PLANT MATERIALS USED IN MANUFACTURES 49 



31. Like many other Indian women of this section, especially the 

 Mojaves and Yumas, the Coahuilla women tattoo, and for this purpose 

 use charcoal burned from the agave, and prick in the pattern with the 

 thorn of the opuntia. The pattern is always on the lower lip and chin 

 and consists of rows of dots or wavy lines running downward from the 

 mouth. The color is a bluish black. Such ornamentation is called 

 tesh-inum. It is really very pretty but it is not frequently seen any 

 longer among the mountain women. The practice is almost identical 

 throughout this region. According to Father Boscana, who was long 

 stationed at the Mission of San Juan Capistrano, "girls are tattooed in 

 infancy on the face, breast, and arms." The most usual method was to 

 prick the flesh with the thorn of the cactus plant, charcoal produced 

 from the maguey was then rubbed into the wounds, and an ineffaceable 

 blue was the result. 1 Of the Yuma women Mr. Michler wrote: "A 

 very few are tattooed ; this operation is performed by pricking the 

 skin with the sharp point of a flint and sprinkling in the wound the 

 dust of charcoal." 2 



32. Beautiful baby hammocks, Coahuilla i-kut, are woven from the 

 cord twisted from the phragmites or agave. They are about six feet 

 long and are swung from the ceiling or from opposite corners of the 

 ramada. Frequently the same net is used as a carrying net and a 

 cradle. Baby boards are still used somewhat, though the hammock is 

 preferred. The baby board, si-u/, is made of two upright pieces 

 pierced with holes at regular intervals and in these are set cross pieces, 

 chd-wa-wa. A little mattress, in-i-vel, is made now of cloth but 

 formerly of rushes, and laid on this frame. On this the little child is 

 placed and bound securely thereto with a band, su-ti-ve, passed several 

 times across the body and looped at the sides beneath the projecting 

 ends of the cross pieces. The little bodies are very comfortable and 

 happy in this position. The mother can set the board up beside a 

 boulder while she washes at the spring, or lay it in the shade of the 

 jacal while she grinds at the mill. There is quite a noticeable flatten- 

 ing of the occiput in children that is probably due to the baby board. 



33. The Coahuilla bow, dju-ki-nups, is a poor affair nowadays, 

 generally but rudely shaped. The best bows are made from a seasoned 

 limb of the screw bean, kwin-yal (Prosopis pubescens). Others are 

 shaped from wood of the willow tree, or aliso, awa-sil (Salix nigra, 

 Marsh). They are fitted only for killing small game and are produced 



1 ROBINSON, Life in California, "Boscana," p. 740. 



2 EMORY, Mexican Bortndary Survey, Vol. I, p. no. 



