The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

WOMEN AMONG THE PUEBLOS.

Among the Pueblos the usual order of courtship is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry she does not wait for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her own liking and consults her father, who visits the parents of the youth and acquaints them with his daughter's wishes. It seldom happens that any objections to the match are made, but it is imperative on the father of the bridegroom to reimburse the parents of the maiden for the loss of their daughter. This is done by an offer of presents in accordance with his rank and wealth. The inhabitants of one village seldom marry with those of another, and, as a consequence, intermarriage is frequent among these families – a fertile cause of their deterioration. The marriage is always celebrated by a feast, the provisions for which are furnished by the bride, and the assembled friends unite in dancing and music. Polygamy is never allowed, but married couples can separate if they are dissatisfied with each other; in such a contingency, if there are children, they are taken care of by the grandparents, and both parties are free to marry again; fortunately, divorces are not of frequent occurrence, as the wives are always treated with respect by their husbands.836 To the female falls all indoor work, and also a large share of that to be done out of doors. In the treatment of their children these people are careful to guide them in the ways of honesty and industry, and to impress their minds with chaste and virtuous ideas. Mothers bathe their infants with cold water, and boys are not permitted to enter the estufas for the purpose of warming themselves; if they are cold they are ordered to chop wood, or warm themselves by running and exercise.837 A girl's arrival at the age of puberty among the Gila nations is a period of much rejoicing; when the first symptoms appear, all her friends are duly informed of the important fact, and preparations are made to celebrate the joyful event. The girl is taken by her parents to the prophet, who performs certain ceremonies, which are supposed to drive the evil out of her, and then a singing and dancing festival is held. When a young man sees a girl whom he desires for a wife, he first endeavors to gain the good will of the parents; this accomplished, he proceeds to serenade his lady-love, and will often sit for hours, day after day, near her house, playing on his flute. Should the girl not appear it is a sign she rejects him; but if, on the other hand, she comes out to meet him, he knows that his suit is accepted, and he takes her to his house. No marriage ceremony is performed. Among the Pápagos the parents select a husband for their daughter to whom she is, so to say, sold. It not unfrequently happens that they offer their daughter at auction, and she is knocked down to the highest bidder. However, among all the nations of this family, whether the bridegroom makes a love-match or not, he has to recompense the parents with as much as his means will permit.838 Although polygamy is not permitted, they often separate and marry again at pleasure. Women, at the time of their confinement as well as during their monthly periods, must live apart; as they believe that if any male were to touch them, he would become sick. The children are trained to war, and but little attention given to teaching them useful pursuits. All the household labor is performed by the women; they also assist largely in the labors of the field; severe laws oblige them to observe the strictest chastity, and yet, at their festivals, much debauchery and prostitution take place.839

With but few exceptions, they are temperate in drinking and smoking. Intoxicating liquors they prepare out of the fruits of the pitahaya, agave, aloe, corn, mezcal, prickly pear, wild and cultivated grapes. Colonel Cremony says that the Pimas and Maricopas 'macerate the fruit of the pitahaya (species of cactus) in water after being dried in the sun, when the saccharine qualities cause the liquid to ferment, and after such fermentation it becomes highly intoxicating. It is upon this liquor that the Maricopas and Pimas get drunk once a year, the revelry continuing for a week or two at a time; but it is also an universal custom with them to take regular turns, so that only one third of the party is supposed to indulge at one time, the remainder being required to take care of their stimulated comrades, and protect them from injuring each other or being injured by other tribes.'840 All are fond of dancing and singing; in their religious rites, as well as in other public and family celebrations, these form the chief diversion. Different PUEBLO DANCES. dances are used on different occasions; for example, they have the arrow, scalp, turtle, fortune, buffalo, green-corn, and Montezuma dances. Their costumes also vary on each of these occasions, and not only are grotesque masks, but also elk, bear, fox, and other skins used as disguises. The dance is sometimes performed by only one person, but more frequently whole tribes join in, forming figures, shuffling, or hopping about to the time given by the music. Lieutenant Simpson, who witnessed a green-corn dance at the Jemez pueblo, describes it as follows:

