30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 34 



women, from adolescence, and even earlier, to old age, do consider- 

 able work, though they seldom hurry, nor do they care to work for 

 long stretches at a time. Indolence is, however, quite prevalent 

 among the more or less degraded Indians. 



The love of outdoor life and of outdoor sports, especially hunting, 

 horse and foot races, and various games, is general. Football and 

 baseball are much favored among the younger element of the tribes 

 north of Mexico, and the Indian school children, when occasion per- 

 mits, devote a very large portion of their spare hours to outdoor 

 play and games. 



Among the adults spare time is spent in attention to the hair, pre- 

 paring materials for pottery or basketry, fixing various utensils, and 

 in making fancy or ceremonial objects, or arrows, dolls, and numer- 

 ous other things. Visits are mostly indulged in during the evening. 

 Wlien water is near at hand, the women and children find much 

 pleasure in bathing. The men also bathe, and in some localities (for 

 example, along the Gila) learn to swim well. A more frequent bath 

 with the men in the more northern tribes is the sudatory, but the 

 motive of this is not ordinary cleanliness, it being considered purifi- 

 cative in a much broader sense, and also curative. 



Kissing, among adults as well as children, is not in vogue among 

 any of the Indians who were visited. It is practically never seen 

 except among those who are educated, and very seldom even among 

 them. 



Visiting or visited, and even during a casual meeting and conver- 

 sation, and at ceremonies of every nature, the Indian engages in 

 smoking, which he does but seldom on other occasions. In most of 

 the tribes the usual smoke is a cigarette made of rather little tobacco 

 and much corn husk, but the Cora prefer a small clay pipe. Womeii 

 and even children smoke, though less than the men. On the whole 

 the consumption of tobacco among all the Indians visited is very 

 moderate ; certainly less than among whites. 



Among the more indolent, or when a part of a tribe visits another, 

 there is much gambling, mostly with marked sticks, or with cards. 

 This is frequently carried on in an atmosphere vitiated by the pres- 

 ence of many persons, and is occasionally kept up day and night 

 until one party lose all they have to wager. Some of the women 

 gamble also, even by themselves, one result being not seldom the 

 neglect of their children. 



In disposition, which has much bearing on the mode of life of a 

 people, the Indians of the entire region visited are generally cheerful 

 and contented. They are very conservative. Their passions, except 

 perhaps that for gambling, are moderate, their wants few, and pro- 

 longed worry is almost unknown to them. There is a general willing- 

 ness rather than an inclination to drink, due to a lack of knowledge 



