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

MARRIAGE.

Furthermore, they have no marriage ceremony, nor any word in their language to express marriage. Like birds or beasts they pair off according to fancy. The Pericúi takes as many women as he pleases, makes them work for him as slaves, and when tired of any one of them turns her away, in which case she may not be taken by another. Some form of courtship appears to have obtained among the Guaicuris; for example, when a young man saw a girl who pleased him, he presented her with a small bowl or basket made of the pita-fibre; if she accepted the gift, it was an evidence that his suit was agreeable to her, and in return she gave him an ornamented head-dress, the work of her own hand; then they lived together without further ceremony. Although among the Guaicuris and Cochimís some hold a plurality of wives, it is not so common as with the Pericúis, for in the two first-mentioned tribes there are more men than women. A breach of female chastity is sometimes followed by an attempt of the holder of the woman to kill the offender; yet morality never attained any great height, as it is a practice with them for different tribes to meet occasionally for the purpose of holding indiscriminate sexual intercourse. Childbirth is easy; the Pericúis and Guaicuris wash the body of the newly born, then cover it with ashes; as the child grows it is placed on a frame-work of sticks, and if a male, on its chest they fix a bag of sand to prevent its breasts growing like a woman's, which they consider a deformity. For a cradle the Cochimís take a forked stick or bend one end of a long pole in the form of a hoop, and fix thereto a net, in which the infant is placed and covered with a second net. It can thus be carried over the shoulder, or when the mother wishes to be relieved, the end of the pole is stuck in the ground, and nourishment given the child through the meshes of the net. When old enough the child is carried astride on its mother's shoulders. As soon as children are able to get food for themselves, they are left to their own devices, and it sometimes happens that when food is scarce the child is abandoned, or killed by its parents.863

LOWER CALIFORNIAN FEAST.

Nevertheless, these miserables delight in feasts, and in the gross debauchery there openly perpetrated. Unacquainted with intoxicating liquors, they yet find drunkenness in the fumes of a certain herb smoked through a stone tube, and used chiefly during their festivals. Their dances consist of a series of gesticulations and jumpings, accompanied by inarticulate murmurings and yells. One of their great holidays is the pitahaya season, when, with plenty to eat, they spend days and nights in amusements; at such times feats of strength and trials of speed take place. The most noted festival among the Cochimís occurs upon the occasion of their annual distribution of skins. To the women especially it was an important and enjoyable event. Upon an appointed day all the people collected at a designated place. In an arbor constructed with branches, the road to which was carpeted with the skins of wild animals that had been killed during the year, their most skillful hunters assembled; they alone were privileged to enter the arbor, and in their honor was already prepared a banquet and pipes of wild tobacco. The viands went round as also the pipe, and, in good time, the partakers became partially intoxicated by the smoke; then one of the priests or sorcerers, arrayed in his robe of ceremony, appeared at the entrance to the arbor, and made a speech to the people, in which he recounted the deeds of the hunters. Then the occupants of the arbor came out and made a repartition of the skins among the women; this finished, dancing and singing commenced and continued throughout the night. It sometimes happened that their festivals ended in fighting and bloodshed, as they were seldom conducted without debauchery, especially among the Guaicuris and Pericúis.864

When they have eaten their fill they pass their time in silly or obscene conversation, or in wrestling, in which sports the women often take a part. They are very adroit in tracking wild beasts to their lairs and taming them. At certain festivals their sorcerers, who were called by some quamas, by others cusiyaes, wore long robes of skins, ornamented with human hair; these sages filled the offices of priests and medicine-men, and threatened their credulous brothers with innumerable ills and death, unless they supplied them with provisions. These favored of heaven professed to hold communication with oracles, and would enter caverns and wooded ravines, sending thence doleful sounds, to frighten the people, who were by such tricks easily imposed upon and led to believe in their deceits and juggleries.865

As to ailments, Lower Californians are subject to consumption, burning fevers, indigestion, and cutaneous diseases. Small pox, measles, and syphilis, the last imported by troops, have destroyed numberless lives. Wounds inflicted by the bites of venomous reptiles may be added to the list of troubles. Loss of appetite is with them, generally, a symptom of approaching death. They submit resignedly to the treatment prescribed by their medicine-men, however severe or cruel it may be. They neglect their aged invalids, refusing them attendance if their last sickness proves too long, and recovery appears improbable. In several instances they have put an end to the patient by suffocation or otherwise.866