'When the performers first appeared, all of whom were men, they came in a line, slowly walking and bending and stooping as they approached. They were dressed in a kirt of blanket, the upper portion of their bodies being naked and painted red. Their legs and arms, which were also bare, were variously striped with red, white and blue colors; and around their arms, above the elbow, they wore a green band, decked with sprigs of piñon. A necklace of the same description was worn around the neck. Their heads were decorated with feathers. In one hand they carried a dry gourd, containing some grains of corn; in the other, a string from which were hung several tortillas. At the knee were fastened small shells of the ground turtle and antelope's feet; and dangling from the back, at the waist, depended a fox-skin. The party was accompanied by three elders of the town, whose business it was to make a short speech in front of the different houses, and, at particular times, join in the singing of the rest of the party. Thus they went from house to house, singing and dancing, the occupants of each awaiting their arrival in front of their respective dwellings.'

A somewhat similar Moqui dance is described by Mr Ten Broeck. Some of the Pueblo dances end with bacchanalia, in which not only general intoxication, but promiscuous intercourse between the sexes is permitted.841 'Once a year,' says Kendall, 'the Keres have a great feast, prepared for three successive days, which time is spent in eating, drinking and dancing. Near this scene of amusement is a dismal gloomy cave, into which not a glimpse of light can penetrate, and where places of repose are provided for the revellers. To this cave, after dark, repair grown persons of every age and sex, who pass the night in indulgences of the most gross and sensual description.'

Reed flutes and drums are their chief instruments of music; the former they immerse in a shallow basin of water, and thereby imitate the warbling of birds. The drum is made of a hollow log, about two and a half feet long and fifteen inches in diameter. A dried hide, from which previously the hair has been scraped, is stretched over either end, and on this the player beats with a couple of drumsticks, similar to those used on our kettle-drums. Gourds filled with pebbles and other rattles, are also used as a musical accompaniment to their dances.842

CUSTOMS OF PIMAS AND PÁPAGOS.

The Cocomaricopas and Pimas are rather fond of athletic sports, such as football, horse and foot racing, swimming, target-shooting, and of gambling.843 Many curious customs obtain among these people. Mr Walker relates that a Pima never touches his skin with his nails, but always uses a small stick for that purpose, which he renews every fourth day, and wears in his hair. Among the same nation, when a man has killed an Apache, he must needs undergo purification. Sixteen days he must fast, and only after the fourth day is he allowed to drink a little pinole. During the sixteen days he may not look on a blazing fire, nor hold converse with mortal man; he must live in the woods companionless, save only one person appointed to take care of him. On the seventeenth day a large space is cleared off near the village, in the center of which a fire is lighted. The men form a circle round this fire, outside of which those who have been purified sit, each in a small excavation. Certain of the old men then take the weapons of the purified and dance with them in the circle; for which service they receive presents, and thenceforth both slayer and weapon are considered clean, but not until four days later is the man allowed to return to his family. They ascribe the origin of this custom to a mythical personage, called Szeukha, who, after killing a monster, is said to have fasted for sixteen days.

The Pápagos stand in great dread of the coyote, and the Pimas never touch an ant, snake, scorpion, or spider, and are much afraid of thunderstorms. Like the Mojaves and Yumas, the Maricopas in cold weather carry a firebrand to warm themselves withal. In like manner the Pueblos have their singularities and semi-religious ceremonies, many of which are connected with a certain mythical personage called Montezuma. Among these may be mentioned the perpetual watching of the eternal estufa-fire, and also the daily waiting for the rising sun, with which, as some writers affirm, they expectantly look for the promised return of the much-loved Montezuma. The Moqui, before commencing to smoke, reverently bows toward the four cardinal points.844

Their diseases are few; and among these the most frequent are chills and fevers, and later, syphilis. The Pueblos and Moquis resort to the sweat-house remedy, but the Pimas only bathe daily in cold running water. Here, as elsewhere, the doctor is medicine-man, conjuror, and prophet, and at times old women are consulted. If incantations fail, emetics, purgatives, or blood-letting are prescribed.845

The Pimas bury their dead immediately after death. At the bottom of a shaft, about six feet deep, they excavate a vault, in which the corpse is placed, after having first been tied up in a blanket. House, horses, and most personal effects are destroyed; but if children are left, a little property is reserved for them. A widow or a daughter mourns for three months, cutting the hair and abstaining from the bath during that time. The Maricopas burn their dead. Pueblo and Moqui burials take place with many ceremonies, the women being the chief mourners.846

CHARACTER OF THE PUEBLOS.

