[759] Navajo women, 'when in parturition, stand upon their feet, holding to a rope suspended overhead, or upon the knees, the body being erect.' Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. 'Previous to a birth, the (Yuma) mother leaves her village for some short distance and lives by herself until a month after the child is born; the band to which she belongs then assemble and select a name for the little one, which is given with some trivial ceremony.' Emory's Rept., vol. i., p. 110; Marcy's Army Life, p. 31. 'Si el parto es en marcha, se hacen á un lado del camino debajo de un árbol, en donde salen del lance con la mayor facilidad y sin apuro ninguno, continuando la marcha con la criatura y algun otro de sus chiquillos, dentro de una especie de red, que á la manera de una canasta cargan en los hombros, pendiente de la frente con una tira de cuero ó de vaqueta que la contiene, en donde llevan ademas alunos trastos ó cosas que comer.' Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 281; Fossey, Mexique, p. 462. 'Luego que sale á luz esta, sale la vieja de aquel lugar con la mano puesta en los ojos, y no se descubre hasta que no haya dado una vuelta fuera de la casa, y el objeto que primero se le presenta á la vista, es el nombre que se le pone á la criatura.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335.
[760] Pattie's Pers. Nar., p. 92; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 320; Ives' Colorado River, pp. 66, 71; Henry, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 211. 'Quand les Indiennes (Comanches) voyagent avec leurs enfants en bas âge, elles les suspendent à la selle avec des courroies qu'elles leur passent entre les jambes et sous les bras. Les soubresauts du cheval, les branches, les broussailles heurtent ces pauvres petits, les déchirent, les meurtrissent: peu importe, c'est une façon de les aguerrir.' Domenech, Journ. p. 135; Emory's Reconnoissance, p. 52. 'A la edad de siete años de los apaches, ó antes, lo primero que hacen los padres, es poner á sus hijos el carcax en la mano enseñándoles á tirar bien, cuya táctica empiezan á aprender en la caza.' Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 283. The Apaches, 'juventutem sedulo instituunt castigant quod aliis barbaris insolitum.' De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316. Male children of the Comanches 'are even privileged to rebel against their parents, who are not entitled to chastise them but by consent of the tribe.' Kennedy's Texas, vol. i., p. 346-7. In fact a Navajo Indian has said, 'that he was afraid to correct his own boy, lest the child should wait for a convenient opportunity, and shoot him with an arrow.' Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 294.
[761] Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 354; Cremony's Apaches, p. 367; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 399; Pattie's Pers. Nar., p. 119.
[762] 'The Navajo women are very loose, and do not look upon fornication as a crime.' Guyther, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 339; Cremony's Apaches, p. 244. 'Prostitution is the rule among the (Yuma) women, not the exception.' Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 476; Browne's Apache Country, p. 96. 'Prostitution prevails to a great extent among the Navajoes, the Maricopas, and the Yuma Indians; and its attendant diseases, as before stated, have more or less tainted the blood of the adults; and by inheritance of the children.' Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 433. Among the Navajoes, 'the most unfortunate thing which can befall a captive woman is to be claimed by two persons. In this case, she is either shot or delivered up for indiscriminate violence.' Emory's Reconnoissance, p. 50. The Colorado River Indians 'barter and sell their women into prostitution, with hardly an exception.' Safford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 139. 'The Comanche women are, as in many other wild tribes, the slaves of their lords, and it is a common practice for their husbands to lend or sell them to a visitor for one, two, or three days at a time.' Marcy's Rept., p. 187; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419. 'Las faltas conyugales no se castigan por la primera vez; pero á la segunda el marido corta la punta de la nariz á su infiel esposa, y la despide de su lado.' Revista Científica, vol. i., p. 57; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. 'The squaw who has been mutilated for such a cause, is ipso facto divorced, and, it is said, for ever precluded from marrying again. The consequence is, that she becomes a confirmed harlot in the tribe.' Gregg's Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 43, 308-10, 313. 'El culpable, segun dicen, jamas es castigado por el marido con la muerte; solamente se abroga el derecho de darle algunos golpes y cogerse sus mulas ó caballos.' Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 253; Marcy's Army Life, p. 49. 'These yung men may not haue carnall copulation with any woman: but all the yung men of the countrey which are to marrie, may company with them.... I saw likewise certaine women which liued dishonestly among men.' Alarchon, in Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 436.
