CHAPTER XVI.
AMONG THE APACHES, NAVAJOES, AND ZUNI INDIANS OF TEXAS, ARIZONA, AND NEW MEXICO.
Shortly after the great tide of emigration had swept into California,
yet another vast tract of country, that now known under the several
titles of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, was annexed to the United
States. We have already visited these districts in the company of various
early heroes, chiefly missionary; but in the adventures of Cozens, as related
in his Marvelous Country, we find so many vivid pictures of the life
of the wild inhabitants at the present day, that we propose supplementing
our record of discovery by a short abstract of his travels.
Cozens left Merilla, a town of Mexico, in company with three other gentlemen and a few servants, in June, 1858, with the intention of visiting first the copper mines of Santa Rita del Cobre, on the Rio Mimbres, and thence making his way into Arizona. Simple as this programme appears, its execution was fraught with great difficulty, owing to the hostility of the Apaches, a wild native race inhabiting the mountain fastnesses of the north of Spanish America.
The party were riding happily along, after a careful examination of the mines, when the mule ridden by Mr. Laws showed signs of uneasiness. "There are evidently Indians near," said Cozens; to which Dr. Steck, a second of his companions, replied, "If there are, they know better than to attack their Great Father," the name by which he was himself called by the savages, among whom he had long been working. He was wrong! A few minutes later, a small cañon, or pass, was entered, with lofty rugged rocks on either side; and when retreat was impossible, the war-whoop of the Apaches suddenly rang out from above, and, echoing from side to side, filled every heart with horror.
A moment's pause, and then, spurring on their mules, the travelers endeavored to reach the mouth of the cañon, but, alas! even as they gained it, an arrow struck Laws in the back. He fell from the saddle dead, and
