20 THE SIA. 



of tlie Sia maidens is recognized by the other pueblo people, they are 

 rarely sought in marriage, for, according to the tribal custom, the hus- 

 band makes his home with the wife; and there is little to attract the 

 more ])rogressive Indian of the other pueblos to Sia, where the eager- 

 ness to perpetuate a depleted race causes the Sia to rejoice over every 

 birth, esi)ecially if it be a female child, regardless whether the child be 

 legitimate or otherwise. 



Wheu a girl reaches puberty she informs her mother, who incites the 

 female members of her clan to her house, where an informal feast is 

 enjoyed. The guests congratulate the girl upon having arrived at the 

 state of womanhood, and they say to her, " As yet you are like a child, 

 but you will soon be united with a companion and you will help to in- 

 crease your people." The only male present is the girl's father. The 

 news, however, soon spreads through the village, and it is not long be- 

 fore ofl'ers are made to the mother for the privilege of sexual relations 

 with the girl. The first offers are generally refused, the mother hold- 

 ing her virgin daughter for the highest bidder. These are not neces- 

 sarily offers of marriage, but are more commonly otherwise, and are 

 frequently made by married men. 



Though the Sia are monogamists, it is common for the married, as 

 well as the unmarried, to live promiscuously with one another; the hus- 

 band being as fond of his wife's children as if he were sure of the pa- 

 ternal parentage. That these people, however, have their share of 

 latent jealously is evident from the secrecy observed on the part of a 

 married man or woman to pi-event the anger of the spouse. Parents 

 are quite as fond of their daughters' illegitimate ott'spiing, and as 

 proud of them as if they had been born in wedlock; and the man who 

 marries a woman having one or more illegitimate children apparently 

 feels the same attachment for these children as for those his wife bears 

 him. 



Some of the women recount their relations of this character with as 

 much pride as a civilized belle would her honest offers of marriage. One 

 ot the most attractive women in Sia, though now a grandmother, once 

 said to the writer: 



When I was young I was pretty and al tractive, anil when I reached womanhood 

 many otters were made to my mother for me [she did not refer to marriage, how- 

 ever], but my mother knowing my attractions refused several, and the first man I 

 lived with was the richest man in the pueblo. I only lived with three men before I 

 married, one being the present governor of the village; my eldest child is his daugh- 

 ter, and he thinks a great deal of her. He often makes her presents, and she always 

 addresses him as father when his wife is not by. His wife, whom he married some- 

 time after I ceased my relations with him, docs not know that her husband once 

 lived with me. 



This woman added as an evidence of her great devotion to her hus- 

 band, that since her marriage she had not lived with any other man. 



These loose marriage customs doubtless arise from the fact that the 

 Sia are now numerically few and their increase is desired, and that, as 