[763] 'They tolde mey that ... such as remayned widowes, stayed halfe a yeere, or a whole yeere before they married.' Alarchon, in Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii., p. 431; Emory's Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110; Marcy's Army Life, p. 54; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315.
[764] 'En las referidas reuniones los bailes son sus diversiones favoritas. Los hacen de noche al son de una olla cubierta la boca con una piel tirante, que suenan con un palo, en cuya estremidad lian un boton de trapos. Se interpolan ambos secsos, saltan todos a un mismo tiempo, dando alaridos y haciendo miles de ademanes, en que mueven todos los miembros del cuerpo con una destreza extraordinaria, arremedando al coyote y al venado. Desta manera forman diferentes grupos simétricamente.' Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 269; Marcy's Army Life, p. 177; Cremony's Apaches, p. 285. 'Este lo forma una junta de truhanes vestidos de ridiculo y autorizados por los viejos del pueblo para cometer los mayores desórdenes, y gusten tanto de estos hechos, que ni los maridos reparan las infamias que cometen con sus mugeres, ni las que resultan en perjuicio de las hijas.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335. 'The females (of the Apaches) do the principal part of the dancing.' Henry, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 212. 'Among the Abenakis, Chactas, Comanches, and other Indian tribes, the women dance the same dances, but after the men, and far out of their sight ... they are seldom admitted to share any amusement, their lot being to work.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 199, 214. 'De éstos vinieron cinco danzas, cada una compuesta de treinta indias; de éstas, veintiseis como de 15 à 20 años, y las cuatro restantes de mas edad, que eran las que cuidaban y dirigian à las jóvenes.' Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 288. 'The dance (of the Tontos) is similar to that of the California Indians; a stamp around, with clapping of hands and slapping of thighs in time to a drawl of monotones.' Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419.
[765] Stratton's Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180. The Yumas 'sing some few monotonous songs, and the beaux captivate the hearts of their lady-loves by playing on a flute made of cane.' Emory's Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii. 'No tienen mas orquesta que sus voces y una olla ó casco de calabazo à que se amarra una piel tirante y se toca con un palo.' Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 373-4; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Ives' Colorado Riv., pp. 71-2; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 166, 168.
[766] Stanley's Portraits, p. 55; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 133. 'Y el vicio que tienen estos Indios, es jugar en las Estufas las Mantas, y otras Preseas con vnas Cañuelas, que hechan en alto (el qual Juego vsaban estos Indios Mexicanos) y al que no tiene mas que vna Manta, y la pierde, se la buelven; con condicion, que ha de andar desnudo por todo el Pueblo, pintado, y embijado todo el cuerpo, y los Muchachos dandole grita.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 680.
[767] Kennedy's Texas, vol. i., p. 347.
[768] 'The players generally take each about ten arrows, which they hold with their bows in the left hand; he whose turn it is advances in front of the judges, and lances his first arrow upwards as high as possible, for he must send off all the others before it comes down. The victory belongs to him who has most arrows in the air together, and he who can make them all fly at once is a hero.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 198. 'The Indians amuse themselves shooting at the fruit (pitaya), and when one misses his aim and leaves his arrow sticking in the top of the cactus, it is a source of much laughter to his comrades.' Browne's Apache Country, p. 78; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 309. The hoop and pole game of the Mojaves is thus played. 'The hoop is six inches in diameter, and made of elastic cord; the poles are straight, and about fifteen feet in length. Rolling the hoop from one end of the course toward the other, two of the players chase it half-way, and at the same time throw their poles. He who succeeds in piercing the hoop wins the game.' Palmer, in Harper's Mag., vol. xvii., p. 463; Emory's Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 216, 223; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 395; Backus, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 214. 'Tienen unas pelotas de materia negra como pez, embutidas en ella varias conchuelas pequeñas del mar, con que juegan y apuestan arrojándola con el pié.' Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 851.