sitors. These
Indians no longer fear attacks from the savage Apache or Navajo,
but they have become so used to their rock fortresses that it is
not likely they will soon. leave them. The Navajos now live in
peace and raise large herds of sheep and goats; while the more
savage Apaches have been gathered upon reservations, never more
to go upon the war-path. Most of the Apaches still live in their
rude brush habitations.

[Illustration: FIG. 80.--NAVAJO WOMAN WEAVING A BLANKET]

While the Pueblo Indians make attractive pottery, the Navajos are
noted for their blankets. The wool, which is taken from their herds,
is dyed different colors, and woven upon their simple looms into
the most beautiful and costly blankets.

We usually think of the native inhabitants of America as leading a
wild and rude life, moving from place to place in search of food,
and constantly engaged in warfare with one another. The Pueblo
Indians alone are different. Possibly if the white man had never
come to America these Indians might in time have become highly
civilized. But it is more than likely that in their struggle with
Nature in this wild and rugged country, where they were constantly
subjected to attacks from their more savage neighbors, they would
have sunk lower instead of rising, and would finally have disappeared.

The Apaches were dreaded alike by the agricultural Indians and the
early Spanish. Issuing from their mountain fastnesses the Apaches
would raid the unprotected villages and missions, and then retreat as
quickly as they came. For many years after the American occupation
prospectors had to be constantly on their guard, and many are the
tragedies that have marked this remote corner of our country.

THE LIFE OF THE DESERT

During the blinding glare of summer the deserts of southwestern
Arizona and the adjoining portions of California are forbidding
in the extreme. Day after day the pitiless sun pours its heat upon
the vast stretches of barren mountain and plain, until the rocks
are baked brown and it seems as if every particle of life must
have left the seared and motionless plants.

Month after month passes without rain. Now and then light clouds
float into sight, and occasionally rain can be seen falling from
them, but they are so high that the drops all disappear in the dry
and thirsty air long before they can reach the ground. Cloud-bursts
may take place about the peaks of some of the higher mountains, but
they