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

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СКАЧАТЬ finally give him a name; women perform similar ceremonies with female children. The couvade obtains in certain parts; as for instance, the Lagunero and Ahomama husbands, after the birth of a child, remain in bed for six or seven days, during which time they eat neither fish nor meat. The Sisibotaris, Ahomes, and Tepehuanes hold chastity in high esteem, and both their maidens and matrons are remarkably chaste. The standard of morality elsewhere in this vicinity is in general low, especially with the Acaxées and Tahus, whose incestuous connections and system of public brothels are notorious. According to Arlegui, Ribas, and other authors, among some of these nations male concubinage prevails to a great extent; these loathsome semblances of humanity, whom to call beastly were a slander upon beasts, dress themselves in the clothes and perform the functions of women, the use of weapons even being denied them.891

      Drunkenness prevails to a great extent among most of the tribes; their liquors are prepared from the fruit of the pitahaya, mezquite-beans, agave, honey, and wheat. In common with all savages, they are immoderately fond of dancing, and have numerous feasts, where, with obscene carousals and unseemly masks, the revels continue, until the dancers, from sheer exhaustion or intoxication, are forced to rest. The Ópatas hold a festival called torom raqui, to insure rain and good crops. Clearing a square piece of ground, they strew it with seeds, bones, boughs, horns, and shells; the actors then issue forth from huts built on the four corners of the square, and there dance from sunrise to sunset. On the first day of the year they plant in the ground a tall pole, to which are tied long ribbons of many colors. A number of young maidens, fancifully attired, dance round the pole, holding the ends of the ribbons, twisting themselves nearer or away from the center in beautiful figures. Upon other occasions they commemorate, in modern times, what is claimed to be the journey of the Aztecs, and the appearance of Montezuma among them. Hunting and war expeditions are inaugurated by dances. Their musical instruments are flutes and hollow trunks beaten with sticks or bones, and accompanied with song and impromptu words, relating the exploits of their gods, warriors, and hunters. They are passionately fond of athletic sports, such as archery, wrestling, and racing; but the favorite pastime is a kind of foot-ball. The game is played between two parties, with a large elastic ball, on a square piece of ground prepared expressly for the purpose. The players must strike the ball with the shoulders, knees, or hips, but never with the hand. Frequently one village challenges another as upon the occasion of a national festival, which lasts several days, and is accompanied with dancing and feasting. They have also games with wooden balls, in which sticks are used when playing. The players are always naked, and the game often lasts from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes, when the victory is undecided, the play will be continued for several successive days. Bets are freely made, and horses and other property staked with the greatest recklessness.892

      CUSTOMS IN NORTHERN MEXICO.

      Loads are carried on the head, or in baskets at the back, hanging from a strap that passes across the forehead. Another mode of carrying burdens is to distribute equally the weight at both ends of a pole which is slung across the shoulder, à la Chinoise. Their conceptions of the supernatural are extremely crude; thus, the Ópatas, by yells and gesticulations, endeavor to dispel eclipses of the heavenly bodies; before the howling of the wind they cower as before the voice of the Great Spirit. The Ceris superstitiously celebrate the new moon, and bow reverentially to the rising and setting sun. Nuño de Guzman states that in the province of Culiacan tamed serpents were found in the dwellings of the natives, which they feared and venerated. Others have a great veneration for the hidden virtues of poisonous plants, and believe that if they crush or destroy one, some harm will happen to them. It is a common custom to hang a small bag containing poisonous herbs round the neck of a child, as a talisman against diseases or attacks from wild beasts, which they also believe will render them invulnerable in battle. They will not touch a person struck by lightning, and will leave him to die, or, if dead, to lie unburied.893

      MEDICAL TREATMENT.

