The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft
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.844 '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.845
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.846 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.847
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.848
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.849
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.850
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.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