Diseases are treated externally by the application of ointments, plasters, and fomentations of medicinal herbs, particularly the wild tobacco. Smoke is also a great panacea, and is administered through a stone tube placed on the suffering part. The usual juggleries attend the practice of medicine. In extreme cases they attempt to draw with their fingers the disease from the patient's mouth. If the sick person has a child or sister, they cut its or her little finger of the right hand, and let the blood drop on the diseased part. Bleeding with a sharp stone and whipping the affected part with nettles, or applying ants to it, are among the remedies used. For the cure of tumors, the medicine-men burst and suck them with their lips until blood is drawn. Internal diseases are treated with cold-water baths. The means employed by the medicine-man are repeated by the members of the patient's family and by his friends. In danger even the imitation of death startles them. If an invalid is pronounced beyond recovery, and he happens to slumber, they immediately arouse him with blows on the head and body, for the purpose of preserving life.867

DEATH AND BURIAL IN LOWER CALIFORNIA.

Death is followed by a plaintive, mournful chant, attended with howling by friends and relatives, who beat their heads with sharp stones until blood flows freely. Without further ceremony they either inter or burn the body immediately, according to the custom of the locality: in the latter case they leave the head intact. Oftentimes they bury or burn the body before life has actually left it, never taking pains to ascertain the fact.868

Weapons and other personal effects are buried or burned with the owner; and in some localities, where burying is customary, shoes are put to the feet, so that the spiritualized body may be prepared for its journey. In Colechá and Guajamina mourning ceremonies are practiced certain days after death – juggleries – in which the priest pretends to hold converse with the departed spirit through the scalp of the deceased, commending the qualities of the departed, and concluding by asking on the spirit's behalf that all shall cut off their hair as a sign of sorrow. After a short dance, more howling, hair-pulling, and other ridiculous acts, the priest demands provisions for the spirit's journey, which his hearers readily contribute, and which the priest appropriates to his own use, telling them it has already started. Occasionally they honor the memory of their dead by placing a rough image of the departed on a high pole, and a quama or priest sings his praises.869

The early missionaries found the people of the peninsula kind-hearted and tractable, although dull of comprehension and brutal in their instincts, rude, narrow-minded, and inconstant. A marked difference of character is observable between the Cochimís and the Pericúis. The former are more courteous in their manners and better behaved; although cunning and thievish, they exhibit attachment and gratitude to their superiors; naturally indolent and addicted to childish pursuits and amusements, they lived among themselves in amity, directing their savage and revengeful nature against neighboring tribes with whom they were at variance. The Pericúis, before they became extinct, were a fierce and barbarous nation, unruly and brutal in their passions, cowardly, treacherous, false, petulant, and boastful, with an intensely cruel and heartless disposition, often shown in relentless persecutions and murders. In their character and disposition the Guaicuris did not differ essentially from the Pericúis. In the midst of so much darkness there was still one bright spot visible, inasmuch as they were of a cheerful and happy nature, lovers of kind and lovers of country. Isolated, occupying an ill-favored country, it was circumstances, rather than any inherent incapacity for improvement, that held these poor people in their low state; for, as we shall see at some future time, in their intercourse with civilized foreigners, they were not lacking in cunning, diplomacy, selfishness, and other aids to intellectual progress.870

NORTHERN MEXICANS.

The Northern Mexicans, the fourth and last division of this group, spread over the territory lying between parallels 31° and 23° of north latitude. Their lands have an average breadth of about five hundred miles, with an area of some 250,000 square miles, comprising the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, and the northern portions of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas.

