. SULLY, |