      Intermittent and other fevers prevail among the people of Northern Mexico. Small-pox, introduced by Europeans, has destroyed many lives; syphilis was introduced among the Carrizos by the Spanish troops. The Tarahumares suffer from pains in the side about the end of the spring. The Ópatas of Oposura are disfigured by goitres, but this disease seems to be confined within three leagues of the town. Wounds inflicted by arrows, many of them poisoned, and bites of rattlesnakes are common. Friends, and even parents and brothers leave to their fate such as are suffering from contagious diseases; they, however, place water and wild fruits within the sufferer's reach. To relieve their wearied legs and feet after long marches, they scarify the former with sharp flints. In extreme cases they rub themselves with the maguey's prickly leaf well pounded, which, acting as an emollient on their hardened bodies, affords them prompt relief. The Carrizos cure syphilis with certain plants, the medicinal properties of which are known to them. As a purgative they use the grains of the maguacate, and as a febrifuge the cenicilla (teraina frutescens). With the leaves of the latter they make a decoction which, mixed with hydromel, is an antidote for intermittent fevers. They also use the leaves of the willow in decoction, as a remedy for the same complaint. In Sinaloa, the leaf and roots of the guaco are used by the natives as the most efficacious medicine for the bites of poisonous reptiles. The Ópatas employ excellent remedies for the diseases to which they are subject. They have a singular method of curing rattlesnake bites, a sort of retaliative cure; seizing the reptile's head between two sticks, they stretch out the tail and bite it along the body, and if we may believe Alegre, the bitten man does not swell up, but the reptile does, until it bursts. In some parts, if a venomous snake bites a person, he seizes it at both ends, and breaks all its bones with his teeth until it is dead, imagining this to be an efficacious means of saving himself from the effect of the wounds. Arrow wounds are first sucked, and then peyote powder is put into them; after two days the wound is cleaned, and more of the same powder applied; this operation is continued upon every second day, and finally powdered lechugilla-root is used; by this process the wound, after thoroughly suppurating, becomes healed. Out of the leaves of the maguey, lechugilla, and date-palm, as well as from the rosemary, they make excellent balsams for curing wounds. They have various vegetable substances for appeasing the thirst of wounded persons, as water is considered injurious. The Acaxées employ the sucking processes, and blowing through a hollow tube, for the cure of diseases. The Yaquis put a stick into the patient's mouth, and with it draw from the stomach the disease; the Ceris of Tiburon Island also employ charms in their medical practice.894

      I find nothing of cremation in these parts. The dead body is brought head and knees together, and placed in a cave or under a rock. Several kinds of edibles, with the utensils and implements with which the deceased earned a support while living, are deposited in the grave, also a small idol, to serve as a guide and fellow traveler to the departed on the long journey. On the lips of dead infants is dropped milk from the mother's breast, that these innocents may have sustenance to reach their place of rest. Among the Acaxées, if a woman dies in childbirth, the infant surviving is slain, as the cause of its mother's death. Cutting the hair is the only sign of mourning among them.895

      CHARACTER.

      The character of the Northern Mexicans, as portrayed by Arlegui, is gross and low; but some of these tribes do not deserve such sweeping condemnation. The Mayos, Yaquis, Acaxées, and Ópatas are generally intelligent, honest, social, amiable, and intrepid in war; their young women modest, with a combination of sweetness and pride noticed by some writers. The Ópatas especially are a hard-working people, good-humored, free from intemperance and thievishness; they are also very tenacious of purpose, when their minds are made up—danger often strengthening their stubbornness the more. The Sisibotaris, Ahomamas, Onavas, and Tarahumares are quiet and docile, but brave when occasion requires; the last-mentioned are remarkably honest. The Tepocas and Tiburones are fierce, cruel, and treacherous, more warlike and courageous than the Ceris of the main land, who are singularly devoid of good qualities, being sullenly stupid, lazy, inconstant, revengeful, depredating, and much given to intemperance. Their country even has become a refuge for evil-doers. In former times they were warlike and brave: but even this quality they have lost, and have become as cowardly as they are cruel. The Tepehuanes and other mountaineers are savage and warlike, СКАЧАТЬ