Nearly parallel with the Pacific seaboard, and dividing the states of Sonora and Sinaloa from Chihuahua and Durango, runs the great central Cordillera; further to the eastward, passing through Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and San Luis Potosí, and following the shore line of the Mexican Gulf, the Sierra Madre continues in a southerly direction, until it unites with the first-named range at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All of these mountains abound in mineral wealth. The table-land between them is intersected by three ridges; one, the Sierra Mimbres, issuing from the inner flank of the Western Cordillera north of Arispe, extending in a northerly direction and following the line of the Rio Grande. The middle mountainous divide crosses from Durango to Coahuila, while the third rises in the state of Jalisco and taking an easterly and afterward northerly direction, traverses the table-land and merges into the Sierra Madre in the state of San Luis Potosí. On these broad table-lands are numerous lakes fed by the streams which have their rise in the mountains adjacent; in but few spots is the land available for tillage, but it is admirably adapted to pastoral purposes. The climate can hardly be surpassed in its tonic and exhilarating properties; the atmosphere is ever clear, with sunshine by day, and a galaxy of brilliant stars by night; the absence of rain, fogs, and dews, with a delicious and even temperature, renders habitations almost unnecessary. All this vast region is occupied by numerous tribes speaking different languages and claiming distinct origins. Upon the northern seaboard of Sonora and Tiburon Island are the Ceris, Tiburones, and Tepocas; south of them the Cahitas, or Sinaloas, which are general names for the Yaquis and Mayos, tribes so called from the rivers on whose banks they live. In the state of Sinaloa there are also the Cochitas, Tuvares, Sabaibos, Zuaques, and Ahomes, besides many other small tribes. Scattered through the states of the interior are the Ópatas, Eudeves, Jovas, Tarahumares, Tubares, and Tepehuanes, who inhabit the mountainous districts of Chihuahua and Durango. East of the Tarahumares, in the northern part of the first-named state, dwell the Conchos. In Durango, living in the hills round Topia, are the Acaxées; south of whom dwell the Xiximes. On the table-lands of Mapimi and on the shores of its numerous lakes, the Irritilas and many other tribes are settled; while south of these again, in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, are the Guachichiles, Huamares, and Cazcanes, and further to the east, and bordering on the gulf shores we find the country occupied by scattered tribes, distinguished by a great variety of names, prominent among which are the Carrizas or Garzas, Xanambres, and Pintos.871

PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES IN NORTH MEXICO.

Most of these nations are composed of men of large stature; robust, and well formed, with an erect carriage; the finest specimens are to be found on the sea-coast, exceptions being the Ópatas and Chicoratas, the former inclining to corpulency, the latter being short, although active and swift runners. The women are well limbed and have good figures, but soon become corpulent. The features of these people are quite regular, the head round and well shaped, with black and straight hair; they have high cheek-bones and handsome mouths, with a generally mild and pleasing expression of countenance. They have piercing black eyes, and can distinguish objects at great distances. The Ceris see best toward the close of the day, owing to the strong reflection from the white sands of the coast during the earlier part of the day. The Carrizas are remarkable for their long upper lip. The men of this region have little beard; their complexion varies from a light brown to a copper shade. Many of them attain to a great age.872

For raiment the Cahitas and Ceris wear only a small rag in front of their persons, secured to a cord tied round the waist; the Tarahumares, Acaxées, and other nations of the interior use for the same purpose a square piece of tanned deer-skin painted, except in cold weather, when they wrap a large blue cotton mantle round the shoulders. The women have petticoats reaching to their ankles, made of soft chamois or of cotton or agave-fibre, and a tilma or mantle during the winter. Some wear a long sleeveless chemise, which reaches from the shoulders to the feet. The Ceri women have petticoats made from the skins of the albatross or pelican, the feathers inside. The Ópata men, soon after the conquest, were found well clad in blouse and drawers of cotton, with wooden shoes, while their neighbors wore sandals of raw hide, cut to the shape of the foot.873

The Cahitas, Acaxées and most other tribes, pierce the ears and nose, from which they hang small green stones, attached to a piece of blue cord; on the head, neck, and wrists, a great variety of ornaments are worn, made from mother-of-pearl and white snails' shells, also fruit-stones, pearls, and copper and silver hoops; round the ankles some wear circlets of deer's hoofs, others decorate their heads and necks with necklaces of red beans and strings of paroquets and small birds; pearls and feathers are much used to ornament the hair. The practice of painting the face and body is common to all, the colors most in use being red and black. A favorite style with the Ceris is to paint the face in alternate perpendicular stripes of blue, red, and white. The Pintos paint the face, breast, and arms; the Tarahumares tattoo the forehead, lips, and cheeks in various patterns; the Yaquis the chin and arms; while other tribes tattoo the face or body in styles peculiar to themselves. Both sexes are proud of their hair, which they wear long and take much care of; the women permit it to flow, in loose tresses, while the men gather it into one or more tufts on the crown of the head, and when hunting protect it by a chamois cap, to prevent its being disarranged by trees or bushes.874

NORTHERN MEXICAN DWELLINGS.