Industrious, honest, and peace-loving, the people of this division are at the same time brave and determined, when necessity compels them to repel the thieving Apache. Sobriety may be ranked among their virtues, as drunkenness only forms a part of certain religious festivals, and in their gambling they are the most moderate of barbarians.847

The Lower Californians present a sad picture. Occupying the peninsula from the head of the gulf to Cape San Lucas, it is thought by some that they were driven thither from Upper California by their enemies. When first visited by the Missionary Fathers, they presented humanity in one of its lowest phases, though evidences of a more enlightened people having at some previous time occupied the peninsula were not lacking. Clavigero describes large caves or vaults, which had been dug out of the solid rock, the sides decorated with paintings of animals and figures of men, showing dress and features different from any of the inhabitants. Whom they represented or by whom they were depicted there is no knowledge, as the present race have been unable to afford any information on the subject.

LOWER CALIFORNIA.

The peninsula extends from near 32° to 23° north latitude; in length it is about seven hundred, varying in width from thirty-five to eighty miles. Its general features are rugged; irregular mountains of granite formation and volcanic upheavals traversing the whole length of the country, with barren rocks and sandy plains, intersected by ravines and hills. Some fertile spots and valleys with clear mountain streams are there, and in such places the soil produces abundantly; then there are plains of greater or less extent, with rich soil, but without water; so that, under the circumstances, they are little more than deserts. These plains rise in places into mesas, which are cut here and there by cañons, where streams of water are found, which are again lost on reaching the sandy plains. Altogether, Lower California is considered as one of the most barren and unattractive regions in the temperate zone, although its climate is delightful, and the mountain districts especially are among the healthiest in the world, owing to their southern situation between two seas. A curious meteorological phenomenon is sometimes observed both in the gulf and on the land; it is that of rain falling during a perfectly clear sky. Savants, who have investigated the subject, do not appear to have discovered the cause of this unusual occurrence.

The greater part of the peninsula, at the time of its discovery, was occupied by the Cochimís, whose territory extended from the head of the gulf to the neighborhood of Loreto, or a little south of the twenty-sixth parallel; adjoining them were the Guaicuris, living between latitude 26° and 23° 30´; while the Pericúis were settled in the southern part, from about 23° 30´ or 24° to Cape San Lucas, and on the adjacent islands.848

The Lower Californians are well formed, robust and of good stature, with limbs supple and muscular; they are not inclined to corpulence; their features are somewhat heavy, the forehead low and narrow, the nose well set on, but thick and fleshy; the inner corners of the eyes round instead of pointed; teeth very white and regular, hair very black, coarse, straight, and glossy, with but little on the face, and none upon the body or limbs. The color of the skin varies from light to dark brown, the former color being characteristic of the dwellers in the interior, and the latter of those on the sea-coast.849

COCHIMÍ AND PERICÚI DRESS.

