OCR Text |
Show -17- -The Mojaves- The Mojaves living in the Mojave Valley since the beginning of historical record probably numbered from 800 to 1400. They may be described as a sedentary tribe, showing preference in their primitive condition to agricultural pursuits rather than to hunting and fishing. This is doubtless due to the fertility of the river bottom lands on which they lived, which with the moisture supplied by the river, enabled them to grow crops of beans, corn, melons and pumpkins with little effort. These crops were planted after the usual annual rise of the River, on the lands that had lately been inundated. Selecting such places as were comparatively free of vegetation, they dug holes from one to two feet deep, in the bottom of which they planted the seed. This method of planting conserved sufficient moisture which with the fertile soil, produced a rapid growth, and the crop matured without further irrigation or cultivation. Such crops as these were however grown only to provide variety and luxury to their regular diet, which was the mesquite bean. When the overflow failed to come, as it sometimes did, they attempted to grow some crops by planting in their regular method, along the river bank or sloughs, from which they sometimes carried water to irrigate. Such attempts, however, were not usually productive, and as the mesquite beans were not plentiful in seasons of light overflow, there was at such times much suffering and sometimes starvation among them. At such times also, due to their low vitality because of insufficient nourishment they were often a prey to disease. A season of no overflow was usually followed during the succeeding winter by an epidemic of small-pox or measles, which |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |