Part 56 (1/2)
They treat their prisoners cruelly; scalping them, or burning them at the stake; yet, ruled as they are by greediness, they are always ready to exchange them for horses, blankets, beads, or other property. When hotly pursued, they murder their male prisoners, preserving only the females and children, and the captured cattle, though under desperate circ.u.mstances they do not hesitate to slaughter the latter.[705] The Apaches returning to their families from a successful expedition, are received by the women with songs and feasts, but if unsuccessful they are met with jeers and insults. On such occasions says Colonel Cremony, ”the women turn away from them with a.s.sured indifference and contempt.
They are upbraided as cowards, or for want of skill and tact, and are told that such men should not have wives, because they do not know how to provide for their wants. When so reproached, the warriors hang their heads and offer no excuse for their failure. To do so would only subject them to more ridicule and objurgation; but Indian-like, they bide their time in the hope of finally making their peace by some successful raid.”
If a Mojave is taken prisoner he is forever discarded in his own nation, and should he return his mother even will not own him.[706]
[Sidenote: COMANCHE WARRIORS.]
The Comanches, who are better warriors than the Apaches, highly honor bravery on the battle-field. From early youth, they are taught the art of war, and the skillful handling of their horses and weapons; and they are not allowed a seat in the council, until their name is garnished by some heroic deed.[707] Before going on the war-path they perform certain ceremonies, prominent among which is the war-dance.[708] They invariably fight on horseback with the bow and arrow, spear and s.h.i.+eld, and in the management of these weapons they have no superiors.
Their mode of attack is sudden and impetuous; they advance in column, and when near the enemy form subdivisions charging on the foe simultaneously from opposite sides, and while keeping their horses in constant motion, they throw themselves over the side, leaving only a small portion of the body exposed, and in this position discharge their arrows over the back of the animal or under his neck with great rapidity and precision.[709] A few scalps are taken, for the purpose of being used at the war or scalp dance by which they celebrate a victory.
Prisoners belong to the captors and the males are usually killed, but women are reserved and become the wives or servants of their owners, while children of both s.e.xes are adopted into the tribe.[710] Peace ceremonies take place at a council of warriors, when the pipe is pa.s.sed round and smoked by each, previous to which an interchange of presents is customary.[711]
[Sidenote: IMPLEMENTS.]
Household utensils are made generally of wickerwork, or straw, which, to render them watertight, are coated with some resinous substance. The Mojaves and a few of the Apache tribes have also burnt-clay vessels, such as water-jars and dishes.[712] For grinding maize, as before stated, a kind of metate is used, which with them is nothing more than a convex and a concave stone.[713] Of agricultural implements they know nothing; a pointed stick, crooked at one end, which they call _kis.h.i.+shai_, does service as a corn-planter in spring, and during the later season answers also for plucking fruit from trees, and again, in times of scarcity, to dig rats and prairie dogs from their subterranean retreats. Their cradle is a flat board, padded, on which the infant is fastened; on the upper part is a little hood to protect the head, and it is carried by the mother on her back, suspended by a strap.[714] Their saddles are simply two rolls of straw covered with deer or antelope skin, which are connected by a strap; a piece of raw hide serves for girths and stirrups. In later years the Mexican saddle, or one approaching it in shape, has been adopted, and the Navajos have succeeded in making a pretty fair imitation of it, of hard ash. Their bridles, which consist of a rein attached to the lower jaw, are very severe on the animal.[715] Although not essentially a fish-eating people, the Mojaves and Axuas display considerable ingenuity in the manufacture of fis.h.i.+ng-nets, which are noted for their strength and beauty. Plaited gra.s.s, or the fibry bark of the willow, are the materials of which they are made.[716] Fire is obtained in the old primitive fas.h.i.+on of rubbing together two pieces of wood, one soft and the other hard. The hard piece is pointed and is twirled on the softer piece, with a steady downward pressure until sparks appear.[717]
[Sidenote: NAVAJO BLANKETS.]
The Navajos excel all other nations of this family in the manufacture of blankets.[718] The art with them is perhaps of Mexican origin, and they keep for this industry large flocks of sheep.[719] Some say in making blankets cotton is mixed with the wool, but I find no notice of their cultivating cotton. Their looms are of the most primitive kind. Two beams, one suspended and the other fastened to the ground, serve to stretch the warp perpendicularly, and two slats, inserted between the double warp, cross and recross it and also open a pa.s.sage for the shuttle, which is simply a short stick with some thread wound around it.
The operator sits on the ground, and the blanket, as the weaving progresses, is wound round the lower beam.[720] The wool, after being carded, is spun with a spindle resembling a boy's top, the stem being about sixteen inches long and the lower point made to revolve in an earthen bowl by being twirled rapidly between the forefinger and thumb.
The thread after being twisted is wound on the spindle, and though not very even, it answers the purpose very well.[721] The patterns are mostly regular geometrical figures, among which diamonds and parallels predominate.[722] Black and red are the princ.i.p.al variations in color, but blue and yellow are at times seen. Their colors they obtain mostly by dyeing with vegetable substances, but in later years they obtain also colored manufactured materials from the whites, which they again unravel, employing the colored threads obtained in this manner in their own manufactures.[723] They also weave a coa.r.s.e woolen cloth, of which they at times make s.h.i.+rts and leggins.[724] Besides pottery of burnt clay, wickerwork baskets, and saddles and bridles, no general industry obtains in this family.[725] Featherwork, such as sewing various patterns on skins with feathers, and other ornamental needlework, are also practiced by the Navajos.[726]
Of the Comanches, the Abbe Domenech relates that they extracted silver from some mines near San Saba, from which they manufactured ornaments for themselves and their saddles and bridles.[727]
[Sidenote: PROPERTY.]
