BDSSELLj KA.MILV OKCiANMZATION 185 



ing the natural independence of the women, they made an effort to 

 retam tlie affection of wortliy luisliands, and even resorted to suicide 

 when deserted. Moreover, the desirability of lastinjj unions was rec- 

 ognized by some, as, for example, by the father of wise old Sala 

 Hina. "Work well at home," he told her, "Go not to others for the 

 morsel they must needs in hospitality bestow, and then when you 

 serve faithfiilly your husband he will provide well for you. If the 

 husband you choose proves to be lazy do not desert him; work in the 

 held with hiin; help and encourage him." 



CHILDREX 



Further evidence in support of the fact that the Pimas were not 

 a degenerate race at the time of the introduction of the white man's 

 whisky and diseases is found in the size of their families. As many 

 as twelve children have been known in a single family, and twins are 

 received with general rejoicing. Every inhabitant of the village 

 brings gifts and the mother feels assured that she will henceforth be 

 a fortunate woman. Male children were preferred, because "they 

 woidd grow up to fight Apaches." With the consent of the parents 

 deformed infants were taken by the midwife, who watched them until 

 tliey died of exposure and want of nourishment. So strong was the 

 feeling of the Pimas against the abnormal that they tried in recent 

 years to kill a grown man who had six toes. 



Tribal pride is sufficiently strong to induce the Pimas to destroy 

 infants of American or Mexican fathers in the same manner as those 

 which are deformed. The writer learned of but two persons who had 

 escaped such a fate. Incjuiries concerning albinos met with the reply 

 that "there never were any." Probably such a child would share 

 the same fate as that accorded any other exhibiting abnormal 

 characteristics. 



A pregnant woman was not allowed to eat anything that an animal 

 had touched. For example, if a gopher had cut a vine on which a 

 melon was ripening, she might not eat the fruit; or, if the mice 

 nil)])led at a basket of wheat she might not eat of the tortillas made 

 therefrom. She dared not go where Apaches had been killed, or the 

 baby would die. If her husband killed a rattlesnake at that time, 

 her child's stomach woidd swell and it would die soon after birth. 

 She must not eat liver or her child would be disfigured by birthmarks. 



During confinement the husband absented himself from the home 

 and women friends attended the patient, who sat over a hole in the floor 

 in which a cloth had been spread. The placenta was buried in a hole 

 and covered with ashes. The mother bathed in the river immediately 

 after deliverA', and until the umbilicus of the child was healed she 

 dared not eat salt. At times much pain was suffered, and some died 



