THE OLDEST TOWX L\ AMERICA AM) ITS PEOPLE 



85 



Sacred prayer meal bowl of a rain priest. Note the ornaments of frogs and dragon_fIies, symbols of water 

 needed for the crops 



Along with taking precedence oxcv 

 the men in carrying the group names, the 

 women own the houses. A man may, 

 by the lal)or of his own liands, erect a 

 new house for his wife, from quarrying 

 the rock to laying the roof, while she 

 does nothing more than plaster the walls ; 

 yet let a divorce and separation take 

 place, and the property unquestioningly 

 l)elongs to her. The Zuiii are as monog- 

 amous a people as we. They look with 

 repugnance not only upon polygamy, 

 hut also upon subsequent marriage with 

 a former wife's sister or relative. At 

 the same time, divorce is easy. Persons 

 have only to separate. A man tired of 



his wife leaves her. For a woman the 

 procedure is not cjuite so simple owing 

 to her propertN' right in the house; but 

 at that, she need only nag and abuse her 

 husband until he takes his little bundle 

 of clothes and returns to his natal home. 

 If misplaced affection or stubbornness 

 prevent him from taking the hint, she 

 can ha\'e recourse to the more drastic 

 method of simply installing his chosen 

 successor, in which case nothing remains 

 for the deposed husband but to lea^■e 

 cpiietly. It would certainly seem as if 

 the Ziuii had long ago achieved for them- 

 selves some of the most radical portions 

 of even the ultra -feministic program. 



