HARVEST MEMORIES. WHEN the noontide sun of autumn floods the corn-fields' hazy gold, I sketches MUST here interrupt my narrative for a Even with all the safeguards of pistols and sol. which accompany these papers. kind I frequently looked behind to see how the country appeared in its rear aspect. An artist with an arrow in his back may be a very picturesque object to contemplate at one's leisure; but I would rather draw him on paper than sit for the portrait myself. All the way up from Fort Yuma I was beset by these difficulties; and if any man of genius and enterprise thinks he could do better under the circumstances he is welcome to try. This much premised, I resume my story. Sketching in Arizona is, to a man of mercurial temperament, rather a ticklish pursuit. I shall not readily forget my experience of the cañons and thickets, and the queer feeling produced by the slightest sound that fell upon my ears as I hurriedly committed the outlines to paper. It has been my fortune to furnish the world with sketches of Madagascar, Zanzibar, Palestine, the Continent of Europe, Iceland, and some few other points, many of which were achieved under circumstances of peculiar diffi- At Sacatone we had a grand pow-wow, with culty; but I never before traveled through a the Pimo chiefs. Antonio Azul and his incountry in which I was compelled to pursue the terpreter, Francisco, had apprised the nation fine arts with a revolver strapped around my of the munificent presents that we had for disbody, a double-barreled shot-gun lying across tribution. Great was the sensation throughout my knees, and half a dozen soldiers armed with the Pimeria. Scarcely had the sun risen above Sharpe's carbines keeping guard in the distance. the scraggy brush of the desert when the dusky chiefs, head-men, and people, came pouring in. | cook, Dr. Berry, was in favor of seizing a choice They came from the river-bottom, from the vil- pair of pumpkins as a military necessity, but lages, from the weeds, from the grass, and pos- that proposition was overruled as beneath the sibly from the holes in the ground. On horse- dignity of our official position. Have them, back and on foot they came; by twos and by however, we must. They were indispensable threes, and by sixes and by dozens. Paint and to our health. I left it all to Poston, whom I red blankets, beads and brass buttons, shone knew to possess a high order of genius for trade. with resplendent brilliancy around our encamp- He traded for two hours; he was calm and vioment. By noon it presented a busy scene of lent by turns; he reasoned and raved alternatesavage enjoyment. The Pimo belles were in ly. I fell asleep. When I awoke triumph sat their glory. Plump and good-natured; their perched upon his brow. The Indians were gone. pretty eyes fringed around with black paint; Success had crowned his efforts. Two pumptheir teeth shining in pearly whiteness; their kins, the spoils of victory, lay at his feet. "What bosoms bare; their forms of almost Grecian did they cost?" was my natural inquiry. He symmetry and delicacy. Poston, with his en- looked a little confused, but quickly rallied, and thusiastic appreciation of beauty, would have replied, "Oh, not much-for this country! Let lost his balance completely had I not warned me see-five, ten, eighteen, twenty-two. Only him of the dangers that surrounded him; so about TWENTY-TWO dollars in trade." that when severely pressed by a bevy of Pimo maidens for beads, calicoes, and the like, he usually closed both his eyes and handed out the presents at random. In this way I observed that he frequently gave a sash, or shawl, or string of beads to some stalwart buck, and a Traveling all day from Sacatone we reached shovel or pickaxe to some tender maid. When the Blue-Water Wells early in the evening, the looking-glasses and tin jewelry were distrib- where we camped till dark. A few hours of uted, never was there such a sensation in Pi-night-travel brought us to the Pecacho, a little meria; and as for the fancy calicoes, the excitement produced by the sight of them can not but descend to the Pimo posterity, and the name of Mr. Commissioner Dole be blessed unto the last generation of these good people. I have no doubt many of them will name their children Dole. I conscientiously believe that historians in future ages will find the name of Dole common among the Pimos. My friend Poston made a speech to Antonio Azul that, in point of terseness and eloquence has never, I venture to assert, been surpassed in this region of country. It was gratifying at all events to know that the Pimos were rapidly becoming a civilized people. Under these circumstances we thought it advisable to pursue our journey without further waste of time. beyond which we made a dry camp till morning. The country between the Gila River and Tucson is a hard, gravelly desert, partially covered with a scrubby growth of mesquit and cactus, and at this season destitute of water except at two or three points, where the wells dug by the Overland Mail Company still remain. In former years emigrant parties suffered much in crossing this inhospitable desert. At certain seasons of the year some pools of water near the Pecacho afford relief to the trains, and enable the emigrants to reach the Gila; but these are a very uncertain dependence. Availing ourselves of the friendly professions made by the chiefs and people, we signified that The Pecacho lies forty-five miles from the two pumpkins for our journey across the desert Gila, and is about the same distance from Tucwould be a most acceptable return for the la- son. It presents a prominent and picturesque borious services we had rendered the great cause landmark from both points, and is seen at a of civilization; whereupon over a dozen pump-great distance from the Papagoria. The name kins were immediately dragged forth from the loose and somewhat discolored drapery that hung around the squaws. We gracefully thanked them and proceeded to pick up our vegetables. "Dos reáls," said the Indians. We gave them two bits. "Quatro reáls," they observed. We offered them four bits. They gravely