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Show 24 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History their economy must have been flourishing enough to create surplus goods. The Nuwuvi captive understandably was reluctant to give the party much information, having been forcibly detained and fearing for the safety of his people. But he did confirm the distance to the Colorado River given by the Nuwuvi women. Escalante speculated that the Nuwuvi man knew more than he was telling but was being silent so as not to be "conscripted" as a guide. When questioned about the Spanish settlements to the west or west-northwest, the Nuwuvi said he knew nothing of them, "for although many people lived there, they were of the same language and tribe as himself." ' The next day the Nuwuvi man led the expedition to his "rancho," where there was "an old Indian, a young man, several children and three women, all of them very good looking." Escalante remarked that "they had very good pinon nuts [pine nuts], date [yucca fruit], and some little sacks of maize." 10 The Spanish conversed with the old man for a long time, but he would tell them no more than the other Nuwuvi with whom Escalante had spoken. The old man finally offered to guide the party, but only, wrote Escalante, "in order to get us away from there . . . and to give his family time to reach a place of safety___" " The old man and the Nuwuvi captured previously led the party for a distance, but in a pass between two high sierras they disappeared. The party had to admire "their cleverness in having brought us through a place well suited to the sure and free execution of their plan ..." 12 even though they were again without a guide. Traveling further down Ash Creek to somewhere between the present-day towns of Toquerville and Pintura, the Spanish came to Nuwuvi farmlands. After noticing a large supply of corn in a Nuwuvi camp, Escalante observed that near the creek there were three small corn patches with "very well made irrigation ditches." The Spaniards quickly learned that "From here downstream and on the mesas on either side for a long distance,... live Indians who sustain themselves by planting maize and calabashes." They were extremely pleased by this discovery not only because it meant that the party could get food supplies, but also because in the eyes of the Spanish, farming meant that the Nuwuvi were prepared for "civilized life." 13 |