20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



clemency of the weather, and also from eating certain foods, such 

 as acorns, Islay, Chia, etc., as well as the meat of certain animals, 

 such as deer, cottontail rabbit, jackrabbit, etc., in a word, all the 

 best foods that they had, telling them that these foods were for the 

 old people only, and that until they had 2 or 3 children they could 

 not eat of them, and that if they ate of them before that time in 

 secret, the Toux, which is the Devil, would make it known and would 

 punish them, causing them many injuries, such as : stumbling over 

 rocks, tripping over burrows, that mountain lions, bears, rattlesnakes, 

 etc., would bite them, and that their Chinigchinix would be very 

 angry and that they would die. And they had such faith and belief 

 in these fabulous stories, and so great was their dread and fear, that 

 they would sooner perish than transgress to the slightest extent. 



In the instructions that they gave to the girls, in addition to the 

 general admonishments which they gave to the boys, they added that 

 they should not be run-abouts, but remain in retirement, nor should 

 they be sleepy-heads or lazy, but always ready and obedient, so that 

 when they were grown up they would know how to work at their 

 chores, which are the hunting and cleaning of seeds, the preparation 

 of acorn mush and pinole, these being the foods which they use. 

 And for this reason from the time they were little girls they would 

 make a traybasket for them suitable to their size, and would teach 

 them to do this work, as well as to grind or to pound up the seeds, 

 telling them that knowing how to work and not being lazy, they 

 w^ould have, when they grew up. many men who would seek them, 

 and that they would be very much liked. 



In this region, toward the south, the custom prevailed of tattooing 

 the women, and from the time they were little girls they began to 

 tattoo them, commencing in the case of some between the eyebrows, 

 in that of others on the chin, extending it as they kept growing over 

 almost the entire face, breasts, and arms, which tattoo was generally 

 lattice pattern, [but] there were other women who had lines and other 

 figures. This tattooing was done as follows : With some thorns from 

 an Opuntia Cactus thicket they pricked the place until it bled. Then 

 they rubbed it with a kind of charcoal, and that place remained with a 

 blue color which never disappears. The principal reason why they 

 tattooed women, according to what I have been able to investigate, 

 is because they say that when tattoed thus they are prettier and 

 better liked and will have many suitors. But I fancy and believe 

 another thing, and it is that just as the Devil put the burn on the 

 men as a brand, in the case of the women it must be the tattoo, and 

 thus he had both men and women marked. 



