vehicles, neither iron, steel, nor copper implements; and yet they built
houses more than five stories high, and cut joists with stone axes.

How they transported timbers for houses is not known. The engineering
for their irrigating canals was as perfect as that practiced on the
Euphrates, the Ganges, or the Nile. The ruins of the great houses (casas
grandes) are precisely with the cardinal points.

Near Florence, on the Gila, is beyond all doubt the oldest and most
unique edifice in the United States. Just when and how it was built
baffles human curiosity. Whether it was erected for a temple, a palace,
or a town hall, cannot be ascertained. The settlement or city
surrounding the ruin must have occupied a radius of quite ten miles,
judging from the ruins and pieces of broken pottery within that space.
An irrigating canal formerly ran from the Gila River to the city or
settlement, for domestic uses and for irrigation.

The Pima Indians have lived in their villages on the Gila River time
immemorial, at least they have no tradition of the time of their coming.
Their tribal organization has many features worthy imitation by more
civilized people. The government rests with a hereditary chief and a
council of sages. The rights of property are protected, as far as they
have any individual property, which is small, as they are in fact
communists. The water from the Gila River to irrigate their lands is
obtained by canals constructed by the common labor of the tribe.

In my intercourse with these Indians for many years they frequently
asked questions which would puzzle, the most profound philosopher to
answer. For instance, they inquired, "Who made the world and everything
therein?"