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tour of observation. 
The supplies raised by them however, do not last long and their principal sustenance is the Mesquit[e] bean - both varieties of which are shown in the appended sketch. 
Harvest is a season of rejoicing and is opened by what is called the "Feast of the Corn." Men, women and children meet at a central point and the festivities begin with a general dance lasting from one to three days and nights which is afterward repeated from house to house feasting upon the newly gathered corn all the time. 
Timing themselves with remarkable punctuality the Hual[a]pais, their neighbors, who live principally by hunting in the surrounding mountains, come down at this time and enjoy a sort of forced hospitality which generally leaves the poor Mahhaos with empty larders. 
As if the hungry Hual[a]pais were not enough[,] wandering parties of Maricopas also chose this particular time for friendly visits and between the two but very little of the fruits of toil are left for the toilers whose only salvation is a gradual coming back to the old "stand-by" the Mesquit[e]-bean.
These are gathered in long willow baskets by the squaws in the month of August - at maturity - and stowed away for the winter in a kind of gabion shown in the sketch, a certain number of which are [[ranged??]] side by side in a circle and then covered with sand.
The largest gabion is used in constructing their winter dwellings, or huts, and is rendered necessary by the sandy nature of the soil upon which their villages stand.
A hole some three feet deep and of suitable dimensions, is dug; the gabions are filled with the displaced soil and used as walls, the whole being rafted over and then thickly covered with soil.