Their houses are of light construction, usually built of sticks and reeds, and are covered with coarse reed matting. The Chinipas, Yaquis, Ópatas and Conchos build somewhat more substantial dwellings of timber and adobes, or of plaited twigs well plastered with mud; all are only one story high and have flat roofs. Although none of these people are without their houses or huts, they spend most of their time, especially during summer, under the trees. The Tarahumares find shelter in the deep caverns of rocky mountains, the Tepehuanes and Acaxées place their habitations on the top of almost inaccessible crags, while the Humes and Batucas build their villages in squares, with few and very small entrances, the better to defend themselves against their enemies – detached buildings for kitchen and store-room purposes being placed contiguous.875

The Northern Mexicans live chiefly on wild fruits such as the pitahaya, honey, grain, roots, fish, and larvæ; they capture game both large and small, and some of them eat rats, mice, frogs, snakes, worms, and vermin. The Ahomamas along the shores of Lake Parras, the Yaquis, Batucas, Ceris, Tarahumares, and the Ópatas since the conquest have become agriculturists and cattle-breeders, besides availing themselves of fishing and hunting as means of subsistence. On the coast of Sonora, there being no maize, the natives live on pulverized rush and straw, with fish caught at sea or in artificial enclosures. The dwellers on the coast of Sinaloa consume a large quantity of salt, which they gather on the land during the dry season, and in the rainy reason from the bottom of marshes and pools. It is said that the Salineros sometimes eat their own excrement. According to the reports of the older historians, the Tobosos, Bauzarigames, Cabezas, Contotores, and Acaxées, as well as other tribes of Durango and Sinaloa, formerly fed on human flesh, – hunted human beings for food as they hunted deer or other game. The flesh of their brave foes they ate, thinking thereby to augment their own bravery.876

METHODS OF HUNTING.

The Ceris of Tiburon Island depend for food entirely on fish and game. They catch turtle by approaching the animal and suddenly driving the point of their spear into its back, a cord being attached to the weapon by which they drag the prize on to the raft as soon as its strength has become exhausted. According to Gomara, the natives of Sonora in 1537 were caught poisoning the deer-pools, probably for the skins, or it may have been only a stupefying drink that the pools were made to supply. The Sinaloans are great hunters; at times they pursue the game singly, then again the whole town turns out and, surrounding the thickest part of the forest, the people set fire to the underbrush and bring down the game as it attempts to escape the flames. A feast of reptiles is likewise thus secured. Iguanas are caught with the hands, their legs broken, and thus they are kept until required for food. For procuring wild honey, a bee is followed until it reaches its tree, the sweet-containing part of which is cut off and carried away. The Tarahumares hunt deer by driving them through narrow passes, where men are stationed to shoot them. Others make use of a deer's head as a decoy. For fishing they have various contrivances; some fish between the rocks with a pointed stick; others, when fishing in a pool, throw into the water a species of cabbage or leaves of certain trees, that stupefy the fish, when they are easily taken with the hands; they also use wicker baskets, and near the Pacific Ocean they inclose the rivers, and catch enormous quantities of smelt and other fish, which have come up from the sea to spawn. The Laguneros of Coahuila catch ducks by placing a calabash on their heads, with holes through which to breathe and see; thus equipped, they swim softly among the ducks, and draw them under water without flutter or noise. Tatéma is the name of a dish cooked in the ground by the Tarahumares. The Laguneros make tortillas of flour obtained from an aquatic plant. The Zacatecs make the same kind of bread from the pulp of the maguey, which is first boiled with lime, then washed and boiled again in pure water, after which it is squeezed dry and made into cakes. Most of the people use pozole, or pinolatl, both being a kind of gruel made of pinole, of parched corn or seeds ground, the one of greater thickness than the other; also tamales, boiled beans, and pumpkins. The Ceris of Tiburon eat fish and meat uncooked, or but slightly boiled. The Salineros frequently devour uncooked hares and rabbits, having only removed their furs.877

HOW ARROWS WERE MADE AND POISONED.

