THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. VOL. XVIII. No. 6.—Old Series.-JUNE.-VOL. VIII. No. 6.—New Series. THE INDIANS OF AMERICA: THEIR CURIOUS CUSTOMS, WEIRD WAYS, AND STRANGE SUPERSTITIONS.* BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. Fact often outruns fiction in novelty and romantic interest. The aboriginal tribes of this Western Hemisphere bear study. No people on earth are so reticent and reserved. Beneath an exterior imperturbably placid, features that never betray changing emotions and are almost frigidly rigid, they hide even from acute observers their inner secrets; and their whole personal and social life is a veiled chamber of mystery, behind whose curtain very few outsiders ever penetrate to the arcana. A book has recently appeared which will be to most readers a revelation, not only of marvellous "wonders of the world" to be found within the Continent of North America, but of unsuspected mysteries of Indian life and character. Its author has spent years in Isleta, New Mexico, Arizona, and other parts of the Southwest, living among this comparatively unknown people, studying with rare penetration and patience their curious and occult history and habits. He has not contented himself with any superficial glance or hasty impressions, but seems to have persevered in cultivating such friendly and intimate relations, and in gathering such trustworthy information as might serve to supplement his own keen observation, and enable him to reveal to the general reader, more fully than we have ever before seen, the real life of these "native" AmeriFrom his fascinating book we cull a few facts which especially upon Indian notions of religion, etc. cans. bear The somewhat amazing disclosures of Mr. Lummis have to do particularly with the Pueblo cities of Moqui, well into the edge of the Arizona Desert, and remote from civilization and Spanish influence, like the inaccessible mesas on which they are built. * Some Strange Corners of Our Country. By Charles F. Lummis. New York: Century Company, 1892. The author cautions the writer of this article and his readers, to "discriminate carefully between the classes of Indians mentioned in 'Strange Corners.' The Pueblos, of course, are Christians, and very earnest ones, though superstitious." Pueblo marriages show unique customs. To the groom is given a blue ear of corn, and to the bride, a white ear, because woman's heart is supposed to be the whiter. They prove their mutual devotion by eating every kernel. Then they run a sacred race, and the issue gives to the winner a certain ascendancy or prestige. If neither outstrips the other, the match is annulled as of bad omen. Pueblo etiquette forbids familiarity between the unmarried youths and maidens, under penalty of a whipping. glances and greetings must take the place of walks and talks together. Marriages must have parental consent; and, in fact, the parents do the 66 courting" in behalf of the suitor. Casual Three hundred and fifty years ago the Pueblos had a strict separation of the sexes and community houses. Women, girls, and children lived in the dwellings, while men and boys slept in the estufa (or sacred room), to which the women brought their food. There was no common family life until the Spanish missionaries introduced it. There is still existing a peculiar fabric of society. The woman has rule in her own home, and to her belong the children, whose descent is reckoned from her, and who take her name and not the father's. The husband and wife must be of different divisions of society. The basis of social life in the twenty-six Pueblo town-republics is the clan, or cluster of families; and there are from six to sixteen such clans in each of the towns. The Pueblos have their children baptized in a Christian church, and give them a Spanish name. Some of the more conservative have also an Indian christening, which is performed by some friend of the family, taking the babe to a dance, selecting a name, and putting his lips to those of the child to confirm it; or the intimate woman friend of the mother takes the child at dawn on the third day of its life, and names it after the first object on which after sunrise her eye falls. Hence the poetic and romantic Indian names. Mr. Lummis has a little girl thus named by an Indian friend, "The Rainbow of the Sun," and for a month this "adopted child" received from her Indian friends gifts of eggs, chocolate, calico, pottery, or silver. After the birth of a child among the Pueblos, the father for eight days must see that the sacred birth-fire in the fogon, or adobe fireplace, goes not out day or night, and as it can be kindled only in the sacred way, so only can it be rekindled if it does go out. He must smuggle a live coal, it may be in his own bare hand, under his blanket from the cacique's own hearth; otherwise the fire of the child's life goes out also within the year. The Pueblo fathers, grandfathers, and even greatgrandfathers, and even the chiefs themselves, are not above carrying the babies on their backs and dancing to quiet them when there is need. Pueblo parents are gentle yet not over-indulgent, and the children show obedience to parents and respect to old age. The death customs are equally unique. Food is made ready for the four days' journey of the disembodied soul, and a "good start" provided for the unseen world. Some of his horses and cattle are killed for his use there; his weapons of war and chase, etc., are killed" by burning or breaking, and so he is made ready to carry on his occupations beyond. Hence near every Pueblo town is the "killing place," apart from the graveyard, where the ground is covered with the various remnants of all manner of articles useful or ornamental. The funeral pyre is not unknown among the tribes of the Colorado desert, and with the body the property of the dead is consumed, with treasures contributed by the mourners. No Navajo will ever again enter a house which death has invaded; hence come hosts of abandoned huts. Nor would he ever, after marriage, look at his mother-in-law; even an accidental glimpse must be atoned for by fasting and prayer. To most aboriginal tribes the feather is sacred, and is not only used in decoration, but in all religious rites. A white or bright-hued plume is of good omen, the gay parrot feather being specially valuable; and as to peacock plumes, they are beyond price. Without eagle feathers sickness could not be cured, or even witches exorcised, and the Indian religion would have no "prayer-book." Dark feathers are correspondingly of evil omen, particularly those of the raven, owl, woodpecker, and buzzard. To have these in possession is proof of evil designs or of witchcraft, and provokes summary punishment. The Pueblo "prayer stick" is chiefly of feathers, and corresponds to the Thibetan and Burmese " prayer wheel," Over three thousand of these prayer sticks have been counted in a day's ramble, stuck up in the ground as invocations, whittled sticks with downy feathers bound to the top in a tuft. The Pueblo medicine men not only doctor the sick, but "doctor the year," prescribe for the seasons, and feel the pulse of the corn-fields. Wahr (the Tiguan word for medicine) includes almost all influences affecting humanity. To the Indian all influences, good or bad, are medicines and are spirits, good or evil. The medicine men must, therefore, be endowed with supernatural powers adequate to cope with the hostile spirits and coax the good. The witch is virtually a medicine man, only the power is used harmfully. The two important doctorings of the year are in the spring and autumn —one to insure, and the other to acknowledge, a prosperous harvest. The spring medicine making is about mid-March. Every detail is not only sacred, but secret. The chief captain of war and his seven sub-captains lead the way, and each branch of medicine men sends a delegate to a common meeting. Chosen messengers-usually the war captain and his next of rank-present the sacred cornmeal to the two heads of all medicine, the offering being prepared by certain women of the family of the senior ambassador, out of the best ears in store, and with much care and prayer after sundown, this meal, wrapped in corn husk and tied with a string of the same material, is carried to the house of the great medicine man, the "Father of Here." After a sacred smoke and prayer to the Trues on |