They have no boats, but use rafts of wood, or bundles of rushes fastened tightly together with osier or willow twigs, and propelled sometimes with poles; but more frequently they place upon the craft their property and wives, and, swimming alongside of it, with the greatest ease push it before them.[728] For their maintenance, especially in latter days, they are indebted in a great measure to their horses, and accordingly they consider them as their most valuable property. The Navajos are larger stock owners than any of the other nations, possessing numerous flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle as well as horses and mules. These, with their blankets, their dressed skins, and peaches which they cultivate, const.i.tute their chief wealth.[729] Certain bands of the Apache nation exchange with the agriculturists pottery and skins for grain.[730] Among the Navajos, husband and wife hold their property separate, and at their death it becomes the inheritance of the nephew or niece. This law of entail is often eluded by the parents, who before death give their goods to their children.[731] Their exchanges are governed by caprice rather than by established values. Sometimes they will give a valuable blanket for a trifling ornament. The Mojaves have a species of currency which they call _pook_, consisting of strings of sh.e.l.l beads, whose value is determined by the length.[732] At the time of Coronado's expedition, in 1540, the Comanches possessed great numbers of dogs, which they employed in transporting their buffalo-skin tents and scanty household utensils.[733] When a buffalo is killed, the successful hunter claims only the hide; the others are at liberty to help themselves to the meat according to their necessities.[734] In their trading transactions they display much shrewdness, and yet are free from the tricks usually resorted to by other nations.[735]
[Sidenote: ARTS AND CALENDAR.]
Their knowledge of decorative art is limited; paintings and sculptures of men and animals, rudely executed on rocks or walls of caverns are occasionally met with; whether intended as hieroglyphical representations, or sketched during the idle moments of some budding genius, it is difficult to determine, owing to the fact that the statements of the various authors who have investigated the subject are conflicting.[736] The Comanches display a certain taste in painting their buffalo-robes, s.h.i.+elds, and tents. The system of enumeration of the Apaches exhibits a regularity and diffusiveness seldom met with amongst wild tribes, and their language contains all the terms for counting up to ten thousand.[737] In this respect the Comanches are very deficient; what little knowledge of arithmetic they have is decimal, and when counting, the aid of their fingers or presence of some actual object is necessary, being, as they are, in total ignorance of the simplest arithmetical calculation. The rising sun proclaims to them a new day; beyond this they have no computation or division of time. They know nothing of the motions of the earth or heavenly bodies, though they recognise the fixedness of the polar star.[738]
Their social organization, like all their manners and customs, is governed by their wild and migratory life. Government they have none.
Born and bred with the idea of perfect personal freedom, all restraint is unendurable.[739] The nominal authority vested in the war chief, is obtained by election, and is subordinate to the council of warriors.[740] Every father holds undisputed sway over his children until the age of p.u.b.erty. His power, importance, and influence at the council-fire is determined by the amount of his slaves and other property.[741] Those specially distinguished by their cunning and prowess in war, or success in the chase, are chosen as chiefs.
[Sidenote: COMANCHE GOVERNMENT.]
A chief may at any time be deposed.[742] Sometimes it happens that one family retains the chieftaincy in a tribe during several generations, because of the bravery or wealth of the sons.[743] In time of peace but little authority is vested in the chief; but on the war path, to ensure success, his commands are implicitly obeyed. It also frequently happens that chiefs are chosen to lead some particular war or marauding expedition, their authority expiring immediately upon their return home.[744]
Among the Comanches public councils are held at regular intervals during the year, when matters pertaining to the common weal are discussed, laws made, thefts, seditions, murders, and other crimes punished, and the quarrels of warrior-chiefs settled. Smaller councils are also held, in which, as well as in the larger ones, all are free to express their opinion.[745] Questions laid before them are taken under consideration, a long time frequently elapsing before a decision is made. Great care is taken that the decrees of the meeting shall be in accordance with the opinion and wishes of the majority. Laws are promulgated by a public crier, who ranks next to the chief in dignity.[746]
Ancestral customs and traditions govern the decisions of the councils; brute force, or right of the strongest, with the law of talion in its widest acceptance, direct the mutual relations of tribes and individuals.[747] Murder, adultery, theft, and sedition are punished with death or public exposure, or settled by private agreement or the interposition of elderly warriors. The doctor failing to cure his patient must be punished by death. The court of justice is the council of the tribe, presided over by the chiefs, the latter with the a.s.sistance of sub-chiefs, rigidly executing judgment upon the culprits.[748] All crimes may be pardoned but murder, which must pay blood for blood if the avenger overtake his victim.[749]
All the natives of this family hold captives as slaves;[750] some treat them kindly, employing the men as herders and marrying the women; others half-starve and scourge them, and inflict on them the most painful labors.[751] Nothing short of crucifixion, roasting by a slow fire, or some other most excruciating form of death, can atone the crime of attempted escape from bondage. They not only steal children from other tribes and sell them, but carry on a most unnatural traffic in their own offspring.[752]
[Sidenote: TREATMENT OF WOMEN.]
[Sidenote: MARRIAGE AND CHILD-BIRTH.]
Womankind as usual is not respected. The female child receives little care from its mother, being only of collateral advantage to the tribe.
Later she becomes the beast of burden and slave of her husband. Some celebrate the entry into womanhood with feasting and dancing.[753]