The weapons universally used by these nations were bows and arrows and short clubs, in addition to which the chiefs and most important warriors carried a short lance and a buckler. The arrows were carried in a quiver made of lion or other skins. The Tarahumares and some others wore a leathern guard round the left wrist, to protect it from the blow of the bow-string. Flint knives were employed for cutting up their slain enemies. The Ceris, Jovas, and other tribes smeared the points of their arrows with a very deadly poison, but how it was applied to the point, or whence obtained, it is difficult to determine; some travelers say that this poison was taken from rattlesnakes and other venomous reptiles, which, by teasing, were incited to strike their fangs into the liver of a cow or deer which was presented to them, after which it was left to putrefy, and the arrows being dipped into the poisonous mass, were placed in the sun to dry; but other writers, again, assert that the poison was produced from a vegetable preparation. The wound inflicted by the point, however slight, is said to have caused certain death. The arrows were pointed with flint, or some other stone, or with bone, fastened to a piece of hard wood, which is tied by sinews to a reed or cane, notched, and winged with three feathers; when not required for immediate use, the tying was loosed, and the point reversed in the cane, to protect it from being broken. The Ceris and Chicoratos cut a notch a few inches above the point, so that in striking it should break off and remain in the wound. Their clubs were made of a hard wood called guayacan, with a knob at the end, and when not in use were carried slung to the arm by a leather thong. Their lances were of Brazil wood, bucklers of alligator-skin, and shields of bull's hide, sufficiently large to protect the whole body, with a hole in the top to look through. Another kind of shield was made of small lathes closely interwoven with cords, in such a manner that, when not required for use, it could be shut up like a fan, and was carried under the arm.878

Living in a state of constant war, arising out of family quarrels or aggressions made into each other's territories, they were not unskilled in military tactics. Previous to admission as a warrior, a young man had to pass through certain ordeals; having first qualified himself by some dangerous exploit, or having faithfully performed the duty of a scout in an enemy's country. The preliminaries being settled, a day was appointed for his initiation, when one of the braves, acting as his godfather, introduced him to the chief, who, for the occasion, had first placed himself in the midst of a large circle of warriors. The chief then addressed him, instructing him in the several duties required of him, and drawing from a pouch an eagle's talon, with it proceeded to score his body on the shoulders, arms, breast, and thighs, till the blood ran freely; the candidate was expected to suffer without showing the slightest signs of pain. The chief then handed to him a bow and a quiver of arrows; each of the braves also presented him with two arrows. In the campaigns that followed, the novitiate must take the hardest duty, be ever at the post of danger, and endure without a murmur or complaint the severest privations, until a new candidate appeared to take his place.879

WAR CUSTOMS IN NORTH MEXICO.

When one tribe desires the assistance of another in war, they send reeds filled with tobacco, which, if accepted, is a token that the alliance is formed; a call for help is made by means of the smoke signal. When war is decided upon, a leader is chosen, at whose house all the elders, medicine-men, and principal warriors assemble; a fire is then lighted, and tobacco handed round and smoked in silence. The chief, or the most aged and distinguished warrior then arises, and in a loud tone and not unpoetic language, harangues his hearers, recounting to them heroic deeds hitherto performed, victories formerly gained, and present wrongs to be avenged; after which tobacco is again passed round, and new speakers in turn address the assembly. War councils are continued for several nights, and a day is named on which the foe is to be attacked. Sometimes the day fixed for the battle is announced to the enemy, and a spot on which the fight is to take place selected. During the campaign fasting is strictly observed. The Acaxées, before taking the war-path, select a maiden of the tribe, who secludes herself during the whole period of the campaign, speaking to no one, and eating nothing but a little parched corn without salt. The Ceris and Ópatas approach their enemy under cover of darkness, preserving a strict silence, and at break of day, by a preconcerted signal, a sudden and simultaneous attack is made. To fire an enemy's house, the Tepagues and others put lighted corn-cobs on the points of their arrows. In the event of a retreat they invariably carry off the dead, as it is considered a point of honor not to leave any of their number on the field. Seldom is sex or age spared, and when prisoners are taken, they are handed over to the women for torture, who treat them most inhumanly, heaping upon them every insult devisable, besides searing their flesh with burning brands, and finally burning them at the stake, or sacrificing them in some equally cruel manner. Many cook and eat the flesh of their captives, reserving the bones as trophies. The slain are scalped, or a hand is cut off, and a dance performed round the trophies on the field of battle. On the return of an expedition, if successful, entry into the village is made in the day-time. Due notice of their approach having been forwarded to the inhabitants, the warriors are received with congratulations and praises by the women, who, seizing the scalps, vent their spleen in frantic gestures; tossing them from one to another, these female fiends dance and sing round the bloody trophies, while the men look on in approving silence. Should the expedition, however, prove unsuccessful, the village is entered in silence and during the dead of night. All the booty taken is divided amongst the aged men and women, as it is deemed unlucky by the warriors to use their enemy's property.880