| OCR Text |
Show 60 BY PATH AND TRAIL. Arizona, the Indians were represented in the Eastern states and Middle West as demons escaped from hell and incarnated in Apache bodies. It was madness to offer an apology for the Indians or to hint at the provo cation and treatment goading them to desperation. The public voice had spoken, the case was closed Eoma locuta est, causafinita est." " I am a Mexican, and by force of birth and family ties, am with my own people, but as a priest of God, I ought not to tread upon the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax." " Are the Yaquis Catholics, padre miol" I asked. " Fully one- half of the Yaquis are as devout Catholics as any people of Mexico. The mountaineers, whose an cestors were converted to the faith, are outlaws for 200 years and retain, as a tradition, many Catholic ceremon ies wedded to old pagan superstitions and practices. The fact, that when in 1898 they fled to the mountains and carried with them in their flight the parish priest and four nuns, and did them no harm, is a convincing proof that they still retain a reverence for the priesthood and for holy women." " Then at one time the whole tribe was converted to the Catholic faith!" " Yes, and if the greed and covetousness of politicians and adventurers had not foully wronged them, the mem bers of the Yaqui tribe would to- day be among the best and most loyal citizens of the Mexican republic. " As early as 1539 Father Marcos of Nizza visited the Yaquis in the Sonora valley. Ten years after Nizza ' s visit two Jesuit missionaries took up their abode among them. Other missionaries followed until, at the time of ( Hondo's expedition in 1683 to Lower California, nearly |
