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Show I ~ D I A N S OF NEW MEXICO. 179 1 and at the same time growing wilder and more difficult to be obtained, as the Indians say. Some of the best land in this Territory, I am authorized to say, lies within what is known as the Utah country, on that portion of the San Juan claimed by the Utahu, and along the rivers Rio Pierdo, Rio de 10s Pinou, Rio de 10s Animos. Rio Florida, Rio de la Platte, and Rio San Josb. All these rirers take their rise in the Sierra de la Platte or San Juan mountsins: runnins paral-lel to each other, and emptying into the San Juan-the RIO de 10s Animos alone furnishing nearly one-half of the waters of the San Juan, which is second only to the Rio del Norte. They claim to be the rightful owners of this country by virtue of a continued occupancy and possessory title, extending back so far that the "memory of man rnnneth not to the contrary." The Mexican government, however, never recognisrd any title as existing in any of the Indian tribes in and to any of the lands occupied and held by her Indians within her boundaries. But this did not, however, discommode the Indians, as they not onlyheld all the land they claimed, but often invaded the Mexi-can settlements and drore back the inhahitants. It is a principle of national as xrell as international lav: Boxring frnm the rights of SUC-wssful war and conquest., that all the rights of the inhabitants of a conquered country remain as they existed previously to the occupancy and conquest of said country, except the right of sovereignty, until the municipal la\a is eschanged or modified by the new sovereign or sovereign power. Congress not having legislated upon this subject, consequently the right of the Indians to their territory remains as it did at the timeof the coqquest, or the exchange of the sovereign power from the Mexican government to that of the United States. But whether their title be a valid one or not, I apprehend that the gov-ernment of the United States will deal with them, in all of her inter-course, as though their title was good, valid, and legal, and will at no time seek to gain their lands without their consent, and nithout giving a fair compensation for the same. The Karsjoes occupy the country in the southwest, extending from the Rio San Juan to the Gila, and thence east to =here you meet the western ~ettlements of New Nexico. The Xa\.ajoes are a fierce, intelligent and warlike tribe of Indians. They possess more wealth than all the other wild tribes in New Mexico combined. They are. rich in horses, mules, asses, goats, and sheep. They raise, by the cultivation of the soil, a suffic~ency of grain for all purposes of con-sumption. They are the manufacturers of a superb quality of blankets that are water-proof, as well as of coarser woolens. These Indians. have an excellent country on the waters of the San Juan, and in and beyond the canon of Cheille, though much of the countr:- between, the Rio Gila and San Juan is mountainous or high table-land, sweeping off into sandy plains. These Indians have long been the terror of th Sew Mexicans, carrying on robberies on an extensive scale, and often carrying away many captives, and committing mur-. ders ; occasionally extending their predatory excursions into the States of Chihuahua and Duran:nl in the 3Iesican republic. The Navajoes are gradually perceiving: however, that peace, and not war, is their policy. Hence their predatory excursions have been growing less |
