of mountainous country, which sends forth great rivers towards
either ocean, was traversed in 1773 by the enterprising
travellers Fathers Font and Garces.
The principal Indian nations on the eastern declivity of
this high region in the plains intervening between the Rio del
Norte and the Red River, are barbarous tribes of Apaches
and Cumanclies, who are mortal enemies to each other. The
Apaches are furthest towards the west in the wild ravines of
the Sierra de Acha, whence, divided under the different
names of Apaches, Mimbrenos, Mescaleros, Fardones, they
are spread over the Bolson de Mapimi and the mountains of
Chanate and Organos on the left bank of the Rio del Norte.
Other tribes of Apaches, under the name of Indies de la Paz,
are attached to the soil and cultivate fields of maize. The
Cumanches and the numerous tribes of Chichimecas, equally
barbarous, are comprehended by the Spaniards under the
vague name of Mecos. Like the Patagonians, they tSane
the horses which here run wild in their plains and infest the
peacable inhabitants of New Biscay. It is only to the westward
of the Cordillera that the traces of h igh e r culture can
be discovered, and there only in particular spots.
At the northern extremity of the Gulf of California the
two great rivers, the Rio Gila and the Rio Colorado, fall by.
one estuary into the sea. The Gila flows in a south-westerly
direction from the Cordillera; the Colorado, of which the
Yaquesilais a tributary, arises from a source further towards
the north. The intendancy of Sonora occupies, as we have
observed, nearly all the country lying between the Cordillera
and the Californian Gulf, and reaches northwards from Gua-
dalaxara almost to the River Gila. This country is estimated
by Humboldt as equal to the half of France. It is divided
into three provinces; Sinaloa, Ostemary, and Sonora, proper.
Its three principal rivers, not including the Gila, which is not
within the intendancy, are the Culiacan, the Mayo, and the
Yaqui or Sonora. Pimeria is the most northern portion of
the province. To the southward of the Rio Gila, at the
distance of one league, are the ruins of the Casas Grandes.
Father Francis Garces, accompanied by Father Font, entrusted
with the observations of latitude, here discovered in the midst
BORDER on NORTH AMERICA. 423
of a vast and beautiful plain the ruins of an ancient Aztec
city, in the midst of which is the. edifice called Casa Grande,
or the “ Great House.”* This bqildiqgfe 445 feet in length,
and 27Q in breadth, and has three stories and a terrace : the
walls(are of clay. A wall, interrupted by large towers, surrounds
the principal edifice. This was .supposed by Clavigero
to have been tl^e second of the. stations in the march of, the
Aztecas-h The first station,, or that of the fabulous lakes pf
Aztec historians, is placed in a populous^ Indiana village in the
territory of the Moqui, traversed by the Rio Yaquesila, with
wejtl-people^. I ;udian village^,, with two ^public squares and
houses, of several stories and streets with parallel.lines. The
natives of this country, near^ winch the Yaqppgila flows, have
long beards like the Ainos _ or inhabitants of Tarakai in
Easfern Asia. They are- called Yabipais,; thensf language
differs essentially from the, Aztqpaq. The. Mpqui reside in
towns aqd villages containing two or threa thousand inhabitants.
They are clpthed, and their houses haye^seyeyal stories
an<f terraeps. and are said to be constructed in the samp
manner:( ao the Casas ^Grandes and. . aheiept
. . Within the proyin^s %Bjnalpa and Sohorq a great number
of native, tribes are found .whose langiiages diner among them-
selyes. -They are enumerated by vater according to Tuè information
furnished by the missionaries. Ribas, assures us
that all the languages of Sinaloa .coi^ip jnapV words re-
sprphjng the Mexican^ Of sgch jwor^ .says, that he-
cpuld. furnish a long, list. These languages, howeyer? differ
in grammatical structure from the iVztecan.§ ^
Mr. Gallatin says, that no-trachpf the language
has, been discovered in any part of the r^fqn intervening
* Among thëse 'ruins remains1 Of ^oreeMitiiarfd tóofcilgiglasses of lobsid ian
have been: found is ithe buildings corafea%ifd
Cyt, ÉMmÉMÉtei bo<?k M ,
J*. The Mexican hi^tomps pl|c.§ the, first s|atijtiy of on theb®Uks
of two lakes, perhaps fabulous, or T esuayb an dp Timpanogos.. The %econd
station is lüpposea to cOificSiae witn'tKe O&SaS urahdfes.1 SeéwöfiTïiimböldt’s
ih tbé^ew-’C/öntifteiit; $&$$$&$
v./
g § Compare ¥^ter,'Tb.4. p, 143 ï an ^S umwIBPolit. Essay, vol. i. p.13-1.