12 



THE SIA. 



As loug as the Sia can induce the traders through the country to 

 take their pottery they refrain from barter with their Indian neigh- 

 bors. (PI. IV.) The women usually dispose of the articles to the 

 traders (Figs. 1 and 2), but they never venture on expeditions to the 

 Santa Ana and the Jemez. 



Each year a period comes, just before the harvest time, when no 

 more pottery is required by their Indian neighbors, and the Sia must 

 deal out their food in such limited portions that the elders go hungry 

 in order to satisfy the children. When starvation threatens there is 

 no thought for the children of the clan, but the head of each household 



Fig. 1.— Sia womeu on their way to tlic trader's to dispost; of pottery. 



looks to the wants of its own, and there is apparent indifference to the 

 sufferings of neighbors. When questioned, they reply: "We feel sad 

 for our brothers and our sisters, but we have not enough for our own." 

 Thus, when driven to extremes, nature asserts itself in the nearest ties 

 of consanguinity and the "clan" becomes secondary. At these times 

 there are no expressions of dissatisfaction and no attempt on the part 

 of the stronger to take advantage of the weaker. The expression of 

 the men changes to a stoical resignation, and the women's faces grow 

 a shade paler with the thought that in order to nourish their babes 

 they themselves must be uoiirished. And yet, sucli is their code of 

 hospitality that food is always offered to guests as long as a morsel 

 remains. 



