The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft
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, and their animosity to the whites perpetual. The Laguneros and other tribes of Coahuila are intelligent, domestic, and hospitable; the former especially are very brave. In Chihuahua they are generally fierce and uncommunicative. At El Paso, the women are more jovial and pleasant than the men; the latter speak but little, never laugh, and seldom smile; their whole aspect seems to be wrapped in melancholy—everything about it has a semblance of sadness and suffering.896
TRIBAL BOUNDARIES.
To the New Mexican group belong the nations inhabiting the territory lying between the parallels 36° and 23° of north latitude, and the meridians 96° and 117° of west longitude; that is to say, the occupants of the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Lower California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Northern Zacatecas, and Western Texas.
In the Apache family, I include all the savage tribes roaming through New Mexico, the north-western portion of Texas, a small part of Northern Mexico, and Arizona; being the Comanches, Apaches proper, Navajos, Mojaves, Hualapais, Yumas, Cosninos, Yampais, Yalchedunes, Yamajabs, Cochees, Cruzados, Nijoras, Cocopas, and others.
The Comanches inhabit Western Texas, Eastern New Mexico, and Eastern Mexico, and from the Arkansas River north to near the Gulf of Mexico south. Range 'over the plains of the Arkansas from the vicinity of Bent's fort, at the parallel of 38°, to the Gulf of Mexico … from the eastern base of the Llano Estacado to about the meridian of longitude 98th.' Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 16. From the western border of the Choctaw country 'uninterruptedly along the Canadian to Tucumcari creek and thence, occasionally, to Rio Pecos. From this line they pursue the buffalo northward as far as the Sioux country, and on the south are scarcely limited by the frontier settlements of Mexico.' Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner's Rept., p. 8, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. 'During summer … as far north as the Arkansas river, their winters they usually pass about the head branches of the Brazos and Colorado rivers of Texas.' Gregg's Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 307. 'Between 102° and 104° longitude and 33° and 37° north latitude.' Norton, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 146. 'About thirteen thousand square miles of the southern portion of Colorado, and probably a much larger extent of the neighboring States of Kansas and Texas, and Territory of New Mexico and the "Indian country," are occupied by the Kioways and Comanches.' Dole, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 34; Evans and Collins, in Id., pp. 230, 242; Martinez, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 487. 'En Invierno se acercan á Téjas, y en Estío á la sierra de Santa Fe.' Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 251. 'Comanches ou Hietans (Eubaous, Yetas), dans le nord-ouest du Texas.' Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxiii., p. 225. 'Originaire du Nouveau-Mexique; mais … ils descendent souvent dans les plaines de la Basse-Californie et de la Sonora.' Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. 'Range east of the mountains of New Mexico.' Bent, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. i., p. 244. 'In dem uncultivirten Theile des Bolson de Mapimi' (Chihuahua). Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 214; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 221–2. 'Entre la rivière Rouge et le Missouri, et traversent el Rio-Bravo-del-Norte.' Dufey, Resumé de l'Hist., tom. i., p. 4. 'Upon the south and west side' of the Rio Brazos. Marcy's Rept., p. 217; Marcy's Army Life, pp. 43–6. 'Im Westen des Mississippi und des Arcansas … und bis an das linke Ufer des Rio Grande.' Ludecus, Reise, p. 104. 'Range from the sources of the Brazos and Colorado, rivers of Texas, over the great Prairies, to the waters of the Arkansas and the mountains of Rio Grande.' Ludewig's Ab. Lang., p. 51. Concurrent statements in