42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 34 



sive. Several points are, nevertheless, plain. The birth rate is 

 usually high, but as the mortality also is high, large families are un- 

 common. But even as it is, were it not for the occurrence of epi- 

 demics all the better conditioned tribes of this region would be 

 increasing m numbers. 



Among the Southern Ute the average number of living children to 

 a family was reported in 1890 as 3." According to the writer's own 

 notes, the living children in families of this tribe range from 2 to 5, 

 being more often nearer the former than the latter number; but the 

 results of the inquiries, owing to the unfriendly disposition of the 

 people, were unsatisfactory. A Ute woman who had borne 15 children 

 was reported as living on the eastern end of the reservation. The 

 Southern Ute as a whole, however, have been slowly but steadily 

 decreasing in numbers. 



Among 4,041 San Carlos and Wliite Mountain Apache in 1890 

 there were nearly 600 families, including 1,383 married persons, who 

 had living 195 children under 1 year of age (20.7 per thousand of 

 population, or about 1 to every three families) . At White Mountain 

 the writer was informed of several women who had given birth to 9 

 or 10 children each. 



Special inquiries along similar lines were made among the San 

 Carlos Apache and the Pima.'' 



Among the San Carlos Apache, 37 women, all beyond the child-bear- 

 ing period, had borne 258 children, an average of nearly 7 each. One 

 of the 37 had 12, one 11, six 10, and seven 9 children each. Among 

 the Pima, 35 women beyond menopause had borne 246 children, or an 

 average of a little more than 7 each. There were three among these 

 women who had never borne a child, and should these be ignored the 

 average of children born of the others rises to 7.7. Four had borne 

 12, two 11, four 10, and four 9 children each. (See tables at the end 

 of the chapter.) 



As the two tribes may be safely taken as representatives of a large 

 number of others living under similar conditions, it is evident that 

 the fertility of the Indian woman is in many localities, if not gen- 

 erally, equal to the preservation of the race. It is not a deficient 

 birth rate but great mortality which keeps the majority of the tribes 

 from increasing rapidly. 



The living Navaho family is generally moderate in size, but the 

 tribe is increasing in numbers. The living Hopi family also is usually 

 of moderate size. In 1890 the latter people numbered 1,996 persons, 

 of whom there were, under 6 years, 288; between and 18 years, 590; 

 and above 18 years, 1,118. There were 364 heads of families, which 



a Special Agent G. D. Merton, in Report on Indians, Eleventh Census, 1890, 229, Washington, 1894. 



b These two tribes were chosen for detailed studies because tliey represent physically the most diverse 

 groups of the Southwest and of northern Mexico. The Pima are dolichocephalic, the Apache highly 

 brachycephalic, l)esides having other points of difference. 