Adam without the fig-leaves was not more naked than were the Cochimís before the missionaries first taught them the rudiments of shame. They ignored even the usual breech-cloth, the only semblance of clothing being a head-dress of rushes or strips of skin interwoven with mother-of-pearl shells, berries, and pieces of reed. The Guaicuris and Pericúis indulge in a still more fantastic head-dress, white feathers entering largely into its composition. The women display more modesty, for, although scantily clad, they at least essay to cover their nakedness. The Pericúi women are the best dressed of all, having a petticoat reaching from the waist to the ankles, made from the fibre of certain palm-leaves, and rendered soft and flexible by beating between two stones. Over the shoulders they throw a mantle of similar material, or of plaited rushes, or of skins. The Cochimí women make aprons of short reeds, strung upon cords of aloe-plant fibres fastened to a girdle. The apron is open at the sides, one part hanging in front, the other behind. As they are not more than six or eight inches wide, but little of the body is in truth covered. When traveling they wear sandals of hide, which they fasten with strings passed between the toes.850 Both sexes are fond of ornaments; to gratify this passion, they string together pearls, shells, fruit-stones and seeds in the forms of necklaces and bracelets. In addition to the head-dress the Pericúis are distinguished by a girdle highly ornamented with pearls and mother-of-pearl shells. They perforate ears, lips, and nose, inserting in the openings, shells, bones, or hard sticks. Paint in many colors and devices is freely used on war and gala occasions; tattooing obtains, but does not appear to be universal among them. Mothers, to protect them against the weather, cover the entire bodies of their children with a varnish of coal and urine. Cochimí women cut the hair short, but the men allow a long tuft to grow on the crown of the head. Both sexes among the Guaicuris and Pericúis wear the hair long and flowing loosely over the shoulders.851

Equally Adamitic are their habitations. They appear to hold a superstitious dread of suffocation if they live or sleep in covered huts; hence in their rare and meagre attempts to protect themselves from the inclemencies of the weather, they never put any roof over their heads. Roving beast-like in the vicinity of springs during the heat of the day, seeking shade in the ravines and overhanging rocks; at night, should they desire shelter, they resort to caverns and holes in the ground. During winter they raise a semi-circular pile of stones or brushwood, about two feet in height, behind which, with the sky for a roof and the bare ground for a bed, they camp at night. Over the sick they sometimes throw a wretched hut, by sticking a few poles in the ground, tying them at the top and covering the whole with grass and reeds, and into this nest visitors crawl on hands and knees.852

LOWER CALIFORNIAN FOOD.

Reed-roots, wild fruit, pine-nuts, cabbage-palms, small seeds roasted, and also roasted aloe and mescal roots constitute their food. During eight weeks of the year they live wholly on the redundant fat-producing pitahaya, after which they wander about in search of other native vegetable products, and when these fail they resort to hunting and fishing. Of animal food they will eat anything – beasts, birds, and fishes, or reptiles, worms, and insects; and all parts: flesh, hide, and entrails. Men and monkeys, however, as articles of food are an abomination; the latter because they so much resemble the former. The gluttony and improvidence of these people exceed, if possible, those of any other nation; alternate feasting and fasting is their custom. When so fortunate as to have plenty they consume large quantities, preserving none. An abominable habit is related of them, that they pick up the undigested seeds of the pitahaya discharged from their bowels, and after parching and grinding them, eat the meal with much relish. Clavigero, Baegert, and other authors, mention another rather uncommon feature in the domestic economy of the Cochimís; it is that of swallowing their meat several times, thereby multiplying their gluttonous pleasures. Tying to a string a piece of well-dried meat, one of their number masticates it a little, and swallows it, leaving the end of the string hanging out of the mouth; after retaining it for about two or three minutes in his stomach, it is pulled out, and the operation repeated several times, either by the same individual or by others, until the meat becomes consumed. Here is Father Baegert's summary of their edibles: "They live now-a-days on dogs and cats; horses, asses and mules; item: on owls, mice and rats; lizards and snakes; bats, grasshoppers and crickets; a kind of green caterpillar without hair, about a finger long, and an abominable white worm of the length and thickness of the thumb."853

Their weapon is the bow and arrow, but they use stratagem to procure the game. The deer-hunter deceives his prey by placing a deer's head upon his own; hares are trapped; the Cochimís throw a kind of boomerang or flat curved stick, which skims the ground and breaks the animal's legs. Fish are taken from pools left by the tide and from the sea, sometimes several miles out, in nets and with the aid of long lances. It is said that at San Roche Island they catch fish with birds. They also gather oysters, which they eat roasted, but use no salt. They have no cooking utensils, but roast their meat by throwing it into the fire and after a time raking it out. Insects and caterpillars are parched over the hot coals in shells. Fish is commonly eaten raw; they drink only water.854 It is said that they never wash, and it is useless to add that in their filthiness they surpass the brutes.855

