The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft
carrying with them sea-shells and feathers to barter with their neighbors for the productions of the interior.863
They are unable to count more than five, and this number is expressed by one hand; some few among them are able to understand that two hands signify ten, but beyond this they know nothing of enumeration, and can only say much or many, or show that the number is beyond computation, by throwing sand into the air and such like antics. The year is divided into six seasons; the first is called Mejibo, which is midsummer, and the time of ripe pitahayas; the second season Amaddappi, a time of further ripening of fruits and seeds; the third Amadaappigalla, the end of autumn and beginning of winter; the fourth, which is the coldest season, is called Majibel; the fifth, when spring commences, is Majiben; the sixth, before any fruits or seeds have ripened, consequently the time of greatest scarcity, is called Majiibenmaaji.864
Neither government nor law is found in this region; every man is his own master, and administers justice in the form of vengeance as best he is able. As Father Baegert remarks: 'The different tribes represented by no means communities of rational beings, who submit to laws and regulations and obey their superiors, but resembled far more herds of wild swine, which run about according to their own liking, being together to-day and scattered to-morrow, till they meet again by accident at some future time. In one word, the Californians lived, salva venia, as though they had been free-thinkers and materialists.' In hunting and war they have one or more chiefs to lead them, who are selected only for the occasion, and by reason of superior strength or cunning.865
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.866
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.867
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.868
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.869
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.870
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.871
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