3G8 THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS OP 



Before tlicy were baptized eacli man took as many wives as he liked, and if 

 there Averc several sisters in a family lie married them all together. The son- 

 in-law was not allowed, for some time, to look into the face of his mother-in- 

 law or his wife's next female relations, but had to step aside, or to hide himself, 

 when these women were present. Yet they did not pay much attention to con- 

 sanguinity, and only a few years since one of them counted his own daughter 

 (as he believed) among the number of his wives. They met without any 

 formalities, and their vocabulary did not even contain the words "to marry," 

 which is expressed at the present day in the Waicuri language by the para- 

 phrase tikerc midiri — that is, " to bring the arms or hands together." They 

 had, and still use, a substitute for the word "husband," but the etymological 

 meaning of that expression implies an intercourse with women in general. 



They lived, in fact, before the establishment of the missions in their country, 

 in utter licentiousness, and adultery was daily committed by every one without 

 shame and without any fear, the feeling of jealousy being unknown to them. 

 Neighboring tribes visited each other very often only for the purpose of spending 

 some days in opeu debauchery, and during such times a general pi'ostitution 

 prevailed. Would to God that the admonitions and instructions of those who 

 converted these people to Christianity and established lawful marriages among 

 them, liad also induced them to desist entirely from these evil practices ! Yet 

 they deserve pity rather than contempt, for their manner of living together en- 

 genders vice, and their sense of morality is not strong enough to prevent them 

 from yielding to the temptations to which they are constantly exposed. 



In the first chapter of this book I have already spoken of the scanty popu- 

 lation of this country. It is certain that many of their women are barren, and 

 that a great number of them bear not more than one child. Only a few out of 

 one or two hundred bring forth eight or ten times, and if such is really the case, 

 it happens very seldom that one or two of the children arrive at a mature age. 

 I baptized, in succession, seven children of a young woman, yet I had to bury 

 them all before one of them had reached its third year, and when I was about 

 to leave the country I recommended to the woman to dig a grave for the eighth 

 child, with which she was pregnant at the time. The unmarried people of both 

 sexes and the children generally make a smaller group than the married and 

 widowed. 



The Californian women lie in without difSculty, and without needing any 

 assistance. If the child is born at some distance from the mission they carry 

 it thither themselves on the same day, in order to have it baptized, not minding 

 a walk of two or more leagues. Yet, that many infants die among them is not 

 surprising ; on the contrary, it would be a Avonder if a great number remained 

 alive. For, when the poor child first sees the light of day, there is no other 

 cradle provided for it but the hard soil, or the still harder shell of a turtle, in 

 which the mother places it, without much covering, and drags it about wherever 

 she goes. And in order to be unencumbered, and enabled to use her limbs with 

 greater freedom while running in the fields, she will leave it sometimes in charge 

 of some old woman, and thus depiive the poor creature for ten or more hours of 

 its natural nourishment. As soon as the child is a few months old the mother 

 places it, perfectly naked, astraddle on her shoulders, its legs hanging down on 

 both sides in front, and it has consequently to learn how to ride before it can 

 stand on its fet^t. In this guise the mother roves about all day, exposing her 

 helpless charge to the hot rays of the sun and the chilly v/iuds that sweep over 

 the inhospitable country. The food of the child, tdl it cuts its teeth, consists 

 only in the milk of the mother, and if that is wanting or insufficient, there is 

 rarely another woman to be found that would be willing, or, perhaps, in the 

 pi'opcr condition, to take pity on the poor starving being. I cannot say that 

 the Californian Avomen are too fond of their children, and some of them may 

 even consider the loss of one as a relief from a burden, especially if they have 