wrapped up their pumpkins. We offered a dollar for two. They coolly demanded two dollars. We indignantly showed them the way out of camp. Antonio and Francisco had long since disappeared before the impending storm. Not so their followers, who, in this case, were no followers at all. Firmly as rocks of adamant they sat gossiping upon the ground, regardless of our displeasure. Some of them considered it in the light of a friendly invitation to supper, and hung about the fire snuffing the odorous fumes of the pots and frying-pans. Toward the shades of evening the pumpkin-vendors had sufficiently warmed their backs and were about to depart. is Spanish, and signifies "point," or "peak." Some travelers have discovered in this curious formation of rocks some resemblance to an axehead. There are many Pecachos throughout Arizona. I have been unable to see in any of them the most remote resemblance to an axehead. Generally they consist of two sharppointed rocks, one of a triangular and the other of a rectangular shape, growing out of the top of some isolated mountain, and serve to indicate the routes across the desert, which would otherwise be difficult to find. I had no idea before my visit to Arizona that there existed within the territorial limits of the United States a city more remarkable in many respects than Jericho-the walls of which were blown down by horns; for, in this case, the walls were chiefly built up by horns-a city realizing, to some extent, my impressions of what Sodom and Gomorrah must have been before they were Our destroyed by the vengeance of the Lord. It is gratifying to find that travel in many lands has not yet fatally impaired my capacity for receiving new sensations. Virginia City came near it; but it was reserved for the city of Tucson to prove that the world is not yet exhausted of its wonders. A journey across the Ninety-mile desert prepares the jaded and dust-covered traveler to enjoy all the luxuries of civilization which an ardent imagination may lead him to expect in the metropolis of Arizona. Passing the Point of the Mountain, eighteen miles below, he is refreshed during the remainder of the way by scraggy thickets of mesquit, bunches of sage and grease-wood, beds of sand and thorny cactus; from which he emerges to find himself on the verge of the most wonderful scatteration of human habitations his eye ever beheld-a city of mud-boxes, dingy and dilapidated, cracked and baked into a composite of dust and filth; littered about with broken corrals, sheds, bakeovens, carcasses of dead animals, and broken pottery; barren of verdure, parched, naked, and grimly desolate in the glare of a southern sun. Adobe walls without whitewash inside or out, hard earth-floors, baked and dried Mexicans, sore-backed burros, coyote dogs, and terra-cotta children; soldiers, teamsters, and honest miners lounging about the mescal shops, soaked with the fiery poison; a noisy band of Sonoranian buffoons, dressed in theatrical costume, cutting their antics in the public places to the most diabolical din of fiddles and guitars ever heard; a long train of Government wagons preparing to start for Fort Yuma or the Rio Grande-these are what the traveler sees, and a great many things more, but in vain he looks for a hotel or lodging-house. The best accommodations he can possibly expect are the dried mud walls of some unoccupied outhouse, with a mud floor for his bed; his own food to eat, and his own cook to prepare it; and lucky is he to possess such luxuries as these. I heard of a blacksmith, named Burke, who invited a friend to stop a while with him at Tucson. Both parties drank whisky all day for occupation and pleasure. When bedtime came, Burke said, "Let's go home and turn in." He led the way up to the Plaza, and began to hand off his clothes. "What are you doing?" inquired his guest. "Going to bed," said Burke-" this is where I gen'rally sleep." And they both turned in on the Plaza, which if hard was at least well-aired and roomy. The stranger started for the Rio Grande the next day. For various reasons Tucson has long enjoyed an extensive reputation. Before the acquisition of Arizona by the United States the Mexicans had a military post at this place, with a small command for the protection of the missions and adjoining grain fields against the Apaches. It then numbered some four or five hundred souls. Since 1854 it has been the principal town in the Territory, and has been occupied successively by the Federal and rebel troops. As the centre of trade with the neighboring | State of Sonora, and lying on the high-road from the Rio Grande to Fort Yuma, it became during the few years preceding the "break-up" quite a place of resort for traders, speculators, gamblers, horse-thieves, murderers, and vagrant politicians. Men who were no longer permitted to live in California found the climate of Tucson congenial to their health. If the world were searched over I suppose there could not be found so degraded a set of villains as then formed the principal society of Tucson. Every man went armed to the teeth, and street-fights and bloody affrays were of daily occurrence. Since the coming of the California Volunteers, two years ago, the state of things in this delightful metropolis has materially changed. The citizens who are permitted to live here at all still live very much in the Greaser style-the tenantable houses having been taken away from them for the use of the officers and soldiers who are protecting their property from the Apaches. But then, they have claims for rent, which they can probably sell for something when any body comes along disposed to deal in that sort of paper. Formerly they were troubled a good deal about the care of their cattle and sheep: now they have no trouble at all; the cattle and sheep have fallen into the hands of Apaches, who have become unusually bold in their depredations; and the pigs which formerly roamed unmolested about the streets during the day, and were deemed secure in the back-yards of nights, have become a military necessity. Eggs are scarce, because the hens that used to lay them cackle no more