hrdlicka] physiological and medical observations 47 



Reproduction 



In this chapter are taken up tlie more direct observations among 

 the tribes, which, it seems tt) the writer, begin logically with data 

 relatmg to re))roducti()n and the first stages of the life of the Indian. 

 The notes on the several topics included under this heading are, as 

 with other subjects, necessarily somewhat combmed with matter 

 relating to the habits antl views of the people. 



MARRIAGE 



Marital life among the Indians of the southwestern United ^States 

 and northern Mexico is entered into on the average at an earlier 

 age than among the whites. While not generally a result of 

 mutual attraction, a degree of mutual ])leasing, at least, is usually 

 considered essential to the union. The practice of obtaining a wife 

 by rape does not exist. Voluntary loss of chastity on the part of 

 the unmarried woman, while not very frequent, is not regarded as a 

 serious obstacle to future marriage. Often, though less directly than 

 among whites, the girl exercises the right of acceptance, and the 

 married woman the privilege of separation. 



The married state among all the Indians visited has been in the 

 past and still is less stable than among the whites, though hardly 

 less moral. There is no polyandry. In former years polygamy 

 was general among the Indians of southwestern United States, and 

 among most of the less civilized tribes of northern Mexico ; it still 

 exists among the latter, and only recently, under compulsion, is it 

 being abandoned by the Apache and other tribes in Arizona and 

 New Mexico. There are reasons for believing that obligatory 

 defloration of marriageable girls, jjrojniscuous sexual intercourse, 

 and possibly even pederasty (ceremonial) still take place occasion- 

 ally in a few of the tribes. Since polygamy ceased the separation of 

 husbands and wives iind »heir remarriage to others are particularly 

 common among the Indians of southwestern United States. Such 

 conduct is not regarded among these tribes as in any way deroga- 

 tory to tn? participants. 



Intermarriage of near relatives is not known among any of the 

 tribes visited, even where the exogamous clans have ceased to exist. 

 It is not uncommon, however, for the more distant cousins to unite 

 m marriage, or for a woman to bear children to her stepfather or to 

 her sister's husband. Among the smaller tribes, as the Havasupai 

 and some of the Pueblos, there must of necessity be considerable 

 intermarriage among more distant relatives. 



Among the Southern Ute, according to information given by the 

 Indians themselves, sexual life begins at an early age; but marriage 

 does not seem to be entered into generally quite as early as among 



