The Mayo towns are Santa Cruz, in the mouth of the river Mayo, which contains nearly ten thousand inhabitants, Echajoa Curimpo, Nabajoa, Tuia, and Camoa; the whole are on the southern bank of the river Mayo, and they contain altogether a population of sixty thousand souls. These Indians are excellent labourers and miners;[1] and besides those who live in the country above described, thousands are scattered through all Upper Sonora, in the towns, on the estates, and in those mines which are worked. They are a dark brown race, tall and well made, entirely in a state of nature, and they possess the finest country and climate in all Sonora. They go nearly naked, only using a piece of cotton, which they throw round the loins, or a small blanket. Their weapons are the bow and arrow, but they do not point them, and are quite inoffensive. The Yaqui is naturally docile; their chief is a general by title, named Cienfurgos, (or one hundred fires.) He is a very intelligent good man, and took great pains to explain to me the character of the people, the situation of the towns, their population, and distance from each other.
The Governor, Don Simon Elias, informed me likewise, that in the great plains between the rivers Mayo and Yaqui, are large lakes, which, at the rainy season, overflow the country, and leave behind a slippery black mud, which produces a most luxurious pasturage, abounding in an infinite variety of herbs. He described a bean as being very abundant, which agrees with the vanilla. He is a man of undoubted veracity, and explored, with his troops, the whole country in the end of 1825.
The road from Alamos to El Fuerte is excellent for coaches, and the distance twenty-four leagues; the direction a little to the southward of east. The country is almost entirely without population. El Fuerte formerly contained no more than a few scattered houses, but has risen within these three or four last years, to the rank of a considerable town, and is fast increasing. The situation is charming, for El Fuerte is seated upon the southern banks of the river of that name, which is a quarter of a mile in breadth, at an elevation of about thirty yards
- ↑ I do not mean to say, that they are acquainted with mining, but they will move a hill from one side of a river to another, if they are ordered.
