The Native Races (Complete 5 Part Edition). Hubert Howe Bancroft

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СКАЧАТЬ 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.851

      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.852

      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.853 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.854

      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.855

      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."856

      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.857 It is said that they never wash, and it is useless to add that in their filthiness they surpass the brutes.858

      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 СКАЧАТЬ