Most sick people who are in need of a change live in a humid
atmosphere where the winters are extremely cold and the summers
uncomfortably hot, and to be benefited by a change must seek a
climate in which the opposite conditions prevail. The climate of
the southwest furnishes just what such invalids require. The
sick who need cold or damp weather, if there be any such, can be
accommodated almost anywhere, but those who want a warm, dry
climate must go where it can be found. Not every invalid who
goes in search of health finds a cure, as many who start on such
a journey are already past help when they leave home. When a
case is hopeless the patient should not undertake such a trip,
but remain quietly at home and die in peace among friends.
As already intimated the climate of the Colorado basin is ideal
in winter, but becomes very hot in summer. Its low altitude,
rainless days, cloudless skies and balmy air form a combination
that is unsurpassed and is enjoyed by all either sick or well.
The heat of summer does not create sickness, but becomes
monotonous and tiresome from its steady and long continuance.
Many residents of the Territory who tire of the heat and can
afford the trip take a vacation during the summer months and
either go north to the Grand Canon and the mountains or to the
Pacific Coast. Every summer witnesses a hegira of sun baked
people fleeing from the hot desert to the mountains or ocean
shore in search of coolness and comfort.
Life in the tropics, perhaps, inclines to indolence and languor,
particularly if the atmosphere is humid, but in a dry climate
like that of Arizona the heat, although sometimes great, is never
oppressive or debilitating. It has its lazy people like any
other country and for the same reason that there are always some
who were born tired and never outgrow the tired feeling, but
Arizona climate is more bracing than enervating.
The adobe house of the Mexican is a peculiar institution of the
southwest. It may be interesting on account of its past history,
but it is certainly not pretty. It is nothing more than a box
of dried mud with its roof, walls and floor all made of dirt. It
is never free from a disagreeable earthy smell which, if mingled
with the added odors of stale smoke and filth, as is often the
case, makes the air simply vile. The house can never be kept
tidy because of the dirt which falls from the adobe, unless the
walls and ceilings are plastered and whitewashed, which is
sometimes done in the better class of houses. If the house is
well built it is comfortable enough in pleasant weather, but as
often as it rains the dirt roof springs a leak and splashes water
and mud over everything. If by chance the house stands on low
ground and is surrounded by water, as sometimes happens, after a
heavy rain the walls become soaked and dissolved into mud when
the house collapses. The adobe house may have been suited to the
wants of a primitive people, but in the present age of
improvement, it is scarcely worth saving except it be as a relic
of a vanishing race.
In order to escape in a measure the discomforts of the midday
heat the natives either seek the shade in the open air where the
breeze blows, or, what is more common, close up tight the adobe
house in the morning and remain indoors until the intense heat
from the scorching sun penetrates the thick walls, which causes
the inmates to move out. In the cool of the evening they visit
and transact business and when the hour comes for retiring go to
bed on cots made up out of doors where they sleep until morning,
while the house is left open to cool off during the night. This
process is repeated every day during the hot summer months and is
endured without complaint.
The natives, also, take advantage of the dry air to operate a
novel method of refrigeration. The cloth covered army canteen
soaked in water and the handy water jug of the eastern harvest
field wrapped in a wet blanket are familiar examples of an
ineffectual attempt at refrigeration by evaporation. But natural
refrigeration find its best illustration in the arid regions of
the southwest by the use of an olla, which is a vessel made of
porous pottery, a stout canvas bag or a closely woven Indian
basket. A suitable vessel is selected, filled with water and
suspended somewhere in midair in the shade. If it is hung in a
current of air it is all the better, as any movement of the
atmosphere facilitates evaporation. A slow seepage of water
filters through the open pores of the vessel which immediately
evaporates in the dry air and lowers the temperature. The water
in the olla soon becomes cold and if properly protected will
remain cool during the entire day.
The dry air also acts as a valuable preservative. During the
winter, when the weather is cool but not freezing, if fresh meat
is hung out in the open air, it will keep sweet a long time. A
dry crust soon forms upon its surface which hermetically seals
the meat from the air and keeps it perfectly sweet. In the
summer it is necessary to dry the meat more quickly to keep it
from spoiling. It is then made into "jerky" by cutting it into
long, thin strips and hanging them up in the sun to dry.