Besides bows and arrows they use javelins, clubs, and slings of cords, from which they throw stones. Their bows are six feet long, very broad and thick in the middle and tapering toward the ends, with strings made from the intestines of animals. The arrows are reeds about thirty inches in length, into the lower end of which a piece of hard wood is cemented with resin obtained from trees, and pointed with flint sharpened to a triangular shape and serrated at the edges. Javelins are sharpened by first hardening in the fire and then grinding to a point; they are sometimes indented like a saw. Clubs are of different forms, either mallet-head or axe shape; they also crook and sharpen at the edge a piece of wood in the form of a scimeter.856

Their wars, which spring from disputed boundaries, are frequent and deadly, and generally occur about fruit and seed time. The battle is commenced amidst yells and brandishing of weapons, though without any preconcerted plan, and a tumultuous onslaught is made without regularity or discipline, excepting that a certain number are held in reserve to relieve those who have expended their arrows or become exhausted. While yet at a distance they discharge their arrows, but soon rush forward and fight at close quarters with their clubs and spears; nor do they cease till many on both sides have fallen.857

IMPLEMENTS IN LOWER CALIFORNIA.

Their implements and household utensils are both rude and few. Sharp flints serve them instead of knives; a bone ground to a point answers the purpose of a needle or an awl; and with a sharp-pointed stick roots are dug. Fire is obtained in the usual way from two pieces of wood. When traveling, water is carried in a large bladder. The shell of the turtle is applied to various uses, such as a receptacle for food and a cradle for infants.

The Lower Californians have little ingenuity, and their display of mechanical skill is confined to the manufacture of the aforesaid implements, weapons of war, and of the chase; they make some flat baskets of wicker work, which are used in the collection of seeds and fruits; also nets from the fibre of the aloe, one in which to carry provisions, and another fastened to a forked stick and hung upon the back, in which to carry children.858

For boats the inhabitants of the peninsula construct rafts of reeds made into bundles and bound tightly together; they are propelled with short paddles, and seldom are capable of carrying more than one person. In those parts where trees grow a more serviceable canoe is made from bark, and sometimes of three or more logs, not hollowed out, but laid together side by side and made fast with withes or pita-fibre cords. These floats are buoyant, the water washing over them as over a catamaran. On them two or more men will proceed fearlessly to sea, to a distance of several miles from the coast. To transport their chattels across rivers, they use wicker-work baskets, which are so closely woven as to be quite impermeable to water; these, when loaded, are pushed across by the owner, who swims behind.859

Besides their household utensils and boats, and the feathers or ornaments on their persons, I find no other property. They who dwell on the sea-coast occasionally travel inland, carrying with them sea-shells and feathers to barter with their neighbors for the productions of the interior.860

They are unable to count more than five, and this number is expressed by one hand; some few among them are able to understand that two hands signify ten, but beyond this they know nothing of enumeration, and can only say much or many, or show that the number is beyond computation, by throwing sand into the air and such like antics. The year is divided into six seasons; the first is called Mejibo, which is midsummer, and the time of ripe pitahayas; the second season Amaddappi, a time of further ripening of fruits and seeds; the third Amadaappigalla, the end of autumn and beginning of winter; the fourth, which is the coldest season, is called Majibel; the fifth, when spring commences, is Majiben; the sixth, before any fruits or seeds have ripened, consequently the time of greatest scarcity, is called Majiibenmaaji.861

Neither government nor law is found in this region; every man is his own master, and administers justice in the form of vengeance as best he is able. As Father Baegert remarks: 'The different tribes represented by no means communities of rational beings, who submit to laws and regulations and obey their superiors, but resembled far more herds of wild swine, which run about according to their own liking, being together to-day and scattered to-morrow, till they meet again by accident at some future time. In one word, the Californians lived, salva venia, as though they had been free-thinkers and materialists.' In hunting and war they have one or more chiefs to lead them, who are selected only for the occasion, and by reason of superior strength or cunning.862