in the hen form. Drunkenness has been effectually prohibited by a written order limiting the sale of spirituous liquors to three specific establishments, the owners of which pay a license for hospital purposes, the fund whereof goes to the benefit of the sick and disabled, who have fallen a sacrifice to their zeal in the pursuit of hostile Indians. Gambling is also much discountenanced; and nobody gambles when he is out of money, or can't borrow any from other sources. The public regulations are excellent. Volunteer soldiers are stationed all over the town-at the mescal-shops, the montetables, and houses of ill-fame-for the preservation of public order, or go there of their own accord for that purpose, which amounts to the same thing. Public property is eminently secure. The Commissary's store-house is secured by a padlock on the door and a guard in front with a musket on his shoulder; so that nobody can go in at any time of the day or night and steal one hundred pounds of coffee and one hundred pounds of sugar, deposited there by private parties for safe-keeping, without killing the guard and breaking open the padlock, or cutting a hole through the adobe wall. If such a thing did occur it would be considered a reflection upon the entire post, and the loss would at once be reimbursed either from public or private sources. Otherwise people would naturally think very strange of such an occurrence. Although there are two companies of able CAPTAIN JOSE, PAPAGO CHIEF. bodied men well-armed and equipped at Tucson, and although the Apaches range within three miles of the place, there is no apprehension felt for the public safety. Citizens in small parties of five or six go out whenever occasion requires, and afford aid and comfort to unfortunate travelers who happen to be waylaid in pursuit of their legitimate business; and the Papago Indians also do good service by following up and killing the hostile savages who infest the country. It is confidently believed, therefore, that as long as the troops are kept within the precincts of the ancient Pueblo of Tucson, they will not be molested by any enemy of a more deadly character than mescal, against which the regulations provide a remedy, and if they don't the physician of the post is prepared to do so free of compensation for eighteen months. Neither can the pangs of starvation assail this important strong-hold, unless the climate should unfit them for the heavy labor of lifting the food to their mouths; for, unlike the poor wretches of miners and traders who are prowling around the country in search of a living, the troops here stationed receive their regular salary and rations, and the Government liberally provides them with clothing, medicines, and all they require, and vast numbers of wagons and mules to haul the same from distant points. Besides, there are private traders always ready to furnish them with food from Sonora at a reduction upon the present cost to Government; and even if none of these sources could be relied upon, there are abundant tracts of rich arable lands lying within a few miles, upon which it would be mere pastime for the men to raise fifty or sixty bushels of wheat or corn to the acre at an extra compensation of fifty cents per day-convenient places where the Papagoes would be willing to protect them from the Apaches for the trifling consideration of a few strings of beads or yards of manta. I say, therefore, there is no reason to apprehend that the command at Tucson will News reached us at this place of the massacre ever be reduced to the humiliating necessity of by the Apaches of two gentlemen well known depending upon the Pimo Indians who live on to the members of our party-Mr. J. B. Mills, the Gila River for wheat upon which to feed Superintendent of the Patagonia Mines, and Mr. their mules, to the exclusion of miners, trad- Edwin Stevens, who had just come down by the ers, and other human beings engaged in devel- way of Guyamas to take his place; also of an oping the resources of the country, whose ap- attack by the same band of Indians upon Mr. petites may crave the same sort of sustenance, S. F. Butterworth, President of the Arizona and who, under the ordinary rules of trade, may Mining Company. The statements were concome in competition with them, or offer more flicting, and there were still some members of to the Indians for the products of their labor. Mr. Butterworth's party for whose safety great Such a degradation could never befall Califor- anxiety was felt. As our route lay in part nia Volunteers. Far rather would they go to through the same region of country in which work and raise wheat for their mules, or let the these startling events had taken place, we made mules die, than squabble over a miserable pit- immediate application for an escort from the detance of wheat raised by the industry of a de-tachment who had accompanied us from Fort generate race, whom they are expected to elevate by their example to the standard of civilization; nor would they undertake to evade the imputation that would rest upon them for such an act by placing it on the ground of military necessity, when such necessity, if it existed at all, could only have arisen from negligence, incompetency, or dishonesty in their own depart ments, and which, at all events, would be a very dangerous plea to establish in a Territory remote from the seat of rebellion, and under the acknowledged protection of civil law. By proclamation of the Governor, and by orders of the commanding officer of the department, declaring that martial law no longer prevailed, and that the military should afford all the aid in their power in carrying the civil law into effect, such a mortifying state of things is expressly provided against. Yuma, in the hope of being enabled to render some assistance to our friends. From which it will at once be seen that Tucson has greatly improved within the past two years, and offers at the present time rare attractions for visitors from all parts of the world, including artists, who can always find in it subjects worthy of their genius. The views of life, the varied |